When Android operating-system company Cyanogen Inc. shut down services in December, a group of independent developers pledged to continue making a version of the related open-source CyanogenMod operating system available under the name LineageOS.
Today they’re doing just that.
The LineageOS download portal offers builds for three Nexus phones and models from LG, Motorola and Samsung; its install-stats page shows nearly 100,000 unofficial installs; and its Wiki is up and running, if sparse.
“Bear with us if these sites look bare at the moment,” a Jan. 20 blog post reads. “They will grow with content and design as we continue marching forward.”
The LineageOS team let little time go by before resurrecting the project.
“Yes, this is us,” the team said in a Dec. 24 blog post on a new website with the URL LineageOS.org. “LineageOS will be a continuation of what CyanogenMod was. A company pulling their support out of an open source project does not mean it has to die.” The site lists no personnel.
During its three-year lifetime, Cyanogen raised more than $110 million to build a better Android operating system than Google. In November, the company announced plans to close its Seattle office and consolidate its entire team to an office in Palo Alto, Calif. As part of that move, the company announced the departure of co-founder Steve Kondik, who had found himself at odds with former Cyanogen CEO Kirt McMaster. It then shut down on Dec. 31.
Kondik co-founded Cyanogen in 2013. The Seattle software developer had started kicking around the idea as an open-source project in 2009. Cyanogen won the “Next Tech Titan” award at the GeekWire Awards 2015 and during its lifetime inked key partnerships with companies including Qualcomm, Alcatel, and Microsoft.
