| page.title=Android Community |
| doc.type=community |
| doc.hidenav=true |
| @jd:body |
| <p>Welcome to the Android community!</p> |
| <p>The key to any community is, obviously, communication. Like most projects, |
| Android communicates via mailing lists. Because Android is an extremely large |
| project with many components, we have many discussion forums, each focusing on |
| a different topic.</p> |
| <p>Please check out the groups below, and join any that seem interesting to |
| you. Note that if you're a user looking for help with your Android device, |
| this page probably isn't for you; you should contact your carrier or retailer |
| for help with your phone.</p> |
| <p>Please note that if you're looking for information about building |
| applications for Android, you can find a separate set of groups for those at |
| our sister site, developer.android.com: <a |
| href="http://developer.android.com/community/index.html">http://developer.android.com/community/index.html</a></p> |
| |
| <h2>Getting the Most from Our Lists</h2> |
| <p>Please consider the following before you post to our lists.</p> |
| <ol> |
| <li><b>Read the <a |
| href="{@docRoot}community/groups-charter.html">Charter |
| for our forums.</a></b> This explains the (few) rules and guidelines for our |
| community.<br></li> |
| <li><b>Search the group archives to see whether your questions have already |
| been discussed.</b></li> This avoids time-wasting redundant discussions. |
| <li><b>Use a clear, relevant message subject.</b> This helps everyone, |
| both those trying to answer your question as well as those who may be |
| looking for information in the future.</li> |
| <li><b>Give plenty of details in your post.</b> Code or log snippets, |
| pointers to screenshots, and similar details will get better results and |
| make for better discussions. For a great guide to phrasing your questions, |
| read <a href="http://www.catb.org/%7Eesr/faqs/smart-questions.html">How To |
| Ask Questions The Smart Way</a>.</li> |
| </ol> |
| |
| <h2>Open Source Project discussions</h2> |
| <ul> |
| <li><b>android-platform</b><br/> |
| This list is for general discussion about the Android open-source project or |
| the platform technologies.<br/><br/> |
| Subscribe using Google Groups: <a |
| href="http://groups.google.com/group/android-platform">android-platform</a><br/> |
| Subscribe via email: <a href="mailto:android-platform+subscribe@googlegroups.com">android-platform+subscribe@googlegroups.com</a> |
| </li> |
| |
| <li><b>android-building</b><br/> |
| Subscribe to this list for discussion and help on building the Android source |
| code, and on the build system. If you've just checked out the source code and |
| have questions about how to turn it into binaries, start here.<br/><br/> |
| Subscribe using Google Groups: <a |
| href="http://groups.google.com/group/android-building">android-building</a><br/> |
| Subscribe via email: <a href="mailto:android-building+subscribe@googlegroups.com">android-building+subscribe@googlegroups.com</a> |
| </li> |
| |
| <li><b>android-porting</b><br/> |
| This list is for developers who want to port Android to a new device. If |
| you're wondering how to combine the Android source code with your hardware, |
| this is the right group for you. Discuss here the specifics of porting Android |
| to individual devices, from obtaining toolchains and merging kernel drivers |
| all the way to configuring or modifying applications for your specific |
| configuration.<br/><br/> |
| Subscribe using Google Groups: <a |
| href="http://groups.google.com/group/android-porting">android-porting</a><br/> |
| Subscribe via email: <a href="mailto:android-porting+subscribe@googlegroups.com">android-porting+subscribe@googlegroups.com</a> |
| </li> |
| |
| <li><b>android-contrib</b><br/> |
| This list is for developers who want to contribute code to Android. This is a |
| working list, and is not appropriate for general discussion. We ask that |
| general discussion go to android-platform. Note: contributors |
| to the Android kernel should go to the android-kernel list, below.<br/><br/> |
| Subscribe using Google Groups: <a |
| href="http://groups.google.com/group/android-contrib">android-contrib</a><br/> |
| Subscribe via email: <a href="mailto:android-contrib+subscribe@googlegroups.com">android-contrib+subscribe@googlegroups.com</a> |
| </li> |
| |
| <li><b>android-kernel</b><br/> |
| This list is for deveopers who want to contribute to the Linux kernel that |
| Android devices use. If you've downloaded the kernel code, if you know how to |
| compile it, if you want to write kernel code to specifically support Android, |
| this is your place. This group isn't for user-space topics (see |
| android-platform for that), and people will shake their fingers at you and |
| call you naughty if you ask user-space questions here.<br/><br/> |
| Subscribe using Google Groups: <a |
| href="http://groups.google.com/group/android-kernel">android-kernel</a><br/> |
| Subscribe via email: <a href="mailto:android-kernel+subscribe@googlegroups.com">android-kernel+subscribe@googlegroups.com</a> |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| |
| <h2>Using email with Google Groups</h2> |
| <p>Instead of using the <a href="http://groups.google.com/">Google Groups</a> |
| site, you can use your email client of choice to participate in the mailing lists.</p> |
| <p>To subscribe to a group without using the Google Groups site, use the link |
| under "subscribe via email" in the lists above.</p> |
| <p>To set up how you receive mailing list postings by email:</p> |
| <ol> |
| <li>Sign into the group via the Google Groups site. For example, for the android-platform group you would |
| visit <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/android-platform">http://groups.google.com/group/android-platform</a>.</li> |
| <li>Click "Edit my membership" on the right side.</li> |
| <li>Under "How do you want to read this group?" select one of the email options.</li> |
| </ol> |
| |
| <h2>Android on IRC</h2> |
| <p>We also have a presence on IRC via <a href="http://freenode.net/">freenode</a>. |
| We maintain two official IRC channels on |
| <a href="irc://irc.freenode.net/">irc.freenode.net</a> (access via the web |
| at <a href="http://webchat.freenode.net/">freenode webchat</a>):</p> |
| <ul> |
| <li><b><a href="irc://irc.freenode.net/android">#android</a></b> |
| — dedicated to general Android discussion and porting concerns</li> |
| <li><b><a href="irc://irc.freenode.net/android-dev">#android-dev</a></b> |
| — dedicated to discussion about writing Android applications</li> |
| </ul> |
| <p>The channels above are official. There are a few other channels the |
| community is using, but are not official. These aren't official or officially |
| moderated/managed, so you use the channels below at your own risk. The Open |
| Handset Alliance doesn't endorse these channels, there's no warranty express |
| or implied, and so on. There may be more channels than just these listed.</p> |
| <ul> |
| <li><b><a href="irc://irc.freenode.net/android-firehose">#android-firehose</a></b> |
| — displays in real-time the commits to the Android Open Source Project</li> |
| <li><b><a href="irc://irc.freenode.net/android-fr">#android-fr</a></b> |
| — pour discuter d'Android en français</li> |
| <li><b><a href="irc://irc.freenode.net/android-offtopic">#android-offtopic</a></b> |
| — for, well, off-topic discussions</li> |
| <li><b><a href="irc://irc.freenode.net/android-root">#android-root</a></b> |
| — for discussion related to off-label uses of hardware</li> |
| </ul> |
