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F-Droid Awarded Open Technology Fund's FOSS Sustainability Grant

249 points by sohkamyung 2y ago

simonmales 2y ago
For me, F-Droid is the apt of Android.
- amelius 2y ago
  Is that good or bad?
  - bityard 2y ago
    For me, it's good. Apt is famous for installing the software you want quickly, easily, and with no fuss.
    - fsflover 2y ago
      And with no malware whatsoever.
    - amelius 2y ago
      For me Apt means that every time I install something, I have to be ready to give up my system because of resulting internal inconsistencies and because there is no rollback.
- ZYbCRq22HbJ2y7 2y ago
  What does that mean? Its a package manager? Or something deeper?
  - giancarlostoro 2y ago
    It is an F-Droid client.
- johnisgood 2y ago
  I use "Droid-ify".
  - buyucu 2y ago
    It also connects to FDroid.
- tengbretson 2y ago
  - Installs software adequately - Terrible search ergonomics It checks all the boxes.
_imnothere 2y ago
F-Droid is indeed a nice alternative for Play Store, but still, it's not perfect. https://privsec.dev/posts/android/f-droid-security-issues/ https://privsec.dev/posts/android/f-droid-security-issues/
- captainepoch 2y ago
  I hope they use the money to improve all the issues people have arised over the years. It can be a really good platform, if they're open to change. Otherwise, it might be dead in the future.
- yjftsjthsd-h 2y ago
  Note that most of that page is a matter of the authors having a completely different security model than F-Droid rather than what I would consider to be true defects.
  - udev4096 2y ago
    It's not. Stop being in an echo chamber. Refer to this post for more valid criticism: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42653176 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42653176
    - glenstein 2y ago
      Setting aside agreement or disagreement, what about that comment is striking you as symptomatic of coming from an echo chamber?
      - udev4096 2y ago
        Oh please. It's a factual argument and you've contributed nothing to it apart from steering away from the goalpost
        glenstein 2y ago
        Let's say I'm doing all of those things, and am prepared to atone for my sins. And I just want to know what you found echo chamberry about the other comment. Can you enlighten me? Maybe that way I can avoid all of the mistakes that I'm making.
ducktective 2y ago
Well deserved. Though, I have problems in "discovering" apps for a particular purpose. It would have helped if there was a vote-based curated app categories section. My current strategy is googling for "[category (e.g. 2FA or note-taking)] + reddit + open-source" then opening up each suggestion's git source and manually look for things like tech stack or project stars or number of contributors.
- burrish 2y ago
  Yeah exactly that's my issue #1 with Fdroid
- zufallsheld 2y ago
  There's gdroid (https://gitlab.com/gdroid/gdroidclient/ https://gitlab.com/gdroid/gdroidclient/) that tries to tackle this problem by using stars in the app, github stars and some more metrics. However it's usage does not seem to be widespread.
maelito 2y ago
Also check out https://droidify.eu.org https://droidify.eu.org. The client is better IMHO.
- johnisgood 2y ago
  Oh yeah just made a comment about it, I prefer it over F-Droid, too.
- 1317 2y ago
  https://f-droid.org/en/packages/nya.kitsunyan.foxydroid/ https://f-droid.org/en/packages/nya.kitsunyan.foxydroid/ is quite nice also
  - sphars 2y ago
    From what I remember, Droidif-y is a fork of Foxy Droid and Neo Chat was fork of Droidif-y or vice versa. Either way, I used to use Foxy Droid but Droidif-y has been the modern update it needed.
imsurgio 2y ago
Great news. First place I check for OSS android software. App needs a bit of work but there are open alternatives.
hoseja 2y ago
I was having major issues each time F-Droid decided to update itself and then the only app I cared about on it implemented self-updating so I let it go. Has major GIMP vibes IMO.
focusedone 2y ago
This fantastic news. It's possible to take an android out of the box, install F-Droid and have a reasonably useful phone without even logging into the play store. Glad to see them getting some credit for the hard work!
dtgm92 2y ago
I like it, gives you the option for older versions as well. When I updated my old browser and the look and feel completely changed, I had to go back years but I eventually found what I liked.
