F-Droid and Google's Developer Registration Decree

The F-Droid project has posted an
urgent message regarding Google's plan to require developer
registration to install apps on Android devices.

The F-Droid project cannot require that developers register their
apps through Google, but at the same time, we cannot 'take over'
the application identifiers for the open-source apps we distribute,
as that would effectively seize exclusive distribution rights to
those applications.

If it were to be put into effect, the developer registration decree
will end the F-Droid project and other free/open-source app
distribution sources as we know them today, and the world will be
deprived of the safety and security of the catalog of thousands of
apps that can be trusted and verified by any and all. F-Droid's
myriad users will be left adrift, with no means to install — or
even update their existing installed — applications.