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Comment by maheart | Hacker News Reader

>> Android is Linux on the phone. It's Linux kernel with stuff on top.

Android is just the Linux kernel on the phone -- that's the issue I have with it. It comes with none of the other stuff that makes GNU/Linux great: philosophically/socially it's different, but on a technical level it's missing rest of the GNU/Linux stack (e.g. package management, and the plethora of developer tools -- including languages and libraries). The GNU/Linux stack is developed by a diverse ecosystem of contractors, big and small business, and non-for-profits (e.g. Red Hat, Intel, Mozilla, Samsung, Canonical, Document Foundation, Fujitsu, Google, etc). Android is largely controlled by one company.

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The lack of package management and standard kernel/modules is a huge issue from Android. It keeps it from being truly open. I wrote a post about this a while ago:

http://penguindreams.org/blog/android-fragmentation/

The TL;DR, Android needs to be fixed so ASOP can be installed on any phone, just like Linux/Windows. The current state is bizarre for what's essentially now a general purpose operating system.

I think you mean AOSP (Android Open Source Project) not ASOP (the linked article makes the same typo).

Wow...I even spelled it out at one point and still screwed it up while abbreviating it! Thanks man. I'll fix it. :)

I habitually think of it as 'aesop' of the fables fame in my head, even though I know it's inaccurate. Hard habit to break. Like eye-terator instead of it-erator.

And with Brillo and Fuchsia, Google is removing whatever is left of it.

What is Brillo taking away? I thought it was more a standardization of the HAL and Linux kernel?

Imagine Android with the Java Frameworks replaced by a similar C++ Framework, using Android IPC (not UNIX), bionic libc and Android's own Linux kernel fork.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig9GKAFzDxQ

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCthvmTSlmIcMH93LIJNe-2w/sea...

Is Tizen any closer to this?

I honestly don't know what's happening with Tizen these days -- Samsung has invested money into it, but it has (IMO) very little to show. Again, my bias is showing, but I think Jolla (SailfishOS) and Canonical (Ubuntu Touch) have achieved infinitely more with smaller teams and less capital.

From what I've read, you want as little as possible to do with Tizen:

https://what.thedailywtf.com/topic/15001/enlightened

Taking away those things doesn't make it not Linux. Adding those things wouldn't make it not Android. These guys could have had the best of both worlds.

He didn't say anything about it not being Linux; he said it isn't GNU/Linux, which it isn't, the GNU parts are missing.

A lot of the things that he mentioned (package management, even development tools) don't necessarily require a GNU stack.

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