Re: [GSoC] Introduction and Project Discussion
Hi,
On Wed, Mar 23, 2016 at 3:31 PM Hans-Christoph Steiner <hans@at.or.at> wrote:
>
>
> Hey Chirayu,
>
> Working with the Android Tools team means coordinating with lots of
> other projects like Android, apktool, fdroid, etc. It will help your
> application a lot if we can see real contributions.
Right. I have contributed to Android, to AOSP and CyanogenMod.
Some examples of contributions can be seen at [1], [2] and [3].
[1], the link to CyanogenMod gerrit, contains most of those.
Should I add any of these to the proposal?
>
> You can try working
> on bug in any Android Tools package:
> https://qa.debian.org/developer.php?email=android-tools-devel%40lists.alioth.debian.org
>
> Or try fixing this issue in apktool that is blocking it from working in
> Debian:
> https://github.com/iBotPeaches/Apktool/issues/1166
Having a look at those right now, and I'll pick something and work on
it, and try to fix it.
>
>
>
> The Android Tools team work is ongoing, so what needs doing will have
> changed by the time the GSoC period has started. Also, as with any
> technical project, it is difficult to predict how long chunks of work
> will take. So we will work out the exact pieces you'll be working on
> when the GSoC work period starts. If you want to work on specific
> pieces only, that might be possible. We try to work as a team, and
> decide together what needs doing when, and who is working on what.
I understand.
Should I update the proposal in any way, or is the current draft okay?
>
>
> .hc
>
>
>
> Chirayu Desai:
> > Hi, I have submitted a draft proposal. [1]:
> >
> > I would like to add something.
> >
> > This is a large project with multiple sub-projects, and I'm willing to
> > work on either of those.
> > I have past experience with Android, being a maintainer multiple
> > devices for CyanogenMod, making them run on open source code, and
> > porting newer android versions to them.
> >
> > My proposal includes a few of the suggested sub-projects, and I'm
> > ready to change those with something else to not overlap with another
> > student.
> >
> > I could work on a few from the below.
> > * SDK, and tools to build android 'apk's - updates, and new packages
> > * NDK - new package, for tools to create apps with native code (C/C++/etc).
> > * Android Studio - new package, IDE based on Intellij IDEA
> > * Emulator (and target platform) - for testing apps
> > * make all Android Tools packages build reproducibly - study existing
> > solutions, and apply them to current and newer packages.
> > * Continuous Integration tests for the above
> > * Third party tools for android development (such as apktool) -
> > updates, and new packages
> >
> > The above list includes all but one from the wiki, which is:
> > "improve package build systems to be more tightly integrated with
> > upstream build systems"
> > I have interest in build systems in general, and have worked quite a
> > bit with android's make based system as well.
> > However, as discussed in earlier e-mails, it is currently undergoing a
> > transition.
> > You can currently build the AOSP master tree with a ninja based build system.
> > This would be something I would like to discuss further, say in the
> > community bonding period, or even before that.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Chirayu Desai
> >
> > [1]: https://wiki.debian.org/SummerOfCode2016/StudentApplications/ChirayuDesai
> >
> > On Tue, Mar 22, 2016 at 2:41 AM, Hans-Christoph Steiner <hans@at.or.at> wrote:
> >>
> >> Chirayu Desai:
> >>> On Mon, Mar 21, 2016 at 3:30 PM, Hans-Christoph Steiner <hans@at.or.at> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>> Hey Chirayu,
> >>>>
> >>>> Chirayu Desai:
> >>
> >>>>>> package new parts of the Android upstream source, including the NDK, target platforms, emulators, Android Studio, etc.
> >>>>> This would involve more repositories being pulled under android-tools/
> >>>>> It would be made easier by the fact that the NDK is less coupled with
> >>>>> the build system than other tools, and there is also a repo manifest
> >>>>> to build only the NDK - which doesn't fetch too many repos, especially
> >>>>> if you don't count the prebuilt toolchains [3]
> >>>>
> >>>> Since Debian always builds everything from source, the prebuilts will
> >>>> count too. Unfortunately, those can be harder...
> >>>>
> >>> Right.
> >>> So that means even the prebuilt toolchains would have to be built from
> >>> their android fork?
> >>> That would be quite a bit of work.
> >>> Doable, but a lot to compile.
> >>
> >> Building everything from source is the end goal, but it is a large task,
> >> so it could make sense to provide some packages that download Android
> >> SDK/NDK binaries in an easy, automatic way (like the flash packages,
> >> some font packages, etc). But everything in the main Debian
> >> repositories must be built entirely from source.
> >>
> >>
> >>>>>> package and improve related tools, like apktool, androguard, fdroidserver, drozer, etc.
> >>>>> Doable, probably much easier as they would likely be independent tools
> >>>>> then be something so tightly coupled as android.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Overall, I view this as a good challenge for me, given this is a part
> >>>>> of android I haven't worked too much with before. And that too for
> >>>>> debian, which is something I've only used.
> >>>>> It would be a great experience for me to be able to work with the
> >>>>> debian project, and contribute with the help of the android knowledge
> >>>>> I've gained over the years.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> I'll upload a draft proposal to Google's site if the above looks okay
> >>>>> to you guys.
> >>>>
> >>>> Yes, sounds good, please upload a proposal!
> >>>>
> >>> I'll try to get it done by tonight, or tomorrow.
> >>> I have exams in college right now, so that is what I was busy with for
> >>> most of the day.
> >>> i do have two holidays coming up before the deadline though so I'll be
> >>> able to dedicate most of my time to this, and study things in detail
> >>> to write a proper proposal
> >>
> >> Ok, looking forward to it!
> >>
> >> .hc
Thanks for the pointers!
[1]: http://review.cyanogenmod.org/#/q/owner:%22Chirayu+Desai+%253Ccdesai%2540cyanogenmod.org%253E%22
[2]: https://github.com/chirayudesai/
[3]: https://android-review.googlesource.com/#/q/owner:%22Chirayu+Desai%22
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