Replicant (operating system)

Replicant
Replicant logo
DeveloperDenis Carikli, Joonas Kylmälä, Fil Bergamo, Paul Kocialkowski[1]
OS familyAndroid (Linux)
Working stateCurrent
Source modelOpen source
Initial releaseMid-2010; 14 years ago (2010)
Latest release6.0 0004[2] (June 3, 2022; 2 years ago (2022-06-03)) [±]
Repository
Package managerAPK
Kernel typeMonolithic (Linux)
UserlandBionic C library,[3][4] mksh shell,[5] native core utilities with a few from NetBSD[6]
LicenseApache License 2.0, GNU GPLv2, and various other licenses
Official websitewww.replicant.us (As of 19.07.2024, the website has been down for more than a week. Access last archived version on Wayback Machine.)
Replicant 6.0 on Samsung Galaxy Note II.
An example of phone information in Replicant, including a brief hardware description

Replicant is a free operating system (OS) based on the Android mobile platform that intends to replace all proprietary Android components with free-software counterparts.[7][8] It is available for several smartphones and tablet computers.[9] It is written in the same programming languages as Android (from which it is forked indirectly). The modifications are mostly in the C language;[10] the changes are mostly to the lower-level parts of the OS, such as the Linux kernel and drivers that use it.

The name Replicant is drawn from the fictional replicant androids in the Blade Runner movie.[7] Replicant is sponsored and supported by the Free Software Foundation[7][11] and partially by NLnet.[12][13]

  1. ^ "People - Replicant". Redmine.replicant.us. Retrieved September 30, 2013.
  2. ^ Carikli, Denis (June 3, 2022). "New Replicant 6.0 0004 release and Replicant 11 status". replicant.us. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
  3. ^ "Replicant". replicant.us.
  4. ^ "android/platform/bionic/".
  5. ^ "android/platform/external/mksh/".
  6. ^ "android/platform/system/core/toolbox/".
  7. ^ a b c McAllister, Neil (July 26, 2013). "FSF passes collection plate for free Android clone Replicant". The Register. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  8. ^ "Amazon's Fire OS Burned by Google, says EC. Is It Really a Rival?". September 2, 2019. Archived from [cbronline.com/news/fire-os-google the original] on September 2, 2019. Retrieved July 1, 2020. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference ReplicantStatus was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ "Replicant Developer's Guide". Replicant Wiki. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  11. ^ Sharwood, Simon (January 23, 2017). "Stallman's Free Software Foundation says we need a free phone OS". The Register. Retrieved February 12, 2018.
  12. ^ "NLnet; Graphics acceleration on Replicant". nlnet.nl. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  13. ^ "NLnet; Finish porting Replicant to a newer Android version". nlnet.nl. Retrieved December 14, 2019.