Key Points:
- Google’s new stripped-down Fuchsia OS, microfuchsia, might run on Android devices in virtual machines.
- Microfuchsia’s purpose is unclear, but it could handle secure tasks for Android more efficiently.
- This development suggests Google hasn’t abandoned Fuchsia and is exploring new use cases.
Google, the powerhouse behind Android and Chrome OS, has been quietly nurturing a third operating system called Fuchsia. Speculation has swirled around Fuchsia since its inception, with many predicting it would replace Android. While that future seems distant, Google is testing Fuchsia in intriguing ways. Here’s a look at Google’s recent project: a lightweight version of Fuchsia designed to run on virtual machines within Android devices.
Unlike Android and Chrome OS built on the Linux kernel, Fuchsia utilizes Zircon, a microkernel architecture. This architecture minimizes the amount of code requiring the highest level of trust, potentially boosting security and stability.
Earlier rumors suggested Google envisioned Fuchsia on smartphones, PCs, and smart home devices. While a full-fledged Android or Chrome OS replacement appears unlikely, Google successfully launched Fuchsia on its Nest Hub devices in 2021. To broaden Fuchsia’s reach beyond smart homes, Google is working on projects like Starnix, enabling unmodified Linux applications to run on Fuchsia.
The most recent development is “microfuchsia,” a project aiming to make Fuchsia operational on existing devices through virtualization. Microfuchsia is designed for virtual machine environments like QEMU and pKVM. Notably, pKVM serves as the hypervisor for Android’s Virtualization Framework (AVF), introduced with Android 13 on select devices. Google created AVF to run specific workloads securely in isolated environments. For this purpose, Google developed “microdroid,” a heavily trimmed-down version of Android.
The speculation is that Google might deploy microfuchsia similarly to microdroid. In essence, microfuchsia could handle tasks requiring a secure execution environment within the Android host operating system. While microdroid currently fulfills this role, microfuchsia might offer increased speed, security, or both.
Recent submissions to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) hint at the groundwork for a new APEX file containing microfuchsia. APEX files, utilized by Project Mainline, package system components. On compatible Android devices, an APEX file holds all the binaries related to AVF. Though the “com.android.microfuchsia” APEX file isn’t available yet, its existence referenced in AOSP, along with code found in the Fuchsia Gerrit code repository, is intriguing.
While the exact purpose of microfuchsia on Android remains unclear, this development signifies Google’s continued exploration of Fuchsia’s potential use cases beyond its initial smart home foray. This might be a glimpse into a future where different operating systems collaborate within a single device, each handling specific tasks for optimal performance and security.
