INFO!!! fairphone DOES SUPPORT CUSTOM ROMS!!!

i like the idea of a fairphone. i dun wana buy one tho - if it doesn hav the features i need/wan.

if fairphone had all dis stuff - it would hav a genuine moat, besides the sustainability stff-

alternative image link (blahaj zone)

    • cmhe@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      9 hours ago

      Yes, as your link states, it is the product manufacturers responsibility to release the code. And if they don’t have it, they can sue Mediatek.

      But very likely have access to the source, otherwise they couldn’t adapt the kernel & co. to their boards. Soc is just one part of the whole board, full of other components that need kernel configurations…

      But anyway, this thread it about the kernel, we talked about the bootloader and why it cannot be unlocked, which is a separate issue.

      Manufacturer needs access to the bootloader to put their Android key for the image, which contains their special apps, in place. So they have sources. To be able to flash a different bootloader, they need to be able to fuse the bootloader key into the SOC, so they have a unlocked soc. So they have everything to offer unlockable bootloaders, if they care for it.

      • Laser@feddit.orgEnglish
        1·
        9 hours ago

        Yeah sorry, I kind of went on a tangent.

        Regarding the source, I was under the impression that manufacturers get some kind of devkit for the SoC that works against a given kernel version (one of the LTS ones Android usually uses) and binary drivers for the non-open parts. One could sue the manufacturer after buying a phone and demand release of the source, but this won’t hit meditated because the vendors won’t go after them or their license gets terminated. Legally difficult but similar to the grsecurity situation: yeah you have rights, but if you exercise them, we choose not to do business with you anymore.

        Shameful situation and I think Google wanted to get out of this legal area when they developed Fuchsia as this concept would solve technical and legal issues for manufacturers.

        I’m not sure where this discussion stemmed from because from my knowledge, the Fairphone does allow custom ROMs, though you lose some boot security functionality? I didn’t read too much into it yet