Centralized bug reporting/control system for custom ROM developers? - About xda-developers.com

I wish XDA provided some form of centralized bug reporting/fixing control system, where bugs could be reported and resolution tracked. I think it would help both developer and end user: Developer could quickly evaluate which bugs cause the most pain. End users could judge stability of the custom rom by its load and severity of active bugs.
For this to work, developer, developers' trusted aid or third party should have a power to merge or delete duplicates to keep the noise out the system
What do you guys think?

That would be an awesome idea!
Browsing through 50 replies, or even 1000s of replies in order to see if a particular bug is solved is rather annoying... I can't even imagine how it is for the developers!

The biggest problem here would be users just needlessly filing things that are not issues.
Then devs would complain their ROM shows with more bugs, due to some idiot not being able to flash correctly...
It's a nice idea, but google spreadsheets can be used by a dev if desired etc...
Might work in small scale, but on big scale it would be a nightmare.

pulser_g2 said:
The biggest problem here would be users just needlessly filing things that are not issues.
Then devs would complain their ROM shows with more bugs, due to some idiot not being able to flash correctly...
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Click to collapse
I totally agree, if such system is left to its own devices it will quickly become overwhelmed and useless. That is why I said this:
"For this to work, developer, developers' trusted aid or third party should have a power to merge or delete duplicates to keep the noise out the system"
pulser_g2 said:
Might work in small scale, but on big scale it would be a nightmare.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, opposite is true. Small projects can be handled ok without centralized system. Any larger project requires it. That is why all for profit development companies and most open source projects have it. Some of the custom ROM development is more like the good sized open source project. Many ROM development threads have thousands of replys

Related

Get some organisation on the Forum topics

Is it just me or does anyone else get frustrated locating which handset they wish to look at when you navigate to xda-developers forum?
What I mean is the fact that the handsets are listed in no particular order... Blackstone is way down the list and Wallaby is at the top.
Can someone shuffle the list so that it's either in alphabetical list or order of release?
the list order at present makes no sense to me.
Thanks
It would help especially when you view the site from your mobile as you have to do a lot of scrolling and zooming to get to the right part.
spvc500 said:
Is it just me or does anyone else get frustrated locating which handset they wish to look at when you navigate to xda-developers forum?
What I mean is the fact that the handsets are listed in no particular order... Blackstone is way down the list and Wallaby is at the top.
Can someone shuffle the list so that it's either in alphabetical list or order of release?
the list order at present makes no sense to me.
Thanks
It would help especially when you view the site from your mobile as you have to do a lot of scrolling and zooming to get to the right part.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah
In fact it would be easier to have them organized by any criteria: Alphabetical, date of releasing, etc.
Maybe you can post this sugestion on (requests) From the Users to the Mods & Admins thread in About xda-developers.com forum
Second on the date of release or alphabetical order . It would make mobile browsing a lot easier.
Like many, I'm used to the way it is currently. alphabetical would be cool but then all of us would be lost
Actually, it's a good idea... i'll propose it to Flar.
Yeah
I suposed they were in appereance order but not sure
Well Mike has a great idea!
Hope it can be done
Was just about to start a new thread on this, but decided to just resurrect this one. It would be real nice if some other sort order for the forums was in place. At the least, group all phones by a manufacturer together. Currently, many Samsung phones are interspersed with those of other manufacturers making it a pain to find them. I think sorting them by popularity (# of posts in their respective General subforum) would be good as it would put the most used forums near the top, but alphabetical by either manufacturer name or device name would be fine, too, as it would make scrolling through them a lot easier.
Miami_Son said:
Was just about to start a new thread on this, but decided to just resurrect this one. It would be real nice if some other sort order for the forums was in place. At the least, group all phones by a manufacturer together. Currently, many Samsung phones are interspersed with those of other manufacturers making it a pain to find them. I think sorting them by popularity (# of posts in their respective General subforum) would be good as it would put the most used forums near the top, but alphabetical by either manufacturer name or device name would be fine, too, as it would make scrolling through them a lot easier.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Enable compact view for a manufacturer grouped system
pulser_g2 said:
Enable compact view for a manufacturer grouped system
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I always use "Find your device..." to jump around the forum, and I have in the Index in compact.
Dave
pulser_g2 said:
Enable compact view for a manufacturer grouped system
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did I never notice this? They're still only mostly in order of release, but that makes a huge difference, thnx!

