[OnePlus 8 Pro  ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other ] Freak07:
Hello everyone :)

I want to lose a few words about this kernel. :)

Before anybody asks, it´s made for the OP8 Pro only!

As you may or may not have noticed by reading the OP this kernel is very far from the stock base.

Adding linux-stable upstream and CAF-Upstream causes the commit-count to increase from 805000 to about 840000.

A "higher" commit count does not automatically translater to a better kernel. However upstreaming linux-stable and the CAF-Base to the latest code is an important aspect, that´s often cast aside. (after all the android kernel is based on the linux-kernel and the CAF-Base is the kernel base OnePlus bases the kernel for the OP8 Pro on) . Many developers work constantly on improving the linux-stable branches with commits that are tested, same goes for the qualcomm developers over at the CAF-Forums.

The main goals of this kernel are summarized in the OP. I encourage everyone to at least read once through it.

Here´s a short summary of what I think are the most characteristic and important aspects (also an excerpt from the first post of this thread:) ):

This project aims to keep most of the subsystems updated, way ahead of the stock kernel, thereby improving security, stability and performance! This includes Linux-Stable, CAF-Upstream and kernel/common.

Kernel Control Flow Integrity (Kernel-CFI), which is achieved by linking the kernel with LLD and Link Time Optimization (LTO), more precisely ThinLTO, are quite unique security features. In fact this may be (and probably is) the first 4.19 kernel with a fully working Kernel-CFI implementation and CFI-Violations fixed.

The only kernels made by OEMs offering this security feature are the ones for the Pixel 3 and Pixel 4 devices.

If some of that got you curious,have a read about Linux-Stable and why it is important here. The stable-process is not the same for every subsystem, but the general idea, rule of thumb and benefits are applicable for other subsystems as well.

Quick explanation of CAF-Upstream. CAF is short for Codeaurora-Forums. This is the place where development from Qualcomm for their SoCs happens. This includes the Snapdragon 865 that´s built into the OP8 Pro.

The kernel-bases available on the Codeaurora-Forums, are basically the foundations OEMs use, to build their own kernel additions on top for devices featuring Qualcomm SoCs.

The Qualcomm developers push regular updates to the bases of the different SoCs, a bit similar to how Linux-Upstream works. OEMs usually stop updating the initial base after the phone is released.

This kernel focuses amongst others to provide the latest CAF-Updates merged in a regular manner, to provide updates, improvements and enhancements for SoC specific drivers and subsystems! This might take a while, because a lot of device specific testing is done on my end to ensure stability.

I invite everybody to try the kernel :)

If you face any bugs, I´d appreciate if bug reports are done in the proper way, like it is asked for and explained in the 2nd and 3rd post.

If you read the OP you probably noticed I´m not talking about any improvments (some call it even magic) to performance or battery life. This is not one of the direct goals of this kernel.

If the modifications present in the kernel make you feel a noticable difference in either of these I´m very happy for you. I know that artifical benchmarks are improved and some other things I tested.

If this kernel is not for you you can very easy return to the stock kernel, like it´s described in the FAQ as well!

There might not be updates of this kernel for every single linux-stable upstream revision that is released at kernel.org or every single new commit added to the tree, but rather less updates but bigger ones.

I guess that gives everybody a rough idea of where this project might be going.

I wish everybody a nice day :)