Week 37, 2024: Development and Testing Updates

/e/OS Smartphone Operating System Development Updates
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Summary of weekly development and testing activities by /e/OS developers and volunteers. Updated content has the :new: emoji.

Release

v2.4

Status: Testing in progess :new:

Coming in v2.4

  • Issues being fixed
  • S8/ 8+ OTA OS upgrade build
  • FP5 random reboot fix :crossed_fingers:
  • :loudspeaker: Google Pixel 7 panther to get official / stable builds ASAP. :
  • v2.4 is undergoing testing at present. Tentative ETA for release end of September :crossed_fingers:

ETA: Sep end :crossed_fingers:

Upcoming releases

Ongoing development tasks

  • A web based version of Easy Installer to be released replacing the existing desktop version. At present the team is working on the development and testing of this tool.

  • /e/OS GSI on T or Android 13

  • Development work in progress on /e/OS U or Android 14. List of devices to get the U build will be shared.

  • ETAs for all activities will be shared.

 

Previous 5 releases & user feedback

Device Support specific information

  • Select /e/OS R devices marked as legacy in our supported device list

  • v2.2 was last /e/OS R build. The team evaluated and found that there were no major bug fixes in v2.3 for /e/OS R as such no point in making a release of the same code base and only changing the version number.

:point_right: legacy means : No further official / stable / community / dev builds. Users with ROM building skills can build on their own.

:point_right: Legacy /e/OS versions:

  • R - or Android 11

  • Q - or Android 10

  • P - or Android 9

  • O - or Android 8

  • N - or Android 7

  • ASUS devices displaying a warning in the Smartphone Selector mentioning non-availability of official unlock methods.

:point_right: Some of these devices will also get the A14 upgrade.
:point_right: FP2 which was on /e/OS R has also been dropped from the supported list .

Why /e/OS stops support for an OS

Google has stopped security patches. LineageOS has also dropping support. For most of the older devices vendors would also have stopped vendor patches.We would not be able to continue support as it would require backporting security patches which will require dedicated resources and is not a viable long term solution. Users are advised to upgrade to newer OS and builds where available.

 

:warning: Do not post test build information on the forum :warning:

  • 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 in some cases 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.

 

Murena Cloud and Self hosting

:star: Murena cloud current version : 28.0.9.6 :new:

  • The deployment to Nextcloud 28 was successful, bringing better performance, numerous fixes, and exciting upgrades.

  • You can view the full changelog here: 28.0.9.6 · e / infra / ecloud / nextcloud · GitLab

  • Issues raised by users are being looked at by the team.

:star: Self Hosting current version v 26.0.8.23

  • Release notes

  • Check this guide for help with the upgrade
    :point_right: Next release - team to plan this development activity. ETA’s will be shared. :new:

How to check the NextCloud version click here

You can find the complete documentation and current NC version under Login – Murena >> NextCloud xx user documentation. The xx should show the latest version.

  • 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.

:information_source: Please note if MurenaCloud patch number is not the same as the NC patch number, the rating would show up as bad \U0001f610 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.

GSI

  • Current GSI version is on /e/OS Q and v1.17

  • Download available here

  • Sources available here

:point_right: GSI OS version will next move to T or A13 skipping the R and S . Team is working on /e/OS T GSI. Will share release dates once available

 

OS OTA Related information

Completed

  • Fairphone: FP4 : S (A12) T (A13)

  • Samsung: S9/9+ : R(A11) S(A12)

  • Gigaset: GS290 : Q (A10) Android 11 (R)

  • Oneplus: avicii : A12

  • OnePlus : avicii : Q ( A10) R (A11)

  • Fairphone: FP4 : R ( A11) S (A12)

  • Fairphone:FP3 : R (A11) S (A12)

  • Fairphone:FP3 : Q (A10) R (A11)

  • Samsung: s7 / s7+ : Nougat (A7) Q (A10)

  • Samsung: s9 / s9+ : Oreo (A8) Q (A10)

  • Samsung: Galaxy S9/9+ : Q (A10) R(A11)

  • Samsung: s8 / s8+ : Pie (A9) R (A11)

  • Teracube: 2e / zirconia: Q (A10) to R (A11)

  • Teracube: emerald & zirconia : R (A11) to S (A12)

  • Samsung: S7 ‘herolte’ ‘hero2lte’: Q ( A10) R (A11)

  • Google Pixel ‘redfin’: S(A12) T(A13)

  • Gigaset: GS290: R(A11) S (A12)

  • Fairphone: FP3 : S (A12) T (A13)

  • Samsung: S7/7+ : R(A11) S(A12) :new:

:information_source: All OTA OS upgrades are on stable or official builds

Testing

  • Samsung: S8/8+ : R(A11) S(A12)

  • ETA v2.4 :crossed_fingers:

Our definition of an OS OTA upgrade

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

 

Documentation updates

:point_right: A guide to understand how to setup Parental Controls

Misc information

Read Gael 's roadmap for 2024

Device and Vendor specific Announcements

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.

