Earlier quoted context omitted.
I believe the reason Lineage doesn't do this (along with things like SafetyNet spoofing/passing) is to stay on the right side of Google et al. This way there's never a threat of a legal shutdown à la Vanced. If Lineage was backed by big foundations/folks with deep pockets that could change. I have no idea why GrapheneOS takes this risk, but am grateful to them nevertheless for the code.
I'd like to edit this comment but unfortunately it's probably too late to edit - it appears I was at least partially mistaken. LOS declined to integrate MicroG because of security concerns from spoofing signatures, as per the Wikipedia article of MicroG ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MicroG )
LineageOS 19
201–210 of 260 posts
Re: LineageOS 19
#202Earlier quoted context omitted.
This sounds like it's class-action worthy.
You're not wrong, although I'd be a little hesitant to start that because my job is somewhat dependent on being in google's good graces (and I've definitely heard of entire companies being banned when a single employee - or even former employee's - account gets flagged.) Also, I find it unlikely that we could compel google to do the right thing and unlock everyone's phones, even if we won. I think the more likely out…
I've definitely had this stance in the past, but at the same time, where there is no repercussion for the company doing this kind of stuff, it just makes them(and others) more open to it in the future.
Re: LineageOS 19
#203Earlier quoted context omitted.
microg replicates the API but contains no actual google code, right? Isn't that exactly what google argued was completely legal when they were sued by oracle over replicating the java API?
Yes MicroG is open source, but they probably had to reverse engineer something. However I don't know if that's the main reason, my initial comment was likely (partially?) wrong, here's an update: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31171788
> Yes MicroG is open source, but they probably had to reverse engineer something.
MicroG being open source is irrelevant. The relevant point is that google play services is not, so MicroG devs could not have copied source from it. Besides the fact that the API used by other programs to interact with play services is public and that the team had no access to the play services source code US law also has a specific carve out for "interoperability" which might (I'm guessing) apply here. Google has already spent many years and many millions in court arguing that an API is not copyrightable.
IANAL but it seems hard to argue that this would be an easy legal case.
Re: LineageOS 19
#204Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's a really cool site! Any chance you could add an additional filter for microSD support?
I would also like to see this. I tried my hand at a patch, but not sure if it would work. https://gitlab.com/onli/sustaphones/-/merge_requests/2
Re: LineageOS 19
#205Earlier quoted context omitted.
You didn't need to transfer application data, swapping ROM/OS shouldn't touch that.
Doesn't unlocking the boot loader delete everything?
Exactly. Even if the phone is already unlocked, the official LinageOS installation instructions explicitly say to do a "Format Data / Factory Reset" in recovery before sideloading the OS.
Re: LineageOS 19
#206Earlier quoted context omitted.
I believe the reason Lineage doesn't do this (along with things like SafetyNet spoofing/passing) is to stay on the right side of Google et al. This way there's never a threat of a legal shutdown à la Vanced. If Lineage was backed by big foundations/folks with deep pockets that could change. I have no idea why GrapheneOS takes this risk, but am grateful to them nevertheless for the code.
I'd like to edit this comment but unfortunately it's probably too late to edit - it appears I was at least partially mistaken. LOS declined to integrate MicroG because of security concerns from spoofing signatures, as per the Wikipedia article of MicroG ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MicroG )
Re: LineageOS 19
#207Earlier quoted context omitted.
After hesitation, I opted to go full on the "privacy above all" path - out of curiosity if it was possible and bearable. So no root, no GFS or substitute at all. Only tracer free apps (except my bank) and using browsers. I use a set of privacy add-ons (canvas fingerprinting etc) for wandering on the web and the "WebApps" app to isolate the web sites I use regularly and where I need to log into my account. Then the Tr…
If you're going to that level you should also consider your phone always compromised and unsuitable for running a banking app. Humans got by without them for a long time.
Re: LineageOS 19
#208I just switched to LineageOS 18 w/ MicroG and oh my lord is this stuff still complicated. I'm fairly familiar with this stuff and yet still it took me many hours to set everything up correctly. To be clear, this is not the fault of LineageOS, this is simply the state of the FOSS Android environment and the fact that Google has no interest in supporting this setup whatsoever, to put it mildly. Not only is it complicat…
I really like LineageOS, but this is partly on them as well. They are the most popular ROM and they do very little to make this situation easier. With this situation I do not mean the install itself - actually there they do a lot, the documentation for officially supported devices is really good (and you often do not need TWRP anymore, the lineage recovery is cleaner). But I mean everything else you mention: Rooting,…
Re: LineageOS 19
#209Earlier quoted context omitted.
Lineage doesn't "break" android security model. It works around OEMs that don't support installing your own keys in the bootloader. Otherwise, security model works the same as any other android. LineageOS's first priority isn't security - it's freedom. Graphene and CalyxOS have security as the first priority - but have only a couple of phones on their support list and they deprecate old devices as soon as they stop r…
>LineageOS's first priority isn't security - it's freedom. But, importantly, they also care about security, and you'll get security updates faster and more often than with the vendor's stock ROM.
Re: LineageOS 19
#210Earlier quoted context omitted.
Lineage actively and knowingly break the Android Security Model in order to achieve widespread compatibility and reduce e-waste. Security is not their top competency, nor mission. Check out the pages on GrapheneOS.org, definitely seems they're who you're after.
> Lineage actively and knowingly break the Android Security Model Can you provide evidence for this?
From another subthread:
> They ship userdebug builds as production releases, pretend to support devices past their vendor EOL (which is impossible since Lineage can't provide security updates for firmware etc.), ship the F-Droid Privileged Extension (which uses an incorrect approach to implementing unattended updates), don't support locking the bootloader to enable verified boot on many supported devices, etc..