DivestOS: long term device support with enhanced privacy and security

392

@SkewedZeppelin,
I’m very pleased to inform you, even if some contemporaries here do not want to believe it, that I’ve now met my first DivestOS user for whom I was allowed to install two Samrtphones with DivestOS 18.1 / 11.0 / R. A regular use is certain, as this two ‘DOS’ phones, relaesed on June 2014, are used by a commercial middle-class manager, for whom increased data protection and privacy as well as sustainability are more important than brand-new Android status symbols. You’ll be able to register it through the monthly OTA updates. The apps used will also be kept to a bare minimum - including Mull Browser..

Side note: The new user would gladly and immediately support your work, but not with existing payment options via Stripe (bank card), Liberapay, Bitcoin, Monero .

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393

“mailed USD cash are the accepted payment methods.”

would seem to be another option (Garage Sale page).

394

No! These aren’t options for a Central European. The time-honoured bank transfer is synonymous with transparency and open cooperation.

395

@fossys

How do I open a bank account in Europe given that I am located in America?

Last I checked it is a non-trivial and costly process.

I think OpenCollective abstracts most of that away, but I’ve not created one since there seems to be no one asking for it or all too many donations in general.

396

@SkewedZeppelin
You are right. It is not trivial for a non-European to open a bank account in all of Europe and EU-Europe. Also, bank transfers from EU-Europe to the USA are expensive because the European and American universal banks (full banks) collect high fees. In addition, there is the exchange rate.

My thinking is based on EU-Europe, where transferring money by bank transfer from one EU country to another EU country is very easy.

My tip is to look at the service provider Wise (formerly Transferwise). Peter Thiel, one of the founders of PayPal, is the first investor behind it.

Links

Wise, Formerly TransferWise: Online Money Transfers | International Banking Features

Wise account: Multi currency account | Foreign currency account<!-- --> - Wise

Wise exchanges euros into U.S. dollars at the true exchange rate formed in the market without a markup (mid-market rate or foreign exchange mid-rate). This is the fairest rate at which two trading partners can exchange euros into US dollars. The total fees are less than €10 per €1,000 because Wise exchanges the money at the correct rate. This means that there is no loss. The money arrives on average the next business day.

397

Why do you only receive sparse donations?
Donations to pseudonyms or into digital cryptonirvana are a no-go for me. Donations are a matter of trust. Trust is built between people through interaction. Online activities like DivestOS.org must have an imprint in various EU countries. But this is handled differently in each country throughout Europe.

In the EU country France, for example, Article 6. III-1 LCEN makes it clear that every natural or legal person must provide the full name (for persons, all first names), the postal address and the telephone number. If a company has been registered or if it is a business, the legal form of the company and the number of the commercial register or similar register must be indicated. In addition, the name of the managing director or board member and, if applicable, the responsible editor. The information in the imprint must be provided “dans un standard ouvert” (Art 6 III 1 LCEN)

(Art 6 III 1 LCEN)

VI. - 1. Est puni d’un an d’emprisonnement et de 75 000 EUR d’amende le fait, pour une personne physique ou le dirigeant de droit ou de fait d’une personne morale exerçant l’une des activités définies aux 1 et 2 du I, de ne pas satisfaire aux obligations définies au quatrième alinéa du 7 du I, de ne pas avoir conservé les éléments d’information visés au II ou de ne pas déférer à la demande d’une autorité judiciaire d’obtenir communication desdits éléments.
Les personnes morales peuvent être déclarées pénalement responsables de ces infractions dans les conditions prévues à l’article 121-2 du code pénal. Elles encourent une peine d’amende, suivant les modalités prévues par l’article 131-38 du même code, ainsi que les peines mentionnées aux 2° et 9° de l’article 131-39 de ce code. L’interdiction mentionnée au 2° de cet article est prononcée pour une durée de cinq ans au plus et porte sur l’activité professionnelle dans l’exercice ou à l’occasion de laquelle l’infraction a été commise.

