Week 38, 2023: Development and Testing Updates

Release Information

v1.15

Status: :green_circle: Release initiated :new:

ETA: 19 Sep to 26 Sep

:point_right: Update 18 Sep The build release is being moved ahead by a day. A few device builds failed while compiling. We are re running the build servers to ensure total coverage. Will keep you updated.

/e/OS T builds :new:

Status : :green_circle: Release initiated

Some of the devices which require firmware partitions to be installed will get the firmware partitions included in the recovery zip file.

  • List of devices getting the /e/OS T build. More devices will be added later.
  • Builds will require manual download and installation by users. It is advisable to take a complete backup of data before any OS upgrade.

ETA : With the v1.15 release of next week

 

Upcoming milestones / Releases

Upcoming releases

Status : :green_circle: Testing and development

  • 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.

 

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 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 updated to NC 25.0.8.19

Status : :green_circle: Released

Self hosting Murena cloud v 25.0.8.19

Status : :green_circle: Released

 

How to check the NextCloud version 🤓 You can find the complete documentation and current NC version under https://murena.io/settings/help >> 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](https://scan.nextcloud.com) 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 😐 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

v1.15

Status: :green_circle: Released :new:

  • Download will show up here](https://doc.e.foundation/support-topics/understand-and-use-gsi.html)
    • Sources will be available here
    • version is /e/OS Q (A10)
    • S (A12) and R (A11) version of GSI yet to be planned. Awaiting developer availability
    • Frequently we see users complain about the GSI OS versions not being in sync with the ROM OS versions. As mentioned we do have developer bandwidth issues. If there are users who have development skills we welcome them to share their expertise and help speed up the process in the true spirit of an Open Source project.

 

Roadmap for 2023 and beyond

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

This is just a sneak peek into exciting news we would be sharing in the days to come.
For example …

  • The release of Fairphone FP4 in the US through the Murena Store was one
  • Fairphone 5 with /e/OS release

Subscribe to our newsletter to get the news first hand. All links available below.

 

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
  • 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: s8 / s8+ : Pie (A9) → R (A11)
  • Teracube: 2e / zirconia: Q (A10) to R (A11)
  • Teracube: emerald & zirconia : R (A11) to S (A12)
    • All OTA OS upgrades are on stable builds
Under Testing 🆕
  • Samsung: Galaxy S9/9+ : Q (A10)→ R(A11)
  • Gigaset: GS290: R(A11) → S (A12)
    • All OTA OS upgrades are on stable builds

 

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
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 😞 Pie, Oreo and Nougat the official /e/OS support has ended.

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

17 Likes

Please confirm.

Updating to 1.15 is a manual task no OTA. Is that because its a big jump for most phones (from Android 10), and from then on the phones that were getting OTA updates would get OTA updates for 1.16 onwards?

Or is it a trial period for 1.15, and those phones that were getting OTA updates previously, will get 1.15 OTA at a later date?

Or is OTA for e OS dead?

Thanks

1 Like

v1.15 will be OTA similar to all the previous builds. Devices for which A13 or /e/OS T is being released will need to upgrade manually to get the T build. Some of these devices will require additional partitions to be flashed before the installation. These partition files will be available in the recovery file zip.

2 Likes

Will there be ongoing updates for FP devices that are not updating to T?
As all data would be deleted and there is to my knowledge no useful backup solution, I will obviously not update my FP4 to T thoughtlessly. Historically new updates were only released for the latest Android version (if I remember correctly), which would be questionable in this case.

Thanks in advance

2 Likes

If I remember right, we had something similar last year, that the android version upgrade could only be done manually (also FP4). But after a short period of time, it was available OTA. So maybe that procedure is only necessary for “early adopters”?

1 Like

Hi @Manoj

Will there be a tutorial or procedure for doing this? I think a lot of users aren’t necessarily comfortable with all this.

Thank you!

The installation of the FP4 and upgrade guides for /e/OS T will be tested and updated by the build team.

5 Likes

When alioth, Poco F3?

If you are on ‘stable’ then there will be a OTA Upgrade, this is not the case for ‘dev’.

You have ‘stable’ when you buy directly or use the easy installer. If you installed manually you could have choosen one of them

1 Like

For my oneplus 5 is now 1.15-S available. I thought 1.15 comes directly as T.
So will 1.15 be available as S and as T?

Where available T and S builds would be sent out on v1.15 . As always we will then ease out the older /e/OS S builds and maintain the latest OS which in this case would be T.

2 Likes

thanks for the info. I guess I was on stable, but in developer options I joined the dev-channel to get 1.15 earlier. So now I have 1.15 S and turned dev back off. Do you think a 1.15 T will appear as an update, or not because I´m already on 1.15?

That would be the ‘test-channel’ as it also should state in the setting. Has nothing to do with ‘dev’ build

There is a link in Manoj’s post, hidden behind a triangle :wink:

1 Like

How will you proceed with devices which are on stable build but don’t receive OTA? Not sure if there are many but I am asking about devices like Pixel 4a.

Where can the recovery images of v1.15 be found?
(Or did their filenames on the “images” server simply get messed up?)

Why i can not activate fingerprint on Poco F3 1.15-s?

I am on an FP3 1.14 S/stable (1.15 not there yet). Do I understand correctly, that there is no OTA update from S to T and that sooner or later S builds will phase out and I have to do a manual update from S to T to have an updated smartphone? Or are there any plans for OTA updates for some devices in the future?

The OS OTA upgrade directly to /e/OS T will take some time. Will share details once there is some positive news around this.

7 Likes

Hello.
Can’t find again the post, but IIRC, there was an OTA upgrade from Q to R for Galaxy S9/9+ planned and ready for 1.15 …
Can you confirm ?
If so, really OTA, or manual ?
And … with full phone cleanup, or keeping onboard data (and may be apps) ?
Thanks.

1 Like

We expect to release the OTA OS Upgrade for the Galaxy S9/S9+ stable build this coming monday. Q (A10) to R (A11)

5 Likes