[Android-tools-devel] Android SDK license

[Hans-Christoph Steiner]

Google requires that.  Its something they add. It would be work to
remove it.

.hc

Jack Dodds:
> Thank you for your reply!
> 
> I still don't understand why the user has to accept a license.
> This is not the normal situation with free software. It is also
> not clear what license is being accepted, especially if, as you
> say, every component has tis own license. I'd really appreciate
> your help in understanding this.
> 
> Is it possible that the SDK source includes code that checks
> some parameter in the installed software to determine whether
> the SDK licence has been accepted? If that is the case, why
> can't that code simply be removed from the Debian version?
> 
> Let me say that I think the developers' effort to get this
> software into Debian is important for the future of free
> software and I appreciate it very much.
> 
> Jack Dodds
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hans-Christoph Steiner <hans at at.or.at> wrote:
> 
>> The Android SDK lets each SDK package have its own license.
>> Those can be any kind of license. Usually, the full text of
>> the license is in the repository XML, for example:
> 
>> https://dl.google.com/android/repository/repository-12.xml
> 
>> .hc
> 
>> Jack Dodds via Android-tools-devel:
>>> I sent this post to debian-android-tools at lists.debian.org but
>>> that list seems to be inactive. If this post appears twice in
>>> anyone's Inbox, my apologies.
>>>
>>> I have searched the list archives for a few years back for posts
>>> with "licence" of "license" in the Subject and did not find
>>> anything that really answers my question. So I hope someone can
>>> explain.
>>>
>>> The wiki at https://wiki.debian.org/AndroidTools includes the
>>> statement:
>>>
>>> "The binaries for the Android SDK downloadable from Google have
>>> a proprietary license but the source code is free software so
>>> Debian is packaging it."
>>>
>>> But, the wiki also contains a link to an introduction to
>>> building apps at
>>>
>>> https://wiki.debian.org/AndroidTools/IntroBuildingApps
>>>
>>> and in that page there is the statement: "Accepting SDK license
>>> - - To use the android-sdk you must accept its license. At the
>>> present moment there are some ways to do so, but none of them is
>>> perfect."
>>>
>>> There a reference to "a git repository containing all the needed
>>> licenses" at
>>>
>>> https://github.com/Shadowstyler/android-sdk-licenses.git
>>>
>>> But, the file called android-sdk-license in that repository
>>> contains nothing but a 40 character hex string, presumably a
>>> hash of the actual license.
>>>
>>> So, my questions:
>>>
>>> 1. If the source code is "free software", why does the user have
>>> to accept a license?
>>>
>>> 2. Where is the full text of the license to which the user is
>>> agreeing?
>>>
>>>
>>> Searching for the actual license on the Internet, all I could
>>> find was this:
>>>
>>> https://developer.android.com/studio/terms
>>>
>>> which includes the following [EMPHASIS added by me]
>>>
>>> This is the Android Software Development Kit License Agreement
>>> ...
>>> 1.3 A "COMPATIBLE IMPLEMENTATION" means any Android device that
>>> (i) complies with the Android Compatibility Definition document,
>>> which can be found at the Android compatibility website
>>> (http://source.android.com/compatibility) and which may be
>>> updated from time to time; and (ii) successfully passes the
>>> Android Compatibility Test Suite (CTS).
>>>
>>> 2.1 ... You may not use the SDK if you do not accept the License
>>> Agreement.
>>> ...
>>>
>>> 3.1 Subject to the terms of the License Agreement, Google grants
>>> you a limited, worldwide, royalty-free, non-assignable,
>>> non-exclusive, and non-sublicensable license to use the SDK
>>> SOLELY to develop applications for COMPATIBLE IMPLEMENTATIONS of
>>> Android.
>>>
>>> 3.2 You MAY NOT use this SDK to develop applications for OTHER
>>> PLATFORMS (including non-compatible implementations of Android)
>>> or to develop another SDK
>>> ...
>>>
>>> The above is clearly NOT a free software licence. I hope that
>>> this is the proprietary license for the SDK binaries referred to
>>> above - and that the licence for the source is something
>>> different.
>>>
>>>
>>> Thanks for your help,
>>>
>>> Jack Dodds
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Android-tools-devel mailing list
>>> Android-tools-devel at alioth-lists.debian.net
>>>
>> https://alioth-lists.debian.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/android-tools-devel
>>>
> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> Android-tools-devel mailing list
>> Android-tools-devel at alioth-lists.debian.net
>> https://alioth-lists.debian.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/android-tools-devel
> 
>