2.Est puni d’un an d’emprisonnement et de 75 000 EUR d’amende le fait, pour une personne physique ou le dirigeant de droit ou de fait d’une personne morale exerçant l’activité définie au III, de ne pas avoir respecté les prescriptions de ce même article.Les personnes morales peuvent être déclarées pénalement responsables de ces infractions dans les conditions prévues à l’article 121-2 du code pénal. Elles encourent une peine d’amende, suivant les modalités prévues par l’article 131-38 du même code, ainsi que les peines mentionnées aux 2° et 9° de l’article 131-39 de ce code. L’interdiction mentionnée au 2° de cet article est prononcée pour une durée de cinq ans au plus et porte sur l’activité professionnelle dans l’exercice ou à l’occasion de laquelle l’infraction a été commise.

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398

@fossys
what is the issue here? I genuinely question why you expect so much from me.

pseudonyms

Tad is my legal name.

digital crypto

I accept regular credit/debit cards.

Donations are a matter of trust.

More trust necessary then all of the code you are downloading and executing?

imprint

Should I have this? probably, ianal

I cannot afford a post office box and I’ve no intent posting my home address on my website for no gain.

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399

WTF is the problem with Liberapay anyway? They work with “39 countries” and “33 currencies” https://liberapay.com/about/global . And F-Droid uses them too https://liberapay.com/F-Droid-Data/donate .

400

The problem Lbertay is, among others, the ‘payment service providers Stripe and PayPal’.

Links

Liberapay: https://www.kuketz-blog.de/liberapay-aktuell-keine-spende-moeglich/
German spoken: https://www.kuketz-blog.de/liberapay-aktuell-keine-spende-moeglich/
.
Privacy friendly translator: DeepL Translate: The world's most accurate translator

Also take a look at the ‘donation barometer’.

401

Professional customROMs are not only used by private individuals, but are also used in smartphones used for business purposes. In order to be able to claim the support (donations) for the ROM developer as a company expense, clear information is required. The statement Divested Computing Group, c/o Tad, USA is not sufficient for the tax office.

Using your ROMs is a leap of faith by the user. When using CustomROMs, for example from Calyx (-Institute), e.foundation, iodé.tech, Lineage-for-microG it is also publicly known which real people are behind them and where they can be reached, keyword ‘company and summonable address’.

This is very unfortunate, because a person with your outstanding skills and continuous achievements should be more appreciated by users, not limited to just using your CustomROMs. Cf. also ‘Donation Barometer’

Tad, I respect their attitude. Mine go beyond that.

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402

So, if I get what you write, you like Wise because Theil (Paypal) likes it, but you don’t like Paypal because Kuketz prefers MangoPay. That’s some great logic (not).

And reading between the lines, MangoPay is European originally, probably French, but Paypal is not…

Is that all you have? Because from what I could find, Paypal is kicking MangoPay’s ass in this competition for market share and skimmed money.

What is this ‘donation barometer’?

403

Kind of. Trust (like respect) is earned by action from my point of view.

On my personal trust-barometer @SkewedZeppelin is located very high. On the other end I find you (@fossys) taking some steps down to the negative from the starting position :zero:. The thing is you just talk and I see no achievements/actions you have taken. It can be that you are saying you want… but can’t that put you in my personal trust scale at a negative position? Can’t really tell but in all even if you would now disclose your full name, address and bank details here you would stay on the same bad position on my trust meter. Get it? Words don’t matter at all, actions do! So please take action (you might tell us in the end if you achieved something).

And don’t get me wrong @fossys, I actually share some of the critics (for example I personal don’t use paypal or stripe) but just the way you are demanding things here is just not right

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404

Also looks like you are heavily mixing things up here and you are not really aware what donations are.

Donations are given without return consideration.

Get it? You can’t make donations in return of something. (even if it’s only a paper for your taxes)

From what I see @SkewedZeppelin is doing all of his (support) work free of charge. On the other hand he accepts donations. What he doesn’t offer is payed support or any services companies typical offer.

You requests are directed towards a company but Ted is a private individual.

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405

you just talk and I see no achievements/actions you have taken.

