Any word from any one on when the devlopers will get the source code for this phone? I realize that this will help everyone developer wise get a better handle on kernels and greatly help the community.
I went back to GB for a second there but the charging issues have gotten out of control with the kernels which is why I'm starting to wonder when the sourrce will be released. We obviously need it to make further advancement with the community ROMs at this point.
I also seen where HTC said that they will unlock their bootloaders here soon.
Thanks for any one who contributes to this conversation.
Gingerbread? Or Froyo? Cuz Froyo been out...
Thunderbolt «» das BAMF Remix
Kid_Cudi said:
Gingerbread? Or Froyo? Cuz Froyo been out...
Thunderbolt «» das BAMF Remix
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like Kid Cudi as well first of all.
What I mean is and I'm probably not going to use the right term here but the RIL or perhaps SDK.. Bear with me here I'm good at trouble shooting stuff but not programming.
I was googling it didn't help me get the right term lol. Chime in who ever knows what the hell I'm talking about here lol.
The kernel source itself has been out for quite some time. We will never see the "source" for the RIL (Radio Interface Layer) because it is proprietary on both HTC and Qualcomm's side. That's about as simple as it gets.
ProTekk said:
The kernel source itself has been out for quite some time. We will never see the "source" for the RIL (Radio Interface Layer) because it is proprietary on both HTC and Qualcomm's side. That's about as simple as it gets.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I think it's RIL. It's what the Cookers keep stating they're waiting for to finish their ROMs like CM7 for instance. The developer for it states that he's waiting for RIL to be able to officially finish his work. We really need to get this released from HTC so we can fix some of the issues people are having with CM7 and the leak for GB. I went back to Froyo because of the issues the leaks having with charging etc..
thewebsiteisdown said:
Any word from any one on when the devlopers will get the source code for this phone? I realize that this will help everyone developer wise get a better handle on kernels and greatly help the community.
I went back to GB for a second there but the charging issues have gotten out of control with the kernels which is why I'm starting to wonder when the sourrce will be released. We obviously need it to make further advancement with the community ROMs at this point.
I also seen where HTC said that they will unlock their bootloaders here soon.
Thanks for any one who contributes to this conversation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HTC and google do not have to release any of the android source if they don't want to because the source (NOT THE KERNEL) uses the apache license, which is very permissive like the BSD/MIT licenses. It lets you use any code additions you make to the source for commercial projects without having to give it back unless you choose to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_license. This is why google doesnt have to release the Honeycomb source as long as they didn't make any additions/modifications to the kernel itself.
Google went through lots of effort as well to make sure they would not be bound by the GPL by writing their own clibs based off of code from various BSD ports. See here for an interesting article on some of the low level features of android (it's a bit old, but most of it is still relevant). http://codingrelic.geekhold.com/2008/11/six-million-dollar-libc.html
The kernel (like all linux kernels) is GPL and must be released.
RIL will be released when it is finished. Slayher is working hard as hell on it. Not saying anyone is under appreciating just give the man some time and soon we will all have MIUI and CM7 running flawlessly on our devices.
miketoasty said:
RIL will be released when it is finished. Slayher is working hard as hell on it. Not saying anyone is under appreciating just give the man some time and soon we will all have MIUI and CM7 running flawlessly on our devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think there is a misunderstanding here. The RIL from Slayher is not the same as the RIL from HTC/Qualcomm.
Slayher will merge his "source" into the public CyanogenMod repo once he deems it's ready.
On the other hand, the "source" from HTC/Qualcomm is a whole different subject. We won't be getting a drop of it from them. Not now, not ever.
miketoasty said:
RIL will be released when it is finished. Slayher is working hard as hell on it. Not saying anyone is under appreciating just give the man some time and soon we will all have MIUI and CM7 running flawlessly on our devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I deffinately appreciate all the hard work. I just thought that HTC had to release this info. I didn't know that Slayher or any other coder could just reverse engineer it.
thewebsiteisdown said:
I deffinately appreciate all the hard work. I just thought that HTC had to release this info. I didn't know that Slayher or any other coder could just reverse engineer it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No the RIL source and Sense source run under the apache license which states that the software developer can use the open source code but does NOT have to repost anything he or she produces.
