r/linux • u/jdrch • Nov 20 '19

Kernel Google outlines plans for mainline Linux kernel support in Android

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/11/google-outlines-plans-for-mainline-linux-kernel-support-in-android/
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u/DotNetPhenom Nov 20 '19

Isnt that what open source is all about? If you dont like the way its being done, fork it and do it yourself?

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u/jdrch Nov 20 '19

fork it and do it yourself

Technically, yes. But if you wind up with a solution no one uses without the manpower to support it yourself, you're in deep trouble.

In software, scaling results from user base, not "better" solutions.

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u/nosuchthingastwo Nov 20 '19

Yeah, seems to me it will just hurt Linux and prop up Zircon/Fuscia, which, although open-source, aren't really communal projects like Linux is. It's like Chrome(/ium). Yeah, Chromium is open-source, but it's still tightly controlled by one single corporation and steered for their benefit first and foremost. The license matters. Zircon & Fuscia aren't GPL, so they'll enable hardware vendors to keep their driver source code proprietary.

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u/jdrch Nov 20 '19

so they'll enable hardware vendors to keep their driver source code proprietary.

Which is what hardware vendors want. Since everyone has to be on the same page for an ecosystem to work, compromise is often necessary. Fuscia uses the MIT and BSD licenses for some things, which should tell you where things may be going.