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DivestOS ends development (www.divestos.org)
submitted 5 days ago by kixik@lemmy.ml to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

This is so so sad, :( I've been using Mull for quite some time and recently Hypatia. I guess time to move to fennec since I doubt there's a fork in the horizon, :(

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[-] zerozaku@lemmy.world 37 points 4 days ago

Nooooooo Mull is dead now? It's my default browser.

I hope someone picks it up and forks it like we have Cromite for Bromite.

[-] wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 4 days ago

Wait, Bromite was discontinued too?

I really wish more devs would utilize the "pop up the changelog after update" technique to let users know. There has to be a better way than having to check each project's individual page and/or discord regularly.

[-] SatyrSack@feddit.org 2 points 4 days ago

I have never really known the major differences between Mull and Iceraven. I keep them both installed, so I will probably be switching to Iceraven full-time now.

I personally don't use either of the browsers you mentioned: https://www.privacyguides.org/en/mobile-browsers/

[-] sudoer777@lemmy.ml 14 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Privacy Guides still recommends fucking Brave browser? Brave analyzes your data on your device for ads, which is better than sending it off to Google, but actual privacy browsers don't analyze your data at all, and their CEO is a piece of shit.

[-] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 days ago

The entire site is "use Chromium reskins".

[-] Lonewolfmcquade@lemmy.world 7 points 3 days ago

Bummer!!! Sucks for all of us. But I understand the dev wanting to move on with his life. Hope someone takes the reins! I would if I had those skills. DivestOS is such a great project. I was literally about to buy a new phone specifically to run DivestOS.

[-] mac@lemm.ee 13 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

After a quick look at what I believe is mull's most up to date repo https://github.com/Divested-Mobile/Mull-Fenix

It doesn't appear to be too complex to maintain (only looked at the past 3 or so commits as I'm with fam right now)

Hoping someone continues with the project, as it was, in my opinion, probably the most privacy friendly browser for android other than Tor which has it's usability issues.

I may try to play around with setting up an fdroid build server for the interim after the holidays.

Edit: I wonder if the old maintainer would be open to having some sort of knowledge transfer session?

If you fork I'll contribute what I can

[-] mac@lemm.ee 3 points 4 days ago

I'll reach out to the old maintainer early January, but I'll try to spend some time understanding the repo before then.

If it requires a lot of maintainace, I'm afraid I won't have the time as I already work overtime as a software dev.

[-] horse_battery_staple@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Feel free to DM me. It's a good project and will look good on a resume so it'll be worth my time. I'll be learning the Android kernel but I'm comfortable with the Linux kernel so it's the perfect project for me to be honest. I'm also willing to help organize the efforts of others, create documentation and respond to issues and pull requests.

I was already considering contributing to Postmarket OS or Bliss OS but this sounds like a better fit for me.

[-] mac@lemm.ee 1 points 4 days ago

Personally, I wouldn't be interested in continuing DivestOS itself, as that is much lower level than I'm comfortale at. If I were to do this I'd focus on maintaining mull. I'll reach out if this seems feasible for me. Will prob have a chance to deep dive on the 26th

Understood. Happy Holidays.

[-] sifr@retrolemmy.com 29 points 5 days ago
[-] Dave@lemmy.nz 82 points 5 days ago

I found this: https://discuss.privacyguides.net/t/the-end-of-divest/23396/43

I’ve worked on this project a decade. That is a long time and I need to move on in life.

Sounds like a single person maintaining such a large project for such a long time means eventually you have had enough. I get that.

[-] Templa@beehaw.org 6 points 4 days ago

Wow, people fucking suck. Instead of talking about how the project helped or appreciate the dev's work people started fighting regarding if certain ROM is worth being recommended or not.

[-] carzian@lemmy.ml 29 points 5 days ago

The Dev stated he's been working on it for 10 years and says its time to move on

[-] cinnamon_tea@programming.dev 15 points 4 days ago

So now what will I run on my one plus one? ಥ_ಥ

I dunno how the guy managed this for 10 years for so many devices. I can't even build my own ROM for just this phone. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[-] lemmyarcade@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 days ago

Anyone know Librewolf developers? They should work on a android build now that mull is dead.

