[Q] Android L Support

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DaringDomino3s

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Feb 10, 2013
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Bradenton
@rovo89
*If* I ever support ART on KitKat, then I wouldn't want to maintain two totally different codebases.

I agree with @tonyp that sharing uncompiled code source for other development is a good idea, actually quite clever (fends off the hungry trolls - "if you give a mouse a cookie..." well same goes for some users, except its a much longer book and has the same characters saying saying similar or identical things only pages apart.

A benefit of this is that you may be able to find peoole willing to act as maintainers after a working compilation is created for the kk ART.

kind of like a port-friendly version for the devices that don't get developed officially or not past 4.4.

This would benefit in more than one way, users of devices that will not see development development past kitkat, while freeing you from too much overload if you were to covrer dalvik, kk ART AND the hopefully final runtime in the next official release.

I actually never knew L's runtime differed from the ART on KitKat, i thought kk's runtime was experimental in that they wanted to prepare developers for its future implenentation, rather than it was in experimental form its self (even though i read the cautionary explanation when switching to it in dev options) are there differences in dalvik runtimes between builds, as well?

---------- Post added at 11:52 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:42 AM ----------

Why don't you keep L as a secondary rom(with MultiROM)? By doing so you can test xposed on L, and then switch to kitkat when you need your phone.

Seems a little too easy to me...

from what I've read and experienced, nothing is ever easy when it comes to debasing, not even testing...plus multirom is another variable that isn't necessarily stable and "L" can be a pain in the arse as a secondary rom with 4.4.4, as the user data can conflict with 4.4 when using L.
 

rovo89

Senior Recognized Developer
Jan 4, 2012
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I actually never knew L's runtime differed from the ART on KitKat, i thought kk's runtime was experimental in that they wanted to prepare developers for its future implenentation, rather than it was in experimental form its self (even though i read the cautionary explanation when switching to it in dev options) are there differences in dalvik runtimes between builds, as well?

Check the list of latest commits: https://android.googlesource.com/platform/art/+log/master
I didn't bother to count them, but there have been hundreds (if not thousands) of commits since KitKat. Each of them could break the hacks done by Xposed to inject code. Some of them actually do. Even since the release of the L preview, there have been lots of commits, e.g. the compacting garbage collector which might need to be considered.

Dalvik was more mature and stable. And it was mainly functional programming, whereas ART is highly object-oriented. As there is no stable "API" for accessing the internals, that's much harder to work with than Dalvik.
 
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DaringDomino3s

Senior Member
Feb 10, 2013
172
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Check the list of latest commits: https://android.googlesource.com/platform/art/+log/master
I didn't bother to count them, but there have been hundreds (if not thousands) of commits since KitKat. Each of them could break the hacks done by Xposed to inject code. Some of them actually do. Even since the release of the L preview, there have been lots of commits, e.g. the compacting garbage collector which might need to be considered.

Dalvik was more mature and stable. And it was mainly functional programming, whereas ART is highly object-oriented. As there is no stable "API" for accessing the internals, that's much harder to work with than Dalvik.

@rovo89 how are these commits https://android.googlesource.com/platform/dalvik/+log/master different from those you linked me to? There are many of them as well in dalvik, are these commits that do not interfere with your 'hacks'?

That was simply a question for my personal understanding. No point being made, for the record.

I admit I don't know too much about the actual workings of Xposed framework, but I understand thst the active nature of art in its own way would require a more complex set of hacks.

My suggestion was merely to pass the buck on to others for this current experimental kk art after a more formal version of art is emploed. It appears to not be that simple...I mean due to ARTs nature, I assume. I still see dalvik references in L, though, which is confusing to me.

An uninformed wish is that either the new runtime will be cleaned up enough so that a solution comes to you or that someone will just hack the new release to allow dalvik runtime instead. >magic!<

Was Xposed originally difficult to come up with for dalvik?
 

jukiewalsh

Senior Member
Sep 16, 2013
866
346
@rovo89 just want to say thanks for all the work you do. People let's not complain about it not being "fair" that he hasn't released a version yet. It's his framework, he'll release it when he's good and ready. People are either going to be complaining that it's not available or they're going to be complaining about it not working if an unfinished product is released. I guess asking for unfinished source would be a reasonable inquiry but only for real devs who want to learn (not me by far, I wish I had skills haha) but rovo don't be guilt tripped into releasing some bs, just ignore it and let the trolls continue to ask for eta's on a daily basis all the way leading up to release even though their question's already been answered.
 
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Massi-X

Senior Member
Nov 28, 2013
287
371
@rovo89 could you add an option for make coffee?
I asked this for year but you never hear me.Thanks!