are permsissions too obtuse for the average user?

i think guy brings up a good point and perhaps a decent solution. why not allow/encourage the dev's to explain a bit more. I'm a fairly adept nerd but when i'm installing an app sometimes i'm just not sure why in the world this app needs that permission...how is my mom or sister or anyone that i advocate Android to going to figure it out? why does this app need my coarse or fine location or full network access or access to the contact list etc...
and please do not say 'if you don't like what's listed, don't install the app'. that is exactly the point of this thread. the line items in the Review Permissions window don't always make sense. how can the average end user make a educated guess with the current system...they don't, they just start doing the same thing they do on their Windows Desktops...just click right on thru it. then what happens? some jerk writes a piece of malware. user has an issue. now its all androids fault. and viola, proof that linux based devices are still too geeky for avg use.
http://tech.shantanugoel.com/2010/08/14/android-permissions-malware.html
Unfortunately, there's no denying the cold, hard facts - ignorance is not bliss. Everything has a learning curve. Time and effort must be spent to educate users as to why <this> is happening and what it is doing for them. It's sad but true. Besides, if everything that required higher learning could be easily figured out I'm sure humanity would be freed from the shackles of poverty, war and hunger by now. So, yes, permissions are too obtuse for the average user. Unless they want to educate themselves on more generalized computing skills they'll never get it.
That's just my two cents. Sorry I couldn't be of better assistance
ok. so i wish to educate myself. please provide a full and detailed example listing why which permissions may be needed/used so that i will be able to make an educated choice. where is that link again?
i'm bringing up an issue...not asking for others to chime in and tell me how stoopid the end user base is. i'm an admin for over 10yrs. trust me ... i know. in this case i am also confused as are a large numer of folks. i understand the huge development curve android has experienced over the last 18mths. my concern is that if this issue is not addressed, even the folks that would take the time to read the Review Permissions page will give up. i know i have on more than one occasion. that's a bad trend.
Wow. You bring up a good point. Didn't mean to offend you or anything. I still don't have a good answer for you but I will let you know that I only install apps that I can trust usually after researching them via Google searches and talking about them with people here. I too am an admin (been a long, long 15 years now) and if there's 2 things I learned about recommending custom Android setups they are:
- If you think the user is going to use you as Wikipedia it's probably best to leave them at stock
and
- Only recommend this kind of stuff to users who are willing to accept responsibility for their actions otherwise you'll be the fall guy every time something goes wrong.
Again, I'm sure you know this and I didn't mean to offend you so..... bye.
Users can be pretty obtuse, and I think you're completely correct about the current permission system. However, I don't think it could be made much clearer without multiplying the number of permissions. Malware can exist because users consider certain permissions to be common. Conversely, apps with a good reputation can include permissions that make them wonder, "why would they need that?" Look at keyboards and how many people freak out when they go to enable them.
One thing that would be nice for users is if you could tap on a permission and the phone would display a short explanation of that permission. They probably aren't self explanatory for everyone.
beatblaster said:
- If you think the user is going to use you as Wikipedia it's probably best to leave them at stock
and
- Only recommend this kind of stuff to users who are willing to accept responsibility for their actions otherwise you'll be the fall guy every time something goes wrong.
Again, I'm sure you know this and I didn't mean to offend you so..... bye.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no offense. i do understand. there was a point in time where i used to openly provide paid tech support to home systems of my coworkers....it was a short point in time. lol. but i digress ... i may have come off too strong in my reply, i was just trying to prevent the thread from wandering off.
I've tried to post on this topic in the past but have not nothing useful. in and of itself, i find that kinda sad. I've even seen some folks suggest that people "take a trusting stance because most developers do not intend harm". i wish i could. but i'm out of college.
it would be wonderful if someone (ie: a google dev or just someone with knowledge of these things) were able to create a page that could give real world examples and general rules of thumb. currently i have only found a couple pages that cover a couple settings. not nearly enough to be of much use.
Saturn2K said:
One thing that would be nice for users is if you could tap on a permission and the phone would display a short explanation of that permission. They probably aren't self explanatory for everyone.
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Click to collapse
I concur.....I look at the permissions that apps ask for all the time. However, if I see a battery management app is asking me for full internet access and access to my contacts, I just pass on it. A lot of times you can figure out if an app is requesting bogus permissions just by using common sense.
rugedraw said:
I concur.....I look at the permissions that apps ask for all the time. However, if I see a battery management app is asking me for full internet access and access to my contacts, I just pass on it. A lot of times you can figure out if an app is requesting bogus permissions just by using common sense.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if your app is paid for by advertisements then it will need Internet Access so it can retrieve ads...thus paying the developer. often that's where i see 'coarse location' used as well...for regional specific ads. so in those cases, not nefarious use but a perfect example of what I'm talking about. thank you.
the problem with the current permissions system is twofold;
1) as mentioned, there is no details WHY or WHAT FOR a particular permission is required
2) its all or nothing, ie you can't give permission for network access and restrict access to contact list, etc. You have to accept all the requested permissions or deny and not install the app.
fwiw: There is an app in the market called "permissions" that tells you not only the permissions each app requires but it gets VERY specific. Within each permission category there is a whole list of specifics.
It won't help with apps you haven't installed yet but it's good info on the ones you already have.
*edit- Just revisited this app, it's not as detailed as I remember.
just a lil bump...
bumpity bump ...
nothing? at all?

