[Replicant] [PATCH 2/5] about: Replace CyanogenMod with LineageOS in references, update OmniROM FAQ entry

Thu Mar 16 14:50:48 UTC 2017

Wolfgang Wiedmeyer writes:

> The CyanogenMod website and other resources are not available anymore,
> so link to Wikipedia in the history section.
>
> The statement about OmniROM being more friendly towards free software
> needs to be weakened because there doesn't seem to be much difference
> now anymore, given that LineageOS removed dependencies on the proprietary
> Google Play library.
>
> Signed-off-by: Wolfgang Wiedmeyer <wolfgit at wiedmeyer.de>
> ---
>  about.php | 20 ++++++++++----------
>  1 file changed, 10 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/about.php b/about.php
> index 94d0f86..a444633 100644
> --- a/about.php
> +++ b/about.php
> @@ -4,11 +4,11 @@
>  	<div class="page-header"><h2>About Replicant</h2></div>
>  	<div class="row">
>  		 <div class="col-md-9">
> -			<p>Replicant is a <a href="//www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">fully free</a> <a href="//www.android.com/">Android</a> distribution running on several devices, a free software mobile operating system putting the emphasis on freedom and privacy/security. It is based on <a href="//www.cyanogenmod.org/">CyanogenMod</a> and replaces or avoids every <a href="//www.gnu.org/philosophy/proprietary.html">proprietary</a> component of the system, such as user-space programs and libraries as well as firmwares.<br />Replicant aims to be an ethical system: it does not ship nor recommend the use of non-free software.</p>
> +			<p>Replicant is a <a href="//www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">fully free</a> <a href="//www.android.com/">Android</a> distribution running on several devices, a free software mobile operating system putting the emphasis on freedom and privacy/security. It is based on <a href="//http://lineageos.org//">LineageOS</a> and replaces or avoids every <a href="//www.gnu.org/philosophy/proprietary.html">proprietary</a> component of the system, such as user-space programs and libraries as well as firmwares.<br />Replicant aims to be an ethical system: it does not ship nor recommend the use of non-free software.</p>

I messed up the LineageOS link here. I fixed this already on my
replicant-6.0 branch[1]. I can also send this fix as part of a v2.