PS.Ahahh in every case thanks for your work this is only for relaxing :p
 

rovo89

Senior Recognized Developer
Jan 4, 2012
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@rovo89 how are these commits https://android.googlesource.com/platform/dalvik/+log/master different from those you linked me to? There are many of them as well in dalvik, are these commits that do not interfere with your 'hacks'?

If you check the bottom of the first page, you will see that it shows changes of 6 months for Dalvik. For ART, it's 5 days. That's quite a big difference in the pure amount of changes.

Apart from that, Dalvik is used by pretty much every Android phone out there (except for a few developers). You think twice before making big change to such a widely used software, and they shouldn't be necessary for stable software. For ART, it's the other way around: It's not used widely yet, so it's less risky to make changes. It will be used widely, so it's a good opportunity to make them now. And ART isn't finished yet (e.g. the compacting garbage collector wasn't in the L preview), so these changes are also necessary.
 

toggly

Member
Aug 14, 2011
23
1
@rovo89, excellent work on Xposed - it is by far one of the best! Are you or will you be looking for users to help test Xposed on Android L?
 
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GermainZ

Inactive Recognized Developer / Retired Forum Mod
Aug 3, 2012
6,170
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Should we revive this thread ? I mean i would gladly donate at least 20 bucks for this.
I'm actually going to close it. Please see this post for more info, as well as the FAQ. Thanks. :)

I've also created and stuck a redirect thread which takes you to the relevant FAQ entry: "Does Xposed run on ART / Android 5.0 / Android L / Lollipop yet?".
 
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  • 79
    if you can get xposed running in android L developer preview it will make xposed available to kitkat with art ?

    "Getting it running" is one thing, whether it's good to publish it is another question. I've had a prototype of Xposed for the ART preview in December already. Barely tested, needed manual installation, probably failing here and there, but generally it did what it should. But already back then, I've seen that Google is still working actively on improving ART. They have made huge internal changes since then. Last weekend, I made my prototype compile against the master branch of AOSP and I had to introduce lots of conditionals. That's without knowing whether it will actually work, I just changed declarations, calls etc. to avoid compile time errors.

    The ART preview in KitKat and the ART almost-final in the Android L preview are different pieces of software. Maintaining support for both of them means basically twice the work, especially for testing. That, and the fact that ART in KitKat was just an optional preview (with potential bugs that may be incorrectly blamed on Xposed), makes it less likely that I will publish Xposed for the KitKat variant of ART. That's not a final decision, it depends on how ART development continues and how well I can support Android L. It's important that Xposed works fine on upcoming Android versions where ART is the only runtime. KitKat support would be a bonus if it's not too much effort to maintain in parallel.

    Oh, and for everyone who thinks that posting "pleeeeease" or "you have to support it" will increase the chances of publishing something: It won't. It will just annoy me and make it less likely.

    How about you just let him work on it and see how it's goes.
    There's literally no reason at all to bother him with questions, when he has something new to share he will, when he doesn't those questions will be just annoying to him. Not yours personally, but the sheer amount of people bombarding him with all kinds of art related questions just add up.

    Indeed. I have received lots of hints "hey, Android L is out now" - yes, I know. So for now, I have disabled PMs...
    By the way, I have just read the "How to Report Bugs Effectively" essay by the PuTTY developer. It's so true! :)
    62
    Yeah.. I'm currently playing around with it a bit, trying to get adb working in root mode and stuff which makes it easier to develop.
    It's indeed still a preview release, and it's a moving target (there are very strong signs that Google will update the preview before the final release). Root apps and even some normal apps don't work well at the moment. It's good that I can try what is necessary to get Xposed running, but I haven't decided yet whether I will work on a Xposed preview release for this preview ROM. I'll share some more thoughts once I had the chance to look deeper into it.
    17
    if you can get xposed running in android L developer preview it will make xposed available to kitkat with art ?

    How about you just let him work on it and see how it's goes.
    There's literally no reason at all to bother him with questions, when he has something new to share he will, when he doesn't those questions will be just annoying to him. Not yours personally, but the sheer amount of people bombarding him with all kinds of art related questions just add up.
    5
    @rovo89 how are these commits https://android.googlesource.com/platform/dalvik/+log/master different from those you linked me to? There are many of them as well in dalvik, are these commits that do not interfere with your 'hacks'?

    If you check the bottom of the first page, you will see that it shows changes of 6 months for Dalvik. For ART, it's 5 days. That's quite a big difference in the pure amount of changes.

    Apart from that, Dalvik is used by pretty much every Android phone out there (except for a few developers). You think twice before making big change to such a widely used software, and they shouldn't be necessary for stable software. For ART, it's the other way around: It's not used widely yet, so it's less risky to make changes. It will be used widely, so it's a good opportunity to make them now. And ART isn't finished yet (e.g. the compacting garbage collector wasn't in the L preview), so these changes are also necessary.
    5
    Thanks for the hint. I have extended the FAQ item about ART with a link to this thread.