[ROM][LineageOS 14.1][substratum] for Moto G [falcon]

[Tiki Thorsen]

You can configure the privacy guard accordingly. Don't know which apps are asking, some system apps indeed would need one to allow it for them, no issue.
User apps (those you install e.g. from Aurora or F-Droid) should not need that access (yes, everybody wants to collect all kinds of data, but seriously - no!) - unless you e.g. use a step-counter app etc. or other apps really needing to access motion sensors and it is obvious that the app's main purpose is to access them.
For the device orientation however, this information comes from the system, no app needs to access the sensors itself to know how you hold your device, for example.
Rule of thumb: User app wants motion sensor access => nosy, no need to. Exception may be fitness trackers or step counters.

Thank you for the explanation, everything is working great now. I am surprised how neatly integrated MicroG is, amazing work on that.

I have a small suggestion; consider including Adclear (it is OSS) on the variant B for future updates.

 

[MSe1969]

Thank you for the explanation, everything is working great now. I am surprised how neatly integrated MicroG is, amazing work on that.

Pleased to read you like it

I have a small suggesting; consider including Adclear (it is OSS) on the variant B for future updates.

I only ship additional apps with my build, if the fact, that they come as system apps, makes a functional difference - like e.g. F-Droid / Aurora allowing to install apps w/o enabling "unknown sources" or microG being neatly integrated, or e.g. the Netmonitor app being part of a different SELinux domain to be able to access /proc/net. For all other cases, every user has the freedom to install additional apps at his/her own personal preferences. So shipping such apps as part of the ROM does not provide any benefit.

P.S.:
Btw, I did not find at first sight any reference to AdClear's source code, so don't see it being OSS. I also don't like its dependency on Google play services (yes, I ship microG to support apps with G'Play dependencies, but I value apps more without). Having said so, that does not mean any judgement about the app - might still be a terrific app, I don't know (the company behind at least makes an effort in maintaining their XDA thread and openly communicating with their audience).
Similar apps making use of VPN to block ads etc., which indeed are FOSS, include: NetGuard, Blokada, dns66, . . .

 

[Tiki Thorsen]

Pleased to read you like it


I only ship additional apps with my build, if the fact, that they come as system apps, makes a functional difference - like e.g. F-Droid / Aurora allowing to install apps w/o enabling "unknown sources" or microG being neatly integrated, or e.g. the Netmonitor app being part of a different SELinux domain to be able to access /proc/net. For all other cases, every user has the freedom to install additional apps at his/her own personal preferences. So shipping such apps as part of the ROM does not provide any benefit.

P.S.:
Btw, I did not find at first sight any reference to AdClear's source code, so don't see it being OSS. I also don't like its dependency on Google play services (yes, I ship microG to support apps with G'Play dependencies, but I value apps more without). Having said so, that does not mean any judgement about the app - might still be a terrific app, I don't know (the company behind at least makes an effort in maintaining their XDA thread and openly communicating with their audience).
Similar apps making use of VPN to block ads etc., which indeed are FOSS, include: NetGuard, Blokada, dns66, . . .

I understand and sorry, I was mistaken about Adclear, confused it with Blokada.

 

[The-Saint2k]

Hello,
I still have the problem that after a few hours the wifi turns off. Is there any prospect of improvement here?

Thanks for your great work on this old device.

 

[MSe1969]

Hello,
I still have the problem that after a few hours the wifi turns off. Is there any prospect of improvement here?

Thanks for your great work on this old device.

Unfortunately, I don't have a good idea. If it cannot be specifically reproduced (except that it seems to happen after a couple of hours on some devices), it is difficult to grab a log to see, what happened

 

[ChrisRM]

Another good reason to avoid Google: https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/03/google_play_core_library_android_rfi_vuln/

 

[ChrisRM]

Another good reason to avoid Google: https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/03/google_play_core_library_android_rfi_vuln/

 

[The-Saint2k]

Unfortunately, I don't have a good idea. If it cannot be specifically reproduced (except that it seems to happen after a couple of hours on some devices), it is difficult to grab a log to see, what happened

Hi,

I could now probably make a connection why the WLAN goes off.
As soon as the Corona Warnapp is activated, the WLAN breaks down after some time. If I deactivate the APP, the WLAN remains constantly on.
Can anyone who also has the WLAN problems confirm?

 

[Allenw33]

Hi
in all builds does not activate wifi. Just do not accept to connect the wifi

 

[Crescent Spirit]

Hello! I decided to give your hardened build a try since it seemed very interesting but I run into a rather serious issue; the Wi-Fi isn't working on your latest build. Even right after the first boot, it's disabled and there's no way to turn it on. Unless this is tied to some weird security option you have added, if you are aware of this issue, shipping a ROM like this seems like a weird decision...
I'm not sure if my device is at fault here but right before flashing your ROM I was running an Android 10 build and the Wi-Fi was fully functional. It even resumed operation right after restoring the backup of said build. This problem is also present in your October release, haven't checked any earlier ones though. Maybe there's a workaround a user can perform from his end? Because I would very much like to start using this light ROM as my daily driver; it's perfect for this old device
Thanks in advance!

