May

22

Extra Cupcake, Still No Latitude

16 years ago, at the end of May | Leave a Comment

After getting Android Cupcake about a month ago and running it happily, this morning I was notified of another update that was a security fix. I have been unable to find anything that mentions what the fix was for, I guess it’s a little early for that information to be floating around. I’ve got my log from the G1 and will be taking a look to see if there’s anything interesting there.

Shame that this fix didn’t include making Latitude available for UK users – Google seems to be coming up with excuses that don’t really wash for that. Considering Latitude is available to pretty much every other smart phone out there and that it’s even on the G2.

If you want to get a copy of the update, you can download it direct from Google’s servers

Update:
I’ve extracted the update and here’s a list of the contents, the largest patch is in Maps (at 291KB) and the second largest is in framework.odex (at 271KB), then “MediaUploader” which is likely to be the YouTube and Picasa uploading service (at 166KB).

 
total 3496
drwxr-xr-x  6 andypowell  staff   204B 23 May 11:24 META-INF
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   141K 20 May 10:03 applypatch
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   1.6M 20 May 10:03 boot.img
drwxr-xr-x  4 andypowell  staff   136B 23 May 11:25 patch
drwxr-xr-x  3 andypowell  staff   102B 23 May 11:24 system
 
./META-INF:
total 56
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   1.7K 20 Aug  2008 CERT.RSA
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff    12K 20 Aug  2008 CERT.SF
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff    12K 20 Aug  2008 MANIFEST.MF
drwxr-xr-x  3 andypowell  staff   102B 23 May 11:24 com
 
./META-INF/com:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x  3 andypowell  staff   102B 23 May 11:24 google
 
./META-INF/com/google:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x  3 andypowell  staff   102B 23 May 11:24 android
 
./META-INF/com/google/android:
total 96
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff    47K 20 May 10:03 update-script
 
./patch:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x  9 andypowell  staff   306B 23 May 11:25 system
 
./patch/system:
total 8
drwxr-xr-x  93 andypowell  staff   3.1K 23 May 11:24 app
drwxr-xr-x   3 andypowell  staff   102B 23 May 11:24 bin
-rwxr-xr-x   1 andypowell  staff   236B 20 May 10:03 build.prop.p
drwxr-xr-x   6 andypowell  staff   204B 23 May 11:26 etc
drwxr-xr-x  37 andypowell  staff   1.2K 23 May 11:24 framework
drwxr-xr-x   5 andypowell  staff   170B 23 May 11:25 lib
 
