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Comment by Cider9986

6 days ago

It's not a ROM it's an OS.

ROM is to android what distro is to Linux. The term is used correctly here. An android ROM could refer to the stock OS, GrapheneOS, LineageOS, Pixel Experience, etc.

  • GrapheneOS and other operating systems based on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) are Linux distributions. None of those is a ROM. They're AOSP-based OSes. They're not read-only memory firmware or stored in read-only memory. Using the term ROM that way is very confusing to people who aren't part of communities historically using it that way. It's very misleading and propagates misconceptions. It's not simply about it not being technically accurate.

  • With immutable distros (see bootc or systemd-sysupgrade) the operating system itself is also only just a read only file system. Does that count as ROM too?

  • ROM is to android what an image file is to Linux. A distro is a collection of software and tools, more akin to an android OS.

    • GrapheneOS and other operating systems based on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) are Linux distributions. None of those is a ROM. They're AOSP-based OSes. They're not read-only memory firmware or stored in read-only memory. Using the term ROM that way is very confusing to people who aren't part of communities historically using it that way. It's very misleading and propagates misconceptions. It's not simply about it not being technically accurate.