yesterday i helped someone to install /e/ on his GS290 - and there were two different builds available. one was called “Q dev” and the other “Q stable”. I was confused a little, but just went on with stable (why would I want to install dev, if there’s not even the advantage of a version upgrade)
today I just wanted to check something for my phone (S10edge) but there also is no “R dev” - even though I have the very same version 1.5 installed. Also, in my phone’s update manager, there is no versions available anymore. What’s going on with R?
oops, I just messed up S10 and S7. I see. there’s ONLY “S dev” available - wtf? where did “Q stable” go? or “R dev”? same with FP3!?
alos with other phones, WHY has the “R dev” disappeared and why is there only “Q stable” and “Q dev” available for other phones, even though there has been a (working) “R dev” before?
Just trying to address the “general question”, the different build types are described here Different Build Types.
Think of each build type having its own release channel. In general users are not going to change release channel lightly.
Again, in general, once a device is successfully Upgraded in Android version, in a certain release channel, there is no real need to keep supporting the “old” Android version.
Edit, in light of the reply by @hirntot, thanks, conversely also where there is development work happening in more than one Android version, then we can expect /e/ ROMs to be published at more than one Android version.
yes I did. and I was confused to read that there are 3 different “dev” android versions now and no “stable” one. Wasn’t Q called “stable” in the past?
well, the “General Question” is not “what is ‘dev’ and what is ‘stable’”, but “WHY are there differtent Android types with “dev” label?” (actually you just wrote that exactly this would not make sense, didn’t you?)
And if there is a good reason for offering three different dev releases, why is this not properly explained anywhere?
Withdraw: while complaining/asking about this situation, I just see how things change on the website every second. Now there’s written:
It may be just me, being confused, but whatever. I’m going to set this topic as answered, since I have the impression that there’s changes made right now.
anyway, I would recommend to update the mentioned guide. and explain the difference between Q, R and S and explain a beginner what they have to expect from each Version in gerneral (Android version, release year, Lineage-Version, security update, etc), I was missing that quite a few times actually, and since (at least in German) everyone is just talking not about Q,R,S, but about Android 10/11/12/13, I had to recheck a a lot of times which one is running what android.