| This library (com.android.location.provider.jar) is a shared java library | |
| containing classes required by unbundled location providers. | |
| --- Rules of this library --- | |
| o This library is effectively a PUBLIC API for unbundled location providers | |
| that may be distributed outside the system image. So it MUST BE API STABLE. | |
| You can add but not remove. The rules are the same as for the | |
| public platform SDK API. | |
| o This library can see and instantiate internal platform classes (such as | |
| ProviderRequest.java), but it must not expose them in any public method | |
| (or by extending them via inheritance). This would break clients of the | |
| library because they cannot see the internal platform classes. | |
| This library is distributed in the system image, and loaded as | |
| a shared library. So you can change the implementation, but not | |
| the interface. In this way it is like framework.jar. | |
| --- Why does this library exists? --- | |
| Unbundled location providers (such as the NetworkLocationProvider) | |
| can not use internal platform classes. | |
| So ideally all of these classes would be part of the public platform SDK API, | |
| but that doesn't seem like a great idea when only applications with a special | |
| signature can implement this API. | |
| The compromise is this library. | |
| It wraps internal platform classes (like ProviderRequest) with a stable | |
| API that does not leak the internal classes. |