yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] Tomoms:
Oh, I had only Googled "Magisk Alpha github" and found a repo that has been inactive for the past 2 years.

I have now found the xda thread. I've taken a look at the first and last few pages, only to find references to "closed source", "telemetry", and a lot of drama.

Would you be so kind to explain to me what are the reasons to use Alpha and Delta? I'm not criticizing you, I'm genuinely curious. I understand that they are forks that restore MagiskHide, but isn't Zygisk basically the same thing? I use standard Magisk with Zygisk enabled and can hide root from the apps I need to without any problem.
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] sga999:
I did not think you were criticizing, and I understand your curiosity. I consider myself a "curious cat", always into details. (75 year old woman, retired, was a computer programmer for over 30 years...I had lots of cats and loved their curiosity!). So I do all of this "for fun", and it keeps my mind going.

It seems like most people need these other Magisk versions because of banking apps or Google Pay. I don't use those apps. But I have several "food ordering apps" that don't work with standard Magisk, Zygisk, hiding root. I tried Shamiko with no luck. And I read a little about Lsposed, etc, but it seemed to go on endlessly. Since these food apps work on non-rooted devices that I have, I can just use those instead! But I like to keep researching until I reach my limit.

I discovered these 2 Magisk versions a couple of weeks ago...where have I been?! I had not known about them. You are right about that Alpha thread. I don't even try to understand all of the discussion about closed source and telemetry. Way over my head. I just look at the posts about something new being released and a brief look at the description of problems and fixes.

Both Alpha and Delta work with the food apps that did not work before, so I was happy. Then I hit this issue with Alpha, and I thought it happened with Delta also, but I can't recreate that. I'll probably end up only using Delta, but when googling for which one to use, some Reddit posters recommended one, some the other. I decided to try both.

Almost all problems I've mentioned to you aren't critical at all. Since I was into debugging in my job, that just continued in these years...it's hard for me to let a bug go! The bottom line is that I don't mind if you don't look into or fix something. It's a "good exercise" for me.

One more problem I didn't mention about Alpha. I use Adaway. But when it would try to update the Hosts file, it would fail, saying I needed to turn on Systemless Hosts in Magisk. That did fix the problem. But I have never turned that on in standard Magisk and had no such issue. I thought this might be a "root issue" similar to this File Explorer problem so I didn't mention it. I've been looking into Private DNS in Settings or Blockads Magisk module instead of Adaway. I'm not sure why I picked it for ad-blocking in the first place.
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] Tomoms:
Adaway is an excellent choice for ad blocking, I've been using it myself for years in systemless mode, thanks to the Systemless Hosts Magisk module. I am very surprised it has worked for you in the past without enabling this module in Magisk's settings. Enabling it should be a hard requirement.

Anyway, in the next few days I'll try to look into the Magisk Alpha/Delta issue you reported. As you can see from the attached screenshot, I've been busy with something big :)
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] sga999:
Wow, Android 14! That's terrific, something big is right! I look forward to it. I have no idea what the new features are, but I always want something new, regardless. My issue is not a priority at all, so have fun working on your new project.

On standard Magisk without the Systemless hosts option, my Adaway has always worked. No error until Alpha or Delta.. now I can't remember if it was on only one or both of those. Strange, I'll try them all again soon.
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] sga999:
Here's an update on where 2 issues do/don't occur, depending on Magisk version. Results are the same for both your rom and latest Lineage nightly on 2 Essential devices. I have not tried stock Q recently to see if it might have worked way back then.

For Essential:

1. Adaway error when writing hosts file:

Standard Magisk and Delta do not require Systemless hosts to be turned on/installed.

Alpha fails, it is required/an error occurs indicating Systemless hosts is required.

2. FX File Explorer error when trying to mount System as read/write:

Standard Magisk and Delta succeed with the mount.

Alpha fails.

