CODEWITHSUNDEEP
androidlinuxunix
frodeborli
frodeborli

Reputation: 1667

Android and UNIX similarity

How similar is Android to the traditional UNIX and UNIX like systems such as GNU/Linux from an architectural standpoint?

Is Android as much UNIX as GNU/Linux? Is it possible to install an X Window manager on Android?

In other words; how much can I reuse my Linux knowledge as a developer on Android? I've only ventured into the "Java side" of Android development.

Upvotes: 3

Views: 889

Answers (1)

Jan Hudec
Jan Hudec

Reputation: 76306

Android uses Linux kernel. It should be fully POSIX1.2008/XSH (C API) compatible.

It also has the most basic POSIX utilities, but beyond that the userland is very different. And many things are only implemented in Java.

You can develop native applications for Android in C/C++, but for GUI you need to use either:

  • some portability layer like Qt or SDL.
  • do some calls to Java to handle user interaction.

Or it is possible to install complete GNU system on Android device. The kernel is the same and the GNU system is otherwise completely separate. Ubuntu has support for such installation. It however can't access telephony, data stored in the native application and such.

Upvotes: 4

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