Magisk Updated to v7, Now Completely Open Source

We’ve talked about Magisk in the past, and how it promises a world of modifications to be done in a systemless manner. The Magisk Universal Systemless Interface has ballooned in popularity recently much like Xposed has, and not without good reason too. In addition to all the benefits that going systemless brings to the table, Magisk also provided a way to run Android Pay, and even Pokémon GO, whilst maintaining root capabilities on your device. For many, those were reasons enough to dabble with all things systemless.

The Magisk Universal Systemless Interface by XDA Recognized Developer topjohnwu has received an update that bumps it up to version 7. There are a bunch of notable changes that follow in the changelog:

• Fully open source
• Remove supolicy dependency, use my own sepolicy-injection
• Run everything in its own selinux domain, should fix all selinux issues
• Add Note 7 stock kernel hex patches
• Add support to install Magisk in Manager
• Add support for image merging for module flashing in Manager
• Add root helpers for SuperSU auto module-ize and auto upgrading legacy phh superuser
• New paths to toggle busybox, and support all root solutions
• Remove root management API; both SuperSU and phh has their own superior solutions

Amongst the most notable changes, Magisk is now fully open source from v7 onwards, including the binaries that it makes use of. In addition to this, the Magisk Manager is now a completely different app altogether, becoming a part of the core experience. New features and improvements are planned, so we can be sure that things will continue to improve in the future.

Magisk is also moving towards a repo system for better module management. The aim is to bring Magisk and its modules at the same ease of management that Xposed currently is at — providing developers a platform to reach out to users, and for users to easily install and keep track of modules.

There’s another change that v7 brings, and this is something that should be understood as part of a bigger plan. The v7 update removes root management and SafetyNet bypassing capabilities from Magisk itself. The developer mentions of two reasons for the aforementioned change: One, Xposed does not work with SafetyNet and suhide came from the efforts of XDA Senior Recognized Developer Chainfire, which rendered this as an incomplete solution. Second, XDA Senior Member phhusson is also in the process of creating his own solution in the form of hidesu, which topjohnwu plans to incorporate into Magisk’s version of phh root. The methods mentioned are superior to the one that was in place, and hence it makes sense to let them shoulder the responsibility of hiding root.

If you would like to know more, head on over to the XDA Community Apps section. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!