Android-friendly Linux 3.3 released

IT World Canada reports.

Linux 3.3 also boasts upgraded networking features and support for an additional processing architecture.

The latest version of the Linux kernel was supposed to have been released about a week ago, but at the time, another release candidate was needed to fix issues related to networking, memory management and drivers.

The big news in version 3.3 is that Android features are again part the Linux kernel, after the two camps had a falling out a few years ago, PC World writes.

The integration work will allow a developer to use the Linux kernel to run an Android system; to develop drivers for either the Android kernel or the Linux kernel; and to reduce or eliminate the burden of maintaining independent patches from release to release for Android kernel developers, according to the Android Mainlining Project.

In future versions of the kernel, the work on integrating Linux and Android will include the addition of better power-management features, according to Linux kernel maintainer Greg Kroah-Hartman.

According to CNET, the result of merging Google's Android Linux with Linus Torvalds' “mainline” version, if all goes well, should be easier programming and therefore faster progress for all parties involved.

Google can benefit from new features added to mainline Linux sooner and with fewer hassles keeping its code in sync with the mainline kernel.

And others using Linux in mobile devices can benefit from improvements that previously had to be retrieved from Google's separate fork.