Xposed Framework for Android Lollipop is Here!

Xposed Framework needs no introduction to
XDA readers. When asked about the things
our community hates most about Lollipop 😛😛 ,
the single highest voted comment in the
discussion was that it broke support for
Xposed. In fact, many forum members have
even refused to update to Lollipop
specifically for this reason. But that all
changes now, as the highly anticipated
Xposed Framework has finally arrived for
Android Lollipop.
If you’re not already familiar with Xposed,
simply put, it is a godsend to the modding
community. Xposed requires no flashing of
any ROMs, but brings tons of customization
and tweaks that users can install like apps
on rooted devices. It is incredibly simple to
use and with limited risk. And now, all
Android enthusiasts on Lollipop can enjoy
the benefits of this fantastic project on their
devices. Grab your download and get to
modding!
Download Xposed Framwork for Android
Lollipop here.😙
rovo89 was also kind enough to provide us
with a Q&A for the latest project. You can
find answers to all your questions about the
project below.
Xposed Q&A
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Why did it take so long? ART has been
published more than a year ago!
First of all – many people keep asking for
ART support. Lollipop has far more change
than that, such as even stricter SELinux
policies, 64-bit ROMs and architecture
changes that you would expect from a maj
release. And of course ART itself is
constantly being improved; there are big
differences between ART for KitKat and AR
for Lollipop.
So one reason is the big complexity, which
required many, many hours of work for
research, development and testing.
Another reason is that there are other thin
in my life than Xposed, so there have been
weeks or even months in which I have har
even looked at the code at all.
Do we need to rewrite all the modules?
No, the Xposed API is pretty much
unchanged. Xposed abstracts all the detail
so modules don’t need to care whether
they’re running on Dalvik or ART. Many
modules will actually work without any
changes, especially those which modify the
behavior of user apps. Modules targeting t
system behavior might need to be adjusted
the new Android framework code, which is
caused by ART, but simply by architecture
and code changes that happen between an
two Android releases. The most significant
one is that the code for system services ha
been moved to a separate file. For most of
the affected modules, this can be solved b
little refactoring (moving code to a differe
place).
Is it actually working?
Yes! At least for me, it’s working fine on m
daily device (Nexus 5 on CM12) and also o
my Nexus 9 (paid by XDA – thanks!). The
phone is stable as usual and apps are
working fine. And obviously, the modules
their hooks/resource replacements are
working fine as well, otherwise there woul
be no point in releasing something.
But then why is it an alpha version?
Because there have been huge changes sin
the last stable release that need to be test
by people who know how to use a recovery
escape from boot loops and report bugs
properly. I strongly advise newbies to wait
until Xposed has been tested by enough
experienced people.
There are also some edge-cases which
haven’t been tested yet, such as hooking J
(native) methods and methods that are bei
executed at the time of hooking them.
I want to install it. Now! What do I have to
do?
Make sure that you’ve read my words abov
and you’re familiar with your phone’s
internals. Obviously, you need to be on a
Lollipop ROM and have a good backup of
your data. For now, I will only publish the
ARMv7 version. 64-bit is more complex, so
let’s try the “easy” variant first.
For now, the installation has to be perform
manually in a custom recovery. Flashing th
zip file will install:
app_process32_xposed and some symlinks
libexposed_art.so
libart.so and some related binaries + librari
(based on 5.0.2, enhanced with support for
hooking etc.)
XposedBridge.jar (now stored in /system/
framework)
Backups of existing files will be created
automatically and could be restored later.
It doesn’t work/I don’t like it! How can I
uninstall it?
The easiest way is to restore a backup or
flash the system partition. A zip file for
uninstallation has yet to be created.
Why do you replace ART files on my device
That’s more invasive than on Dalvik, will
cause significant performance issues and
be unstable!
I have written down some reasons on GitH
Yes, it’s more invasive, so I have tried to
avoid it for a long time, but from a technic
and support-oriented point of view, I think
it’s the better option.
Less performance than original ART?
Probably, as I had to disable some
optimizations to make certain kinds of hoo
possible. However, this affects only a
fraction of all methods and even for those,
the performance loss is certainly not
significant or noticeable, if even
measureable. There are still thousands of
other optimizations performed by ART, and
tried to disable as few as possible while
providing as much flexibility as possible.
Stability is fine as mentioned above.
Compared to the approach I used for Dalvi
(modifying the runtime’s internal data
structures from app_process), I’m even
pretty sure that replacing the libraries
completely is a much more reliable way. I
could integrate my changes into existing c
cleanly and reuse related functions, where
many hacks and assumptions would be
needed for other ways.
Will you finally make the source code publi
Sure, you will find it on GitHub very soon
after the release of the alpha version, in a
separate branch for now.
Does this mean that older Android version
no longer supported now?
No! The new code compiles on all 4.x
versions of Android, and just need to be
tested before a unified release. But first, I
need to be sure that it’s working fine for
Lollipop. Possibly, ART support could be
backported to KitKat, but that’s of less
priority.
How can I thank you for your work?
Many people have asked for ways to donat
few bucks, so I have set up a donation pag
now.
How much do I need to donate for you to a
feature X or a module that does Y?
That’s not donating, that’s paying somebo
in expectation of future work. I’m not
interested in freelancer jobs.

😃😃😃