Why does e.Drive need READ_PRIVILEGED_PHONE_STATE

Community Forum
1

Why does foundation.e.drive need Android READ_PRIVILEGED_PHONE_STATE permission?

This allows reading of persistent/hardware identifiers (e.g. IMEI).

2

was introduced in this commit - https://gitlab.e.foundation/e/os/eDrive/-/commit/b0c4f7151da70fd18e6fd707ac5f46c182212c7f

docs points at using Build.getSerial() to be the reason when setting the REMOTE_ROM_SETTINGS_PATH

1 Like
3

@tcecyk thanks, that is informative.
Please you can expand more, alas I cannot access the repo as I get a 429 error and I tried various email addresses to Sign Up but just get an error with “please use regular email address”.

e.g. why would the app need “the hardware serial number”

Thanks.

1 Like
4 
private val REMOTE_ROM_SETTINGS_PATH = PATH_SEPARATOR
+ "Devices" + PATH_SEPARATOR + BRAND + "_" + MODEL + "_"
+ Build.getSerial()
+ "/rom_settings/"

if the account is used with multiple devices, it’s a unique way to attribute settings to a device.

The app list csv that is saved in there isn’t used much? using murena backup or seedvault achieves similar. One could create a MR and argue for its removal if there is no further use - or just look at alternative means to create a stable identifier in edrive.

For that gitlab instance signup, if you already have a murena.io address, you can use that one to register

1 Like
5

Thanks. I could access the repo with a murena.io email address.

I took a look at the code, and I completely agree with your comments. It appears to me as you said. It just makes me nervous about any persistent hardware identifiers. I think there is a valid argument for not using any.

I would have to dig deeper to work out the full impact of a change to create a Merge Request myself. I will add to my TODO list!