From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.io!.POSTED.blaine.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Stefan Monnier via "Emacs development discussions." Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Android port of Emacs Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2023 17:53:45 -0400 Message-ID: References: <83v8fnslfz.fsf@gnu.org> <121acd3282a64abf77d6@heytings.org> Reply-To: Stefan Monnier Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Injection-Info: ciao.gmane.io; posting-host="blaine.gmane.org:116.202.254.214"; logging-data="11908"; mail-complaints-to="usenet@ciao.gmane.io" User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) To: emacs-devel@gnu.org Cancel-Lock: sha1:65v9dxq6mZrOSQ7I6UPNLCTN9qo= Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Fri Jun 30 23:54:45 2023 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([209.51.188.17]) by ciao.gmane.io with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.92) (envelope-from ) id 1qFM4j-0002qP-KW for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org; Fri, 30 Jun 2023 23:54:45 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1] helo=lists1p.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1qFM40-0000Y7-B1; Fri, 30 Jun 2023 17:54:00 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::10]) by lists.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1qFM3w-0000Xo-Qc for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 30 Jun 2023 17:53:57 -0400 Original-Received: from ciao.gmane.io ([116.202.254.214]) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1qFM3v-0005E1-1i for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 30 Jun 2023 17:53:56 -0400 Original-Received: from list by ciao.gmane.io with local (Exim 4.92) (envelope-from ) id 1qFM3s-0001jo-I9 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 30 Jun 2023 23:53:52 +0200 X-Injected-Via-Gmane: http://gmane.org/ Received-SPF: pass client-ip=116.202.254.214; envelope-from=ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org; helo=ciao.gmane.io X-Spam_score_int: -16 X-Spam_score: -1.7 X-Spam_bar: - X-Spam_report: (-1.7 / 5.0 requ) BAYES_00=-1.9, HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS=0.25, SPF_HELO_NONE=0.001, SPF_PASS=-0.001, T_SCC_BODY_TEXT_LINE=-0.01 autolearn=no autolearn_force=no X-Spam_action: no action X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.29 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.io gmane.emacs.devel:307320 Archived-At: > Indeed. There is another data point that should, I believe, be mentioned: > users who want to run Emacs on an Android device can already do so, with > both its TUI and GUI, without any changes whatsoever on the Emacs side. See > for instance this five years old Reddit post: > https://www.reddit.com/r/emacs/comments/9m76ak/termux_package_emacsx/. That > post mentions the "XServer XSDL" X server; a year later the Termux folks > started the development of their own X server implementation for Android, > Termux:X11. FWIW, I tried to use that but found it unbearable. I can't remember all the annoyances, but there were many, and AFAIK there is no way for *us* to fix them. I do encourage people to contribute to the "X server on Android" to try and make the X11 build of Emacs usable on Android, but seeing how even the native X11 server's own maintenance is lacking manpower I wouldn't hold my breath. I also suspect that no matter how hard we/they work at it, it'll never work really well simply because of the "impedance mismatch" between the Android APIs and X11's. IOW, I think the Termux approach will inevitably remain a crutch. It's been a handy crutch in the absence of a real Android port, but the Android port offers a much better user experience, and should make it possible to write Emacs packages that are actually pleasant to use on a smartphone. Stefan