CopperheadOS build instructions

Build dependencies

This documentation assumes you're using Ubuntu 18.04. Contact os_team@copperhead.co if you've had success on other OS's.

x86/64 Linux build environment (OS X is not supported unlike AOSP)

Android Open Source Project build dependencies

Linux kernel build dependencies

16GiB of memory or more

200GiB of free storage space

32GiB of free space in /tmp

Supported devices

CopperheadOS currently has official build support for the following devices:

Pixel 2 (walleye)

Pixel 2 XL (taimen)

Pixel 3 (blueline)

Pixel 3 XL (crosshatch)

Pixel 3a (sargo)

Pixel 3a XL (bonito)

In the past CopperheadOS supported:

HiKey (hikey)

HiKey 960 (hikey960)

Nexus 5X (bullhead)

Nexus 6P (angler)

Pixel (sailfish)

Pixel XL (marlin)

It can be ported to other Android devices with Treble support via the standard device porting process. Most devices lack support for the security requirements needed to match how it works on the officially supported devices.

Downloading source code

Since this is syncing the sources for the entire operating system and application layer, it will use a lot of bandwidth and storage space.

You likely want to use the most recent stable tag, not the development branch, even for developing a feature. It's easier to port between stable tags that are known to work properly than dealing with a moving target.

Development branch

The Android10 branch is used for all the currently supported Pixel family devices (1 through 3a and XLs) and other devices:

mkdir copperheados cd copperheados repo init -u git@gitlab.com:copperheadsec/copperhead-source-partner-access/manifest.git -b android10 --manifest-name partner.xml repo sync -j32

If your network is unreliable and repo sync fails, you can run the repo sync command again as many times as needed for it to fully succeed.

To update the source tree, run the repo init command again to select the branch or tag and then run repo sync -j32 again. You may need to add --force-sync if a repository from switched from one source to another, such as when CopperheadOS forks an additional Android Open Source Project repository. You don't need to start over to switch between different branches or tags. You may need to run repo init again to continue down the same branch since CopperheadOS only provides a stable history via tags.

Generating release signing keys

Keys need to be generated for resigning completed builds from the publicly available test keys. The keys must then be reused for subsequent builds and cannot be changed without flashing the generated factory images again which will perform a factory reset. Note that the keys are used for a lot more than simply verifying updates and verified boot. Keys must be generated before building for the Pixel and Pixel XL due to needing to provide the keys to the kernel build system, but this step can be done after building for Nexus devices.

The keys should not be given passwords due to limitations in the upstream scripts. If you want to secure them at rest, you should take a different approach where they can still be available to the signing scripts as a directory of unencrypted keys. The sample certificate subject can be replaced with your own information or simply left as-is.

Pixel and Pixel XL use Android Verified Boot 1.0. The Pixel 2, 3, 3a and the XL models all use Android Verified Boot 2.0 (AVB). Use the command below to generate all keys necessary.

./script/gen-all-keys

Building

The syntax for building a signed build is.

./build.sh -r -t target-files-package -d < device >

The following are the complete list of script options.

-d --device set device to build -t --target set make target -s --sign sign package -r --release build release build -b --build_id set build number -c --clean clean build

Prebuilt code

Like the Android Open Source Project, CopperheadOS contains some code that's built separately and then bundled into the source tree as binaries. Ideally, everything would be built-in tree with the AOSP build system but it's not always practical.

Kernel

Unlike AOSP, CopperheadOS builds the kernel as part of the operating system rather than bundling a pre-built kernel image.

F-Droid is bundled as an APK Android Application in the external/F-Droid repository.

F-Droid Privileged Extension

The privileged extension is built from source from the main F-Droid privileged-extension repository as part of the normal build process. The privileged extension provides F-Droid with the capability to update, add and delete applications. Builders should take note that this component provides an automation route for application management similar to major App stores. CopperheadOS builds can additionally facilitate automatic deployment of repositories (which can include any application you have a license to distribute) upon provisioning with push/pull functionality, allowing for a fully automated application setup.

