Google has been reportedly working on a new platform called Fuchsia, and this rumored operating system will be capable of running Android apps.

Since the project is being developed by Google, it is safe to assume that the OS would support Android apps. A new change discovered in the Android Open Source Project has appeared to also confirm this speculation.

Google's New Platform

Last month, Google news outfit 9to5Google reported new Fuchsia-related repositories that were added to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) manifest. These contain a pre-built copy of the Fuchsia SDK that is used to create Fuchsia applications. Another repository looks like a device that could be used by the Android Emulator to run Fuchsia.

Based on the report, Fuchsia will be using a particular version of the Android Runtime or ART to run Android applications. This version of ART can be installed on any Fuchsia device using a .far file, Fuchsia's equivalent version of Android's APK.

"These targets are used to build ART for Fuchsia. They differ from usual Android devices as they do not target specific hardware. They will produce a Fuchsia package (.far file)," reads an excerpt of a Readme file accompanying the change.

ART refers to the Android Runtime environment used to run Android apps. Thus, Google is clearly working on bringing this environment to its new operating system.

It is still unclear, though, if how exactly Fuchsia will use the Android Runtime. It is also not known yet whether the Android Runtime is capable of replacing Linux kernel calls with equivalents from Fuchsia's Zircon kernel or if ART will run in a Linux virtual machine with Machina, Fuchsia's virtual machine system.

Fuchsia To Run Android Apps

What stays clear right now is that Fuchsia devices are designed to run Android applications. The support for the Android apps offered in the Play Store will allow an easy transition from Android to Fuchsia for the users.

The Readme file also mentions that ART on Fuchsia OS will support x86 and ARM architecture. This could mean that the functionality could run on desktop and mobile processors. This adds more weight to previous claims saying that Fuchsia will run on a variety of form factors.

While it may be too soon to dwell on speculation pertaining to the release of Fuchsia devices, it wouldn't be a surprise if Google would indeed officially announce Fuchsia this 2019.

Photo: Robert Scoble | Flickr