Since behavior is the same for yours and nightly, you may not care to pursue this. If so, I understand. I'll probably switch to Delta on all 4 rooted devices soon (other 2 are Leeco Le Pro 3 running Android 11, one with Lineage 18, one with AICP 16.1). But I'm still doing some testing.

FYI, for Leeco:

1. Adaway error when writing hosts file:

On Lineage 18, standard Magisk and Delta do not require Systemless hosts to be turned on/installed.

On Lineage 18 Alpha, it is required/an error occurs indicating Systemless hosts is required.

AICP works with all Magisk versions, does not require Systemless hosts.

2. FX File Explorer error when trying to mount System as read/write:

Both Leeco roms do not requiring mounting System as read/write, for all Magisk versions.
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] Tomoms:
So, Delta works as fine as official Magisk, and the untrustworthy Alpha doesn't. Since the latter is, as I've said, untrustworthy, I won't bother dealing with it.
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] sga999:
That sounds fine. I still do wonder why you said that you have to turn on Systemless hosts for Adaway to work properly for standard or Delta Magisk. I've probably done this test dozens of times, and it is not required for me. But I'm not asking you to do anything.
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] Tomoms:
I've always turned it on because I thought it was necessary to do so, not because I knew for sure it was :)
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] LMUJT:
Hi. First of all, I have to say that it is amazing we can still have up to date software on the PH1. So thank you for that Tomoms.

I have a question. Running the latest update i have encountered some problems and I am not sure if it is my phone, the dirty flash i did to update some months ago or the software itself.

1. My phone is only able to charge for a day after restarting. If it is running longer than that and i plug into the charger, it displays a connected - not charging in battery settings.

2. Google has revamped safety net. It is now called play integrity.

Discontinuing the SafetyNet Attestation API | App quality | Android Developers

developer.android.com

I flashed mindthegapps and had a safety net pass and ctsprofile match ever since. But now i tried to setup google wallet for contactless payment and it fails. Netflix is no longer installable from the play store. Luckily my banking app still functions.

The ‚play integrity api checker‘ app from the play store gives two fails.

So is it just me or are some of you experiencing the same?

Thank you.
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] Tomoms:
Issue #1 sounds very weird. Have you by any chance enabled Charging Control in Settings > Battery?

About #2: during the past few weeks, Google has been revoking a lot of signatures that were known to pass SafetyNet, including the one my builds spoof. So there's nothing you can do at the moment, you need to wait for me to apply some new patches and release a new build. I'll try to do it within one or two days.
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] LMUJT:
I had enabled charging control ever since it released and it worked perfectly. My current problem is much junger and persists regardless of the charging control setting. It was my first suspect as well. Switching it off didn’t make my phone charge again after it lost the ability nor did it prevent the charging abylity from going kaput after a day.

Seeing as no one else has the problem, i‘m thinking of just living with it until the the next big update. I‘ll try a clean flash when/if Android 14 releases.
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] Tomoms:
Very weird. I too suggest a clean flash when I release LineageOS 21 (which could happen very very soon, i.e. within this week).
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] LMUJT:
Please don‘t stress yourself with the update.

Google seems to offer an official way of certifying devices for play protect:

Sign in - Google Accounts

Would this work for Lineage?
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] Tomoms:
No worries, LineageOS 21 has been mostly ready since a couple of weeks :)

I did this a few times in the past. I cannot remember if it had any effect, it's been a long time since the last time I used Gapps.
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] sga999:
I'm not sure if this will help. But as @Tomoms said, there's a lot going on with Play Integrity (vs. Safetynet). I have had some luck with the newest release. This new Magisk module may mean there is no need to make a change to the signature in the rom.

