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Aboriginal Linux
s a shell script that builds the smallest/simplest linux system capable of rebuilding itself from source code. This currently requires seven packages: linux, busybox, uClibc, binutils, gcc, make, and bash.
Android's "no GPL in userspace" policy precludes it from shipping many existing Linux packages as part of the base install: no BusyBox or GNU tools, no glibc or uClibc, and no gcc or binutils. In theory the Linux Containers infrastructure may eventually provide a solution for sandboxing applications, but the base OS needs to be pretty bulletproof if a billion people are going to run code they don't deeply understand connected to broadband internet 24/7. Integrating the results of decoupled development efforts is made possible by the ability to unequivocally determine which approaches are best (trusted engineers break ties, but it has to be pretty close and the arguments go back and forth).
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