title: AOSP vanilla Android port to non-nexus device - writing device trees and kernels
body: <p>Greetings Developers,</p>
  
  <p>I am new to ROM building/porting process. I want to install Vanilla Android(AOSP) on my note-4, so after querying Google number of times, I came across official Android development guide on official Android website: <a href="https://source.android.com/source/downloading.html" rel="nofollow">https://source.android.com/source/downloading.html</a></p>
  
  <p>I have downloaded the Android source locally and was following various Guides and tutorials from XDA-University &amp; forums only for the development process. <a href="http://xda-university.com/as-a-devel...ng-source-code" rel="nofollow">http://xda-university.com/as-a-devel...ng-source-code</a></p>
  
  <p>I discovered that for downloading/configuring the build for a specific device(trltexx), we need to create a localmanifest file that contains device tree, vendor and kernel configuration links for repo syncing.</p>
  
  <p>Now, I want your expertise to guide me forward from this point. </p>
  
  <p><strong>Questions being</strong>: </p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>Can I use CM or other projects (eg. AICP etc.) device configurations for this AOSP project.</li>
  <li>Can I use these configurations for cross-version android build, say if I want to compile version 6.x, can 5.x configs can be used. (Manufacturer will take several months to release version update) or Create new configurations using some guide/tutorial/book or something.</li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>I also followed other similar questions on stack but not able to find a concrete solution.</p>
  
  <p>Any help will be highly appreciated. Thanks!!</p>