alt Hacker NewsGoogle had to release at least the core packages in Android regardless because it is based on top of Linux and the GPL license would require it.
Google had to release at least the core packages in Android regardless because it is based on top of Linux and the GPL license would require it.
But they open sourced much more than that, and under more permissive licenses.
The notable exception is of course the google play services, which is also strategic (they control the OEMs with this, among other things).
And the drivers, but that's mostly not them I think (they could possibly have required open source drivers though)