Post #1246

Here’s a discussion on the change: The patch that has been merged implements signature spoofing in a safer way compared to the ones proposed in the past (MicroG apks exclusively are allowed to spoof only and solely the Google signature they want to spoof). Many of the microG services have to spoof themselves as Google Mobile Services in order to replace some of their functionality with a more privacy-respecting, resource-conserving alternative. To facilitate that, the OS has to allow the microG apps to pretend to be the regular Google GMS/Gplay framework apps without actually having the same signing signature. The feature is referred-to as "application signature spoofing". LOS was bitterly opposed to including that in their ROM for years because of it "breaking the android security model". Which is understandable on some level but if it's properly implemented (eg in this case locking down this functionality so it can only be used by known trustworthy code and not malware) then it shouldn't be an issue. And given how Google has been doubling-down on their sneaky data-collection efforts year after year, and moving all sorts of essential services out of the open-source AOSP code into various proprietary closed-source Google apps and frameworks instead (increasingly forcing full FOSS ROMs to be severely crippled from a core functionality standpoint), I think it's overdue to start mainstreaming some countermeasures against that. Google with android has been cloaking themselves in the FOSS mantle to gain credibility in some circles from the beginning, but then they turn around and year after year, increasingly cripple actual FOSS android implementations. https://libreddit.miaoute.net/r/LineageOS/comments/1b11zex/los_has_added_internal_microg_support/ https://www.reddit.com/r/LineageOS/comments/1b11zex/los_has_added_internal_microg_support/