🔧 [MODULE] Play Integrity Fix (SafetyNet fix)

PLAY INTEGRITY FIX This module tries to fix Play Integrity and SafetyNet verdicts to get a valid attestation. BEFORE YOU START: - Your ROM must be signed with a private key from maintainer, you can check with this command: unzip -l...

xdaforums.com

Of course we are all interested in Android 14 for many reasons!
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] Tomoms:
Thanks for mentioning this workaround. The latest version of this module most likely spoofs the up-to-date signature that must be spoofed to pass SafetyNet/Play Integrity. I will still update the signature in my ROM and release a final LineageOS 20 update, though. After all, one of the selling points of my ROM is out-of-the-box passing of SafetyNet/Play Integrity :)
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] sga999:
I spoke too soon about PIF. There are almost 300 pages of posts in that thread now. It's almost impossible for me to understand. But I've read enough to learn various things about Play Integrity, and I wanted to ask about some of it here. I know you're releasing Android 14 soon, but maybe what I'm asking will apply to that also.

Doing your steps from Post #2 of this thread for getting Play Integrity:

- Basic Integrity passes, not Device Integrity

- Play Store says "This app won't work for your device" for Netflix (maybe many others).

NOTE: You mention that there are no sub-items for GSF. But I have 2, gapps and gservices.

(I don't think this matters because I've tried it with one or both, and results are the same).

Instead of doing your steps, installing the Magisk PIF module (latest is 14.2):

- Both Basic and Device Integrity pass.

- Play Store has the same "bad result" for Netflix.

Instead of your steps or your rom, trying Lineage 20 Nightly installed on another Essential with Magisk PIF:

- Both Basic and Device Integrity pass.

- Play Store DOES allow Netflix to be installed!

EDIT2: A couple of hours later, Netflix CANNOT be installed.

I have no idea why your Lineage and the Nightly would have a different result about Netflix. However, the PIF module seems to be unpredictable in some ways due to how they are implementing the fingerprints. Maybe that explains the Netflix differences? (EDIT2: Unpredictable PIF module must be causing it...Netflix fails for Nightly also now).

(FYI, I have 2 Leeco devices with new PIF module, one with AICP Android 11, both Basic and Device Integrity pass, Netflix CAN be installed. The other is with Lineage 18 (Android 11), both Basic and Device Integrity pass, Netflix CAN be installed).

One other interesting discovery unrelated to Play Integrity:

Alpha or Delta are no longer needed for "food apps" with newer PIF modules! I had asked you about various issues with these Magisk modules, but I'm no longer using them. Glad to be done with them! Well, at least for now. I'm just using TopJohnWu Magisk now.

EDIT: I had not updated the 2 Leeco's from 14.1 to 14.2 when I first wrote that. Once I did, they both get the same "good results" for Basic and Device Integrity, and Netflix can be installed. I corrected the text above. So right now, the only exception with new PIF 14.2 is your rom and Netflix.

EDIT2: No, now Nightly also has Netflix problem.

EDIT2: It's only a few hours later and now the Essential with Lineage 20 Nightly CANNOT install Netflix. I really don't understand what the PIF module is doing.

Obviously, there is no change in the behavior for your steps in Post #2 because I'm not installing PIF in that case.
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] Tomoms:
Hi, a new build is available, with December's security patches, a fix for the short freeze that occurs when opening the SIM card's settings in Settings > Network and Internet, and a fix for SafetyNet/Play Integrity. @LMUJT

Very strange, but anyway, PIF is not needed anymore. The build I've just released fixes SafetyNet/Play Integrity. A proper fix to make it possible to install Netflix is in the works too. I'll include it in Android 14.

Thanks for pointing out the inaccuracy in my SafetyNet steps: in Zygisk's denylist, GSF has no sub-items only when using MicroG. When using Gapps, it indeed has got some sub-items. I'll review and rewrite the instructions.
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] sga999:
Thanks, I'll install the latest build soon. About Netflix, when both Basic and Device Integrity pass, can you tell me why Play Store won't allow Netflix install? What test is failing?

EDIT: Somehow I didn't post that paragraph above, so now I'll update! I have installed your newest build. For me, it still only passes Basic Integrity, not Device. ( Play Store CAN install Netflix). I guess Basic is all that's needed for some apps, but lots of what the PIF thread talks about is needing Device Integrity.

