Android Community

Welcome to the Android community!

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.

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.

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: http://developer.android.com/community/index.html

Getting the Most from Our Lists

Please consider the following before you post to our lists.

  1. Read the Charter for our forums. This explains the (few) rules and guidelines for our community.
  2. Search the group archives to see whether your questions have already been discussed.
    3. This avoids time-wasting redundant discussions.
  3. Use a clear, relevant message subject. This helps everyone, both those trying to answer your question as well as those who may be looking for information in the future.
  4. Give plenty of details in your post. 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 How To Ask Questions The Smart Way.

Open Source Project discussions

  • android-platform
    This list is for general discussion about the Android open-source project or the platform technologies.

    Subscribe using Google Groups: android-platform
    Subscribe via email: android-platform+subscribe@googlegroups.com
  • android-building
    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.

    Subscribe using Google Groups: android-building
    Subscribe via email: android-building+subscribe@googlegroups.com
  • android-porting
    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.

    Subscribe using Google Groups: android-porting
    Subscribe via email: android-porting+subscribe@googlegroups.com
  • android-contrib
    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.

    Subscribe using Google Groups: android-contrib
    Subscribe via email: android-contrib+subscribe@googlegroups.com
  • android-kernel
    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.

    Subscribe using Google Groups: android-kernel
    Subscribe via email: android-kernel+subscribe@googlegroups.com

Using email with Google Groups

Instead of using the Google Groups site, you can use your email client of choice to participate in the mailing lists.

To subscribe to a group without using the Google Groups site, use the link under "subscribe via email" in the lists above.

To set up how you receive mailing list postings by email:

  1. Sign into the group via the Google Groups site. For example, for the android-platform group you would visit http://groups.google.com/group/android-platform.
  2. Click "Edit my membership" on the right side.
  3. Under "How do you want to read this group?" select one of the email options.

Android on IRC

We also have a presence on IRC via freenode. We maintain two official IRC channels on irc.freenode.net (access via the web at freenode webchat):

  • #android — dedicated to general Android discussion and porting concerns
  • #android-dev — dedicated to discussion about writing Android applications

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.

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