Week 06 : 2021 : Development and Testing Updates

Manoj · February 9, 2021, 2:38am

Last week’s devices are yet to be released. The reason for the delay is as under :
- 3 of the devices failed during the build process. We wanted to release all at one go, but due to these failure had to hold back
- The onboarding of the two new ROM Maintainers was not completed in time. …this is due to a delay on the /e/ side
- There is a new process that we are planning to start with this release…read on for more details
- Developer got assigned to work on Fairphone issues …so had to find another resource to take this task up

New Devices
From last week’s list

Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 (ginkgo)
Sony Xperia 10 (kirin)
Sony Xperia 10 Plus (mermaid)
Sony Xperia XA2 Plus (voyager)
Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra (discovery)
Sony Xperia Z3 Compact (z3c)
Samsung Galaxy S5 Neo (s5neolte)
Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e (Wi-Fi) (gts4lvwifi)…have to check if this build also failed

This weeks new Devices

Motorola Moto G6 Plus (evert)
Motorola Moto X4 (payton)
Motorola Moto Z (griffin)
Motorola Moto Z2 Force (nash)
Sony XZ1 Compact (lilac)
Sony Z5 Compact (suzuran)
Samsung S8 plus (dream2lte) …last minute addition to the list…this device will be on Pie rest on Q

Upgrades
From last week’s list

Google PixelXL2 (taimen)
OnePlus One (bacon)
Sony Xperia XA2 (pioneer)
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 LTE (hlte)
Xiaomi Mi 5 (gemini)
Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus (natrium)
Xiaomi Mi MIX 2S (polaris)
( Again here we have had some failures in the build. Waiting for an update)

This weeks’ upgrade list

HTC One (M8) (m8)
Samsung Galaxy A3 (2016) (a3xelte)
Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) (a5xelte)
Samsung Galaxy S4 (jfltexx)
Samsung SIII Neo (Dual SIM) (s3ve3gds)
Samsung SIII Neo ( Samsung Camera) (s3ve3gjv)

This might look like a long list but since the build system is automated, this is not impossible to achieve.
Expect this list to be cleared during this week.

Install Guides: We are planning to ask our ROM Maintainers to write install guides for the devices they maintain. We will start with a couple of devices planned for last week and move to cover all the devices where we have maintainers.
As you may be aware , unlike Lineage we do not have ROM Maintainers for all devices. Some of the devices we have on our list are too ‘old’ and not available for purchase any more in markets. This means the builds are made without a devices and we are thankful for our users who help with the build testing.
The devices with /e/ ROM Maintainers on the other hand get tested by the ROM maintainers themselves and released.
Installing a custom ROM is not easy and to help make the guides easier and reliable we will ask the Maintainer themselves to write the guides. They will follow the format as shows here.
For the devices without maintainers we will use the current template driven guides format.
Will add some info to this list to help identify devices with and without maintainers.
Users can also write easy install guides and post them on the forum in categories specific to their device. If they are good we will always link them to the main documentation

10 Feb
Some bad news… builds for these 5 devices are failing

bacon , gts4lvwifi, hlte , jactivelte , s5neolte

Have asked the developer to check the reasons why this is happening. We will wait for a day while we retry , else release the rest of the devices and hold these back for a later release.

The v0.14 did not work on some devices specifically on some Samsung …this made us recall the builds . The team is expecting the Q upgrades of these devices to solve this issue. The reason behind this thinking is the upstream code bases be it LOS or applications are mostly on Q which could be the reason behind this instability on older versions of the OS.

11 Feb

Reason behind the v0.14 build failing on some devices has been identified. The reason was that the manifests changes on LOS or in Github from the device maintainers were not reflecting on our build servers.
Based on the readyness of the device team to push the upgrades and new devices I shall share the date of the releases.

12 Feb

The following devices have been removed from the upgrades and additions this week

Not being Upgraded - bacon , hlte, m8, a3xelte, a5xelte, s3ve3gds, s3vegjv
New Device not being added - gts4lvwifi , jactivelte , s5neolte, lilac, suzuran

We will push these along with the builds that failed in previous cycles in v0.15…do not ask me what the ETA for v0.15 is as I do not have it as yet…will check and update besides share details of what else will be a part of v0.15

The tentative ETA for v0.15 is end of Feb.
I would like to clarify one point here. You may be a bit concerned with all these build issues and failures … rest assured the team has been working on resolving them.
One of our main problems is the small size of the team. This impacts the closure of some of these issues and results in the delay.
That being said we do not want to restrict the number of devices we support. We have a user base spread across the world and would like to cater to as many devices as we can.
Working on releasing the rest of the devices today

Will share updates on this thread as the week progresses or as and when I have more inputs.

Regain your privacy! Adopt /e/ the unGoogled mobile OS and online services phone

Rik · February 9, 2021, 3:21am

SuzieQ · February 9, 2021, 4:30am

The /e/ OS builds
e-0.8-p-2020041549775-test-dream2lte, e-0.9-p-2020051454221-stable-dream2lte,
e-0.9-p-2020072965352-stable-dream2lte, e-0.10-p-2020081067148-stable-dream2lte
had nourished my hopes for a continuous development, but did not go any further.

So I migrated to LineageOS 17.1, especially since the renowned official LineageOS device maintainer @ Stricted (nickname) has been working continuously on the very well functioning build LOS 17.1 since summer 2020, more or less as a sideline and onemanshow.

@ Stricted is an official LOS device maintainer and involved in no less than six device developments: Samsung Galaxy A3 (2016) (a3xelte), A5 (2016) (a5xelte), A7 (2016) (a7xelte), J7 (2015) (j7elte), S5 Neo (s5neolte) and Sony Xperia XA2 (pioneer).