[Q] Needed:Android Apps Emulator for BADA

HELLO Xda !!!
I am a Noob from Germany !!
We all who use Bada Os have a serious Issue with the APPS !! so i want to know whether U guys (the great guys who Ported Android to Bada) can Create an APP for Launching an Android app on BADA powered Devices ! !! (atleast for S8500 and S8530) !!!!!!!!!!!!
PLEASEE GUYSSSS U CAN DO ITTTTTT !!!!!!!!!!!
Try it yourself? You make others happy with that
wilmervanheerde said:
Try it yourself? You make others happy with that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah ! but I just started with C and C++ !!! so I cant !! only the Experts like XDA can handle this !!
lol why you write random words with capital letters any emulator requires countless hours of developing and does never reach the performance of the original system. and android apps have many rights that bada apps don't have so it would be impossible to run these without adjustments in the app itself. if you need these apps buy android.
shadowkavi said:
HELLO Xda !!!
I am a Noob from Germany !!
We all who use Bada Os have a serious Issue with the APPS !! so i want to know whether U guys (the great guys who Ported Android to Bada) can Create an APP for Launching an Android app on BADA powered Devices ! !! (atleast for S8500 and S8530) !!!!!!!!!!!!
PLEASEE GUYSSSS U CAN DO ITTTTTT !!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don`t think that anybody would develop anything like that but everybody is waiting for Oleg`s release of the Android 2.3.3 for the Samsung Wave, so soon there could be a stable version of Android working on Bada. It works already but with a couple of bugs which make it impossible to use the phone for a long period.
In fact, this could be done with enormous efforts. As on the new BlackBerry PlayBook there will be android application support, it is not impossible from technical point of view. There are two different project for this, one is AlienDalvik (I think this will be on BB PlayBook, but it's just a hunch) and the other is IcedRobot (this one is in the very begining of the project). Google them for more information.
I think the biggest problem for us is the Bada SDK, as it is nowhere near ready to accomplish this big tasks... Of course this is just my 2 cents.
Edit: you can find some information about porting Dalvik here: http://groups.google.com/group/android-platform/msg/a177b156d338c513?
But I'm sure I'll not start it...
OK, just trying to make something else out of the bull**** about how cool would be to have a Dalvik port, can anybody say what API would be missing to have a Dalvik VM as a bada application? I know Dalvik is far more than JDK, but I never seen any deep analysis. Back several years ago I played on some embedded platform to put J2ME there (I do get the difference) and porting KVM to hello world level took me something like a weekend or so. Again, comparing KVM to Dalvik makes no sense but honestly, to say that porting makes no sense, we should at least have an estimate of effort and missing API.
BADA should open up then for its own good
If Samsung ever decides to open up more apis for an android apps emu
it will be best for BADA. Bada doesnt even have PSX, N64 emus like android has.
Im missing out on a lot of exciting apps like the ones mentioned because there is no developer working on these apps for BADA.
If bada ever comes out with an emu for Android Apps then ill be in line
im even willing to pay for it.
As for not performing at native speed thats what they said for the psx and N64 emus on android but look at where they are now.
BADA isnt that different from Android it just needs to open up more APIs to
take up the slack.
Thats all reliant on samsung.
the app could possibly emulate these apis too like calendar etc or what else is missing (dont know what it is). so for calendar just create an empty one...
or (to make the point clear) instead of using camera it could show a picture and the android app would work and just think that camera is not moving
...but i'd really appreciate an n64 emu for bada
