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diff --git a/posts/2014_09_replicant-homepage-and-roadmap-for-the-future.md b/posts/2014_09_replicant-homepage-and-roadmap-for-the-future.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..278e1d8 --- /dev/null +++ b/posts/2014_09_replicant-homepage-and-roadmap-for-the-future.md @@ -0,0 +1,88 @@ +date: 2014-09-02T17:38:21+00:00 +title: Replicant homepage and roadmap for the future +authors: Paul Kocialkowski +tags: Privacy/security, Replicant news, Paul Kocialkowski +licenses: CC-BY-3.0 OR CC-BY-4.0 +--- +For a long time, the entry point for Replicant on the web was our blog, which +holds status reports and news about the project. However, it did not fit well +for providing easy access to relevant material about the project, nor did it +give our (growing) community the attention it deserves. This is why we decided +to launch a new [homepage][1] for the project, highlighting what really +matters, in style. +We believe it is a good thing to have, in order to clearly spread the word +about Replicant and ease the understanding of our message. The new homepage +provides a clear explanation of [what Replicant is about][2], provides +[answers to some common questions about the project][3] and most importantly, +holds [a detailed overview of the core freedom and privacy/security issues][4] +that we face on mobile devices today, as well as [recommendations][5] +regarding these topics. + +Regarding progress in development, a few things happened recently and a lot +more is on the way: time to take a step back, look at what's in the works and +what is next on our roadmap. +After attending [RMLL/LSM ][6]in Montpellier, France, most of the development +time was spent on completing a full rewrite of [Samsung-RIL][7], the software +in charge of the various aspects of telephony and mobile data on the Samsung +devices we support. This rewrite brings many advantages in terms of stability, +features support and also provides a sane and clear base to make external +contributions easier. While this is an important contribution to achieve +software freedom on mobile devices, these Samsung devices are severely flawed +as they don't allow running free bootloaders. + +For some time already, we have decided to focus our development effort on +better devices, that can run free bootloaders, in addition to a free system +such as Replicant. First, we decided to bring [Replicant 4.2 support to the +Goldelico GTA04][8] and have already made good progress since the start. It is +not currently usable as a daily phone, but we are confident about the future. +The next step in the process is to work on supporting Allwinner devices, +starting with cheap Chinese tablets. We are proud to be collaborating with the +free software community built around the Allwinner Sunxi platforms: [linux- +sunxi][9]. Our goal is to provide generic Replicant support for these +platforms, so that as many devices as possible can be supported, with little +effort required to support a new device. Thanks to the work of the linux-sunxi +community, many of these devices can already run a free bootloader and have a +community-maintained kernel available, providing a solid base for Replicant on +Sunxi devices. In addition, we have spotted a few widely-spread devices that +would also be good candidates for running a free bootloader and a free system: +stay tuned as we will start documenting these devices soon! + +In the meantime, we are more than ever willing to make Replicant as +privacy/security-oriented as we can, especially by targeting devices that +either don't have a modem at all (Wi-Fi-only tablets, such as the many Sunxi +ones) or are not proven to have bad modem isolation. + +As of today, Replicant is still a one-man effort and while all these new +directions are very exciting, it takes a lot of time to actually turn them +into reality. Since we prefer to focus on these new directions, Replicant will +stay based on version 4.2 of Android, even though newer versions are available +upstream. Porting Replicant to a newer version requires a lot of effort and +doesn't bring any significant advantage when it comes to freedom. + +Regarding the devices we already support that do not match the free +bootloaders criteria, we are not going to drop development for them, but the +majority of what was possible to achieve on them is already there and while we +could keep adding support for more and more of these devices, we believe that +development time is better spent on these new exciting directions! + + [1]: <//www.replicant.us/> + + [2]: <//www.replicant.us/about.php> + + [3]: <//www.replicant.us/about.php#faq> + + [4]: <//www.replicant.us/freedom-privacy-security-issues.php> + + [5]: <//www.replicant.us/freedom-privacy-security- +issues.php#recommendations> + + [6]: </2014/06/replicant-at-the-15th-libre-software-meeting-in-montpellier- +france-this-july/> + + [7]: <//redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/wiki/Samsung-RIL> + + [8]: </2014/06/replicant-4-2-on-the-goldelico-gta04/> + + [9]: <//www.linux-sunxi.org/> + + |