
Greg Kroah-Hartman: phone vendors aren't updating their Linux kernels - MilnerRoute
https://linux.slashdot.org/story/18/10/06/1736258/greg-kroah-hartman-outside-phone-vendors-arent-updating-their-linux-kernels
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olliej
This isn’t news. The majority of manufacturers seem unwilling to provide even
a years worth of updates, let alone any kind of long term support. This has
been the case for years (almost a decade for Android now). the majority of
cheap phones have no post-sale software/security support of any kind.

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BugsJustFindMe
I sit here staring at my Moto G5+ _still_ running Android 7.0 with kernel 3.18
and I pledge that my next phone will likely be an iPhone because they get 5
years of steady updates.

This is not the phone vendor's fault. It's Google's fault for choosing an OS
design that puts kernel updates at the mercy of component manufacturers and
network operators that they then have no dealings with. Probably trillions of
dollars have been collectively wasted and numerous landfills sites filled
because device drivers aren't decoupled from the core of the OS by a clean
interface.

Android phones never getting updated has been old news basically since the
first Android phones. How many years has it been?

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giancarlostoro
Dunno but every LG phone I have bought from the "G" series has kept getting
update for the last 5 or more years. It may not always be kept up with whats
hot and buzzing but its better than no updates. But I agree... One of the
biggest things of Linux is package managers... Why didnt google do a clean
package management setup is beyond me.

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chronid
It's not a package management issue. A lot of vendors use drivers developed by
their suppliers, and the internal API of the kernel is known for not being
really stable. So if you want to update the kernel, you need to update the
driver - which a supplier may be not really keen to do. :)

