I know that AOSP cannot create a useful system image for the new Nexus 7 and the Nexus 4. Google has made a terribly bad decision here, and I do hope that they have the wisdom to never ever make it again. Given that Rubin is no longer managing the Android project, I would bet that this is a mistake that they're gonna keep making.

And, I mean, the Linux kernel makefile has a "make install" target, but it

a) produces a partially-functional or completely useless kernel on a wide array of hardware unless the linux-firmware package is present

b) even if linux-firmware is present or not required, it won't actually work on the majority of people's systems as it (IIRC) doesn't update initrds, or update the GRUB bootloader menu to point to the newly installed kernel

Both Freedom and Openness are more complicated than an install target. That's the point that I was making. :)