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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

#251

Post by sph »

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…

This comment has convinced me to switch from iOS to GrapheneOS for my next phone. Thank you for all your hard work.

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

#252

Post by notpushkin »

phire wrote: post #133
klardotsh wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly this. Once the writing was on the wall that deGoogled / FOSS Android was on borrowed time (at best), a ton of the argument against iOS dissolved overnight. We can argue that Apple's anti-repair policies and anti-user-customization policies are their own evils, sure, but at least my phone works for its core tasks, and works phenomenally well at that. My deGoogled Android phones were mostly hobbled together pil…

Yeah, I was a loyal Android user for 15 years. For the first half, custom ROMs were a massive boost to the experience, but I never really bothered after 2018; You had to install so much of google's stuff to get anywhere near proper experience that it just wasn't worth it, and even then many apps were starting to throw a fit when they detected a rooted device. And at the same time, the stock android experience from mo…

> You had to install so much of google's stuff to get anywhere near proper experience that it just wasn't worth it

What was it? Personally, the only thing I miss from stock Android is the Google Wallet/Pay/Wallet. (I do use microG to get push notifications and embedded maps working.)

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

#253

Post by phire »

alt227 wrote: post #198
phire wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I switched to an iPhone last year, mostly because I was getting sick of Samsung’s shit, and google doesn’t sell their pixel phones locally (and I don’t like Oppo). But the other reason is that most of Android’s openness is quickly disappearing, so my main argument against iPhone is gone. And on the topic of privacy, I actually trust Apple way more than I trust the company that makes most of their revenue via advertis…

>makes most of their revenue via advertising. Apple already have a huge chunk of the ad pie and are growing all the time. Dont think Apple are keeping you safe from ads and all the profiling of your behaviour that involves. https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-gets-serious-about-its... https://www.wired.com/story/apple-is-an-ad-company-now/ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67417987 https://www.businessinsider.com…

Apple are still far less reliant on advertising than google; They take far stricter stances against apps tracking users than google; And they actually let me an Adblock extension (or any other extension) in Safari.

Apple is not some magic solution to the question of on-device privacy. But compared to Android, the improvement is night and day.

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

#254

Post by anticensor »

globular-toast wrote: post #243
bitpush wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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?

As far as I understand, they could send it to you printed and bound and charge you for the paper and postage if they want to.

A source code listing in a book/binder is a customary way of distributing software, albeit historic.

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

#255

Post by uniq7 »

mikestorrent wrote: post #74
devy wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GPL doesn't require them to publish the source in git. FWIW, Google can be compliant and publish the source in Physical Medium too if they opt too. Also, the OP did mentioned that Google also squashed the git commit to a single commit for whatever reason.

Can't wait for pallets of paper to get shipped out to comply maliciously

That would be trivial to DDoS

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

#256

Post by maybewhenthesun »

jmole wrote: post #4

“In violation of GPL” is a stretch. Can’t imagine Google is making the process of obtaining source code easier on themselves though. Android has always been more source-open than “open source”. The vast majority of community contributions that make it into the codebase are security fixes and small bug fixes. Everything else is essentially all the work of Google and (to some extent) Samsung.

> Everything else is essentially all the work of Google

Well,large parts of the linux kernel are emphatically not the work of google, of course.

And I don't doubt there's tons of other software in android that originates outside of google.

Which makes it that they are at least violating the spirit of the GPL.

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

#257

Post by sunshine-o »

palata wrote: post #228
sunshine-o wrote: post #44

The era of big tech cooperation around free software is obviously over. Those kind of moves are petty but there are worst tricks they can pull unfortunately. It seems Grapheneos is the rare actor willing to put up a fight nowadays, and their "partnership" with Motorola seems to be a first step. They need to ensure a hardware platform. My guess is at some point they will have to fork AOSP, just because Google will tak…

> My guess is at some point they will have to fork AOSP I am still sad that Huawei didn't go this way, I thought they would with HarmonyOS. I wonder if it could happen at some point that an alternative Android becomes so big that OEMs start supporting it. It feels like it may be interesting for the big Android manufacturers to support something like GrapheneOS? I wonder: for those Motorola phones that will come with…

> I wonder if it could happen at some point that an alternative Android becomes so big that OEMs start supporting it.

I think this is the huge battle GrapheneOS won with Motorola. There are probably a few manufacturers of phones unhappy or nervous regarding Google.

The next battle is really on the app front. Once a country says our government and bank apps need to run on the fork of AOSP then you will start to have a real alternative to the Google/Apple (and now Huawei) duopoly.

My guess is there are a lot of candidate countries for breaking out of the American/Chinese grab on every smartphones.

So in a way the future could look bright as long as we support GrapheneOS and Motorola.

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

#258

Post by broken-kebab »

thyristan wrote: post #247
JasonHarrison wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Fairphones are easy to unlock, repairable, have a long lifetime and offer a variety of different operating system distributions.

Fairphone with its 8-year updates, swappable battery, and decent repairability is great for those of us who doesn't like to be forced to change phones often. I'm not sure, however, what variety of distributions you mean. It supports 1 Android, and 1 de-googled Android. Which isn't bad at all, but still doesn't sound like "variety".

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

#259

Post by jeroenhd »

gumby wrote: post #32

GPL says that you can give that link to anyone you want. If someone on HN has received one of these links, feel free to post it here.

Not the links per se (those are subject to terms of service), but the contents downloaded for those links are free to share. Anyone can throw them up in their own git repository or upload them to Github.
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