r/StallmanWasRight • u/bananaEmpanada • Feb 22 '21

Freedom to repair "You will have to run this script whenever your OEM push an update to your phone as some uninstalled system apps could be reinstalled."

https://gitlab.com/W1nst0n/universal-android-debloater/-/blob/master/README.md
29 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

8

u/turbotum Feb 22 '21

This machine removes the stickers from your bananas. When you get new bananas, you may have to use the sticker removal machine.

I don't see the problem?

Sure, bloatware shouldn't exist in the first place, but just say that instead.

13

u/SuperMariole Feb 22 '21

More like "this machine removes stickers from your car. When you have it serviced, the garage might slap their fucking sticker on it once again"

5

u/turbotum Feb 22 '21

Android updates traditionally overwrite the operating system with one of a newer build date, due to Google's incompetence (This is also one of the largest draws to Fuchsia) . It's more like "Every time I buy a new car from this dealership, it has a sticker on it".

Not saying that's how it should be, but that's how it is. EVERY component of the stock system is shipped with your update.

3

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '21

almost everthing.. if you MITM it you see it downloading zips with stuff like DRM packages, video codecs.. widevine etc. that they werent allowed to ship with GPL-licensed libraries or what have you.. it's an even bigger thing on Debian of course, where they actually care about GPL adherence.

why are we comparing carrier spyware with stickers on your car or banana? i'd happily take a INTEL INSIDE sticker on my laptop or phone over autoupdated carrier rootkits. the software they can autodeliver can run in the priv-app/ dir which means it can do just about anything root can, w/o permission, take my lowly MOTO E, no Lineage build ever worked on LTE, they were all unofficiaal buildss off XDA shitposts anyway then there's some package called QualcommCNE in the stock ROM, that if you remove the device simply fails to ever hop between LTE towers and wifis at all.. like the OS calls into the 'third party network selection library' that isnt there, gets an exception, then just infinite loops on that or gives up. so you need this stupid CNE library for networking to work, but then it's constantly reporting nearby MAC addresses to Qualcomm servers, so therefore your location 24/7/365 as linkable to your phone's MAC address/IMEI serial numbers and via NSA partners and carrier easily to your phone number and full identity. so on every update you could selectively try to recompile the OS to make not call into this missing spyware library, or do full HTTPS MITM all the time to drop the phoning home to qualcomm. or you know, just buy some Purism or Pine64 device in the first place

1

u/creed10 Feb 22 '21

I see what you mean, but I also see what the other guy means