yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] Lanchon:
only mateor can answer that question.

but as more and more services go closed source in android, a very sad but true fact, OPD was growing unable to help. google is moving everything they can into all-powerful closed source mandatory play store services app. for example, googles location service, providing better performance and less battery drain than the legacy android service, is there. what good is OPD blocking access to legacy location if apps can and do get better service from play services? try and remove play services and most recent apps will cease to work. apps are not android apps anymore, they are play services apps. google is purposely killing android.

i studied xposed when the framework was completely unknown maybe nearly two years ago. i thought it was great idea, but a number of design choices, a possible big security hole and its inability to operate stealthily made it less than ideal for me. it did at the time inspire ideas for an improved framework that i never cared to implement. maybe now xposed has matured in a direction closer to what i think it should take, i dont really know. what xposed offers however, is the chance to tame googles play services crap, at least on the privacy front. xposed only requires knowing the public API, not the implementation details or source. and a patch works as long as the API is preserved.

because in effect android is becoming proprietary and closed source, any source level privacy solution such as OPD has its days numbered. it seems like dalvik instrumentation is the way to go. ART in principle provides a way to instrument code stealthily and with zero performance penalty, and hopefully some dev is getting his hands dirty on that right now. meanwhile, xposed is our best choice. too bad xprivacy is not free software.
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] IRKONIK:
The truth hurts. This is what's wrong with Android, and what will cripple Android.

I actually am lookin forward to Canonical's Ubuntu Touch. Despite disliking the owner, their choices and especially their distro, Canonical do a great job for upcoming phones.

Right now, the future seems worse than ever before for privacy.

On the one side, there are people "like us", who care about themselves and know a little about the dangers that missing privacy can bring. (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Liste - sorry, I wasn't able to find any english sites about it. The "Rosa Liste" (tl;dr) was a collection of suspected homosexuals. In the beginning of the 19th century "not a biggy", but later Hitler used it to systematically hunt the suspects down. Another dark chapter in the history of Germany would be the GDR and their (in)famous Stasi.)

On the other side there are people who say "that you shouldn't worry" or that simply gave up. Those are the ones that need a "consumer grade" security for their data and privacy. Nobody should be transparent.

I am not saying that Google, the NSA or all the others want to harm us, but they never know who uses their collected data in the future.

OPD + AfWall+ always made me feel like I would be able to make my phone do what I want. Well, that'll end soon(ish).

But hey, maybe there's already some clever guy with a good idea how to make something analog to OPD :fingers-crossed:

Cheers.
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] Klaus_Trophobie:
To hear that pdroid is down now there is only one possible solution for me: QUIT ANDROID. I have to move to another plattform and I´m not sure which to choose but I really have to quit.

Nevertheless I just have to say THANK YOU SO MUCH Mateor and team for all the effort you put in this. It was my main reason to stay with android so far.

For me as a media-teacher and consultant PDROID always was a possibility to show other teachers and pupils the need of data protection because I could easily visualize to them which rights are used by which app. The effect was always like: "wow, I didn´t know that" and it hopefully changed some peoples mind about privacy issues...

I deeply deeply hope someone takes over the work on pdroid and Mateor proably tells us if the effectiveness of pdroid was compromised at some point of development.

Thanks again - Keep it up!
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] poo706:
I already made the switch to xprivacy. It's pretty good, certainly the next best thing since opd.

[poo]
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] IRKONIK:
Keep me updated on that, because you won't find any.

Windows phone is worse than Android, and Apple are the last to respect privacy, so iOS won't do the job. (also, both are proprietary, so complete garbage, in my opinion.)

BlackBerry is pretty much Android, so that's also not a choice.

What's left then, besides dumb phones?

Gesendet von meinem GT-I9300 mit Tapatalk
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] keiserman:
Maybe, there's some phone beside the mainstream mobile plattforms.

Firefox-OS, Ubuntu or TizenOs.