 

[jajk]

@Allenw33 @cresent Spirit WiFi works in all builds. You are doing something wrong so don't be too quick in blaming the ROM. On first boot, some toggles need to be turned on, then off and back on again before they work.
The only fault with WiFi is the phone will reboot after using WiFi Hotspot for a long time. That problem has been around for a very long time and is most likely a fault introduced in the original Lineage ROM that this ROM is based on.

 

[Crescent Spirit]

@Allenw33 @cresent Spirit WiFi works in all builds. You are doing something wrong so don't be too quick in blaming the ROM. On first boot, some toggles need to be turned on, then off and back on again before they work.
The only fault with WiFi is the phone will reboot after using WiFi Hotspot for a long time. That problem has been around for a very long time and is most likely a fault introduced in the original Lineage ROM that this ROM is based on.

That's some nice but rather abstract advice my man; what would those specific toggles be, mind you? I have used this ROM before about half a year ago and this behavior wasn't present there, no toggles of any kind needed to get things working right off the bat. Especially something as essential as Wi-Fi functionality, which is why I used that tone for which I apologize to the creator if it came off too strong. I felt it was needed however as doing something "wrong" on my part wasn't really true as all I did was follow the normal, routine install procedure according to the instructions provided by the creator (aside from the recommended 3.2.1 TWRP version, since I'm using the latest one, 3.4.0; however unlikely, this might be the actual culprit so I will check and report back on that). Regardless, the ROM alone installs perfectly without any additional bells and whistles to burden it down or make things complicated in some way. Plus, as I mentioned, the Wi-Fi works just fine with the other ROMs including past LineageOS builds, official or otherwise, so... I had to say something
Anyway, the situation is that the Wi-Fi right after boot is offline and cannot be toggled on, it seems like it's stuck somehow in a perpetual "trying/about to be enabled" state as evidenced by the loading bar visual cue on the Wi-Fi settings page. Restarting (obviously) doesn't solve the issue, so like I mentioned in the previous post as well, if there is in fact some kind of setting or a procedure involving toggling stuff on and off, that you know can resolve this, please provide it so it can also potentially be added as a definitive troubleshooting note for future reference. As always, thanks in advance!
Btw, as a side note, the fact that (at least) another person experiences the same problem at about the same time is a rather strong indication in itself that the problem isn't user/device-specific but rather, a more widespread phenomenon that's ready to be... "bumped" into :3

 

[Crescent Spirit]

@Allenw33 please test this 3.2.1 TWRP version theory yourself if you can. This might be our solution...

 

[MSe1969]

Hi,

I could now probably make a connection why the WLAN goes off.
As soon as the Corona Warnapp is activated, the WLAN breaks down after some time. If I deactivate the APP, the WLAN remains constantly on.
Can anyone who also has the WLAN problems confirm?

Thanks for the hint - when I find the time, I will look deeper into it.

 

[MSe1969]

Hi
in all builds does not activate wifi. Just do not accept to connect the wifi

I never experienced any WiFi difficulties in my two builds - except for the already discussed issue, that under - yet not exactly identified conditions - WiFi drops after some hours. See also comments by @jajk

 

[MSe1969]

Hello! I decided to give your hardened build a try since it seemed very interesting but I run into a rather serious issue; the Wi-Fi isn't working on your latest build. Even right after the first boot, it's disabled and there's no way to turn it on. Unless this is tied to some weird security option you have added, if you are aware of this issue, shipping a ROM like this seems like a weird decision...

See my other comment - if WiFi entirely stopped working, I would not ship a build! On my devices, it perfectly works in both build variants. The only topic around WiFi is the discussed one, that under - not yet 100% identified conditions - WiFi drops after some hours in some cases.

I'm not sure if my device is at fault here but right before flashing your ROM I was running an Android 10 build and the Wi-Fi was fully functional. It even resumed operation right after restoring the backup of said build. This problem is also present in your October release, haven't checked any earlier ones though. Maybe there's a workaround a user can perform from his end? Because I would very much like to start using this light ROM as my daily driver; it's perfect for this old device
Thanks in advance!