/e/OS Pre flashed device sales

  • We sell directly in EU, US, Canada and Australia

  • Find details of what devices are available in which countries here Murena Shop.

/e/OS website and social media Links and Support

Support

  • Facing issues with devices you purchased from us ? For issues you would want support on from the /e/OS support team, send in the details using the contact form

Websites

Telegram Channel

Social Media

Newsletters

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

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The (German?) emergency alert via cellbroadcast seems to be broken for at least some phone models.
Not sure for which versions as test alerts happen only once a year.
Because it is a safety issue I take the freedom to link to a thread in the German section and the gitlab issue:

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Thanks for raising the issue. Passing it to the development team.

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I did not notice this in the original post on monday, but only today. I think it deserves to be mentioned here on its own once more:

This is around 18 months after Fairphone themselves ended support for the FP2, and Murena promised back then that they would keep supporting the FP2 for at least one more year – you have kept your word. All in all, the FP2 has been supported from Android 5 (when it was delivered at the end of the year 2015) to Android 11 now – 8 years and 8 months. :slight_smile::+1:

From what I have read, backporting of security patches for the FP2 is still done in DivestOS.

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Yes indeed it should have a post of its own. The information came late in the week, so added to this thread. The decision to drop was sad. Will keep the forum updated if there are plans to check for an alternate plan to keep the FP2 or other such devices ‘alive’.

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Yes, but not everything is possible:

“DivestOS 14.1/15.1/16.0/17.1/18.1, based on Android 7/8/9/10/11 respectively, are END OF LIFE and receive patches on best effort basis”

That means also if e.g. the security update states August there are missing patches.

Android 18.1 / 11.0 / R EOL! 2024-02, ASB:LOS: 2024-02, ASB:DOS: 2024-08*

“Asterisk* denotes known missing patches”

Beside that, I think the initiator / team / contributers behind DOS are doing a great job, also regarding their automated kernel CVE patching e.g. for the FP2 Kernel 3.4.113 + 387 patches

Also worth noting:

"The kernel also sports many built-in security features, that most devices actually have disabled! We created a tool that automatically enables as many of these security features as possible. This is an easy way to have a noticeable increase in security with minimal effort. "

TL;DR:
Takeaway 3
“While newer kernels provide more defenses, a v3.10 kernel with all available defenses enabled would mitigate more exploitation flows than 38.1 % of vendor-supplied kernels.”

“Second, as emphasized in Takeaway 3, susceptibility extends beyond mere kernel version correlation. Even the deprecated kernel v3.10 (released about ten years ago) would mitigate more one-day exploitation flows, if properly configured, than 38.1 % of vendor firmwares. Huawei underscores this statement with their v5.4.86 kernels, nearly twice as bad as the properly configured v3.10. This lack of proper configuration appears prevalent across multiple vendors. Hence, the second potential contributor is a lack of importance regarding security-relevant features for the Android kernel.”

Defects-in-Depth: Analyzing the Integration of Effective Defenses against One-Day
Exploits in Android Kernels
Lukas Maar, Graz University of Technology; Florian Draschbacher,
Graz University of Technology and A-SIT Austria, Graz; Lukas Lamster
and Stefan Mangard, Graz University of Technology

In general recommended Kernel security Settings

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While this is true, we have to keep in mind that vendor security patch-wise Qualcomm abandoned the Snapdragon 801 SoC in a back then “industry standard quick” way after Android 6, and the vendor security patch level thus remained at April 1, 2018. We don’t know how much of a compromise it really was security-wise from this angle to use this phone over all these years.

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Personally, including today, I got no data drain or e-mail takeover nor my bank account got depleted with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800, guess I am a lucky guy or I am not aware of the incident yet (or both at all ;- )

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Personally, I just hope my Fairphone 2 didn’t get security-hole-exploited into a botnet to then be used in the background to potentially do harm to others while I’m left unaware.
Applies to all of my computer devices.

1 Like