Ask Android @lemdro.id adrianhooves @lemmy.today 2 wk. ago

is android an open source linux distro technically??

i know some parts of it are proprietary and you need google services for it to work properly but if you don't need any of that and only rely on say fdroid apps and just use it without a google account and all of those things could android still be considered that?? i like android so much and i think it's an amazing fully american operating system, great!! so technically it is? and i know about grapheneos and other roms but what about stock android? stock android is still mostly open source and free (well gratis), and linux

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Technically, yes.

Android follows the letter of open source, but not the spirit.
- I don't know anything. Why not the spirit?
  
  While Android is an free and open-source operating system, it doesn't follow the Free Software philosophy of sharing information. Android is becoming increasingly locked-down to those without technical expertise, to the point where the only way to get a truly "open" Android phone is to buy a Pixel.
  
  In other words, Google wants to reap all the benefits of making Android open source, but they don't seem to want to contribute or give back to the community, which is the entire spirit of open source.
  
  This seems backwards. Isn't Pixel the Google phone? What you're saying is all other other phone makers besides Google are reaping the benefits while giving nothing back, isn't it?
  
  ~~Yes, he meant to say Android in the last section~~
  
  Edit: I forgot that Google owns Android.
  
  I think what he's saying is that if you want to replace the stock Google Android OS on a phone with a more security featured open souce version of Android then there's plenty of support for doing this with a Pixel... which ironically is engineered by Google, so thus Google reaps the rewards whether you flash it with a new operating system or not.
  
  That said, I just flashed my new Motorola phone with CalyxOS which was easier to do than dealing with all the bullshit of booting up the phone for the first time just to activate developer priveledges in order to flash it.
  
  So far I'm very happy with Calyx. No issues. Some nice security features.
  
  I wanted to correct myself, as I forgot that Google owns Android, the operating system. So it was not wrong for him to say that.

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