With this Linux based alternatives you have not so many apps, or much choice of hardware and i even don't know which sort of privacy protection there's availible, but things are growing.

Especially from TizenOs, i have heard, that it's developed from users, for users. ;)

Gesendet von meinem HTC Desire
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] IRKONIK:
TizenOS = Samsung, so no thank you. If this will run anything like their with touchwiz ruined android versions I could not care less. Even if it will run better, f*ck Samsung.

Ubuntu = Canonical --> no thank you!

Firefox-OS: Well, sounds promising, but the it's more suited for lower-end phones at the moment.

Sailfish OS could become interesting in the future, but on the long run I really don't think that Android will die.

Cheers!
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] davegermiquet:
build your own rom.

just build your own rom....then.
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] Brian706:
Man, it really sounds like you just don't like any smartphone/manufacturer... Why have one then?

Plus, if you're really that concerned about privacy, you should really just ditch smartphones, social networking accounts, forum accounts... Maybe even the Internet entirely.

You could always build a little solar powered cottage off the grid somewhere too... Grow your own food. You just don't get much privacy when you're on the grid. Lack of privacy doesn't just end with your Android phone.
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] hellunn:
Well, this thread is about a privacy control tool, so what else did you expect?

May be, if you aren't really concerned about privacy, you should really just ignore this thread.
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] Brian706:
It's not that I'm not concerned about privacy, but I'm also not naive about the fact that you'll never have total privacy when you're connected all the time.

Besides, my post was about privacy. I offered a few legitimate suggestions to the poster I replied to. Thank you for speaking up for them though.

Also, the poster literally bashed every mobile os. I don't think it was out of place to ask why they even have/use a smartphone. Honestly, I mean that with no disrespect; it's an honest question.

He asked for android alternatives, and then bashed every os suggested, plus about every other one out there. Again, if you are saying "eff every mobile os" why have one then?

Apologies if I rustled any jimmies here. I probably could have worded my previous post better. I had literally just woken up and was still pretty groggy.

Anyway, before this steers too off track, I'll just leave it at this.
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] hellunn:
You are right about that you can not be totally anonymous using even a dumb cellphone, but the control that PDroid offered is something really desirable. Now I'm using a not yet rooted android and there are apps I just don't install based on the permissions they request, but next week Sony will make unlockable my bootloader and I'll install cyanogen with XPrivacy (simce PDroid is end of life) to take just some control about what my phone does.

It is always a compromise point between privacy and utility, you can not get very close to one without getting further of the other, but these tools give a wide range of possibilities to the user to choose where to stay.

Thank you for your comments.
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] IRKONIK:
Rant.

If you don't want to read it, don't. But [MENTION=4924965]Brian706[/MENTION] should.

Buddy, read again, and read what I've quoted. Then think again what I said, and what you said. You tried to argue against my argument with a similar argument.

What I tried to say is: There is no OS that can protect your privacy better at the moment, than android. The only problem I have with it right now, is how it's realized. That's all.

I literally (wow, literally literally?) "bashed" every mobile os, because many of them, imho, don't do enough for the user and his privacy. They all COULD have the features, the potential exists, but because of some non sense reason it's not getting realized. I don't know why. But I speak up, so people think about it, and maybe make the developers implement such a feature. (Not include, then exclude it again, like Google did - what a **** move)

And to answer your "question": I do not like many "smartphone/manufacturer" because most of them just don't build, what I want, but try to sell it as something, I want. (Like Samsung's flagships after the S3. They are just worse, in my opinion. Mostly because of Samsung's "open source" policy. Tons of the code is proprietary. Why? Because of some dumb contracts they shouldn't have signed in the first place!)

I owned three devices by LG and own two made by Samsung at the moment, and all of them still have issues. (N10: Exynos drivers that were outdated. S3: Camera, drivers in general, etc. LG: Well, f*ck them. Not going into detail. But I won't buy anything made by LG ever again. (And yes, I mean this. Not just some jibber jabber. I "literally" did not buy anything by them after the incident.)

