Unpaid Volunteers At CyanogenMod Successor LineageOS Maintain Builds For Old Android Devices

Linux magazine explores how to breath fresh life into old Android devices: Every mobile device needs its own Android build because of numerous drivers that are not available in the source code. The need to maintain every version of Android for every mobile device means that many manufacturers eventually stop supporting updates. Often, smartphones or tablets that still work perfectly can no longer be used without worry because the manufacturer has simply ceased to offer bug fixes and security updates....

The LineageOS project, the successor to the CyanogenMod project, which was discontinued in 2016, proves that it is not impossible to keep these devices up-to-date. Unpaid volunteers at LineageOS do the work that many manufacturers do not want to do: They combine current Android releases with the required device-specific drivers.

The LineageOS project (Figure 1) provides Android systems with a fresh patch status every month for around 300 devices. The builds are released weekly, unless there is a problem during the build. The Devices page on the LineageOS Wiki provides the details of whether a LineageOS build is available for your smartphone or tablet....

I recommend the LineageOS project as the first port of call for anyone who wants to protect an older smartphone or tablet that is no longer maintained and doesn't receive Google security patches. The LineageOS derivatives LineageOS for MicroG and /e/OS make it even easier to enjoy a Google-free smartphone without too many restrictions.
The article also describes how to use TWRP to flash a manufacturer-independent recovery system (while also creating a restoreable backup of the existing system) as an alternative to LineageOS's own recovery tools.

And it even explains how to unlock the bootloader — although there may be other locks set up separately by the manufacturer. "Some manufacturers require you to register the device to unlock it, and then — after telling you that the warranty is now void — they hand over a code. Others refuse to unlock the device altogether."

Thanks to Slashdot reader DevNull127 for submitting the article.

Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act says they can't do that

[Joe_Dragon]

Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act says they can't do that

Re:

[gweihir]

You know how much the rest of the world cares about US laws? Zilch.

Re:

[LeeLynx]

Says they can't do what, exactly?

Unpaid volunteers

[FeelGood314]

There's a redundant word in the title somewhere

There are "payed" volunteers?

[fbobraga]

If someone is payed to do something, why call them "volunteer" in the first place!?

Very good OS imho

[Big Hairy Gorilla]

Android without surveillance and bloatware basically. Installs easily on Google hardware. Installable on some Samsung, but with a lot of working around the "security measures". Sadly, the concept of privacy is just too abstract for most people, so there isn't alot of interest in this. Anyone who remotely wants privacy just drinks the Apple KoolAid. Apple doesn't share your data,right? Haha.. they are right. *You shared it* with the app when you agreed to install it. Get lineage and put Nextcloud on a cheap VPS for your cloud backend and stop handing over every last detail of your life to Apple and Google.

Also get a VPN and encrypted DNS lookups, then you have zenfoil. Look it up.

Unfortunately

[bferrell]

LineageOS is only built for some old handsets/tablets... Not even as many as the old CyanogenMod used to cover.

In some cases one can hunt down "wild" strains and try those

Re:

[Moryath]

Yeah, I used to keep phones going with LineageOS but twice in a row, they dropped support for phones that weren't even that old too. It's at the whim of "whatever phone a developer has and feels like keeping going."

"Open source support" reveals its limitations in situations like this. Product manufacturers for computerized products (phone, tablet, etc) should be required to maintain a product with security updates for at least 8-10 years, rather than forcibly obsoleting it 3 years after launch.

Re:

[NateFromMich]

LineageOS is only built for some old handsets/tablets...

They are up to at least Pixel 5a. Obviously it does take them time to get full support for newer devices, but that's usually available on XDA from someone else before it is made official.
It's kind of always been like that.

Re:

[mr5oh]

You also have to look on XDA for all devices. Fortunately and Unfortunately their rules for being an officially supported device are so strict that some developers make builds without the intention of ever making them "official." Many times you'll find unofficial Lineage builds that are fine for daily driver use, that even gets regular updates. Usually its because of some minor issue, or even could be the developer doesn't feel like dealing with the hassle of making it official or officially supporting it.

LineageOS with microg on xiaomi PoCo f3

[klipclop]

This phone was super cheap and good specs. I picked this phone because it has LineageOS support so that I could wipe the CCP spyware OS and install a LineageOS without Google play services. I wish androids next step will be to force open source drivers on vendors or at least require them to provide drivers to the open source community. I have a super old PC running Linux just fine, so there's no reason phones can't too.

Commendable effort

[RUs1729]

However, reality is what it is: phone manufacturers make sure that getting anything outside their control on their devices is a fraught, tricky, tedious undertaking, which rarely ends up with a device with every single feature works as it should. Good for enthusiasts, hobbyists, and very few others.

Security updates

[Fenisu0916]

I do not understand how people is missing this aspect all the time. LTS versions and regular updates are mostly available to patch "running working systems" with problems, and these can be functional or security problems. "Drivers" or rather modem OS and such on Android are closed sourced and are vulnerable to multiple attacks as soon the device is dead to the manufacturer, which is ~2 years on average for all devices. Despite the community efforts, the device will never be completely secure. Newer Andro

Re:

[drinkypoo]

"Drivers" or rather modem OS and such on Android are closed sourced and are vulnerable to multiple attacks as soon the device is dead to the manufacturer,

If the holes are in the drivers you're screwed. If they're in the OS you're OK, because Android has had driver portability since... 9? Something like that

Re:

[Fenisu0916]

Well, that is the thing.
Check Android October's 2022 security bulletin report: https://source.android.com/doc... [android.com]
Let's look at CVE-2022-25718 under Qualcomm closed-source components.

Then Google that CVE and you get, https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/... [mitre.org]
which states:

Cryptographic issue in WLAN due to improper check on return value while authentication handshake in Snapdragon Auto, Snapdragon Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer Electronics Connectivity, Snapdragon Consumer IOT, Snapdragon Industrial IOT