drewbitt 2y ago
I've got about 80% of my apps that would normally be on F-Droid installed through Obtainium (https://github.com/ImranR98/Obtainium https://github.com/ImranR98/Obtainium), which handles Git releases (among other sources). The F-Droid client feels clunky and in the past I had some update errors that were annoying. With some improvements it should return to being a good discovery tool and app manager, so this is good news.
- einpoklum 2y ago
  It seems that Obtainium "curates" apps, i.e. derives lists of downloadable apps, is by crowd-sourcing this task. See: https://apps.obtainium.imranr.dev/ https://apps.obtainium.imranr.dev/ I also believe the client is doesn't limit itself to FOSS.
  - drewbitt 2y ago
    I was not aware of an Obtanium catalog like that. That's a nice feature that I see hidden at the bottom of the Add App screen. You can also use Obtanium to install from F-Droid sources and really just any apk, so it's superior in many ways, except in 1) discovery (which that catalog helps) 2) as devs aren't curating F-droid releases with care, sometimes it's a pain to setup, especially when a package is always `apk-latest` or something.
- raaron773 2y ago
  This is interesting! I like the curated apps idea because it means I can search for more apps compared to fdroid.
captainbland 2y ago
Couldn't deserve it more. Makes it easy to install FOSS alternative apps to what you find in the play store which aren't infested with dark patterns and adware.
zcar 2y ago
I use f-droid and the aurora store. The play store was disabled the day I got the phone. There has been a few issues but I stuck with f-droid for many years. Good for them.
ranger_danger 2y ago
OTF's money comes from US Congress. They also donated 50M to Signal. I might just have my tinfoil hat on too tight, but this doesn't make me feel warm and fuzzy inside. F-Droid also builds AND signs packages themselves on behalf of developers, and even though reproducible builds are a thing, they are not widely used properly or publicly verified often enough for my comfort. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42653176 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42653176 https://www.privacyguides.org/en/android/#f-droid https://www.privacyguides.org/en/android/#f-droid
jfkrrorj 2y ago
[flagged]
- tomaytotomato 2y ago
  I think this is an unfair comment. This is like complaining about an agriculturist being awarded money for a novel agricultural technique they developed, but they aren't saving the penguins in the Antarctic...
  - jfkrrorj 2y ago
    It is absolutely fair! Farms have to cull cows, to reduce methane emissions, to save penguins! F-Droid does not exist in vacuum, their actions send message!
- talldayo 2y ago
  As a queer person I don't even know what I'd want from a CoC like that. It feels like I'd be giving up the freedom I love from F-Droid so I could better police other apps (which is something I don't want or need). Considering how absolutely useless CoCs are in other software I use, I'm pretty happy with where F-Droid is today.
  - ranger_danger 2y ago
    I'm not convinced they ever really had the effect people hoped. More often instead I see it used not as a way to show that people are welcome, but as a false flag used to justify arbitrary enforcement of subjective terminology... which they already had the power to do anyways.
buyucu 2y ago
F-Droid is really amazing. It makes you believe there is still good in the world.
karlzt 2y ago
For those who don't know, there's also Neo store, which has F-Droid in it. https://github.com/NeoApplications/Neo-Store https://github.com/NeoApplications/Neo-Store
- sphars 2y ago
  Also Droidify, which I believe is either a fork or Neo Store or Neo Store is a fork of Droidify. Whichever is the original is a fork of Foxy Droid. https://github.com/Droid-ify/client https://github.com/Droid-ify/client
shubhamkvpl 2y ago
You make a great point! Discoverability is definitely a challenge when looking for open-source apps. A vote-based curated app categories section would be a fantastic addition to help surface the best options. In the meantime, your approach of using Reddit and GitHub metrics like stars and contributors is a smart way to gauge project quality and activity. Hopefully, we’ll see better solutions emerge for open-source app discovery in the future!

