Why does the LinearLayout attribute "layout_weight" seem to do the opposite of what I think it should do?

Question

I'm following this tutorial to learn about linear layouts. Here's the main layout file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent">

  <LinearLayout
      android:orientation="horizontal"
      android:layout_width="fill_parent"
      android:layout_height="fill_parent"
      android:layout_weight="1">
      <TextView
          android:text="red"
          android:gravity="center_horizontal"
          android:background="#aa0000"
          android:layout_width="wrap_content"
          android:layout_height="fill_parent"
          android:layout_weight="1"/>
      <TextView
          android:text="green"
          android:gravity="center_horizontal"
          android:background="#00aa00"
          android:layout_width="wrap_content"
          android:layout_height="fill_parent"
          android:layout_weight="1"/>
      <TextView
          android:text="blue"
          android:gravity="center_horizontal"
          android:background="#0000aa"
          android:layout_width="wrap_content"
          android:layout_height="fill_parent"
          android:layout_weight="1"/>
      <TextView
          android:text="yellow"
          android:gravity="center_horizontal"
          android:background="#aaaa00"
          android:layout_width="wrap_content"
          android:layout_height="fill_parent"
          android:layout_weight="1"/>
  </LinearLayout>

  <LinearLayout
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:layout_weight="1">
    <TextView
        android:text="row one"
        android:textSize="15pt"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_weight="1"/>
    <TextView
        android:text="row two"
        android:textSize="15pt"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_weight="1"/>
    <TextView
        android:text="row three"
        android:textSize="15pt"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_weight="1"/>
    <TextView
        android:text="row four"
        android:textSize="15pt"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_weight="1"/>
  </LinearLayout>

</LinearLayout>

Which produces this:

I was experimenting with trying to make the colored bars at the top (the first child of the layout) vertically twice as big as the horizontal rows at the bottom (the last child) by making the first child's layout weight twice the second child's:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent">

  <LinearLayout
      android:orientation="horizontal"
      android:layout_width="fill_parent"
      android:layout_height="fill_parent"
      android:layout_weight="2">
      <TextView
          android:text="red"
          android:gravity="center_horizontal"
          android:background="#aa0000"
          android:layout_width="wrap_content"
          android:layout_height="fill_parent"
          android:layout_weight="1"/>
      <TextView
          android:text="green"
          android:gravity="center_horizontal"
          android:background="#00aa00"
          android:layout_width="wrap_content"
          android:layout_height="fill_parent"
          android:layout_weight="1"/>
      <TextView
          android:text="blue"
          android:gravity="center_horizontal"
          android:background="#0000aa"
          android:layout_width="wrap_content"
          android:layout_height="fill_parent"
          android:layout_weight="1"/>
      <TextView
          android:text="yellow"
          android:gravity="center_horizontal"
          android:background="#aaaa00"
          android:layout_width="wrap_content"
          android:layout_height="fill_parent"
          android:layout_weight="1"/>
  </LinearLayout>

  <LinearLayout
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:layout_weight="1">
    <TextView
        android:text="row one"
        android:textSize="15pt"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_weight="1"/>
    <TextView
        android:text="row two"
        android:textSize="15pt"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_weight="1"/>
    <TextView
        android:text="row three"
        android:textSize="15pt"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_weight="1"/>
    <TextView
        android:text="row four"
        android:textSize="15pt"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_weight="1"/>
  </LinearLayout>

</LinearLayout>

But this does the opposite of my expected result: it actually makes the colored bars vertically smaller by about half.

The android developer docs specify that

any remaining space in the view group is assigned to children in the proportion of their declared weight

Why does it seem like the inverse is true?

Answer 1

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical" android:weightSum="3">

    <LinearLayout
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="0dp"
        android:layout_weight="2"
        android:orientation="horizontal" >

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="fill_parent"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:background="#aa0000"
            android:gravity="center_horizontal"
            android:text="red" />

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="fill_parent"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:background="#00aa00"
            android:gravity="center_horizontal"
            android:text="green" />

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="fill_parent"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:background="#0000aa"
            android:gravity="center_horizontal"
            android:text="blue" />

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="fill_parent"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:background="#aaaa00"
            android:gravity="center_horizontal"
            android:text="yellow" />
    </LinearLayout>

    <LinearLayout
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="0dp"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:orientation="vertical" >

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:text="row one"
            android:textSize="15pt" />

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:text="row two"
            android:textSize="15pt" />

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:text="row three"
            android:textSize="15pt" />

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:text="row four"
            android:textSize="15pt" />
    </LinearLayout>

</LinearLayout>

Specify android:weightSum for the parent layout and also android:layout_height="0dp" for child layouts. Please try this. Hope this would help.

Answer 2

layout_weight is normally used with layout_width or layout_height set to wrap_content. Try it, you'll see that it then increases the layout sized based on which view has the higher weight.

Example

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent">

  <LinearLayout
      android:orientation="horizontal"
      android:layout_width="fill_parent"
      android:layout_height="wrap_content"
      android:layout_weight="2">
      <TextView
          android:text="red"
          android:gravity="center_horizontal"
          android:background="#aa0000"
          android:layout_width="wrap_content"
          android:layout_height="fill_parent"
          android:layout_weight="1"/>

  </LinearLayout>

  <LinearLayout
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_weight="1">
    <TextView
        android:text="row one"
        android:textSize="15pt"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_weight="1"/>

  </LinearLayout>

</LinearLayout>

Answer 3

Emphasis on any remaining space...

I think it is a conflict between using fill_parent for height and the layout weight. Try setting android:layout_height="0dp" for both LinearLayouts.