5 ms·

I realised this was the case for linux, but I assumed Amazon had simply ported it to android rather than it being included in AOSP

bhhaskin 4y ago
Android is Linux. Just heavily modified. So it makes sense a lot of tools and utilities were ported over.
- fomine3 4y ago
  Android uses their own Bluetooth stack so it's not obvious that whether Wi-Fi stack is ported or developed
- justsomehnguy 4y ago
  Android is not Linux but uses Linux kernel and part of tooling.
  - 1vuio0pswjnm7 4y ago
    Linux is a kernel. True or false. What is GNU.
    - acapybara 4y ago
      GNU is an ecosystem of free software. Linux is a kernel. People often refer to the whole system as Linux, but what they really mean is GNU/Linux.
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
      - whutsurnaym 4y ago
        I've discovered that referring to it as "LiGNUx" is a really good way to clear up ambiguity and annoy all of your coworkers.
        jimmaswell 4y ago
        This sounds dangerously close to "ligma" if you try to pronounce it.
    - 1vuio0pswjnm7 4y ago
      GNU is an acronym. GNU is a collection of free software. GNU is the name of a project that is focused on software freedom.
      - wolfi1 4y ago
        Gnu is Not Unix
        1vuio0pswjnm7 4y ago
        It's funny that the "backronym" does not tell us what GNU is, but only what GNU is not. Here is a statement from GNU on Android: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/android-and-users-freedom.html https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/android-and-users-freedom.htm...
        HeyLaughingBoy 4y ago
        Aren't they usually like that? bing is not google.
        1vuio0pswjnm7 4y ago
        From Wikipedia: An example of a backronym as a mnemonic is the Apgar score, used to assess the health of newborn babies. The rating system was devised by and named after Virginia Apgar. Ten years after the initial publication, the backronym APGAR was coined in the US as a mnemonic learning aid: Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity, and Respiration.[6] Many United States Congress bills have backronyms as their names; examples include the American CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act) of 2020,[7][8] the USA PATRIOT Act (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act) of 2001, and the DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act).[9] In the 113th Congress (2013) there were over 240 bills with such names.[10] The Bing name was chosen through focus groups, and Microsoft decided that the name was memorable, short, and easy to spell, and that it would function well as a URL around the world. The word would remind people of the sound made during "the moment of discovery and decision making".[19] Microsoft was assisted by branding consultancy Interbrand in their search for the best name for the new search engine.[20] The name also has strong similarity to the word bingo, which is used to mean that something sought has been found or realized, as is interjected when winning the game Bingo. Microsoft advertising strategist David Webster originally proposed the name "Bang" for the same reasons the name Bing was ultimately chosen (easy to spell, one syllable, and easy to remember). [FWIW, no mention of Bing as a backronym.]
  - teaearlgraycold 4y ago
    How the hell do you define Linux then?
    - justsomehnguy 4y ago
      Better question is how you would define Android. For me it's mix of Linux kernel and a subset of common FOSS software[0] providing the boot and low-level operations, while the middleware is provided by AOSP with Dalvik/ART and the top, the whole user experience with GUI, apps and whatever. The middle and the top has absolutely nothing common with Linux. To give you and idea - if you swap the engine in your Ford to Cummins, would you tell everyone what you are driving Cummins? No, you would tell what you are still driving Ford. The same applies to Android, if you swap the Linux kernel to something else, eg to OpenBSD kernel, would you tell what your smartphone is now running on OpenBSD? No, it's still Android, though with OpenBSD kernel. [0] if you have Linux kernel then it doesn't makes sense to write tooling and userspace from scratch. Like you can, but.. why?
      - 79a6ed87 4y ago
        >For me it's mix of Linux kernel So, it IS a Linux distribution with other userspace that's not made by GNU. What some people call non-GNU/Linux. Distributions like Alpine for example would also be it. >The same applies to Android, if you swap the Linux kernel to something else, eg to OpenBSD kernel, would you tell what your smartphone is now running on OpenBSD? No, it's still Android, though with OpenBSD kernel. Nobody says that it wouldn't, and it also would be true for other Linux distributions. Remember Debian GNU/kFreeBSD?[0] Now, you could argue that someone who's using the terminal in Debian GNU/kFreeBSD would notice that it's not in fact Linux, but that's a matter of expertise (not every Linux user relies on the terminal), and that's also true for Android. [0] https://www.debian.org/ports/kfreebsd-gnu/ https://www.debian.org/ports/kfreebsd-gnu/
        justsomehnguy 4y ago
        > So, it IS a Linux distribution with other userspace that's not made by GNU So, it IS a Cummins distr^W car with other car parts that's not made by Cummins? Despite the big blue "Ford" everywhere on the car and in the documentation? Another litmus test I often amused by is how when where is a report of a bazillion of Windows infections (especially those when a user should explicitly run the payload, not just a drive-by) then it's Windows problem, but when there is a report of bazillion of infected Android phones and tablets then of course it's not Linux and therefore it shouldn't be chalked up in any "Amount of infected computers per OS" graphs, lol. > So, it IS a Linux distribution Humans tends to omit unnecessary repetition and overall tends to shorten things when it's fits their current situation. But that doesn't make "an operating system distribution based on Linux kernel with system instrumentation and userspace common to other popular operating systems based on Linux kernel" equal to "Linux distribution" or "Linux".
- charcircuit 4y ago
  Android can run with an unmodified Linux kernel.

