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0 pointsNotPractical1y ago0 comments

This comes up a lot but when did Google say their platform was "open"? Maybe a few times in the early days when Google was still considered "cool" in hacker circles, but probably not in consumer-facing advertising? Moreover, "open" can mean a lot of things. I don't think I ever signed an agreement with Google that promised me source code for Android or the ability to sideload on my Android phone?

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AStonesThrow1y ago

For starters, it's the "O" in "AOSP":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(operating_system)#Ope...

So, 2007-present, that's when.

Android is acknowledged as a Linux distribution. Linux, also known as GNU/Linux, incorporates significant GPL-licensed code. By contrast, Apple has used BSD derivatives for a codebase, and BSD licenses, while F/OSS, are not "viral" in the way the GPL is, so Apple is not required to redistribute source code, or submit their patches upstream, and they can make proprietary additions anywhere they like.

NotPracticalOP1y ago

AOSP is a separate initiative from Google to release the source code of Android to the public on a regular basis. Development of Android happens almost entirely in-house and contributions/requests from the general public are treated with minimum priority. The public AOSP repo is only updated with these changes after each new release of Android is finished. Google is not forced to release the source code, aside from their changes to the Linux kernel, which are minimal anyway as Android is moving closer to mainline. They may have separate agreements with OEMs that guarantee source code access but that's of no concern to Epic Games as a user/developer on the platform and not an OEM.

scarface_741y ago

They actually did promise you could get the source code for Android.

From a Twitter message by Rubin in 2010.

https://techcrunch.com/2010/10/19/andy-rubin-twitter/

> the definition of open: "mkdir android ; cd android ; repo init -u git://android.git.kernel.org/platform/manifest.git ; repo sync ; make"

RevEng1y ago

AOSP still exists, but it doesn't include most of the Google specific apps.

scarface_741y ago

And Google has continuously moved away from “open” - that’s just the point

https://www.osnews.com/story/136235/google-further-guts-the-...

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