Code bases for desktop and mobile versions of the same app

Posted by Code-Guru on Programmers See other posts from Programmers or by Code-Guru
Published on 2012-09-11T17:55:53Z Indexed on 2012/09/11 21:48 UTC
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I have written a small Java Swing desktop application. It seems like a natural step to port it to Android since I am interested in learning how to program for that platform. I believe that I can reuse some of my existing code base. (Of course, exactly how much reuse I can get out of it will only be determined as I start coding the Android app.)

Currently I am hosting my Java Swing app on Sourceforge.net and use Git for version control. As I start creating the Android app, I am considering two options:

  1. Add the Android code to my existing repository, creating separate directories and Java packages for the Android-specific code and resources.

  2. Create a new Sourceforge project (or even host a new one) and creating a new Git repository.

    a. With a new repository, I can simply add the files from my original project that I will reuse. (I don't particularly like this option as it will be difficult to modify both copies of the same file in both repositories.)

    b. Or I can branch the original repository. This adds the difficulty of merging changes of shared source files.

Mostly I am trying to decide between choices 1. and 2b. If I'm going to branch the existing repository, what advantages are there to hosting it as a separate SF project (or even using another OSS hosting service) as opposed to keeping all my source code in the current SF project?

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