./patch/system/app:
total 1896
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   324B 20 May 10:02 AlarmClock.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   262B 20 May 10:02 AlarmClock.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   582B 20 May 10:02 Browser.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   312B 20 May 10:02 Browser.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   156B 20 May 10:02 BugReport.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   266B 20 May 10:02 BugReport.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   223B 20 May 10:02 Calculator.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   266B 20 May 10:02 Calculator.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   402B 20 May 10:02 Calendar.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   262B 20 May 10:03 Calendar.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   205B 20 May 10:03 CalendarProvider.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   263B 20 May 10:03 CalendarProvider.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   566B 20 May 10:03 Camera.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   268B 20 May 10:03 Camera.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff    11K 20 May 10:03 Contacts.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   260B 20 May 10:03 Contacts.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   174B 20 May 10:03 DownloadProvider.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   263B 20 May 10:03 DownloadProvider.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   165B 20 May 10:03 DrmProvider.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   257B 20 May 10:03 DrmProvider.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   455B 20 May 10:03 Email.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   270B 20 May 10:03 Email.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   1.6K 20 May 10:03 FieldTest.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   631B 20 May 10:03 Gmail.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   267B 20 May 10:03 Gmail.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   176B 20 May 10:03 GmailProvider.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   263B 20 May 10:03 GmailProvider.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   191B 20 May 10:03 GoogleApps.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   264B 20 May 10:03 GoogleApps.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   170B 20 May 10:03 GoogleContactsProvider.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   264B 20 May 10:03 GoogleContactsProvider.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   162B 20 May 10:03 GooglePartnerSetup.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   261B 20 May 10:03 GooglePartnerSetup.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   174B 20 May 10:03 GoogleSearch.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   258B 20 May 10:03 GoogleSearch.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   172B 20 May 10:03 GoogleSettingsProvider.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   266B 20 May 10:03 GoogleSettingsProvider.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   206B 20 May 10:03 GoogleSubscribedFeedsProvider.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   265B 20 May 10:03 GoogleSubscribedFeedsProvider.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   154B 20 May 10:03 HTMLViewer.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   258B 20 May 10:03 HTMLViewer.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   208B 20 May 10:03 ImProvider.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   263B 20 May 10:03 ImProvider.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   443B 20 May 10:03 LatinIME.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   264B 20 May 10:03 LatinIME.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff    37K 20 May 10:03 Launcher.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   3.3K 20 May 10:03 Launcher.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   290K 20 May 10:03 Maps.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   180B 20 May 10:03 MediaProvider.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   264B 20 May 10:03 MediaProvider.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   165K 20 May 10:03 MediaUploader.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   459B 20 May 10:03 Mms.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   263B 20 May 10:03 Mms.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   7.6K 20 May 10:03 Music.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   265B 20 May 10:03 Music.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   155B 20 May 10:03 NetworkLocation.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   1.9K 20 May 10:03 NetworkLocation.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   198B 20 May 10:03 PackageInstaller.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   264B 20 May 10:03 PackageInstaller.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff    29K 20 May 10:03 Phone.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff    23K 20 May 10:03 Phone.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff    23K 20 May 10:03 Settings.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   266B 20 May 10:03 Settings.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   168B 20 May 10:03 SettingsProvider.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   262B 20 May 10:03 SettingsProvider.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff    18K 20 May 10:03 SetupWizard.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   264B 20 May 10:03 SetupWizard.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   215B 20 May 10:03 SoundRecorder.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   261B 20 May 10:03 SoundRecorder.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   206B 20 May 10:03 Stk.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   262B 20 May 10:03 Stk.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   212B 20 May 10:03 Street.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   265B 20 May 10:03 Street.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   195B 20 May 10:03 SystemUpdater.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   263B 20 May 10:03 SystemUpdater.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   450B 20 May 10:03 Talk.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   265B 20 May 10:03 Talk.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   170B 20 May 10:03 TelephonyProvider.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   263B 20 May 10:03 TelephonyProvider.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   155B 20 May 10:03 UserDictionaryProvider.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   252B 20 May 10:03 UserDictionaryProvider.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   421B 20 May 10:03 Vending.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   269B 20 May 10:03 Vending.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   174B 20 May 10:03 Webnwalk.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   255B 20 May 10:03 Webnwalk.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   359B 20 May 10:03 YouTube.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   264B 20 May 10:03 YouTube.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   155B 20 May 10:03 checkin.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   264B 20 May 10:03 checkin.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   196B 20 May 10:03 gtalkservice.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   261B 20 May 10:03 gtalkservice.odex.p
 
./patch/system/bin:
total 8
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   160B 20 May 10:03 debuggerd.p
 
./patch/system/etc:
total 96
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff    42K 20 May 10:03 NOTICE.html.gz.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   153B 20 May 10:03 contributors.html.p
drwxr-xr-x  3 andypowell  staff   102B 23 May 11:24 security
 
./patch/system/etc/security:
total 8
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 andypowell  staff   175B 20 May 10:03 otacerts.zip.p
 
./patch/system/framework:
total 1040
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   155B 20 May 10:03 am.jar.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   257B 20 May 10:03 am.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   176B 20 May 10:03 android.awt.jar.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   270B 20 May 10:03 android.awt.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   153B 20 May 10:03 android.policy.jar.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   234B 20 May 10:03 android.policy.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   155B 20 May 10:03 android.test.runner.jar.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   6.9K 20 May 10:03 android.test.runner.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   153B 20 May 10:03 com.android.im.plugin.jar.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   264B 20 May 10:03 com.android.im.plugin.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   152B 20 May 10:03 com.google.android.gtalkservice.jar.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   266B 20 May 10:03 com.google.android.gtalkservice.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   155B 20 May 10:03 com.google.android.maps.jar.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   263B 20 May 10:03 com.google.android.maps.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   285B 20 May 10:03 core.jar.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff    46K 20 May 10:03 core.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   155B 20 May 10:03 ext.jar.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   211B 20 May 10:03 ext.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff    63K 20 May 10:03 framework-res.apk.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   153B 20 May 10:03 framework-tests.jar.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   262B 20 May 10:03 framework-tests.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   168B 20 May 10:03 framework.jar.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   270K 20 May 10:03 framework.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   153B 20 May 10:03 ime.jar.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   252B 20 May 10:03 ime.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   153B 20 May 10:03 input.jar.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   249B 20 May 10:03 input.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   153B 20 May 10:03 monkey.jar.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   267B 20 May 10:03 monkey.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   153B 20 May 10:03 pm.jar.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   263B 20 May 10:03 pm.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   153B 20 May 10:03 services.jar.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   4.6K 20 May 10:03 services.odex.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   153B 20 May 10:03 svc.jar.p
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   255B 20 May 10:03 svc.odex.p
 
