aosp-build VS treble_experimentations

I've been using LineageOS since the good ol' CyanogenMod days and I am very grateful for how much work the developers put into it day in and day out.

Thanks to them, I managed to get rid of Google Apps in my day-to-day life almost[0] entirely and drastically improve privacy for me: Instead of Google Play Services I use MicroG[1] and instead of Play Store, I use Aurora Store[2] and F-Droid. For syncing files there is Syncthing[3] and for backups there is Seedvault[4]. To isolate apps I don't trust I use NetGuard[8] and Shelter[9] and practically no internet-facing app has access to my internal "SD card" on which my photos and documents reside. As a bonus, getting rid of GApps and using LineageOS has increased my phones' battery life and their overall lifetime tremendously. (I've only owned three smartphones in my entire life, the original T-Mobile G1, the HTC One M8 and the BQ Aquaris Pro.) I couldn't be happier.

That being said, I've closely been following GrapheneOS[5] because I find its additional security guarantees very attractive. In fact, just a few hours ago my new Pixel 5 arrived and I'm looking forward to giving it a try. Though I already know I will miss MicroG… Maybe I'll end up building my own custom Android ROM, using Hashbang or RattlesnakeOS[6, 7]?

Overall, I don't really understand people who criticize Android for not being open while loudly claiming a "pure" Linux phone would be so much better. (There was yet another discussion here on HN just a few days ago.) Yes, Android is a not your typical open-source project and clearly in the hands of Google. Yes, most phone and chip manufacturers still haven't open-sourced their hardware binary blobs. We definitely have to fight these fights. But with a Linux phone I'd probably be struggling with window-manager-related bugs in the worst possible moments (say, an emergency call) and risk all my data getting stolen whenever I install a new app.

As much as I like Linux – I dabbled with it the first time almost two decades ago and have been using it as a daily driver for more than a decade – but its stability and, especially, security guarantees are orders of magnitude worse than Android's.

I secretly hope that Fuchsia will find its way to the desktop at some point and be able to replace my Linux system.

[0]: I still use Google Maps every now and then

[1]: https://microg.org . See https://lineage.microg.org/ for LineageOS images that come with MicroG pre-installed.

[2]: https://auroraoss.com/

[3]: https://syncthing.net

[4]: https://github.com/seedvault-app/seedvault

[5]: http://grapheneos.org/

[6]: https://github.com/hashbang/aosp-build

[7]: https://github.com/dan-v/rattlesnakeos-stack/

[8]: https://netguard.me/

[9]: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/net.typeblog.shelter/

Unlock and install LineageOS or one of other alternatives.

Good resource: https://github.com/phhusson/treble_experimentations/wiki

If you go to the GSI Github used in the video, the newest version available is 12.1, and this has not been yet built for a ARM-AONLY build, which is what Dylan suggested. I used the most recent ARM-AONLY build. If someone wants to try building ARM-AONLY for the newest release of GSI Android 12.1, I would love to hear their results. If someone wants to try flashing a different build like ARM64, I would be interested to hear the results of that as well.

Android 12 requires Linux 4.4 for proper networking and cgroup handling, which the Pixel 1 doesn't support. Skipping those requirements isn't a good idea.

p.s. status on this? thanks https://github.com/phhusson/treble_experimentations/issues/1...

Front screen doesn't work with GSI. After installing the Qualcomm IMS apk in the GSI's settings, it shows me a T-mo logo.

You can put a full GSI rom on the Cat S22 like I did! see

There is a reason, why phhusson is putting a lot of work into building their own GSIs even though Google releases official GSI builds. And yet, the list of issues is still long because minor things are broken on different devices.

I want to upgrade my Jelly2 to GSI 12.1. I'm okay with a potential soft-brick. Indeed, I just got this phone and haven't done anything with it yet, so if I have to re-flash it I'm fine with that.

FYI the CAT S22 works now with the Android GSI https://github.com/phhusson/treble_experimentations/issues/2295

Or install Android AOSP from here