In fairness, @fossys is credited with a significant amount of device testing for/by DivestOS, but this thread is long… Miscellaneous section, also long…: About - DivestOS Mobile

Who except stockholders particularly likes EBay, paypal, stripe, or their local bank, but money does make the world go around… Like any FOSS developers or bug reporters who for expediency use microsoft OS or github, sometimes you plug your nose to get things done.

Where is GNU payments system, Taler? :frowning:GNU Taler / F-Droid Nightly Repo for Taler · GitLab still gives me “login” error over Tor. Sigh.

Also looks like you are heavily mixing things up here and you are not really aware what donations are.

WADR, this seems to be a cultural difference, maybe. OTOH, it’s not uncommon for larger “donors” to expect special treatment…

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406

My words do not constitute demands on Tad, but should serve as a stimulus for him to rethink the status quo.

My words are not understood in my sense here. This may be due to the mentality, customs and traditions of the people on the different continents. But it may also be because the few people who participate in the word exchange here do not want to understand me.

Donations are usually not asked for in return. However, donations can be a financing tool, at least for part of the costs of an action such as Tad carries out. The best example of successful donation management is the creator of CalxyOS, the Calyx Institute in Yew York.

That increased donations do not necessarily require a tax-exempt organisation is shown by Mike Kuketz with his Blog Topics IT Security | Data protection … with his ‘donation barometer’

Well @anon46495926, if you follow the link shown above, you can read this sentence: “As an alternative, there are a few other support options available to you.” There you will find not only payment channels for donations, but also the ‘donation barometer’. This also shows the monthly volume of donations. It also shows that the One-Man-Show ‘Kuketz’ receives ample financial appreciation for his compiled information.

If the private individual Tad from the USA wants to make his one-man-show look bigger than in reality in the tone of several people in a non-real Divested Computing Group (“Not a company. There is no legal entity behind me, and it is just me by the way. Divested Computer Group is just a nicer more professional name I chose.”), that is a forked-tongue statement for me.

When Tad complains between the lines about his low fundraising, when Tad cannot afford the majority of smartphones for which he builds CustomROMs, there are causes and reasons for this, but they can be easily identified and remedied.

I’ve purchased several smartphones supported by DivestOS to support @SkewedZeppelin and confirm their functionality. Some of the devices are already out of my hands, but are now running more popular CustomROMs than DivestOS.Testing is my contribution of support for DivestOS Mobile, because I only give money by bank transfer to people and institutions that clearly identify themselves to me.

Among other things, the /e/Team at e.foundation has received a development grant of a very large five-figure euro amount from a Dutch non-profit organisation in 2019/2020.

Daniel Micay of GrapheneOS receives grants and donations from several companies for his excellent development work. Tad from DivestOS is on par with Daniel Micay.

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407

OnePlus 6 (enchilada)

Okt. 2021 DOS build divested-18.1-20211010-dos-enchilada

OTA-Update failed

Bootloader locked again

.
I had successfully installed the September 2021 build of DivestOS divested-18.1-20210913-dos-enchilada, DivestOS recovery and avb_pkmd, which and locked the bootloader again. The ROM was running.

The updater showed me three files: As first a small file around 79-80 MB? As second file the October 2021 update and, although the September build was installed, as third file again the September build.

First I downloaded the October update divested-18.1-20211010-dos-enchilada on the OnePlus 6, then let install.

OTA-Update failed. OTA update does not work!

The first reboot ended in a bootloop. A factory reset did not change anything either. All further boot processes ended in a bootloop that repeated and repeated and repeated and …

By the way: DivestOS-Recovery 18.1 (20211010) was installed and could be used.

In the next attempt I first unlocked the bootloader, then installed the Oct. build via adb sideload divested-18.1-20211010-dos-enchilada.zip. After successful installation, the system booted, the animated multicolored DivestOS logo worked, the system set up normally.

The bootloader was still open when I got the October build via Updater. After downloading it again I let it install. The first reboot was initiated, - and ended again(!) in a bootloop(!!).

OTA-Update failed. OTA update again does not work!

The third installation attempt started with a factory reset - Format data/ factory reset. About Apply update - Apple form ADB - ADB Sideload.

