Gphone isn't open, linux dev not possible

Mon Nov 19 02:10:26 CET 2007

Also spracht Jose Manuel Ferrer Mosteiro (2007年11月16日 12:56:06
+0100):
> Final comment: well, it is possible

Running a C app in the emulator is almost entirely irrelevant. There's 
no guarantee the emulator even resembles the final platform -- or for 
that matter, that the final platform will be all the same hardware. And 
that said, it's just another Linux system.
For someone to claim to "write a C android app", what would be required 
would be for the app to communicate with the "Surface Manager" and 
display a GUI, and/or communicate with the android databases (phone book, 
call log, whatever), and/or communicate with the device drivers (eg, make 
a call, receive an SMS). Some of these could even be done "out" of the 
emulator -- if you have a PC app that "talks" to the Surface Manager, 
then that's acceptable as a proof of "android development".
For the time being, the information we have is that this is not 
supported, won't be supported at least until the hardware launch, and may 
be impossible. Which, as I said before, means all the millions 
(billions?) of LOC of existing C open source and free software can't be 
reused on android -- which, even if it was truly open, would make it 
quite pointless to me.
best,
 Lalo Martins
-- 
 So many of our dreams at first seem impossible,
 then they seem improbable, and then, when we
 summon the will, they soon become inevitable.
 -----
 http://lalomartins.info/
GNU: never give up freedom http://www.gnu.org/