249 points by sohkamyung 2y ago

simonmales 2y ago

For me, F-Droid is the apt of Android.

amelius 2y ago
Is that good or bad?
- bityard 2y ago
  For me, it's good. Apt is famous for installing the software you want quickly, easily, and with no fuss.
  - fsflover 2y ago
    And with no malware whatsoever.
  - amelius 2y ago
    For me Apt means that every time I install something, I have to be ready to give up my system because of resulting internal inconsistencies and because there is no rollback.
ZYbCRq22HbJ2y7 2y ago
What does that mean? Its a package manager? Or something deeper?
- giancarlostoro 2y ago
  It is an F-Droid client.
johnisgood 2y ago
I use "Droid-ify".
- buyucu 2y ago
  It also connects to FDroid.
tengbretson 2y ago
- Installs software adequately - Terrible search ergonomics It checks all the boxes.

_imnothere 2y ago

F-Droid is indeed a nice alternative for Play Store, but still, it's not perfect. https://privsec.dev/posts/android/f-droid-security-issues/ https://privsec.dev/posts/android/f-droid-security-issues/

captainepoch 2y ago
I hope they use the money to improve all the issues people have arised over the years. It can be a really good platform, if they're open to change. Otherwise, it might be dead in the future.
yjftsjthsd-h 2y ago
Note that most of that page is a matter of the authors having a completely different security model than F-Droid rather than what I would consider to be true defects.
- udev4096 2y ago
  It's not. Stop being in an echo chamber. Refer to this post for more valid criticism: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42653176 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42653176
  - glenstein 2y ago
    Setting aside agreement or disagreement, what about that comment is striking you as symptomatic of coming from an echo chamber?
    - udev4096 2y ago
      Oh please. It's a factual argument and you've contributed nothing to it apart from steering away from the goalpost
      - glenstein 2y ago
        Let's say I'm doing all of those things, and am prepared to atone for my sins. And I just want to know what you found echo chamberry about the other comment. Can you enlighten me? Maybe that way I can avoid all of the mistakes that I'm making.

ducktective 2y ago

Well deserved. Though, I have problems in "discovering" apps for a particular purpose. It would have helped if there was a vote-based curated app categories section. My current strategy is googling for "[category (e.g. 2FA or note-taking)] + reddit + open-source" then opening up each suggestion's git source and manually look for things like tech stack or project stars or number of contributors.

burrish 2y ago
Yeah exactly that's my issue #1 with Fdroid
zufallsheld 2y ago
There's gdroid (https://gitlab.com/gdroid/gdroidclient/ https://gitlab.com/gdroid/gdroidclient/) that tries to tackle this problem by using stars in the app, github stars and some more metrics. However it's usage does not seem to be widespread.

maelito 2y ago

Also check out https://droidify.eu.org https://droidify.eu.org. The client is better IMHO.

johnisgood 2y ago
Oh yeah just made a comment about it, I prefer it over F-Droid, too.
1317 2y ago
https://f-droid.org/en/packages/nya.kitsunyan.foxydroid/ https://f-droid.org/en/packages/nya.kitsunyan.foxydroid/ is quite nice also
- sphars 2y ago
  From what I remember, Droidif-y is a fork of Foxy Droid and Neo Chat was fork of Droidif-y or vice versa. Either way, I used to use Foxy Droid but Droidif-y has been the modern update it needed.

imsurgio 2y ago

Great news. First place I check for OSS android software. App needs a bit of work but there are open alternatives.

hoseja 2y ago

I was having major issues each time F-Droid decided to update itself and then the only app I cared about on it implemented self-updating so I let it go. Has major GIMP vibes IMO.

focusedone 2y ago

This fantastic news. It's possible to take an android out of the box, install F-Droid and have a reasonably useful phone without even logging into the play store. Glad to see them getting some credit for the hard work!

