That's not what I wrote (or at least not what I meant to write). The fact that the open-source side of Android (which is fundamentally "the" true Android platform as it's the central one) is called "Android Open-Source Project" with the official Android logo should be a good hint that it's not an offshoot.
What I meant is that it's beneficial for the Android community as a whole if the Android name and logos are only used in a set of situations that are consistent with one another, especially when it comes to compatibility. Fragmentation won't help, neither would additional user confusion beyond what we already have. So, for the sake of clarity, let's try to keep some separation between the official SDKs that Google releases and supports on this discussion group, and other development tools that anyone can create and distribute out of the Android Open Source Project source code as long as they stay within the allowed limits for IP licensing. BTW, I'm very much looking forward to the start of the next Android development cycle, since for the first time in the history of Android such a cycle will start with the source code being openly available. Things won't quite be perfect the first time around, we'll learn from the issues that we are going to face, and we'll all work better together for subsequent development cycles. JBQ On Sun, Apr 5, 2009 at 9:28 AM, Al Sutton <[email protected]> wrote: > > JBQ, > I may be reading what you've written in a different way to you've intended, > but it reads very much like you guys see Google produced Android stuff from > the internal Google repository as "Android", and anything else (including > the public repository) is being an offshoot project. > > Al. > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jean-Baptiste > Queru > Sent: 05 April 2009 17:08 > To: [email protected] > Subject: [android-developers] Re: Cupcake SDKs available for download > > > [inline] > > On Sun, Apr 5, 2009 at 8:45 AM, Al Sutton <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> Hi JBQ, >> >> - Who decides what is an official SDK of an open project :)? > > The owners of the discussion group where "official" SDKs are supported :) > > Within the limits of the various licenses (which are generally very > permissive), it's possible for someone to legally download source code from > the Android Open-Source Project, compile it, redistribute the compiled > result, and even support it with their own resources. As long as there's > enough separation between those projects and the official SDK that is used > to develop applications for devices that bear the Android logo, there > shouldn't be any major issue. That being said, it's probably not entirely > beneficial for the Android community as a whole if app developers are > presented with a multitude of slightly different and incompatible > development environment, but I do understand the motivation behind what > you're doing. > >> - There is no guarantee of future compatibility on any SDK (see my >> issue with buttons posted a couple of days ago). > > Yeah, compatibility isn't always as good as we'd like it to be, especially > as it's not always clearly documented what behaviors can potentially vary > and therefore can't be strongly relied on by applications (especially when > there's currently no way to make those vary on the SDK), but with unofficial > development environments built from branches in intermediate states there's > a much more explicit risk of e.g. APIs that disappear entirely or behaviors > being suddenly protected by permissions, i.e. of applications that grossly > fail to compile or load. > > There's definitely a relevant use case around being able to "preview" > existing apps on newer "in-development" versions of the platform, without > necessarily exposing any new platform APIs, so that compatibility issues can > be spotted earlier. Technical limitations have made this impractical with > the existing SDK infrastructure, but that issue has been on our minds for a > while. > >> - Thanks for the window SDK pointer, I'm installing cygwin now. >> >> - If someone wants to setup a bit torrent tracker then I'll like to >> the torrent file, but I don't want to run a tracker and seeds on my > servers. >> >> Al. >> >> >> --- >> >> * Written an Android App? - List it at http://andappstore.com/ * >> >> ====== >> Funky Android Limited is registered in England & Wales with the >> company number 6741909. The registered head office is Kemp House, >> 152-160 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX, UK. >> >> The views expressed in this email are those of the author and not >> necessarily those of Funky Android Limited, it's associates, or it's >> subsidiaries. >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: [email protected] >> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of >> Jean-Baptiste Queru >> Sent: 05 April 2009 14:12 >> To: [email protected] >> Subject: [android-developers] Re: Cupcake SDKs available for download >> >> >> -I'd like to point out that this isn't an official SDK, with e.g. no >> guarantee that applications developed with it will work on future >> versions of Android. Should anyone have questions about using it, >> please use the android-discuss group as android-developers is for >> questions about the official SDKs, and be sure to mention which >> specific version of Al's SDK you're using. >> >> -Al, you might be looking for this: >> http://android.git.kernel.org/?p=platform/development.git;a=blob;f=doc >> s/howt >> o_build_SDK.txt;h=4b6507d4a0bf0dfaed5e1660b858caf641e8eccd;hb=b3fb2a6e >> f1df35 >> 34dee5b1d09ab72d129d3697c7#l92 >> >> -How about distributing it with BitTorrent? This seems like a perfect >> use case. >> >> JBQ >> >> On Sun, Apr 5, 2009 at 12:42 AM, Al Sutton <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> I've compiled up the Linux & Mac OS X Intel SDKs from the public git >>> repository and have put them up for download (If anyone can get >>> instructions on building a Windows SDK I will do what I can to create >>> a Windows SDK as well). >>> >>> *PLEASE NOTE* In order to ensure that I don't end up with a massive >>> bandwidth bill you will need to log into AndAppStore to download the >>> SDKs, and, if things get silly, download limits may be introduced. >>> >>> You are, of course, free to pass on the SDK to as many people as you >>> want after you've downloaded, but please do not pass around links to >>> direct downloads without logins at AndAppStore because I'd like to >>> continue to update them but if a bandwidth cost issue comes up then I >> won't. >>> >>> Anyway, once you've logged into AndAppStore the link to the Cupcake >>> SDKs is in the Developers Area menu on the right of the page. >>> >>> >>> Al. >>> >>> --- >>> >>> * Written an Android App? - List it at http://andappstore.com/ * >>> >>> ====== >>> Funky Android Limited is registered in England & Wales with the >>> company number 6741909. The registered head office is Kemp House, >>> 152-160 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX, UK. >>> >>> The views expressed in this email are those of the author and not >>> necessarily those of Funky Android Limited, it's associates, or it's >>> subsidiaries. >>> >>> >>> >>> > >>> >> >> >> >> -- >> Jean-Baptiste M. "JBQ" Queru >> Android Engineer, Google. >> >> Questions sent directly to me that have no reason for being private >> will likely get ignored or forwarded to a public forum with no further > warning. >> >> >> >> >> > >> > > > > -- > Jean-Baptiste M. "JBQ" Queru > Android Engineer, Google. > > Questions sent directly to me that have no reason for being private will > likely get ignored or forwarded to a public forum with no further warning. > > > > > > > -- Jean-Baptiste M. "JBQ" Queru Android Engineer, Google. Questions sent directly to me that have no reason for being private will likely get ignored or forwarded to a public forum with no further warning. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Developers" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