If I wasn't precise enough I'll just put that in one question:
What exactly (as specific as possible) is missing in the API?
mijoma said:
If I wasn't precise enough I'll just put that in one question:
What exactly (as specific as possible) is missing in the API?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you were clear enough, we just doesn't have answer to your question. I barely developed anything with the Bada SDK, just played with the different versions. But I know that there were no sprintf, sscanf, qsort etc. when I tried it. Maybe this is not issue with Dalvik. And I saw that SDL was ported to Bada (even if it's not free and/or publicly available) so big scale ports can be done, but I can't see the developer community which is capable and willing to do it...
anghelyi said:
I think you were clear enough, we just doesn't have answer to your question. I barely developed anything with the Bada SDK, just played with the different versions. But I know that there were no sprintf, sscanf, qsort etc. when I tried it. Maybe this is not issue with Dalvik. And I saw that SDL was ported to Bada (even if it's not free and/or publicly available) so big scale ports can be done, but I can't see the developer community which is capable and willing to do it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think any library functions are to be the problem. Most of them are either easy to replace or source code is publicly available. I rather tend to think what hardware abstraction / OS interface might be missing. It is repeatedly brought up that there is missing API, but noone gives any detail. What I suspect is that missing API is far less important than memory requirements, but it'd be nice if someone actually had a look.
About the community I share the opinion that it'd be difficult to get the right people doing this. There is much discussion on XDA how to bring this forum back to developers, so we can finally see more people working than whining.
There is much discussion on XDA how to bring this forum back to developers, so we can finally see more people working than whining.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh so you think it is so bad to have a lot of testers who are ready to kill their phones to prove that you are working in the right direction???
i noticed the disappearance of the Devs like you, Adfree , larieto(but he is in vacation) , Oleg and others
i still don't get it
Is XDA bad forum for the Devs now???
Best Regards
mijoma said:
I rather tend to think what hardware abstraction / OS interface might be missing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, you can be right. And according to this :
http://justanapplication.wordpress.com/category/dalvik/
"Implementing a large part of what is approximately Java 5 plus a large part of some version of the Android APIs (which version is of course another problem) is not exactly trivial given that many of the Android API methods are actually native methods, or call native methods almost immediately, and they often use Android platform specific features, for example, Skia and Surfaceflinger to name but two. In fact it is quite difficult to see how it can run the majority of Android applications unmodified unless it actually contains what amounts to a largish chunk of, not to put to fine a point on it, Android." (it's about AlienDalvik)
DalvikVM itself is pretty big and it needs a few libs to be able to run .dex files and a lot more to run Android apps. With the bada 2.0 we have approx. 240-250 MB free RAM after boot, if I'm not mistaken. This might be enough for some stripped-down Android libs+dalvik+app as we have around 70 MB for apps when booted into Android... I may try to compille dalvik alone if I had some time...
One more thing: there's a project to port DalvikVM to iOS with some progress: http://code.google.com/p/in-the-box/ so this is definetly not just a dream. In fact they have DalvikVM ported. (video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhyd18h_as4&feature=player_embedded)
mylove90 said:
