Android 17 is the first since 3.x to add new APIs without releasing to the AOSP

Re:Android 17 is the first since 3.x to add new APIs without... by shevy-java on Friday September 18, 2026 @04:40PM (#49759972)

Well, it is time to realise that GPL and similar variants, are better in the long term. I like MIT too, but GPL worked so much better for the linux kernel. Google and others abuse the ecosystem of open source contributors here.

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Re:Android 17 is the first since 3.x to add new APIs without... by microtonal on Friday September 18, 2026 @04:48PM (#49760070)

You mean the Linux kernel that the GrapheneOS project has to request every update for and then has to wait up to weeks to get a Google Drive link?

The GPL is worth nothing if nobody is enforcing it aggressively.

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Re:Android 17 is the first since 3.x to add new APIs without... by nomel on Friday September 18, 2026 @05:47PM (#49760710)

Could you quote the part of the GPL that they're not adhering to (which you seem to be implying), in this situation?

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Re:Android 17 is the first since 3.x to add new APIs without... by microtonal on Saturday September 19, 2026 @01:36AM (#49763640)

There has been a long discussion about this a while ago on HN when these delays came up. The relevant blurb:

Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,

Many people argued that 'customarily used for software interchange' is worded-as is to always be relevant to the times when the license is applied and that providing access to a Git repository is customary nowadays. In fact:

- The upstream Linux tree is distributed through Git.

- The relevant Pixel kernel sources used to be distributed through Git.

IANAL, so I am not sure how this part of the license will hold up in court, but the spirit is clear. Providing a Google Drive link is not customarily used for software interchange.

Also, I think it is fairly clear that the procedure is put in place to make everyone's life difficult, given that the relevant source used to be distributed through Git.

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Re:Android 17 is the first since 3.x to add new APIs without... by dvdkon on Friday September 18, 2026 @05:42PM (#49760663)

The GPL is the only reason they even get that. More enforcement would certainly be good, but it's not like the GPL is worthless without a legal team backing you up.

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Re:Android 17 is the first since 3.x to add new APIs without... by mitxela on Friday September 18, 2026 @08:55PM (#49762274)

Yes, as opposed to the Fuchsia kernel where they wouldn't even get that. We're lucky Google is institutionally incapable of creating things.

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