Linux, Android and Open Source in the Mobile Environment Alison Chaiken February 25, 2010 Survey of Linux on mobile Kernel-only open source in mobile world Curious status of Android and why we care

Why do we care? Linux is well-established on servers and in embedded, but mobile is wide open. Mobile outcomes for Linux will have significant consequences for other platforms. Smartphones = most important battleground.

9/29/2016Alison Chaiken3 What do we mean by “Linux”? "anyone can call any kernel-derived operating system Linux" -- Jim Zemlin "Linux is the kernel.... Linux is normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so- called'Linux' distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux." -- RMS

9/29/2016Alison Chaiken4 kernel.org's definition Linux is a clone of the operating system Unix, written from scratch by Linus Torvalds with assistance from a loosely-knit team of hackers... It has all the features you would expect in a modern fully- fledged Unix, including true multitasking, virtual memory, shared libraries, demand loading, shared copy-on-write executables, proper memory management, and multistack networking

9/29/2016Alison Chaiken5 Full “Gnu Linux” implementations

9/29/2016Alison Chaiken6 MeeGo Architecture Diagram Hmm, doesn't say “Linux”!

9/29/2016Alison Chaiken7 Intel's Moorestown SOC Built for Linux LG GW990 running Moblin on Moorestown

9/29/2016Alison Chaiken8 What we know about MeeGo MeeGo ● Motivation is earlier market failures ● Aimed at netbooks and “slates” like Atom? ● Intel and Nokia continue separate app stores?! ● Committed fast-boot patches back to main tree ● GTK and Clutter not much supported

9/29/2016Alison Chaiken9 Linux Kernel Plus

9/29/2016Alison Chaiken10 Smartphone Sales by OS

9/29/2016Alison Chaiken11 The most valuable piece of I.P. in the world is... the GPL'ed Linux kernel.

9/29/2016Alison Chaiken12 WebOS (and Chrome?) Software Stack FaiB, even to OEMs, but not FaiF.

9/29/2016Alison Chaiken13 Android Software Stack

9/29/2016Alison Chaiken14 Android has some familiar features ● Can adb into unlocked phones, type “ls” and “ps” and peek into /etc, /proc ● Developers can cross-compile C code for ARM using NDK ● Kernel supports insmod, ioctl, dmesg, etc.

9/29/2016Alison Chaiken15 But “Android/Linux” is not standard (based on material by Matt Porter and Harald Welte)Android/Linux ● System calls are handled by Goog's own Bionic, based on BSD's libc ● Bionic is half the size of glibc ● Avoided LGPL by rolling their own instead of using uClibcuClibc ● Chock-a-block with hard-coded constants and policieshard-coded constants

9/29/2016Alison Chaiken16 Will the Android fork damage the kernel? ● drivers/staging/android removed from kernel.orgremoved ● Drivers don't build against main kernel Drivers don't build against main kernel ● OEMs cannot contribute drivers back to the kernel ● More threatening to the main effort than, say, an Arduino fork

9/29/2016Alison Chaiken17 Licenses and Mobile Phones ● Maemo had plenty of closed components.closed components.closed componentsclosed components. ● WebOS and Bada have no licenses at all. ● Android is Apache-licensed but drivers are closed.drivers are closed ● Installation of “Google Experience” apps not permitted.

9/29/2016Alison Chaiken18 Community Android remixes? ● Android ported to Tegra, Snapdragon, etc. ● Runs on phones, eBook readers (Nook), netbooks (Acer), MIDs. ● “Remixes” of Android likely: Frog Design.Frog Design ● “Less than free” even to handset manufacturers. “Less than free”

9/29/2016Alison Chaiken19 Android-based open source ● FLOSS Dispenser: a free market for Android FLOSS Dispenser ● CyanogenMod Project, alt build of Android CyanogenMod ● Open Android Alliance dead as of 2/20 Open Android Alliance dead as of 2/20 ● Replicant Project aims to replace closed components Replicantclosed components ● Debian can be installed on top of Android? Debian can be installed on top of Android

9/29/2016Alison Chaiken20 ● LiMo, ELIPS, Bada, others will ship on millions of featurephones ● MeeGo is desktop Linux rejiggered for mobile ● webOS and Chrome OS are browser-based OS's founded on the Linux kernel ● 800-lb gorilla is “less than free” but may be unstoppable“less than free” Mobile Linux Take-aways

9/29/2016Alison Chaiken21 Summary ● Linux-based mobile OS's differ at the architecture and library levels, not at the package level ● If you thought desktop distros were confusing, steel yourself!

9/29/2016Alison Chaiken22 Symbian: completely irrelevant? ● As of 2010, fully open under Eclipse license – except for drivers ● Based on ancient Psion real-time microkernel ● Runs on many handsets, but they have closed bootloaders ● Only open hardware is TI's Beagleboard ● Free, but not “less than free” like Android ● Apps must be signed by Symbian Foundation

9/29/2016Alison Chaiken23 References and Sources Software Freedom Law Center blog and podcasts by Bradley M. Kuhn on Android/Linux's Future and Advancement of Mobile Software Freedom and Software Freedom on Mobile DevicesAndroid/Linux's Future and Advancement of Mobile Software Freedom Software Freedom on Mobile Devices Palm, Nokia, Moblin, Google, Engadget websites Linux Weekly News “Android Mythbusters”“Android Mythbusters” by Matt Porter

9/29/2016Alison Chaiken24 Traditional OS stack

9/29/2016Alison Chaiken25 Chrome OS Stack The ‘Browser’ engine is the system execution engine.