I know, I know, all the news out of CyanogenMod seems to be about the Ice Cream Sandwich-based CyanogenMod 9. But CyanogenMod 7 (gingerbread) is still going strong, and many a satisfied user is running the latest nightly on his or her smartphone. Following in the footsteps of some Sony Ericsson phones last week, a handful of LG models are getting official nightly support from the CyanogenMod team. The LG Optimus 3D, Optimus Pro, Optimus Hub, Optimus Black and the LG Thrill will all be getting nightly ROMs while CM7 is still in active development.

For the uninitiated, a nightly is a software build that’s constantly updated, which incorporates feedback from end-users into each subsequent release. They’re usually notably less stable than alpha or beta releases, but also use the latest tweaks, so performance can sometimes be drastically better. Nightly users are the first to test out new apps and features, and usually something like mineshaft canaries for the stable releases. Previously the only LG devices to get stable releases of official CyanogenMod were the Optimus 2X and the T-Mobile variant, the G2X.

The nightly code is part of the CM7 repository now. You can expect to start seeing alpha and beta builds for the various phones in the next few weeks. As far as Ice Cream Sandwich goes, the LG phones should be added to official support eventually, though it may be a few more months before CyanogenMod 9 gets an official release. If you’re planning on flashing nightly ROMs, make sure to back up your daily driver ROM just in case.

[via Android Police]