Google deprecates Android Automotive's GKI 6.12.92 build 18 months before the 6.12 branch ends

Against kernel.org's December 2028 projection for 6.12, Google's android16-6.12 branch runs about six months longer ^[1]. The certified 6.12.92 build is deprecated about 11 months earlier ^[4]. According to the dev.to post that lays out these dates, the kernel.org figure is the usual answer when a programme manager, a customer or a type-approval engineer asks how long a head unit will receive security fixes ^[23]. For a certified GKI build, the post says, it is the wrong date ^[23].

Kernel.org, to its credit, says its numbers move. Its releases page states that "each new longterm kernel usually starts with only a 2-year projected EOL that can be extended further if there is enough interest from the industry at large" ^[7]. Google's page says common kernels "might be supported for longer than the corresponding upstream stable kernel," with extended support to the date in its table ^[9]. The post finds that every Google date equals the upstream launch plus the stated lifetime, moved forward to the following 1 July ^[13]. Google does not state that as a rule, but every row fits ^[13]. The post attributes the spread between the two sources, about six to about eighteen months, to kernel.org's projections ^[14]. I think the computable date is the one to put in front of a customer, even with the 1 July rounding inferred from the table.

The build's own date sits on a separate page. Google publishes certified releases from each branch, each on its own git branch with its own deprecation date ^[10]. The android16-6.12 release-builds page lists the September 2026 release as android16-6.12-2026-09 at 6.12.92 ^[11]. That release is "deprecated from 2028-01-01. No respins allowed after this date." ^[11] Respin eligibility closes nine months before deprecation ^[2].

Between that deprecation and the branch's end of life sit 18 months ^[3]. The post treats the release date as the latest point to move to a newer release on the same branch ^[19]. Each branch takes a merge from every upstream stable release, "normally done immediately after the LTS release is posted," in the words of Google's page ^[15]. Branches pass through development, stabilisation and frozen phases ^[16]. Once the Kernel Module Interface is frozen, it can gain new exported symbols but cannot be broken, except where a serious security issue has no other fix ^[17]. This is careful engineering. SoC and board support live in loadable vendor modules, and a later release on the same branch can replace the core kernel without rebuilding them, with a condition on the KMI generation number ^[18].

The post covers common kernel branches from android12-5.10 to android17-6.18, as listed on source.android.com on 2 October 2026 ^[22]. The 6.12 release-builds page was last updated the same day ^[21].