oh so you think it is so bad to have a lot of testers who are ready to kill their phones to prove that you are working in the right direction???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't feel satisfaction when an unaware 'tester' bricks his phone.
I'd prefer people that would contribute their time and knowledge instead. With large number of people unaware what they're doing and later messing forums with requests/DEMANDS for help we are not getting any further. When I asked for help in relatively simple task of downloading and checking bootloaders with a PC app there was little response.
mylove90 said:
i noticed the disappearance of the Devs like you, Adfree , larieto(but he is in vacation) , Oleg and others
i still don't get it
Is XDA bad forum for the Devs now???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, apart from me actually working hard in RL for past 3 months, I won't say much about others here at bada forum. Generally, XDA is going through hard times with developers being bashed and flooded with excrements from growing number of people feeling that clicking 'donate' is same as buying someone's time and other groups that think developers simply owe anything to users.
With going further down this path at some point the forum would have to change the name to 'xda-noobs.com' as all the devs would be gone leaving all that whining behind. Fortunately, the mods and admins do care and take actions, so I hope it will stimulate more hard-facts discussions.
anghelyi said:
DalvikVM itself is pretty big and it needs a few libs to be able to run .dex files and a lot more to run Android apps. With the bada 2.0 we have approx. 240-250 MB free RAM after boot, if I'm not mistaken. This might be enough for some stripped-down Android libs+dalvik+app as we have around 70 MB for apps when booted into Android... I may try to compille dalvik alone if I had some time...
)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait a Minute !!! YOU CAN DO IT ??? Where can I buy the Time for you ?? Man thats an awesome News !!!!!!!!!!! I love to hear that !! !! what about the APIs and the things that other guys are talking about ?? Is it possible to bring it on BADA ??? AleinDalvik??? REPLY MY FRIENDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD !!
Hold your horses as you're simply misinterpreting and clearly should go look up what is Alien Dalvik.
VM is one thing, runtime is the other. While compilation should not take too much time, creating runtime environment won't be that straightforward.
mijoma said:
Hold your horses as you're simply misinterpreting and clearly should go look up what is Alien Dalvik.
VM is one thing, runtime is the other. While compilation should not take too much time, creating runtime environment won't be that straightforward.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, indeed! I just wanted to say that I'll check if the core libs could be compiled at all without much modification if I had time. But Dalvik alone is not barely more than having a console based java re...
mijoma said:
Hold your horses as you're simply misinterpreting and clearly should go look up what is Alien Dalvik.
VM is one thing, runtime is the other. While compilation should not take too much time, creating runtime environment won't be that straightforward.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
let android apps run on non android devices
this is what Alien Dalvik does ,right ??
it runs on N900 !! cant we make it to run on Bada ?? Yes or No ??
shadowkavi said:
let android apps run on non android devices
this is what Alien Dalvik does ,right ??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all, Alien Dalvik is a commercial PRODUCT, not a general concept. Dalvik as it is does not really require android to run.
shadowkavi said:
cant we make it to run on Bada ?? Yes or No ??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you say 'we' who do you really have in mind? What will be yours input?
If you wish to ask the question in that tone and receive a binary answer, then your answer is No.