dtgm92 2y ago

I like it, gives you the option for older versions as well. When I updated my old browser and the look and feel completely changed, I had to go back years but I eventually found what I liked.

drewbitt 2y ago

I've got about 80% of my apps that would normally be on F-Droid installed through Obtainium (https://github.com/ImranR98/Obtainium https://github.com/ImranR98/Obtainium), which handles Git releases (among other sources). The F-Droid client feels clunky and in the past I had some update errors that were annoying. With some improvements it should return to being a good discovery tool and app manager, so this is good news.

einpoklum 2y ago
It seems that Obtainium "curates" apps, i.e. derives lists of downloadable apps, is by crowd-sourcing this task. See: https://apps.obtainium.imranr.dev/ https://apps.obtainium.imranr.dev/ I also believe the client is doesn't limit itself to FOSS.
- drewbitt 2y ago
  I was not aware of an Obtanium catalog like that. That's a nice feature that I see hidden at the bottom of the Add App screen. You can also use Obtanium to install from F-Droid sources and really just any apk, so it's superior in many ways, except in 1) discovery (which that catalog helps) 2) as devs aren't curating F-droid releases with care, sometimes it's a pain to setup, especially when a package is always `apk-latest` or something.
raaron773 2y ago
This is interesting! I like the curated apps idea because it means I can search for more apps compared to fdroid.

captainbland 2y ago

Couldn't deserve it more. Makes it easy to install FOSS alternative apps to what you find in the play store which aren't infested with dark patterns and adware.

zcar 2y ago

I use f-droid and the aurora store. The play store was disabled the day I got the phone. There has been a few issues but I stuck with f-droid for many years. Good for them.

ranger_danger 2y ago

OTF's money comes from US Congress. They also donated 50M to Signal. I might just have my tinfoil hat on too tight, but this doesn't make me feel warm and fuzzy inside. F-Droid also builds AND signs packages themselves on behalf of developers, and even though reproducible builds are a thing, they are not widely used properly or publicly verified often enough for my comfort. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42653176 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42653176 https://www.privacyguides.org/en/android/#f-droid https://www.privacyguides.org/en/android/#f-droid

jfkrrorj 2y ago

[flagged]

tomaytotomato 2y ago
I think this is an unfair comment. This is like complaining about an agriculturist being awarded money for a novel agricultural technique they developed, but they aren't saving the penguins in the Antarctic...
- jfkrrorj 2y ago
  It is absolutely fair! Farms have to cull cows, to reduce methane emissions, to save penguins! F-Droid does not exist in vacuum, their actions send message!
talldayo 2y ago
As a queer person I don't even know what I'd want from a CoC like that. It feels like I'd be giving up the freedom I love from F-Droid so I could better police other apps (which is something I don't want or need). Considering how absolutely useless CoCs are in other software I use, I'm pretty happy with where F-Droid is today.
- ranger_danger 2y ago
  I'm not convinced they ever really had the effect people hoped. More often instead I see it used not as a way to show that people are welcome, but as a false flag used to justify arbitrary enforcement of subjective terminology... which they already had the power to do anyways.

buyucu 2y ago

F-Droid is really amazing. It makes you believe there is still good in the world.

karlzt 2y ago

For those who don't know, there's also Neo store, which has F-Droid in it. https://github.com/NeoApplications/Neo-Store https://github.com/NeoApplications/Neo-Store

sphars 2y ago
Also Droidify, which I believe is either a fork or Neo Store or Neo Store is a fork of Droidify. Whichever is the original is a fork of Foxy Droid. https://github.com/Droid-ify/client https://github.com/Droid-ify/client

shubhamkvpl 2y ago

You make a great point! Discoverability is definitely a challenge when looking for open-source apps. A vote-based curated app categories section would be a fantastic addition to help surface the best options. In the meantime, your approach of using Reddit and GitHub metrics like stars and contributors is a smart way to gauge project quality and activity. Hopefully, we’ll see better solutions emerge for open-source app discovery in the future!