Governance question: could the Android companion app be open sourced?

[sokolgeo]

Hi all,

I understand this repository is about project governance and not the actual Android code, but this is the closest official place I could find to ask this question.

This request originated from recent user attempts to find the ThinkingRock Android companion app. It appears to have been removed from Google Play and is no longer supported. The discussion on the official forum is here:

• https://trgtd.com.au/index.php/kunena/17-android-2-0/6029-i-can-t-fird-tr-for-android-phone

In that thread, users mention:

• The importance of the Android companion for their workflow.
• Difficulty getting the desktop app working again in some environments.
• Side-loading old APKs from third-party sites as a workaround, which is not ideal from a security perspective.

At the same time, the desktop version has already been open sourced.

Question

Has anyone from the TR open source team, or any community member, tried to contact Avente Pty Ltd / the original authors to ask whether the Android app could also be released as open source, similar to the desktop version?

The Avente GitHub organization lists a public contact here:

• https://github.com/avente-dev

Why this matters

• It would give existing TR users a safe, maintained way to keep using the Android companion instead of relying on old APKs from unofficial download sites.
• It would allow interested contributors to help with maintenance and compatibility with newer Android versions.
• From a governance perspective, it would clarify whether the mobile apps are meant to be part of the open ecosystem around TR or remain closed.

Possible next steps

If this is within the scope of this governance repo, it would be great to know:

1. Whether the TR maintainers are open to formally asking Avente to open source the Android app (or a subset of it, or an older version).
2. Whether there are known legal or licensing constraints that would prevent this.
3. If community members should contact Avente directly, whether there is any preferred wording or process the governance team would recommend.

Thanks a lot for all the work you have already done in getting the desktop version open sourced and maintained. Even a short clarification on the Android app would be very helpful for the community.

[ursjoss]

Hi @sokolgeo

Thanks for your initiative.

I am involved in the open-sourced repo for the desktop app (https://github.com/thinkingrock-gtd/tr-pc). Since the publication of the desktop app code in November 2021 under GPL-3, we have fixed some of the bugs that had been present for a while and have spent some time modernizing the frameworks, dependencies and infrastructure (CI). Unfortunately, the traction for users to jump in and help develop/test/prioritize etc. was rather low. Initially there were more people involved, but the majority of actual code changes was created/tested by mainly two people over the years.

I use the current state of TR desktop app productively both privately and for work, running the application with java 21. Building the installer from sources is absolutely possible, but it is not ready for end-user (w/o technical skills). Even more, the discussions with Avente, how an end-user ready installer deployment would look like (possibly involving monetary aspects) has not been taken up for a couple of years. In any case, more active contributors (be it development, testing, documentation etc.) would definitely help to drive the project.

However, up to this point, the discussions regarding open-sourcing the Thinking Rock ecosystem were all focused around the desktop app only.

Personally, even though I'm an android user, I have never really used the android app beyond some trivial test runs. Also, besides lacking time (time I would rather want to invest into the desktop app), the mobile app domain is not my speciality as a software developer. I would encourage interested and technically skilled users or even developers to take up the discussion regarding an open-sources android or iphone app in the forum with Avente.

Besides that, if there are users with technical skills that would like to get involved with the desktop app, I'm more than ready to help them bootstrap the app, so they can start profiting from the current version and ideally start contributing to the project as well.

[sokolgeo]

Hi @ursjoss and thanks for all the work on the desktop app - like the patch for SSL fix in the email retrieval plugin!

Regarding the Android app, I realise community interest is probably limited, but I still think it would be worthwhile to at least ask Avente whether they would consider open-sourcing the Android companion as well, now that the main TR desktop application is open source.

If the Android code becomes available, the community would be in a much better position to:

• revive the Android client, even with minimal maintenance, and
• rebuild signed APKs and distribute them via a trusted source such as F-Droid

Would the TR maintainers be open to approaching Avente with such a request, or would you prefer I try e-mailing them contact them directly and invite their response/participation in this thread?

Either way, thank you again for keeping TR alive and usable.

[sokolgeo]

Hi @ursjoss,

quick update from my side: I’ve just sent an email to @jeremy-moore / Avente using the contact listed on their GitHub/website.

In that email I asked whether they would consider open-sourcing the Android companion app in a similar way to the desktop/PC version of ThinkingRock, and I also invited them to join and comment into the present discussion thread.