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Google open source guru says Android code will be in Linux kernel in time

By Paula Rooney | March 5, 2010, 6:13am PST

Summary

Google’s Android code will assume its rightful place in the Linux kernel — in good time, the company’s top open source guru says.
The Android code was stripped out of the last kernel release, version 2.6.33, after Google reportedly failed to provide necessary changes and subsystem code required by kernel.org.
This led some to claim Google [...]

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Dana Blankenhorn

Biography

Dana Blankenhorn

Dana Blankenhorn

Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for nearly 25 years and has covered the online world professionally since 1985. He founded the Interactive Age Daily for CMP Media, and has written for the Chicago Tribune, Advertising Age's "NetMarketing" supplement, and dozens of other publications over the years.

Paula Rooney

Biography

Paula Rooney

Paula Rooney

Paula Rooney has covered the technology industry for more than 15 years, starting with semiconductor design and mini-computer systems at EDN News and later focused on PC software companies including Microsoft, Lotus, Oracle, Red Hat, Novell and other open source and commercial software companies for CRN and PCWeek. She received a silver award from the American Society of Business Publication Editors in 2005 for her profile on Linus Torvalds and edited and co-authored "Partnering With Microsoft," a book about Microsoft's channel published by CMP Publishing in 2004. Rooney graduated from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1997. In her off time, she enjoys scuba diving, sailing, sun worshipping, running and reading. She resides on the shores of Scituate, Massachusetts.

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Google’s Android code will assume its rightful place in the Linux kernel — in good time, the company’s top open source guru says.

The Android code was stripped out of the last kernel release, version 2.6.33, after Google reportedly failed to provide necessary changes and subsystem code required by kernel.org.

This led some to claim Google had forked Linux, a charge that was debated in a long thread among developers.

Google’s top open source program manager Chris DiBona said he doesn’t think the Android phone operating system code is any more a fork of Linux than Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Nevertheless, Google will be providing more code upstream to Linus Torvalds’ kernel.org going forward, he said.

“I would be comfortable saying that we’ll likely merge into the mainline in the next couple of years,” DiBona said in an e-mail response to this ZDNet blogger’s questions about the controversy. Android is “no more [a fork] than Red Hat Enterprise Linux or any other distribution vendor. All kernels are in some way a fork for some amount of time, the trick is keeping that delta small. We’re trying to do a better job of keeping a small delta.”

Controversy erupted after the decision to remove Android code from the latest Linux kernel.

DiBona, for his part, maintains that the Android code is a lot different than traditional Linux code and more time is needed before the mobile system is integrated into the kernel.

“For the work we do on our non-mobile systems (our production kernels and the rest) we stay pretty close to the mainline nowadays, but android is not the same as some server sitting on the internet, and thinking Linux on mobile is the same thing as Linux on the server or on the desktop is why, until android came along, Linux on mobile phones was nearly totally unsuccessful,” DiBona wrote in a thread defending Google’s position on Linux 2.6.33. “Also, this whole thing stinks of people not liking Forking. Forking is important and not a bad thing at all. From my perspective, forking is why the Linux kernel is as good as it is.”

So when will the Android code make it into the Linux kernel?

In his online debate, DiBona said he expects to see it done by the time Linux 2.8 hits the streets. But in his email to this blogger, he was wary of framing it that way.

“2.8 is a concept that not all kernel developers embrace, so it may never occur,” DiBona wrote. “I would be comfortable saying that we’ll likely merge into the mainline in the next couple of years.”

“A better question might be ‘”Will we continue to work from the mainline for android?” and the answer is an unqualified, “Yes.”

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Paula Rooney is a Boston-based writer who has followed the tech industry for almost two decades.

Disclosure

Paula Rooney

Paula Rooney owns no stock in the companies that she covers. She holds a 401K that is managed by JPMorgan.

Biography

Paula Rooney

Paula Rooney has covered the technology industry for more than 15 years, starting with semiconductor design and mini-computer systems at EDN News and later focused on PC software companies including Microsoft, Lotus, Oracle, Red Hat, Novell and other open source and commercial software companies for CRN and PCWeek. She received a silver award from the American Society of Business Publication Editors in 2005 for her profile on Linus Torvalds and edited and co-authored "Partnering With Microsoft," a book about Microsoft's channel published by CMP Publishing in 2004. Rooney graduated from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1997. In her off time, she enjoys scuba diving, sailing, sun worshipping, running and reading. She resides on the shores of Scituate, Massachusetts.

