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What part of Android is not FLOSS that makes harder for us to look into the code and guess where there's spying ? Is there competition in Android distribution
by ttoinou 8y ago
What part of Android is not FLOSS that makes harder for us to look into the code and guess where there's spying ?
Is there competition in Android distribution with all the features needed by most people (replacing GGL Maps with OpenStreetMaps etc.) ?
- mort96 8y agoWell, the core of Android is open source (as part of the AOSP), but Google's launcher, the Google Play Services which most apps rely on, lots of the apps which are installed by default, all driver code, etc. is all closed source.
- ForHackernews 8y agoGoogle Play Services are closed source, proprietary, and required for many third-party apps to run properly. There is a project trying to offer FLOSS alternatives, https://microg.org/ https://microg.org/ but it's still pretty rough.
- binomialxenon 8y agoOn a typical OEM Android device, there's likely more non-free software than free. Due to Android's permissive license, any OEM can change any part of the OS for each device and not publish the source code. On a Lineage or AOSP install, the only significant non-free part are hardware drivers and some library components such as RAR. While this isn't ideal, I doubt Google is spying through them. Using a Android phone without Google (using F-Droid, and OpenStreetMaps) is definitely doable but I don't think most non-geeks would even consider it. I used one for about a year and a half, until I went no-smartphone. I think Eelo is trying to make a "user-friendly" distro, but it just looks like a coat of paint on top of Lineage+microG, I don't think there's much new to it.