This move is a significant step in locking down the Android platform. Though, as the LineageOS team explains, the change does not affect de-Googled mobile operating systems, such as iodeOS, Murena's /e/OS, and CalyxOS. The LineageOS website has a post which points out this change will not impact people running de-Googled flavours of Android: "We have not ever, nor do we intend to ever, ship GMS. That means we’re not subject to the Google Test Suite (GTS) certification Google apps are required to pass. Therefore we have no obligation to install 'AndroidDeveloperVerification' or point the aforementioned configurations (overlays) at it. If you sideload GApps packages, be aware that a GApps package could choose to bundle 'AndroidDeveloperVerification' and enable it. We’re not aware of any reason an aftermarket GApps package would opt into that, since doing so would restrict what its own users can sideload. If your GApps provider ever does, you can simply switch to a different package."