Best posts made by Dave

Hi,

I'm in the process of setting up a Google Nexus 5 with ubports for somebody else. And I keep wondering, what are the security implications of running ubports on a device with unlocked boot-loader?

In case the phone is lost or stolen, will any new "owner" of the device be able to access the WiFi passwords, IMAP passwords and all data, photos etc. stored on the phone by just connecting USB cable and running adb/fastboot to dump the flash?

Are passwords stored on the device encrypted with the unlock passcode?

What precautions can/should be done to secure the data on a phone running ubports?

Thanks for any insights,
cheers,

Dave

Hi,

I sort of start feeling old, trying to participate in UBports: An open source project without a mailing list and without IRC channel does not really integrate with the modes of communication I'm used to use.

Just tried to make a telegram account (via web.telegram.org), however it needs a phone number, and (one of my) "landline" SIP-based phone numbers is not accepted ("incorrect phone number"). I'm not really willing to give my cell phone number to an untrusted 3rd party to participate in an open-source project. I mean, if I were, then I probably would just be using Google Android and not bothering with UBports, would I ?

So I guess I'll have to stay at the outside for now.

cheers,

Dave

Hi,

just to give some more data point: ordered a BQ M10 FHD Ubuntu Edition tablet, arrived yesterday. Installed ubports-installer on a Ubuntu 17.10 linux PC. Tablet initially not detected by the installer, but after setting developer mode, some reboots, trying a different USB port, and manually running "adb" to list connected devices, it "suddenly" started working (hat no prior experience with adb, never used it before).

After detection, installation just completed flawlessly (I configured it to wipe the tablet during installation).

So for now very happy with the device and the software. Next step will be to install some ubuntu desktop applications using the information found here:

https://docs.ubports.com/en/latest/userguide/dailyuse/libertine.html

Anybody here knows which libertine container types are supported by ubuntu 15.04r3 on BQ M10 FHD?

Looking forward to replacing my aging firefox-os phone with some new phone running ubports.

cheers,

Dave

Just to document some findings, in case somebody is looking for the same answer: This is how I am using and "integrating" normal Ubuntu and other 3rd-party applications into the launcher:

Creating a libertine image, as documented here.
Example:

libertine-container-manager create -i legacy -n "Legacy"
libertine-container-manager install-package -i legacy -p gnome-terminal
libertine-container-manager install-package -i legacy -p openjdk-8-jre

Now from the OpenStore install package "Desktop Apps". Enable the "Desktop Apps" scope in the launcher. Now swiping left on the Launcher should bring up the "Desktop Apps" scope. After running the commands above it lists just two items: "OpenJDK Java 8 Policy Tool" and "Terminal" . To add other custom launchers (for example to launch some manually installed Java GUI application), you can add more items to the Desktop Apps by creating files inside the libertine container at /usr/share/applications/*.desktop.

Example:

libertine-container-manager install-package -i legacy -p joe
libertine-container-manager install-package -i legacy -p vim
libertine-launch -i legacy  /bin/bash
cp /usr/share/applictions/terminal.desktop /usr/share/applictions/myapp.desktop
joe /usr/share/applications/myapp.desktop

For example to launch a java application installed in /home/phablet/.local/share/libertine-container/user-data/legacy/myapp.jar , edit myapp.desktop and change the line

Exec=/usr/bin/java -jar /home/phablet/myapp.jar

(Note how the container's directory /home/phablet corresponds to the absolute path /home/phablet/.local/share/libertine-container/user-data/legacy/myapp.jar when accessed outside the container)

Dave

Hi @advocatux ,

I ran into the same "signature error", attempting to update my Aquaris 10 FHD tablet. As I don't mind breaking the tablet (as opposed to my phone), I just attempted to upgrade using the development channel, which worked (i.e. no signature error), then once that was running switched back to the stable image, and this time no signature error as well.

Working nicely now, no problems, some bugs I encountered with 15.04 seem to be fixed with that release. Very happy. Will attempt the same procedure on my phone.

Dave

@magnargj See also this topic that I just created:

https://forums.ubports.com/topic/10388/volla-phone-22-replacing-a-broken-display

I contacted Volla directly via their website's contact form and they offered to sell me a screen. Though I'm now waiting for roughly a week for them to reply to my last email, following up on my request to actually place the order.

Also I asked in one of the shops that are listed as Gigaset service partners here:

https://phone-service.de/gigaset/

and they appear to be able to repair the Volla 22 phone, as that is the same (?) hardware as the Gigaset GS5. Though there is still the question whether the latest ubports firmware is recent enough to support the newer screens which appear to require newer driver support compared to the stock screens (see the new thread that I linked above).

Unfortunately I cannot copy-paste the lengthly error message shown in the "Yikes!" message window. Attempting to (partially) transcribe it here:

Error: unhandled rejection [..] promise [..] Fetch Error: request to https://ubports.open-cuts.org/graphql failed, reason: Hostname/IP does not match certificate's altnames: Host: ubports.open-cuts.org is not in the cert's altname: DNS: *.wpmudev.host, DNS:wpmudev.host

(I merely wanted to report that the installation passed flaw-lessly, when the act of reporting that fact triggered the "Yikes!" modal)

@chris_bavaria said in One method to encrypt /home/phablet:

Has anyone experienced similar issues with OT-5 or knows of a more reliable way to restart LightDM without the screen staying black? Any help or tips would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

I've always been using an encrypted home setup similar to what you are trying with my Volla 22 on OTA-4. I'm using the below restart sequence after remounting /home.

RUN THE BELOW CODE AT YOUR OWN RISK, AND ONLY IF YOU FULLY UNDERSTAND IT AND KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING. YOU MAY e.g. BRICK YOUR PHONE OR LOOSE DATA. ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.

for i in \
    dconf-service \
    media-hub-server \
    history-daemon \
    address-book-service \
    evolution-addressbook-factory \
    evolution-calendar-factory \
    evolution-source-registry \
    gnome-keyring-daemon \
    mpris-proxy \
    mission-control ; do
    su phablet -c "killall $i" || true
done

pid="$(cat /var/run/lightdm.pid)"
sudo kill $pid

edit sept. 17: I think the above script snippet needs to be modified to include media-hub-server in the list of services to restart. Otherwise passing data between applications fails after remounting /home/phablet (and restart of lightdm). E.g. configuring a background image by selecting a photo in the gallery.

It used to be much simpler on 16.04.

That said, I'd really like for ubports to have a better integrated support for encryption.

Also note that nowadays ext4 filesystem natively supports per-directory encryption which may allow a more efficient and better integrated way to encrypt /home. This github project has more details. I'm using Ubuntu's fscrypt package on a Ubuntu laptop to add another layer of encryption between different users.

I managed to break the display on my Volla Phone 22. Now there are replacement screens, but the repair shop advised me that I need at least Android 12 for the new screen to be supported.

Here in the ubports forums, there was this related discussion, about new replacement screens requiring Halium 12:

https://forums.ubports.com/topic/9149/screen-replacement-on-volla-phone-22

At that time (July 2023) the latest ubports firmware was still based on Halium 11 so the replacement screens would not work.

Has this changed in the mean time? I.e. is the latest ubports firmware (20.04 OTA-4) already based on Halium 12?

thanks for any info,

cheers,

Dave