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The fact that you need to root Android negates the meaning of using a Linux OS.

by _cbb1 13y ago

raldi 13y ago
That's like saying the fact that you need to occasionally run sudo negates the meaning of using Linux.
- pachydermic 13y ago
  Except for the fact that sudo is already built into your system. What? Rooting most likely voids your warranty and is definitely nontrivial to non-technical people. I have rooted my phone and installed cyanogenmod before and I wouldn't call it easy. I can't imagine average people going through that process voluntarily or without screwing it up. Yeah, to people like us it might not be that bad, but to your every day user it just doesn't make any sense to do. That's a horrible analogy, sorry. I have to agree with some other commenters here that Google using Linux as a base for android and chromeOS doesn't do much for the Linux community (not nothing, though). It really doesn't matter what kernel they are using. It's all the stuff that's build on top which matters... maybe there's something to calling it "GNU/Linux" after all - just so we could avoid misleading and misinformed commentary like this blog post.
  - mpyne 13y ago
    > Except for the fact that sudo is already built into your system. What? It wasn't built into mine (Gentoo Linux). I had to install it separately.
  - raldi 13y ago
    > Rooting most likely voids your warranty and is definitely nontrivial to non-technical people. Sudo is also nontrivial to nontechnical people[1], and it doesn't even have a warranty[2]. [1] As immortalized in the mouseover of a recent xkcd: http://xkcd.com/1343/ http://xkcd.com/1343/ [2] http://www.sudo.ws/sudo/license.html http://www.sudo.ws/sudo/license.html
- vkjv 13y ago
  That's like saying that using a sledgehammer for a nail is the same thing as using a hammer.
- pessimizer 13y ago
  I had to install sudo. If somebody else installed it, told me when I could use it, and threatened me legally when I disobeyed or helped others disobey, sudo would be a problem.
sounds 13y ago
Linus Torvalds feels pretty strongly about GPLv2 as compared to GPLv3. The fact that he prefers GPLv2 is a pretty strong counter-argument: GPLv2 allows the ODM/OEM to implement a linux soltuion. The end user has no guarantee of crypto keys, software, or hardware that enables "root" access.
redthrowaway 13y ago
Perhaps it negates the reason you use Linux, but there are plenty of reasons to use it that have nothing to do with Free Software. It's a tried and true OS with tens of thousands of eyes on its source code, it has a massive community supporting it, and it's free as in beer. Getting a very good OS for free is reason enough to use it for many people, even if they don't have complete control over it out of the box.
jayd16 13y ago
The fuck? Running apps as root (or other high privileges) happens all the time on desktop linux. Does that negate "the meaning" of Linux. Are you actually complaining about how manufacturers often have locked boot loaders and you need to jump through hoops to get to an OS you like? That's not an issue with the OS.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
chimeracoder 13y ago
Depends on how hard it is to root - if it's flipping a (metaphorical) switch, that's fine. The real problem is that tools like Unrevoked[0] are needed, and that bootloaders can come encrypted (even on the HTC One, for Verizon). [0] http://unrevoked.com/ http://unrevoked.com/

The fact that you need to root Android negates the meaning of using a Linux OS.

by _cbb1 13y ago

The fact that you need to root Android negates the meaning of using a Linux OS.

raldi 13y ago

That's like saying the fact that you need to occasionally run sudo negates the meaning of using Linux.

pachydermic 13y ago
Except for the fact that sudo is already built into your system. What? Rooting most likely voids your warranty and is definitely nontrivial to non-technical people. I have rooted my phone and installed cyanogenmod before and I wouldn't call it easy. I can't imagine average people going through that process voluntarily or without screwing it up. Yeah, to people like us it might not be that bad, but to your every day user it just doesn't make any sense to do. That's a horrible analogy, sorry. I have to agree with some other commenters here that Google using Linux as a base for android and chromeOS doesn't do much for the Linux community (not nothing, though). It really doesn't matter what kernel they are using. It's all the stuff that's build on top which matters... maybe there's something to calling it "GNU/Linux" after all - just so we could avoid misleading and misinformed commentary like this blog post.
- mpyne 13y ago
  > Except for the fact that sudo is already built into your system. What? It wasn't built into mine (Gentoo Linux). I had to install it separately.
- raldi 13y ago
  > Rooting most likely voids your warranty and is definitely nontrivial to non-technical people. Sudo is also nontrivial to nontechnical people[1], and it doesn't even have a warranty[2]. [1] As immortalized in the mouseover of a recent xkcd: http://xkcd.com/1343/ http://xkcd.com/1343/ [2] http://www.sudo.ws/sudo/license.html http://www.sudo.ws/sudo/license.html
vkjv 13y ago
That's like saying that using a sledgehammer for a nail is the same thing as using a hammer.
pessimizer 13y ago
I had to install sudo. If somebody else installed it, told me when I could use it, and threatened me legally when I disobeyed or helped others disobey, sudo would be a problem.

sounds 13y ago

Linus Torvalds feels pretty strongly about GPLv2 as compared to GPLv3. The fact that he prefers GPLv2 is a pretty strong counter-argument: GPLv2 allows the ODM/OEM to implement a linux soltuion. The end user has no guarantee of crypto keys, software, or hardware that enables "root" access.

redthrowaway 13y ago

Perhaps it negates the reason you use Linux, but there are plenty of reasons to use it that have nothing to do with Free Software. It's a tried and true OS with tens of thousands of eyes on its source code, it has a massive community supporting it, and it's free as in beer. Getting a very good OS for free is reason enough to use it for many people, even if they don't have complete control over it out of the box.

jayd16 13y ago

The fuck? Running apps as root (or other high privileges) happens all the time on desktop linux. Does that negate "the meaning" of Linux. Are you actually complaining about how manufacturers often have locked boot loaders and you need to jump through hoops to get to an OS you like? That's not an issue with the OS.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

chimeracoder 13y ago

Depends on how hard it is to root - if it's flipping a (metaphorical) switch, that's fine. The real problem is that tools like Unrevoked[0] are needed, and that bootloaders can come encrypted (even on the HTC One, for Verizon). [0] http://unrevoked.com/ http://unrevoked.com/