Using Shashlink to run Android Apps on Sailfish

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36

Using Shashlink to run Android Apps on Sailfish

asked 2015-07-17 20:01:12 +0200

elldekaa
361 ●3 ●3 ●5

updated 2016-06-23 01:01:25 +0200

palikao

4258 ●55 ●85 ●75

Source: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Shashlink-Android-Linux

Shashlik is an "Android Simulated Environment" to serve as a launcher for running Android applications on a conventional GNU/Linux distribution.

Shashlik will be presented later this month at KDE's Akademy 2015 conference as a new way for running Android applications on "real" Linux.

The talk abstract by Dan Leinir Turthra Jensen reads, "Shashlik, a collection of Android systems and frameworks as minimal as possible, built to run on a standard, modern linux system, using as much of the standard system as possible, and created to be Free/Libre from its inception. Shashlik is built to integrate into your existing system, whether it be a desktop, laptop, tablet or even a plasma based phone or television. While it is, as with such things, never completed, this presentation marks the first public release that you can grab yourself and play with, and you will see applications running through Shashlik on an entirely normal Plasma desktop."

What would be the viability of such an initiative on SailfishOS ? Could be a good way to improve the porting to alternative platforms (that don't have the licence for the android VM)...

Update:the first public release is out http://www.shashlik.io/news/2016/02/18/shashlik-0-9-0-kubuntu-package/

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You need to port the KDE Framework 5 too (at least parts of it) and it don't seem to be there yet, still much work before it's useful, but I guess they may need to look at some solutions from Jolla (just my guess).

Trizt ( 2015-07-17 23:11:54 +0200 )edit

KF5 is jut a set of Qt plugins, you need the right Qt version and the deps that are required except.

Thaodan ( 2015-07-18 17:55:23 +0200 )edit

You need to port the KDE Framework 5 too (at least parts of it) and it don't seem to be there yet, still much work before it's useful, but I guess they may need to look at some solutions from Jolla (just my guess).
Trizt ( 2015-07-17 23:11:54 +0200 )edit
KF5 is jut a set of Qt plugins, you need the right Qt version and the deps that are required except.
Thaodan ( 2015-07-18 17:55:23 +0200 )edit

Accepted Answer

17

answered 2015-07-30 01:13:32 +0200

nadir
920 ●22 ●34 ●35

updated 2016-06-13 23:02:02 +0200

Once its functioning, I'll look at porting it over. (Not a Jolla employee), and will try and get the apkenv guys involved.

UPDATE: I'll look at porting it once the code has been refactored, and after I've done sfdroid integration.

UPDATE 2: I'll look into sfdroid integration after I've gotten sfdroid working on CM12.1 Also seeing as running new apps in shashlik requires starting a whole new VM (which eats more RAM) it is not ideal for it to be run on phones, unless it's new ones with 4/6GB RAM. Plus I have plans of where I want to take sfdroid.

UPDATE 3: Once the porting is done to the same level as sfdroid for CM11 then we'll look at adding support for more of the sensors and such. All the while thinking how to make it device independent bear in mind that making it device independent will require a lot more work, for the end result being installing the same zip for each device with the same base. Making it base independent is also in the thinking phase.

As people have said, if you'd like to donate to help development of sfdroid then you can find a donation link in liar's signature here: http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p=1473846&postcount=1 (liar being krnlyng)

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For information, the first public release is out: http://www.shashlik.io/news/2016/02/18/shashlik-0-9-0-kubuntu-package/

elldekaa ( 2016-02-21 22:13:18 +0200 )edit

2

See If could get some crowdfunding to assist you for that.

I would DEFINITELY give some money to be able to get Android App support on community edition of Sailfish OS, e.g.: on the FairPhone 2.

DrYak ( 2016-03-09 16:41:02 +0200 )edit

@DrYak for sfdroid or shashlik or both? Although I'm not sure how crowdfunding is going to help. I suppose for sfdroid, we could use it to get devices with different bases and port sfdroid to them or if people/porters aren't willing to compile it for their device we could get the device and do it ourselves.

nadir ( 2016-03-10 12:45:14 +0200 )edit

@nadir I'm not him, but I second the thought, that I don't really care who gets my money if there's someone (Myriad or the sfdroid project or whoever) whom I can pay off and get Android on the FP2. I'm quite sure this is a community dream, if you will.

My needs aren't much more than Whatsapp and Signal so that shouldn't even be such a tall order.

mjtorn ( 2016-05-16 15:02:47 +0200 )edit

2

@nadir: back here.

