Again, no real need for introduction of CyanogenMod is required. Nearly 2 million unique installs should tell the tale. The largest series of custom ROM’s for various Android devices released a status update of its super popular CM7.

Our buddy ciwrl issued a statement about ongoing development for v7, making it sound like it will be around for a while still. With CM9 in full dev mode, it’s wonderful to see v7 isn’t going to die just yet. He goes on to say

The 7.x branch of CyanogenMod will stay open, available, and active beyond 7.2. We may switch to a more weekly drop of the infamous nightlies at some point, but they will continue as well.

Users with older hardware should be quite pleased to see this update, and if you would like to continue seeing further development it’s probably a good idea to DONATE to the team. Full blog report below if you wish to read it straight from the horses mouth.

It’s been nearly two months since we released the initial 7.2 RC1. Since then, the team has been working hard to identify and fix the issues reported to the bug tracker. We are nearing our release of CyanogenMod 7.2, based on Android 2.3.7 and will be releasing…….soon! You didn’t think you were getting an ETA did you?

Users may notice that some devices that received RC1 will not be graduated to a stable release. This is due to bugs we consider as showstoppers, but we feel there is no reason to hold up working devices for a few stragglers. The stragglers are not dropped, but will play catch-up to receive a 7.2-stable release.

What’s Next?

Many people have wondered what will become of CyanogenMod 7 now that Ice Cream Sandwich work has begun, and likewise, what happens to all the devices that won’t make it to CyanogenMod 9. We aren’t just leaving you behind.

The 7.x branch of CyanogenMod will stay open, available, and active beyond 7.2. We may switch to a more weekly drop of the infamous nightlies at some point, but they will continue as well.

In addition to that good news, we have a slew of new devices being merged into mainline thanks in part to our developer relations initiative and the greater Android community.

After CyanogenMod 7.2 is released, we will be merging in and welcoming aboard maintainers for the following devices (with more queued):

• HTC Status (chacha)
• HTC Wildfire S (marvel)
• LG Optimus Chic (e720)
• Motorola Photon (sunfire)
• Samsung Galaxy 5 (i5500)

Source: CM Blog