From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.io!.POSTED.blaine.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Thomas Fitzsimmons Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Android port of Emacs Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2023 11:49:29 -0400 Message-ID: References: <83v8fnslfz.fsf@gnu.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Injection-Info: ciao.gmane.io; posting-host="blaine.gmane.org:116.202.254.214"; logging-data="5993"; mail-complaints-to="usenet@ciao.gmane.io" User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org, Po Lu To: Eli Zaretskii Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Fri Jun 16 17:50:27 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 1qABiT-0001K4-QN for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org; Fri, 16 Jun 2023 17:50:27 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1] helo=lists1p.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1qABhg-0000nV-7k; Fri, 16 Jun 2023 11:49:36 -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 1qABhe-0000nL-Kx for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 16 Jun 2023 11:49:34 -0400 Original-Received: from mail.fitzsim.org ([69.165.165.189]) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1qABhc-0005so-M0; Fri, 16 Jun 2023 11:49:34 -0400 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; q=dns/txt; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=fitzsim.org ; s=20220430; h=Content-Type:MIME-Version:Message-ID:Date:References: In-Reply-To:Subject:Cc:To:From:Sender:Reply-To:Content-Transfer-Encoding: Content-ID:Content-Description:Resent-Date:Resent-From:Resent-Sender: Resent-To:Resent-Cc:Resent-Message-ID:List-Id:List-Help:List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe:List-Post:List-Owner:List-Archive; bh=oe0Yl116qhFaDekH6Tinrwb4cKjmA2DRwX5pJ7WQOfQ=; b=jamCTBzSDouapRSlUlwRPNw5MH 3mdmI1EUGHUEC7gMP2PZn21lIGcYZfQXec2cRN+4DcHPx2T4d1CZwDO9+2w94S0BUSI3EyfJ2byif jegtXlTXb9Dubg4psPnDCaC+WHP7b39hF58iCtJqfnqOuLuIEpCWCmcPHe4UpWejso2ioU0R/q/Gy tyQrXNGSWJACKVi8qDbCQoNaCGEXZR75Gmx3cqhNxlyxz5JEzKf6QfPuoN6OZT+ffbGrMBWxHP34k tjWjDNoCcv56ca6vx9FpjEfJiCF/qeLjY/B1gOysCcb7VrbXsVFONalLqurzvtLvRvKz0NwVHqrWx 3HL5AYBA==; Original-Received: from [192.168.1.1] (helo=localhost.localdomain) by mail.fitzsim.org with esmtpsa (TLS1.3) tls TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 (Exim 4.94.2) (envelope-from ) id 1qABha-000ghO-2g; Fri, 16 Jun 2023 11:49:30 -0400 In-Reply-To: <83v8fnslfz.fsf@gnu.org> (Eli Zaretskii's message of "Fri, 16 Jun 2023 14:20:16 +0300") Received-SPF: pass client-ip=69.165.165.189; envelope-from=fitzsim@fitzsim.org; helo=mail.fitzsim.org X-Spam_score_int: -20 X-Spam_score: -2.1 X-Spam_bar: -- X-Spam_report: (-2.1 / 5.0 requ) BAYES_00=-1.9, DKIM_SIGNED=0.1, DKIM_VALID=-0.1, DKIM_VALID_AU=-0.1, DKIM_VALID_EF=-0.1, SPF_HELO_NONE=0.001, SPF_PASS=-0.001, T_SCC_BODY_TEXT_LINE=-0.01 autolearn=ham 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:306836 Archived-At: Hi Eli and Po, Eli Zaretskii writes: [...] > Given these IMO significant downsides, I wonder whether we should > maintain the Android support as part of the upstream project. It > sounds like a non-trivial maintenance burden that relies on a single > developer. Should we really commit ourselves to this additional work, > from now on? > > An alternative would be for the Android support to be a separate > project on Savannah. Maybe in the long run this would be better? > > I think this deserves a serious discussion and a more-or-less > agreed-upon decision, before we decide to land the Android branch and > thus commit ourselves to supporting the Android port. > > Once again, apologies for bringing this up so late. When the work on > this port started, I had no idea the result will be anywhere near > where it is today, or I would speak up much earlier. FWIW, I'm already using Emacs on GrapheneOS (a distribution of the Android Open Source Project whose add-on components are all free and open source software) for at least viewing text files, with M-x server-start. Great work Po! I'd like to see the port mainlined so that I can easily build/use the same version from the same branch on my desktop and mobile computers. My main worry about the port, from a maintainability standpoint, is how to cross-compile Emacs for Android using entirely free software. (For an extra challenge, my workstation is PPC64, so I can't use pre-built x86-64 binaries.) Po, are there steps I can take using a free toolchain to generate an APK that I can try on my device? I have seen other Android projects that claim to be buildable only with Gradle which AFAIK is free software, but they are Java-only, but I haven't tried myself. Can Emacs be built using gradlew? Is the NDK required to build Emacs for Android? (Note, I am not arguing that needing a proprietary SDK should preclude the Android port's inclusion though, since AFAIK it is not possible to cross-compile Emacs for Macintosh operating systems using only free tools.) Thomas