It’s not a secret that we’re going to introduce /e/ based on oreo “/e/ 0.2” next week.
Several questions now come to mind:
for a given device, when both /e/-0.1 (Nougat) and /e/-0.2 (Oreo) can be supported, should we offer both versions? or should we stop supporting the 0.1 branch in favor of the 0.2 branch?
for a given device, in case of we would stop supporting the 0.1 branch in favor of the 0.2 branch, should we offer the switch using OTA (if technically possible), or should we ask users to flas the new version?
I’d imagine supporting two OS versions for a device is extra work that isn’t really necessary. I don’t see why anyone would prefer to stay on an older version.
About OTA updates: If these are not much more work and it means keeping the user data I think most people will prefer that.
From my side of view, you could stop mantain Nougat after Oreo is released for the specific device. That’s what all other rom developer incl. google itself also do.
And sure, an update via OTA would be the best solution
Well G%§$e does provide security updates for older OSes for a while still. Otherwise there wouldn’t be security updates for /e/ now or even after the upgrade.
I agree it does not make sense supporting two different OS versions for one device. My phone the MiA1 came out with Nougat and now is on Oreo. I will prefer to use the oreo version.
On the question if we should upgrade from Nougat to Oreo via OTA or do a clean flash I would prefer a clean flash to oreo the first time and OTA for subsequent updates.
and I think, Nougat e was to learn how creating a rom works. Now the focus should be creating roms with actual android or as new as it could be.
If you have started implemantation of e from a clean android you would be able to create always the newest version short after google has released. But you have decide to use lineageOS so you allways have to wait for their release. But that’s out ouf topic. Sorry.
Another point we may have to consider would be the monthly security patches that may not work correctly with old versions. This could cause a headache in bug maintenance which will have to be version specific + device specific. Better to have the latest and updated OS version
My Samsung S7 (herolte) is officially supported by /e/ and LineageOS on Nougat. My phone does not have an official LineageOS Oreo build. What will this mean for official /e/ Oreo support?
Devices without lineage OS support may not be immediately supported. Support for such devices is there on the /e/ roadmap but it will take some time. In the meanwhile users can try building with the /e/ source and material available here https://gitlab.e.foundation/e/wiki/en/wikis/build
Doing a Nougat-Oreo or Oreo-Pie OTA upgrade is likely to come with more problems than an Nougat-Nougat or Oreo-Oreo OTA upgrade.
The /e/-team could use this opportunity to learn about such issues (only affecting the current small beta-tester-community), especially when keeping in mind, that this OS is supposed to be used later by “Moms and Dads” where such inter-release updates should happen without issues.
I think a ROM that upgrades the OS seamlessly from Nougat to Oreo would require considerable effort for the development team. While this is the desired method not sure the team would have the bandwidth to handle this immediately. To give an example Oreo was released by Google in August of 2017. Xiaomi rolled out the Oreo stock ROM for MiA1 in Dec …on 31 Dec to be precise. Not sure all apps and their data will seamlessly upgrade. I think someone from the development team would be able to answer this better. I would still suggest that it would be better if users take a backup of their data and then flash the oreo build.
as the app developers may also stop supporting old version of Android + some of new app are not compatible with old version of Android, I think it’s better to stop wasting time and efforts to support the 0.1 branch
as /e/ is focusing of being user friendly, OTA update seems to be a better option. If not possible, then the security patches of 0.1 branch should be maintained or maybe a software for windows too help flashing the phone just by simple “next next next” steps added by a pop up on the phone to inform the availability of the software and a “send me download link to my email” button so people can do the process from computer
I’ll install Oreo on FP2 and see the differences. It might be interesting for you developers to try with us testers the upgrade from /e/v0.2 to the first stable release when it comes out next year or so. I’d like that.
Ican’t think of a reason for someone to stick to Nougat when he can be on Oreo. So if Oreo support exists we should go for it and deprecate nougat. OTA update will be good as we promised /e/ to be a ROM that mom and pop can use.
There might actually be some reasons to stay with LOS 14.1 instead of going to 15.1 (and /e/ 0.1, 0.2 respectively)
15.1 is quite a bit less stable, so I did not only enjoy the update back in August.
Though I still would recommend to focus the workforce and infrastructure on Oreo and maybe rather try to fix the problems than offering both versions
But maybe it might be possible to provide 0.1 patches for a grace-period?
From LOS we also know the “Information” in the updater app about the available Oreo update… I guess it would work for most people to flash the update now… but I also back the idea of trying the OTA… to gain some experience.
Would it be possible to push a “Information” update entry some days before the real update?
Here we could inform about possible issues and how to backup.
