Importing code from Android into the main Linux kernel

As part of the Linux Foundation CE Workgroup, a project was organized to “return” the program code from the Android operating system to the standard Linux kernel branch (mainline). This is a very useful project, as the developers of the mobile OS have made some patches that can be useful for mobile Linux devices, such as netbooks and tablets. Some patches are brought back into the kernel, while others are not, but the same wakelocks patch can significantly improve the energy efficiency of Linux devices.

Since the advent of Android, the Linux 2.6.x kernel has been used, with some changes made by Google. Android 3.x version of Honeycomb was based on Linux 2.6.36 kernel. Until now, these patches have not been returned to the Linux kernel, although they are separate at kernel.org.

The initiative to return the code from Android was put forward by the chairman of the Working Group of the Architecture Group from Sony Tim Bird. Created a wiki page and mailing list to discuss this project.