Thanks for your in general positive feedback about my build. I have no specific idea, but the fact, that you have played around with Android 10 on the falcon rings somehow an "alarm bell" to me. If you scroll back at this post in this thread:

[ROM][LineageOS 14.1][substratum] for Moto G [falcon]

Hi, this is my unofficial LineageOS 14.1 build for the Moto G (falcon) device with current security patches, microG patch and substratum support. (This thread is for the falcon device, I have also a thread for preregrine using the same...

forum.xda-developers.com

and read the follow-on posts, you will see the exact same issue, as you experience. It is worth to read through the respective posts.

The solution finally was presented as well - please try, whether that fixes your issue as well:

[FIX] Cant turn WIFI on? You are missing this file

So after lots of flashing of different roms on my Moto G 2nd gen (XT1068) I ended up unable to turn WIFI on in any rom, including stock! Thing is, after days of breaking my head with this, I figured out I was missing the...

forum.xda-developers.com

In general:
Although I can understand being curious about the "latest and greatest" Android version, the falcon simply is too old for such "experiments"!
I have stated that a couple of times already.
After 'Nougat', there hasn't been any build with enforcing SELinux, which makes the whole build useless as daily driver! W/o SELinux, the build is entirely vulnerable and updating a permissive ROM to most recent ASB patches would be like enforcing the roof of a house, which only has the openings in its wall foreseen for the doors and windows, but actually has no doors and windows, to "improve its security". Permissive builds are simply an interim step to get all the features work, but the "slave work" to get SELInux enforcing is the pre-requisite to make a build suitable as a daily driver. Besides, each newer Android version has higher hardware demands, so you most probably wouldn't be happy with an enforcing Pie or 10 build...

 

[Crescent Spirit]

@MSe1969 you are right, guess I messed up a bit... I figured it had something to do with the "higher" ROM installs at this point. Ignorance got the better of me; it's true, the Pie/Q experiments were a risk but I was very careful with which ROMs I was gonna test and I only did that because I, and apparently a few others, was under the assumption that no essential files even had a chance of being tampered with by a ROM outside the regular Cache/Data/System partitions. I have been using the SuperiorOS build (https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...ior-os-phoenix-unofficial-20-02-2020.4021631/) for a while now with Magisk root along with a few select modules from trustworthy developers and had no noteworthy issues. Never used any weird apps or scripts that could potentially harm the device. But I guess, as demonstrated by the series of posts you linked me to, the situation is indeed a little more complicated than that... I was actually about to start fiddling with the files placed in the /root folder to find out what had gone wrong but to be honest, I wasn't really looking forward to that, and besides, the plan was to check in here first to get some advice from you and other experienced members
Anyway, I will give this "MAC address file replacement" solution a try and report back, thanks!

P.S. Curiously enough, the last official LineageOS build (from the archive) doesn't have this issue present; the Wi-Fi functions as expected...

 

[Scranalot]

I never experienced any WiFi difficulties in my two builds - except for the already discussed issue, that under - yet not exactly identified conditions - WiFi drops after some hours. See also comments by @jajk

Good Afternoon
Just like to agree - I was originally on the 'A' Build (when it was the only build) & I'm exclusively on the 'B' Build - on both my Falcons the XT1032 & the XT1033.
I use WiFi almost exclusively on the XT1033 with no issue to speak of (check my previous posts here on in this thread).
I do occasionally have an issue when using the phone as a WiFi hotspot whereby I sometimes have to toggle the 'Hotspot' tile on, off & on again to make the connection & once connected there are no issues for me - this however is a different matter from the one being stated, but I thought it worth mentioning in passing.

 

[ChrisRM]

FWIW, I'll second the shift back to TWRP3.2.1 from 3.3.0; I saw the new TWRP ('Ooh, shiny!') and put that on to install a new version of the Falcon ROM, and then things weren't so good. No clear causal link back to the new shiny, just nowhere near as reliable. Downshifted back to 3.2.1 and reliability regained.

 

[Crescent Spirit]

Hi again. Seems like placing (or replacing) the Wi-Fi file provided in this post: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/fix-cant-turn-wifi-on-you-are-missing-this-file.3007540/ does indeed manage to restore Wi-Fi functionality but requires a procedure involving root access and a root explorer to move the file at that root/persist folder. Not the biggest deal but can complicate things a bit for the casual user;
@MSe1969 please add/note this troubleshooting instance to your extensive installation page/part because a lot of people might be coming from a later Android build and (potentially) run directly into this issue, saving them the trouble of going through the initial confusion and a few hundred posts in search of a solution : P
I am however perplexed by the fact, as mentioned in my previous post, that the last, official LineageOS build works right out of the box, without having to tamper with the Wi-Fi file. Could you maybe consider replacing the file yourself and ship it with future ROM releases? Unless of course, this is just a part of a series of optimizations (featuring other files as well) on your part that the ROM needs, in which case, I guess such an action wouldn't be worth it. Don't exactly know how this works so... please excuse my ignorance on the subject :3