So it is up to our dev's to do that and make it readily available.
Related
Looks like 2.1 was just released! Woot!
Looks like the changes are just being put into the git as well.
Now we are just left waiting for the kernel source drop so we can take advantage of the nifty 3d acceleration stuff.
dchadwick said:
Looks like 2.1 was just released! Woot!
Looks like the changes are just being put into the git as well.
Now we are just left waiting for the kernel source drop so we can take advantage of the nifty 3d acceleration stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmmm I didn't think about this only sounding exciting to me.
dchadwick said:
hmmm I didn't think about this only sounding exciting to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are certainly not the only one. Once we get the kernel source will we finally begin to see a healthy amount of ROMs?
I really miss my G1 simply because of the sheer amount of options I had.
illogic6 said:
You are certainly not the only one. Once we get the kernel source will we finally begin to see a healthy amount of ROMs?
I really miss my G1 simply because of the sheer amount of options I had.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I miss my G1 too and if the Nexus Wasn't only compatable with T-Mobiles 3g network it would be tempting with the kernel in the Android Source tree and Cynanogen building roms for it.
illogic6 said:
You are certainly not the only one. Once we get the kernel source will we finally begin to see a healthy amount of ROMs?
I really miss my G1 simply because of the sheer amount of options I had.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We won't get kernel source compatible with 2.1 until after HTC releases a 2.1 ROM for the Hero, if even then (since HTC thinks they are immune to the GPL). Some bits from the 1.5 kernel source will be useful for uprev'd Android releases, but it will not bring the full feature set.
cmccracken said:
We won't get kernel source compatible with 2.1 until after HTC releases a 2.1 ROM for the Hero, if even then (since HTC thinks they are immune to the GPL). Some bits from the 1.5 kernel source will be useful for uprev'd Android releases, but it will not bring the full feature set.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nah, I think your exactly right. Any kernel release at this point would be helpful.
cmccracken said:
We won't get kernel source compatible with 2.1 until after HTC releases a 2.1 ROM for the Hero, if even then (since HTC thinks they are immune to the GPL). Some bits from the 1.5 kernel source will be useful for uprev'd Android releases, but it will not bring the full feature set.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Given the kernel source I am fairly sure we could reverse the rest in a few days, the only thing keeping us back now is the lack of a frame of reference on exactly what they did to make CDMA work on GSM code.
Nanan00 said:
Given the kernel source I am fairly sure we could reverse the rest in a few days, the only thing keeping us back now is the lack of a frame of reference on exactly what they did to make CDMA work on GSM code.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There isn't much difference between the gsm kernel and cdma kernel with regards to radio functions. The kernel's job here is to present devices after boot, so that libhtc_ril.so can communicate to the hardware (/dev/qmi# and /dev/smd#). If you look at the code in gsm kernel, there is very little there, all the hard stuff is in the black box libhtc_ril.so. The shared library is called through the system_server process, which ends up being called by the framework, which is called by the phone app (or some other app) to make calls, send sms, etc. Notice that all it really took to get the leaked 2.1 working for basic phone functions was a config change in build.prop, telling the RIL to expect/use CDMA instead of gsm/umts.
The above can be said for other areas where we have difficulties, camera, sensors, lights, etc. All the kernel does is present devices or memory areas that user space things can manipulate. This allows HTC (and other phone makers, like Motorola or Ericsson) to keep their "important" code away from the GPL'ed kernel. A side effect is that when changes are made in Android where it expects stuff in /dev that are not present in the .27 CDMA kernel. This is why sensors and other stuff doesn't "just work", the 2.x code expects things that are not present in the only kernel we have.
