Week 25, 2023 : Development and Testing Updates

/e/OS Smartphone Operating System Development Updates
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Release Information

v1.12.3

Status : :green_circle: Released :new:

  • Release will be staggered and starting from 20 June will take up to 28 June for all builds to be published.
  • Initially dev builds are released. stable builds will be released subsequently. To understand difference between build types check the section below titled ‘Different /e/OS build types’
  • Release notes with details of the final list of fixes and optimization will appear here once the builds are published

 

Upcoming releases

Status : :green_circle: Pending release

  • /e/OS T or Android 13
    • Expect to release /e/OS T after v1.12 has been released
  • Updated version of the Bliss Launcher
  • A tablet with /e/OS T. Tablet name will be shared once we have the go ahead from build team.

ETA: To be announced

:nerd_face: ETA: Estimated time of arrival - term used in software development to denote the estimated time when a product can be expected to be released.

Check out the first list of devices which will be upgraded to /e/OS T

 

Previous 5 releases & user feedback

 

:warning: Posting information on test builds

  • Please do not post information or links to /e/OS test builds on the forum.
  • These builds are as yet untested and under development and may cause user devices to soft brick.
  • Such information can confuse other users who do not see these builds in the updater.
  • Remember not all users who come to this forum are experts in installing and formatting custom ROMs and can end up seriously damaging their devices by trying out these test builds
  • If you are genuinely interested in helping with the testing activities and also understand how to fix and do some minor level of testing on custom ROMS, you are welcome to join the testing team
  • As part of the testing team you can share your comments on the dedicated testing telegram channel.

 

Telegram based support channel for Portuguese speakers :new:

A new telegram support channel has been added for Portuguese language speakers

Murena cloud updated to NC 25.0.6.4

  • Release notes available here

 

Check the NextCloud version 🤓 Some users were checking how they could verify the current NextCloud version?
  • You can check the complete documentation and current NC version under https://murena.io/settings/help >> NextCloud xx user documentation. The xx should show 25 now
  • Another way to check the current version is to check the NextCloud scan link and input https://murena.io this should display the current version number as well as the security level.

Please note if MurenaCloud patch number is not the same as the NC patch number, the rating would show up as bad :neutral_face: This is not exactly a problem. We do not immediately jump to the next NC patch as soon as it is released. We first test it and then set out with the deployment.

 

:information_source: If some users are seeing notes disappearing or Murena Cloud services not accessible anymore, we request them to connect to Murena Cloud and accept the TOS (Terms of Service) popup. The team is working on a fix for this issue

GSI

v1.12.3 :new:

Status: :green_circle: Released

  • Download here
    • Sources available here
    • version is /e/OS Q (A10)
    • S (A12) and R (A11) version of GSI yet to be planned. Awaiting developer availability

 

Roadmap for 2023 and beyond

Read this post where GaĂŤl shares his vision on the Murena and /e/OS roadmap into 2023 and beyond

 

Self-hosted eCloud upgrade

OS OTA upgrades

What OS OTA upgrade means

Usually for /e/OS ROMs to upgrade the OS you have to do the following

  • If available download the correct OS build from the supported device list
  • For some devices you also need to download the stock ROM from the vendor site.
  • Take a back up of your data
  • First install the Stock ROM
  • Next install the /e/OS ROM. Here you can take help of the install guides available on our documentation site.
  • If required apply the backups you downloaded before starting the whole process

An alternate to this tedious process is where we offer the user the option to upgrade the OS OTA. This option is available for stable device builds only.
This process is easy for the user but requires a lot of development and testing effort.

Different /e/OS build types

Completed - GS290 >> Q (A10)→ Android 11 (R) :new: - Oneplus nord aviccii >> A12(stable) - FP4 >> R ( A11) to S (A12)stable - FP3 >> R (A11) to S (A12) stable - FP3 >> Q (A10) to R (A11) stable - OnePlus Nord >> Q ( A10) to R (A11) (stable build) - Samsung s7 / s7+ >> Nougat (A7) to Q (A10) - Samsung s9 / s9+ >> Oreo (A8) to Q (A10) - Samsung s8 /s8+ >> Pie (A9) to R (A11) OTA upgrade
Under development - Galaxy S9/S9+ Q (A10)→ Android 11 (R) - No ETA as yet

 

Support dropped ### Only one OS version per device
  • Support of multiple OS versions on the same device has been stopped
  • Upgrade your device to the latest OS version available.
    • For example, if /e/OS R (Android 11) builds are available for your /e/OS Q (Android 10) build, upgrade to the latest version which in this case would be A11.

Nokia devices

  • All Nokia devices

    • It is not possible to officially unlock Nokia bootloaders + lack of dedicated maintainer

  • Google

    • Google Nexus 7 2013 flox
    • Device has partition size issues. Not able to build /e/OS ROMs for this device even with minimal build

    :nerd_face: Minimal build is a setting in /e/OS build which removes the following default applications (LibreOffice viewer, PDFViewer, Maps and Weather)from the source code and builds a smaller version of the ROM.

 

Check real time availability of /e/OS and related services websites

eCloud related websites

/e/OS related

OS upgrade info specific to the FP3 The FP3 OTA OS update from Pie to Q/R is not possible as encryption method changed on FP3 between Pie and Q/R. It is not possible to change the method while updating. The team spent a great deal of time on this, but has not been able to resolve this problem. For now, the manual process is the only way to upgrade the FP3 from pie to other OS versions.
End of official support for Nougat, Oreo and Pie 😞 For Pie, Oreo and Nougat the official /e/OS support draws to a close.