[-] d0ntpan1c 3 points 3 days ago

Hopefully we see some of these projects picked up by others. In a weird way, sometimes these sorts of events end up being exactly what a project needs to get forked/transferred and have even more funding/resources thrown at it.

Ive only recently been utilizing mull, mulch, and hypatia, but they've been fantastic. All the best to the devs.

[-] LucidBoi@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 5 days ago

I'm a newb, what's connection between DivestOS and Mull here? I thought DivestOS was a Linux distro.

[-] EngineerGaming@feddit.nl 33 points 5 days ago

DivestOS is a modified version of Android. Mull is an Android browser, fork of Firefox, maintained by the Divest dev.

[-] gwilikers@lemmy.ml 15 points 5 days ago

Wait is support for Mull ceasing?

[-] EngineerGaming@feddit.nl 29 points 5 days ago

He mentions that "DivestOS and its apps will not receive any further updates", and only mentions continuing non-app projects, so I guess so :(

[-] gwilikers@lemmy.ml 21 points 4 days ago

Awwwwh man. Mull is my favourite mobile browser! Hope there will be a fork. I'd love to contribute.

[-] LucidBoi@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 5 days ago
[-] Stomata@sh.itjust.works 9 points 4 days ago

They didn't mentioned Mull . What will happen with it? Will it be discontinued,??

[-] Neptr 3 points 4 days ago
[-] SplashJackson@lemmy.ca 10 points 4 days ago

It's truly a shame that no one stepped up to help contribute to the project

[-] Tinkerer@lemmy.ca 10 points 4 days ago

AW man this is sad news, thanks to the dev for all their hard work!

Any recommendations on a browser similar to mull on android?

[-] mac@lemm.ee 3 points 4 days ago

Fennec is what I'll be moving to.

[-] furzegulo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 5 days ago

thanks for all the hard work to the dev! guess i'll move from mull to firefox nightly then.

[-] QuazarOmega@lemy.lol 7 points 5 days ago

This is a terrible day for rain

[-] sem@lemmy.ml 7 points 5 days ago

Does anyone know a good alternative for Hypatia?

[-] skarn@discuss.tchncs.de 18 points 5 days ago

No, and simply somebody that know what they're doing should pick it up. I'd certainly be willing to donate a little, just as I donated to the original project.

The FOSS Android world has a new music player every week, and apparently still only one antivirus.

[-] MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml 7 points 4 days ago

Antivirus on Android? How does that work? Warden seems a better idea to me.

[-] mac@lemm.ee 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Unsure how reliable this is for other attack vectors, but amnesty Intl has https://github.com/mvt-project/mvt for known Pegasus signatures

Note: this is ran on a computer and scans via adb

[-] Templa@beehaw.org 7 points 5 days ago

As a Carrion user this is very sad, I wonder if there's something else to replace it

[-] fireshell@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 days ago

On New Year's Eve, each of us can radically change our lives, we can only wish him luck.

[-] OhVenus_Baby@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 days ago

Mull browser is mullvad browser?

[-] BarHocker@discuss.tchncs.de 17 points 4 days ago

No, Mull browser has nothing to do with Mullvad VPN.

[-] kchr@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 4 days ago

GP probably asked whether Mull was shortname for the Mullvad browser.

[-] OhVenus_Baby@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 days ago

Thanks this was what I meant.

[-] kixik@lemmy.ml 4 points 4 days ago

Totally unrelated, mull is pretty cool in the sense that it brings arkenfox configs for the user, and it strips some binary blobs. To me the AOSP privacy browser with no actual alternative. Some say it's like librewolf for AOSP.

Bottom line, no, totally different things.

[-] OhVenus_Baby@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 days ago

Awesome thanks. Nobody really totally answered lol

this post was submitted on 24 Dec 2024
237 points (100.0% liked)

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