Re:64-bit ARM Kernel Development Demo on a Nexus 9
by mcpherrinm on Tuesday November 25, 2014 @03:34AM
(#8656869)
I work on an embedded Linux device. Sometimes, we do whatever nasty hack we need to make this kernel work on that device -- but those changes aren't portable, aren't maintainable, and don't meet the quality requirements to be in the upstream tree.
There can also be a perception it's "a waste of time" since "nobody will run another kernel on this anyways"
I'm really curious, because it seems that Android has built an architecture where vendor supplied drivers (binary blobs?) can be dropped in without too much changes. But upstream linux needs a considerable amount of rework to "absorb" a driver.
Is this deliberate (the same reason why GCC is obfuscated) or is there a technical reason behind it ?
Because Android Linux works on thousands of different platforms with a lot of stability - I'm beginning to think that the Android driver model is superior... and perhaps mainstream Linux would do well to move to that.