[REF] How To Post and Promote a New ROM

This is a short summary of some important general points for posting new ROM's.
It should be considered as an optional "add-on" to the general thread:
"Galaxy S I9000 Android Development **STICKY THREAD** Read here first!"
The number of man hours spent working and developing new custom ROMs are astronomical! So why then, is it that so few new ROMs are successful? Basically because of lack of information and poor public visibility/involvement of the developers themselves. It's just like in any other successful business, you have to make your product or service stand out from the rest. Either by making an amazing product or by being a great inspiration for others to follow. Here I will try to explain and list some fundamental ideas, in order to make your ROM better and more popular.
When a would be ROM flasher is looking around for a new ROM, he searches the web and the XDA-forums for threads, usually beginning with the text "[ROM]". Next he/she look at the FIRST page where the developer (and his/her team) is presenting the various features of their new design. What is presented there will often be a decision maker for whether or not someone wants to try it out.
There are a few things that consistently differs between "good" ROMs and "bad/poor" ROM's. These things are often and naturally related to the amount of information available around the ROM in question. Someone who have put down enough mind, sweat and hart into the production (cooking) of a ROM, would also like to share his/her effort in the best possible way, not minding writing a detailed and useful description about their product. The items found below are part of some of these things that do MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
- Primary Purpose:
Essentially a description why you want to provide this ROM and why you think it is needed. What are the main features and driving forces for providing this ROM?
- Ultimate Gaming Experience
- Super stability
- Super Compatibility
- Great Battery Duration
- Minimalistic User Interface (UI)
- Simple to use functionality
- Latest and coolest never seen before interface behavior
- Fully loaded with ultimate editions of absolutely everything
- Mobile Penetration Testing Platform
- or perhaps just for educational or experimental purposes etc...
- Up-to-date Maintenance:
That means an active developer (or group of) who are readily available to answer questions from users of all levels, new or advanced! Often that they should be inhumanly available at all times of the day & night!
- Up-to-date Firmware Release:
That means the the source of your ROM is preferably based on the latest, but publicly available code/firmware. Not on some hidden leaks or old hacked code. When I say "hidden leaks" here, I mean the kind where the origin of the code (compiled or not) cannot be verified or downloaded. (BMW doesn't make car/sales advertisements using 2 year old engines from unknown/secret sources!)
- Detailed CHANGE-LOG:
People want to know that what they flash on their phones, is as close as possible to what they would like to see and use. Also from a paranoia perspective most of us would like to know that it doesn't contain 3rd party or other strange applications that we will never use, or which will give us trouble when we want to add/update applications, at a later time. A description of the various applications is also very useful. Most people would wonder what the "DarkBotSendHelper.apk" is doing on a phone.
A change-log would ideally consist of a list with:
- Title: Change Date and the custom ROM Version the changes apply to
- Full application name
- Full application version
- Short application description
- Link to application source-code, if available
- Link to application on "Android Market"
- Reference to what hacks has been made, if any
- Reason for why the hack is needed
- Unresolved BUG-LOG:
A brief log of bugs and unresolved issues that affects the current release. It is hard to explain without cussing how annoying it is to flash a new ROM, just to find out that some WiFi issue has not yet been resolved, which was posted on page 456/1200! If people post bugs/issues, that cannot be immediately resolved, please add those issues to the BUG-LOG, on the front page.
- Screen Shots! Updated Screen Shots!
The importance of good screen shots can never be enough emphasized! Many ROMs are updated continuously and if the screen-shots doesn't match what the user installs, he's gonna go WTF!, and will start to peppering your support threads with questions about how to install this and that, and how to get the same themes you are using in those screenshots, or from another different ROM altogether! You wouldn't be able to sell a new BMW with a picture of an old Volvo, would you? So why do you think a ROM would be any different? Also include a brief caption about the essential feature(s) shown, for each picture.
- Detailed Installation Instructions
This hardly need more explanation apart for making sure you also say something about:
- WIPE/No-WIPE
- Bootloader Requirements
- Recommended Procedure
- Detailed Device Compatibility List