Same opinion as mjtorn:

I use SailfishOS as my main everyday OS for most tasks (In my opinion, the second best OS on a smartphone I've had after my Palm Prē and HP Pre³ running webOS)
I still need to have Android apps support, for the fews uses where there is no native app (e.g.: my bank is a cooperative. They don't have the resource for e-banking app beyond Android and iOS)
I'm ready to throw money at solving this problem, I don't care how it is solved.
- SfDroid (running a whole CynogenMod in a separate app context. The whole android environment appears as a single Card in SFOS, all android app run in the same card).
- Myriad AlienDalvik (running a modified Dalvik "Google's I can't believe it's not Java(tm) !" environment. Each android App is a different app card in SFOS).
- Shashlik (a modified Android Open-Source, designed to run in a Qt/KDE environment, with KDE services providing services for what is normally provided by Google's commercial android offering).
Though I would prefere Shashlik a bit (it's open source - unlike Myriad's solution - and it's well integrated into the OS with Android Apps being first citizen apps on the OS).

Also, if Shashlik gets ported to be functional on SailfishOS, that the last show stopper which prevented me from installing SailfishOS Community Edition on all the devices I would like (like Fairphone 2).

DrYak ( 2016-05-17 20:49:49 +0200 )edit

Answer 2

6

answered 2015-07-17 21:08:46 +0200

Kollin
4658 ●49 ●69 ●69

updated 2015-07-17 21:10:23 +0200

Depends on the license, if i'ts GPLv2 , it's OK. If the license is GPLv3 the answer is no, Jolla hates GPLv3. If you are able to translate the following text in to "proper English" you'll know the answer. ;)

 * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or  modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as  published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of  the License or (at your option) version 3 or any later version  accepted by the membership of KDE e.V. (or its successor approved  by the membership of KDE e.V.), which shall act as a proxy  defined in Section 14 of version 3 of the license.

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They seem to say you can choose yourself which version of the gpl license you use: v2, v3 or, if later available, even higher versions.

Xmasjos ( 2015-07-18 03:51:58 +0200 )edit

4

@Kollin: This is incorrect - Jolla indeed seems to avoid GPLv3 in core system packages (most probably due to the anti-tivoisation clause not being popular among potential Sailfish Os licensors), even at the cost of having very old versions of some system components.

But that's not an issue for third party software/applications, many popular third party Sailfish OS applications, such as modRana, gPodder or Tweetian, are licensed under the GPLv3. :)

MartinK ( 2015-07-18 18:38:54 +0200 )edit

1

:D I know that dear @MartinK.

But, if Jolla is going to adopt "Android Simulated Environment", instead of Myriad, that's making it "core package". And I consider the licensing text, from above, murky (at best). ;) Of course, if some third party makes it, that's OK. ;)

Kollin ( 2015-07-18 21:16:01 +0200 )edit

3

If the license is GPLv3 the answer is no, Jolla hates GPLv3

Not exactly. They cater for vendors who are paranoid about GPLv3, but they themselves should be perfectly fine with it, since they are against DRM.

Actually it still bugs me that Mer has a lot of ancient packages which are stuck in 8 year old state (like bash) because they switched to GPLv3. How are old packages even justified security wise? Is anyone backporting security patches to them? Not long ago, a major security whole was discovered in bash. Anyway, Mer should make two sets. For everyone, and for DRM obsessed vendors.

Other than that, I fully support replacing closed Alien Dalvik with open Shashlik, as long as it will be functional.

Jolla indeed seems to avoid GPLv3 in core system packages (most probably due to the anti-tivoisation clause not being popular among potential Sailfish Os licensors)

That's somewhat insulting for them to assume everyone is DRM sick. Not all Sailfish vendors should be so bad!

shmerl ( 2015-07-30 05:04:47 +0200 )edit

3

@shmerl, most phone manufacturers like to run with locked bootloaders, which is a no-no from a GPLv3 perspective.

Keeping it GPLv2 simply means more manufacturers will be willing to pick up SailfishOS, rather than having to convince their management to run with an unknown os and also with unlocked bootloaders in one hit.

r0kk3rz ( 2015-07-30 10:32:41 +0200 )edit

Answer 3

0

answered 2016-05-20 15:49:49 +0200

DrYak

9624 ●93 ●134 ●128

http://www.sympato.ch/

updated 2016-05-20 15:51:17 +0200

And yet another possible candidate solution for Android Apps on Linux :

Google is launching Android Apps on ChromeOS using containers.

This time around, it's not ARC "App Runtime for Chrome" (which was running as a NaCl Native Client browser plugin), but it's full normal Android Runtime running in a container, with the necessary plumbing between android and chromeos done, so they could share necessary data.

(It's similar to what Shashlik is doing regarding Qt/KDE).

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That's completely closed source and have no plans to open source it, and ARC is dead.

nadir ( 2016-05-20 16:43:12 +0200 )edit

Using Shashlink to run Android Apps on Sailfish

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