Yes, it's technically part of AOSP, but in typical Google/ARM/Android ecosystem fashion, it only works on Pixels because it depends on pKVM/AVF, which is currently only usable on Pixels, due to several reasons:
- pKVM relies on specific hardware features, such as ARM's Virtualization Host Extensions (VHEs) and IOMMUs, which are not universally present in all Android devices (eg many Mediatek SoCs, often found in budget phones lack this).
- pKVM requires the device's bootloader to support and enable execution at Exception Level 2 (EL2). Pixels have this thanks to their in-house SoC, but almost no other mainstream Android SoC supports EL2, as far as I'm aware (Qualcomm have their own tech called HypX and it can't co-exist with EL2, similarly Exynos have a thing called RKP. So in both SoCs you're limited to EL1, which isn't sufficient for pKVM).
- pKVM also requires device-specific vendor modules/firmware to glue the whole thing together, which is something that OEMs need to provide - and it's not something that an end-user/developer can just whip up themselves.
So yes, while the Linux Terminal is technically part of AOSP, it's pretty much useless on non-Pixels due to pKVM/AVF's design and requirements.