Yes, the same gross model name/number of a particular device, may very well have some minor variations that can render the device completely incompatible with software from it's apparent twin-brother. Or even certain Firmwares may not be compatible to slight manufacturing variation. See for example the "Samsung Galaxy S" with their sub-models GT-I9000(B/M/T), and to complicate things further, even within the same model there may be slight differences, like in the PCB of the USB-port of the SGS2 GT-I9100.
- Detailed Language Compatibility
What do people use their phones for? Communication! Sure, some use them as a game pad, but after all it is primarily a browsing and communication device. So if you can't use your primary languages with your device, it is useless! Although some network operators are only beginning to understand that most of the connected world is at least bi-lingual and often much more. Thus it is of essence that your phone's keyboard, screen-reader and web-browser can read, display and understand most characters and alphabets around. (I.e. I still fail to understand why it is virtually impossible to find a phone with Russian, English, Spanish and Norwegian keyboard layouts/character sets or at least let me select these my self!) In addition it is very confusing for a first-time ROM flasher to understand the need for all the various PDA/PHONE and CSC region settings, which are often modified and re-packaged for a well cooked ROM, and thus no longer adhere to the original regional code.
So when you cook your ROM, please provide as much information as possible regarding how the user can adapt their phone to his/her own languages. This information includes at least:
- What languages are available for basic operation (the operating system)
- What languages are available for the keyboard mappings
- What keyboard applications can use these languages (Swype, Samsung Keyboard etc.)
- Simple instructions how to include, use and set the phone languages
- List of Technical Terms and Definitions that describe the ROM
The world of mobile device development is packed by technical jargon and abbreviated terms. Many times they are also abbreviated and used in the wrong context, although some the community know what it means. Simplify your vocabulary and clearly define your terms and stay with community standard ones!
- General Presentation
Like any other business presentation, please skip the HUGE fonts in a zillion colors. Most of us are neither blind nor illiterate, but you may risk to come across as being both, with those type of fonts. Remember "KISS"? - Keep It Simple Stupid.
- SPELL CHECK!!
It's embarrassing and very annoying to read descriptions of how great, professional and how well maintained a particular ROM is, when the text is riddled with misspellings, wrong words and childish grammatical errors. Although most of us are very understanding that we are living in a multicultural and multilingual society, sometimes all I think about is, how a person who doesn't know how to spell check, could ever be able to cook a mobile phone ROM. Most text editors feature at least some basic spell checking, bloody hell, USE IT!
- CREDITS
Most of the Android development community is completely driven by voluntary and open source work. Make sure to include the correct credits to those persons who have contributed to the various info/hacks/software that you include in your ROM. Use a separate list for the credits, that include the name (handle) and how/what he/she did to contribute.
2 Good Examples:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1350763
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1155776
Final Words:
It is very likely I have missed something here, or that you (as a developer or moderator) disagree on something I have written here, if so, please provide your constructive comments how I can improve this list and post.
In Great Expectations and Hope for Many New Amazing ROMs!
- E:V:A -
PS. This was posted in the "Developer Section" as it applies only to new ROM development threads, and I wouldn't consider this neither as "Q/A" nor "General". But if OP/MOD know of a better suited place, please just move it there...
Also I am not aware of a similar post to this one, even after searching XDA quite a lot. So if it already exists, it is not easy to find and should be reposted or stickied!
<Reserved>
@E:V:A
The only thing that I missed so far is a thread like yours.
Agree on all requirements of released software.
Sometimes I wonder how some "devs" priorities are stacked regarding quality control vs. early delivery on pay-per-download sites.
Not sure what is best place for this thread. Counting # of posts in General asking Q already answered in stickies, it's kind of accepted to skip reading what's there. :-\
Perhaps keep it alive as hottest thread here?
Tapatalked - There's a Thanks button somewhere
I like this
One thing you must add while promoting your ROM.. That is CREDITS.
Rahulrulez said:
I like this
One thing you must add while promoting your ROM.. That is CREDITS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
YES! Not giving credit where due is horrible, basically just forgetting all the hard work another individual has put in to the "feature" of your ROM. Also, this should probably be in general.

