Post #1087519

2026-04-05 00:04 UTC

You have it backwards. Linux is the kernel. That’s it. The distribution isn’t Linux. A distro includes the Linux kernel as well as extra user land applications. Anything that uses the Linux kernel is Linux. Android uses the Linux kernel, that makes it Linux. Yes, it’s a restricted and locked down version of Linux, but it’s still Linux.

Replies (1)

@mechoman444@lemmy.world 2026-04-05 02:15

No. I will try and explain. To use a simple analogy, the Linux kernel is like the engine of a car. A Linux distro is everything else around that engine. You can take the same engine and place it into many different shells. While the engine remains the same, the surrounding components can vary wildly. That’s why there are dozens, if not hundreds, of different Linux distros. A company like Google can take the Linux kernel and build an operating system like Android around it, resulting in the fragmented mess it is today. However, saying that Android is Linux is an oversimplification. It is more accurate to say that Android is built on the Linux kernel, not that it is Linux in the same sense as a traditional GNU/Linux distribution.

Open ##1087518