Maybe I'll buy a HTC M8. I never had a device by HTC before. Maybe it's a keeper. :D

I am pretty happy about my privacy. I actually do not have a "personal" facebook account. If I need one, I create one, and abandon them after a month or two. No pics, nothing "too personal". No Twitter. Mail's get encrypted and stored encrypted. Phone calls.. well, I'm not under surveillance. Same goes for SMS.

But my concerns are less about privacy because I "distrust the government" (I don't need a tinfoil hat), more about that I don't want some shady apps being able to do phone calls, read my telephone number, my personal data, my contacts, my sms, you name it.

Perfect example: Angry Birds. (seriously, what is wrong with them?)

Your question is out of place, because of the attitude you delivered it with. If you'd have chosen your words wiser, I might've respected your opinion.

And now, the grand finale:

What is wrong with you? Seriously. <sarcasm />Yeah, next time throw in some insults against my mother, that'll work even better.

The connection between privacy and being off grid.. no. That's not worth my words. Just no.

Oh, also, <sarcasm /> apologies for "rustling your jimmies". Go take your internet memes elsewhere.

My words might sound harsh, but I mean them. I really do not want to insult you in any way. (I actually mean this. No sarcasm!) But you have to think about what you say and/or type before you post it.

Cheers!
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] cashmundy:
Wipe Google spyware from your phone

First, thanks again to [MENTION=4342828]mateorod[/MENTION] for everything. The build.props-reading self-updating AutoPatcher is some of the best design and implementation I've seen in Free Software.

I finally decided I needed to fumigate my phone once Google Play Services came in and I discovered my phone was transmitting very large amounts of data *somewhere* for no apparent reason if I had been out of signal for a while, so much data that I wondered if it was say compressed sound data from the microphone or whatever. Either Google apps or the phone had to go.

So I got rid of the Google bloatspyware and managed to make a functional phone with much better battery life and no more of those massive data bursts apropos of nothing. Here's how:

1) Wipe phone totally clean.

2) Install a trusted rom which does not have Google spyware built in.

3) Do not install the Google spyware.

4) Install Fdroid.

5) With Fdroid, install K9mail, Gapps browser, your choice of browser, etc.

These Free Software apps are generally not as smooth as the Google apps they replace, but if you don't mind sharing who knows what with who knows who in exchange for optinmal Google slickness, you'll probably not be reading this thread in the first place.

There may be better ways to do all of this. This is strictly works-for-me. It's all just a stopgap until something genuinely Free Software such as perhaps Ubuntu Touch consigns the predatory Android ecosystem to the dustbin.
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] poo706:
I was always more concerned about stuff like free games that had an insane amount of completely unnecessary permission than I was with anything Google related.

[poo]
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] davegermiquet:
contribute

Hello,

I would like to contribute to the OpenPDROID project (the patches) whats in development still. I was wondering what the problems are on why this has become difficult to do now if someone could PM me where to start it would be greatly appreciated.

I've compiled roms with this in, I know how to do patches using patch and I am able to program in java however I'm trying to get m head around the build process and whats been modified (right now im just browsing the code)
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] Lanchon:
OPD patches work on 4.4, what doesnt is auto patcher. but i guess when android 4.5 drops, it will be the end of it.
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] Discostrings:
Thanks for the info, Lanchon. I appreciate your earlier contributions to this thread as well.

Do you know what it takes to build OpenPDroid for Android 4.4 without the autopatcher? A stable CM11 with OpenPDroid on a good device could last long into the future, potentially to the point when someone develops a newer framework that's equivalent or better.
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] goodmoyu:
I found a "FAILED" message when use the openpdroid_4.4_frameworks_base.patch

It's in the section of core/java/android/app/ContextImpl.java, line 81

[COLOR="Magenta"]- return new ConnectivityManager(IConnectivityManager.Stub.asInterface(b));[/COLOR]

but in core/java/android/app/ContextImpl.java it's

[COLOR="Red"] return new ConnectivityManager(IConnectivityManager.Stub.asInterface(b),
ctx.getPackageName());[/COLOR]

please advice :D
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] Lanchon:
its very simple. once you are able to do your own builds of CM11, you just apply the source patches on github. u need linux to build CM, i recommend linux mint with cinnamon. if you can wait for two weeks, linux mint 17 will be out. if not (or even if you can) consider installing linux mint debian edition.

