March 19, 2024
Comex Announces Substitute a Replacement for Cydia Substrate, Saurik Responds

Comex Announces Substitute a Replacement for Cydia Substrate, Saurik Responds

Posted January 31, 2015 at 2:43am by iClarified
We haven't heard Comex's name in a while, but the creator of JailbreakMe is now working on a Cydia Substrate replacement called Substitute. Comex is working with iMods, the team working on a Cydia alternative that caused some controversy last year.

Comex released an alpha version of Substitute on his github page and noted his motivation behind the project. His goal is to make as much low-level software as open as possible and currently Cydia Substrate is closed source.

Jailbreaking is fundamentally about taking something closed and fixed and opening it up to hacking and modification: perhaps allowing a mess to be made, but quite possibly ending up with something unique and different. This ideal of openness is very similar to that of free software, and I therefore believe that it's in the spirit of jailbreaking to make as much low-level stuff open as possible, both for inspection and modification by curious users (who, after gaining knowledge that way, might end up becoming quite valuable to the community). Polished tweaks that are sold commercially are one thing (although they too benefit from general openness, especially the ones with a lot of reverse engineering behind them, since the same reverse engineering can often support multiple use cases), but the underlying framework is another - especially since it's free of charge, removing at least the most obvious motivation for closing source.


Saurik (Jay Freeman) replied to Comex's Cydia Substrate replacement in a lengthy blog post. Saurik first explained why Substrate has remained closed source.

Open source software merely existing does not lead to open platforms, as the priority of the vast majority of users align with short-term interests (for various reasons, some good and some bad) and so they will happily buy into and empower closed platforms in order to get a relatively small amount of functionality, comfort, or glitter (see iOS itself ;P)....I do this because we are fighting a battle against companies—not just companies like Apple, but companies like Rock Your Phone and iMods—who want to see "open" be traded away for "ease of use" or "profitability".

Additionally, Saurik notes that he is running out of energy to "fight" against people who are not on his side. His biggest focus for now is the DMCA exemption comment period; (keeping jailbreaking legal) however, he does not some new features are coming to Cydia in the near future.

This push is going to come with some style updates to Cydia's home page, so you will see those changes, and there are a couple payment related things that are "almost done" which will happen in the near future. I also have some changes I was working on to Substrate (a different way of loading and filtering that is finally ready, that will come with an easier-to-use SDK) that will probably be released. We will see if it makes sense for me to continue bothering


You can read Saurik's full blog post and reasoning here. Let us know what you think in the comments. Will a Cydia Substrate alternative help the community or do damage to it?

Please follow iClarified on Twitter, Facebook, or RSS for updates.


Comex Announces Substitute a Replacement for Cydia Substrate, Saurik Responds
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Comments (15)
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UnDeaDAmP
UnDeaDAmP - February 3, 2015 at 12:20am
Long Live Cydia. Down with iMods. :)
Douglas77
Douglas77 - February 1, 2015 at 7:00am
Grow a pair Saurik!
steve no body
steve no body - February 1, 2015 at 12:09am
no one gets into jailbreaking for the money without being disappointed in the long run, both these people have a right to do what they want with their enormous talents. Would like to thank both for the efforts they have made to Apple and to portable devices for making both unique, with out a doubt both are fare modern day Steve and i mean the one that knows what code is and knows how important it is to Root devices which should be root-able when purchased, it is like buying a tennis racket that only works with apples
1
Alien
Alien - January 31, 2015 at 4:21pm
Comex develop a jailbreak, then go to work with Apple then no JAILBREAK for a long time... Then stop working with apple, then Jailbreaks again... Now he want to develop a Cydia Substrate Sustitute? I'm with Saurik on this... I dont trust iMods and i dont trust Comex. I think Saurik have an strong commitment with the comunity and he is loyal to his develoment...
Chili
Chili - February 1, 2015 at 7:51am
Yep..... It looks like Comex/iMods was hired by apple to go against Saurik or damage/go against him to make him do things comex/apple wants to do..... I don't also trust that guy who worked for apple....
Quickitus
Quickitus - January 31, 2015 at 2:04pm
Does jailbreaking not slowing down your phone. I loved the freedom. I'll admit though.. My phone showed a lot of lag.....
1
dk2013
dk2013 - January 31, 2015 at 2:51pm
Jailbraking exploits security flaws in iOS. So by definition it is a dangerous thing, and it does affect performance and stability of your device. It is an individual choice whether tweaking your device is worth the risk for you.
BadAnswer
BadAnswer - January 31, 2015 at 3:08pm
You are slowing humanity with that answer
Alien
Alien - January 31, 2015 at 4:12pm
Jailbreak exploit a security flaw to become root, that it. END... is not an exploit LOOP... just gain root and you dont even touch that security flaw again...
dk2013
dk2013 - January 31, 2015 at 4:41pm
@Bad Answer: Wow, it's awesome that I have that kind of super-power... slowing down the entirety of humanity simply by giving an honest, concise, and accurate answer to someone's question. :-P Maybe YOU are slowing down humanity by cluttering this forum with nonsense, Nat/Ren/Et cetera.
Mas22
Mas22 - January 31, 2015 at 10:12am
How about a completely new open Operating System that can be implemented on any Smartphone, by wiping the existing software ? It would seem that current technology and rooting tecniques could install an stable open source system. Or is that wishful thinking ...
1
matrixmaniac
matrixmaniac - January 31, 2015 at 8:49am
I trust Saurik and Cydia. They have contributed a huge lot to the evolution of these mobile platforms. All of them! Where would iOS and Apple be today without the jailbrakes? And where would Android be without Apple and the jailbreakers? All of this was enabled in a safe way by Saurik, Musclenerd and many more of the "original" hackers. I will trust them and be grateful for their great work forever!
AEB
AEB - January 31, 2015 at 8:25am
..Why not, he's a developer, so he's entitled. Put is this way, an iPhone without a (reliable jailbreak) IS LAME and not FUN to have at all, a.k.a FAIL. From the Original iPhone 2G , up to an iPhone 6+ , CYDIA really made it worth while..(on top of that, all iPads or iPod Touches, all the same) ..so what else do u want! Have FUN U all, enjoy & be thankful..
AEB
AEB - January 31, 2015 at 6:36pm
..umm, so it annoys you that he's making that comment?? Cydia starts and ends with Suarik; so if Comex or someone else attacks Cydia's credibility, Jay ultimately responds. IT'S ALL DRAMA, I believe. But at the end of the day, end-users need not complained or whined about it, don't you think? ..We grow up, we learn, and we move on! ...enough said. Let Peace reign!
1
Comexican
Comexican - January 31, 2015 at 8:20am
Absolutely agree with the comment above. He makes a bundle of money out of Cydia for sure. But I guess he deserves it cause he puts a lot of time into it like its his job. Oh well. But if comex want to make it open source then that should be an option as well.
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