Matthew Porter's talk at the Grenoble conference titled "Mythbusters: Android" tackled the question of how much Android is actually Linux, how functional it is, and what is the nature of the Android community. Porter came to two interesting conclusions. First, he concluded that Android is not Linux in the strict sense of the word because important userspace components are missing, thereby making Android comparatively inaccessible and inflexible. Second, he concluded that the Android community is lagging behind other Linux and open source communities, partly because the platform is commonly developed outside the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) tree and given less priority in the open repository.

Porter works as chief software architect at the open source firm Embedded Alley, which Mentor Graphics acquired the end of July 2009. He is a PowerPC specialist, thus viewing Android from a hardware perspective. According to Porter's observations, Android uses, for example, its own mount system that works with MMC subsystems out-of-box rather than with USB devices. Support is missing for udev, glibc, and SysV process communication, but are replaced by a somewhat hard to change, hard-coded implementation from the Open Handset Alliance. Porter further explains that Android makes no use of tslib for touchscreen support and lacks effective Ethernet support. More arguments are included in his set of slides.

The talk elicited at least two opposing reactions. In his blog, Harald Welte responded, "Executive summary: Android is a screwed, hard-coded, non-portable abomination." Opposing views came from participants in the Android Discuss Google group that maintained that Android's specialized and inflexible character was a result of performance and resource reasons.

Comments

long ago

me Mar 10, 2010 3:07am GMT

Says the Linux kernel is 2.6.27 on my droid.
I have a shell, it's graphical but still a shell.
I have applications.
I have antialiased fonts.
I have a Linux distribution call Android.

Thank you.

ANDROID IS LINUX

bob Feb 06, 2010 2:38am GMT

why can't you people have common sense?

Look up Android on wikipedia if you have to. Here, for everybody who is stupid, click this link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_%28operating_system%29

What's the very first line say? "Android is a mobile operating system using a modified version of the Linux kernel."

No, it is not a typical Linux distro (Ubuntu, Fedora, etc etc) but it is a Linux distro regardless, designed specifically for mobile devices.

Maybe before positng on Linux.com, half of you twits can research what Android is.

Linux vs Android

Chuckster Dec 20, 2009 6:43am GMT

While I'm not a Linux user, I always thought the purpose or goal of Linux was that it is an open source operating system that is fully customizable by the user or device developer to suit their needs and that's exactly what Google has done. Maybe the Linux community would appreciate it more of they had the name Linux in it's name, such as "Android Linux" or "Google Linux".
For me, I just hope that the Android phones can do better than the iPhone or phones that run on Windows Mobile. With the Motorola Droid phone, they've just about caught up with the iPhone, even though they're only on the version 2.

Get it Straight

LeadPro Dec 17, 2009 5:36am GMT

Linux is a Kernel. Android is definately a Linux Distro. Custom build on a Linux kernel. It would be nice if cellphone manufacturers released the linux drivers for the devices then maybe other better and more open distros would pop up. It will happen soon.

Thank you

Android PR Gal Nov 12, 2009 7:35pm GMT

Hello Anika,

Thanks for writing this post. I understand you were just summarizing and letting people know what Matthew Porter's talk was about, but it also allowed great comments to come forth, that of which I was able to learn more.

That's my two cents worth

The Android PR Gal
@whatsupandroid
http://whatsupandroid.com

Perfectly Legitimate Linux Distribution

cwrinn Nov 12, 2009 6:22pm GMT

I disagree. I feel that, in all fairness, Android is a perfectly legitimate Linux Distribution. There is nothing in any Linux license that marries Linux to GNU, Distros choose to do so because they choose to. IMO, Android is a distro of Linux that decided to build its own userspace mostly from scratch, and what that has achieved is a very purpose-focused distribution. And it wouldn't be the first purpose-focused distro. Some even replace many GNU utilities with BSD ones.

Re

Anika Kehrer Nov 12, 2009 3:17pm GMT

Hi all,

to do justice to the speaker I wrote about: In his slides, the dissociation of Android and Linux refers to a concept of Linux *he assumes most people have*, not necessarily his own. I cite his full conclusions from his slides here, which are not thoughoutly bad:

- Android is different from traditional Linux
-- When most people think of Linux, they think of a GNU/Linux distro
-- Departure from accepted userspace components (HAL, udev, etc.)
- Android has a lot of handset-focused policies hardcoded in the userspace code
-- This is better than policy in kernel space
- Solution is to continue to grow the Android Open Source Project community
-- Community will need to unify

Anika

Troubled by his Vocabulary

Adam Miller Nov 11, 2009 2:59pm GMT

In the article it is said "First, he concluded that Android is not Linux in the strict sense of the word because important userspace components are missing, thereby making Android comparatively inaccessible and inflexible."

Where as Linux is a kernel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_kernel) and his 'conclusion' is actually based on a mantra that has spawned from what is known to be traditional GNU/Linux distributions. Also, if you take a look at Wikipedia's page on 'Linux' it mentions "Linux is a generic term referring to Unix-like computer operating systems based on the Linux kernel"(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux). Android isn't GNU/Linux styled in the traditional sense but I do have a shell, a terminal emulator and I can use all the common commands of a traditional UNIX environment and as a result I would say it fits into that classification of "Linux." So to make the arguing point that "Android is not Linux" makes me wonder why I have a Linux kernel version listed in the about page of my CyanogenMod powered myTouch 3G accompanied by root permissions and a capable terminal emulator where I can run such utilities as 'top'.

My $0.02, take it or leave it.

Has anyone ever thought....

Phil Nov 11, 2009 2:51pm GMT

That maybe they don't intend for Android to be "Linux" the way others think it should be? I believe their goal was to build a smartphone OS....not to build another Linux distro.

Android is linux .. and more

Nwest Nov 11, 2009 9:38am GMT

Android is not identical to Ubuntu, Redhat, SUSE or any other linux distribution. It does however include a complete linux kernel, and is thus no less "linuxy" than those. Linux is a kernel, not a complete operating-system.

Give me root or forget it...

cbemerine Nov 11, 2009 6:38am GMT

As long as the user, me in this case, has root access to configure the device! No root access, no purchase. Not to mention if a device does not allow Linux to be installed on it, well it just is not a "smart" device!

100% linux based andriod?

Arun Maurya Nov 11, 2009 3:56am GMT

Thanks sir,
Its short but very nice article.

Is it possible to convert android to 100% linux based distro in near future? i.e. include glibc,udev etc.

regards,

Related Articles
First Patches: Google Releases Android
FBReaderJ 0.3.0: Free E-Book Reader for Android
Cyberthreat Forecasts for 2010: More Complex with New Targets
Wind River Tinkers on Android for Kyocera
Ballmer: Linux More Dangerous than Apple
ODROID: Portable Android-Based Game Console

How Much Linux Is in Android?