Finally, Android framework is for the most part Apache licensed, hence why HTC and other phone makers are not required to release their changes to the Android system. This is why I had to reverse engineer the changes HTC made to send MMS on Sprint, for example. They had no obligation to publish those changes.
Yeah, I know...let's get a stable Froyo first.
But...
I pulled the 2.3.1 (gingerbread) source, and it's currently building. I hit a couple of snags, but I'm off and running so far.
I've also compiled the latest 2.6.36 kernel -- compiled, not tested! Don't get excited just yet.
I'm not going to lie, I'm green to android. But I've worked with Linux professionally for 15+ years. I've been compiling kernels since Linus released 2.0 oh so long ago. Building Linux x86 from scratch (go gentoo linux!) is nothing new to me. But android and arm...ehh...bear with me.
So is anyone else trying to do this? I'd like to collaborate and hear about your progress and any problems you've had. No need to try to reinvent wheels or anything.
Step 1 is getting it to boot...
Here's my 2.6.36 kernel zImage file and .config build if anyone is curious.
My suggestion...change your title to [Dev] AOSP Gingerbread. Start a github or similar repository and get cracking. I'm sure there are plenty of people that would consider jumping on board. With the Nexus S source out, some things shouldn't be TOO hard, but I think porting the CDMA stuff is probably a huge challenge.
plapczyn said:
My suggestion...change your title to [Dev] AOSP Gingerbread. Start a github or similar repository and get cracking. I'm sure there are plenty of people that would consider jumping on board.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
id jump on board if i knew what i was doing
Glad your focusing on this! I don't think we have to finish froyo to start gingerbread. Not sure how much I can help but hit me up if you need anything done.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk
I glad too see that someone is taking initiative here. My thinking all along is the drivers for froyo will most likely work in someway for gingerbread but without kernel source for froyo yet, I would think you would have to start from ground up. But good luck to you regardless.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
This is delicious. Now it only needs sauce.
Everyone can learn from the OP's example. Less posturing more action.
msponsler said:
Yeah, I know...let's get a stable Froyo first.
But...
I pulled the 2.3.1 (gingerbread) source, and it's currently building. I hit a couple of snags, but I'm off and running so far.
I've also compiled the latest 2.6.36 kernel -- compiled, not tested! Don't get excited just yet.
I'm not going to lie, I'm green to android. But I've worked with Linux professionally for 15+ years. I've been compiling kernels since Linus released 2.0 oh so long ago. Building Linux x86 from scratch (go gentoo linux!) is nothing new to me. But android and arm...ehh...bear with me.
So is anyone else trying to do this? I'd like to collaborate and hear about your progress and any problems you've had. No need to try to reinvent wheels or anything.
Step 1 is getting it to boot...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
About time!
Thank you for working on this. I never really understood the source argument. I just put gingerbread on my old hero and everything works except for camera and screen rotation. It sure as hell doesn't have an official/leaked release or even froyo source. Anyways just ranting about the things I hear. I know I dont have the skills to work on this stuff, so thanks for the effort.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
I have it just about booting(;
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
somedude0608 said:
Thank you for working on this. I never really understood the source argument. I just put gingerbread on my old hero and everything works except for camera and screen rotation. It sure as hell doesn't have an official/leaked release or even froyo source. Anyways just ranting about the things I hear. I know I dont have the skills to work on this stuff, so thanks for the effort.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, I had froyo on my hero long before I even thought about switching to the epic.... and they've made so much progress on gingerbread... I often wonder whether I made the right choice or not going with the epic. Although the evo doesn't have a keyboard and is really square, it gets a lot of attention and has had many official updates. I wish samsung would get off of their asses and just release the source.
I'd love to help out any way I can. I'm not a programmer, but I hve a great understanding on what the issue is. I had a hero before the epic, and they have fully functional froyo despite never having kernel source. One would have to be built, cause I don't think samsung is going to really support us that much longer (if at all) and give us any hope for gingerbread source. The trickiest part is the cdma/wimax radios (wimax still not supported in cyanogenmod for evo).