bhhaskin 4y ago

Android is Linux. Just heavily modified. So it makes sense a lot of tools and utilities were ported over.

fomine3 4y ago
Android uses their own Bluetooth stack so it's not obvious that whether Wi-Fi stack is ported or developed
justsomehnguy 4y ago
Android is not Linux but uses Linux kernel and part of tooling.
- 1vuio0pswjnm7 4y ago
  Linux is a kernel. True or false. What is GNU.
  - acapybara 4y ago
    GNU is an ecosystem of free software. Linux is a kernel. People often refer to the whole system as Linux, but what they really mean is GNU/Linux.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - whutsurnaym 4y ago
      I've discovered that referring to it as "LiGNUx" is a really good way to clear up ambiguity and annoy all of your coworkers.
      - jimmaswell 4y ago
        This sounds dangerously close to "ligma" if you try to pronounce it.
  - 1vuio0pswjnm7 4y ago
    GNU is an acronym. GNU is a collection of free software. GNU is the name of a project that is focused on software freedom.
    - wolfi1 4y ago
      Gnu is Not Unix
      - 1vuio0pswjnm7 4y ago
        It's funny that the "backronym" does not tell us what GNU is, but only what GNU is not. Here is a statement from GNU on Android: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/android-and-users-freedom.html https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/android-and-users-freedom.htm...
        HeyLaughingBoy 4y ago
        Aren't they usually like that? bing is not google.
        1vuio0pswjnm7 4y ago
        From Wikipedia: An example of a backronym as a mnemonic is the Apgar score, used to assess the health of newborn babies. The rating system was devised by and named after Virginia Apgar. Ten years after the initial publication, the backronym APGAR was coined in the US as a mnemonic learning aid: Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity, and Respiration.[6] Many United States Congress bills have backronyms as their names; examples include the American CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act) of 2020,[7][8] the USA PATRIOT Act (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act) of 2001, and the DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act).[9] In the 113th Congress (2013) there were over 240 bills with such names.[10] The Bing name was chosen through focus groups, and Microsoft decided that the name was memorable, short, and easy to spell, and that it would function well as a URL around the world. The word would remind people of the sound made during "the moment of discovery and decision making".[19] Microsoft was assisted by branding consultancy Interbrand in their search for the best name for the new search engine.[20] The name also has strong similarity to the word bingo, which is used to mean that something sought has been found or realized, as is interjected when winning the game Bingo. Microsoft advertising strategist David Webster originally proposed the name "Bang" for the same reasons the name Bing was ultimately chosen (easy to spell, one syllable, and easy to remember). [FWIW, no mention of Bing as a backronym.]
- teaearlgraycold 4y ago
  How the hell do you define Linux then?
  - justsomehnguy 4y ago
    Better question is how you would define Android. For me it's mix of Linux kernel and a subset of common FOSS software[0] providing the boot and low-level operations, while the middleware is provided by AOSP with Dalvik/ART and the top, the whole user experience with GUI, apps and whatever. The middle and the top has absolutely nothing common with Linux. To give you and idea - if you swap the engine in your Ford to Cummins, would you tell everyone what you are driving Cummins? No, you would tell what you are still driving Ford. The same applies to Android, if you swap the Linux kernel to something else, eg to OpenBSD kernel, would you tell what your smartphone is now running on OpenBSD? No, it's still Android, though with OpenBSD kernel. [0] if you have Linux kernel then it doesn't makes sense to write tooling and userspace from scratch. Like you can, but.. why?
    - 79a6ed87 4y ago
      >For me it's mix of Linux kernel So, it IS a Linux distribution with other userspace that's not made by GNU. What some people call non-GNU/Linux. Distributions like Alpine for example would also be it. >The same applies to Android, if you swap the Linux kernel to something else, eg to OpenBSD kernel, would you tell what your smartphone is now running on OpenBSD? No, it's still Android, though with OpenBSD kernel. Nobody says that it wouldn't, and it also would be true for other Linux distributions. Remember Debian GNU/kFreeBSD?[0] Now, you could argue that someone who's using the terminal in Debian GNU/kFreeBSD would notice that it's not in fact Linux, but that's a matter of expertise (not every Linux user relies on the terminal), and that's also true for Android. [0] https://www.debian.org/ports/kfreebsd-gnu/ https://www.debian.org/ports/kfreebsd-gnu/
      - justsomehnguy 4y ago
        > So, it IS a Linux distribution with other userspace that's not made by GNU So, it IS a Cummins distr^W car with other car parts that's not made by Cummins? Despite the big blue "Ford" everywhere on the car and in the documentation? Another litmus test I often amused by is how when where is a report of a bazillion of Windows infections (especially those when a user should explicitly run the payload, not just a drive-by) then it's Windows problem, but when there is a report of bazillion of infected Android phones and tablets then of course it's not Linux and therefore it shouldn't be chalked up in any "Amount of infected computers per OS" graphs, lol. > So, it IS a Linux distribution Humans tends to omit unnecessary repetition and overall tends to shorten things when it's fits their current situation. But that doesn't make "an operating system distribution based on Linux kernel with system instrumentation and userspace common to other popular operating systems based on Linux kernel" equal to "Linux distribution" or "Linux".
charcircuit 4y ago
Android can run with an unmodified Linux kernel.