Since 2016, Google has been investing in its new operating system: Fuchsia. Its first official version was released in 2021, sparking curiosity within the Android community: could this new operating system be a replacement for Android and ChromeOS? What will happen to Android development, which has been widely adopted by developers?
Therefore, we're here to clarify some doubts about this new project being developed by Google in partnership with the community!
What is Fuchsia?
One could say that Fuchsia is a kind of experiment by Google, at least that's what is officially stated. It's an effort to create an operating system and kernel entirely from scratch
Instead of relying on an existing option like Android and ChromeOS, which are based on a version of the Linux Kernel, Fuchsia includes in its project an implementation of a kind of mini-kernel called Zircon. This combination of an operating system and kernel is what brings significant interest to the community!
However, this also poses a dilemma for Google and the community: since applications today are compiled to run on the kernel of their operating systems, and with a completely new kernel, applications would need to undergo some form of update for this new system.
The problem is that nobody would like to buy a new device that doesn't have its main apps and the developers won't work on supporting a new platform before it becomes popular.
Compatibility is probably the solution
Compatibility is probably the solution. With this problem in mind, the solution adopted by Google is to work on compatibility between platforms. It wouldn't be pleasant in any way to lose all the growth and evolution of Android and Linux over decades from both the operating system and developer perspectives.
Initially, this compatibility was based on running a complete instance of Android as a virtual machine so that applications could be emulated on the new operating system—a solution similar to what ChromeOS uses to offer Android apps.
The issue with this solution is the clear loss of performance caused by emulation.
For this reason, recently, Google has been working on a solution called Starnix.
Starnix
In July 2022, all Fuchsia code within the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) was removed, leaving a solitary "TODO" in its place, indicating that some new tool would be built in its stead.
This tool is Starnix, which aims to provide a compatibility layer for programs compiled for Linux and Android.
This layer intends to function like Wine (acronym for "Wine is not an emulator"). Instead of relying on emulation to provide Android applications, Starnix translates system calls from a binary compiled for Android so that it can be understood by the Fuchsia environment.
Therefore, Google intends to make Android apps compatible with the new operating system. According to the 9to5Google website, which has been following the progress of Fuchsia since 2017, there are tasks on Fuchsia's roadmap to better manage the Android init process. Additionally, there are tasks to "launch and run the clock app" on the new system.
The future of Fuchsia
Analyzing all this information, it seems clear that the Google Fuchsia team intends to use the operating system beyond current devices. There are already devices on the market, such as the Pixelbook and Google Nest (Google Home), using the system.
However, with advancements to make Fuchsia a general-purpose operating system with support for Android apps, we'll have to wait for the future to see which devices Google still intends to integrate it with
What we know so far is that:
- Google has no intention of losing the entire Android development ecosystem built over years with the community, given the efforts to make Android apps compatible;
- However, Google knows that it can't rely on Android apps forever. The company has been investing in Bootcamps and trainings for the new system.
The project doesn't seem to be developed to be limited to Google's Smart home devices, but it also doesn't appear that we will see the new system mature enough to meet the entire market anytime soon.
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