As it stands, Linux and Google's Android OS are still separate operating systems. But that may change now that Android code has been readmitted to a staging area for inclusion the Linux kernel, the core Linux code maintained by project founder Linus Torvalds.

More than two years ago, Android code was booted from the staging area because no one was actually working to get it merged into the kernel. But on Sunday, Torvalds released a new version of the kernel – version 3.3 – that returns some of this code to the staging area, and Linux developer Greg Kroah-Hartman tells Wired that a number of companies are now working to merge the Android code into the main Linux tree, including Linaro, an outfit that builds software from the ARM processors that run a vast majority of today's smartphones.

"Previously, no one was working on it," Kroah-Hartman tells Wired. "This is a nice change from the past."

If Android is merged into the main tree, this would make it easier for Google to incorporate new Linux changes into its OS and ultimately improve life for those building Android devices – at least in theory. "The whole reason you get into using open source and Linux is to tap into the collective development," says Jim Zemlin, the president of the Linux Foundation, the not-for-profit that oversees the development of the kernel.

But as Kroah-Hartman says, merging Android into the kernel won't be easy. Android is based on Linux, but in building the OS, Google has taken a vastly different approach to aspects of its design. Two years, Kroah-Hartman questioned whether it was even possible to merge the two, but now he's more hopeful. "It's going to be a difficult time, but people are working on making it happen, so it should be possible," he says.

According to Kroah-Hartman, only about 7,000 lines of Android code must be merged into the main code tree of the Linux kernel. These are "drivers" that interface with the underlying hardware. "This is half the size of your serial port driver, so it really isn't much code at all," he says. "For something like this, that is so useful to so many users of Linux, it should be in the kernel tree to help make future releases easier for us and the Android developers."