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I should note Android runs with a Linux kernel. It has been estimated that games like Pokemon Go have made over $1 billion on revenue from Android devices - larger than its revenue from iOS. Candy Crush Saga, Clash of Clans, Dragon Ball Z etc. do well on Android as well. So the "would totally skip Linux" advice is not heeded by every company for every platform.



This comes up all the time by people that usually lack Android developer experience, specially with the NDK.

Nothing on the Android app stack exposes the underlying Linux kernel to app developers.

Yes it is possible to access certain paths or syscalls, however none of them are part of the public API nor guarantee to work across devices.

Only OEMs have direct contact with the underlying Linux kernel, which could be replaced tomorrow without any issues for app developers, e.g. Fuchsia.


Linux in the thread specifically refers to the Linux Desktop, and even more specifically to the only two supported distros: Ubuntu and Mint. Citing the success of an Android game does not in any way invalidate the advice.


Pokemon Go sold because it had the "Pokemon" IP. This is a very bad example to generalise from.




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