Re: [Replicant] Exposure Notification not working
Hi Nick, hi all, I tried the bluetooth firmware from an i9300 Lineage 16.0 which worked with CCTG, but it did not succeed. The app tries to get location permissions which does not work, i.e. the system config does not recognise this app needing it. So it seems the Android permissons stack does not support the way the app requests it. In fact I do not believe that the firmware is even involed at that point. Does anybody here know more about permissions API stuff? I thought the official german Corona app (CWA) as well as it fork using MicroG (CCTG) does support Android 6 (but I can be wrong). Is there anything special in this regard for Replicant 6. Regards, doak On 8 January 2021 00:31:56 CET, doak wrote: >Hi Nick, > >there is some news about it: >I have found a custom Lineage ROM which supports BLE peripheal mode (beacons) >for i9300 and it seems to work >like a charm with and CCTG [1] which includes 'microG'. > >Both, Replicant 6 and these ROMs use Linux 3.0.101, hence it seems to be >possible to create a patch for the >Bluetooth stack and perhaps use another firmware to get that working with >Replicant in a free software compatible >manner. >Let me know what you think. > >> Are you able to compare whether the >> firmware in your working i9305 is the same as the one that you would >> have used with replicant, [...] > >Sorry for leaving this unanswered. I am trying to have a look into this the >next days ^^ > >[1] https://codeberg.org/corona-contact-tracing-germany/cwa-android > > >Reagrds, >doak > > > >On 20.10.20 14:25, Nick wrote: >> Hi doak, >> >> Thanks very much for your response, your questions are things that I >> hadn't generally thought of! >> >>> Did you check if your device actually sends BLE beacons? >> >> I did not! I checked that it received beacons, and it does, so I >> naively assumed therefore that all would be perfect. >> >>> At the beginning of the german tracing app I configured an i9305 (S3 LTE) >>> with Lineage, OpenGApps and the >>> app (this not free SW) and *it seemed* to work but did **not**! >>> Reason was that BLE beacons could be received, but not sended. I checked >>> that with 'nRF Connect' which is >>> able to trace bluetooth packets and shows additional information also for >>> BLE beacons. Furthermore it is >>> able to list device capabilities. In my case 'Periphal mode' was not >>> availabble. >>> At the end I have tried dozen different (questionable) ROMs till I found >>> one which in fact supports pheriphal >>> mode and thus was able to send BLE beacons. >> >> I found an apk for the proprietary 'nRF Connect' app >> (no.nordicsemi.android.mcp) online and installed it. It does indeed >> list 'Peripheral mode' as not supported on this device (basic >> Bluetooth Low Energy is, though). I only have one other android >> device, which has very old software on, and I couldn't get nRF >> Connect to install, so I couldn't test whether my phone was indeed >> successfully sending BLE beacons, but presumably not. There is more >> information about this "peripheral mode" being essential to the >> sending aspect of exposure notifications at [0]. >> >> There is still some utility in running the app in "receive only" >> mode, as I would still be alerted if someone I was in contact with >> sufficiently closely tested positive and could have been infectious >> at the time. But obviously it's nicer to be able to return the >> favour. >> >>> I am still not sure if the signal strength is as strong as it should be. My >>> gut feeling is that it is too >>> weak which would make the estimated risk wrong and thus useless. >> >> I have no idea how one could test such a thing. It does seem to be >> collecting lots of IDs when I've been out, more than I would expect >> if it was weaker than it should be. But I have no way of knowing >> either. >> >>> Furthermore I at least know that the i9305 is able to send them if used >>> kernel/firmware supports it. Dunni >>> about i9300. >> >> That is interesting indeed. I wonder what would be required of >> replicant to support it. Are you able to compare whether the >> firmware in your working i9305 is the same as the one that you would >> have used with replicant, presumably that listed in >> i9305-fwinfo/bluetooth.txt from >> https://code.fossencdi.org/firmwares_nonfree.git ? If it is the >> same, then at least we know that it's likely to be a kernel, rather >> than firmware, issue. And if not, then potentially finding some >> newer firmware could be enough to fix it. >> >> Thanks again, >> >> Nick >> >> 0: https://github.com/corona-warn-app/cwa-app-android/issues/688 >> > signature.asc Description: PGP signature ___ Replicant mailing list Replicant@osuosl.org https://lists.osuosl.org/mailman/listinfo/replicant
Re: [Replicant] Exposure Notification not working
