LineageOS 19 based on Android 12 comes out

The developers behind custom ROM LineageOS have released version 19 of the firmware. The software is based on Android 12 and also features the new Material You design. Support for many older devices is disappearing.

It new operating system no longer uses subseries; according to the new release model, the OS is called LineageOS 19 “and not 19.0 or 19.1,” the makers say. The developers do this because the subversions ‘added little for users’. With the new model, Lineage also follows the model of the Android Open Source Project, which forms the basis of LineageOS.

The new version of the operating system mainly has many minor updates. For example, programs such as the Gallery, WebView and the own Jelly browser have been updated to new versions. The dark mode is now standard in the OS and the volume control has been improved so that it becomes a separate pop-out.

The makers warn that many older devices cannot use the new OS. That’s because AOSP has replaced iptables with eBPF as a firewall in the kernel. Only devices using Linux kernel 4.9 can handle eBPF. “Normally you could backport that for older kernel versions, but at the moment that’s a challenge, even for something as similar as kernel 4.4,” the authors write. Nevertheless, there will be a backport of Lineage for phones on kernel 4.4, but the makers warn that phones with kernel 3.18 or lower can no longer receive updates.