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
bubby323 said:
I have it just about booting(;
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you build gingerbread from source?
What kernel are you using?
I built a 2.6.36 last night...but the more I thought about it, the more I realized it doesn't do me any good as it is right now.
I've downloaded samsung's kernel source for 2.6.29 and I'm trying to get the modules for the video, radio, etc... to compile with 2.6.36.
The nexus s is using 2.6.35, which is fine when it comes to the video drivers, wifi, and such....but it doesn't do us any good when it comes to 3G because tmobile doesn't use CDMA, so it wouldn't have the same radio kernel modules.
I'm currently running noobnl's cyanogenmod (froyo) on my epic, and that has a 2.6.32.9 kernel. I'll have to take a closer look at how you built that kernel.
Thank you for your initiative OP! I appreciate it.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
nerdtaco said:
Thank you for your initiative OP! I appreciate it.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seconded! I know nothing about developing software but I'm a pretty good test dummy =)
This is pretty kickass. Is there anything in particular you could use for help? I have some limited experience with both linux and android specific kernels.
furysama said:
This is pretty kickass. Is there anything in particular you could use for help? I have some limited experience with both linux and android specific kernels.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At this point I don't necessarily need any assistance. But thanks for all the offers!
If I have any questions / requests I'll sure to let everyone know!
Thanks!
The only other question i have is this: how difficult is it to integrate Samsung's 4g drivers into an AOSP mod? Now, I know if we wanted to keep it 100% AOSP it would be... difficult. But is it possible to run a 90% AOSP mod, and just keep the drivers for 4G in the AOSP kernel?
furysama said:
The only other question i have is this: how difficult is it to integrate Samsung's 4g drivers into an AOSP mod? Now, I know if we wanted to keep it 100% AOSP it would be... difficult. But is it possible to run a 90% AOSP mod, and just keep the drivers for 4G in the AOSP kernel?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very very difficult considering it took a team of developers a few months on the EVO to get 4G working with a AOSP kernel. I guess it will depend on how Samsung releases the code, they'll probably not release the 4g code because it doesn't fall under the GPL. If they were to release the drivers as modules that could be included in a kernel, that would be great, but I doubt they'd do that either.
In other words... don't hold your breath...
-Daryel
daryelv said:
Very very difficult considering it took a team of developers a few months on the EVO to get 4G working with a AOSP kernel. I guess it will depend on how Samsung releases the code, they'll probably not release the 4g code because it doesn't fall under the GPL. If they were to release the drivers as modules that could be included in a kernel, that would be great, but I doubt they'd do that either.
In other words... don't hold your breath...
-Daryel
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The reason it took the CM team so long is because they developed their own drivers from the ground up. I'm willing to bet that it's much easier to rip the drivers out of the kernel we already have than to replicate the work that the CM team did.
The GPL licensing is *why* the CM team developed their own drivers; not because its impossible to get Samsung's code, but because doing so would have violated the licensing terms of Samsung's code and of Cyanogenmod.
Just saw this on CM site thought i could share
http://forum.cyanogenmod.com/topic/16699-sgh-i897-cm7-first-look/
It is almost there.
Nice! Can't wait for it to go on beta.
Swyped from my Froyo-ed Captivate.
hunkyn said:
Just saw this on CM site thought i could share
http://forum.cyanogenmod.com/topic/16699-sgh-i897-cm7-first-look/
It is almost there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look nice, can't wait for a release that we can flash.
Is this version built for Captivate? Or ported from vibrant or I9000?
Sent from my PHOENIX PHONE!!!
This looks sweet, Ive not flashed my phone before to another ROM but this looks like the ROM im gonna go with.
