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As I read from the book Embedded Android (Karim Yaghmour), android init does not die. However, Linux init systems usually die. Why doesn't the android init?

And also, why does android not use / need systemd?

Sertac TULLUK
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    No, Linux init never die.... –  Feb 20 '14 at 16:18
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    The init process in a unix-type system (which generally has pid 1) never dies. The system needs that process to be there in order to operate properly. – Michael Kohne Feb 20 '14 at 19:07
  • systemd is a newer take on the concept of the init process. It fulfills the same role, and when we speak of the init process, it doesn't matter what it's called, it matters only what it does, which is start everything else and stay running. – Michael Kohne Feb 20 '14 at 19:10
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    uhhh.... am not exactly sure what is the OP trying to elicit from this discussion, systemd is more geared towards {desk|lap}tops and servers. Since it would be deemed too "heavy" especially in the arena of mobiles with limited resources... – t0mm13b Feb 20 '14 at 21:48

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Init is one of the first processes that is loaded when the Bootloader starts in Unix. So, technically init is the first process that starts and all other processes are either children or the grandchildren of init. Now, when a process say Ystarts execution, it is usually forked from its parent process, say X when X dies(finished executing) the process Y now has no parent, and it becomes an Orphan Process at this time init takes over the ownership of the process and becomes the parent of Y. Like this, there are so many processes running at a given instant in the OS, everything has to be taken care by init. Since Android being a flavor of Linux, and Linux being a derivative of Unix, it is for the same reason that init doesn't die,unitll the system shuts down.

Vikram Bharadwaj
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    The question is very simple to understand. It asks: "Linux init systems usually die. Why doesn't the android init?" You've told what init is and what it does but that isn't tantamount to why it cannot die in Android but in other Linux distributions. // Init is the first process in user-space, that's what they say and Init is loaded by kernel, not bootloader. – Firelord Feb 13 '16 at 10:29