ubuntu-phone team mailing list archive

[ubuntu.mexon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

OK I googled a bit harder and my questions now seem kinda silly.

http://www.cnx-software.com/2015/09/24/linux-kernel-mainline-status-of-mobile-socs-presentation-at-linaro-connect-sf015/

Nice tables showing how far different companies' SOC's diverge from
mainline.  Short answer: a lot.

http://elinux.org/Mainlining_improvement_ideas
http://elinux.org/Kernel_areas_of_focus_for_mainlining

Lots of work being done by lots of people to fix this exact problem. 
Mostly stuck behind a variety of corporate roadblocks.

Basically I've got that "I wish I hadn't investigated that funny smell
coming from the attic" feeling now.  It's far, far worse than I imagined.

On 2015-12-08 09:47 , ubuntu.mexon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> I saw this a few weeks ago but was too busy to ask at the time:
>
> https://lists.launchpad.net/ubuntu-phone/msg16877.html
>
>>> Does this mean we can finally stop using an ancient kernel in the
> touch stack?
>
>> No. And this will never happen. All kernels we have are heavily
> customized from what we have for Linux upstream. Porting over > 10.000
> lines of code in a good quality doesn't make fun nor is it worth the
> work respecting that we don't have any insight through specs or manuals
> on the actual components used.
>
> I didn't know that.  I was naively assuming that since the Linux kernel
> has had support for various ARM processor architectures for ages, and
> the process of integrating the Android fork was almost complete,
> customisation would be the exception rather than the rule.
>
> Can someone provide more background on this?  Are we talking adaptations
> for the processor architecture, for particular peripherals, or what? 
> Are the customisations in modules or in the core kernel code?  Are
> efforts underway to push any of the changes upstream?  And does this
> apply to all phones now and in the future or does it depend on the
> model/chipset supplier?  What would it take for a chipset to support a
> stock kernel, UEFI?  Is there any movement towards standardisation among
> chipset suppliers?
>
> The issue, obviously, is security.  How long will Ubuntu be integrating
> security patches for?  I want my phone to still be usable in 10 years. 
> Maybe not as a phone, but I would like to see it honoroubly retired to
> some useful function, media player, doorbell, opening the catflap for my
> cat, whatever.  But not if it's too compromised to be allowed on to my
> network.
>
>
>