How to do build process

[pdroidarroyo]

Hello,

I'm looking to help contribute to openpdroid patches, and I was wondering what the build process is.

For example:

How do I edit the openpdroid code? which IDE would you guys suggest?
How do I create the patches once i've made changes?

What were the issues that have caused this project to have problems?
What are the future changes that you are looking to implement.

[mateor]

I responded to your email, but never heard back. That response had at least some of the above questions covered in it.

In a nutshell:

• I stopped provided end user support because OpenPdroid needs an update and an overhaul for me to have confidence in it, and I don't have the time to do it. It specifically broke for some custom roms in January and I didn't have the time to fix it, so I closed support. But I was not going to reload the autopatcher for android 4.5 (or 5.0) regardless.
• To apply the patches to a aosp-based tree, I would use github.com/mateor/patchScripts. I have an update doming to that soon, but the gist is there. Edit the top of the scripts to specify your specific paths. There is also exact instructions in the README in this repo. As for IDE, no suggestion really. I know a lot of people use Eclipse, that might be the easiest.
• How to make patches was spelled out in the email. But just commit your changes in git, and then do a git diff. That is how I do it.
• Open Issues that need immediate attention are: cell tower location bug (there is an active issue somewhere) and then learning any changes from Android 4.2 til now and covering those changes. I had made significant (but stalled) progress on instituting a "default deny" policy as well as adding some of CollegeDev's logging changes. Those are on the long term list if you need ideas.
• The main issue is that having Pdroid be effective means really deeply understanding how Android works and what changes each AOSP update brings. It takes a pretty big commitment to stay consistent. I could no longer give that commitment, so rather than push out a possibly flawed product, I decided to be upfront and shutter. I would love to see it continue, I wish you luck.
• The number one thing OpenPDroid needs is a better installation method. Auto-patcher is awesome at it's job (truly) but it is not an ideal solution for end users. I have heard noises aboutr secure phones and hardened roms. OpenPDroid would be a natural fit for those. But it needs some deep attention. The GPL license is also holding it back, I think some commercial products have written their own implementations because they fear our license. That is unfortunately not going to change, as you know.

[pdroidarroyo]

I haven't disappeared. I don't know if i have enough time to work on this. But I am looking at it. Is there other people willing to contribute? This sounds like it requires a team not just one person.

[sethoscope]

I will have some time available starting in September and have been thinking about taking this on if I can get someone to join me. mateor, is there any hope of keeping you involved to some degree if other people commit to moving the project forward? Perhaps as a mentor and reviewer? I have a lot of catching up to do in that I'm not familiar yet with Android internals, but the project is important to me. Without this level of control over my device permissions, many otherwise appealing apps are completely unusable.

[mateor]

Yes, I will be available, and will be willing to help when I can. Just ping
me when/if something gets rolling.

[pdroidarroyo]

I've been trying to get pdroid manager working but without success. Its asking for privacymanager...

I'm using intellij. Do I need the entire android source code inside of it or can I just copy a jar file that android build creates?