---------- Post added at 08:22 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:19 AM ----------

btw, if you have a Nexus 5, im maintaining OPD patched CM11 builds here...

http://xdaforums.com/google-nexus-5/development/rom-openpdroid-patched-cyanogenmod-11-t2686650

---------- Post added at 08:29 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:22 AM ----------

i didnt. u didnt say against which version of CM you are patching. i suppose i will encounter this on my next build and have to rebase the patches. ill fork the gits and share if necessary.

---------- Post added at 09:02 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:29 AM ----------

there is xprivacy on xposed. xprivacy is paid for, but its also GPL and you can make your own build. the tree compiles, ive tested it. the license checks are not obfuscated in source code, you can remove them to enable pro features. but know that there's a pro feature that involves a website to share per app settings. technical capabilities aside, you dont have a license to use the website unless you buy the app, so the settings sharing should be off limits to all but paying customers.

i used to disregard xprivacy. being close sourced, i didnt want to touch it. but turns out, the developer made the app GPL even though he sells it. brave move. so maybe you should consider the solution, which can be free. but also consider buying the app to help its free software developer.
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] goodmoyu:
Thanks for your help.

The version is CM 11(Android 4.4.2), for device N9005(hlte). I've checked out the source code from CM github.

I got the failed message on 06/05/2014, after the CM team released the "cm-11-20140504-SNAPSHOT-M6-hlte" build.

Before that, no failed message.

;) hope this will be useful.
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] Lanchon:
the relevant patch section is:

@@ -370,5 +387,12 @@ class ContextImpl extends Context {
public Object createStaticService() {
IBinder b = ServiceManager.getService(CONNECTIVITY_SERVICE);
- return new ConnectivityManager(IConnectivityManager.Stub.asInterface(b));
+ // BEGIN privacy-modified
+ // SM: Having a 'static outer context' may be problematic if
+ // there is more than one instance of this class, ever.
+ Log.d(TAG, "PDroid:ContextImpl: returning PrivacyConnectivityManager");
+ //return new ConnectivityManager(IConnectivityManager.Stub.asInterface(b));
+ IConnectivityManager service = IConnectivityManager.Stub.asInterface(b);
+ return new PrivacyConnectivityManager(service, getStaticOuterContext());
+ // END privacy-modified
}});

and the code base changed to include an extra parameter on the ConnectivityManager constructor invocation:

-return new ConnectivityManager(IConnectivityManager.Stub.asInterface(b));
+return new ConnectivityManager(IConnectivityManager.Stub.asInterface(b), ctx.getPackageName());

i havent seen the code and i dont know what a ConnectivityManager is, but it is obvious that a PrivacyConnectivityManager is a kind of OPD wrapper of IConnectivityManager. the right way to proceed is, the package name parameter must be investigated and probably included in the PrivacyConnectivityManager constructor. im afraid this change will break OPD patch compatibility with AOSP. i will do this for my next build.

in the mean time, you can just revert this change:

-return new ConnectivityManager(IConnectivityManager.Stub.asInterface(b));
+return new ConnectivityManager(IConnectivityManager.Stub.asInterface(b), ctx.getPackageName());

then apply patch and compile. if it compiles, i would assume that the resulting system would be as functional as it ever was, only this bugfix or extension will be reverted. so do this as a temporary workaround.
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] Lanchon:
NO, DONT TRY THAT!! it wont work.