Reasons for dropping official support are:

  • newly released applications like App Lounge, Advanced privacy code has not been customized for these OS versions.
  • lack of dedicated ROM Maintainers
  • no support upstream (Lineage dropped support for Pie sometime back)
  • device trees will continue to exist in the Gitlab and users with build skills can create custom ROMs on these builds
  • Security patches and vendor patches for the Pie, Oreo and Nougat code will be updated based on availability.

:nerd_face: Google stops security patches for OS after some time. Similarly, Vendors drop support for older models when they release newer models in the market. Then it depends on developers from various communities to backport the patches.

Device and Vendor specific Announcements

:loudspeaker: Gigaset GS290

  • We have stopped the sales of the Gigaset GS290 on the eSolutionsShop as the vendor has stopped production of the device. We will continue support for existing users.

:loudspeaker: Message being shared on the request of our vendor partners

  • Vendors whose phones we sell on our eSolutions Store do not directly sell /e/OS flashed devices.
  • The vendors only sell their devices with their own stock ROM.
  • To get pre flashed /e/OS phones, you have to purchase them from the eSolutions Shop.

:loudspeaker: /e/OS Pre flashed device sales

  • We sell directly in EU, US, Canada.
  • Find details of what devices are available in which countries here eSolutions Shop.
  • In Australia we do not sell directly. You can purchase preflashed /e/OS devices from this site

:loudspeaker: Murena One released
A phone from Murena with /e/OS installed has been launched and is available for purchase. Check the device specs here

Expect more device releases from Murena in future :grinning:

:nerd_face: Murena is the brand name and /e/OS is the operating system.

Different /e/OS build types

Check out this guide to understand differences between build types on /e/OS

/e/OS website and social media Links

Support

  • Facing issues with devices you purchased from us ? Send a mail with details to helpdesk@e.email

Websites

Telegram Channel

Social Media

Newsletters

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

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GSI

Manoj_2023-06-18-11_11
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Okay, this is a clear rejection and means to me that there will be no /e/ GSI versions S (A12) and R (A11) from the e.foundation in the foreseeable future.

However, I’ve to ask myself why the notice “GSI versions S (A12) and R (A11)” has been published week after week for months now, raising expectations that probably only remain wishful thinking.

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Thanks for the clarity now! :+1:

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Could anyone explain me how to know, from this link, what fixes actually come with the release? I’m not a specialist at all and it is hard to make my way through this.

Thanks!

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I also dont really get which link is the correct one for the future release. Or at least which link is what.

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I agree, for the average user that I am it would be more convenient to get a clear changelog rather than a list of the v1.12 group milestones.

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you can find a clear changelog here everytime there is a new release : https://gitlab.e.foundation/e/os/releases/-/releases

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Depends on your definition of a clear changelog.
https://gitlab.e.foundation/e/os/releases/-/releases can be late (where is 1.12 there currently?), it’s partly incomplete (where is 1.10 anything other than -s, for instance?), and it’s more of a highlight teaser than what we should expect from a clear changelog, I think.

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Thanks, I know this page, it’s a release note page and not a changelog. Also it is not yet updated to 1.12, I guess the update of the release page comes after the publication of the “Fixes coming as part of this release” link in the weekly update. Which causes questions from average users :slightly_smiling_face:

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I understand the confusion among users in figuring out what will be coming in a particular release by checking the milestone information. This is because for each release we have to make multiple builds… beta versions, rc versions. Each of these are first tested by the internal testing team and once they give the go ahead it is released to the community testing team. Some of these builds are dropped in case there are issues with it. These different versions show up in the milestone release list, all with the same tag as v1.11 or v1.12.
.
The concise and final what is coming in the release information comes when we finally release the build. As at that time we also have a clear picture of what can be released and what issues need further testing or development.
I will link the final release notes in the main thread, once the build has been published for all user…which should happen later today - 20 June.

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/e/OS 1.12.3-S-dev for the Fairphone 3 (and FP3+, of course) is now ready for OTA installation.

As this always creates confusion otherwise: dev, not stable (yet).
If you bought your FP3 or FP3+ with /e/OS pre-installed, you are on stable.

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Same for FP4, in dev, not stable :wink:

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Will all the supported devices get 1.12.3 this week, or may the staggered release go into next week?

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Until June 28.
Cheers

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I;m also saddened by this as well. I am intrigued enough to see what it takes to build the images, but a lot of it would be a learning curve, which is the interesting part for me at least.

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Thanks for the info.

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It would be nice if there was a list that was updated as each update is released.

It would save us keen ones repeatedly pressing the refresh key every few hours (and maybe help your server).

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Depending on whether you are on the dev or stable release channel, the builds available for download should serve as a strong indication for your S9+ star2lte:

dev build is available for download … https://images.ecloud.global/dev/star2lte/
stable build is not available for download yet … https://images.ecloud.global/stable/star2lte/

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Sorry, I should be been more specific. I meant the OTA downloads.

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After a year of using /e/OS I found out that OTA arrives on my FP4 (stable) on average 10 days after the announcement of a new version. You should make your own experience with your device and channel :grinning: There once was a page on Gitlab describing the availability of builds, it was giving a rough idea. Can’t find this page anymore for a few versions now.

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