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Google has stopped pushing Git tags for some Android source code

grapheneos.social

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Re: Google has stopped pushing Git tags for some Android source code

#211

Post by WhyNotHugo »

bitpush wrote: post #61
shevy-java wrote: post #39

I don't think the real focus is on the tags, but on the delay here via a form as well as human interaction. Worded differently, the simplest way to provide the source code is IMO via a URL that you can just wget. At the least this is done by so many projects out there. Google refusing to do so means Google wants to violate the GPLv2, since their alternatives are inferior. https://distrowatch.com/ has many convenient…

> Google refusing to do so means Google wants to violate the GPLv2 Not an expert in GPL, but does it say that the source code needs to be provided by a url?

No. In fact, the GPL states that the actual cost of delivery can be charged (consider this is from times when people still post-mailed floppy disks).

Re: Google has stopped pushing Git tags for some Android source code

#212

Post by matheusmoreira »

wakawaka28 wrote: post #140
pas wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what does the license say? provide source when asked or publish source? OSI is not clear on this either. ("Where some form of a product is not distributed with source code, there must be a well-publicized means of obtaining the source code for no more than a reasonable reproduction cost, [...]")

I hate to be that guy but publishing source online for free theoretically involves unbounded distribution costs that can't be recovered. That isn't the issue here but it should be considered before changing a license.

Google is worth what, a trillion dollars?

Re: Google has stopped pushing Git tags for some Android source code

#213

Post by pferde »

matheusmoreira wrote: post #209
grapheneos wrote: post #114

They stopped pushing tags for any of the Pixel kernel or userspace driver repositories to AOSP. They also stopped pushing AOSP releases specific to Pixels which is why AOSP now only gets yearly releases, QPR2 releases and security backports to both of those. Other OEMs use the yearly and theoretically also the QPR2 releases. Both the yearly and QPR2 releases get monthly security backports. Since they dropped Pixel su…

Thanks for GrapheneOS, and shame on Google. > They'll sell far fewer Pixels because of these overall changes. They don't even sell Pixels internationally. Can't tell you how glad I am you're moving to Motorola. I'm really looking forward to having a Motorola GrapheneOS phone!!

Are you sure, I got one and I'm in Central Europe.

Re: Google has stopped pushing Git tags for some Android source code

#214

Post by literalAardvark »

bulder wrote: post #189
steve1977 wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> GPL doesn't set a standard time limit for providing the sources, but that doesn't mean they can delay it indefinitely. I wonder actually what a court would say here and if "doesn't set a time limit" could mean "the source needs to be made available immediately". IANAL.

A reasonable interpretation would be that they had a previous process that eliminated delivery latency and required no manual manpower for responding, so changing it has been done to induce artificial friction, against the intent of the license. Not that the intent of a license can be enforced.

Compliance with the intent of the law is one of the things courts get to decide on.

Someone just needs to be crazy enough to sue (and rich/lucky enough to win)

Re: Google has stopped pushing Git tags for some Android source code

#215

Post by barryvan »

pferde wrote: post #213
matheusmoreira wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for GrapheneOS, and shame on Google. > They'll sell far fewer Pixels because of these overall changes. They don't even sell Pixels internationally. Can't tell you how glad I am you're moving to Motorola. I'm really looking forward to having a Motorola GrapheneOS phone!!

Are you sure, I got one and I'm in Central Europe.

Me too, and I'm in Australia...

Re: Google has stopped pushing Git tags for some Android source code

#216

Post by patcon »

grapheneos wrote: post #195
chinathrow wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They need to do it in a reasonable amount of time. If they did that for years within hours and if we look at the tools available today, I would expect that "reasonable" equates to how they provided it prior: fast.

They did it for many years with 0 delay because they pushed the tags to AOSP. It was moved to Google Drive with a Google Forms setup to request access with manual fulfillment of the request. It was deliberately done to make it into a hassle. The delays are by design through making it a manual system regardless of how much of a delay was intended as part of this change. They could be automatically handling the request…

I was involved in one of the communities involved in the Block Sidewalk efforts in Toronto Canada, which prevented Sidewalk Labs from moving forward on a multi-billion dollar project to redevelop a chunk of downtown Toronto.

I was at the Data Power 2017 conference in Ottawa where I shared with people (who would become key Block Sidewalk organizers) the clues I had, that Google was about to bid on the as-yet-unknown land development opportunity, closing later that month.

I had previously been in collaboration with secure ROM developers hitting their first adversarial efforts to thwart use of Android for alt app markets. I know that Google's public story of Android openness (which drove people trusting them to build a city platform) was bullshit, and I made sure many many of the key activists and public servants knew it.

While I can't know exactly how my specific actions affected things, I would guarantee that Google's adversarial positions and failed stewardship have already contributed to them losing real opportunities.

Re: Google has stopped pushing Git tags for some Android source code

#217

Post by palata »

JasonHarrison wrote: post #178
khimaros wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i have owned nearly every Google phone since the G1. i will not be purchasing any future devices from them unless they change course.

What will you purchase instead? It sucks that the modern smartphone OS market is a duopoly.

The Motorola one, when it comes with GrapheneOS!

Re: Google has stopped pushing Git tags for some Android source code

#218

Post by ludamn »

pferde wrote: post #213
matheusmoreira wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for GrapheneOS, and shame on Google. > They'll sell far fewer Pixels because of these overall changes. They don't even sell Pixels internationally. Can't tell you how glad I am you're moving to Motorola. I'm really looking forward to having a Motorola GrapheneOS phone!!

Are you sure, I got one and I'm in Central Europe.

They're from Brazil, Google doesn't sell pixels there

Re: Google has stopped pushing Git tags for some Android source code

#219

Post by palata »

rob74 wrote: post #183
grapheneos wrote: post #114

They stopped pushing tags for any of the Pixel kernel or userspace driver repositories to AOSP. They also stopped pushing AOSP releases specific to Pixels which is why AOSP now only gets yearly releases, QPR2 releases and security backports to both of those. Other OEMs use the yearly and theoretically also the QPR2 releases. Both the yearly and QPR2 releases get monthly security backports. Since they dropped Pixel su…

Well, it's as you wrote: they are making the source available, albeit in a very inconvenient way, and because there is no time limit specified, they're complying with the letter of the GPL (although not with its spirit), so you can't even realistically sue them. And the number of people who buy new Pixels to immediately install GrapheneOS on them is (no offense) negligible, so I don't think they'll see a sales impact…

> so you can't even realistically sue them

Genuinely asking: are you a lawyer?

Sounds to me that going from "it works easily and rapidly" to this deserves a big big fine. That's the only thing they understand.

Re: Google has stopped pushing Git tags for some Android source code

#220

Post by poulpy123 »

grapheneos wrote: post #114

They stopped pushing tags for any of the Pixel kernel or userspace driver repositories to AOSP. They also stopped pushing AOSP releases specific to Pixels which is why AOSP now only gets yearly releases, QPR2 releases and security backports to both of those. Other OEMs use the yearly and theoretically also the QPR2 releases. Both the yearly and QPR2 releases get monthly security backports. Since they dropped Pixel su…

I really cross my fingers your partnership with Motorola will be successful
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