Google has confirmed it isn't discontinuing AOSP, but it's making a change that makes it harder for devs to build Android for Pixel phones.

TL;DR

  • Google has made it harder to build custom Android ROMs for Pixel phones by omitting their device trees and driver binaries from the latest AOSP release.

  • The company says this is because it’s shifting its AOSP reference target from Pixel hardware to a virtual device called “Cuttlefish” to be more neutral.

  • While Google insists AOSP isn’t going away, developers must now reverse-engineer changes, making the process for supporting Pixel devices more difficult.

  • Sir Arthur V Quackington@lemmy.worldEnglish
    12·
    2 days ago

    Yes, but that shouldn’t explicitly opt in, and they shouldn’t marry that product to Gmail and Google Drive if they are going to push it to enable by default.

    Again, it’s really insidious. They push it so aggressively I had to disable it on my personal device twice, and I can’t just not use Google Photos app because it’s tied to the camera itself on pixel phones.

    • tiramichu@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      1·
      23 hours ago

      I agree with you, it’s insidious.

      Given you’ve got a Pixel phone, you can save at least yourself from this problem by running Graphene or Calyx on it.

      • Sir Arthur V Quackington@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        10 hours ago

        I’m not worried about me. I can manage. But I had to intervene and make it a Project for my immediate family. Which is always unfun, because who wants to expose all their personal data that way, especially photos.

        Crazy that Google just screwed over GrapheneOS like this.