LineageOS for the Huawei Ascend Mate 2

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LineageOS is an aftermarket firmware for a number of cell phones and tablets based on the open-source Android operating system. It offers features not found in the official Android-based firmwares from vendors.  Read more about LineageOS at lineageos.org.

The Huawei Ascend Mate 2 (mt2l03) does not receive official releases of LineageOS. I provide unofficial builds here. Bug reports on these builds are not accepted through LineageOS’ bug tracking system. More information about the Huawei Ascend Mate 2 can be found on the LineageOS Wiki.

Minimum Firmware Version
Your Huawei Ascend Mate 2 (mt2l03) must be upgraded to stock firmware version B322 before installing LineageOS. This only needs to be done once; it will update the vendor firmware that is permanently stored on the device. If the option exists, taking over-the-air updates until your device is running B322 is the easiest option. Otherwise, you can manually update your device as follows. This will wipe all of your personal data from the device!

  1. Obtain and unpack HUAWEI MT2-L03C00B322 from Huawei
  2. Format a 4GB or larger MicroSD card to FAT32
  3. Copy UPDATE.APP and UPDATE_VENDOR.APP to a directory named dload on the MicroSD card
  4. Turn off the device and insert the MicroSD card
  5. Press and hold Volume-Up + Volume-Down + Power (in this order) until the HUAWEI logo shows, then release only the Power key (keep holding the volume keys)
  6. Release the volume keys when the phone enters Software Upgrade mode
  7. The update will begin automatically and reboot when finished

Recovery Info
Not compatible with official TWRP releases. Please use unofficial TWRP.

Security Advisory
All of the following releases have their Android Security Bulletin date marked with an asterisk (*). This is to indicate that while Android Frameworks has been fully patched, this device’s HAL (hardware abstract layer) and kernel should not be considered fully patched. Both the HAL and the linux-3.4 based kernel are deprecated by AOSP and no longer receive updates from Qualcomm or AOSP. Considerable effort has been put into updating the kernel with known CVE patches (cve.lineageos.org/android_kernel_huawei_msm8928) and the status of each patch is tracked here. Please recognize that backporting patches to this linux-3.4 based kernel is difficult and the backports applied have not been verified by security experts. Further, AOSP has no incentive to disclose any other vulnerabilities that may exist in linux-3.4 based kernels since security updates have ended for devices utilizing this kernel version. Enjoy responsibly.

FM Radio Info
Sorry, I haven’t managed to resolve audio output from the built-in FM radio app. It’s pretty low on my priority list, so your best option is to use SpiritF as an alternative. There is a compiled APK at F-Droid: f-droid.org/en/packages/fm.a2d.sf (you don’t need the F-Droid app, just download fm.a2d.sf_111.apk).

Downloads

  • Recovery: Unnoficial builds of TWRP are available here.