Versie 23 van LineageOS is beschikbaar gekomen. LineageOS is de opvolger van CyanogenMod en een opensourcebesturingssysteem voor smartphones en tablets. Het is gebaseerd op een kale versie van Android en voegt extra functionaliteit toe, waaronder snelkoppelingen in de notificatiebalk, een uitgebreid lockscreen en verschillende thema's voor de interface. Verder zijn er vaak prestatieverbeteringen waar te nemen ten opzichte van de software die een fabrikant zelf meelevert. LineageOS versie 23 is gebaseerd op Android 16 en de releasenotes voor deze uitgave zien er als volgt uit:
23 - Primetime ReleaseThis last year has been a whirlwind to say the least, but we have remained dedicated to bringing an updated LineageOS based on Android 16 to the masses! We’ve been hard at work rebasing all of our changes and features since Android 16’s release in June. Android 16’s first release mainly contained iterative improvements and some UI/UX refinements, but due to our previous efforts adapting to Google’s UI-centric adjustments in Android 12 through 14, we were able to rebase onto Android 16’s code-base faster than anticipated. Yes you read that right: We’re early this year! Other components have complicated our release and security patching efforts, but we’ll get to that shortly. Google’s Patch Cadence, and LineageOS Going Forward.
Firstly, what even is an ASB? Or a QPR?You’ll notice we are choosing to release LineageOS 23.0, and not 23.1. That’s because it’s based on Android 16’s initial release (what we’ll call QPR0), even though QPR1 has already rolled out to Pixels. The catch? Google never pushed QPR1’s source to AOSP. They’ve said it’ll come “in the coming weeks” (source), but right now only contracted partners have access. And to answer the immediate question, the likelihood that any custom ROM will ever be a contracted Google partner is near 0.
On top of that, Google’s handling of ASBs has shifted (source). July was empty for the first time since the program began, August had a single patch, and September omitted patches for several listed vulnerabilities, with fixes shared privately to partners under embargo. The result is that AOSP security updates are no longer released in full on a monthly basis. Instead, only vulnerabilities deemed “high risk” (i.e. actively exploited in the wild) will be published by Google in the monthly ASBs, and even then, the underlying patches are often not made public immediately.
On a quarterly cadence, Google now issues larger security bulletins that include patches for vulnerabilities originally discovered in prior months. These quarterly bulletins coincide with QPRs (Quarterly Platform Releases), which bundles those security fixes together with feature updates, but have so far not been pushed to AOSP at the time of release. This is why you’ve seen the LineageOS 22.2 security patch level remain reflective of August well into September. In short: this cadence is now the norm, and we need to adapt.
And I heard that Google stopped pushing Pixel source?Yes, Google has pulled back here too. Pixel kernels are now only offered as history-stripped tarballs, available privately on request, with no device trees, HALs, or configs. Thanks to projects like CalyxOS, Pixels will likely remain well supported, but they’re no longer guaranteed “day one” devices for LineageOS. Pixel devices are now effectively no easier to support than any other OEM’s devices. In short, this just makes things harder, not impossible.
How does this affect LineageOS? And me?It means we adapt. Instead of waiting indefinitely for QPR1’s source, we’re shipping 23.0 now on “QPR0”, with the publicly available ASB patches applied, and we’ll only attest to a security patch level once we have access to all of its fixes. When QPR1 (and future QPRs) eventually land in AOSP, we’ll merge or rebase as appropriate. This does mean some features (like Material 3 Expressive) aren’t here yet. But it ensures users get timely builds, the most complete security fixes we can legally access, and a clear path forward without being stuck in limbo. This will likely be the expected norm for Android 17 and beyond, so expect more .0 releases in the future!
TL;DR:The bad news extends a bit further here, though it’s less surprising than the earlier sections. Google’s increased reliance on newer eBPF features has made supporting devices with older Linux kernels increasingly difficult. Android 16 “QPR0” “requires Linux 5.4 and above, and at the time of writing, the necessary features have only been properly backported as far back as 4.14.
Unfortunately, LineageOS 22.2 still supports many devices running 4.4 and 4.9. As of now, no complete backports of the required features exist for these kernels. The silver lining is that, unlike the massive device loss we saw moving off LineageOS 18.1, these versions could be salvaged if someone were to take on the work of adapting the backports. If you do succeed, please reach out to devrel(at)lineageos.org, we’d be happy to review it! We’re currently targeting only shipping kernels that have 1:1 eBPF backports to make them feature equivalent to Linux 5.4 from here on out to avoid compatibility issues.
