This Android device uses a Linux4.4 kernel. Considering that my nanopc-T3 lacks the functions required by a higher version of Linux, I would like to transplant the 4.14 version of Linux to this Android device at most without the bootloader source code. What's interesting about the device tree? It seems that the kernel provided by the device manufacturer includes some device drivers that are not included in the Linux kernel nativery. will cross-version compilation be a problem?

https://github.com/LineageOS/android_kernel_motorola_msm8998

To be honest, I'm not sure what board you mean. The NanoPC-T3 is no official support (CSC), and I'm not aware of any supported Motorola CPUs.

 

If the hardware vendor has made patches, it may be a lot of work to resolve any code changes between mainline 4.14 and their customized 4.4.

 

Device tree formats do change over time, and may contain hacks that correspond to nonstandard kernel changes. The Armbian devs spend a lot of time resolving these differences.

 

Cross compilers may or may not be a problem, depending on your environment. Certain versions of Linux or u-boot may require much newer compilers than you currently have. You can take a look HERE to see how Armbian manages these.