android kernel vs linux kernel

**kitte** · 04-17-2009, 04:20 PM

Hi everyone,
I'm just trying to hack Android kernel source code.

Although, android is based on linux 2.6 kernel, google claimed that it was not linux. Does anyone know the differences between android kernel and linux kernel?

Thanks a lot,

**ewilts** · 04-17-2009, 05:00 PM

Originally Posted by kitte

Although, android is based on linux 2.6 kernel, google claimed that it was not linux.

Excuse me? android.com, owned by Google, says that it is "Based on Linux 2.6.25 for ARM. " http://source.android.com/release-features

Can you provide a reference to where Google claimed it was not Linux?

**CJ Chitwood** · 04-17-2009, 06:37 PM

"Based on" and "==" are two different things. I don't personally know, myself, how similar the code is, but no doubt they've done some tweaking to get Linux to operate well on the G1 hardware. I'd bet they changed enough that it isn't technically Linux any more, even if it runs Linux ARM binary code.

I'm guessing, really, but that's what I'd expect.

**ickyfehmleh** · 04-17-2009, 06:53 PM

This is probably something that should be discussed on the appropriate Google mailing list.

**dwang** · 04-17-2009, 07:13 PM

No, android runs full blown linux.

What you are thinking about is the java vm. Android implements dalvik vm which different than the sun java vm.

Originally Posted by CJ Chitwood

"Based on" and "==" are two different things. I don't personally know, myself, how similar the code is, but no doubt they've done some tweaking to get Linux to operate well on the G1 hardware. I'd bet they changed enough that it isn't technically Linux any more, even if it runs Linux ARM binary code.

I'm guessing, really, but that's what I'd expect.