Difference between revisions of "Android Mainlining Project"
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|special permission checks for secure access to network operations | |special permission checks for secure access to network operations | ||
|not mainlined | |not mainlined | ||
+ | |? (can run without it, but network security won't be enforced) | ||
|no one | |no one | ||
|May be very difficult to mainline, as the code is extremely Android-specific with hardcoded GIDs and capabilities. | |May be very difficult to mainline, as the code is extremely Android-specific with hardcoded GIDs and capabilities. |
Revision as of 10:45, 13 December 2011
This page is for organizing the Android Mainlining Project. It has information and resources associated with this project.
Goal
The goal of this project is to ultimately mainline all patches required to run the current released version of Android. The purpose of mainlining these patches it 3-fold:
- to allow a developer to use the latest released version of the Linux kernel to run an Android system, without requiring patches to their kernel
- to make it possible to develop drivers and board support features against either an Android kernel release or a kernel.org kernel release, with little or no modifications or conditional code
- to reduce or eliminate the burden of maintaining independent patches from release to release for Android kernel developers
To "mainline" a patch means to have it included in Linus Torvalds kernel.org kernel, in a released (non-rc) version.
Process
[This is a draft section, up for discussion]
Overall:
- identify all patches/features, and categorize into core or non/core
- core = feature is required or strongly desired for Android operation on a platform
- non-core = Most of the Android system can run without the feature
Per feature or patch:
- research any previous submission feedback
- incorporate feedback, as appropriate
- negotiate any interface changes with Google Android team
- submit updated patches to mainline
- repeat until accepted
Resources
- mailing list??
- Linaro blueprint for project: https://blueprints.launchpad.net/linux-linaro/+spec/linaro-kernel-android-upstreaming
People
People who have expressed interest in this:
- Tim Bird
- John Stultz
- Paul McKenney
- Deepak Saxena
- Arnd Bergmann
- Thomas Gleixner
- Arjan Van de Ven
- Brian Swetland
- Tetsuyuki Kobayashi
- Andy Green
- Victor M. Jaquez
Patch/Feature Status Chart
Feature/Patch | Description | Status | Part of core? | Owner/Interested parties | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
logger | kernel support for Android system logging | not mainlined | yes | Tim Bird | should be non-controversial (though I'm always surprised) |
wakelocks | Power management locking mechanism to prevent opportunistic suspend | not mainlined | yes | Rafael Wysocki | Is important due to impact on board support and drivers by 3rd parties |
Android alarm timers | Timers that count down during suspended operation, and can wake from suspend | Partial: Posix alarm timers were mainlined in kernel version 2.6.38 - see https://lwn.net/Articles/429925/ | yes | John Stultz | Mending patches to convert Android Alarm Timers to utilize the upstreamed alarm timer work are still pending. |
ashmem | Shared memory implementation that allows unpinned pages to be marked, which can be dropped by the kernel under memory pressure | not mainlined | yes | John Stultz | Working on fadvise volatile alternative implementation that handles part of the ashmem functionality. However, there are additional aspects of ashmem design that need to be addressed(no tmpfs mounts, atomic create/unlink behavior,etc). |
network security | special permission checks for secure access to network operations | not mainlined | ? (can run without it, but network security won't be enforced) | no one | May be very difficult to mainline, as the code is extremely Android-specific with hardcoded GIDs and capabilities. |
binder | Android inter-process communication mechanism | not mainlined | yes | no one | Generated a fair amount of discussion on last submission. See http://elinux.org/Android_Binder#obstacles_to_mainlining |
pmem | |||||
Android USB gadget | |||||
wireless features | |||||
timed gpio |
Progress Chart
This section is intended to show our progress, by showing the patch set size over time. With any luck, as we get features into mainline, the difference between the Android kernel and the legacy Linux kernel will shrink.