@ Stricted knows what he is doing. For this, he is also listed as a Trusted reviewer at Lineage. According to these references, the /e/Team could ‘borrow’ the code for a functional /e/ OS ‘Q’ from @ Stricted and migrate the fantastic Galaxy S8 family to /e/ OS ‘Q’, couldn’t they?

Rik · February 9, 2021, 5:52am

are the builds official LOS builds?

huuhaa · February 9, 2021, 10:01am

Any ETA when those new devices will be available through https://doc.e.foundation/devices/ ?

Or is there some other official source for builds of newly added devices? There’s unofficial builds available at forum, but in some cases there are unofficial build from more than one dev, so can’t be sure which is right one to test, if prefer to test the one which will be eventially that official build…

SuzieQ · February 9, 2021, 10:48am

No, but this builds have the quality of official LOS builds.
BTW: The answer is just a click away on the link in the second paragraph.

Manoj · February 9, 2021, 12:44pm

This week. A developer has been assigned to work on it. I will be updating on the progress in this thread.

chrisrg · February 11, 2021, 10:03am

That’s good news! Hope it all works going forward. Eagerly looking forward to seeing the results.

Good luck.

luminem · February 12, 2021, 4:24am

Hi Manoj:

This update message means that Bacon is not gonna be updated to Q definitively or that it is not going to happen this week, but maybe the next one?

Manoj · February 12, 2021, 6:59am

Maybe in 2-3 weeks. As I mentioned I will be updating in this thread when I have more inputs.

Rik · February 12, 2021, 9:08am

Hi Manoj,
are the builds for this week online already somewhere?

Manoj · February 12, 2021, 10:00am

No build failed
Updating the details above.

frank.bxl · February 13, 2021, 3:22pm

Will there be a hotfix before the next official update for the bug in the UI of some apps under 0.14 Q on device Fairphone 3 (issue #2486)?

Isaa · February 13, 2021, 7:50pm

A fragment of constructive criticism. Hope you don’t mind. I’ve been following this forum and the development of the OS for two years now. Privacy respecting, Europe-based, giving new life to a fleet of old devices: What more could I hope for. And I didn’t, just kept on waiting for the v. 1.0 and a streamlined installation process, preferably aided by the easy installer.

Now I really need to change my phone, i.e. I cannot wait any longer. And I’m one of those moms and dads, hence, no alpha-beta-testing or buggy OS’s for me to complicate the everyday. All in all, I’m considering CalyxOS. At the moment according to forum discussions they have what e OS doesn’t: easier installment, bug-freer usage.

Still, I wish I could have used e OS instead. So, I kindly suggest the e OS core team thinks through their strategy once again. Is it realistic to have so many devices supported? When, really when, will the 1.0 arrive? I, for one, wouldn’t mind e.g. giving up most of the supported devices if in exchange we could have some devices with easy installing and bomb-proof functioning.

The strategy has remained roughly the same for many years now. My patience has run out. If there are many like me I suggest the foundation makes the necessary changes in order to finally deliver for the original focus-group: the ordinary moms and dads with reasonably low tolerance for anything buggy in their everyday.

fab · February 13, 2021, 8:34pm

Thanks for the good work!

@Isaa well, I am using /e/ on my FP2 for over a year now. Even though it’s a “beta” version, I couldn’t find any bugs, and used it happily every day. Why waiting for a 1.0 number if the 0.13 number works well and bug free on a lot of devices?
All the best to you.

aleam · February 13, 2021, 9:00pm

Hi.

I dont contribute (nor financially, nor coding)
I have 3 old devices resurrected.
My main phone is a S5 (klte) and it works great!
I instaled /e/ for mom as dad. They dont like it and wanted stock back.
So, thanks a lot.
I recognize your efforts.
I totally dont care if its “late”
(I’m just happy that it exists)

@Isaa, I dont see that quote as a “constructive criticism”. For me, it is just called “feedback”. But I think I understand your point of view: they should sacrifice all the devices and focus on a fewer, because you run out of patience, and maybe there are many like you. Hope not.

andrelam · February 13, 2021, 9:24pm

I also think the list of “supported” devices is too long for the size of the development team. I can see the idea, bring /e/ to many users on many devices. Other company’s showed in the past with 1 really good device its also possible to build up a big user base.

Manoj · February 14, 2021, 12:06am

On the device list being large let me share some facts. Phones like Fairphone and Gigaset do not sell in India and not sure about their availability in the US.
If we go by the logic of selecting vendors who are available across the world with good local support then it would be Samsung and Xiaomi. Xiaomi again due to political reasons gets the cold shoulder ocassionally in some countries. That will make us focus exclusively on Samsung. I have a few test devices and was surprised at how well LeEco works. Yet it is not heard of in India.
This is the reason why we have a large list of devices which we keep trying to increase based on availability of custom ROM’s like LOS for these devices.

frank.bxl · February 14, 2021, 11:26am

You wouldn’t dare to compare /e/ with apple?

SuzieQ · February 14, 2021, 11:59am

Less is more. The /e/Team is far from the number of LineageOS contributors. The range of supported devices would have to be correspondingly reduced to keep up with the support. A selection of the devices most used with LineageOS, i.e. a kind of Top 33 : LineageOS charts, would give a clue. But - the future belongs to the newer devices.

If the e.foundation focuses on Samsung for the above reasons, newer devices with factory Stock Android 9-pie and 10-Q make a good GSI entry point. With lineageOS dependency, /e/ is at the mercy of the lineage team’s whims - see Galaxy S7 and S9 for example.