LineageOS is dropping its own superuser implementation

LineageOS is dropping their “su” implementation due to difficulties maintaining it in light of other new Android 10 security subsystems.

This will leave the third party Magisk project as the only way to grant GUI applications root access for android users. Magisk historically has not been supported by the LineageOS community.

Magisk is a very heavy solution for gaining root on an android device. And is a bit like deploying your own rootkit to get root. Its primarily designed this way so one can gain root while hiding that fact from google’s safetynet APIs. Miss configuring it is also an easy way to pseudo-brick or bootloop a device. ( I’ve done this and managed to recover before. )

Interestingly too many roms use LineageOS as an upstream. As their more sane to track usually than AOSP. So im a little curious to know how folks like the replicant project will respond; who serve a community which generally thinks their users should be allowed to have root access to their hardware.

Regardless. It’s certainly getting harder to keep root on android devices in the future.

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