Best way to develop iPhone apps without a Mac and OSX
Android development is pretty straightforward: get Eclipse, add Google's software source for ADT, and install the tools and SDK. Now Eclipse is a full out Android development platform and supports various versions of the Android kernel.
As for iOS (iPhone and iPad) development, I was told that the best way to make them is to use Xcode running on OSX due to the level of support for the Objective C language. For us that don't own the Apple hardware on the desktop or phone side, is there any hope for us in GNU/Linux land to make apps for it? I know that Apple is proprietary software and doesn't like the GPL that much, but it has a large marketshare and most of us can settle for MIT or Apache 2 licences to get our work to the large audience.
I'm asking those who have had experience doing iOS apps on GNU/Linux and have stuck with free tools and Objective C implentations available to us. I've researched on Google and talked to friends and I get the same answer: buy a Mac.
People are really discussing writing apps for the iPhone on the Trisquel
forums?
I ask because not only do I get good advice on these forums, but I believe MIT and Apache 2.0 licensed software will be accepted on Apple's store but GPL will not. Since both of these are GPL compatible licenses then it may be the best option until Apple accepts GPL. I also looked at a Stack Overflow link from 2009 which I'm guessing still applies today about non copyleft licenses being accepted and GPL not.
I still get confused when software is under a "MIT license" when its not clear if they mean Expat or X11.
Which model do you own? The iDroid Project is porting Google Android to Apple's mobile devices, currently iPhone 2G/3G and iPod Touch 1G. If you have iPhone 4/4G, you should consider switching to an Android-based "smartphone". Those from the Google Nexus series are your best bet because they:
-does not include ugly, third-party GUIs which are only eating a lot of battery power and also broke system functions (eg. 'Beam' on 'HTC One X')
-does not contain the built-in spyware called Carrier IQ
-are always one of the first devices which get the latest OS updates
-comes with unlocked bootloader
There is also an FSF-approved version of the Android OS called Replicant, which is a fully-freedom respecting Android fork. Here is a list of supported mobile devices (I recommend you either the 'Nexus S' with a Super AMOLED display or the *upcoming* 'Galaxy S', both from Samsung).
Forgot to mention that if you does not want to use Replicant for some reason (eg. there is no Android 4.0 spin yet) or if you want an appropriate replacement for the latest generation of iPhone, definitely go with Galaxy Nexus (until the next Samsung Galaxy S3 is released)! :]
Forgot to mention that if you does not want to use Replicant for some reason
(eg. there is no Android 4.0 spin yet) or if you want an appropriate
replacement for the latest generation of iPhone, definitely go with Galaxy
Nexus (until the next Samsung Galaxy S3 is released)! :]
I don't have an iPhone but I know people who do that I can test the applications on. I actually just upgraded an old non smartphone the other day to an HTC based Android one. I'm waiting for CyanogenMod 9 to have better support for it and of course if Replicant can support it, I will use that instead. I do think its cool that I can go to http://www.htcdev.com and officially unlock my bootloader.
Ha the double posts on these forums are killin me bro.
I got the HTC Rezound but it is shipping and will be here Thursday. When I
ordered it yesterday, they were having a deal through Verizon where it was
$50 and I had $50 previous credit from my old phone which made it $0. It came
with the Beats headphones, a 16GB SD card, and I believe it got the Android
4.0 recently or will very very soon.
It seemed like a great deal and although I do not see Replicant support,
CyanogenMod 9 has some test ROMs for it. Of course I will stick with the
stock firmware until the alternate ones are up there but I will of course
install Fdroid. :-)
Which model do you own? The iDroid Project is porting Google Android to
Apple's mobile devices, currently iPhone 2G/3G and iPod Touch 1G. If you have
iPhone 4/4G, you should consider switching to an Android-based "smartphone".
Those from the Google Nexus series are your best bet because they:
-does not include ugly, third-party GUIs which are only eating a lot of
battery power and also broke system functions (eg. 'Beam' on 'HTC One X')
-does not contain the built-in spyware called Carrier IQ
-are always one of the first devices which get the latest OS updates
-comes with unlocked bootloader
There is also an FSF-approved version of the Android OS called Replicant,
which is a fully-freedom respecting Android fork. Here is a list of supported
mobile devices (I recommend you either the 'Nexus S' with a Super AMOLED
display or the *upcoming* 'Galaxy S', both from Samsung).
I got the HTC Rezound but it is shipping and will be here Thursday. When I ordered it yesterday, they were having a deal through Verizon where it was $50 and I had $50 previous credit from my old phone which made it $0. It came with the Beats headphones, a 16GB SD card, and I believe it got Android 4.0 recently or will very very soon.
