Mainline

Android 10 introduced Mainline (formerly called modular system components on this site). Mainline modularizes some Android system components and enables them to be updated outside of the normal Android release cycle. This enables Google and Android partners to distribute updates broadly, quickly, and seamlessly to end-user devices in a nonintrusive manner.

End-user devices can receive Mainline updates from the Android Google Play system update feature (which runs on the Google Play Store infrastructure) or through a partner-provided over-the-air (OTA) mechanism.

Architecture

Mainline converts selected system components into modules. The modular architecture shown in Figure 1 enables system components to be updated with critical bug fixes and other improvements as needed, without affecting lower-level vendor implementations or higher-level apps and services.

Mainline
architecture

Figure 1. Mainline architecture

Module updates don't introduce new APIs. They use only the SDK and System APIs guaranteed by the Compatibility Test Suite (CTS), communicate only with each other, and use only stable C API or stable AIDL interfaces.

Module updates

Some Mainline modules use the APEX container format (introduced in Android 10) and some use the APK format.

Updated Mainline modules can be packaged together and pushed to end-user devices, either by Google, using the Google Play system update feature, or by the Android partner, using a partner-provided OTA mechanism. The module package installs and rolls back atomically; either all modules that need to be updated are updated or none are updated.

Available modules

Module name Package name Type Release introduced
AdServices Multiple Multiple Android 13
adbd com.android.adbd APEX Android 11
Android Health APEX Android 14
AppSearch com.android.appsearch APEX Android 13
ART com.android.art APEX Android 12
Bluetooth APEX Android 13
CellBroadcast com.android.cellbroadcast APEX Android 11
Config Infrastructure com.android.configinfrastructure APEX Android 14
Conscrypt com.android.conscrypt APEX Android 10
Device Scheduling com.android.scheduling APEX Android 12
DNS Resolver com.android.resolv APEX Android 10
DocumentsUI com.android.documentsui APK Android 10
ExtServices com.android.ext.services APK (Android 10)
APEX (Android 11)
Android 10
IPsec/IKEv2 Library com.android.ipsec APEX Android 11
Media Media: com.android.media

Media Codecs: com.android.media.swcodec
APEX Android 10 (extractors, MediaSession API)
Android 11 (MediaParser API)
MediaProvider com.android.mediaprovider APEXAndroid 11
ModuleMetadata com.android.modulemetadata APK Android 10
Network Stack Network Stack Permission Configuration: com.android.networkstack.permissionconfig

Captive Portal Login: com.android.captiveportallogin

Network Components: com.android.networkstack
APK Android 10
NNAPI Runtime com.android.neuralnetworks APK Android 11
OnDevicePersonalization Runtime Multiple Multiple Android 13
PermissionController com.android.permissioncontroller APK Android 10
Remote Key Provisioning com.android.rkpd APEX Android 14
SDK Extensions com.android.sdkext APEX Android 11
Statsd com.android.os.statsd APEX Android 11
Tethering com.android.tethering APEX Android 11
Time Zone Data com.android.tzdata APEX Android 10
UWB com.android.uwb APEX Android 13
Wi-Fi com.android.wifi APEX Android 11