Android Kernel Download

http://elinux.org/Android_Kernel_Download

Main Google Android Kernels

The main Google repository with Android source code is at: http://android.git.kernel.org/

There are (as of September 2009) 4 main separate kernel repositories at that site:

• common
• experimental
• msm
• omap

To download one of these and use it directly, you can use git. For example:

git clone git://android.git.kernel.org/kernel/common.git kernel

To preserve your sanity, it's probably worth downloading this into a 'kernel' directory in your overall Android source directory scheme

You can use repo, following the instructions at http://source.android.com/download, to pull down the entire Android source. However, when you download the rest of the Android source code, using the 'repo' command, you do NOT automatically get a kernel tree included. That is, a kernel git tree is not referenced in the default Android manifest file,

To add projects, such as the kernel, to your overall Android repository scheme, you add the appropriate kernel repository to your local manifest.xml file. This file is located in the .repo directory.

To include the kernel/common tree, include a line like this in .repo/manifest.xml:

<project path="kernel/common" name="kernel/common" />

The complete list of projects (including other kernel options besides kernel/common) is listed on http://android.git.kernel.org/.

Note that the default revision for git repositories is specified in the <default> tag in manifest.xml as "revision=master" but the kernel/common repository may not have a head called "master". In that case if you just type "repo sync kernel/common" you may see the message:

error: revision master in kernel/common not found

Typically the heads in the kernel/common repository will be called android-2.6.x (where x is the kernel number); specifying this number in the manifest should allow repo to sync properly, i.e.:

<project path="kernel/common" name="kernel/common" revision="android-2.6.27"/>

You can view the heads by clicking on the project link from http://android.git.kernel.org/.

For more about repo, see http://source.android.com/download/using-repo

Other Repositories with Android-specific changes

• Linux kernel for omap and beagle-board, by Embinux: http://labs.embinux.org/git/cgit.cgi/repo/kernel.git
  • clone with: git clone git://labs.embinux.org/repo/kernel.git kernel

'Raw' Android kernel patches

I do not know of any freely available patches for the Linux kernel with the Android fixes, as of November 2009. I have, however, heard of multiple efforts to extract the patches to make it easier to port the Android kernel features onto newer Linux kernels.

Here is a way of extracting raw Android patches at a certain point in time, though this may be dated:

git clone git://android.git.kernel.org/kernel/common.git android-kernel
cd android-kernel
git checkout --track -b android-2.6.32 origin/android-2.6.32
git fetch --tags git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-2.6.32.y.git
git shortlog v2.6.32.9..HEAD
git format-patch v2.6.32.9..HEAD

Sum total 173 patches for the 2.6.32.9 kernel as of writing.

If anyone knows where raw android kernel patches are available, please add a link here. See also the Android Kernel Features page for more information about individual kernel features.