Hi Nick, there is some news about it: I have found a custom Lineage ROM which supports BLE peripheal mode (beacons) for i9300 and it seems to work like a charm with and CCTG [1] which includes 'microG'. Both, Replicant 6 and these ROMs use Linux 3.0.101, hence it seems to be possible to create a patch for the Bluetooth stack and perhaps use another firmware to get that working with Replicant in a free software compatible manner. Let me know what you think. Are you able to compare whether the firmware in your working i9305 is the same as the one that you would have used with replicant, [...] Sorry for leaving this unanswered. I am trying to have a look into this the next days ^^ [1] https://codeberg.org/corona-contact-tracing-germany/cwa-android Reagrds, doak On 20.10.20 14:25, Nick wrote: Hi doak, Thanks very much for your response, your questions are things that I hadn't generally thought of! Did you check if your device actually sends BLE beacons? I did not! I checked that it received beacons, and it does, so I naively assumed therefore that all would be perfect. At the beginning of the german tracing app I configured an i9305 (S3 LTE) with Lineage, OpenGApps and the app (this not free SW) and *it seemed* to work but did **not**! Reason was that BLE beacons could be received, but not sended. I checked that with 'nRF Connect' which is able to trace bluetooth packets and shows additional information also for BLE beacons. Furthermore it is able to list device capabilities. In my case 'Periphal mode' was not availabble. At the end I have tried dozen different (questionable) ROMs till I found one which in fact supports pheriphal mode and thus was able to send BLE beacons. I found an apk for the proprietary 'nRF Connect' app (no.nordicsemi.android.mcp) online and installed it. It does indeed list 'Peripheral mode' as not supported on this device (basic Bluetooth Low Energy is, though). I only have one other android device, which has very old software on, and I couldn't get nRF Connect to install, so I couldn't test whether my phone was indeed successfully sending BLE beacons, but presumably not. There is more information about this "peripheral mode" being essential to the sending aspect of exposure notifications at [0]. There is still some utility in running the app in "receive only" mode, as I would still be alerted if someone I was in contact with sufficiently closely tested positive and could have been infectious at the time. But obviously it's nicer to be able to return the favour. I am still not sure if the signal strength is as strong as it should be. My gut feeling is that it is too weak which would make the estimated risk wrong and thus useless. I have no idea how one could test such a thing. It does seem to be collecting lots of IDs when I've been out, more than I would expect if it was weaker than it should be. But I have no way of knowing either. Furthermore I at least know that the i9305 is able to send them if used kernel/firmware supports it. Dunni about i9300. That is interesting indeed. I wonder what would be required of replicant to support it. Are you able to compare whether the firmware in your working i9305 is the same as the one that you would have used with replicant, presumably that listed in i9305-fwinfo/bluetooth.txt from https://code.fossencdi.org/firmwares_nonfree.git ? If it is the same, then at least we know that it's likely to be a kernel, rather than firmware, issue. And if not, then potentially finding some newer firmware could be enough to fix it. Thanks again, Nick 0: https://github.com/corona-warn-app/cwa-app-android/issues/688 OpenPGP_signature Description: OpenPGP digital signature ___ Replicant mailing list Replicant@osuosl.org https://lists.osuosl.org/mailman/listinfo/replicant
Re: [Replicant] Exposure Notification not working
Hi Nick, thanks for your report. Did you check if your device actually sends BLE beacons? At the beginning of the german tracing app I configured an i9305 (S3 LTE) with Lineage, OpenGApps and the app (this not free SW) and *it seemed* to work but did **not**! Reason was that BLE beacons could be received, but not sended. I checked that with 'nRF Connect' which is able to trace bluetooth packets and shows additional information also for BLE beacons. Furthermore it is able to list device capabilities. In my case 'Periphal mode' was not availabble. At the end I have tried dozen different (questionable) ROMs till I found one which in fact supports pheriphal mode and thus was able to send BLE beacons. I am still not sure if the signal strength is as strong as it should be. My gut feeling is that it is too weak which would make the estimated risk wrong and thus useless. Nevertheless. I am still running four devices with that setup for my family. TL;DR It would be good to know if your setup is able to send BLE beacons. Perhaps you can check that with another device. Furthermore I at least know that the i9305 is able to send them if used