[FFmpeg-devel] [RFC] Bump minimum required version of Android to 5.0

[Zhao Zhili]

> On Apr 12, 2024, at 18:50, Tomas Härdin <git at haerdin.se> wrote:
> 
> tor 2024-04-11 klockan 21:57 +0800 skrev Zhao Zhili:
>> 
>> 
>>> On Apr 11, 2024, at 21:17, Tomas Härdin <git at haerdin.se> wrote:
>>> 
>>> tor 2024-04-11 klockan 20:16 +0800 skrev Zhao Zhili:
>>>> We don’t have a minimum required version of Android in FFmpeg.
>>>> libavdevice/android_camera requires Android 7, Java MediaCodec
>>>> requires Android 4.1, and NDK MediaCodec requires Android 5.0.
>>>> 
>>>> Without an explicit version, it’s unclear for development and
>>>> test.
>>>> 
>>>> Android 5.0 is released in 2014, is it OK to bump the minimum
>>>> required
>>>> version to Android 5.0, or any other version you prefer?
>>> 
>>> Don't we already have stuff that detects the Android version and
>>> acts
>>> accordingly? Dropping 4.1 might lessen the maintenance burden
>>> though.
>> 
>> Check Android API level is easy. There is [no] minimum API level
>> requirement
>> in configure script as far as I know.
> 
> Would be a good idea to add one
> 
> What would dropping 4.1 support actually look like? I presume it would
> make the code a lot simpler.

I can remove a lot of dlsym by link directly. And it will be more clear to
know how to handle Android version dependent API when adding new 
code.

> 
>>> I have an old phone (Samsung Galaxy S5) running the most recent
>>> LineageOS possible to install on it (16.0), and that uses Android
>>> 9. So
>>> for me bumping to version 5 sounds fine.
>>> 
>>> Do you have any statistics on Android versions actually in use?
>> 
>> Search by "Android distribution chart" shows version >= 5.0 is about
>> 99.3%.
> 
> Makes me wonder what kind of devices people run that haven't been
> updated in 10+ years..

Like TV and OTT box. I know those devices exist, but I highly doubt that
anyone would attempt to run FFmpeg 7.1 on it.

Android toolchains also drop support of Android 4.4 now.

"KitKat (APIs 19 and 20) is no longer supported.”

https://developer.android.com/ndk/downloads/revision_history

> 
> Compare to the recent Debian and Ubuntu support discussion, where we're
> considering dropping support for 5 year old releases. Dropping support
> for 10 year old ones doesn't sound bad. You're also the one most
> involved in Android support, so unless someone else wants to take on
> the maintenance burden I say go for it. If downstream apps make a fuss,
> they can either take on the work themselves or pay.
> 
> /Tomas
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