What Is Linux Mobile

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Original link

https://connolly.tech/posts/2024_01_06-what-is-linux-mobile/

Recommended reading 1

https://linuxonmobile.net

Recommended reading 2

https://github.com/nikhiljha/awesome-linux-mobile

Recommended reading 3

https://tuxphones.com/all-linux-distributions-for-smartphones/

Recommended reading 4

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/linux-smartphone-operating-systems/

So, you might be hearing the term “Linux Mobile” for the first time. Perhaps you stumbled upon a post on social media, heard someone mention it at a conference, or learned about it through other means. Let me explain…

This article is based on a page I wrote for linmob.net. I have a lot to cover, so this might be a bit fast.

Technical Description

If you are not particularly keen on self-reflection and pragmatism, the following content may not pique your interest. I hope this article is easy to understand, so let’s get this part out of the way first. Linux Mobile is for everyone; it is a loosely organized group with a common goal: to run Linux on mobile phones. For many of us, this has a strong ideological connection. We care about the environment, sustainability, privacy, and user freedom. For others, it looks cool and is a fun trend to follow. postmarketOS is a large project, and we have strict limitations in some areas, such as proprietary software. Of course, we allow the use of firmware (without firmware, all devices are just bricks), but we focus on collaborating with upstream projects—the Linux kernel, GNOME, and KDE desktop communities, while also being home to projects like SXMO (if you’re interested, it is based on Sway and designed for phones). We are the main proponents of running modern Linux kernels on smartphones. That is to say, almost all well-supported postmarketOS ports involve running a modern kernel on devices that traditionally use heavily modified vendor kernels. For example, for the OnePlus 6, we have about 100 patches that have not yet been integrated into the upstream Linux (such as support for call audio), but other than that, we use the mainline version of Linux. We also work closely with the Mobian project; we run a customized Alpine Linux on phones, while Mobian runs a customized Debian. We are all passionate about achieving “true Linux” and carving out a niche for mobile technology in the desktop-centric open-source software world. Other distributions are doing similar things, but none collaborate as deeply as we do. On the other hand, there are projects based on Halium, with Ubuntu Touch and Droidian being the main representatives. The significant difference is that these projects attempt to build on the existing Board Support Package (BSP) provided by the vendor, which includes the kernel and a bunch of proprietary user-space libraries and daemons. This is made possible by the aptly named libhybris project, which allows the use of proprietary Android bionic – libc hardware abstraction layer components (HALs) that exist only in binary form on glibc or musl Linux systems. This has many benefits, as all the cool platform support and integration features can be utilized, such as camera stacks, pedometer functionality, audio routing… Power management features can also work effectively. By building the entire operating system on Android interfaces and Qualcomm/Samsung/MediaTek platform features, these functionalities are “free”. This allows modern phones to run faster and achieve more features, such as the impressive camera stack recently demonstrated by Droidian on the OnePlus 6. But (there’s always a “but”) there are a few important caveats to note. This model is difficult to scale and often requires significant modifications to parts of the normal Linux user-space stack, and (for better or worse) it often faces discontent from the upstream community. This approach also relies on outdated software: the last security update for the OnePlus 6 was in February 2022, updating to the November 2021 Android security patch level. The Linux 4.9 kernel used by this device stopped receiving long-term support stable patches in early 2023. Moreover, Qualcomm has added over 5 million lines of code to support this platform—there are many attack surfaces that can never be fixed. This is unavoidable for older devices. In fact, a recent security vulnerability affected the modem firmware of Qualcomm devices like the OnePlus 6. Security-conscious vendors provided fixes, but the OnePlus 6 has stopped receiving updates, and due to Qualcomm’s security model, unless we find a vulnerability in the trust chain or OnePlus discloses its signing keys, we cannot patch the firmware ourselves. It’s a catch-22. I don’t think we need to worry too much about these issues unless you have reason to believe you will be a direct target of an attack, in which case you absolutely should not use Linux Mobile as a daily driver. Full disk encryption and basic common sense may provide sufficient protection.

