I’m a billionnaire too - in dongs - but nobody forks my repos…
But most of my repos have more stars and more watchers than this one.

I use Github for 4 reasons:

• Everybody else is on Github. Github is to repo hosting what Youtube is to video hosting. It’s sad but that’s how it is in this world of unchecked, extreme big tech monopolization. So I put my stuff up there because it’s just simpler to be found.
• I use Github as a dumb git repo. I don’t use any of the extra social media garbage Microsoft tacked onto it. So I get free hosting and Microsoft pretty much gets no data on me - i.e. I’m a net loss to them.
• You can use dumb repos as PPA and RPM sources, if you need to distribute Debian or Redhat packages. Microsoft never intented for repos to be used this way, but if I can abuse Microsoft services, I will six ways to Sunday.
• Github lets you drop videos in your README.md. But here’s a trick: you can use the links to the video files anywhere. In other words, you can use Github to host videos that you can post on other forums - including here on Lemmy, or on Reddit if you’re still patronizing that cesspit for some reason. I find this a nice way to abuse Microsoft’s resources also, and I’m all for abusing Microsoft’s resources.

TL;DR: I use Github not only because it’s the most prevalent git hosting service out there, but because I can abuse it and make Microsoft pay for the abuse without getting anything of value from me in return.

Free software (not open-source, it’s really free software that’s important) that depends on a single for-profit vendor is not free.

MicroG is open-source but it’s not free. It fails to address two problems:

• What do I care looking at the source code of a Google Play Services replacement when Google still holds my cellphone by the balls for certain critical functions?
• Why do I need permission from Google for apps to function properly on my cellphone?

I don’t think OP cares about getting the source of the apps they run so much as the apps being free-as-in-libre in his original question. Many people mistake open-source for free software and MicroG is not truly free.

MicroG works well if you let it leak some data to Google.

I would like a free-as-in-free-from-Google Google Play Services reimplementation that lets me use any app that depends on it without hitting any Google server.

Google Play Services

This danger is why I quit using the Purple Teams plugin for Pidgin: it works well enough (considering Teams isn’t exactly open to third-party clients, it works amazingly well in fact) it’s GPL-3.0, the source is provided and I compiled it.

So I believe it’s clean, but that’s not good enough for me to hit our corporate Teams channels with it and I don’t have the time to audit the code. Not to mention, while my company trusts my good judgment, I’m pretty sure running an unauthorized client is against IT policies.

So I dropped it, sadly. It’s a bummer because Pidgin uses a fraction of the resources needed by that pig of an Electron app - the official client - made by Microsoft.

So you really trust Google to release code that doesn’t do something it shouldn’t behind your back do you? How cute…

I am an embedded developer so please don’t patronize me. And I know enough about security to know that Google’s security model on the Pixel phones is the best yet. That’s not the issue. The issues are:

• Google’s code is untrustworthy unless reviewed, and proprietary binary blobs can’t be reviewed. If Google codes anything, they have an ulterior motive and it’s rarely in your best interest. If that’s not a security shortcoming, I don’t know what is. Or said another way, there’s something deeply ironic in claiming to have the most secured deGoogled OS and the lynchpin of that security is Google itself.

• Yes, using a phone other than a Pixel phone with a deGoogled OS other than GrapheneOS as I do (I use a FP4 with CalyxOS) is less secure than GrapheneOS on a Pixel phone - assuming you trust Google’s drivers aren’t doing other things unrelated to their driver function.

  But as I said, my most important goal in anything technical I use is to not use Google. That’s my ideal. Some people have ideals and aren’t willing to compromise.

  With that in mind, and considering that I’m a low-value target, I deem the security provided by CalyxOS on my FP4 more than adequate for my use case. Or said another way, GrapheneOS’ - short-sighted, in my opinion - obsession with security gets in the way of my main goal, which is to avoid Google.

Graphene is against GNU ideals getting in the way of security,

Funny, Graphene’s obsession with security is getting in the way of my ideals.

Fuck Google and their proprietary security updates. I want no Google in my life and if that means a bit less security, I’m okay with that. In fact, I’d argue that running Google code that does who-knows-what for your security is itself not a very safe thing to do.

I’m slightly disappointed that this isn’t about open source amphetamine.

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Bookmarked. I definitely want to check that one out tomorrow.

The NewPipe team deserve a Nobel Prize. It might look like an unimportant video player, but it’s one of the last bastion of resistance against he Google monopoly and monoculture, the total invasion of advertisement in every corner of our lives, the privacy violation that always come with Google, and the general enshittification of the internet.

Thank goodness for NewPipe…

Of course I do. That job is the best gig I’ve ever had and it’s one of the best things I have going on in my life. That’s why I’m particularly cautious in this thread and I don’t say anything that could put my employer of my employment in jeopardy in any way, even though it’s highly unlikely.

You’re welcome 🙂

I posted what I could legally post on my Github, and I made sure it’s easily discoverable. If you need it, you’ll find it very quickly.

I have no reason to keep it for myself or my employer, since it’s GPL. Also, I kind of like the idea of distributing what the unhelpful company I got it from only gives upon request: when they do that, they comply with the GPL, but in the most unhelpful way possible. With what I posted, nobody has to request that stuff ever again, and I cleaned up and updated their code too.

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They already know. I’ve posted all the good I think of their device, as well as the author of the open-source debugging app that runs on it (it’s actually a generic device), on their official Reddit sub. But it’s just a general comment, not tied to this account of my little GPL adventure.

Well possibly, but here’s the thing: if I don’t say anything, I don’t have to worry about having to explain myself later.

This is just a software project, I really really like my job and I have other hills to die on frankly. So I just don’t need the aggravation.

The particular open-source license doesn’t matter: they’re doing all they can to not release their source code and that’s what I need to fix their stuff.

I can’t sadly. It would make it obvious which company I’m talking about, and if ever read this thread, they could retaliate against us.