Again, the PIF module is "strange". Before I installed your new build, I looked at Play Store and Netflix could be installed...but it could not when I last looked late last night. I'm still curious about what I wrote earlier above....do you know what the Play Store checks when it decides to prohibit an app from being installed?

I'm also curious about how you fix the signature. PIF developers vary about method. One is picking one, and when it fails, they release a new version (they also allow us to override it). Another says we each need to find one that works and tells us how to modify build.prop. Are you just picking one?
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] Tomoms:
Apparently having liboemcrypto.so in /vendor is required to be able to install Netflix. We had it once, it was removed because deemed unnecessary given Widevine L1 is broken on custom ROMs.

To fix the spoofed signature, I pick from some custom ROM (PixelExperience, crDroid or Yaap, usually) the signature it currently spoofs. However, Google lately has worked really relentlessly to invalidate many signatures that custom ROMs were using, and as a result what probably worked 5 or 6 days ago on crDroid doesn't fully work right now. I will move the signature to spoof to a writable file (similar to what is done in the dev version of PIF), so that users can change the one they spoof without having to wait for a new build.
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] sga999:
Thanks for your idea about changing the signature with a file. I can certainly use a version of the PIF module right now. But it will be great to have your option.

I looked up the liboemrypto that you mentioned. But I only see a Magisk module that is a disabler of that feature during playback. I don't think you meant that I needed to install that. I don't know where to find the correct .so file. Can you point me to the right place? And then, do I just copy it to /vendor?

The fact that it is not consistent for me, showing and then not showing, is quite strange.
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] Tomoms:
@LMUJT there is indeed a problem with charging. Only the first charging session after a booting the phone goes as expected. After unplugging the phone, it refuses to charge until it is rebooted. This is a critical issue, I apologize for releasing builds affected by it. Fortunately, it seems not everyone is affected.
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] LMUJT:
That is what I experience. But it‘s not too critical for me. I thought i managed at least once to charge it twice after a reboot. But i‘m not sure.

Funny thing: the problem is completely gone for me since two days ago.

Which means my dirty flash lives once again.
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] hs911:
anyone tried android auto in the latest build here? i am unable to get it running via usb. the phone is recognized by the car but when i try to connect via andtoid auto, the phone gives instantly a popup with the title "Android Open Automotive Protocol" and says there is no app attached.

It worked 4 days ago with the "official" build of Lineage20.

I gave any permissions to google play services and android auto, no success.

edit: got it. it does not work with sandboxed gapps. after resetting device and installing mindthegapps, everythin went fine.
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] hedgecore44:
Can somebody please confirm if this update killed speaker phone? Nobody can hear me in a call when I have speaker phone on. Thanks.. Here is the link
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] Tomoms:
No, it's working fine here. Make sure you speak in the top microphones (there is one next to the main cameras and one hidden in the crack above the front cam), as the bottom one is used for echo cancellation.
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] KaratemanTJ:
I've been running this ROM for a while and it's awesome! Thanks @Tomoms!

The latest update is giving me the charging issues that others have mentioned. It's generally not a big issue, just a minor annoyance.

I also have been having an issue where sometimes I fingerprint unlock and the screen is unresponsive to touches. Sometimes I can just hit the power button to turn off the screen, fingerprint unlock again, and I'm good to go, but other times I have to just put it back in my pocket and wait a couple minutes. I've been out of the game for a bit, but I briefly tried troubleshooting and didn't see any events come through via adb when the screen is unresponsive. I can't remember what command I ran through... 🤦 Any ideas?

PS

Would opening issues on your GitHub repo be a better way to report issues?
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] Tomoms:
Posting bug reports here is fine.

Did the charging bug not happen on the previous build from November? This would be useful information.

