Xiaomi_Kernel_OpenSource

I assume they're not the only ones, but Xiaomi (a major Chinese manufacturer of Android phones sold both in China and globally) hasn't released Linux kernel sources for any devices released in the last seven months [0], and they've released 50+ devices (!) in that time [1]. Has there ever been a successful enforcement (or even an attempted enforcement) of the GPL against a handset manufacturer? What are the options for handset users to attempt to force them to uphold their obligations? Why does Google allow them to continue to be part of the Android platform (use Android trademarks, carry built-in support for Google services, etc) while they violate the GPL? [0] https://github.com/MiCode/Xiaomi_Kernel_OpenSource [1] https://www.gsmarena.com/xiaomi-phones-80.php

I liked the last comment in this PR: "I think Xiaomi should share the open source code as requested by the users before finding more ways to obfuscate things. https://github.com/MiCode/Xiaomi_Kernel_OpenSource/issues/23... There are dozens of pages filled with such request in the issue tracker."

My guess is that Apple writes the drivers themselves. That makes sense because iOS isn't like Linux or Windows where there are public resources on writing drivers. Because they write the drivers, it's very easy to port over to the next iOS version because all the expertise is already at Apple. In contrast, Qualcomm gives the OEMs a copy the custom Linux kernel that works with their SoC[1]. The OEMs then use that source to build their kernel, probably making minimal changes to it. Once Qualcomm stops selling that SoC, they stop releasing updates to their custom kernel because there's no pressure from OEMs to keep it patched. [1] eg. https://github.com/MiCode/Xiaomi_Kernel_OpenSource/tree/ceph...

It's usually quite easy, they're often on Github though some companies host them themselves. There are a few companies (looking at you Lenovo) who release partial/non-working sources but most vendors do comply with the GPL. https://github.com/nokia-dev/android_device_nokia_sdm660-com... https://github.com/OnePlusOSS/android_kernel_oneplus_sdm845 https://github.com/MiCode/Xiaomi_Kernel_OpenSource https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/ZenFone/ZS630KL/ASUS_I01W... https://android.googlesource.com/kernel/msm/+/android-9.0.0_... https://consumer.huawei.com/en/opensource/ etc.

the Url was paste in twice https://github.com/MiCode/Xiaomi_Kernel_OpenSource/tree/tiss...