Pardon on my ignorance, but what is the difference between Cynogen compared to other ROMs available (e.g. Firefly, Serendipity, Cognition...)
hadoyama said:
Pardon on my ignorance, but what is the difference between Cynogen compared to other ROMs available (e.g. Firefly, Serendipity, Cognition...)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CyanogenMod is completely open source and built from source, based on google's AOSP code drops. Firefly/Serendipity/Cognition are merely repacked (and de/recompiled) versions of Samsung's code. It's like asking the difference between linux and windows
Kaik541 said:
CyanogenMod is completely open source and built from source, based on google's AOSP code drops. Firefly/Serendipity/Cognition are merely repacked (and de/recompiled) versions of Samsung's code. It's like asking the difference between linux and windows
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've pledged to donate my organs few years ago. Thanks.
Jerky video is jerky. :S
I'll wait until something reliable and stable comes out. Don't want to be all:
"DUUUURRPP A HUUURRPPPP GOT ME SOME CYANOGEN MODZ!!1!"
On the first day, only to have it crash or form a singularity or something. Though, it IS a wonder as to how these developers haven't been offered jobs or something.
Verfassergeist said:
Jerky video is jerky. :S
I'll wait until something reliable and stable comes out. Don't want to be all:
"DUUUURRPP A HUUURRPPPP GOT ME SOME CYANOGEN MODZ!!1!"
On the first day, only to have it crash or form a singularity or something. Though, it IS a wonder as to how these developers haven't been offered jobs or something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
to be honest, a lot of them already do have jobs. also, I know from personal interactions with him that atinm actually works with a group of people and makes a lot of startup businesses and then sells them
I'm pretty sure they're all set up in terms of careers for the most part.
the cm7 build i did from last night is actually pretty stable, there are some werid qurks like cant charge your phone off and wifi sleep might causes crashes, otherwise its pretty damn usable as a daily driver. i hope they will bring out a beta release soon
what a long boring blurry video.....;
have been using the 2/25 CAPTIVATE build and like stated above its very very close to stable. Aside from the mentioned wifi, charging, camera, external usb mounting bugs and the tilt sensors being a bit flakey this thing kicks a$$! It so smooth its makes the lagfixes so far seem like childplay. also i freaking love turning the screen off!
I can see why they are urging people not to post repo builds yet but im glad they posted a "test" version for people that feel comfortable with odin and cwm. Id like to take this moment to thank the cyanogen team for putting up with the constant 'clutter' the last week with "when is it ready, why doesnt this work, will you put this in?" GAH! for that alone i plan to donate 20 dollars when this things done lol.
OH, and just as a VERY early warning, dont be surprised if MKV/other codec video files dont work even AFTER the first actual release. Basically to skim the argument the sources for these codecs are NOT open source and NOT a part of the AOSP design..so we might just be out of luck. Like i care thou lol
Kaik541 said:
to be honest, a lot of them already do have jobs. also, I know from personal interactions with him that atinm actually works with a group of people and makes a lot of startup businesses and then sells them
I'm pretty sure they're all set up in terms of careers for the most part.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I meant jobs with Google or the phone companies, but one would guess that being forced to create bloatware or something along those lines wouldn't agree with their ideals of life, liberty (from bloatware) and the pursuit of happiness.
Looks pretty decent, other than the god awful theming and other undesirable cm bits.
Sent from my Captivate.
Cyanogen had applied at google but didn't get the job.
Sent using smoke signals.
Connor1 said:
Cyanogen had applied at google but didn't get the job.
Sent using smoke signals.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because Cyanogen is more open source then Google...
Sent from Xda Premium on a Captivate running Paragon 6
Kaik541 said:
CyanogenMod is completely open source and built from source, based on google's AOSP code drops. Firefly/Serendipity/Cognition are merely repacked (and de/recompiled) versions of Samsung's code. It's like asking the difference between linux and windows
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And it's also 2.3 Gingerbread instead of Froyo.
man, I can't WAIT for this to go beta!!!
havent seen this posted yet so im copy and pasting from rootwiki ORIGINALLY POSTED BY jimmyco2008
Hey all,
So I've been working on a site (which went live earlier today) to serve as a repository for ROMs, kernels, recoveries, things like that, and even news- Mecha Centre.
