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They'll ship with a 4.x kernel eventually, but probably not until the specific release is aged :P The main issue with Android devices running a mainline kernel
by trome 10y ago
They'll ship with a 4.x kernel eventually, but probably not until the specific release is aged :P
The main issue with Android devices running a mainline kernel is device drivers, these Qualcomm chips have a board support package which adds half baked support for their chip to some year or two old kernel, then a device vendor picks that chip and modifies android more, and then you end up with an ancient kernel on a brand new device. The only fix is for Qualcomm to mainline their device drivers.
- sangnoir 10y ago> The only fix is for Qualcomm to mainline their device drivers. And undermine their tried and true planned obsolescence strategy? Fat chance. Mainlining their drivers would disintermediate Qualcomm them from (obstructing) the Android upgrade process and could even lead to device upgrade cycles longer than 2 years (the horror!)
- Asooka 10y agoOr for the Linux kernel to settle down and have a stable ABI finally.
- catern 10y agoLinux will (thankfully) never do that because that would be an example of compromising technical quality for political reasons (mediating the problem that hardware makers are not publishing source).
- pas 10y agoCurrently the ABI is very much the current code of each subsystem. It's pretty much impossible to design an ABI that'll be future proof enough that it'd cover everything and yet would provide finetuned interfaces for each new gadget the kernel has to manage without significant loss of performance and/or functionality.