I tried to set up Signal with my MicroG setup but it just says 'Missing Google Play Services' after entering my phone number. Everything is turned on in MicroG (including cloud messaging and device registration) and other apps that use cloud messaging work. I have a bit of a niche setup (fakegapps + rooted stock rom) but I doubt that would cause problems.
Thanks in advance :)
Edit: I forgot to note, I'm doing this mostly for battery savings
Edit 2: I was able to fix it by installing under /system/app; comment thread: https://lemmy.ml/post/43156989/23961778;
Warning!! You need to have MicroG installed as an user app, already, for this to work.
Steps:
Create a folder on your pc with this structure (might not work for other devices; - means subdirectory): folder and also keep in mind you need to have these apps removed with Magisk so Android doesn't even know they exist:
-module.prop
-system
--product
---app
----GmsCore
-----GmsCore.apk
----Phonesky
-----Phonesky.apk
--system_ext
---app
----GoogleServicesFramework
-----GoogleServicesFramework.apk
module.prop should contain this (without the spaces empty lines): id=yournameforthemodule
name=yournameforthemodule
version=v1.0
versionCode=1
author=yourname
description=blabla
The apks should be this: GmsCore: core MicroG apk ( latest release as of typing: https://github.com/microg/GmsCore/releases/download/v0.3.12.250932/com.google.android.gms-250932024.apk ; or for Huawei: https://github.com/microg/GmsCore/releases/download/v0.3.12.250932/com.google.android.gms-250932024-hw.apk )
Phonesky: fakestore ( https://github.com/microg/GmsCore/releases/download/v0.3.12.250932/com.android.vending-84022624.apk ; Huawei: https://github.com/microg/GmsCore/releases/download/v0.3.12.250932/com.android.vending-84022624-hw.apk )
GoogleServicesFramework: ( updates rarely: https://github.com/microg/GsfProxy/releases/download/v0.1.0/GsfProxy.apk ; Huawei same )
After doing this zip the two folders so it looks like this:
archive:
-system
--....
-module.prop
and flash it to Magisk like any regular module.
I, also, created a Git repo. It's not the best considering I never used Git, but with this you just need to add the apk's: https://gitlab.com/zazarpro/microg-unprivileged-install
Yes, however, it won't prevent the process launching as root because firejail is setuid. This means that the person executing the file transitions into the privileges of the owner of the file, in this case, root. Since this root process remains in the background it can theoretically be exploited by the sandboxed process that firejail spawns.
The odds of this happening to someone who isn't getting targeted are very very low so using firejail is still alright, but you should consider a non-setuid solution like bubblewrap or just a VM.