I've noticed that the Thunderbolt community is dying a bit, not only because of the age of the Thunderbolt, but because of the whole RIL Ice Cream Sandwich fiasco which suggests that Thunderbolt development is dead without HTC's releasing updates.
I've created this site to help revive/keep the community of devs and users alive, as well as to make it easier to locate ROMs and other files one may need for their Thunderbolt.
We're still working on the site, but we already have some live links and news, and I encourage everyone to check it out! We try to keep ROM files so as to avert the dreaded 404 dead link, and our goal is to update often and keep up with the developers and their ROM releases.
You can find out more about this project at MechaCentre.tk and contact us with any questions, comments, suggestions, etc. via [email protected].
Thanks guys! Long live Thunderbolt!
ugh... this doesn't belong in the development section, you didn't share anything you developed in this thread. also, jimmyco posted a thread in thunderbolt general here about his site already...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1787467
*Thunderbolt 4G*
RIL = Release it Late? I really have no idea what happened to shutdown development, but I keep seeing RIL all over every thread asking about it.
Shadow Death said:
RIL = Release it Late? I really have no idea what happened to shutdown development, but I keep seeing RIL all over every thread asking about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
RIL= radio interface layer... it is needed to get working data in ICS for this phone. development has slowed because developers have already created a ton of gingerbread roms and because it has proven extremely difficult to reverse engineer the ICS RIL without source. the RIL wasn't part of the source HTC published for gingerbread, but will be part of the ICS source... it'll give devs a base to start from in getting AOSP data for ICS anyway...
*Thunderbolt 4G*
quickdraw86 said:
ugh... this doesn't belong in the development section, you didn't share anything you developed in this thread. also, jimmyco posted a thread in thunderbolt general here about his site already...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1787467
*Thunderbolt 4G*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait a minute.....whats that sound??.....I hear banjo's
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2
quickdraw86 said:
RIL= radio interface layer... it is needed to get working data in ICS for this phone. development has slowed because developers have already created a ton of gingerbread roms and because it has proven extremely difficult to reverse engineer the ICS RIL without source. the RIL wasn't part of the source HTC published for gingerbread, but will be part of the ICS source... it'll give devs a base to start from in getting AOSP data for ICS anyway...
*Thunderbolt 4G*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for clearing that up. I have been trying to piece together what I've read here on the forums without having to start a thread. To be honest, if they would release the RIL development would pick up again. I think they need to look at Samsung's idea and reconsider their marketing strategy. The NS4G is over a year old now and the development is booming for them. The second the jb source released people were cranking out roms.
I love this phone but I'm not exactly crazy about the lack of encouragement HTC gives you developers.
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2
yeah... HTC will never release just the RIL, it's proprietary software. though i much prefer HTC products to samsung's, HTC is notorious for their questionable interpretation of GPLv2 where they feel they can wait 90-120 days after a release to publish source, even though no time period is stipulated and samsung releases source before, alongside, or shortly after their releases.
*Thunderbolt 4G*
You know, when the sdk for ICS released someone had managed to modify the rom built from the sdk to run on a 2.3.7 kernel on the NS4G. I wonder if a similar path would be possible with the RIL from the current AOSP roms for this phone. I have no idea how Android is structured so as far as I know I may just be blowing smoke with that idea.
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2
Shadow Death said:
You know, when the sdk for ICS released someone had managed to modify the rom built from the sdk to run on a 2.3.7 kernel on the NS4G. I wonder if a similar path would be possible with the RIL from the current AOSP roms for this phone. I have no idea how Android is structured so as far as I know I may just be blowing smoke with that idea.
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately getting the kernel to work with ics is relatively easy. Not much changed in the function of the kernel from gb to ics so only a little modification can make it work. The ril on the other hand requires much more modifications because the framework is tied in with the ril. Plus there are other factors that i cant explain that determine whether the rril will work.
