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Source code question
- Thread starter barrack
- Start date
That can be a bit of a tricky question.
In general, OEMs are required to release kernel source code (since it's derived from the GPL'd Linux kernel). They have no obligation to release source for proprietary hardware drivers (which is why Nexus devices get the compiled binaries published - that source code can't be included in the Android Open Source Project) or any of their proprietary software or applications.
Clear as mud?
In general, OEMs are required to release kernel source code (since it's derived from the GPL'd Linux kernel). They have no obligation to release source for proprietary hardware drivers (which is why Nexus devices get the compiled binaries published - that source code can't be included in the Android Open Source Project) or any of their proprietary software or applications.
Clear as mud?
Yeah that makes sense since the kernel is derived from the Linux GPL codebase.That can be a bit of a tricky question.
In general, OEMs are required to release kernel source code (since it's derived from the GPL'd Linux kernel). They have no obligation to release source for proprietary hardware drivers (which is why Nexus devices get the compiled binaries published - that source code can't be included in the Android Open Source Project) or any of their proprietary software or applications.
Clear as mud?
So do manufacturers normally release the binary drivers (if not the source code) for the mic/speaker/screen/camera/sensors/etc? Otherwise I'm not sure how modded roms like Paranoid can actually exist.
Sometimes manufacturers release drivers, often as binary blobs though, because they could be subject to NDAs with the component manufacturers, e.g. Qualcomm. Or sometimes if there's enough dev interest in a particular device and enough is known about it, an existing ROM can be pulled apart/reverse engineered and the required binary blobs and whatever else extracted and incorporated into things like Paranoid for a particular device.
This is why you got plenty of good ROMs to choose from for a Samsung S4 or an Oppo Find 7, and absolutely nothing whatsoever for that no-name cheapo thing that came from Ebay.