Re: [GSoC] Introduction and Project Discussion

[Hans-Christoph Steiner <hans@at.or.at>]

Your application looks good!

.hc

Chirayu Desai:
> 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
>