Google opens up its curious Fuschia OS to contributions from the public
It’s been a while since we’ve heard much about Fuchsia, the operating system Google has been working on for the last several years. The company has been cagey about the OS, even though it’s an open-source project. Now, Google is opening up Fuchsia development some more, and it’s seeking contributions from the public.
Google has been sharing its work on Fuchsia through repositories that anyone can access to see how the project has changed over time. The company has now made the operating system’s bug tracker available to the public and there are mailing lists through which developers can receive alerts about various updates. You can also check out a technical roadmap for Fuchsia.
In its governance model for the project, Google notes that while it encourages outside contributions to the OS, it “steers the direction of Fuchsia and makes platform decisions related to Fuchsia.” That’s not unlike the way Google holds sway over the Android ecosystem.
Developers who want to contribute to Fuchsia, which Google says is “designed to prioritize security, updatability and performance,” have to sign up. They can download the source code and “clone, compile and contribute to” the project. If developers don’t have a Fuchsia-compatible device (the original Pixelbook is one such system), they can test the OS with an emulator.
Google says the OS isn’t ready to be used in general product development or as a development target. The company hasn’t revealed if or when it will bake Fuchsia into commercial products, but at least for now it’s clear the project is still a real thing that’s definitely alive and trundling along.
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