From the 'Open Source Cousins' files:

Android is now back in the Linux kernel as of the recent 3.3 release. That doesn't mean that Android however is a first class Linux citizen, according to developers speaking at the Linux Collaboration Summit this week.

While Android can boot with a Linux 3.3 kernel, it's not power optimized and not production grade. As to why Android isn't a first class citizen, it's not a Linux issues as much as it is a Google issue.

"The big problem with Android becoming a first class citizen is that it requires changes on the Android userspace side, in order to meet our standards of our API interfaces," Linux kernel developer Greg Kroah-Hartman said.

He added that the kernel developers don't control the Android userspace that's something that Google does and they are the only ones that can check in those changes.

That said, Kroah-Hartman noted that Android partners including Samsung and Sony are working on the problem and a resolution is in sight.

Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at InternetNews.com, the news service of the IT Business Edge Network, the network for technology professionals Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.