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A comment on Fairphone suggests Qualcomm is the biggest barrier to long-term Android support. Parent comment

Re:Fairphone suggests Qualcomm is the biggest barrier to lon... by ntauthority on Saturday March 27, 2021 @08:29AM (#26601834)
Meanwhile, on a platform with a generally stable binary driver ABI alike Windows, even drivers for a prototype MSM8960 phone (Snapdragon S4) released in 2012-2013 will still run on 2021 versions of ARM32 Windows (insofar as these are still being built and released, of course).
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Re:Fairphone suggests Qualcomm is the biggest barrier to lon... by fragileone on Saturday March 27, 2021 @12:18PM (#26603386)
Google is changing this for Android with GKIs (General Kernel Images) being mandatory[1] for new phones which launch with Android 12 (i.e. late 2022 phones). They'll maintain a stable ABI so that OEMs can plug in their proprietary drivers as kernel modules.

Additionally with the work the Android Kernel team are doing to upstream so Android Common Kernel can be just replaced with using the Linux mainline, we're getting ever closer to limiting the effect that closed-source drivers have on updates.

[1] https://source.android.com/devices/architecture/kernel/gener...

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Re:Fairphone suggests Qualcomm is the biggest barrier to lon... by bildung on Saturday March 27, 2021 @08:57AM (#26601963)
ABIs are only needed because some manufacturers insist on closed source blobs. Why should Linux, a project whose entire raison d'etre is to provide an open source kernel, make life easier for companies unwilling to accept that?
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Re:Fairphone suggests Qualcomm is the biggest barrier to lon... by ClumsyPilot on Saturday March 27, 2021 @09:19AM (#26602082)
The questuon is, can you actyally force their hand? So far, the answer seems to be no.

Personally I feel we need to push for a law where the iser has a right to an open driver in the same way he has a right to a manual. Attempts to ship undocumented / secret functionality is software or devices should be equates with spreadind spyware or malware.

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