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The single biggest advantage of Android over its competitors like iOS and Windows phones is the leeway it gives to developers, power users and DIY modders to play around with the system. While there are a number of ways to personalize Android, rooting the smartphone is the first and foremost requirement for almost all major modifications to the stock ROM that comes with the device. Rooting, or getting root access, is the equivalent of gaining super user privileges on UNIX-like systems like Linux-based platforms or administrative privileges on desktop Windows. While many types of software require root access to work as intended, one familiar and must-have root utility for Android enthusiasts happens to be the Xposed Framework, which allows for the installation of software modules with deep level system access, capable of modifying the very way Android functions.
Developer rovo89 had announced earlier this month that Xposed for Marshmallow is almost ready to hit primetime, and on Saturday, he made good on that promise by announcing that the software is finally compatible with devices running Marshmallow, albeit, with a few caveats. What the Xposed Framework does in essence, is that it allows developers to write software which has the power to modify an Android-based system’s bootloader, along with adding enhanced functionality to the default OEM ROM without the need for flashing a custom ROM, which may not always be forthcoming for all devices. With the default runtime changing from DVM (Dalvik Virtual Machine) to ART (Android Run Time), Xposed Framework had taken a long time before it was available on Lollipop, but diehard fans of the popular software will be now be rejoicing at the prospect of being able to get the Xposed functionalities on their Marshmallow devices, especially as module developers will hopefully now start updating their software for compatibility with the latest version of Xposed.
Coming to some of the caveats as mentioned above, rovo89 says that the build has only been tested on Arm64 (AArch64) hardware on his Nexus 9, but expresses confidence that ARMv8 and x86/x86-64 builds will also be stable enough, meaning, users running Marshmallow on older devices (Snapdragon 200, 400, 600, 800/801 come to mind) and Intel-based handsets and tablets will also be able to install and use the software – provided of course, they already have root access. As for the changes from Lollipop to Marshmallow, the dev says that the modification was bigger than it was from 5.0 to 5.1, which is to be expected, seeing as the latest version of Android comes with a lot of strategic changes from Google to the AOSP code. According to rovo89 though, “everything is ported now except for support for gzipped and encrypted files”. Interested users can hit the source link below to get all the details.