kernel/firmware supports it. Dunni about i9300. Btw, regarding free SW variant for this to work there is an interesting threads on Github of the german tracing app (CWA, Corona Warn App). Most likely you already know that, I will post the link just in case. I also post the link [2] which is related to my non-free setup. [1] https://github.com/corona-warn-app/cwa-app-android/issues/75 [2] https://github.com/corona-warn-app/cwa-wishlist/issues/192 Regards, doak On 14.10.20 15:13, Nick wrote: Apologies for the list traffic, I just realised I missed out a step from the below instructions. To be more explicit, these are the steps I took to get it to work: - Installed the bluetooth firmware using the script at https://code.fossencdi.org/firmwares_nonfree.git The part I missed out should go here: - Add the microG repository to your Fdroid: https://microg.org/fdroid/repo (for signing key see https://microg.org/download.html) - Installed microG from Fdroid ... Nick ___ Replicant mailing list Replicant@osuosl.org https://lists.osuosl.org/mailman/listinfo/replicant signature.asc Description: OpenPGP digital signature ___ Replicant mailing list Replicant@osuosl.org https://lists.osuosl.org/mailman/listinfo/replicant
Re: [Replicant] Exposure Notification not working
Hi doak, Thanks very much for your response, your questions are things that I hadn't generally thought of! > Did you check if your device actually sends BLE beacons? I did not! I checked that it received beacons, and it does, so I naively assumed therefore that all would be perfect. > At the beginning of the german tracing app I configured an i9305 (S3 LTE) > with Lineage, OpenGApps and the > app (this not free SW) and *it seemed* to work but did **not**! > Reason was that BLE beacons could be received, but not sended. I checked that > with 'nRF Connect' which is > able to trace bluetooth packets and shows additional information also for BLE > beacons. Furthermore it is > able to list device capabilities. In my case 'Periphal mode' was not > availabble. > At the end I have tried dozen different (questionable) ROMs till I found one > which in fact supports pheriphal > mode and thus was able to send BLE beacons. I found an apk for the proprietary 'nRF Connect' app (no.nordicsemi.android.mcp) online and installed it. It does indeed list 'Peripheral mode' as not supported on this device (basic Bluetooth Low Energy is, though). I only have one other android device, which has very old software on, and I couldn't get nRF Connect to install, so I couldn't test whether my phone was indeed successfully sending BLE beacons, but presumably not. There is more information about this "peripheral mode" being essential to the sending aspect of exposure notifications at [0]. There is still some utility in running the app in "receive only" mode, as I would still be alerted if someone I was in contact with sufficiently closely tested positive and could have been infectious at the time. But obviously it's nicer to be able to return the favour. > I am still not sure if the signal strength is as strong as it should be. My > gut feeling is that it is too > weak which would make the estimated risk wrong and thus useless. I have no idea how one could test such a thing. It does seem to be collecting lots of IDs when I've been out, more than I would expect if it was weaker than it should be. But I have no way of knowing either. > Furthermore I at least know that the i9305 is able to send them if used > kernel/firmware supports it. Dunni > about i9300. That is interesting indeed. I wonder what would be required of replicant to support it. Are you able to compare whether the firmware in your working i9305 is the same as the one that you would have used with replicant, presumably that listed in i9305-fwinfo/bluetooth.txt from https://code.fossencdi.org/firmwares_nonfree.git ? If it is the same, then at least we know that it's likely to be a kernel, rather than firmware, issue. And if not, then potentially finding some newer firmware could be enough to fix it. Thanks again, Nick 0: https://github.com/corona-warn-app/cwa-app-android/issues/688 ___ Replicant mailing list Replicant@osuosl.org https://lists.osuosl.org/mailman/listinfo/replicant
Re: [Replicant] Exposure Notification not working
