this post was submitted on 02 Jul 2026
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Both of those are soft forks of Android, meaning they still exist at the whim of Google.
The only real alternatives are Sailfish (proprietary userland, relies on Halium for its devices to run, which means the devices have a limited lifespan as they rely on a specific version of the Linux kernel that will eventually stop being supported), UBPorts, Droidian, etc. (also relies on Halium, but the userland is open sourcs), and mainline Linux distros like PostmarketOS (has one device that is fully functional, but is extremely slow, but device support is slowly improving over time).
All of those alternatives also support an Android compatibility layer, presuming you don't rely on device attestation DRM like Play Integrity.
If I can't have hardware that supports open source Android forks, then it means that I won't buy it. I can work around with dumbphones, MiFi routers with tethered Linux or BSD portables. I will not use a proprietary system outside of work, full stop.
If i remember correctly, GNU is working on a Librephone, the progress is slow tho
Just about what we should expect from the same FSF that has been developing GNU Hurd for more than 30 years now?
The FSF isn't really putting much effort in Hurd because they already have the Linux kernel, Stallman also said that it's not crucial to finish Hurd
Btw, if they will even finish Hurd, i hope that they also add some standards to avoid the incredible mess that is the world of Linux distribution today, we have many packages formats that are not interoperable and other stuff