Does Android count as Linux for steed?

[japaric]

Does Android count as Linux for steed?

[japaric]

Do we support Android?

We can't list Android as a supported platform because we are not running tests for it. I mean, it might work because Android is based on Linux but we are not committed to fixing any problem on that platform because it's not listed as a supported platform.

That being said, I'm 👍 on supporting Android if anyone figures out how to test it inside Travis CI or through some other testing infra.

[parched]

Yes, it should just be the tests. Static musl binaries work on both Android and normal linux so there's no reason why steed shouldn't /couldn't.

[briansmith]

My understanding is that, despite being based on Linux, Android doesn't have any stable C ABI other than bionic (Android's libc). For example, they may choose to fix a kernel bug in bionic rather than in the kernel. Or they may choose to not fix a serious kernel vulnerability at all, if it isn't triggered by bionic. Or they may have other libraries that a Rust program would link with that assume bionic in some deadly-if-not-bionic way. Therefore there's always going to be non-trivial risk in using the Kernel directly on Android, that isn't present in general in Linux.

Also, Android applications are probably more binary-size-conscious than desktop/server applications.
(I personally am taking a wait-and-see approach to see how steed would affect the binary size of Android apps.)

[anatol]

Android's kernel ABI is stable as much as underlying Linux ABI. It is safe to use syscall interface. It is what golang android is doing.

Saying it Android bionic is slightly different from glibc. For example DNS name resolution at android works different way than in glibc. Android target will need to account for it.