Kernel Sources Released for the Huawei Mate 9 and Huawei P10

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Under the GNU General Public License (GPL), any modifications made to the Linux kernel must be publicly shared if users have access to the binary. Android itself is licensed under the Apache Software License which doesn’t require modifications of AOSP to be open sourced. But because the underlying kernel in Android is Linux-based, all OEMs are legally obligated to release kernel sources … eventually. Though OEMs are required to release kernel sources, some take their sweet time to do so.

It’s been a few months since the Huawei Mate 9/Mate 9 Pro and Huawei P10/P10 Plus were released, but at long last the kernel sources for each of these models have been released. These devices are all running on the HiSilicon Kirin 960 SoC which is the SoC found in the latest flagship Huawei and Honor smartphone models. Some people assumed that when Linaro and Huawei announced the release of the HiKey 960 ARM development board that AOSP development would soon follow for Kirin 960 based devices as they share the same SoC. However, device specific drivers were still required in order to get a functioning AOSP port over to these devices, which is not something that came with the release of the HiKey 960 board.

But that will soon change, thanks to this move. Developers can now start building AOSP-based ROMs that will at last start to boot on the Mate 9 and P10 series. Compare the development sections of the aforementioned devices with that of the Honor 8, which already has a handful of AOSP-based Nougat ROMs thanks to the release of kernel sources a week ago. All that’s left for these devices to finally receive stable AOSP ports is the blood, sweat, and tears of developers – something that we certainly can’t take for granted.