This has several advantages:

Reduced disk usage in the system partition

System updates don't remove F-Droid

The process of installing into system via root is safer

The OTA update server is a pivotal piece in any CopperheadOS secured deployment. Over-The-Air packages provide important system and Android security updates post-signing to devices. Verification of OTA packages occurs within the CopperheadOS Updater which provides the capability to rollback broken installs or reject unverified/falsely verified signed updates. Thus even in the unfortunate event that the OTA server is compromised, CopperheadOS devices cannot be forced to receive a malicious update.

Setting up

Setting up a CopperheadOS OTA server requires only a few steps. Depending on the operators system development capacity, an OTA server can be deployed in minutes. Any HTTP server such as Nginx or Apache, can be used to serve the required files.

Deployment

A typical CopperheadOS update server may look like this:

$device - $channel $device -incremental- $oldbuild - $newbuild .zip $device -ota_update- $newbuild .zip

$device-$channel is a flat file that provides guidance to the Updater on which version and which Update channel a device is on (default is stable)

$device-incremental is a zip file that provides a small(ish) incremental upgrade between versions

$device-ota_update is a zip file with a full system OTA image for download, which can be large (500MB+)

The $device-$channel file format is Version, Build Time and Build Tag. The file will be available in the same out/ folder as the built release.

bro@bro:~/update_home$ cat sargo-stable 2020.04 .20 1594319571 qq3a.200605.001

To demonstrate what an OTA update directory listing should look like, the device will be a Sargo (Pixel 3a) on the stable channel with the latest CopperheadOS version being 2020.04.20 and the previous version being 2020.90.00

sargo-stable sargo-incremental-2020.90.00-2020.04.20.zip sargo-ota_update-2020.04.20.zip

In this example, the CopperheadOS OTA Updater will:

Fetch the sargo-stable file (default is every hour, configurable in the App setting)

Find a new version is available (2020.04.20) and then Look for an incremental upgrade first If the incremental isn't found (matching previous-new) then the OTA is downloaded

Prompt the CopperheadOS user to install the update

Verify the downloaded package against the signing keys used for CopperheadOS

Installs the package and prompts the user to reboot

Community Builders Initiative (CBI)

What is it

Building Android from source can be an intimidating task especially when compared to building Android applications or compiling components from system languages. CBI acts as a bridge between Copperhead's OS experts, who have years of experience with Android, and users who are looking to benefit from building CopperheadOS from source in-house.

The community builders initiative is a channel from Copperhead to assist external builders looking to expand on a CopperheadOS deployment for commercial and/or non-profit purposes. Personal device users may benefit from this channel as well though the initiative will really benefit larger (>10 devices) deployments.

Who

There are many types of individuals, organisations and businesses that benefit from involvement in CBI. Having control over the source code of an internal deployment is beneficial in that the company controls the signing keys and may have policies in place that won't keep up with official CopperheadOS releases.

The possibilities are endless and some examples include:

Government agencies with strict internal compliance procedures

Individuals looking to be CopperheadOS distributors

Non-profits with donated hardware

Organisations selling software solutions (ie: encrypted messaging)

Companies looking to white-label build CopperheadOS

Those looking to port CopperheadOS to a non-supported device

.. and many more.

Benefits

Members of CBI receive:

Support channel access

3 free commercial licenses for demo/testing purposes

Policy assistance for internal organisation deployments

Usage tips and integration guides for the latest security software

Prerequisites

Before enrolling in CBI members are expected to:

Fully read and comprehend our build documentation

Understand Copperhead's licensing

Build CopperheadOS/Chromium from source

Have the pre-existing hardware and access to devices they are building for

Get involved

Email us builders@copperhead.co to get started in the enrollment process. If you experience issues building CopperheadOS from source please let us know on our official bugtrackers. General OS bugs can be filed here while device specific bugs can be filed on their respective issue trackers (ie: Pixel 2 XL). We look forward to working with you.

