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I don't think the graveyard of Android privacy forks is that big? All I can think of is CopperheadOS which died because it was company-backed. You could argue C
by phh 6y ago
I don't think the graveyard of Android privacy forks is that big? All I can think of is CopperheadOS which died because it was company-backed. You could argue CyanogenMod died, though really it's still well alive in LineageOS. (and CyanogenMod wasn't really privacy-focused)
I have a very high respect for all the work that's been done on the various GNU/Linux mobile distributions, but it's still so far away from Android wrt usability...
I agree there is something weird about fighting Google with Android, but still it makes perfect sense.
From a business or engineering PoV, you want best features for the fastest MVP. Android gives you just that. Actually it goes way beyond, /e/ didn't do much of engineering, they mostly re-used what's done by the Android FLOSS community. (Honestly I don't really like /e/ because they basically don't give anything back to the community but well).
If /e/ is ever successful, they can hire many engineers to actually fork Android to have their own. That's what Android did for Linux in the first place anyway! Most OEMs have a lot of changes to their Android, even though they keep using Google apps, and they are just fine. I'm pretty sure that Samsung have an order of magnitude more changes in Android than LineageOS (which /e/ is a pretty direct fork of), and they maintain it just fine.
- rst 6y agoThe original developer of CopperheadOS is continuing the work as GrapheneOS, after a split with his former business partner, over dilutions of the privacy guarantees, among other things. https://grapheneos.org/ https://grapheneos.org/
- vdfs 6y agoAlways feels like treading google for some other random developers
- SubzeroCarnage 6y ago> random developers Micay, of GrapheneOS and original creator of CopperheadOS, is not some random. They have pushed AOSP security ahead and have made many upstream contributions over the years.
- LarissaH1 6y agoI don't think he was the creator. None of the more reliable sources I see say that he is. They all say he was an employee.
- SubzeroCarnage 6y agoI remember when Micay first released CopperheadOS. I spent most of early 2015 learning enough about kernels to eventually successfully port it to the OnePlus One in November of 2015 with near full PaX support. https://github.com/Divested-Mobile/DivestOS-Build/blob/c0083c15193868d07cb6715dc418d515dfa2ad48/Patches/OLD/bacon/Kernel-All/ch-12.1/21.patch https://github.com/Divested-Mobile/DivestOS-Build/blob/c0083...
- Throwaway1771 6y agoYou're reading shit/publicly editable sources. Micay originated the Android Hardening Project, I believe it was called, and is the brains behind what was CopperheadOS, and now the superior GrapheneOS. He was also a pretty instrumental Rust developer.
- Throwaway1771 6y agoHighly recommend this solution. This is where I ended up after countless hours of research looking for security/privacy.
- joemazerino 6y ago> over dilutions of the privacy guarantees, Has anyone found sources for this?
- LarissaH1 6y agoI can't find any.
- Throwaway1771 6y agoSimply read the GrapheneOS IRC/Matrix channel. They log.
- addicted 6y agoCyanogenMod, as the name suggests, was explicitly a nod to add in features that didn’t exist before. That was indeed a losing battle because Google has far more resources to add features ans beat CyanogenMod. On the other hand, a de googlized and privacy focused platform provides something that Google can never provide. There’s also a change in the environment surrounding all Of this. Thanks to the weaponization of Android by the American government, every country and company in the world is looking for a De GoogliZed alternative.
- MacsHeadroom 6y agoIsn't CyanogenMod just AftermarketOS before rebranding?
- Anon1096 6y agoCyanogenmod is still alive and thriving as LineageOS. The goal was never to beat (Google) Android, it's just a custom ROM that provides many desirable features.
- gostsamo 6y agoThe e.foundation sponsors MicroG, so it is not entirely true that they don't give back.
- phh 6y agoAh I didn't know that thanks. That's still pretty little though, but I guess that's a gesture in the right direction.
- javierseballos 6y agomarketing bullshit
- joemazerino 6y ago> All I can think of is CopperheadOS which died because it was company-backed CopperheadOS did not die. https://copperhead.co/android https://copperhead.co/android /e/ mostly uses LineageOS code without providing attribution. They have a fair fight ahead of them and the Android FLOSS community benefits from this internal competition.
- LarissaH1 6y agoCopperhead looks interesting, thanks for that link.