The installation started and ended with the terminal message:
serving: ‘divested-18.1-20211010-dos-enchilada.zip’ (~94%) adb: faild to read command: No error

“Reboot system now” boots immediately and shows the animated multicolored DivestOS logo. The OnePlus 6 could be completely set up.

So, now on to the booloader lock.

Fastboot
7. AVB devices only: $ fastboot erase avb_custom_key
8. AVB devices only: $ fastboot flash avb_custom_key avb_pkmd.bin
.
fastboot flashing lock

After the reboot an "erasing" occurs,
the reboot is followed by the message <!> Your device has loaded ...
with the four-line ID:
followed by the OnePlus logo.

Now the multicolored animated DivestOS logo is displayed, until the first DivestOS homescreen with the window “eSpeak This app was buillt for an older version of Android …”

Pictures

oneplus6_dos18120211010
oneplus6_dos181202110101984×1335 67.6 KB

oneplus6-dos18120211010
oneplus6-dos181202110101967×1300 86.3 KB

Summary: OnePlus 6 “enchilada” runs with the bootloader locked again,

if it weren’t for the “OTA update bootloop” thing …

408

@fossys

It seems to imply that the incremental update failed and left the system in a broken state.
Especially that you note the recovery itself successfully updated.
However before factory resetting it would’ve been helpful if you had adb sideloaded the full update to be sure that it was just a broken incremental and not a corrupted data.
Why did you unlock the bootloader? You can adb sideload while locked.

I’ve seen broken incrementals when I had it enabled for all devices, hence why I limited them to update_engine devices. But this seems to imply further issue with them.

I have pulled all incrementals for enchilada.
I did not encounter this issue with the incremental on my fajita.

For any device, locked or not:
a failed incremental can be resolved by adb sideloading the full update.
no wipe should be necessary and no user data should be lost.

Edit:
I have just double checked and installed the October update via OTA and via adb sideload, both booted successfully.

Edit 2:
Further re-reading it shows you installed the full update both times.
I wonder if instead your other slot is/was mismatched.

Edit 3:
writing the steps out as you say fits that your other slot is bad:

  1. September with good slot
  2. updated to October via updater
  3. rebooted to bad slot
  4. sideloaded October update
  5. rebooted to good slot
  6. OTA updated from October to October via updater
  7. rebooted to bad slot
  8. sideloaded October update
  9. rebooted to good slot

Perhaps your “bad” slot has older firmware. From your picture it seems your “good” slot is on the oos11.0 firmware.

409

@fossys
Thank you for testing divest and los rom for poco F1(beryllium)
The los 18.1 that you flashed using los recovery after testing divest os for poco F1(beryllium),did u lock the bootloader with los rom installed using avb_key or was it left unlocked and u used the los rom??
Did the phone boot with bootloader locked on los rom??

410

I wanted to play it safe and start at the first step and stop at the last step.

During the first OTA update from September to October, I had taken screenshots, but unfortunately did not back up the images externally, so they were deleted when I tried to fix the failed OTA update.

Now, after you perform detailed analysis, I would feel like resetting the OnePlus 6 again considering the AB partition scheme completely to Sept 2021 (divested-18.1-20210913) to reconstruct the operations …

… but if I understand you correctly, this is no longer possible because they removed the incremental versions for ‘enchilada’. Does this correspond to the realities or have I misunderstood something, @SkewedZeppelin?

411

@Fosslov

No, official LineageOS ‘nightly’ builds generally do not offer to lock the bootloader again. Thus, even with the current lineage-18.1-20211012-nightly-enchilada-signed, the bootloader is still open. There is also no LOS “avb_pkmd.bin”.

As far as I know, DivestOS is the only current CustomROM with which the bootloader can be locked again.

@SkewedZeppelin said elsewhere that it is easy to relock the bootloader on suitable devices. However, since all other CustomROMs I know for the ‘enchilada’ don’t have this feature, these ROM developers either don’t consider re-locking the bootloader necessary or the preparations for re-locking the bootloader are not as simple as @SkewedZeppelin says.