[guardian-dev] SecureReader - proposed build system

[Micah Lucas]

Hello all,

My name is Micah Lucas and I've worked with Josh Steiner on Guardian’s
StoryMaker <https://github.com/guardianproject/storymaker> for almost two
years.

We're currently writing an Android app for a media organization focused on
a Middle Eastern market. Guardian’s SecureReader
<https://github.com/guardianproject/securereader> (SR) fulfills many of our
functional requirements, especially with the heavy need for security in
certain regions, good support for offline/low-availability and
filtered/highly-monitored internet connections.


There are currently 7 branches (listed below) of SR on Github. I'm still
reviewing the differences between these branches, but at first glance it
looks as though most of the differences could be handled by Gradle’s build
flavors instead of having separate branches for each version.

*7 current branches of SR, along with their commits ahead/behind master:*

   -

   master (0+, 0-)
   -

   courier (44+, 0-)
   -

   paik (70+, 0-)
   -

   paik_psiphon (73+, 15-)
   -

   unicorn (1+, 2-)
   -

   yakreader (60+, 10-)
   -

   yakreader - with library (0+, 323-)


I've already migrated SR to use Gradle, and am currently working on a proof
of concept to show how the Gradle’s product flavors
<http://tools.android.com/tech-docs/new-build-system/user-guide#TOC-Product-flavors>
could be used in place of separate repo branches. The main advantages of
this approach would be maintainability and extensibility.

Please let me know if you are interested in this new approach. Josh and I
are willing to do most of the heavy-lifting, but this would be a major
architectural change and will require communication between contributors as
well as a thorough understanding of the nuances of the different flavors.

Thanks,
Micah

-- 
Micah Lucas | micah at scal.io | Scal.io
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