Week 41, 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

v2.4.1

  • Release due to the issues caused by the outage
  • Code base same as 2.4
  • All users requested to update their device to v2.4.1 even if you flashed v 2.4

Status: Released

v2.4

Status: Stopped - will not be revived. switch to 2.4.1

:point_right: Moved out of the release:

  • S8/ 8+ OTA OS upgrade build as there are some bugs still to be resolved.

:warning: Issues with servers still continuing. Passing on all feedback to the infra team. Will update progress on this thread. :warning:

Please read GaĆ«lā€™s update on the outage

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. The team is working to see if GSI can be made available OTA. An app to detect what works and what does not work with the GSI

  • 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

: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.

 

Helpdesk services - Exclusively for paying Murena customers

:point_right: Murena helpdesk services will be exclusively for

  • Customers who purchased Murena devices
  • Paid for a Murena cloud account
  • Active donors from past year

Paying customers can write in here with issue details

:point_right: Users who use the /e/OS or Murena cloud for free will have the following modes for issue resolution:

Free services users will also get assistance on this forum for issues such as:

  • Gitlab Account opening related issues
  • Murena Workflow / cloud account issues

Murena Cloud and Self hosting

:star: Murena cloud current version : 28.0.9.6

: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. ETAā€™s will be shared. :new:

How to check the NextCloud version click here

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 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 ā€˜herolteā€™ ā€˜hero2lteā€™: Q ( A10) R (A11)

  • Google Pixel ā€˜redfinā€™: 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 v2.5 :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

:point_right: Murena helpdesk services will be exclusively for

  • Customers who purchased Murena devices
  • Paid for a Murena cloud account
  • Active donors from past year

Paying customers can write in here with issue details

:point_right: Users who use the /e/OS or Murena cloud for free will have the following modes for issue resolution:

Free services users will also get assistance on this forum for issues such as:

  • Gitlab Account opening related issues
  • Murena Workflow / cloud account issues

Websites

Telegram Channel

Social Media

Newsletters

Regain your privacy! Adopt /e/OS the deGoogled mobile OS and online services![phone|80x80](upload://mtacZf1KIgDZJegjO3jnRNYJDPg.png

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So, question on this, and please forgive me if this ends up opening a can of wormsā€¦but the way this is written, it sounds like the abilty to use the helpdesk is open to any donor who has contributed >$1 / ā‚¬1 / Ā£1 in the past yearā€¦this is awesome, but if there is a minimum contribution for helpdesk support, might I submit that it be clarified?

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:grinning: Thanks for opening that can of worms. Let me get a clarification on a minimum donation to avail of helpdesk support.

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I would also wonder how patreon stands in all this or is it only affected by the campaign this year?

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All,
We are facing a service disruption on our online services. The team is fully working on it to have it back as soon as possible. We do not have an ETA as yet when the services will be fully restored. We will be regularly communicate on the status during the day through this post.

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https://status.murena.io/

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Please read GaĆ«lā€™s update on the outage

Update Oct 7th

  • we have an ETA for the mail service @murena.io/@e.email on Thursday 10/10 morning CET.
  • we donā€™t have yet an ETA for murena.io other services, as we are still evaluating a few different options to make it up again safely in the most reasonable amount of time

Update 9 Oct
ETAā€™s on service restoration

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This was a part of my question as well. Iā€™m a Patreon supporter, admittedly at the ā€˜Miniā€™ tier.

Paid support, of course, is a can of worms in its own right. I might appreciate the peace-of-mind that comes with getting one issue sorted that takes an hour of Manojā€™s time to resolve via e-mail once a yearā€¦and Manoj may well consider that reasonable. If I were e-mailing him weekly and expecting remote sessions and phone calls, wellā€¦$5/month definitely doesnā€™t cover that and heā€™d be right to tell me to go awayā€¦but the $500/month tier may be a different story.

Thereā€™s certainly room for paid support, and every day Iā€™m not dealing with Oracle or Intuit is a good day. However, expectations need to be aligned in both directions. Official support on Murena phones is one thing, but something tells me that getting help on Ronnz98ā€™s unofficial builds is a separate matter entirely. Conversely, if thereā€™s a tier that would involve getting my Nothing Phone 2 on the official support list, whereby I could call/email for support questions if needed, thatā€™s something that might be worth making known.

Iā€™m not trying to get too far down the rabbit hole here, and to be clear Iā€™ve had nothing but great experiences the handful of times Iā€™ve e-mailed for support (and of course, the people here in the forums are legends in their own right). I just want to ensure that Gael and Manoj and all of the other great people who provide support, have the same expectations as those who need it. Iā€™m fine with tiers between ā€œweā€™ll answer your e-mailsā€ and ā€œweā€™ll write a custom ROM for youā€, or ā€œeveryone gets best-effort help regardless of tierā€ if thatā€™s the preferred solution, but I submit that itā€™s definitely worth ensuring that expectations are aligned so everyone is happy with the outcome.

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The e-mail service is supposed to work 100%? That only remotely reflects the current situationā€¦

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or regular donations via other channels such as traditional bank transfers?

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For ETAā€™s on service restoration

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Thanks for the update. Any ETA for App Lounge ?

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That would be 14th Oct

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We will push a v2.4.1 later today or tomorrow for all devices which were to receive the v2.4.

  • Including those that have already received v2.4.
  • The 2.4 will be the same as the 2.4.1 with no difference in the code base.

The only reason we are pushing a new version v2.4.1 is due to the outage.

Some devices may not have received the 2.4 and to avoid a mismatch between version we want to get all on the same version which will be 2.4.1

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This will undoubtedly stress the infrastructure well :slight_smile:

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v2.4.1 builds will be released from the new setup. And yes, a good way to stress test the system :grinning:

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Donā€™t jinx it :wink: .

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Afternoon, well its almost evening now. Is it to be tomorrow morning orā€¦?

I know you team must be struggling, however I am worried about the future of Murena. This weekā€™s events and ETAs gives me real worries.

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Updated to version 2.4.1. Everything went smoothly :ok_hand:

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