From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.ipad

We all know that nobody here could find anything that iOS could do that
Android doesn't already do other than use privileged ports (below 1024).
Newsgroups: misc.phone.mobile.iphone
Subject: What really happened when we proved iOS apps can use privileged ports
Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2025 20:34:28 -0700
Message-ID: <10ifn04$2hk$1@nnrp.usenet.blueworldhosting.com>

But this week I found something else that iOS can do that Android used to
do, but as of Android 10+, it can no longer due (in custom directories).

Unlike Apple religious zealots, I simple tell the truth about Apple.
I have no emotional ego invested in any mothership - I'm truthful with all.

Interestingly, iOS seems to handle relative links *better* than Android.

In Android 10+, Google introduced SAF (Storage Access Framework) which
screws up relative links in huge HTML documentation like you can't believe.

If you put that HTML-Z documentation in four folders, then it works fine.
But if you put that HTML-Z in custom folders, SAF screws up the links.
Newsgroups: comp.mobile.android
Subject: How to copy & read a huge zipped book with thousands of html & jpeg files
Date: Sat, 4 Jul 2026 18:40:59 -0400
Message-ID: <112c25r$2gt7$1@nnrp.usenet.blueworldhosting.com>

Not knowing that would happen, I opened a thread on the Android newsgroup a couple of days ago asking what the problem was, and it morphed to the
Windows and Linux newsgroups, where we learned a lot about why use HTML-Z.
Newsgroups: comp.mobile.android,alt.os.linux,alt.comp.os.windows-10
Subject: Re: How to copy & read a huge zipped book with thousands of html & jpeg files
Date: Sat, 4 Jul 2026 23:57:16 -0400
Message-ID: <112ckmr$2ta8$1@nnrp.usenet.blueworldhosting.com>

In that thread, we found ways to convert HTML-Z to an EPUB so that it's one file on Android 10+ and we found ways to use the HTML-Z with a server.
a. Run termux
b. cd to the location of the html-z document root
c. run a python html server & open the document root

Since the HTML server doesn't use SAF, Android relative links work even if document_root is in a custom directory (outside of the 4 public folders).
a. /storage/emulated/0/Download/
b. /storage/emulated/0/Documents/
c. /storage/emulated/0/DCIM/
d. /storage/emulated/0/Pictures/

What's *different* about iOS is that iOS doesn't use SAF. Yipee!
An HTMLZ (a ZIP full of HTML with relative paths) will work on an iPad.
a. iPadOS does not break relative links the way Android 10+ does.
b. iPadOS does support relative paths inside an HTMLZ
c. iPadOS gives the browser real filesystem paths, not SAF streams.
d. So the browser sees the directory structure normally.
This means the 500MB shop manual will behave like a normal offline website. Safari will load the entire manual correctly.

Even so, we can still use the server method on iOS as we did on Android.
All of thse can run the same "python3 -m http.server" we used on Android.
a. iSH (Linux emulator)
b. Pythonista
c. Kodex
Once we start the HTTP server in $DOCUMENT_ROOT, then we point a browser to
<http://localhost:8000/>

In summary, on Android 10+ the SAF mechanism destroys POSIX paths outside
of the four public directories for web browser, so in order to put huge
complex HTML-Z documentation on Android 16 outside of the four public directories, we had to employ a local server (or convert to EPUB/PDF).

We tested HTML-Z on Linux and Windows against EPUB/PDF and found that
HTML-Z is infinitely faster for hugely complex docs like repair manuals.

Yet HTMLZ works perfectly on iPad because iPadOS preserves relative paths.
Had I tested iOS first, I never would have learned about Android's SAF.

Even a 500MB HTML-Z with thousands of images will display normally on iOS.
a. Android 10+ breaks relative paths (in custom folders) due to SAF.
b. iPadOS does not.
--
I test every platform the same as truth will always beats tribalism.
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