Linux 3.3 Kernel Released, Gives Android A Hearty Welcome Back

After a small delay, Linus Torvalds announced the release of Linux 3.3 on the Linux kernel mailing list last night. Most of the update is fairly small fry, if nonetheless important -- Btrfs tweaks, Open vSwitch integration, a NVMe driver, changes Nvidia/AMD DRM/KMS drivers -- but the big news is a big homecoming for a big name. After Android's long, lonely wanderings as an unsupported fork, Linux 3.3 began integrating Android code into the core Linux kernel.

KernalNewbies.org sums things up: For a long time, code from the Android project has not been merged back to the Linux repositories due to disagreement between developers from both projects. Fortunately, after several years the differences are being ironed out. Various Android subsystems and features have already been merged, and more will follow in the future. This will make things easier for everybody, including the Android mod community, or Linux distributions that want to support Android programs.

Cue the acoustic guitar and "Kumbaya" singing. In all seriousness, being able to run an Android system off the core Linux kernel will make things much less of a headache for developers. Check out KernelNewbies.org's notes on Linux 3.3 for a full list of changes, complete with quick and technical explanations.