Android is at the lowest level a Linux 2.6 Kernel, but normal phone applications are written in a specialized version of Java which obviously isn't so good for a vim port.
AFAIK, you generally need to have rooted your phone to install and run custom compiled programs. There is already a busybox build that contains a lightweight version of "vi" suitable for light text editing, but it isn't nearly as powerful as vim. Search for android busybox for more information. It seems possible to get vim working on a rooted android phone, but many of the people who are capable of doing that seem to be focused on getting Debian linux distribution running on Android [ http://www.emdebian.org/ ]. It should be easy to install vim if you're willing to replace your phone's OS with Debian ;-) If you want to get it working on a normal ROM, you can get some pointers and ideas from this WIKI: http://android-dls.com/wiki/index.php?title=Compiling_for_Android. You'll need to figure out how to target your specific phone's CPU and hardware (ARM, OMAP, etc.) and lots of other bits and pieces. Note that I have no intention of working on a vim port for Android, I just saw this email chain and figured I could help with some pointers. -Tony -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Alex S. Brown, PMP IPMA-C Sent: Wednesday, February 24, 2010 4:04 PM To: vim_dev Subject: Re: Compiling VIM for Android OS I have not dug into the software development kit for the Android OS yet, but I know that most applications do not have a File Save As dialog box. Many do have the ability to save files to internal storage, to import or export settings or data. One particularly promising open-source project is hosted at Open Intents - http://www.openintents.org/en/. This suite of little programs includes a file manager application, and a simple text editor. With these two programs, you can definitely view the file system and edit anything that you find that is in a text format. Their text editor is missing all the wonderful bells and whistles that I love in vim, though. If the OS does not provide file-system access, it may be possible to somehow integrate with the Open Intents file explorer. Again, I am just guessing here, and would love to know if anyone has explored this more deeply than I have. Android OS is very Unix-like. The file system has mount points, bin directories and other Unix-like features. I have even seen articles about how some people complied the bash shell to run under Android OS. My hope is that the Unix version of vim could be somehow adapted to run under Android OS. On Feb 24, 11:54 am, Ben Fritz <[email protected]> wrote: > Does the Android OS allow direct access to the file system? I have > idea in my head somehow that (in general) smart phone OSes don't allow > this. I have no idea where I got that thought, though, so it's quite > possibly incorrect. -- You received this message from the "vim_dev" maillist. For more information, visit http://www.vim.org/maillist.php -- You received this message from the "vim_dev" maillist. Do not top-post! Type your reply below the text you are replying to. For more information, visit http://www.vim.org/maillist.php
