Auto update without root

I would bet that fairphone open won’t arrive on the FP3.

… to the extend that fairphone open hasn’t gotten security updates for more then a year :frowning:

On most devices when you install a non-vendor OS you have to work against the vendor to install it. With FP3 and /e/ (unlike /e/ on other devices) you don’t. Fairphone helps you unlock the bootloader and after the installation it gets locked again (because Fairphone has signed /e/'s images). The process doesn’t use any security holes, but just the standard android rom installing tools adb and fastboot.
It doesn’t have to be repeated on updates. Instead just like previously on Fairephone Open an app tells you about new updates and downloads and reboots after you give your ok.

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now it sounds as if there’s really yet no alternative for such simplicity!

thanks!! :grin:

BTW if you use /e/, as F-Droid is not installed, it seems they also did not care/want to install the privileged extension that would be necessary for auto-updates. This is the issue to vote for, if you want to change that.


Apart from that there is a new OS called CalyxOS (sorry, for the forum cross-links, but it’s just my English summary of these features) that, as far as I know, has auto-updates for F-Droid as it can even preinstall F-Droid – and microG, optionally though.

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Thanks. That OS does sound interesting. After I posted my previous comment I actually installed the privileged extension which is in the /e/ app store. It gets installed without privilege so is totally useless. What I bummer.

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lol, so the only alternatives today, really, are basically fp2 and the ones supported by calyxos, pixel phone (plus xiaomi or something)?!

Oh, taht’s interesting did not know that.
But well, if installed and you do have access to the root partition (in old times via TWRP or so), you could likely move that app from /app to /system/app (if I recall the paths correctly) to make it privileged.

Anyway, indeed a bummer…

Well… you can also use any LineageOS device and flash the privileged extension manually.

flashing anything still looks like much more trouble than i was hoping for. :sob:

The first thing I did after installing /e/ was to install f-droid which I use to install the free software apps. As everything was updating automatically I has just happy. From this discussion I now know that it is actually the /e/'s app that is doing the updating from their mirrors. As the apk’s are signed by f-droids key, I can be certain that they are updated by an unmodified version (and not e.g. the version from the original developer in the gplay-store).
I have mixed feelings about this. Though I must say the fact that /e/ includes a non-free maps-app bothers me a lot more.

what do you guys think about the new XDA phone?

sounds very promising to me, despite all the negative comments there!

and despite XDA forums being even worse than discourse, technically.

Sadly Fairphone messed up verified boot on the FP3. Fairphone don’t sign /e/ releases, /e/ use the AOSP test keys. So the process does involve a security hole.

CalyxOS is a great option if you want FDroid privileged extension. The Calyx Institute is a great organisation with a good track record (and F-Droid developers doing work for them). The cost of the Pixel a series phones has been dropping and the guaranteed 3 year + of full monthly security updates makes them very price competitive with other phone vendors, over their updated lifetime.

As LineageOS (and other custom ROMS) are soon to adopt the marvelous seedvault backup app, for which Calyx have been funding a load of great development work, it will become much easier moving to different OSs.

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looks interesting, but there’s a major flaw with calyxos: degoogle using google’s phone!

strictly speaking of software, that may make some sense… but i’m not giving google any single cent anymore.

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Read a bit about your experience with Google, sounds terrible. You may be happy to hear that CalyxOS supports the Xiaomi A2, which can be picked up pretty cheap now. I flashed one for a friend and it works well.

Google do sell pretty good phones, the pricing of the Pixel ‘a’ phones makes them very competitive, considering quality and length of time they’ll recieve full security updates. Unlike most other phone manufacturers they put a lot of effort into doing things right (as they are kind of the reference devices for Android, I guess they have to). Even go to the extra effort of making sure they properly support alternative operating systems with full device security features.

The Mi A2 is one of a few other devices that does this, and like many of the others they haven’t totally got things right.

Calyx are looking to support a new cheap non-Google phone that will give them working verified boot. If anyone has any info on suitable devices they’d be happy to hear. They are also planning support for super budget Android Go phones, that don’t even have verified boot on the stock operating system.

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thanks. it was terrible! that’s just the tip of the iceberg, though.

literally.

i’m deleting everything from unsustainable sources. it goes a very long way, down to moving away from the cities. ahoxus.org if you want to read a lot more.

don’t really care how much google may seem like good engineering, it’s all wrong in too many directions, and got no need to support all this uncalculated evil.

got no idea about xiaomi, but i doubt they’re any different.

how about the pine phone?

also, i read this whole topic and a few more on graphene from it:

it came to me that i might, after all, be convinced to pay google for a pixel, given:

  • i can get warranty support in portugal (i got pixel 1, 2 and 3, needed support for 2 and couldn’t, plus the terrible story from 3 already mentioned)

  • it’s a project independent enough from google/alphabet itself (got no idea), financially wise

  • above all, can be proved more sustainable than the other fdroid alternatives.

and it came to me, that is the main key point: sustainability.

i couldn’t care more for privacy, but that lead me to unconventional wisdom which shortened to an extreme says: fuck privacy.

except when it comes to digital privacy, often confused by its other name, security (as used in the other topic). that’s indeed crucial, but the ultimate security? backups done right. which means, in a similar way: fuck security (mostly).

i just need a sustainable phone. and the best way to assure it is, is the high facility to maintain it for as long as possible.

which leads me back to the fairphone, probably…

perhaps i will soon update the op to reflect all this, in case nobody objects. :grin:

and after reading a couple more interesting topics on my pine phone search which i still haven’t read:

Hi All, I’m using /e/os from e os fundation, which a fork of Lineage OS and aim to keep me out from Grooogle spy. It works well fluid and well designed. The main brain is the old mandrake/mandriva developer chief and it requires not so many tech competencies as in the other ROMs.

ROM is up to date with latest Android and security patches.

For app I’m using their Fdroid + e os app store + Aurora. Unfortunately for daily life I have to use some apps and mix stores.

Do you have any experiences with E OS? Privacy looks OK but safety/security? Is there a way to check about security’s bugs or backdoor?

Thanks in advance.

BR

Below is a link to a previous, critical summary by a different developer. DivestOS also comes with F-Droid privileged extension for auto updates without root. With only the part of microg needed for location. If you “need” proprietary apps and google services (full microg), then you should just install LineageOS with gapps, and stop fooling yourself about being degoogled. Then there’s the fact that the “main brain” chief of E os was caught using sockpuppets to manipulate Wikipedia, while criticizing others for using pseudonyms…

Reading Android: F-Droid Classic and the new Privileged Extension | GBAtemp.net - The Independent Video Game Community I could use F-Droid Classic and that modified Priviledge Ext without root, just by setting up via ADB, installed from their repo: Marcus / F-Droid Classic · GitLab

FYI how to uninstall: adb shell am start -n eu.bubu1.privext/org.fdroid.fdroid.privileged.ui.UnregisterDialog and confirm the dialog that opens on the device.

F-Droid Basic can do, on Android 12 and later, unattended updates of installed apps (of itself) already, fyi

Soon that will come to F-Droid too. :wink:

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Unattended ones already there from 1.19.X now for F-Droid. :slight_smile:

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