Week 4, 2023: Development and Testing Updates

Releases

v1.7

Status : :green_circle: Released

  • All device builds (dev and stable) to be published by 27 Jan :crossed_fingers:

Device Builds that failed

  • z2_plus - team working on resolving the issue and will try to release on v1.7 . If there is a delay the build will be available with v1.8

Release Notes

Share your feedback and vote on v1.7

Previous releases & user feedback

Upcoming Releases

  • Milestones
    • The list may have multiple entries for a build
    • Check for the RC (release candidate) build for that version
    • The tentative ETA for the public release of a build would be usually a week after the final rc build

GSI

v1.7

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

OS OTA upgrades

Status: :green_circle: Ongoing

Completed

  • FP4 >> R ( A11) to S (A12)
  • 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 ::new:

Important information : Plan to drop support for multiple OS versions on the same device

:warning: Users are informed that we plan to drop support for multiple operating systems on the same device. To explain further, let us take an example. If a device has Pie or Android 9, Q ( A10) and R (A11) /e/OS versions showing up for download, we will be building and supporting the latest version only - in this case R (A11).

:point_right: Users are advised to upgrade to the latest version of the OS for their device to avoid being stuck on unmaintained OS versions. In most cases, this would be a manual upgrade which would require you to take a backup.

:nerd_face: Supporting multiple OS versions can causes issues of compatibility with applications as most only work correctly on the latest OS. Multiple OS builds also require storage space and consumes time and resources for maintenance.

:calendar: As yet we do not have a date for this activity and will update once we have a plan in place.

SafetyNet - Keep it or Remove it

Last week Gaël created a post on the forum seeking users comments and votes on how to proceed with SafetyNet

Self-hosted eCloud upgrade

Self hosted Ecloud has been upgraded to NextCloud 23.
Check this guide for help with the upgrade


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.
What we mean by OS OTA upgrade - Click to expand or close

:nerd_face: OTA OS upgrade means the upgrade to a higher OS level. Updates will be delivered Over the Air (OTA). The OTA upgrades are available on official builds only. Users who have unofficial or custom-builds will not get the notification to install the upgrade build. They will have to manually download and flash the Q builds once they are released, which may result in data loss.

  • Difference between /e/OS build types
  • Unofficial ROM build refer the section ROM Builders - Unofficial and Custom
Recent Documentation updates
ROM Builders - Unofficial and Custom
  • Pleas update your Docker image to tne latest image we released
  • Those building using traditional repo sync method refer android_prebuilts_prebuiltapks_lfs
  • You will have to install git-lfs (sudo apt-get install git-lfs)
  • After completing a repo sync, you will have to run repo forall -c ‘git lfs pull’

:nerd_face: Reason behind these changes:

Due to the large size of the android_prebuilts_prebuiltapks we have switched to using LFS, and now you will need to refer to android_prebuilts_prebuiltapks_lfs

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.

/e/OS 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

11 Likes

Apologies if this has already been asked: What does that mean specifically for Fairphone users? It seems like an S build (dev) is available for FP3 as well as S being the default stable version for FP4. Should a version upgrade for R (stable) on FP3 be expected in the future?

If I have more than one upgrade to do, is it better to do them all in a row or just do the most recent one? Thanks

Hello @sceriffo Most recent is just fine, it will say so when you start it.

1 Like

Is the latest version of the OS FBEv1 or FBEv2? I need to install TWRP. I have a OnePlus Nord with /e/OS 1.6 (R)
@Manoj
Thank you

Hello,
what date for the Security Patch level?
FP4 v1.7
thank you

For the FP4 v1.7 it will be 2022-10-05 for the v1.8 the November SPL will be available.

The avicii nord has received the v1.7 on R.
What do you mean by the FBE if you share the details I could check with the team and get back.

File-based encryption, I think.

https://source.android.com/docs/security/features/encryption/file-based?hl=en

On the Fairphone 3/3+ at least it was observed that TWRP could still decrypt userdata on /e/OS R (Android 11), but not on /e/OS S (Android 12) anymore, so presumably there was some change in encryption from Android 11 to 12.

1 Like

The response from the team :

It should be FBEv2 starting from Android 11 (R)
The default is v2 if the device launched on Android 11 or higher
https://source.android.com/docs/security/features/encryption/file-based#enabling-fbe-on-internal-storage

1 Like

Hello,
so I have to wait for v1.8 to install it on my Fp4, my current version: Android version: 11 Android security update: November 5, 2022, Fairphone manufacturer update.
thank you

Hello,

I answer myself

My concern was that the FP4 had Version: FP4.FP4I.A.175.20221207, November Security Patch, so version IMG-e-1.7-s-20230110250403-stable-FP4.zip could not be installed.
So I downgraded version to Version: FP4.FP4G.A.170.20220920.
Then for security, get_unlock_ability which gave: 0
I rebooted, opened Settings, System, Developer Options menu and enabled OEM unlock option which reset get_unlock_ability to 1.
Finally install the stable version 1.7 by following the instructions here

Seems curently builds for the FP3 are :

. . dev : q, r, s.
stable : q, r.

1 Like

@Manoj: selfhosted Ecloud has been upgraded to NextCloud 23. Perhaps this is worth mentioning in next week’s letter? :wink:
Upgrade guides: upgrade-guides · master · e / infra / ecloud-selfhosting · GitLab

2 Likes

Thanks for pointing it out @smu44. Have added it to the initial post for this week.

2 Likes

Update : Samsung Galaxy S8, from Pie to R (/stable only) OS OTA upgrade build has been released.

7 Likes

I think this is for admins…

Sorry my mistake.
@smu44 is there a version which users can access. Any guides you have written that I can link.

1 Like

Bonjour, Manoj

Je suis en /e/OS 1.8-bêta-20230112251022,en ayant activé le mode développeurs.je suis crois savoir que je ne peux rétrograder la rom, faut-il que je reflash le téléphone avec TWRP pour avoir la version stable/e/OS-1.7 ou la mise à jour de la 1.8 stable se fera par le biais de OTA ?

Merci pour les infos

Hello, Manoj

I am in /e/OS 1.8-beta-20230112251022,having activated the developers mode.I am understand that I can’t downgrade the rom, do I need to reflash the phone with TWRP to have the stable version/e/OS-1.7 or the update to 1.8 stable will be done through OTA?

Thanks for the info

Ritch

@manoj the link is correct and publicly available: these are upgrade guides when running a previous selfhosted release.
I’m afraid there’s no serious documentation or user-friendly guides…
However for admins the project main page is here: e / infra / ecloud-selfhosting · GitLab, and end-users may rely on public Nextcloud documentation, as well as Murena Cloud documentation.
Note: I strongly advise to do upgrades step by step, one version at a time.

2 Likes