[Google Pixel XL ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] nathanchance:
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Introduction

NOTE: This kernel is currently not being updated. Please use another more up to date one if possible.

Hello everyone, this is my personal kernel for the Pixel (sailfish) and Pixel XL (marlin). While I am not a super star kernel developer, I do know my way around it. My philosophy on kernels is pretty simple:

Follow stable Linux always. Updates will be delivered within 24 hours of their release to kernel.org.

Stable kernel rules work best (only add small things when possible).

Security and stability are paramount. Vulnerabilities are patched as soon as they are disclosed.

Features will be added only as needed (I have a list of things in the FAQ I will NOT add, even if requested).

Hopefully you enjoy :)

Important thread information!

I refuse to acknowledge/respond to bug reports that do not include clear steps to reproduce, a logcat, and a console ramoops (if random rebooting) or a dmesg (any other issues). Follow this guide to do this.

Keep things civil, I do NOT tolerate flaming of any kind.

OT is allowed.

Features

Here are the major features of the kernel (feel free to explore Github)

Up to date with the October security update (android-9.0.0_r0.21)

Up to date with the latest stable Linux version (3.18.125)

Latest binder and sdcardfs commits from kernel/common

Several subsystems converted to use power efficient workqueues

Mainline improvements to CFQ

Kernel hardening from CopperheadOS

Westwood as the default congestion algorithm

Sultanxda's wake boost driver

The following user facing features:

Backlight dimmer

Color control

HBM

Maple I/O scheduler

Sound control

USB fast charging

Wake gestures

Wakelock blocking

Vibration control

Latest WireGuard snapshot (0.0.20181018)

Built with a self compiled Clang 7.0 toolchain with a local initialization sanitizer

Hides bootloader unlock from SafetyNet (can still fail through other means)

Available to flash with AnyKernel2 (thanks to [MENTION=4544860]osm0sis[/MENTION]) [zip will automatically detect when Magisk is installed and patch the kernel so reflashing Magisk becomes unnecessary]

Downloads

Primary: https://github.com/nathanchance/marlin/releases

NOTE: Although the kernel's name is Marlin, it is for both Marlin and Sailfish (fully unified).

Installation

NOTE: These sets of steps should work for both initial installations and upgrades. All sane kernels on this device are just replacing the kernel image and maybe adding some cmdline parameters, which this kernel won't care about. If there are ANY issues after flashing this kernel over another, be sure to flash the stock boot image for your ROM, TWRP + Magisk if you want them, then the kernel before reporting any issues.

Through TWRP:

See their instructions for further information, you can install the kernel with TWRP temporarily booted or permanently installed.

Boot into TWRP.

Flash the zip (flashing Magisk is not necessary if you already have it installed).

Reboot and enjoy!

Through FK Kernel Manager (requires root):

Download the zip (and optionally, the md5) from my server

Tap on "Manual flasher"

Navigate to Download

Tap on the zip, select Auto-flash, and choose one of the options.

Reboot and enjoy!

NOTE: On custom ROMs, you must do a reboot between installing the ROM and installing the kernel/Magisk on a clean flash otherwise you may end up in a bootloop...

Changelog

Latest release post!

Commits

Frequently asked questions

1.1 Q: I am having an issue, can you help me?

1.1 A: I am not an amazing kernel developer but I will certainly try my best. First, start by reading the release posts, as I may make note of a particular issue. Also search the thread to see if I have discussed it before. If you see nothing, please provide me with a dmesg/last_kmsg and logcat, your ROM/kernel version, and a detailed description of the issue, following this guide. If I can't reproduce reliably, I'm not going to fix the issue.

1.2 Q: Can you add xyz feature?

1.2 A: If you link me the commits or tell me what kernel you had the feature in, I can take a look at them. I will not go digging super hard for commits and I will ignore requests that don't include this information. I won't promise that I will merge every request but I will always take it into consideration. I will NOT add the following:

Overclocking or underclocking of CPU or GPU

Undervolting

Any governors other than sched/schedutil

Any schedulers other than cfq

Anything that compromises performance

1.3 Q: How do I control the kernel?

1.3 A: I want to be very clear: the kernel does NOT need to be tuned to be useful. Most of the improvements are under the hood and don't require any user intervention to take advantage of them. In fact, if you don't know what you are doing, you could degrade the experience.

To control the user visible features of the kernel listed above, I recommend using either [MENTION=3292224]franciscofranco[/MENTION]'s FK Kernel Manager (which has Flash Kernel support for downloading and automatically flashing the latest kernel zip along with some nice, user friendly ways for tuning the kernel) or [MENTION=4684315]flar2[/MENTION]'s EX Kernel Manager.

1.4 Q: OMFG MY BATTERY SUXXXX PLS FIX!!!

1.4 A: The kernel doesn't drain any battery, use an app like BetterBatteryStats to figure out what app is screwing with your phone.

Thanks to:

The various other developers for their patches

[MENTION=4544860]osm0sis[/MENTION] for AnyKernel2

[MENTION=3292224]franciscofranco[/MENTION] for adding Flash Kernel support to FK Kernel Manager

[MENTION=6638584]phantom146[/MENTION] for the thread banner

All of you guys for viewing the thread

A note about donations

Quite a few people have asked to donate to me in the past and I have turned them down. I am not in this for the money, this is my hobby, something I truly enjoy. If you truly want to donate to something (it is not expected in the slightest), I recommend an entity like the Open Source Initiative, the Free Software Foundation, XDA, or any one of the people I have thanked in the OP. Additionally, you are free to copy any and all of my work; the only thing I request is that you not ask for donations as well (though I can't really enforce this lol). Thank you.

Kernel source links

8.1.0/P Preview 2-5: https://github.com/nathanchance/marlin/tree/oreo-m4

9.0.0: https://github.com/nathanchance/marlin/tree/pie

DISCLAIMER:

I openly welcome off topic in my threads. Mods, please do not clean off topic discussion and users, do not complain about off topic discussion here. I may direct you to another thread if it is so suited but I won't have the discussion cleaned. Thank you.