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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, April 10 2013 @ 04:26 PM EDT |
> Can I - an end-user:
> A: Download Android
Yes
> B: Compile it for my device - whether the vendor of said device
> has entered that special licensing with Google or not
Yes
> C: Legally acquire the base (via an FLOSS license/method -
> in other words, I don't have to pay a dime for it)
> in order to run software that interacts with Google Store
Acquire, Yes; Don't have to pay a dime - Right; legally ???
> D: Legally acquire the base (ditto) in order to run software
> that interacts with Google Maps
See above.
Note in a link I posted near here the CyanogenMod guys received
a cease and desist letter from Google when they included the gapps
package in their build. That is why nowadays you find the packages
on other sites like mediafire or freaktab. It is my opinion, IANAL etc,
that Google is ignoring hackers who require a certain level of skill
and dedication, and not making a commercial venture from it,
much the same way Apple is is ignoring individual Hackintoshers.
Note that source code is not available for these gapps unless
as a device maker or network operatore you sign up for
Google's license conditions on the code. This also means
that the unofficial distributions are untrusted binaries.
You don't need the complete gapps package if you get access
to the Play Store, all the other apps can be simply dowmloaded.
I had an official vendor factory non-Google rom, then "found"
on the net the parts I needed [which I won't list here].
Those parts cannot be got from Google by a normal user.
Without them all other Google apps were non starters.
Note also in another link I posted near here Google's reply to
a hacker: [paraphrased] If you're not using a rom that Google has
approved to run with Google apps, then Google will not help you.
Is a basic stock Android from source.android.com so approved?
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