The CyanogenMod dev team has made an important PSA (public service announcement) that will critically affect those running nightly builds on a number of HTC‘s smartphones. Due to changes in one of the important processes for getting a Linux system, like Android, up and running, those devices will need a more recent version of the CWM or TWRP recoveries.
The full list of affected devices are as follows:
- evita – HTC One XL
- fireball – HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE
- jewel – HTC EVO 4G LTE
- m4 – HTC One Mini
- m7 – HTC One [GSM]
- m7spr – HTC One [Sprint]
- m7vzw – HTC One [Verizon]
- ville – HTC One S
Starting with the nightly build dated 20140501, these HTC devices will be making use of a new fstab (for File System Table) layout, which will require kernel support in recoveries. However, almost all current versions of recoveries out there in the wild do not yet have this, which means that users will have to update their CWM version first before installing the nightly build. Those using TWRP will have to temporarily use an unofficial version until TWRP comes out with an official updated release.
Those who encrypt their devices using Android’s built-in tool will have to take a few more steps before they actually install an updated recovery. The process consists of backing up the encrypted /data partition first and restoring it afterwards, though it will be in a decrypted form at first. The latest nightly will also be moving the encrypted information from /data to /extra but only for the following devices:
- evita – HTC One XL
- fireball – HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE
- jewel – HTC EVO 4G LTE
- ville – HTC One S
Those with affected devices on CM nightlies should check and follow the instructions from the link below. It might sound a bit complicated and involved, but such is the price of running a bleeding edge version of anything. You are always first to get new features, but also first to encounter bugs and sometimes destructive changes.