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Talkback Most Recent of 19 Talkback(s)

  • And I thought Linux was supposed to be spyware free. (NT)
    NT
    ZDNet Gravatar
    itpro_z
    03/05/2010 08:36 AM
  • Do you mean, itpro_z, that it
    doesn't report back to Microsoft ? Don't worry, Echelon makes certain that the USA's NSA knows everything there is to know about your internet and telephone traffic, no matter what OS you happen to use....

    Henri
    ZDNet Gravatar
    mhenriday
    (Edited: 03/05/2010 08:49 AM)
  • What does MS have to do with this?
    I read the story twice (Thought maybe I missed them mentioned in the blog) and still couldn't find any reference to MS in it.

    Oh I see, a "misdirect". Mention something negative about Android...
    ZDNet Gravatar
    John Zern
    (Edited: 03/05/2010 10:02 AM)
  • Who mentioned Microsoft?
    This article is about Google and Linux. What does that have to do with Microsoft?

    Regarding the NSA, or the KGB, or any other government spy agencies for that matter, I have no control over that. I DO have control over allowing Google to spy on me. I just say no to anything Google.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    itpro_z
    03/05/2010 11:59 AM
  • Who mentioned spyware?
    The article is about when Android will be merged back to Linux. Where does it say anything about spyware in either of them?
    ZDNet Gravatar
    AzuMao
    03/13/2010 11:16 PM
  • Re: Spyware
    What a dumb statement ! Spyware in an open source operating system kernel that undergoes the scrutiny of all those kernel developers and is put in public for anyone to view ?
    ZDNet Gravatar
    mKind
    03/05/2010 12:08 PM
  • What a naive statement
    Google's entire livelihood is spying on their users and selling the data that they collect. Every piece of software that they put out serves that purpose, Chrome and Android included.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    itpro_z
    03/05/2010 12:36 PM
  • can you point to the offending code?
    anything related web usage will be "spy fodder" but the kernel will not be. it will get thrown out if included that sort of code.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    deaf_e_kate
    03/06/2010 03:45 AM
  • I hope that you are right
    Google is growing so large that they sometimes appear to be taking over the world. Linux needs to stay independent.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    itpro_z
    03/07/2010 09:56 AM
  • Could you back this up, please?
    Link to someone reputable making the same claim? Or tell me the line number and file so I can look for myself? Or how to observe the spying (e.g. using Wireshark)?

    Or is it just FUD?
    ZDNet Gravatar
    AzuMao
    03/13/2010 11:19 PM
  • They will never merge now
    "DiBona, for his part, maintains that the Android code is a lot different than traditional Linux code and more time is needed before the mobile system is integrated into the kernel" "I would be comfortable saying that we'll likely merge into the mainline in the next couple of years".

    A polite way to say that they will never merge.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    atari_z
    03/05/2010 02:09 PM
  • It's kinda stupid of them ...
    ... since they now have to maintain a separate
    branch instead. This causes problems with
    companies running Andriod since they also can't
    contribute upstream to the main tree.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    MisterMiester
    03/05/2010 03:05 PM
  • RE: Google open source guru says Android code will be in Linux kernel in time
    Why would you put application software in the kernel?
    ZDNet Gravatar
    JeremyBoden
    03/06/2010 05:45 AM
  • RE: Google open source guru says Android code will be in Linux kernel in time
    "Also, this whole thing stinks of people not liking Forking. Forking is important and not a bad thing at all. From my perspective, forking is why the Linux kernel is as good as it is."

    As if! The linux kernel uses Git which is all about forking! Git was created for the kernel development! The issue people are complaining about is when a company forks but then doesn't attempt to contribute back to the project they fork from in the first place. Open source is about give and take, not take and take.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    gerrywastaken
    03/06/2010 01:17 PM
  • By "take and take", do you mean like how Microsoft copypasted BSD's TCP/IP?
    ZDNet Gravatar
    AzuMao
    03/13/2010 11:23 PM
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