Best regards,
Wolfgang

[1]  https://code.fossencdi.org/replicant_website.git/log/?h=replicant-6.0

>  			<p>Many different devices are supported by Replicant, to an extent specific to each device. Basic features such as graphics, sound and telephony (if applicable) are supposed to be working for each device (if not, developers are confident they will work soon).</p>
>  			<p>Replicant is a community-led effort, currently driven by a single developer. Not every piece of software in Replicant should be expected to be fully-featured nor entirely reliable, even though developers are trying their best.</p>
>  			<h3>History</h3>
> -			<p>Replicant was founded in 2010 as a way to gather initiatives aiming to free the system running on the HTC Dream, the first publicly-available Android device. The project was started by members of <a href="//libreplanet.org/wiki/Group:LibrePlanet_Italia">LibrePlanet Italia</a> and <a href="//sfconservancy.org/">Software Freedom Conservancy</a>. The first usable version of Replicant was based upon Android 1.5 as released by the <a href="//source.android.com/">Android Open Source Project</a>: after some work, basic functionalities of the HTC Dream  were working. Starting from version 2.2, Replicant stopped using AOSP as a base and instead started using CyanogenMod, which contains support for more devices.</p>
> +			<p>Replicant was founded in 2010 as a way to gather initiatives aiming to free the system running on the HTC Dream, the first publicly-available Android device. The project was started by members of <a href="//libreplanet.org/wiki/Group:LibrePlanet_Italia">LibrePlanet Italia</a> and <a href="//sfconservancy.org/">Software Freedom Conservancy</a>. The first usable version of Replicant was based upon Android 1.5 as released by the <a href="//source.android.com/">Android Open Source Project</a>: after some work, basic functionalities of the HTC Dream  were working. Starting from version 2.2, Replicant stopped using AOSP as a base and instead started using <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanogenmod">CyanogenMod</a>, which contains support for more devices.</p>
>  			<p>Over time, various initial members of the project retired, leaving Denis "GNUtoo" Carikli as the only active developer of the project. However, in April 2011 Paul Kocialkowski, a user of Replicant, started getting involved in development. After porting Replicant to version 2.3 on the Nexus S and later on porting plenty more devices, Paul became the main developer of Replicant and is currently doing most of the work on the project.</p>
>  		</div>
>  	</div>
> @@ -34,15 +34,15 @@
>  			</div>
>  			<div class="panel panel-default" id="missing-hardware-features">
>  				<div class="panel-heading"><h3 class="panel-title">Why are some hardware features missing on Replicant?</h3></div>
> -				<div class="panel-body"><p>Most of the time, hardware features are driven by proprietary software in CyanogenMod. While Replicant is fully free, these proprietary parts are either replaced or avoided in Replicant. Such parts being avoided instead of replaced is the result of missing free software support for that hardware. It happens because developers failed to write free software support for that hardware, as a result of incomplete or missing documentation from the manufacturer, lack of time to perform reverse engineering or generally speaking, lack of proper resources.<br />Keep in mind that writing free software replacements is a technically complex task that does not always succeed, especially when the manufacturer doesn't communicate how to use the hardware.</p></div>
> +				<div class="panel-body"><p>Most of the time, hardware features are driven by proprietary software in LineageOS. While Replicant is fully free, these proprietary parts are either replaced or avoided in Replicant. Such parts being avoided instead of replaced is the result of missing free software support for that hardware. It happens because developers failed to write free software support for that hardware, as a result of incomplete or missing documentation from the manufacturer, lack of time to perform reverse engineering or generally speaking, lack of proper resources.<br />Keep in mind that writing free software replacements is a technically complex task that does not always succeed, especially when the manufacturer doesn't communicate how to use the hardware.</p></div>
>  			</div>
> -			<div class="panel panel-default" id="replicant-different-cyanogenmod">
> -				<div class="panel-heading"><h3 class="panel-title">How exactly is Replicant different from CyanogenMod?</h3></div>
> -				<div class="panel-body"><p>Replicant uses CyanogenMod's source code as a base. It is rebranded to provide the Replicant look and feel (wallpapers, logos) and parts of the code are reworked to remove anti-features that can spy on the user. Most importantly, Replicant does not include any of CyanogenMod's proprietary components (programs, libraries, firmwares) and instead provides free software replacements for some of these. The rest of the system is also adapted so that the free software replacements can run correctly.</p></div>
> +			<div class="panel panel-default" id="replicant-different-lineageos">
> +				<div class="panel-heading"><h3 class="panel-title">How exactly is Replicant different from LineageOS?</h3></div>
> +				<div class="panel-body"><p>Replicant uses LineageOS's source code as a base. It is rebranded to provide the Replicant look and feel (wallpapers, logos) and parts of the code are reworked to remove anti-features that can spy on the user. Most importantly, Replicant does not include any of LineageOS's proprietary components (programs, libraries, firmwares) and instead provides free software replacements for some of these. The rest of the system is also adapted so that the free software replacements can run correctly.</p></div>
>  			</div>
>  			<div class="panel panel-default" id="replicant-based-omnirom">
> -				<div class="panel-heading"><h3 class="panel-title">Why is Replicant based on CyanogenMod instead of <a href="//omnirom.org/">OmniROM</a>?</h3></div>
> -				<div class="panel-body"><p>Replicant is currently based on CyanogenMod for historic reasons: it was started before OmniROM and the current version of Replicant is not supported by OmniROM, so CyanogenMod is currently the only choice that makes sense. Furthermore, CyanogenMod supports more devices than OmniROM, which makes porting a new device to Replicant easier. On top of that, some devices that are currently supported by Replicant are not in OmniROM. However, we are aware that OmniROM's general position is more friendly towards free software (even though it still ships with proprietary software): we will seriously consider OmniROM as a base for the next major version of Replicant.</p></div>
> +				<div class="panel-heading"><h3 class="panel-title">Why is Replicant based on LineageOS instead of <a href="//omnirom.org/">OmniROM</a>?</h3></div>
> +				<div class="panel-body"><p>LineageOS supports more devices than OmniROM, which makes porting a new device to Replicant easier. On top of that, most if not all devices that are currently supported by Replicant are not in OmniROM. OmniROM's general position may be more friendly towards free software, but it still ships with proprietary software.</p></div>
>  			</div>
>  			<div class="panel panel-default" id="shipping-proprietary-components">
>  				<div class="panel-heading"><h3 class="panel-title">Why doesn't Replicant ship with proprietary components when free replacements are missing?</h3></div>
> @@ -65,8 +65,8 @@
>  				<a href="#safe-data" class="list-group-item">Is my data safe when stored on a device running Replicant?</a>
>  				<a href="#safe-communications" class="list-group-item">Are my communications safe when using a device running Replicant?</a>
>  				<a href="#missing-hardware-features" class="list-group-item">Why are some hardware features missing on Replicant?</a>
> -				<a href="#replicant-different-cyanogenmod" class="list-group-item">How exactly is Replicant different from CyanogenMod?</a>
> -				<a href="#replicant-based-omnirom" class="list-group-item">Why is Replicant based on CyanogenMod instead of OmniROM?</a>
> +				<a href="#replicant-different-lineageos" class="list-group-item">How exactly is Replicant different from LineageOS?</a>
> +				<a href="#replicant-based-omnirom" class="list-group-item">Why is Replicant based on LineageOS instead of OmniROM?</a>
>  				<a href="#shipping-proprietary-components" class="list-group-item">Why doesn't Replicant ship with proprietary components when free replacements are missing?</a>
>  				<a href="#installing-proprietary-components" class="list-group-item">Why doesn't Replicant guide users through installing complementary proprietary components?</a>
>  				<a href="#cacert-certificate-error" class="list-group-item">Why do I get a warning message when connecting to the Replicant website with https?</a>

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