rattlesnakeos-stack VS hardened_malloc

download 11.0.15 (https://github.com/dan-v/rattlesnakeos-stack/releases/tag/v11.0.15) and use this binary to 'deploy' and then kick off a 11.0 build and update your phone

I'm not interested in the current android-prepare-vendor drama, so until an alternative is built, I've made a change that requires you to specify an android-prepare-vendor to use in your local config file. This release will require that you update to 12.0.3 and add three new config entries for specifying details of android-prepare-vendor. Here is an example of what that might look like (do not copy as is - it will not build):

There is a new stack version 12.0.2 required for this update. The 12.0.2 update fixes an issue with new stacks on 12.0 that was causing a build failure; thanks u/caasi-dev for reporting the issue.

First release of 12.0. You'll need updated stack release 12.0.1. Highly recommend backing up your device before attempting upgrade.

This release is still 11.x and next release with 12.x will depend on how long it takes to get everything up and working. It requires a stack update this month to 11.0.14, as there were two minor build issues with Chromium 94.x.

There were no stack changes required this month, unless you need support for Pixel 5a and then you should be on 11.0.13.

Adding support for it in rattlesnakeos-stack, which is very minor, an example of adding Pixel 5 is here: https://github.com/dan-v/rattlesnakeos-stack/pull/178

There are some tools already which support automated builds such as https://github.com/dan-v/rattlesnakeos-stack and https://github.com/danielfullmer/robotnix - however they'll need work to support both CalyxOS and also Android Auto.

CalyxOS is an awesome project. I have worked with the lead developer a bit over the past few years and it's been such a pleasure. We share some bits of code between our projects here: https://github.com/AOSPAlliance.

If anyone is interested in building their own custom android OS in the cloud (AWS) with same ability to lock your bootloader like CalyxOS, you can checkout my project I've been maintaining for a few years now called RattlesnakeOS: https://github.com/dan-v/rattlesnakeos-stack.

And if you prefer to not build in the cloud, there is also a really great project called robotnix (https://github.com/danielfullmer/robotnix) which provides a way to build many flavors of OS (AOSP, GrapheneOS, LineageOS, etc).

Relevant copypasta:

Fellow humans, there are alternatives to Google and Apple! Your neck need not be under anyone's boot! You don't even need to give up any functionality:

Data service:

The simplest thing is to buy a prepaid SIM and top it off with cash. The lovely people over at /r/nocontract maintain a big spreadsheet so you can filter by various properties of the available contracts.

Another way to go is to pay for a postpaid plan with a virtual credit card (VCC) like at privacy.com. It won't be linked to your name at the telco, but of course privacy.com knows who you are. There is also Abine Blur, and some others.

Yet a third way to go, which is nascent, is buy an eSIM with crypto. You can also buy prepaid VCCs with crypto.

An interesting new choice is PGPP https://invisv.com/pgpp/ who rotate your IMSI and do some other cool stuff. It works by e-sims.

All these methods make you /pseudo/nymous, but obviously you're still identifiable by subscriber number and possibly IMEI, to put aside correlational things like your traffic profile. You can help this problem by routing everything through a VPN. Then you're pseudonymous but the cell carrier knows nothing about you other than that you use a VPN. Pay for the VPN with crypto. Of course now the VPN provider knows your traffic, but you're much more anonymous to them than you are to a telco. You make your choices. Defense in depth. Etc.

OS:

GrapheneOS: https://grapheneos.org/ Very much like Calyx, but extra-hardened and with no MicroG. No involvement with Google at all by default. You can make a secondary profile in which you install Google Play Services to set up an environment where you can run unprivileged Play services + whatever crapware you need that requires them. Unprivileged here means it's like any other app: if you don't give it access to your location, it won't know where you are. If you end the profile session when you leave, Play Services stops running and stops talking to Google.

CalyxOS: https://calyxos.org/ Privacy-respecting Android distribution that replaces Google spyware with MicroG, so you can have your cake and eat it too. Most everything will work as you're used to, but it does still talk to Google to make that happen.

LineageOS: https://lineageos.org/ The successor to CyanogenMod, will work with many different phones. More privacy and control than stock Android.

There are also many others: Sailfish, Replicant, e

Hardware:

CalyxOS and GrapheneOS run best on Pixels. The path of least resistance is to get one of these phones and run GrapheneOS with Google Services installed in one profile or other.

You could also buy a Librem 5 https://puri.sm/products/librem-5/ If privacy and security and hacking are really important to you.

Or a pinephone: https://www.pine64.org/pinephone/

Neither work very well by regular standards, but they're cool :-)

It might be worth to switch to GrapheneOS if you have Pixel phones: https://grapheneos.org/

It is a more serious project than LineageOS in the sense that they take security very seriously and they take their development more professionally too. There are no disadvantages to using GrapheneOS compared to LineageOS.

You can see a comparison here: https://eylenburg.github.io/android_comparison.htm

If it still powers up but just won't boot you could try installing https://grapheneos.org/.

On 4thgen Pixels and up you can install GrapheneOS which is a security and privacy focused Android build. It does not come with any Google services pre-installed but you can put them on. https://grapheneos.org/

yes... will also de-google it cuz we can install GrapheneOS and also close the bootloader