android_kernel_sony_msm8x27 — LineageOS 15.1 (Android 8.1) for Sony Xperia M (nicki)

Linux 3.4 kernel for the Qualcomm MSM8227 Sony Xperia M / M dual (nicki), carrying the backports needed to run Android 8.1 (Oreo) on this 2013 CAF 3.4 kernel. Branch: lineage-15.1-nicki.

Part of the VibeXperia port — see that repo for the device tree, patches, build notes and a working/not-working matrix.

Oreo bring-up backports (on top of the LineageOS base)

• binder — multiple /dev instances (hwbinder / vndbinder) and scatter-gather (BINDER_TYPE_PTR/FDA, BC_TRANSACTION_SG). Without these, hwservicemanager crash-loops and every Oreo HIDL transaction fails. This is the make-or-break change for Treble/HIDL on a 3.4 binder.
• timerfd / alarmtimer — CLOCK_BOOTTIME + CLOCK_*_ALARM support; swaps the legacy android_alarm driver for the upstream alarmtimer, so RTC wake-alarms work instead of LOG_ALWAYS_FATAL in AlarmManagerService.
• PR_CAP_AMBIENT — ambient capability set so Android crash_dump can raise CAP_SYS_PTRACE across exec and produce native tombstones for non-root crashes.
• net — emit NL80211_ATTR_MAC (required by wificond) and make rtnetlink_rcv_msg ignore unknown attributes (e.g. Oreo netd's FRA_UID_RANGE) instead of -EINVAL, unblocking IPv4 routing/DNS over Wi-Fi.
• display (msm_fb/mdp) — don't register the panel early-suspend handlers and late-resume from FB_BLANK_UNBLANK, fixing the ~2.5 min wake hang caused by the early-suspend chain fighting Oreo HWC's FBIOBLANK power path.
• defconfig — lineageos_nicki_defconfig: binder devices, drop legacy alarm, plus perf/debug tuning.

The history before these commits is the LineageOS kernel base (originally the "Hana" MSM8627 kernel by Ron Gokhale / @PecanCM and contributors); these commits add the Oreo support on top.

Build

This kernel is built in-tree by brunch nicki via the VibeXperia device tree — see the VibeXperia README for the full build instructions.

Credits

• LineageOS / CodeAurora kernel sources
• Hana Kernel base — Ron Gokhale (@PecanCM) and contributors
• Oreo backports — @RandomTypek, with debugging assistance from Claude (Anthropic)