The kernel source code and factory images for the Google Pixel 6a are now available

The Google Pixel 6a is the company's latest attempt at moving into the mid-range smartphone market with its latest device. With a flagship-grade camera and a clean software experience, the phone undercuts its competitors. 

As these devices are officially out today and shipments for pre-orders have already started, Google has uploaded all the tools, files, and documentation needed for third-party developers who are interested in running custom software on the Pixel 6a devices.

The stock software, which comes with the Pixel 6a, is now available for download for those of you who bought a Pixel 6a and have already begun experimenting with it. If you’ve already started experimenting, you may end up messing something up and needing to revert.

The day-one update build with security patches for June 2022 is currently only available for Japanese and Verizon variants of the smartphone, but you can get it from here.

As Google gets started with its regular security patching for the phone, we will see new images and OTA updates arrive each month as the company carries out its regular security updates for the phone.

The factory images can be installed over any previous version, but to do so, you will need to have the bootloader unlocked.

On the other hand, the OTA packages can upgrade your device from a previous official build, and you can also lock the bootloader of your device with them.

As Google has not yet declared the Pixel 6a eligible for the Android 13 beta program, the phone is not yet considered to be eligible. 

The official GSI build can be flashed on your device with the bootloader unlocked, so you'll be able to get a taste of Android 13 by flashing the official GSI build on your device.

The kernel source code and the device tree source code are now up for grabs, so developers can now start building TWRP for the phone and custom kernels for it shortly.

Google has released all the driver binaries that correspond to the factory images, so you don't need to wait much if you want to build a fresh system image from scratch or port AOSP-based custom ROMs.

source:xda