[aboringusername]

And what does 'released' mean in this context? GrapheneOS has very publicly stated that security patches are under embargo, and they already have patches for the March 2026 release. See [1]:

> 2025110800: All of the Android 16 security patches from the current December 2025, January 2026, February 2026 and March 2026 Android Security Bulletins are included in the 2025110801 security preview release. List of additional fixed CVEs:

So, have they been released? No. So the clock hasn't started ticking yet. This EU law made security worse for everyone as patches that are done today are not released for 4+ months.

Note: These are CLOSED source blobs GrapheneOS is shipping. If they were open source, the 4 months clock would trigger immediately but they are not allowed to do this themselves as they get the patches from an OEM partner. GrapheneOS shipping these CLOSED source blobs, that Google has NOT released does not trigger the timer.

I do accept that QPR1 was 'released' by Google on Pixel months ago, and therefore the timer started, however, Google will likely pick and chose what is best for OS updates/security patches. It explains why AOSP is now private/closed source and embargos are being used to get around the laws requirements.

[1]: https://grapheneos.org/releases#2025110800

From the EU law:

> (c) security updates or corrective updates mentioned under point (a) need to be available to the user at the latest 4 months after the public release of the source code of an update of the underlying operating system or, if the source code is not publicly released, after an update of the same operating system is released by the operating system provider or on any other product of the same brand;

> (d) functionality updates mentioned under point (a) need to be available to the user at the latest 6 months after the public release of the source code of an update of the underlying operating system or, if the source code is not publicly released, after an update of the same operating system is released by the operating system provider or on any other product of the same brand;

[codethief]

Doesn't the embargo concern the source code of the patches (and detailed information about the CVEs), not the release of the patched binaries?

Either way, I don't understand what point you're trying to make. Even after reading your other comments here in this subtree, I don't see anything in the regulation you linked that would have delayed the source code release of Android 16 QPR1, given that the QPR1 binaries had already been released.

[aboringusername]

It's a rather intriguing concept, because it can be the case that the binaries Google released in QPR1 and their source code are different in some way. OEMs must ship QPR1 as Google released publicly within 6 months.

If this open-source release was to contain new patches, they must now ship these changes within 6 months. The Pixel OS release counts as the first 6 month timer. The source code release, by definition, now counts as the 2nd timer.

I expect the closed source binaries and public source code to be the same, but that may not always be the case. So OEMs are expected to at least in 6 months ship an update with the open-source code.

[0zymandiass]

You've explicitly quoted that source releases are not relevant:

> or, if the source code is not publicly released, after an update of the same operating system is released by the operating system provider

They have not released the source code, but they have released an update of their operating system on their reference Pixel hardware.

Therefore, all devices must update within 4 months of that Pixel release, regardless of source drops, per this law

[aboringusername]

I would argue QPR updates are functionality and subject to the 6 month test.

I would also argue a closed source release in August 2025 would start the first 6 month timer (February 2026) and the source code release to trigger another timer (if they differed in any way between the closed source release).

A lot of this law is abstract and only if the EU challenges Google's approach would it be decided how it's meant to be applied in reality.

[0zymandiass]

I believe QPR includes security fixes as well, which should trigger the 4 month timer

Your comment seemed to imply that a source release would trigger a different timer than a binary release, which is explicitly covered as the same thing in the law - for both the 4 and 6 month timers.