Hi Nick, thanks a lot for your report. Did you check if your device actually sends BLE beacons? At the beginning of the german tracing app I configured an i9305 (S3 LTE) with Lineage, OpenGApps and the app (this not free SW) and *it seemed* to work but did **not**! Reason was that BLE beacons could be received, but not sended. I checked that with 'nRF Connect' which is able to trace bluetooth packets and shows additional information also for BLE beacons. Furthermore it is able to list device capabilities. In my case 'Periphal mode' was not availabble. At the end I have tried dozen different (questionable) ROMs till I found one which in fact supports pheriphal mode and thus was able to send BLE beacons. I am still not sure if the signal strength is as strong as it should be. My gut feeling is that it is too weak which would make the estimated risk wrong and thus useless. Nevertheless. I am still running four devices with that setup for my family. TL;DR It would be good to know if your setup is able to send BLE beacons. Perhaps you can check that with another device. Furthermore I at least know that the i9305 is able to send them if used kernel/firmware supports it. Dunni about i9300. Btw, regarding free SW variant for this to work there is an interesting threads on Github of the german tracing app (CWA, Corona Warn App). Most likely you already know that, I will post the link just in case. I also post the link [2] which is related to my non-free setup. [1] https://github.com/corona-warn-app/cwa-app-android/issues/75 [2] https://github.com/corona-warn-app/cwa-wishlist/issues/192 Regards, doak On 14.10.20 15:13, Nick wrote: Apologies for the list traffic, I just realised I missed out a step from the below instructions. To be more explicit, these are the steps I took to get it to work: - Installed the bluetooth firmware using the script at https://code.fossencdi.org/firmwares_nonfree.git The part I missed out should go here: - Add the microG repository to your Fdroid: https://microg.org/fdroid/repo (for signing key see https://microg.org/download.html) - Installed microG from Fdroid ... Nick ___ Replicant mailing list Replicant@osuosl.org https://lists.osuosl.org/mailman/listinfo/replicant signature.asc Description: OpenPGP digital signature ___ Replicant mailing list Replicant@osuosl.org https://lists.osuosl.org/mailman/listinfo/replicant
Re: [Replicant] Exposure Notification not working
Apologies for the list traffic, I just realised I missed out a step from the below instructions. > To be more explicit, these are the steps I took to get it to work: > - Installed the bluetooth firmware using the script at > https://code.fossencdi.org/firmwares_nonfree.git The part I missed out should go here: - Add the microG repository to your Fdroid: https://microg.org/fdroid/repo (for signing key see https://microg.org/download.html) > - Installed microG from Fdroid > ... Nick ___ Replicant mailing list Replicant@osuosl.org https://lists.osuosl.org/mailman/listinfo/replicant
Re: [Replicant] Exposure Notification not working
Quoth Nick: > Yes, this is what microG does. They reimplemented it theirselves, so > it is free software, though I believe I read that there is some > non-free server-side stuff that it relies on, but I can't find that > right now. I found the link I was thinking of - https://old.reddit.com/r/MicroG/comments/j4chda/whats_the_main_reason_you_use_microg/g7oqsur/ So I was slightly incorrect with my above statement, thanks to my dodgy memory. The microG code is fully free software, but most (if not all) of the covid apps use a proprietary Google library to hook into it. However there has been some work to replace that Google library with the appropriate code from microG for some apps, see here: https://github.com/microg/android_packages_apps_GmsCore/issues/1179 Nick ___ Replicant mailing list Replicant@osuosl.org https://lists.osuosl.org/mailman/listinfo/replicant
Re: [Replicant] Exposure Notification not working
Hi GNUtoo, thanks for your thoughtful answer. Sorry for not providing more links in my email to help readers. Quoth Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli: > On Tue, 13 Oct 2020 19:43:59 +0200 > Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli wrote: > I've came across an article about it here: > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple/Google_Exposure_Notification_system > > It seems to be a standard. It can probably be implemented at the > OS/distribution level or in applications. Yes, this is what microG does. They reimplemented it theirselves, so it is free software, though I believe I read that there is some non-free server-side stuff that it relies on, but I can't find that right now. Anyway, good news is that I got it working, all with free software. It looks like the BLE thing was an irrelevance. The app in my country (the UK) is free software, too, thankfully; https://github.com/nhsx/covid-19-app-android-ag-public I discovered that the reason it wasn't working for me was that I was missing "signature spoofing support", which microG needs for the exposure notification stuff it provides. I got that by installing Xposed and the FakeGApps module. To be more explicit, these are the steps I took to get it to work: - Installed the bluetooth firmware using the script at https://code.fossencdi.org/firmwares_nonfree.git - Installed microG from Fdroid - Installed FakeStore from Fdroid (needed for microG to work for this) - Installed Xposed Installer from Fdroid - Enabled root for apps from Settings -> Developer