https://review.lineageos.org/c/LineageOS/android_frameworks_base/+/383574

https://review.lineageos.org/q/topic:microg-eval

And the application signature spoofing is locked-down to apps signed by microg.org.

As of February 25th 2024, LineageOS has added internal support for application signature spoofing, a critical pre-requisite for full microG functionality. LineageOS ROM images built after that date will include this new feature.

This means that many people will no longer have to root their device and install tools like Xposed/LSposed to make their ROMs compatible with microG. This is a win for both security/stability as well as user friendliness, as there is no longer any need for any settings/permissions in this implementation. The ROM will “just work” with core modules released by the microG project.

Other than application signature spoofing hacks, microG installation tasks remain as before. Please see #microg #installers note for a general overview and links to recommended installation tools.

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This is huge news for the microG project, as LineageOS is the largest and most famous custom Android ROM project in the world.

LOS is also used as the foundation for a large percentage of other custom android ROMs as well. Which means that almost every one of those ROMs will also now include microG support by default, without any extra effort on their part.

The impact of this on the custom ROM community cannot be overstated: it is a “watershed moment”.

Many in the FOSS community have gotten increasingly frustrated with Google’s progressive crippling of the base FOSS version of android “AOSP”, and the migration of many important core functions which used to be included with AOSP into proprietary, closed-source Google apps and frameworks instead.

This issue was one of the founding objectives of the microG project: give control back to the user and let them take advantage of the open-source foundation of android without forcing them to use a proprietary and snoopery vendor-locked version of the OS instead, just to get basic functionality like push messaging and Play Store app compatibility.

At this point we believe that the existing “LineageOS for microG” project will continue with their project as it is a “works out of the box” solution that also bundles some FOSS app store tools.