librephone Project

This is a project to research proprietary files in Android to work towards a long-term goal of free replacements. While there are many proprietary libraries and other files in Android, this project is focused on binary blobs. Initially the research is focused on identifying the best device for software development. And also documenting how the blobs get used by the kernel as a guide to what it would take to clean-room legally reverse engineer them.

If there is sufficient interest and funding, a detailed specification can be written and used to have somebody code a free implementation that works the same way.

Technical Details

Comparing Devices

This describes the process of analyzing all the binary blobs in the devices supported by Lineage.

Generating Code Stubs

This describes the format of the file used to generate language bindings between Python and Postgres.

Data Files

These are extracts from the database produced by the query_devices.py program in CSV format. These can be further analyzed by using a spreadsheet program.

Build Status

This is a simple list of which devices I've managed to build Lineage for sucessfully all the way to an installable image.

Utility Programs

This project contains several utilities for analyzing proprietary files and binary blobs in Android. They are oriented towards any developers wishing to duplicate the research on their own. If you want to use these, chances are you might have to edit a few paths.

These utilities require you have download the Lineage install package for the devices you are interested in researching. There is also a top level script images_util.sh that can automate the processing of multiple devices.

extractor.py

This is a simple utility to unpack and mount the system files from the Lineage packaged installer file. This is used when using the package files to extract proprietary files when you don't have hardware. It handles unpacking everything, and mounting the partitions Lineage needs to extract files for a device.

import_dev.py

Import data on all proprietary files and binary blobs into a database so they can be better analyzed. This allows one to query which blobs and files are used by multiple devices.

query_dev.py

This script does common SQL queries and dumps them as CSV files for further analysis using a spreadsheet program. It uses a mix of SQL and python with a focus on being simple to extend for other less common queries.

generator.py

This program uses a YAML config file to generate bindings for Python or Postgres. This enable the programs to use enums between both for better accuracy.

images_util.sh

This is only for developers who want to reproduce the research by analyzing the multiple devices supported by Lineage.