options -> Root access -> Apps only - Ran Xposed Installer to install Xposed, and rebooted when it prompted - Disabled root for apps from Settings -> Developer options -> Root access -> Disabled - Installed the FakeGApps Xposed Module from Fdroid, and enabled it by pressing on the notification that came up to enable, and ticking the checkbox that then appears - Rebooted the phone again (may or may not have been necessary) - Installed the APK of the Covid app (which for my country is only officially available on Play Store, unfortunately, so I got it from apkmirror.com I also granted all optional permissions to the microG app from the Self- Check screen of the app, but I don't know if they're necessary; I'll try disabling them soon. So, I hope this helps someone, and am happy and relieved that we can get it working with all free software (except for bluetooth firmware)! Thanks for your help, Nick ___ Replicant mailing list Replicant@osuosl.org https://lists.osuosl.org/mailman/listinfo/replicant
Re: [Replicant] Exposure Notification not working
On Tue, 13 Oct 2020 19:43:59 +0200 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli wrote: > Do you have links or pointers to find more information on what > the 'Exposure Notification system' is? More importantly, do you know > if there are enough technical documentation on it to enable anyone to > implement a compatible free software application? I've came across an article about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple/Google_Exposure_Notification_system It seems to be a standard. It can probably be implemented at the OS/distribution level or in applications. Denis. pgpr4bbkRDqgJ.pgp Description: OpenPGP digital signature ___ Replicant mailing list Replicant@osuosl.org https://lists.osuosl.org/mailman/listinfo/replicant
Re: [Replicant] Exposure Notification not working
On Tue, 13 Oct 2020 10:16:31 +0100 Nick wrote: > Hi, Hi, > I want to use the national app that my government recently made > available that uses the Exposure Notification system to alert me of > people I've been in contact with who turn out to have been > infectious. The easiest way would be to have a free software application that does the same thing, but I've no idea if some people coded that or not. Do you have links or pointers to find more information on what the 'Exposure Notification system' is? More importantly, do you know if there are enough technical documentation on it to enable anyone to implement a compatible free software application? In France there is also a government application that is somewhat similar to what you describe but I didn't have the time to look if there was any technical documentation on it or not. There seem to some Wikipedia articles on the topic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_apps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_tracing Given that the COVID-19_apps points to free software code as well, it might be interesting to research that and understand in which countries free software applications could work easily and if complete applications do exit yet or not. > I found that the microG project have implemented this in their > alternative to Google Play Services, which is great. However, after > installing it, and then installing the exposure notification app > from my country (NHS Covid-19 app), the Exposure Notification check > seems to fail. > > Could this be due to Replicant not supporting BLE (I > have no idea if it does)? I installed the bluetooth firmware on my > phone (i9300) specially, so at least basic bluetooth is active. Wikipedia says that it the Galaxy SIII (GT-I9300) has 'Bluetooth 4.0' but doesn't mention BLE at all. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth_v4.0 we have: > "Bluetooth Low Energy, previously known as Wibree,[83] is a subset of > Bluetooth v4.0 with an entirely new protocol stack" And from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth_Low_Energy we have: > Bluetooth Low Energy technology operates in the same spectrum range > (the 2.400–2.4835 GHz ISM band) as classic Bluetooth technology, but > uses a different set of channels. Instead of the classic Bluetooth > seventy-nine 1-MHz channels, Bluetooth Low Energy has forty 2-MHz > channels So given that (1) It most probably wasn't supported with the stock Android distribution and that (2) BLE most probably requires hardware support for it in the Bluetooth controller, it most probably doesn't work on that device. I didn't check if the chip / hardware was capable of BLE or not. If anyone is curious and wants to check, the Bluemon project probably has the infos on that. It would be nice to have a free firwmare for Bluetooth and WiFi but so far no one implemented that yet. Denis. pgp1DgdMLQdFP.pgp Description: OpenPGP digital signature ___ Replicant mailing list Replicant@osuosl.org https://lists.osuosl.org/mailman/listinfo/replicant