It seemed like a great deal and although I do not see Replicant support, CyanogenMod 9 has some test ROMs for it. Of course I will stick with the stock firmware until the alternate ones are up there but I will of course install Fdroid. :-)
˃ ...I believe it got Android 4.0 recently or will very very soon.
HTC Rezound comes with Android 2.3.4 (Gingerbread), but is upgradable to 4.0 (Icecream Sandwich).
˃ It seemed like a great deal...
Yeah, it is a great deal for people which have a contract with operator.
˃ ...I do not see Replicant support...
Replicant supports only few phones (HTC Dream/HTC Magic, Nexus One, Nexus S and Galaxy S support is yet to come).
Yeah I was supposed to get 4.0 by now but the update keeps getting pushed
back. I'm actually posting from it now (in car with gf) and been pleased.
I've been trying to stick to F-Droid for apps and limiting my time in the
Play market. Overall I am glad I went with an Android phone instead of iPhone
and Windows Phone.
˃ ...I believe it got Android 4.0 recently or will very very soon.
HTC Rezound comes with Android 2.3.4 (Gingerbread), but is upgradable to 4.0
(Icecream Sandwich).
˃ It seemed like a great deal...
Yeah, it is a great deal for people which have a contract with operator.
˃ ...I do not see Replicant support...
Replicant supports only few phones (HTC Dream/HTC Magic, Nexus One, Nexus S
and Galaxy S support is yet to come).
Yeah I was supposed to get 4.0 by now but the update keeps getting pushed back. I'm actually posting from it now (in car with gf) and been pleased. I've been trying to stick to F-Droid for apps and limiting my time in the Play market. Overall I am glad I went with an Android phone instead of iPhone and Windows Phone.
If the application is free software (what t3g wrote) and is available as well on GNU/Linux (so that users are not "forced" to use proprietary software to profit from the application), I do not see any problem.
I am a translator!
On 04/10/2012 06:30 PM, name at domain wrote:
> If the application is free software (what t3g wrote) and is available as
> well on GNU/Linux (so that users are not "forced" to use proprietary
> software to profit from the application), I do not see any problem.
I agree.
--
Antonio Esposito
https://kobe1024.wordpress.com/
I am a member!
The thing about iOS apps is that they aren't free. Sure, the source code might be Apache or BSD license, but the Apple Store legal terms and iOS restrictions block the user from exercising the Four Freedoms. This was at the core of the Apple/VLC licensing dispute (those people saying that FSF somehow "forced" Apple to stop distributing it were wrong; the Apple Store TOS legally conflicts with the GPL). What good is source code if the user can't do anything with it?
Also, since iOS apps are generally heavily tied to Apple's frameworks, developing a cross-platform iOS app is difficult. Apple actively tries to discourage or even prohibit it; one of the terms in the iOS developers' agreement used to be that the code in question was "originally written" with C or Objective C against Apple's frameworks (no cross-compilation or third-party compatibility libraries allowed). They since changed that due to developer pressure. You could theoretically write it for both Android and iOS, but only the Android users will get the full Freedoms of free software.
The only possible way to write truly free software for iOS would be to write for jailbroken phones, but this severely limits your reach.
Well part of the reason that Apple is scared of the GPL is that they were forced to release not only source code related to Objective C back in the day since it linked to gcc, but also with WebKit since KHTML was under a LGPL license. From that point of view, I think everyone benefited because WebKit is an excellent rendering engine and if Apple wasn't forced to contribute source code back to it, they would have kept it proprietary and the benefits to themselves. Although I don't use Safari, I do think that Chromium is an excellent browser and benefits from the LGPL forcing Apple to play by the rules.
Well part of the reason that Apple is scared of the GPL is that they were
forced to release not only source code related to Objective C back in the day
since it linked to gcc, but also with WebKit since KHTML was under a LGPL
license. From that point of view, I think everyone benefited because WebKit
is an excellent rendering engine and if Apple wasn't forced to contribute
source code back to it, they would have kept it proprietary and the benefits
to themselves. Although I don't use Safari, I do think that Chromium is an
excellent browser and benefits from the LGPL forcing Apple to play by the
rules.
People are really discussing writing apps for the iPhone on the Trisquel forums?
I ask because not only do I get good advice on these forums, but I believe MIT and Apache 2.0 licensed software will be accepted on Apple's store but GPL will not. Since both of these are GPL compatible licenses then it may be the best option until Apple accepts GPL. I also looked at a Stack Overflow link from 2009 which I'm guessing still applies today about non copyleft licenses being accepted and GPL not.
I still get confused when software is under a "MIT license" when its not clear if they mean Expat or X11.
I am a member!
I don't think Apple allows free software to run on its devices (and this will be true for the Mac in the near future). You can't get it into the iStore and users can't install applications outside of what is in the iStore.
Correct me if I am mistaken. My mind does fail after reading lots of different articles on the various digital restriction measures in place.