Team M.A.D. Brings Android 6.0.1 and Full GPL Kernel for Jiayu-Mediatek Devices

It’s not always that MediaTek SoC’s come in the news, and there are a few reasons for that. Compared to its market competition in the high end like Huawei’s Kirin, Samsung’s Exynos and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon, MediaTek SoC’s do tend to fall behind the pack. The difference is not insanely visible in the lower ends, but then the second major problem with MediaTek SoC’s shows its face: their lack of GPL-mandated kernel code. The kernel code is often not released at all for a lot of their SoC’s, and if it is, it tends to be incomplete and broken. Very rarely do we come across a full GPL-compliant release of the kernel code.

Well, this is one of those rare occasions then, as a couple of MediaTek devices have received their GPL-mandated kernel code release. These devices are from the Jiayu S3 family: the Jiayu S3 (MT6752) and the Jiayu S3 Plus (MT6753). If this is the first time you’ve heard of the company, you wouldn’t be alone since these aren’t exactly the most well-known devices on a global scale. Being fairly budget Chinese devices, they pack in a ton of features at a small price tag, and they have some dedicated following in a few European nations. The people behind this claim to having worked for more than a year to get the kernel codes released for the device, which puts this achievement into perspective. As of writing this, the kernel code for the Jiayu S3 is already live, while the code for the Jiayu S3 Plus is being uploaded.

Kernel source code isn’t all that’s coming. The devices are also receiving an update to Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow in the form of several ROM choices like CyanogenMod 13, Paranoid Android and AICP. These updates come to us courtesy of Team M.A.D. (Mediatek Android Developers), led by XDA Recognized Developer superdragonpt. If you are a developer, you can build the update yourself with a repo sync. But if you are a normal user, you can wait a bit for the flashable zips to come out for the devices. Watch out the Jiayu S3 Megathread for more information from the community.

This is indeed great news for the MediaTek community, and for developers of those particular MediaTek SoC’s. As is the nature of open source, these developments will benefit other devices as well by way of forking. Just goes to show, if you work with the community, great things can happen.

What are your thoughts on these recent developments? Let us know in the comments below!

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