[Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries,] Aqq123:
Re: SoterService & Qualcomm Location

1. SoterService

So for starters it certainly isn't useful to anybody outside China. As for users in China (not Chinese users, there's a difference), official LOS isn't really suitable for them anyway without further patching (at least fallback DNS, SUPL, captive portal and connectivity test URLs should be changed, Chinese-specific fonts and IME also aren't included). In practice not many people there are going to install a custom ROM on a device like this and if they do, it's most likely going to be something locally-brewed like Moqu. Thus, "helping users in China" (not "Chinese," since Chinese people all over the world by and large don't and in fact usually can't use Weixin either unless they happen to be in China) is not a realistic consideration. And as you can see it's also not as if not having this preinstalled would be an extra burden to any user in China.

This APK was not included in official LOS 15.1. I don't even recall it being a part of MIUI Global ROM for this device. Those lucky few who have the use for it (if anybody at all) will know how to install it, just like everybody else installs all kinds of other stuff on top of LOS. However, Lineage OS defines itself as a "free [as in 'libre'] and open-source operating system," and incorporating proprietary, third-party blobs of dubious benefit to the user is hardly in line with the project's objectives.

I read it, again (I first did when I was looking up this APK before even writing anything in this thread) and all the more I don't see any reason why it should be included. On the contrary, it's specific to China and only compatible with some of the devices launched in that market. Why would it be so indispensable that it just has to be part of the official LOS build for this device? (If you were referring to some specific statement in what's written there, feel free to quote it, and I will look at it again.)

For the record, I never said it was spyware, just a leftover that serves no purpose. But device security can be compromised in a number ways, for example through an exploitable bug in the APK. We all know the whole vendor blob for this device is completely outdated. The less is kept of it in its original form, the better. If something can be safely removed without impact, this should be the default action to take.

The whole point of having a custom ROM is to be able to critically pick and choose what should be in it from the usability perspective. Obviously this involves informed experimentation and something can occasionally break, so what? Reading something like this here makes me want to scroll back to the top of the page to check if this is still "XDA

Developers

."

Vendor blobs are not sacred. Xiaomi's in particular are usually rather bad. For instance, previous vendor blobs for this device enabled Wi-Fi diagnostics by default, needlessly spamming the logs and draining battery. Should this have been kept too?

2. Qualcomm Location

What is that even supposed to mean? By definition it's a user-space application, so it's a "system component" as much as Candy Crush is in Windows.

I wanted to save everybody the boring details. In practice I doubt it makes any difference. It's supposed to work by querying the location from nearby Wi-Fi access points but only those with supported SoCs in them (so QCA-only I believe), and then again only those that were configured to provide it.

The benefit is supposedly better location indoors, so it could be life-saving if you get lost in a shopping mall but 99.9% of the time when you need precise location is when you are outside and not near any particular Wi-Fi access points.

The idea behind it is not unsound and it could indeed save battery life if GPS doesn't have to run in such situations (and if it really is indoors then it wouldn't work anyway) but the bigger point is that Google (and others) have already been doing the same for years and are better at it. So if you install Google Apps you are already getting all of this functionality anyway.

You can't blame Qualcomm for trying even though they're late to the game but essentially it's about duplicating what already works just was "not invented here." Your location won't get any more precise than what Google already provides, all it accomplishes is Qualcomm being able to use your battery time and data allowance to seed their own database so as to compete with the incumbent.

Actually, here you can't disable it either: given how it's set up, there is no setting for it anywhere in the UI, it just runs all the time in the background. I think it'll also interfere if you wanted to use mock location.

So even if Qualcomm location were to stay by default, there should be a toggle for it, or at the very least the framework overlay settings should be restored to their defaults because now it's effectively impossible to use any other location provider: it's either Qualcomm or nothing.

Since LOS does not include a complete location solution (people will install Google Apps, MicroG, or perhaps something else), arguably it shouldn't force a partial one on the user either. To be brutally honest, I thought these settings were left like that by mistake, couldn't imagine anyone defending them but here we are. (Feel free to also check out the discussion I linked to in my previous post, and the commit where it was removed for beryllium - Xiaomi Pocophone F1.)

***

I appreciate your effort in building this ROM and making it official. I understand the way you responded must be due to the impression that I attacked or criticized your work. This was not my intention.

I'm not saying anybody should do anything, I'm just sharing what I did. Hopefully it can help others one way or another. And if I'm wrong about something I'll be the first to admit it, after all I'm here to learn.

In the end it's your work and your decisions, you'll do as you wish. But there is a valid argument for the majority of the users and readers of this thread not to have these included in the official LOS build, which is why I wrote about it.

Agree or disagree, either way it's really not necessary to make any of this personal.