Google releases Android 4.0 ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’ source code

Yesterday Google finally released the source code for Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich.

But on the Google Forums, Jean-Baptiste M. "JBQ" Queru, a software engineer on the Android Open-Source Project, warned that "this is a large push," so developers should expect that "it will take some time to complete".

"If you sync before it's done, you'll get an incomplete copy that you won't be able to use, so please wait for us to give the all-clear before you sync," Queru wrote.

The source code is Android 4.0.1, which is the version that will be released on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

The release also includes the source code for Honeycomb, but "since Honeycomb was a little incomplete, we want everyone to focus on Ice Cream Sandwich," Queru wrote. "So, we haven't created any tags that correspond to the Honeycomb releases (even though the changes are present in the history.)"

"In the source tree, you will find a device build target named 'full_maguro' that you can use to build a system image for Galaxy Nexus," he continued. "Build configurations for other devices will come later. Unfortunately we still don't have our Gerrit code review servers back online. That remains our top priority though, and we hope to have them back soon."

How do you get it? Follow the instructions on source.android.com.

Though Android is advertised as an open-source solution, Google opted not to release the source code for Android 3.0 Honeycomb because of its tablet-centric nature. Android chief Andy Rubin told BusinessWeek in March that Google didn't want to risk having developers create Honeycomb apps for phones that would produce "a really bad user experience."

"While we're excited to offer these new features to Android tablets, we have more work to do before we can deliver them to other device types including phones," Google said in a statement at the time. "Until then, we've decided not to release Honeycomb to open source. We're committed to providing Android as an open platform across many device types and will publish the source as soon as it's ready."

Last month, however, Google confirmed that it would release the source code for Ice Cream Sandwich.

Ice Cream Sandwich will make its debut on the Galaxy Nexus, which will be available on Verizon Wireless sometime this year.

This article, written by Chloe Albanesius, originally appeared on PCMag.com and is republished on Gear Live with the permission of Ziff Davis, Inc.