F-DroidSep 29

Broken links aside (fix incoming), #FDroid raises the case against the #Google developer forced registration once again.

We'll skip the small talk, go read, and better yet, spread this wide and far: https://f-droid.org/2025/09/29/google-developer-registration-decree.html so people are made aware, actions can be taken and #Android is kept truly open!

F-Droid and Google's Developer Registration Decree | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository

For the past 15 years, F-Droid has provided a safe and secure haven for Android users around the world to find and install free and open source apps. When co...

Show threadrakoo
@fdroidorg

> we cannot “take over” the application identifiers for the open-source apps we distribute, as that would effectively seize exclusive distribution rights to those applications.

I'm not sure I completely understand: does this mean that if an app chooses a unique name, say com.something.super.app, then it somehow belongs to google ? You don't want to becomo another central point of apps identification ? Naively it seems like every dev team could just distribute on f-droid with the id they choose, so I don't see what is blocking
Sep 29 at 2:34pmWeb
Show threadF-DroidSep 30
@rakoo It means that only the package with Google approved signature can be installed on the "certified devices". F-Droid might host a package named the same with the same signature (reproducible build) and all be fine or F-Droid might sign itself and Google controlled devices will reject the package.
Show threadrakooSep 30
@fdroidorg oooooh I thought Google was only requiring the names of devs, I didn't understand it was this bad