+Frank B. Subscriber² Posted June 19, 2014 Subscriber² Share Posted June 19, 2014 ?Dalvik is dead?: Google replaces Dalvik with ART in AOSP master branch Google has just pushed changes to the master branch of AOSP that remove the aging Dalvik virtual machine and replace it with ART. It?s been a long way coming, but ART is finally taking the reins from the venerable Dalvik as Android?s default virtual machine. Standing for Android Runtime, ART was introduced in Android 4.4 KitKat as an experimental feature that users could activate from Developer Options. At the time, Google made it clear that ART was still a work in progress and that issues with various apps were to be expected. One of biggest differences between ART and Dalvik is that ART pre-compiles bytecode when the app is installed, unlike Dalvik, which requires Just-in-Time compilation, which happens when an app is launched. Through Ahead-of-Time compilation, ART cuts down app launch time in half, according to Google, though users are not likely to notice a huge effect on performance. More about ART vs Dalvik here. Now it looks as ART is finally ready for primetime. As spotted by XDA Portal, two commits made to the Android Open Source Project (the open source base of Android) remove Dalvik and replace it with ART. The two changes were made by Google senior software engineer Brian Carlstrom to the master branch of AOSP. The first commit removes Dalvik components from the project, while the second switches to the new Android Runtime. The first signs that Google was readying to switch to ART emerged in January, when the new runtime was made the default option. Back then, Dalvik was kept as a fallback option, but following today?s commits that?s no longer the case. So, what does that mean for the average user? Changes in AOSP are added to stock Android (and later to OEM implementations) through system updates. While we can?t speculate when it will happen, the next version of Android will definitely make the move to ART. With Google I/O next week, it?s tempting to see the switch as a sign of something new coming, but that may be just wishful thinking. ART still poses problems to a few apps, most notably the Xposed framework. However, developers will have plenty of time to get their apps up to snuff before the change finally begins trickling down to users. Source: Android Authority +Zlip792 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
techbeck Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 Nice, good news. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tsupersonic Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 Hmm, I'm assuming this will get announced at I/O. Hopefully all the app devs. are responsive to the switch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Eternal Tempest MVC Posted June 19, 2014 MVC Share Posted June 19, 2014 This could also lesson damage if Oracle wins it's lawsuit (on future products). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleNeutrino Veteran Posted June 19, 2014 Veteran Share Posted June 19, 2014 pretty nice good news on this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dark Knight Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 Very good indeed! :D But as the article says, Xposed in particular does not work. I haven't been keeping up with the news, but it has been ages now and ART is still not supported by Xposed. :no: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salty Wagyu Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 Very good indeed! :D But as the article says, Xposed in particular does not work. I haven't been keeping up with the news, but it has been ages now and ART is still not supported by Xposed. :no: Well it will be soon, they said they wouldn't make it ART-compatible until it was out of testing. Something to do with not having the time to maintain both a dalvik and ART version I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJerman Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 I switch when Xposed switches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dark Knight Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 Well it will be soon, they said they wouldn't make it ART-compatible until it was out of testing. Something to do with not having the time to maintain both a dalvik and ART version I guess. Yeah, I just read about it here: http://www.xda-developers.com/android/breaking-next-major-version-of-android-to-finally-remove-dalvik-and-set-art-as-default/#comment-1443524068 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anibal P Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 Is this going to be Android's Vista? Developers knew it was coming, had the beta or test versions available and yet come release most were "not ready" and look what it did to Vista's reputation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon H Supervisor Posted June 19, 2014 Supervisor Share Posted June 19, 2014 Is this going to be Android's Vista? Developers knew it was coming, had the beta or test versions available and yet come release most were "not ready" and look what it did to Vista's reputation anything that pulls android away from its dependency on java can't be all bad :yes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HawkMan Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 This could also lesson damage if Oracle wins it's lawsuit (on future products). I'm not sure this affects it, as that is about syntax and such, and the language is the same. Just a different runtime/compiler. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Norris Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 anything that pulls android away from its dependency on java can't be all bad :pIt's still Java code isn't it, just a more intelligent runtime? Sounds like it borrows some ideas from dotNET. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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