Recently, a member of the team that oversees CyanogenMOD on Samsung devices came out against building the software for the Galaxy S4. Citing many ongoing issues with the Galaxy S3 and Note 2 — specifically on Exynos hardware — longtime member XpLoDWilD spoke for Team Hacksung (whether authorized to or not) on his and others’ intentions for Samsung’s upcoming flagship.
Nobody at Team Hacksung (the team behind Galaxy S2, Note, S3, Note2, G Tabs… official CM ports) plans to buy it, neither develop for it. There are two variants which will be a pain to maintain, [and] the bugs we have on the S3 will probably be there on S4, too (camera), and we all know Samsung ability to release sources while staying in line with mainline. Yes Qualcomm releases sources, but Exynos sources we had were far from [working on] actual Galaxy products. I’m pretty sure the same will happen for this one.
That’s a uniform “no” from us.
Other established developers are taking a similar stance when it comes to the Galaxy S4, citing technical issues as well as Samsung’s history of not playing nice with independent devs. In other words, if you are hoping for a refined custom ROM experience on the GS4, you are out of luck for the time being.
Mainly from Samsung’s proclivity to keep essential drivers close to their chest, the members would rather focus on winnable battles. Essentially, they’re saying, Nexus devices are the only ones that will continue to work flawlessly on AOSP-based software.
The issue then gained momentum when Ricardo Cerqueira and Keyan Mobli, respected Android developers and members of CyanogenMOD’s sprawling community, pushed back against Android Central’s declarative title. Says Mobli: “Because of the open source nature of CyanogenMod, one developer saying no means there is just room for other developers to say yes. Saying that the Galaxy S4 won’t be supported by CyanogenMod is a bit premature. In other words, we currently don’t have anyone willing to work on it, but I am sure someone will step up.”
Cerqueira made a similar point: “Dear Android Central. Very few people have the authority to speak for CM as a whole, and none of them were asked about this. Individuals’ opinions are not, and can not, be portrayed as the project’s.”
The official word from CyanogenMOD was even more direct:
Let’s start with the simplest form of this: CyanogenMod does not pre-announce support or lack of support for devices. Ever. Even for the Nexus 4, we did not announce support until a nightly build was available. Further, any announcement regarding the ‘dropping’ of device support will be communicated via this Google+ page, Twitter, Facebook, our blog, or a combination of those; it will not be something buried in a forum post.
This morning, a comment from a CM collaborator on XDA was taken to be as an ‘absolute’ in regards to support of the S4. He offered the opinion of four TeamHacksung maintainers, their frustrations and lack of interest in supporting the S4. What’s seemingly lost on those reading this is that his comments as an individual do not speak for CyanogenMod as an organization.
As for the team’s stance on the S4, there isn’t one at this time, and most definitely won’t be one before the device is sold at retail.
– The CyanogenMod Team
[MobileSyrup, Android Central, XDA Developers]
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