diff --git a/libs/binder/ndk/include_ndk/android/binder_ibinder.h b/libs/binder/ndk/include_ndk/android/binder_ibinder.h
index 5222bda..d711ad8 100644
--- a/libs/binder/ndk/include_ndk/android/binder_ibinder.h
+++ b/libs/binder/ndk/include_ndk/android/binder_ibinder.h
@@ -287,6 +287,9 @@
  * For debugging only!
  *
  * \param binder the binder object to retrieve the refcount of.
+ *
+ * \return the number of strong-refs on this binder in this process. If binder is null, this will be
+ * -1.
  */
 int32_t AIBinder_debugGetRefCount(AIBinder* binder) __INTRODUCED_IN(29);
 
diff --git a/services/gpuservice/Android.bp b/services/gpuservice/Android.bp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..250bbee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/services/gpuservice/Android.bp
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+filegroup {
+    name: "gpuservice_sources",
+    srcs: [
+        "GpuService.cpp",
+    ],
+}
+
+filegroup {
+    name: "gpuservice_binary_sources",
+    srcs: ["main_gpuservice.cpp"],
+}
+
+cc_defaults {
+    name: "gpuservice_defaults",
+    cflags: [
+        "-DLOG_TAG=\"GpuService\"",
+        "-Wall",
+        "-Werror",
+        "-Wformat",
+        "-Wthread-safety",
+        "-Wunused",
+        "-Wunreachable-code",
+    ],
+    cppflags: ["-std=c++1z"],
+    srcs: [
+        ":gpuservice_sources",
+    ],
+    include_dirs: [
+        "frameworks/native/vulkan/vkjson",
+        "frameworks/native/vulkan/include",
+    ],
+    shared_libs: [
+        "libbinder",
+        "liblog",
+        "libutils",
+        "libvulkan",
+    ],
+    static_libs: [
+        "libvkjson",
+    ],
+}
+
+cc_defaults {
+    name: "gpuservice_production_defaults",
+    defaults: ["gpuservice_defaults"],
+    cflags: [
+        "-fvisibility=hidden",
+        "-fwhole-program-vtables", // requires ThinLTO
+    ],
+    lto: {
+        thin: true,
+    },
+}
+
+cc_defaults {
+    name: "gpuservice_binary",
+    defaults: ["gpuservice_defaults"],
+    whole_static_libs: [
+        "libsigchain",
+    ],
+    shared_libs: [
+        "libbinder",
+        "liblog",
+        "libutils",
+    ],
+    ldflags: ["-Wl,--export-dynamic"],
+}
+
+cc_binary {
+    name: "gpuservice",
+    defaults: ["gpuservice_binary"],
+    init_rc: ["gpuservice.rc"],
+    srcs: [":gpuservice_binary_sources"],
+}
diff --git a/services/surfaceflinger/GpuService.cpp b/services/gpuservice/GpuService.cpp
similarity index 83%
rename from services/surfaceflinger/GpuService.cpp
rename to services/gpuservice/GpuService.cpp
index 71052fb..e4ca6bc 100644
--- a/services/surfaceflinger/GpuService.cpp
+++ b/services/gpuservice/GpuService.cpp
@@ -23,10 +23,7 @@
 
 namespace android {
 
-// ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-class BpGpuService : public BpInterface<IGpuService>
-{
+class BpGpuService : public BpInterface<IGpuService> {
 public:
     explicit BpGpuService(const sp<IBinder>& impl) : BpInterface<IGpuService>(impl) {}
 };
@@ -34,19 +31,15 @@
 IMPLEMENT_META_INTERFACE(GpuService, "android.ui.IGpuService");
 
 status_t BnGpuService::onTransact(uint32_t code, const Parcel& data,
-        Parcel* reply, uint32_t flags)
-{
+        Parcel* reply, uint32_t flags) {
     status_t status;
     switch (code) {
     case SHELL_COMMAND_TRANSACTION: {
         int in = data.readFileDescriptor();
         int out = data.readFileDescriptor();
         int err = data.readFileDescriptor();
-        int argc = data.readInt32();
-        Vector<String16> args;
-        for (int i = 0; i < argc && data.dataAvail() > 0; i++) {
-           args.add(data.readString16());
-        }
+        std::vector<String16> args;
+        data.readString16Vector(&args);
         sp<IBinder> unusedCallback;
         sp<IResultReceiver> resultReceiver;
         if ((status = data.readNullableStrongBinder(&unusedCallback)) != OK)
@@ -64,20 +57,17 @@
     }
 }
 
-// ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
 namespace {
     status_t cmd_help(int out);
     status_t cmd_vkjson(int out, int err);
 }
 
-const char* const GpuService::SERVICE_NAME = "gpu";
+const char* const GpuService::SERVICE_NAME = "gpuservice";
 
-GpuService::GpuService() {}
+GpuService::GpuService() = default;
 
 status_t GpuService::shellCommand(int /*in*/, int out, int err,
-        Vector<String16>& args)
-{
+                                  std::vector<String16>& args) {
     ALOGV("GpuService::shellCommand");
     for (size_t i = 0, n = args.size(); i < n; i++)
         ALOGV("  arg[%zu]: '%s'", i, String8(args[i]).string());
@@ -93,8 +83,6 @@
     return BAD_VALUE;
 }
 
-// ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
 namespace {
 
 status_t cmd_help(int out) {
diff --git a/services/surfaceflinger/GpuService.h b/services/gpuservice/GpuService.h
similarity index 80%
rename from services/surfaceflinger/GpuService.h
rename to services/gpuservice/GpuService.h
index b8c28d2..e2b396e 100644
--- a/services/surfaceflinger/GpuService.h
+++ b/services/gpuservice/GpuService.h
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@
 #ifndef ANDROID_GPUSERVICE_H
 #define ANDROID_GPUSERVICE_H
 
+#include <vector>
+
 #include <binder/IInterface.h>
 #include <cutils/compiler.h>
 
@@ -34,22 +36,21 @@
 class BnGpuService: public BnInterface<IGpuService> {
 protected:
     virtual status_t shellCommand(int in, int out, int err,
-        Vector<String16>& args) = 0;
+                                  std::vector<String16>& args) = 0;
 
-    virtual status_t onTransact(uint32_t code, const Parcel& data,
+    status_t onTransact(uint32_t code, const Parcel& data,
             Parcel* reply, uint32_t flags = 0) override;
 };
 
-class GpuService : public BnGpuService
-{
+class GpuService : public BnGpuService {
 public:
     static const char* const SERVICE_NAME ANDROID_API;
 
     GpuService() ANDROID_API;
 
 protected:
-    virtual status_t shellCommand(int in, int out, int err,
-        Vector<String16>& args) override;
+    status_t shellCommand(int in, int out, int err,
+                          std::vector<String16>& args) override;
 };
 
 } // namespace android
diff --git a/services/gpuservice/gpuservice.rc b/services/gpuservice/gpuservice.rc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d23cf46
--- /dev/null
+++ b/services/gpuservice/gpuservice.rc
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+service gpuservice /system/bin/gpuservice
+    class core
+    user gpu_service
+    group graphics
diff --git a/services/gpuservice/main_gpuservice.cpp b/services/gpuservice/main_gpuservice.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..64aafca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/services/gpuservice/main_gpuservice.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+#include <binder/IPCThreadState.h>
+#include <binder/IServiceManager.h>
+#include <binder/ProcessState.h>
+#include <sys/resource.h>
+#include "GpuService.h"
+
+using namespace android;
+
+int main(int /* argc */, char** /* argv */) {
+    signal(SIGPIPE, SIG_IGN);
+
+    // publish GpuService
+    sp<GpuService> gpuservice = new GpuService();
+    sp<IServiceManager> sm(defaultServiceManager());
+    sm->addService(String16(GpuService::SERVICE_NAME), gpuservice, false);
+
+    // limit the number of binder threads to 4.
+    ProcessState::self()->setThreadPoolMaxThreadCount(4);
+
+    // start the thread pool
+    sp<ProcessState> ps(ProcessState::self());
+    ps->startThreadPool();
+    ps->giveThreadPoolName();
+    IPCThreadState::self()->joinThreadPool();
+
+    return 0;
+}
diff --git a/services/surfaceflinger/Android.bp b/services/surfaceflinger/Android.bp
index 16003a2..e8092a9 100644
--- a/services/surfaceflinger/Android.bp
+++ b/services/surfaceflinger/Android.bp
@@ -19,10 +19,6 @@
         "-DGL_GLEXT_PROTOTYPES",
         "-DEGL_EGLEXT_PROTOTYPES",
     ],
-    include_dirs: [
-        "frameworks/native/vulkan/vkjson",
-        "frameworks/native/vulkan/include",
-    ],
     shared_libs: [
         "android.frameworks.vr.composer@1.0",
         "android.hardware.configstore-utils",
@@ -59,13 +55,11 @@
         "libtimestats_proto",
         "libui",
         "libutils",
-        "libvulkan",
     ],
     static_libs: [
         "librenderengine",
         "libserviceutils",
         "libtrace_proto",
-        "libvkjson",
         "libvr_manager",
         "libvrflinger",
     ],
@@ -132,7 +126,6 @@
         "Effects/Daltonizer.cpp",
         "EventLog/EventLog.cpp",
         "FrameTracker.cpp",
-        "GpuService.cpp",
         "Layer.cpp",
         "LayerBE.cpp",
         "LayerProtoHelper.cpp",
diff --git a/services/surfaceflinger/main_surfaceflinger.cpp b/services/surfaceflinger/main_surfaceflinger.cpp
index 9c2edca..92ae87b 100644
--- a/services/surfaceflinger/main_surfaceflinger.cpp
+++ b/services/surfaceflinger/main_surfaceflinger.cpp
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@
 #include <cutils/sched_policy.h>
 #include <displayservice/DisplayService.h>
 #include <hidl/LegacySupport.h>
-#include "GpuService.h"
 #include "SurfaceFlinger.h"
 #include "SurfaceFlingerFactory.h"
 
@@ -104,10 +103,6 @@
     sm->addService(String16(SurfaceFlinger::getServiceName()), flinger, false,
                    IServiceManager::DUMP_FLAG_PRIORITY_CRITICAL | IServiceManager::DUMP_FLAG_PROTO);
 
-    // publish GpuService
-    sp<GpuService> gpuservice = new GpuService();
-    sm->addService(String16(GpuService::SERVICE_NAME), gpuservice, false);
-
     startDisplayService(); // dependency on SF getting registered above
 
     struct sched_param param = {0};