What is the license for the Android SDK Platform Tools? How free are they?
The SDK Platform Tools are great for removing bloatware from phones that can't be rooted, particularly the command-line tools.
I believe that at least the source is made available, but do not know how free the tools really are, especially since they are developed by Google.
Does anyone happen to know?
> The SDK Platform Tools are great for removing bloatware from phones that
> can't be rooted, particularly the command-line tools.
>
> I believe that at least the source is made available, but do not know how
> free the tools really are, especially since they are developed by Google.
>
> Does anyone happen to know?
android-sdk is in the Trisquel repo and appears to be under Apache 2.0,
with some additional data under CC-BY-SA.[1] Both are free licenses.
Would I be right in assuming that the android-sdk in the Trisquel repo is exactly the same as that found on the Android website?
I ask since Trisquel does remove non-free components/endorsements of programs at times.
Replicant started maintaining their own version of the SDK because the binaries you download from Google come with a proprietary license:
https://web.archive.org/web/20130908071448/http://replicant.us/2013/01/replicant-4-0-sdk-release/
http://code.paulk.fr/article0008/what-s-up-with-the-android-sdk
But this stopped not because Google changed their mind but because of Debian:
"Would I be right in assuming that the android-sdk in the Trisquel repo is exactly the same as that found on the Android website?"
I would not say that. Because what you get with Trisquel comes with freedom, and without the proprietary terms like "you may not ... copy ... modify... adapt, redistribute, decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble, or create derivative works of the SDK..."