A Real Effort To Mainline Android Changes In Linux Kernel

[phoronix]

Phoronix: A Real Effort To Mainline Android Changes In Linux Kernel

Tim Bird, a Sony engineering veteran and the chair of the Architecture Group of the Linux Foundation's CE Workgroup, has announced a new concerted effort to get Android's changes to the Linux kernel back into the mainline Linux kernel tree...

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=MTAzMTY

[GreatEmerald]

I can see the advantages of that for Android, but what does Linux get out of it again? From what I can recall, the problem with running any proper Linux distributions on Android devices is mostly due to the fact that they use hardcoded bootloaders, so patches like that wouldn't help in this regard. Although if they enable some features that other hardware can use, then it would be useful, I guess.

[sequence]

I can see the advantages of that for Android, but what does Linux get out of it again? From what I can recall, the problem with running any proper Linux distributions on Android devices is mostly due to the fact that they use hardcoded bootloaders, so patches like that wouldn't help in this regard. Although if they enable some features that other hardware can use, then it would be useful, I guess.

Linaro and Android need to support similar hardware.

[RahulSundaram]

I can see the advantages of that for Android, but what does Linux get out of it again? From what I can recall, the problem with running any proper Linux distributions on Android devices is mostly due to the fact that they use hardcoded bootloaders, so patches like that wouldn't help in this regard. Although if they enable some features that other hardware can use, then it would be useful, I guess.

Linux gains a lot including ending the divergence between Android drivers and Linux drivers. It would be soon possible to run Android on a stock Linux kernel and developers can work with each other more including reducing duplication of efforts. Lock down on devices is still a problem but it is not relevant to this effort.

[jltyper]

Although if they enable some features that other hardware can use, then it would be useful, I guess.

"I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong... I'm going to destroy Android, because it's a stolen product. I'm willing to go thermonuclear war on this."

"I've got plenty of money. I want you to stop using our ideas in Android, that's all I want." -Steve Jobs

If these quotes are correct, then in theory it should.

[droidhacker]

"I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong... I'm going to destroy Android, because it's a stolen product. I'm willing to go thermonuclear war on this."

"I've got plenty of money. I want you to stop using our ideas in Android, that's all I want." -Steve Jobs

If these quotes are correct, then in theory it should.

That second one is a funny one, since fruitcakes never came up with ONE SINGLE IDEA on their own (i.e., without ripping it off of someone else...)