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LC-Asia: An Android upstreaming update

Posted Mar 12, 2013 17:45 UTC (Tue) by epa (subscriber, #39769)
Parent article: LC-Asia: An Android upstreaming update

Rafael Wysocki's opportunistic suspend work, combined with a user-space emulation library, has made it possible for Android to move over to a mainline-based solution.

But are the Android developers going to do that? They might have different ideas about whether the solution blessed by the kernel developers is the right one for their needs.

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Posted Mar 12, 2013 21:48 UTC (Tue) by jstultz (subscriber, #212) [Link]

So for wakelocks, the Android developers have already moved over to the same code upstream is using (they even backported it to their 3.4 kernel branch, and I believe Nexus4 & Nexus10 devices are already using it).

But your larger point is right, collaborating and getting buy in from the Android developers at Google is really important. We don't want to push code upstream to "solve their problems" and then find they won't or can't actually make use of it.

That said, sometimes what gets merged upstream is more of a base foundational framework and does not provide 100% coverage for their needs. In those cases we can still rework portions of their drivers to make use of the properly merged code, simplifying the delta.

In my mind, the best approach is an iterative one, slowly chipping away at the portions we can find agreement on, which allows for better understanding and discussion of the exact differences.

Uptake by Android

Posted Mar 13, 2013 12:09 UTC (Wed) by corbet (editor, #1) [Link]

This was mentioned twice in the article, but I probably should have made an even bigger deal of it: yes, the Android developers are making use of the mainline features as they become useful. The whole wakelock/suspend blocker fight has quietly come to an end, and nobody even noticed. It's great news, and a credit to both the Android and mainline camps, both of which have worked hard to reach this point.

Uptake by Android

Posted Mar 14, 2013 10:09 UTC (Thu) by epa (subscriber, #39769) [Link]

That's great news. I felt the article was a bit ambiguous, saying the work has 'made it possible' for the Android developers to use the mainline feature - which can mean that this has happened, but can also mean just that it's 'possible'.