What does play-services dependency introduce?

[daryltucker]

I've been compiling TextSecure for a while now, since @moxie0 has been nice enough to gradle it all together.

Today, I noticed new requirements/dependencies for the gradle build for v2.1.8. It specifically calls for com.google.android.gms:play-services:5.0.89.

As a gapp-less user, will this cause issues with installation? Am I doing something wrong that I need these dependencies? If they are now required, what potential issues does this raise?

Thanks

[tinloaf]

Yes. Without google apps, you will not be able to use Google Cloud Messaging, which the push messages are based on. Please refer to #127 and #1000 . Also, this is a question that's been answered in the support forums:

http://support.whispersystems.org/customer/portal/articles/1476204-why-do-i-need-google-play-installed-to-use-textsecure-on-android-

[daryltucker]

Sorry to ask an already answered question, but I very much appreciate you consolidating this for me.

I'll take a look.

[daryltucker]

To be clear, I was able to install and use all [previously working] functionality.

[tinloaf]

You do not have any google apps on your phone and you are able to use push messages, i.e. non-SMS transported messages? That would be really weird.

[daryltucker]

No no, I mean it's working as it was from a build just a few months back, which still required you to have gapps to use the gateway/proxy, but didn't require the libs in the build itself (or something that appears this way).

When I saw the new dependency, I thought that the built apk might not run on a system without gapps. I have built v2.1.8, which requires the play-services libs, and it runs fine on CM11 w.o. gapps, which was a concern of mine.