./patch/system/lib:
total 16
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   4.7K 20 May 10:03 libicudata.so.p
drwxr-xr-x  3 andypowell  staff   102B 23 May 11:24 modules
 
./patch/system/lib/modules:
total 8
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   618B 20 May 10:03 wlan.ko.p
 
./system:
total 3672
-rwxr-xr-x  1 andypowell  staff   1.8M 20 May 10:03 recovery.img

_{»crosslinked«}

Tagged with: android • Cupcake • G1 • google • Latitude • security update • software
May 22, 2009 9:12

Nov

28

iPhone proximity sensing IS in the API

17 years ago, at the end of November | Leave a Comment

There seems to have been a lot of misinformation flying about of late. With Google releasing a new version of their app incorporating proximity sensing, some blogs have claimed this is breaking AppStore rules by using undocumented hidden (non public) API calls. I’m here to tell you that’s just rubbish. All that has happened is the people reporting it haven’t even bothered to check. Want to prove this to yourself?

1. Start Xcode and pick one of the templates.
2. Load up the AppDelegate code and skip to ‘applicationDidFinishLaunching’.
3. Type ‘application.’ (note the full stop after the word application)
4. Hit escape and you’ll get a list, scroll down to items starting with P
5. Oh look there it is…

For those without Xcode here’s a picture.

Oh, that must be the non-public public api...

For those that want to see the what the documentation says

proximitySensingEnabled


A Boolean value that determines whether proximity sensing is enabled.
@property(nonatomic, getter=isProximitySensingEnabled) BOOL proximitySensingEnabled
Discussion

YES if proximity sensing is enabled; otherwise NO. Enabling proximity sensing tells iPhone OS that it may need to blank the screen if the user’s face is near it. Proximity sensing is disabled by default.
Availability
Available in iPhone OS 2.0 and later.
Declared In

UIApplication.h

Unfortuneately once some people grab hold of false information no facts will get in their way. Anyone that knows me will tell you that I’m really not fond of either Google or Apple, but let’s just get stuff right shall we.

Update: I’ve had some discussion on irc and it was felt that I should point out that proximityStateChanged is used and following some additonal chatter on IRC with UncleBob who pointed out that “It’s not private in the OBjC sense just the Apple documented SDK sense. ” he then went on to say “the whole thing is definately a peanut-gallery cockfest” which sums it all up really.

Tagged with: api • Apple • google • iphone
November 28, 2008 11:43

Sep

22

Follow Me Wallpaper

17 years ago, at the end of September | 3 Comments

Last night I tried a little experiment on my jailbroken iPhone. Since I’d already started poking about playing with my own Winterboard themes and have been tracking my iPhone’s location for a while now, I thought I’d see what happened if I mixed the two. So, how about wallpaper that followed you? Follow Me It turns out that combining the two is relatively straight forward. Google now provide a mechanism for getting what they call static maps which will allow you to get an image centered on a set of coordinates. You can also add your own markers if you want.

There are some limitations on the number and size of the maps that you can retrieve so I employed a very simple caching mechanism to ensure I didn’t annoy Google. This certainly helps speed things up when testing and also enabled me to identify a small issue I was having.
Read more…

Tagged with: api • google • image • iphone • opensource • software • tracking
September 22, 2008 11:50

Mar

2

Boost your project with FUD

17 years ago, at the start of March | 1 Comment

I recently read quite a bit of FUD and really felt that it was worth comment even if only as a counter to the points made when someone Google’s the Neo 1973 / Openmoko. I’ll take on each of the points made and correct what is needed. Oh, and just for the record, this text represents my opinions – no-one else’s.

“First of all OpenEmbedded based systems are harder to build, due to the dependency of monotone and the properitary, OE-only, bitbake, and then even another MokoMakefile build wrapper.”

First of all any system that you know nothing about it hard to use. The use of monotone is not an issue, I use a version just for building my OE stuff. Calling bitbake propriatory is like suggesting that every kernel module is propriatory. Bitbake is used to ‘bake’ (make) the recipes (.bb files) and is “derived from Portage, which is the package management system used by the Gentoo Linux distribution.” The source is freely available at berlios – why is there an issue here? It also appears that this author doesn’t understand the role that the MokoMakefile plays. The MokoMakefile was developed by Rod Whitby to help people who are new to OE and OM build and setup it is not part of Openmoko or OpenEmbedded. Really, if they had even bothered to read the wiki entry for it they would have seen this. I guess it’s easier to spout bile than be accurate.

“OpenMoko also is glibc and sysvinit based…”

Ok, I’ll let this slide since it’s true and just the author’s opinion on what is or is not suitable. I’ll come to the speed issue later.

