What happened to LineageOS? Has it been replaced by GrapheneOS?

concrete_baby@sh.itjust.works to No Stupid Questions@lemmy.world – 100 points –
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Lineage is not about providing a google free version of Android. It does not contain google apps, for licensing reasons, probably also to let the user choose. But it does not go further, all the other stuff like captive portal check, agps, dns etc still uses google servers. It's not "degoogled" in any way. Love lineage btw but we need to be aware of what it is and isn't.

I wonder where this misconception is coming from, it's the second time in the last few days I've seen it. I can't remember custom roms ever coming with the Google apps preinstalled, you'd always need to flash them separately before the first boot (thanks XDA). That's why we have MindTheGApps.

It used to be that Cyanogenmod (the precursor project to LineageOS) shipped with Google apps pre installed until they got a cease and desist from Google.

I can’t remember custom roms ever coming with the Google apps preinstalled, you’d always need to flash them separately before the first boot

Many of them do these days. Which is a bit annoying when you want a no-gapps variant and can't find it.

That's interesting! They aren't supposed to do that though, right? It goes against Google's policy.

Probably because the lack of google apps is the most noticeable difference to stock android?

Sure, but installing them is a step in the LineageOS installation guide.

Is there still a good guide on how to fully degoogle lineage?

LineageOS4MicroG is a reasonable starting point. It includes MicroG out of the box, while disabling further app spoofing in the OS (whereas normally if you install MicroG yourself it's much more difficult to disable app spoofing after you've got it set up).

But as /u/baatliwala@lemmy.world said, this is more likely adding Google (or a mock version of it) to your phone, and LineageOS still doesn't have a few things that other custom ROMs might - eg captive portal check, A-GPS and DNS settings that /u/afunkysongaday@lemmy.world mentioned. To get rid of those you'll have to try a proper custom ROM and just read the feature specs. I use DivestOS, and that seems to cover most things.

In my experience, not all that many apps require Google anymore. I get a few apps complain that they won't work without Google services, but find that it's just the map and payment functions that don't work (meanwhile dedicated map apps like Waze work just fine). Going without Google services altogether is really just about sacrificing a relatively small bit of convenience.

My thing is, I like having root. Lineage tells me, "that's okay." Divest, Graphene, etc. tell me (correctly) that that's insecure and I shouln't do it. But I still want root, and don't like the idea of opposing my ROM in what I'm doing.

Ditto, at least Divest doesn't moan too much once you're set up.

Degoogle is the wrong word for lineage because it hasn't been "engoogled" in the first place, it doesn't ship with Google services at all. If you simply install the base ROM you don't have Google.

The question is if you want to replace Google with mock Google services so certain apps relying on GMS still work, or if you want to replace it completely with FOSS alternatives.