Economics and Environment

Today, the frenzied growth of the tech industry has catastrophic consequences for developing countries, which is common knowledge. On the positive side, finding sustainable technology is costly; on the negative side, it may be impossible. As individuals, the best we can hope for is to reduce consumption. By 2024, the smartphone market is almost completely saturated. From a capitalist perspective, there is almost no room for further growth. Almost everyone owns at least one phone, and in the current situation, it is unrealistic to encourage people to replace their phones more frequently than they do now (at least not overtly). This coincides with the right to repair movement and the EU’s recent regulations on software support, but it is a good thing that these situations are starting to stabilize, as continuous growth leads to more destruction. Phones are a status symbol; the iPhone is extremely popular in the United States, and the typical smartphone is a glass slab with a fancy camera bump, which is not surprising. Some companies are trying to stand out, like the Nothing phone with its LED stripes, but other specifications are quite ordinary. The smartphone market will undergo significant changes, with artificial intelligence becoming a buzzword for investors, along with technologies like flexible displays and under-display cameras. But ultimately, smartphones have basically reached a point of maturity in many respects. Of course, we can have better screens, improved tactile feedback, and there is still much room for connectivity improvements (Bluetooth is a mess, what the heck). But in reality, smartphones from 2015 are still quite good in many cases. The idea that these devices are destined to run outdated software forever is absolutely irresponsible. We do not live in a world where we can consume without restraint. Entropy will eventually descend upon all of us, and we should make the most of what we have.

Don’t Ignore the Social Aspect

We (the passionate supporters of Linux Mobile) are fed up with unmet demands, fed up with phones that are “hostile” to us, and fed up with the eternal profit motive that leads products to be deliberately designed to be obsolete and insecure. We believe that phones should serve the user; they should neither distract you with manipulative design nor stop receiving security updates or providing replacement parts when they can still fully meet daily needs. But it should be clear that participation does not necessarily have to be driven by ideology. I am not a purist; I spend more time on social media, YouTube, and other unproductive things than I care to admit, and undoubtedly, many of my developer peers would scoff at this. Gatekeeping and purity tests are familiar to many online progressives, and this is something we need to be wary of. We may exclude those who do not align closely enough with our views, risking stifling this movement. Alternatively, we may let everyone in, but then we could face infighting and power struggles as everyone wants to stand out in the community. I don’t think this is a new or unique situation for our movement. But in any case, I feel that some people are oblivious to the role they play in this dynamic. For those in positions of power (like project leaders and open-source maintainers), it is especially important to consider their influence on other community members and to act as cautiously as possible.

Software Aspects

This stream-of-consciousness style blog post does a great job of sharing ideas (to engage readers, right?). But there are some things I want to discuss more specifically. No matter what you want to do with your phone, it should always be YOUR phone. The software you run on your phone should not be subject to arbitrary restrictions; you should be able to customize the interface according to your needs. Obviously, not everyone has the time to develop such custom software, but some do, and you should be able to easily use such software. User experience (UX) is incredibly difficult to get right. Frankly, Android is extremely difficult to use in some ways that even we struggle to understand. For example, the long-press spacebar feature that turns it into a touchpad to move the cursor. On Android, it can only move left and right, simulating the key presses of the left and right arrow keys. But on iOS… oh my, it really becomes a two-dimensional touchpad, allowing you to move the cursor to any position. This is so much better because mapping the thumb position directly to the cursor position within a specific area is far more intuitive than trying to synchronize finger movements with pressing left and right arrow keys… Generally speaking, the text interaction experience is terrible, and the selection and copy/paste functions are awful. It doesn’t have to be this way—we can definitely do better. But hey, actually achieving this in reality and creating something usable for everyone, good luck with that. The duopoly in mobile software absolutely stifles creativity, and frankly, we deserve better.

Linux Mobile Is for Everyone

We are all trying to survive in this crazy world, and for those of us trying to build a better smartphone ecosystem, we should take the time to do things right. Some people may not be happy to hear this, but I genuinely believe we must target rational consumers. It is clear that most people care about the progressive cause, and the motivations behind Linux Mobile are also clear. However, without a competitive user experience, we will never meet our goals. I am certainly not feeling despair about this; there is currently a lot of excellent work being done, and I am excited to see things continue to develop. Hey, dear readers, what we need most right now is confidence. The more people donate to projects like postmarketOS and talk about the work we are doing, the more people can be compensated to work on it, and the more we can continue to grow and thrive. We are still too small and have not reached a self-sustaining level yet. But there is no doubt that we will achieve it.

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