“Forthermore OpenMoko comes with custom Gtk+ widgets and custom Moko libraries and applications, where Gtk+ PDA / phone applications are already available”

For a start “So what?”. Are you suggesting that no one develops anything that already exists? Should we have one email application, one word processor? What about one operating system? Clearly that gripe at Openmoko is just irrelavant. Furthermore you can actually build gpe applications for the Openmoko platform if you want. Take a quick look at what’s installed and you’ll even see that gpe-scap – what we use for screenshots is installed by default.

“yet another Gtk+ PDA / phone application stack equals reinventing the wheel.”

Actually, this is how progress is made. Take a look at the recent work on the moko underground stuff for an example. What’s more in the very next paragraph…

“We therefore started to create a saner, smaller, fully functional T2 based target”

So you decided to reinvent the wheel? Now to your bullet points

“T2 based, no bitbake…”

So you swapped one ‘propriatory’ build system for another?

“uClibC based, frees your phone’s…”

This, we agree on, but it does make building applications outside the tree a lot easier to not use uclibc.

“not sysvinit, bootup in less than 2 minutes…”

My Neo boots in less that 2 minutes all the time.

“GPE based GUI, to re-use existing applications…”

Did you actually write anything yourself then?

“focus on UI functionality early, no endless tinkering and rewriting, “

Wow, someone who writes perfect code and a perfect interface straight off! Oh, wait.. you’re actually using other people’s code so you’re not really doing anything yourself.

“includes just one embeded scripting language…”

Openmoko doesn’t include a scripting language by default, unless you count the shell, but you can install any number of them – including lua.

“just one… …webkit.”

Openmoko uses webkit.

Nothing you have said would inspire me to even take a look at your ‘T2 based’ project, least of all your attitude. Your main gripe seems to be that FIC didn’t use your T2 build system – that and a belief that everything not written by you is crap, as evidenced by your faq.

Tagged with: google • linux • neo 1973 • openmoko
March 2, 2008 15:18

Nov

21

Here I am, right here

18 years ago, mid-November | 7 Comments

Some time ago I wrote what I called the “Ramius” edition of my tracker application for the TomTom Go. The limitations of the Go SDK caused more than its fair share of grief and I shelved the project, hoping to revive it later. Now I’m thinking that it’s time to bring it back to life.

At the moment I’m selling my house in The Netherlands and moving back to the UK. Until the house sells I flit between the UK and Holland every couple of weeks. I’ve taken to using the Chunnel for this because it means I can drive through the night rather than have to bend to the ferry or flight schedules. The trouble is, my wife gets worried that I’m going to crash and burn. She does this every time I do the trip, in either direction. She wont go to bed until she knows that I’ve at least got to the Tunnel.

I brought the original code out of my archive and started looking at it, removing anything that was TomTom specific. I’m pretty sure that I’ll have a workable solution fairly soon, I may butcher the openmoko-agpsui2 application a bit too, just to add a face to the tracker application code. Obviously, it will need a network connection of some sort so I’ll be looking at starting and stopping a gprs connection, or using wifi when the GTA02 arrives.

On the topic of gprs and network connections, I was mulling over some points in my mind about this. Nobody wants their Neo to pull an iPhone, and give us all large bills because of roaming, so there needs to be some mechanism where the user can deny or allow access to things like gprs connections. These could be based on dates, times, even locations with the built in gps. The problem is not that it is difficult to do, the problem is that we need to be able to force applications to use an API to open gprs and wifi conections, and possibly even access the gps. There’s a whole kettle of fish here. Openmoko is opensource, not the Google kind of ‘opensouce’, the real kind. That in itself poses a few questions and perhaps some not so nice answers.

If we want to force people to use an API, then we have to make sure that they can only use the API and not bypass it. If they can bypass it, it’s useless because the malicious ‘l33t h4x0r’ is going to abuse your connection. The problem is, since we are opensource, the same abuser can simply replace the API. Sure you still have to install the application, but just think about it. Right now how many places do you update your Neo from with ipkg? If any one of those gets compromised or the owner deliberately alters packages, the first you’ll know of it is when you bill hits the mat with a thud rather than the usual ‘ftht’.

We can think about signed images or signed packages etc but that is not really going to help, this is opensource. As an application developer I’m going to want to publish applications, I don’t really want to have to get them certified or signed by someone else just so other people can use them. If you alert the user that an application or package is not signed, you know that they’ll just click ‘ok install it anyway’ and ignore it.

I think I’m going to have to ponder this one a little longer.

Tagged with: api • google • gprs • neo 1973 • openmoko • opensource • tracking
November 21, 2007 14:49

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