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The thing is, "building a kernel" for Linux is NOTHING compared to a custom ROM. Linux Kernel:
Android is different. It doesnt use a huge monokernel. They use mostly the upstream kernel, but the drivers are not in there afaik. There are many proprietary parts also in the firmware. And those come from the hardware suppliers, signed by them, you cant replace it. This totally sucks.
If you look at it the Laptop market is equally bad as firmwares are often not updated at all. But every system simply continues to run, so nobody cares.
On Android its all one thing. A distro / custom OS (ROM is not correct, the OS is not read only otherwise you cant change it, lol) deals with all of that.
Look at the GrapheneOS information articles. They explain very well what they all do to make AOSP
Its a on of work to REALLY support a device, its simply a real OS. LineageOS or even worse PostmarketOS are just random projects often. Using some generic software with missing firmware updates and timely security patches.
It works, somehow. But it is nothing worth investing a lot of time in really, if the phone is not super special.
Just get a used Google Pixel ≥ 6a and install GrapheneOS. Contribute Code to healthy upstream projects.
The work for supporting a single device is insane. And samsung is especially shit, security features would be close to Pixels but they block lots of features for alternative OSses and different software everywhere. Also completely anti-repairable.
Ooh, this may be more worth a look then. I had hoped I'd be able to use the old phone to get up to speed before considering going to a custom ROM on my main device but it sounds like a Samsung S8 may be an exceptionally poor choice due to driver availability and other issues.
Graphene sounds like it addresses a lot of the needs that are pushing me away from stock Android (unnecessary bundled services, concern about Google harvesting more data than they should, Bixby / Google Assistant re-enabling itself every few updates and being pushed on users) but does so in a way won't sacrifice too much functionality (will definitely learn more about sandboxed Play services - that sounds useful).
I may have to consider getting a refurbished Pixel and setting it up with Graphene.
Yes, do that. Relying on Pixels suck, but they are the best to work with, have best updates, no weirdly blocked security features on custom ROMs and you can unlock them easily.
GrapheneOS lacks a lot of nice UI stuff as they simply not prioritize it. But an example of what yo can do:
It is barebones but the Android ecosystem allows to insall a damn fake iOS launcher and it works.