the commit that broke the patch is:

https://github.com/CyanogenMod/andr...mmit/fe9b529ccd7cb9e0aca2acda358a6c22e723810b

the CONNECTIVITY_SERVICE implementation was changed from one shared instance to per context instances. presumably this means an instance per package but i have to read the code instead of guessing. this means that a similar change has to be applied to the service wrapper.

this would be straightforward, except that browsing superficially the OPD patches, there seem to be confusion and probably bugs regarding exactly this matter. many times a static (ie shared) OPD context is used to wrap per instance services, and that looks very suspicious. maybe this is the result of people rebasing the original android 2.3 pdroid patches onto android 4.x without a clear understanding of what was going on. some maintainers saw this and left comments like:

// SM: I'm not sure whyt this is using getStaticOuterContext rather than getOuterContext.

// Would have thought it should have been the following line:

// return new PrivacyLocationManager(ILocationManager.Stub.asInterface(b), ctx.getOuterContext());

before i solve this i need to read and understand android's and opd's code. it would also pay to check the OPD repo and see if there is newer code that didnt make it into the patches.
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] Lanchon:
i checked OPDs github and mateor posted there a while ago that he was still willing to maintain the patches. so i notified him of this issue:

https://github.com/OpenPDroid/OpenPDroidPatches/issues/20

if he doesnt take it up, i will.
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] Lanchon:
i made patches for CM11-M6, get them here:

https://github.com/Lanchon/OpenPDroid-patches

these compile but are untested so far.
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] danizwam:
Any chance of getting an update for M9?

I updated today and the patches doesn't work anymore :(
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] Lanchon:
the patches work for M9. i will not update on nightlies. when M10 comes out i'll look into it. btw, so far only you complained.
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] danizwam:
Sorry, sorry, sorry... i was in a hurry an i think it was all my fault :(

I am updating every day with "repo sync" but i was not able to find out how to check out M8/9 or any other milestone.

Is is possible to "repo sync" M9?

Any help would be great!
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] Lanchon:
yes. google cyanogenmod using manifests
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] danizwam:
Yes, i know, but the http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Doc:_manifests#The_default_manifest is not really helpful.

Is it too much to ask you for your manifest for M9?
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] Android-Andi:
Use stable cm 11 tree

https://github.com/CyanogenMod/android/tree/stable/cm-11.0

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[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] Lanchon:
yes, it is, cause the manifest depends on the device your are building.

please read the whole document!

http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Doc:_manifests#Recreating_CyanogenMod_releases_using_manifests

"my" manifest is inside the official hammerhead M9 release zip file. get yours from the appropriate release.

note: you MUST delete roomservice in local manifests.
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] Discostrings:
OpenPDroid activity

Just wanted to post an update here for anyone who may be subscribed or checking this thread for OpenPDroid updates:

Lanchon has created threads with builds of CyanogenMod 11 with OpenPDroid for various devices, as well as a generic OpenPDroid overlay patch that may work on various devices.

Those threads may be a better place to check if you're looking for pre-compiled versions of OpenPDroid!
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] Mika83AC:
Thanks for this clearification of your sights and reasons to do what you do :good:

I hope CollegeDev will see the advantages of the "open" source way (github, code reviews etc.) and join it. Within such an important and even sytem critical app like PDroid, it's not a good idea to have only one dev who has a real life and can't react to serious bugs etc. as fast as it could be nessesary. Here the power of some more dev's all working on the same codebase would be a perfect situation. Four our six eyes can see more than two, which would be a good thing hunting difficult bugs or discussing new features. How fast can you be stuck in an dead end you haven't foreseen ;)

I hope this will become true ;)
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] MindCrawler:
Thank you for the answer.

I switched from LBE Security to OpenPDroid and haven't used PDroid or PD2 before.

As of only the gallery app is listed.. Thats ok for me.

I only noticed it in search of any settings that maybe would fix the lag (if settings related)

Since Pdroid 2.0 has no 4.2.1 support, i started with OPD, so cann't compare it, sorry.