Android 3.2 GPL content is out, but don't get excited for open source Honeycomb yet

Android Open Source Project engineer Jean-Baptiste Queru on Tuesday announced the portions of Android 3.2 covered under the GNU General Public License (GPL) and GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) have been released to the Android Open Source Project.

Android uses several different Open Source licenses, but the majority of the code falls under the Apache Software License 2.0. Things like the Linux kernel and Bluetooth stack fall under the GNU licenses.

"Honeycomb," the tablet-specific branch of Android is not expected to be fully open sourced because of the potential mess it could cause in being ported to a phone. But at Google I/O this year, Google's Dan Morill said later versions of the source code could be released depending upon the build quality.

The next version of Android, to be called Ice Cream Sandwich, will be designed for both smartphone and tablet and is expected to return to Android's normal open source path.