Sage Advice from Cyanogen Still Valid Today

If you’ve spent any amount of time on XDA, you’ve heard of XDA Recognized Developer Cyanogen or the nearly ubiquitous CyanogenMod. In fact, chances are that at you’ve either run CyanogenMod on one of your devices at some point in the past, or you’re running it (or a kanged version) now. In many ways, CyanogenMod represented all that was good about Android Open Source Project (AOSP) and proceeded to go where the carriers and manufacturers were unwilling to take their devices. Along the way, Cyanogen inspired developers everywhere to reach for what was previously lacking in the Android community.
Cyanogen also saw an emerging trend which he wasn’t too happy about – the term “chef” being applied to the Android custom development scene, along with the emergence of the so-called “WinZip ROM.” So he created a thread back in 2010 to speak to this emerging trend and offer up some advice. The overriding theme was that contributing quality was far more important than contributing quantity on XDA.
He had this advice to offer for those looking to make their own Android ROMs:
Stop. Write an app or two first, learn how the system works from a developer standpoint. Learn some Java. Read the developer documentation. Learn how to use Git. Then learn how to build AOSP from source. Read the porting guides, and learn how the build system works….. Now try to put your new found skills to work on enhancing the platform by writing code or making theme overlays. And share! And put that s**t on your resume. There is a *ton* of information out there but any kind of “step-by-step rom cooking guide” is going to be a complete fail- it’s too broad of a subject.
As XDA has grown right along with the meteoric rise of Android, so has a desire of users to create their own ROMs, kernels, themes, and so on. Much of this work classifies as “original development,” but there’s been a growing trend to what many are calling “derivative development.” This category covers most of ROMs based on stock releases from the manufacturers, applying patches and scripts aimed at optimization, theming and/or removing stock applications, and using “kitchens” that run a stock release through a list of scripts and then repackage as a recovery-flashable update.zip. This is what Cyanogen was expressing frustration about—shortcuts being taken to achieve a product that differs only slightly from stock (derived) and pushed out instead of building from source and delving into the core of Android and making something truly original.
XDA-Developers exists first and foremost for developers. It’s at the core of who we are; it’s in our blood; and it’s in the air we breathe. There is a place for derivative works—they provide an entry to the scene which can help to introduce people to the wonders of Android. But let’s not stop there. Don’t be satisfied with just creating yet another derivative of someone else’s work. Instead, follow Cyanogen’s sage advice and learn about Android from the ground up, and create something truly original and innovative.
Here are some locations to help you on the path to learning about Android and contributing to the community as a whole:
Android Developer Guides
Working with Android Source
Downloading the Android Source
Git Tips and Tricks
Building CyanogenMod
Pro GIT Book
source : http://www.xda-developers.com/android/sage-advice-from-cyanogen-still-valid-today/
original source : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=667298
Well put and a great reminder for all.
Side note - What is with all the "reserved" posts? This has to stop, its just spam. I will delete all posts on sight and repeat offenders will have their ability to post removed.
Sorry to divert the topic.
andyharney said:
Well put and a great reminder for all.
Side note - What is with all the "reserved" posts? This has to stop, its just spam. I will delete all posts on sight and repeat offenders will have their ability to post removed.
Sorry to divert the topic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
moved and cleaned...nice..
i was also curious of the so many reservations
anyway, the message is clear..
Dev = Creator(File Pusher)
Chef = Indirect Piracy? LOL
For the chef thing is my opinion since its just improvising, not really creating

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