Firefox 126 Available - Adds "Linux" To The Android User Agent String

[ssokolow]

Why do we call Linux "Linux"? Because it uses Linux kernel, right? Not because it is POSIX compliant or it has GNU coreutils or comes with Glibc. The thing is ... Android uses Linux kernel too. To me, it is Linux too. I can add busybox and a console app, then start using it as I do on Fedora. Actually, I have been doing that since Gingerbread.

Most people call it "Linux" because nobody gave them a better word like they did with XNU vs. Darwin. It's simply a shorthand for "Linux-based POSIX OS" or, depending on the person, possibly even as specific as "Linux-based POSIX OS with glibc ABI and X11/Wayland on x86", because that's what their games run on.

The common factor is that they're using it as a descriptor for the platform. (i.e. "Android requires emulation to run my GOG.com Linux games, therefore Android isn't Linux." or "I can't compile Xmonad for my tablet. Therefore, Android isn't Linux.")

[mrg666]

Most people call it "Linux" because nobody gave them a better word like they did with XNU vs. Darwin. It's simply a shorthand for "Linux-based POSIX OS" or, depending on the person, possibly even as specific as "Linux-based POSIX OS with glibc ABI and X11/Wayland on x86", because that's what their games run on.

The common factor is that they're using it as a descriptor for the platform. (i.e. "Android requires emulation to run my GOG.com Linux games, therefore Android isn't Linux." or "I can't compile Xmonad for my tablet. Therefore, Android isn't Linux.")

That is fair. I always cross compiled software for Android on x86 Linux desktop. You gave a challenging idea though. If one can cross compile GCC toolchain for Android, it can be tried to build software in Android. However, cross compiling on a much faster computer makes more sense.

Linux games are not suitable for directly running in Android of course. Android's graphics stack is completely different. Something like xwayland will be necessary. Xflinger?

[Quackdoc]

But that's not the intended behaviour and, if Google had the will to, they could have switched kernels and continued calling it Android.

I think of it more like a more distantly related analogue to how macOS vs. iOS aren't the same thing but share the XNU kernel.

I dunno what "intended behavior" means. There are plenty of things like games available for android that make use of this "unintended behavior"

[varikonniemi]

at least now the real scale of Linux usage in statistics starts to reflect reality a bit better

[ssokolow]

I dunno what "intended behavior" means. There are plenty of things like games available for android that make use of this "unintended behavior"

Android has been drifting away from what it was designed for, in the same way that much of the JRE ecosystem now depends on native libraries exposed via JNI, despite the original Java vision being "write once, run anywhere".

[Quackdoc]

Android has been drifting away from what it was designed for, in the same way that much of the JRE ecosystem now depends on native libraries exposed via JNI, despite the original Java vision being "write once, run anywhere".

Android has always allowed this stuff though. Arcades/Casinos have strong android use.

[billyswong]

Michael
The user agent change doesn't seem to make into the final Fx126 android release

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/android/126.0/releasenotes/

It is only mentioned in 126 beta

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/126.0beta/releasenotes/

[ssokolow]

Android has always allowed this stuff though. Arcades/Casinos have strong android use.

Originally, Android's vision was to follow Java's "write once, run anywhere" ideas, with transparent support for things like MIPS-based smartphones.