Thanks for the follow up Xavier -
Things are a little clearer now...
So first off, to answer your question - we are currently doing
internal development where we are working against a 'tweaked' android
platform (r8). The reason for the tweaks is basically to accommodate
some unique hardware
Well there's a difference between doing changes in the framework, and
exposing new APIs.
I guess as long as you don't distribute this repository publicly and
only give it to internal devs who will develop apps that are bundled
with the devices (and not on any app store), then you'll be fine.