Device porting process

Porting CopperheadOS to custom and everyday Android devices is possible, including porting to non-phones. This process is extensive and requires coordination with the upstream ODM. AOSP compliant devices and Android 8.0+ devices released with Treble have helped make this process substantially smoother than in pre-Treble days.

The process to port CopperheadOS to a device is as follows:

Early AOSP port

implement userdebug test-keys builds, likely with android-prepare-vendor

implement full signing for proper release-keys builds (including verified boot)

configure and enable verified boot on the device

AOSP testing

test verified boot for all OS partitions (vbmeta, boot, dtbo, system, vendor for the Pixel 2)

test verified boot rollback protection

test key attestation support for verified boot attestation

test that over-the-air updates work properly including updating all firmware images and vendor.img (with verified boot enabled to catch issues)

test that incremental over-the-air updates work properly

run CTS and record results

AOSP polish

improve port as needed until it's solid enough to work on CopperheadOS support

Early CopperheadOS port

minimal changes in the device repository if necessary to get it working with CopperheadOS changes

work around or fix any latent device-specific memory corruption bugs that are occurring in regular use and break with CopperheadOS exploit mitigations

Early CopperheadOS testing

run through the AOSP testing step again with CopperheadOS

compare CTS results with AOSP and make sure the difference matches the expected list of failures from intentional breaks in compatibility and AOSP bugs uncovered by mitigations that are not yet fixed

Full CopperheadOS port

port all device-specific changes to the device repository (Pixel 2 as the reference)

integrate device into release, repository management and over-the-air update server scripting

adapt device-specific extensions to SELinux policy to CopperheadOS SELinux policy hardening as necessary

implement custom kernel builds

Implement stable-base branch with all kernel.org LTS kernel changes cherry-picked + conflicts and other issues resolved. Keep empty commits, mark each commit with conflicts resolved at the bottom of the commit message with [CopperheadOS] and uncomment the automatically generated Conflicts list below that. This branch should be kept rebased with history preserved via tags for each release.

strip down kernel configuration to a minimum (Pixel 2 defconfig as the reference)

implement monolithic kernel builds with modules disabled

implement Clang-compiled kernel builds using the CopperheadOS Clang toolchain

enable -fsanitize=local-init compiler feature for the kernel

apply other CopperheadOS kernel hardening changes on top of the kernel.org LTS cherry-picks. This branch should be kept rebased with history preserved via tags for each release.

implement specialized scanning MAC randomization for the Wi-Fi driver if not already implemented

implement specialized associated MAC randomization for the Wi-Fi driver if not already implemented (Pixel as the reference for qcacld-2.0, Pixel 2 as the reference for qcacld-3.0)

Full CopperheadOS testing

repeat the early CopperheadOS testing step again now that device-specific changes are ported

Redistribution

CopperheadOS kernel code is GPL2, so derivatives using only the kernel changes simply need to respect the usual GPL2 rules by making the sources needed to build the kernel available, etc.

CopperheadOS userspace code is primarily licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license so a commercial license is required to earn money from derivatives using the userspace code. Licensing can be based on revenue sharing so don't be afraid to contact sales@copperhead.co for small scale commercial licensing.

CopperheadOS art and branding is primarily licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license. Derivatives that are being distributed need to replace the boot animation, wallpaper and other art / branding. The current branding to replace, which will expand over time:

CopperheadOS boot animation (remove to use AOSP boot animation, or replace it)

CopperheadOS wallpapers (remove to use AOSP default wallpapers)

CopperheadOS Chromium branding (revert to Chromium branding, or replace it)

The 'CopperheadOS' branding itself is trademarked. Derivatives should come up with their own project name and globally replace 'CopperheadOS' with 'NewProjectName' if they're being distributed. They should state that they use code based on CopperheadOS / ported from CopperheadOS but shouldn't claim to actually be CopperheadOS itself. The current list of strings to replace, which will expand over time: