> Also, F-Droid Privileged Extension (FPE) is not currently supported by 2.0. That means even if FPE is installed, F-Droid 2.0 won’t use it. This overhaul focused on full featured support for the Android “session” installer. That lets F-Droid run background updates on any recent Android version without requiring FPE. Like with any of the changes here, we welcome feedback.
This is a shame. Is the privileged extension a large maintenance burden?
When Google added the "session" installer to AOSP, we thought it would replace F-Droid Privileged Extension (FPE). So we stopped development on it. The answer now is that the "session" installer mostly replaces FPE, but not fully. So we're exploring reviving development:
https://gitlab.com/fdroid/privileged-extension/-/work_items/...
No, but the issue linked by eighthave sums up my thoughts about the session installer nicely:
> Android provides two APIs for installing apps: a “privileged” API for things built in, and a “session” API for third-party apps. The built-in API provides key UX improvements, but is quite restricted due to the security architecture. The third-party API is not used by Google at all, and therefore it is buggy and receives sub-par maintenance. Also, Google is motivated to keep it lower quality since all apps that use it are inherently competitors to Google Play. The additional system prompts and potential instability owing to frequent changes in Google’s SDK requirements may frustrate users, particularly those who are not tech-savvy.
Other things not mentioned:
- updating applications with adb or the package installer (e.g. by downloading and opening the APK) seems to force F-Droid to show the dialog again
- applications are not eligible if their minimum API version is too low, meaning you get a prompt on every update
All in all I see no reason to put up with subpar installation UX just because Google doesn't endorse the store I use.
This is a shame. Is the privileged extension a large maintenance burden?