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Open source

What ARAs is built on.

ARAs is built on open source software. This page lists every third-party component it ships, the license each one is under, and where to get its source code.

Getting the source

Some of what ARAs ships is under the GNU General Public License, which means anyone who receives the software can get the source for those parts. You do not have to ask us for it. Here it is:

  • QEMU, with our changes, is at github.com/Android-Research-ARM/qemu, on the aras-macos-venus branch. It is upstream QEMU at a pinned commit plus a short series of commits, each one explaining what it changes and why, and the repository includes the exact build recipe.
  • The Linux kernel inside the Android system comes from the Android common kernel tree, at commit 3ec022196c4e on the 6.12 branch. We do not change the kernel source, only its build configuration.
  • Aurora Store is shipped unmodified. Its source is at github.com/whyorean/AuroraStore.

Every other component below links to its own upstream source. Where we changed something, the row says so.

In the Mac app

These run on your Mac, alongside ARAs.

QEMUChanged by us
Our QEMU source

Runs the Android system as a virtual machine.

LicenseGPL-2.0-or-later
virglrendererChanged by us
virglrenderer

Turns the Android system's graphics commands into ones your Mac's GPU understands.

LicenseMIT
Mesa KosmicKrispChanged by us
Mesa

The Vulkan driver that talks to Metal on Apple silicon.

LicenseMIT
ANGLE
ANGLE

Provides OpenGL ES on top of Metal.

LicenseBSD-3-Clause
Vulkan-Loader
Vulkan-Loader

Finds and loads the Vulkan driver.

LicenseApache-2.0
SPIRV-Tools
SPIRV-Tools

Processes GPU shader programs.

LicenseApache-2.0
libepoxy
libepoxy

Resolves OpenGL function pointers at runtime.

LicenseMIT
GLib
GLib

Core data structures and the main loop QEMU is built on.

LicenseLGPL-2.1-or-later
gettext runtime (libintl)
gettext

Message translation.

LicenseLGPL-2.1-or-later
GnuTLS
GnuTLS

TLS, used by QEMU's networking.

LicenseLGPL-2.1-or-later
Nettle and Hogweed
Nettle

Cryptographic primitives used by GnuTLS.

LicenseGPL-2.0-or-later or LGPL-3.0-or-later
GMP
GMP

Big-number arithmetic used by Nettle.

LicenseLGPL-3.0-or-later or GPL-2.0-or-later
libidn2
libidn2

Internationalised domain names, used by GnuTLS.

LicenseGPL-2.0-or-later or LGPL-3.0-or-later, plus Unicode terms
libunistring
libunistring

Unicode string handling, used by libidn2.

LicenseGPL-2.0-or-later or LGPL-3.0-or-later
libtasn1
libtasn1

ASN.1 parsing, used by GnuTLS.

LicenseLGPL-2.1-or-later
p11-kit
p11-kit

PKCS#11 module loading, used by GnuTLS.

LicenseBSD-3-Clause
libssh
libssh

QEMU's SSH block driver.

LicenseLGPL-2.1-or-later
libusb
libusb

QEMU's USB support.

LicenseLGPL-2.1-or-later
SDL2
SDL

Carries audio between the Android system and your Mac.

LicenseZlib
pixman
pixman

Pixel format conversion.

LicenseMIT
libslirp
libslirp

The user-mode network stack the Android system reaches the internet through.

LicenseBSD-3-Clause
PCRE2
PCRE2

Regular expressions, used by GLib.

LicenseBSD-3-Clause
libpng
libpng

PNG encoding, used for screenshots.

Licenselibpng-2.0
libjpeg-turbo
libjpeg-turbo

JPEG encoding.

LicenseIJG, Zlib and BSD-3-Clause
OpenSSL (libcrypto)
OpenSSL

Cryptography.

LicenseApache-2.0
Zstandard
Zstandard

Compression, used by QEMU's disk images.

LicenseBSD-3-Clause or GPL-2.0-only
libX11, libxcb, libXau, libXdmcp
X.Org

X11 client libraries QEMU links against on this platform.

LicenseMIT

In the Android system

These run inside the virtual machine.

Linux kernelChanged by us
Android common kernel, 6.12

The kernel inside the Android system, built from the Android common tree with a 16 KiB page configuration.

LicenseGPL-2.0-only
Android Open Source Project
AOSP, tag android-17.0.0_r1

The Android system itself: the framework, the system apps, and everything they bundle.

LicenseApache-2.0, plus the BSD, MIT and ICU terms of the code AOSP bundles
microG GmsCore and Companion
microG GmsCore

A free reimplementation of Google Play services, for apps that expect it.

LicenseApache-2.0
Aurora Store
Aurora Store

An app store client, shipped unmodified.

LicenseGPL-3.0

License texts

MIT License

Applies to virglrenderer, Mesa, libepoxy, pixman, and the X.Org client libraries. Each project's own copyright line is in its source, linked above.

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the “Software”), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

BSD 3-Clause License

Applies to ANGLE, libslirp, PCRE2, p11-kit and Zstandard. Each project's own copyright line is in its source, linked above.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

3. Neither the name of the copyright holder nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS “AS IS” AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

zlib License

Applies to SDL2.

This software is provided ‘as-is’, without any express or implied warranty. In no event will the authors be held liable for any damages arising from the use of this software.

Permission is granted to anyone to use this software for any purpose, including commercial applications, and to alter it and redistribute it freely, subject to the following restrictions:

1. The origin of this software must not be misrepresented; you must not claim that you wrote the original software. If you use this software in a product, an acknowledgment in the product documentation would be appreciated but is not required.

2. Altered source versions must be plainly marked as such, and must not be misrepresented as being the original software.

3. This notice may not be removed or altered from any source distribution.

How it fits together

ARAs itself is not open source. It runs QEMU as a separate program, started as a child process and talked to over a control socket and a shared graphics buffer. ARAs is not linked with QEMU and does not load it into its own process.

The one piece of ARAs-written code that lives inside QEMU’s source tree, the display backend that hands frames to the Mac app, is published with the rest of the QEMU source under the same license.

The trademarks and names above belong to their respective owners. Listing a component here is not a claim of endorsement by its authors.