Android Source Code Gone For Good? 362
First time accepted submitter vyrus128 writes "Many people were upset at the revelation, reported here in May, that the Honeycomb version of Android would not be open sourced. But Google promised that the next version, Ice Cream Sandwich, would have full source available. Now that ICS is out, though, the source is nowhere in sight. In the thread, Android's Jean-Baptiste Queru offers the following, as to the question of whether source will ever be made available: 'At the moment I don't have anything to say on that subject.'"
Re:Umm.... (Score:5, Informative)
They're letter codes with a dessert theme. The first letter of the name is in alphabetical order.
C = Cupcake = 1.something
D = Donut = 2.0
E = Eclair = 2.1
F = FroYo = 2.2
G = Gingerbread = 2.3
H = Honeycomb = 3.0
I = Ice Cream Sandwich = 4.0
I'm not sure what the B version was called. The next version will presumably start with J. Jelly maybe?
Re:Umm.... (Score:5, Informative)
To reiterate, these servers contain only the ‘gingerbread’ and ‘master’
branches from the old AOSP servers. We plan to release the source for the
recently-announced Ice Cream Sandwich soon, once it’s available on devices.
FUD Alert. FUD Alert (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Bad title. (Score:4, Informative)
Now 4.0 is out.
4.0 is out? Where? The first phone running 4.0 (the Galaxy Nexus) doesn't come out til next month.
Re:Bad title. (Score:5, Informative)
4.0 is out? Where? The first phone running 4.0 (the Galaxy Nexus) doesn't come out til next month.
You can run ICS quite happily in the android emulator from the SDK right now. So, yeah, it's out.
The source isn't out yet, but Google's been very specific that it will be released in the next few weeks ("We plan to release the source for the recently-announced Ice Cream Sandwich soon, once it’s available on devices" [google.com]) just as Gingerbread was.
This post is a joke -- it focuses on the comments on an engineer who has nothing to do with the ICS code release, and says as much. However, some people seem so convinced that Google's gone full-evil that they're jumping on every "no comment".
Don't /. editors check stories for troll submissions these days?
That's the opposite of what he said (Score:5, Informative)
Quoting JBQ's post from today: "yes, that means ICS will be coming to AOSP".
https://plus.google.com/112218872649456413744/posts/HB5qQHeNKBQ [google.com]
Re:Umm.... (Score:4, Informative)
Well, a ton of devices use AOSP - Kindle Fire, Nook, many tablets and phones, so those will get 4.0 when it comes out.
The other reason is if you have the True Android Phone. Or several now - the Nexus One, Nexus S, Galaxy Nexus phones, which are completely open and trivial to enable installing your own OS. Which is the whole point of Android.
The other phones? They're merely Android compatibles. Most have roots and other stuff that let you get them closer to the true Android phones.
Re:Umm.... (Score:5, Informative)
There are remarkably few binary blobs in Android lead devices (some OEMs add more proprietary goop to their own phones though).
http://source.android.com/source/building-devices.html [android.com]
Nexus S, for example, requires these pieces above and beyond the available open source userspace and kernel code:
- opengl userspace libraries (ImaginationTech)
- radio interface library (Samsung) -- glue between the Android Telephony stack and the Radio
- firmware for bt/wifi chip (Broadcom)
- GPS userspace library (Broadcom)
- NFC firmware / loader library (NXP)
- auto-calibration library for orientation sensor (AKM)
The closed pieces are available here, under a license that allows you to use them in your own builds, and even to redistribute (non-commercially) entire flashable OS images including them.
We continue to work to reduce the number of closed binaries needed on the lead Android devices. We have *never* shipped a lead device that includes any non-gpl/bsd kernel code.
Re:Well then why bring it up? (Score:4, Informative)
1) No one does that. 2) It is open. CyanogenMod makes Gingerbread available to an awful lot of devices with source and everything. It's the latest code currently available on Android phones, in actual fact.
I hope that when you grow up, you become more honest. Otherwise, you'll be unsuitable for politics.
Lies damm lies and Slashdot (Score:4, Informative)
Let's start with the lie in the summary.
"Now that ICS is out, though, the source is nowhere in sight. "
ICS isn't out. It has been shown but it is not out.
And we have this statement " - To reiterate, these servers contain only the ‘gingerbread’ and ‘master’
branches from the old AOSP servers. We plan to release the source for the
recently-announced Ice Cream Sandwich soon, once it’s available on devices. "
Source: http://groups.google.com/group/android-building/msg/c73c14f9b0dcd15a?pli=1 [google.com]
In other words this is all click bait and the summary should be appended.
The source will be released when the phones are released aka when the program is distributed the source code will be released.
Wow now Slashdot is now Trolling.
Re:Well then why bring it up? (Score:1, Informative)
What the hell?
What ICS having improvements over its predecessors have to do with the fact that its source code isn't available? One of the big selling points of Android was supposed to be its openness, and that was often trumpeted on Slashdot.
Now that Google has gone back on that, suddenly, it's not a news story, and because the "real world" (TechRadar?) isn't talking about the lack of source code availability, that means it's not a story?
Plenty of other tech media outlets have covered this issue, particularly Ars Technica. Just because you're a big Google fan and don't want to see any criticism of them or their products doesn't mean that it shouldn't be discussed. That is, unless you think it's okay for Google to exploit the positive feelings associated with the term "open" only to go back on that.
As for being most popular smartphone OS in the world, you may want to try counting tablets and music players in your figures to see what is actually the most popular mobile OS in the world. Hint--its an OS as closed source as Android currently is.