I cannot reproduce the touchscreen issue. There was a kernel bug causing this in the past, but it's been fixed a long time ago. Enable rooted debugging in developer settings and run adb root and adb shell dmesg > log.txt the next time it happens.
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] KaratemanTJ:
Ok, thanks! (I'm just more used to reporting bugs on GitHub recently, so that's where my mind went.)

I don't recall seeing the charging bug before the last update, but I wouldn't swear I was up to date before the most recent upgrade... I'll see if I can check and see which build I was running before.

Oh dmesg, duh! haha. I looked at my scrollback and saw I was running getevent -l to check for touch events. Of course, it hasn't done it now that I'm at my desktop to be able to check it... I messed up root with my last upgrade and haven't fixed it yet, so thanks for the ADB root checkbox reminder!
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] KaratemanTJ:
Sorry for the long delay! Here are a couple of dmesg dumps I grabbed. I haven't had a chance to dig through them, but I did notice it looked like the OOM killer was killing stuff for kswapd in the last one... The issue seems pretty random so far. Hopefully it's not just something stupid I did that's messing with things...

https://gist.github.com/stiltr/7888854b8d1006a3f46c5dd6b001c5f8

Sorry, gist doesn't seem to like those big logs very well...
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] Tomoms:
It doesn't look like you are using my latest build, or you flashed some older kernel of mine (I'm not even sure I have released any) on top of it. I see some harmless error messages I had suppressed long ago. I don't know what you have done, but you are using an old kernel, which is most likely still affected by that touchscreen bug, which as I've said, was addressed some time ago as well.
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] KaratemanTJ:
Well don't I feel silly... My only guess is that when I ran the updater and then used magisk to patch the boot image before reboot, I must have picked an old image from a previous update and accidentally patched/flashed that one. I'll try to verify that tomorrow, if I have time, but either way, after grabbing the latest update and running it through the updater manually, last night, I haven't seen the touchscreen issue today! Sorry for wasting your time! Thanks for figuring it out!
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] Meerk4ty:
Hey guys, is there any instruction to install this rom?

I have unlocked bootloader via fastboot and my current rom is QQ1A.200105.007
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] Tomoms:
You can follow the instructions for installing official LineageOS, using my ROM's zip and boot.img instead.
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] Meerk4ty:
Thanks for the reply but I have some problems when I follow them,

I have my device recognized properly in device manager without triangle, also it's recognized in fastboot devices command.

When I try to push boot image into it - nothing happens.

I have already unlocked bootloader and also made critical unlock.

I have tried 4 different cables and 3 USB 2.0 and C ports.
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] Tomoms:
To everybody: the first Android 14 build is coming tomorrow!

No problem :) To avoid such issues in the future, I suggest that you simple install Magisk through its app to the inactive slot right after installing an OTA update, instead of manually patching and flashing a boot image.

I can't help you, I'm sorry. I have no experience with Windows computers.
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] sga999:
Gosh, I thought I responded hours ago, but somehow it's not here. I'll repeat some of it. It has been a long time since I installed files for Essential. But it sounds like you don't have a good fastboot. I referred to where you might be able to get Essential drivers. And another place to get minimal ADB and fastboot. (The original Essential site no longer exists).

But then I thought you must have had the right drivers and ADB/fastboot when you installed the stock rom. Or did you obtain the device with that already installed?

I really don't know if these the right ones. This link may just be drivers, so you many have to get minimal ADB and fastboot separately. I know you said you already installed these.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/essential-factory-images/files/Essential-PH1-WindowsDrivers.exe/download

When you enter "adb version" (without quotes), what do you get? Mine says:

Android Debug Bridge version 1.0.39

Version 0.0.1-4500957

EDIT: Next commands should work, so it's worth trying.

fastboot devices

fastboot getvar current-slot
[Essential Phone ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] Meerk4ty:
Thanks for the suggestion.

Fact that I have already unlocked bootloader via fastboot is only confusing me.

Phone came pre-installed with that version so I will try and reply your solution.

EDIT: I have tried drivers you provided (I had them already installed but with no luck)