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F-Droid and Google's Developer Registration Decree
Quoting: F-Droid and Google's Developer Registration Decree | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository —
For the past 15 years, F-Droid has provided a safe and secure haven for Android users around the world to find and install free and open source apps. When contrasted with the commercial app stores — of which the Google Play store is the most prominent — the differences are stark: they are hotbeds of spyware and scams, blatantly promoting apps that prey on their users through attempts to monetize their attention and mine their intimate information through any means necessary, including trickery and dark patterns.
F-Droid is different. It distributes apps that have been validated to work for the user’s interests, rather than for the interests of the app’s distributors. The way F-Droid works is simple: when a developer creates an app and hosts the source code publicly somewhere, the F-Droid team reviews it, inspecting it to ensure that it is completely open source and contains no undocumented anti-features such as advertisements or trackers. Once it passes inspection, the F-Droid build service compiles and packages the app to make it ready for distribution. The package is then signed either with F-Droid’s cryptographic key, or, if the build is reproducible, enables distribution using the original developer’s private key. In this way, users can trust that any app distributed through F-Droid is the one that was built from the specified source code and has not been tampered with.
Do you want a weather app that doesn’t transmit your every movement to a shadowy data broker? Or a scheduling assistant that doesn’t siphon your intimate details into an advertisement network? F-Droid has your back. Just as sunlight is the best disinfectant against corruption, open source is the best defense against software acting against the interests of the user.
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F-Droid and Google's Developer Registration Decree
The F-Droid project has posted an urgent message regarding Google's plan to require developer registration to install apps on Android devices.
The Register:
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Google's dev registration plan 'will end the F-Droid project
Last month, Google said that from next year, but with a gradual rollout, Android certified devices will only install apps that are registered by verified developers, even when sideloaded, meaning that they are installed from a source other than the official Play store.
In a post today Prud'hommeaux said that Google's planned changes are incompatible with F-Droid. "The F-Droid project cannot require that developers register their apps through Google, but at the same time, we cannot 'take over' the application identifiers for the open-source apps we distribute, as that would effectively seize exclusive distribution rights to those applications," he said.
"If it were to be put into effect, the developer registration decree will end the F-Droid project and other free/open source app distribution sources as we know them today," said Prud'hommeaux.
Ars Technica:
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F-Droid says Google’s new sideloading restrictions will kill the project - Ars Technica
Google plans to begin testing its recently announced verification scheme for Android developers in the coming weeks, but there's still precious little information on how the process will work. F-Droid, the free and open source app repository, isn't waiting for the full rollout to take a position. In a blog post, F-Droid staff say that Google's plan to force devs outside Google Play to register with the company threatens to kill alternative app stores like F-Droid.
F-Droid has been around for about 15 years and is the largest source of free and open source software (FOSS) for Android. Because the apps in F-Droid are not installed via the Play Store, you have to sideload each APK manually, and Google is targeting that process in the name of security.
Several weeks ago, Google announced plans to force all Android app developers to register their apps and identity with Google. Apps that have not been validated by the Big G will not be installable on any certified Android devices in the future. Since virtually every Android device outside of China runs Google services, that means Google is in control of the software we get to install on Android.
Datamation:
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Open-Source Android Apps Threatened by Google’s New Policy
F-Droid board member Marc Prud’hommeaux said the decree would create a “choke point” that threatens thousands of open-source apps.
Google’s latest developer registration mandate is raising serious concerns across the open-source community.
The F-Droid project, which operates a nonprofit, ad- and tracker-free app store for Android, warns that the new rules could threaten its very existence by making it nearly impossible to continue distributing free and open-source apps.
In a post by F-Droid board member Marc Prud’hommeaux, the project said the decree would create a “choke point” that threatens thousands of open-source apps. He warned that if enforced, the measure could end F-Droid “as we know it today,” cutting off a trusted alternative to Google Play.