Google makes Android development private, will continue open source releases

Google will move all Android development into its internal branch, with source code published to the public AOSP branch only when new versions are finished. Google confirmed the change to Android Authority and says it is meant to simplify development, building on a recent move to trunk-based development. The company states that working on separate public and private branches causes features and API support to fall out of sync, forcing Google to merge the branches tediously for every release. Google says it will still publish source code to AOSP as before, and licensed OEMs such as Samsung and Motorola will work mainly from the internal branch.