Back to the Good Stuff!LineageOS isn’t just about the OS itself: our suite of core apps continues to evolve as well. This cycle brings some major improvements:
Aperture (Camera)Our camera app, Aperture, has been rewritten from the ground up. The rewrite makes the app much easier to maintain, while also bringing new features:
Keep your system updated (or keep updating the app if you’re using the app standalone), since we plan to introduce more features and improvements over time (believe it or not, nowadays the only obstacle is Google’s CameraX library, which has slowed down the development of certain components which we use in Aperture). We do have some plans to overcome this though.
Twelve (Music Player)Our music player, Twelve, didn’t need a full overhaul this year, but it did get some polish and some new features:
We’re excited to debut Catapult, our brand-new custom launcher for Android TV. Catapult is built with the same principles we bring to the rest of LineageOS: clean, simple, functional design, with thoughtful user experience at its core. Why build a new launcher? For years, Android TV and Google TV users have been stuck with preloaded launchers that aggressively push advertising and recommendations users can’t control. Catapult changes that. It strips away the clutter, gives you back your home screen, and lets you decide what belongs front and center.
With Catapult, you get a fast, intuitive interface that focuses on your apps and your content: no forced feeds, no “sponsored” rows, just a launcher that works the way you expect. We’re also planning to add more features in the future, you’ll see them appear as you keep your device up to date, stay tuned!
Extended QEMU-Based Virtual Machine SupportLineageOS has long been a favorite for developers and tinkerers, and with 23.0 we’ve expanded support for virtualized environments. Thanks to extended QEMU integration spearheaded by developer 0xCAFEBABE, it’s now easier than ever to run LineageOS in VMs for testing, debugging, or just exploration. This means developers can spin up consistent environments on their desktops without needing dedicated hardware, and testers can reproduce tricky issues with greater reliability. Whether you’re validating patches or just curious to see how LineageOS runs under the hood, the tooling is smoother and more accessible.
If interested, take a look on the Wiki. You can run LineageOS via libvirt on Linux/Windows, and on an Apple Silicon Mac with UTM. Additionally, LineageOS now supports Cuttlefish build configurations, which are similar to the emulator family of targets, but has extra emulated peripherals, so as to act more like a real device! You can view a list of all the differences here.
Mainline Kernel SupportAnother big milestone in 23.0 is our improved support for devices running Linux mainline kernels. While Android has historically relied on heavily modified vendor kernels, the ecosystem is shifting toward mainline for long-term stability and maintainability.
With 23.0, developer 0xCAFEBABE has spearheaded an effort to extend compatibility for devices capable of booting the mainline Linux kernel, and we’ve made it easier for maintainers to bring their devices closer to upstream with inheritable common trees. The end result? For now, nothing, but in the future, we will hopefully be able to boot Android on almost any device that is supported by the mainline Linux kernel.
This effort should help keep devices alive well past the point where their proprietary components stop working with newer Android releases. See the following repos if interested! (1, 2, 3, 4)
Careful CommonizationSeveral of our developers have worked hard on SoC-specific common kernels to base on that can be merged on a somewhat regular basis to pull in the latest features/security patches to save maintainers additional effort. Go check them out and consider basing your device kernels on them!
Supported SoCs right now are:
Moreover, many legacy devices require interpolating libraries that we colloquially refer to as “shims” - these have long been device and maintainer managed, but this cycle we have decided to commonize them to make the effort easier on everyone and not duplicate effort! You can check it out here and contribute shims that you think other devices may need or add additional components to additional shims and compatibility layers provided via Gerrit!
DeprecationsOverall, we feel that the 23.0 branch has reached feature and stability parity with 22.2 and is ready for initial release. We will allow new LineageOS 21 submissions to be forked to the organization, but we will no longer allow newly submitted LineageOS 21 devices to ship. LineageOS 23.0 will launch building for a decent selection of devices, with additional devices to come as they meet the requirements specified by the Charter and are made ready for builds by their maintainer.
Upgrading to LineageOS 23.0To upgrade, please follow the upgrade guide for your device by clicking on it here and then on “Upgrade to a higher version of LineageOS”. If you’re coming from an unofficial build, you need to follow the good ole’ install guide for your device, just like anyone else looking to install LineageOS for the first time. These can be found at the same place here by clicking on your device and then on “Installation”.
Please note that if you’re currently on an official build, you DO NOT need to wipe your device, unless your device’s wiki page specifically dictates otherwise, as is needed for some devices with massive changes, such as a repartition.
Source: Tweakers.net