OS virtualization and emulation on Android

Just like in computers, Android (operating system) devices have the ability to run virtual machines or emulate other operating systems. It does this either via platform virtualization or emulation via compatibility layer.

Platform virtualization

Platform based virtualization allows more leverage to the developer as anything that relates to the guest operating system only afects the guest operating system, and not the host operating system. Due to this it is possible for the guest operating system to be rooted, where as the host operating system remains unrooted.

Emulation

Terminal Emulation of Internal Operating System

Terminal emulation of the Android device itself is done via either an actual local loopback to the device, or an emulation that seems to be a local loopback. Most of these terminal emulation of the device itself utilize the native terminal Toybox library and functions that come with every android device. However due to the fact that the majority of the functions that are readily available without utilizing a compatibility layer, means that Toybox functions can only be utilized. In order for a user to add any other functions or libraries would require the user to root their own device and add the functions or libraries manually.

Limitations

The majority of limitations are seen in emulation based apps rather than the platform virtualization based apps, as the emulation apps must utilize a compatibility layer. Thus for libraries and packages to work as expected like in a real OS, the compatibility layer must work properly and must be able to provide the acurate information. However, this requires that the comapatibility layer to have access many system related and device related information, which can either be done via utilization of Toybox, or via programing language libararies that Android apps can be made form like, Java, C#, and ect. However, since Android 8, many new security restrictions have been placed on apps, and due to these restrictions