[Replicant] Android applications on ‘real’ GNU+Linux – Anbox freedom review

[J. R. Haigh]

Hi all,

At 2020-07-28Tue16:49:22+01, dllud sent:
> […]
> I guess this is your best bet for a XMPP client.

I used to use Gajim as a desktop client but I had so many issues with it (poor image support; partial last-message-correction; incomplete scrollback in main chat; etc.) that I now don't use any client on desktop and just use Pix-Art Messenger on my phone. I'd rather use Pix-Art Messenger on desktop than use Gajim on mobile, even though I almost always prefer desktop applications for their compactness. Pix-Art Messenger and Conversations are very reliable applications, and reliability is more important to me than compactness.
	Anyway, there are other Android applications that myself and others would like to continue using, so let's focus on the general problem of reviewing the freedom of Anbox.

> As for using Android apps on GNU+Linux, it seems that Anbox is the only working software available.

Right, okay.

> Both postmarketOS and UBports are using it:
> https://postmarketos.org/faq.html#will-android-apps-be-supported
> http://docs.ubports.com/en/latest/userguide/dailyuse/anbox.html

Okay, so this community usage across at least 2 distributions is likely to resolve any freedom issues with Anbox, if there are any.

> We are planning to port Replicant 10 (once ready) to the PinePhone.

What happened to Replicant 9? It's been at least a couple of years that the Replicant project has been focusing on Replicant 9 at the exclusion of everything else, and yet I didn't see any announcement about it.

> Perhaps you may wish to give Replicant a second try then.

Maybe, but by then I'd have probably gotten pretty well used to proper GNU+Linux on the PinePhone, where upstream is entirely community-driven. Why would I then want to switch back to a distribution of Android, attempting to play catch-up with Google?

> On the PinePhone we can have GPU-accelerated graphics thanks to the Lima driver. That will help a lot with the user experience.

But with GNU+Linux distributions, I could use a minimalist tiling window manager on my phone, and not even need the GPU for most situations. Furthermore, the GNU+Linux distributions are just as capable of utilising the GPU.
	Sorry for being disheartened about Replicant itself, but despite having had a lot of patience for it, I've realised that corporations like Google deliberately introduce lots of fashionable fast-paced complicated change in order to make it difficult to keep up with them. I've got a whole load of Android hardware running old versions of Android that most applications nolonger support. The purpose of fashion (e.g. declaring the Holo theme obsolete) is to drive obsolescence, and as I both like the Holo theme and hate obsolescence, I've really had enough of Google's evil dictatorship.
	Anyway, it'll be quite refreshing to use a GNU+Linux distribution with no floating action buttons or bloated material design. It'll be very welcome to easily avoid Java to programme applications, as I'd much rather use Haskell, GForth, or whatever else. The end of my usage of Android will be the beginning of my unconstrained smartphone freedom.

> […]
> On 28/07/2020 10:24, J. R. Haigh wrote:
> > […]
> > 	On Pix-Art Messenger's Jabber channel on Sunday evening, Anbox was recommended to me, but I don't see it in the repositories of either Debian or Guix.

Apparently it's in Debian's contrib repository, but I've not yet tried it:
https://packages.Debian.org/search?keywords=Anbox&searchon=names&suite=all&section=all

It seems that the reason that it's in contrib rather than main is the dependency on some core Android components: “
> This package needs Android kernel modules and rootfs image, see /usr/share/doc/anbox/README.Debian for information.
” – https://packages.Debian.org/stretch-backports/anbox
Could these components be replaced with Replicant's freedom-reviewed versions?

Best regards,
James.
-- 
Wealth doesn't bring happiness, but poverty brings sadness.
https://wiki.FSFE.org/Fellows/JRHaigh
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