Android Software Stack

The android software stack consists of 5 parts:

1. Linux kernel
2. Native libraries
3. Android Runtime
4. Application Framework
5. Applications

Linux kernel: It is the sole of the entire Android structure. As the name signifies, it handles all the device specific resources, drivers, memory management etc.

Native libraries: On top of the kernel resides the native libraries, such as OpenGL, SQLite etc. Inorder to access the resources the users need to call these libraries, say, if a developer needs to implement the database he needs to call the SQLite library.

Android Runtime: This consists of the core libraries and the Dalvik Virtual Machine which is responsible for running the applications.

Application Framework: Over the native libraries and the android runtime lies the android framework which consists of the API's such as the UI, content providers, package managers etc.

Applications: On top of all these lies the application set. All the applications that you see in your android device such as games, browser, music players etc belongs to this category. This set provides the user with specific functions with the help of the underlying architectural layers.