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2
heath2805 said:
Wait a minute.....whats that sound??.....I hear banjo's
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if it's banjos, it's dueling banjos! lol
What goes into a fully functional ROM for an android phone like our beloved TB's? ICS for us has been an evolution of sorts. From what I understand, first we had woefully buggy ICS because we were missing something that only the manufacturer can provide (the RIL, whatever that is?). Sounded to me like the OS would work, more or less, but it was the calling and data that was missing.
Then we got our leak. The leak provided some critical component, but we still have imperfect ROMs. What did we get, and what do we still need?
I know our devs are leaner and meaner coders than the guys at HTC, and that there have been ROMs which are much improved over the initial BAMF one. But, have we gotten ICS to a sweet spot that can't be improved by an official HTC update? Or can we still benefit from it whenever the hell it comes out?
Duely blundered from my thunderdolt.
If I have to guess, you're seeing them hang back until something a little more refined than that leak comes out. The kernel source will be very helpful in getting some kinks ironed out related to the battery life problem of the leak. Also, I believe there are camera and camcorder issues that are kernel related. Kernel source never gets released until after the official update goes public.
Some of the devs may also be preparing Jelly Bean ROMs and not even paying attention to ICS anymore. I'm hoping for this, as we're still going to be one revision behind when HTC releases Ice Cream Sandwich for Thunderbolt. I've seen at least one dev state that ICS to JB is a snap, relatively speaking, so we should get some sweet 4.1 action fairly quickly one the OTA drops.
The ril was one component we were lacking but jester stumbled across something in his build that gave us 1x data and liquid figured out some of the rest. The main thing we are missing now is official ics kernel. The leak we got was a crappy test build and I think that was among their first test builds but that is just my opinion. Once we get kernel source for ics things will be much better. We also need a kernel dev too because imoseyon has moved on to other devices and won't have time for the thunderbolt.
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Yes, I am currently being a coward. Normally I could live without a camera and camcorder, but I just had a kid. Don't want to miss those moments because daddy hacks his phone.
So we got the RIL and need the kernel. After the real release comes out (probably by the time yet another version of Android will be out), we wait a few months, and bam we have the new htc stock ICS kernel. Is the only way to get it is from them intentionally releasing it? There's no way to reverse engineer it eh?
Guess we wont see another "lean kernel" then if Imo's out of the equation. Hopefully he's not the only show in town.
Duely blundered from my thunderdolt
Kernels can be hacked and changed to your liking but I think you can get into trouble if you publish it.
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Liquid's current ICS ROM is pretty damn good, if only with a few hiccups that can be fixed without the new kernel. I can't even imagine how good it could be with a new official ICS kernel.
Kernels can be hacked and changed to your liking but I think you can get into trouble if you publish it.
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Wouldn't imoseyon have gotten in trouble for all the great kernels he's released if that were true?
The Linux kernel is free for anyone to modify. If you improve it, you're expected to share your work. That's the beauty of open-source software.
If HTC doesn't release their source for the kernel but you hack it is what I mean.
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If HTC doesn't release kernel source, they will be in violation of the GPL. The only source they can legally withhold is their own software, like Sense, or proprietary driver files. They don't own the kernel, so they must release the source after they release an official ICS build, and they can't go after anyone for hacking it and publishing the source. Of course, if they never release ICS, the wouldn't have to release the kernel source, and some brave dev would have to figure it out. I hope that doesn't happen.
I suspect we're splitting hairs on this one.
Technically, HTC isnt allowed to withhold the kernel source at all. But they do. So reverse engineering / decompiling the kernel is completely legal.
I'm super excited for ICS/JB/BBQ/whatever. I'm running liquid's rom on my bolt right now. It isn't perfect, but I love the overall user experience. It's a shame these things take so long to move through the pipe, but I'm very appreciative of the efforts folks are putting in to make this happen. :good: