Developers of Android operating system variant CalyxOS have brought attention to Google’s decision to stop publishing codes related to supporting Pixel devices in the Android platform. On the day of the Android 16 release, Google posted a new release of the source code on the AOSP (Android Open Source Project) repository. However, unlike previous releases, this time the code only included general changes in the platform and framework, omitting devicetree specifications and binary drivers crucial for supporting Google Pixel devices, as well as a comprehensive history of changes in the Linux kernel used in the platform.
This absence of components will pose significant challenges for developers of alternative Android builds. Previously, developers could easily build and upload AOSP for Pixel devices, but now they will need to perform reverse engineering on binary files to identify the changes compared to previously released Devicetree specifications. As it stands, Android 16 cannot be compiled from the AOSP repository for Pixel smartphones using only the officially provided components.
AOSP has continued publishing Linux kernel code to support hardware, but these changes are now available in a truncated form without the commit history. AOSP can still be used to create generic system image (GSI) builds, but customizing them for specific devices will require the missing Devicetree files not published for Google Pixel smartphones. Devicetree files define the hardware specifications for peripheral devices and components necessary for building firmware images for specific devices.
The developers of the GrapheneOS project, focused on enhancing security and privacy in Android modifications, mentioned that in April, unofficial sources informed them about Google’s plan to limit AOSP releases, starting with the termination of code publication to support devices in Android 16. This has led to speculations about the future of support for the AOSP