Week 46, 2022: Development and Testing Updates

Releases

v1.5

Status : :green_circle: Released

Release notes

Feedback on v1.5

  • Share your feedback and vote on v1.5

/e/OS ‘S’ builds

Status : :green_circle: Released :new:

/e/OS version : v1.5

Devices that got /e/OS ‘S’

  • /e/OS ‘S’ is a manual update for users . The exception is the FP4 stable build where the OS upgrade happens OTA.
  • The documentation has been updated to include the links for manually downloading the build.
    • It would require users to sideload the S build.
    • Take a backup of your data before proceeding.

GSI

v1.5

Status: :green_circle: Released

  • Download here
    • Sources available here
    • /e/OS GSI is still on Q
    • S and R version of GSI to be planned based on availability of a developer

OS OTA upgrades

Status: :green_circle: Ongoing

Completed

  • FP3 Q to R stable
  • OnePlus Nord Q to R (stable build)
  • Samsung s7/ s7+
  • Samsung s9 / s9+

Upcoming

  • Samsung s8 /s8+ ( with v1.6 :crossed_fingers: )
    • Pie to S OTA upgrade
    • 2 critical issues were detected with the build. There is an issue around this but it marked internal by the team. Unless resolved we will not be able to release this build. For now the team is working on resolving these issues.
    • ETA : To be announced :crossed_fingers:

FP3 OS OTA Upgrade

  • Q to R OTA OS upgrade builds released with v1.5 on stable builds.
  • Pie to Q or R
    • No OTA OS upgrade. The team encountered an encryption issue which would cause a factory reset.
    • Users will need to use the Easy Installer to help with this update. We will share details as to when the EasyInstaller will be updated to handle this.
    • Users will have to take a backup of their data, as the upgrade will wipe all data before updating.
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.

Unofficial ROM build refer the section ROM Builders - Unofficial and Custom

Bug clean up !!!

Status: :green_circle: In Progress

Till end of this year, the development team will be focusing on closing out some of the critical bugs in Gitlab. The builds post v1.5 will be coming out early 2023.

Easy Installer updates

The Easy Installer now supports 20 devices, including the FP4

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

12 Likes

It might help to add the term “stable” somewhere in the last line (unless there has been an OTA upgrade for dev in the last 36 hours as well which I cannot test myself anymore – I upgraded via ADB sideload from Q to S yesterday :slight_smile:).
Alternatively, “stable” could be added in this paragraph instead (if dev equals unofficial):

1 Like

Thanks, I have added the word ‘stable’ to the post.

2 Likes

Maybe I’m not seeing it, but are there any release notes for 1.5.1 S?

Thanks

1 Like

I’m curious about that too.

Since my FP3 is stuck on Android 9 (P) I’ll try flashing the 1.5.1-S-dev build.

1 Like

Checking on this. Will have it added.

2 Likes

I was able to ADB sideload (through /e/ Recovery) the 1.5.1-S-dev build yesterday on my FP3+ (running /e/OS 1.5-Q-dev until then and having the bootloader unlocked). The actual procedure took hardly more than 5 minutes. Be prepared the UI is quite a bit different after the upgrade. :wink: I lost my Calendar entries (they are still in my Murena cloud though), but Phone, Messages and Contact data all survived the upgrade.

5 Likes

Beside the FP4 is there a ETA for other device like S8/9, Murena One or FP3+ OTA upgrade ?

1 Like

Thanks for pioneering. Being curious, I did the same thing, although I am prepared to install from scratch if anything would look suspicious enough after the “dirty” upgrading.
The only issue I encountered so far is Lawnchair 2 not working for me anymore (always stops), Lawnchair 12.1 will not install, but Lawnchair 1 from F-Droid still works. Will have to look into this a bit more.

3 Likes

@AnotherElk @urs_lesse You guys have open bootloader?

1 Like

Yes.

Till end of this year, the development team will be focusing on closing out some of the critical bugs in Gitlab . The builds post v1.5 will be coming out early 2023.

While I welcome a bug cleanup, could you check whether there will be intermediate releases that just ship the current security updates to Android?

I have run into that problem a couple of times, particularly when I “dirty flash”. Uninstalling then re-installing usually fixes it for me. I think it may be due to some change in how Lawnchair 2 handles its settings: I seem to recall that restoring backed up settings after a re-install caused it to behave as you describe.

2 Likes

Yes, I forgot to add that this was after the bootloader was unlocked.

So no stock android before sideloading eos S? Am I brave enough to try this with my Oneplus 8…

Please keep in mind that the e foundation and Fairphone have an official partnership going, so we Fairphone users expect /e/OS to have the relevant firmware bits included for our devices (at least from the Fairphone 3 on).
Circumstances on other devices might differ.

4 Likes

Hi @Manoj ,
I tested the v1.5-rc R in test channel on OP8T - codename Kebab - and then installed the stable version, all things work perfectly. But recently I realized that the Bluetooth audio does not work when using none /e/ apps. ie : when listening my podcasts on antennapod or my music on VLC the audio stops in 1-2 min. This is not the case when i use the music /e/ default app. Has this ticket already been raised?

Hi,

I flashed /e/-S on my FP3 without flashing stock first, everything works as of now. I’ll create a short Topic about this :slight_smile:

3 Likes

I am currently on 1.5 r dev and I tried to go to 1.5 r stable. I sideloaded the stable version with erecovery and everything went fine. Still, my phone, Oneplus 8, shows me that I am on dev:

e_instantnoodle-user 11 RQ3A.211001.001 eng.root.20221102.151621 dev-keys

Any comments?

Please post a screenshot from your “Device Info”.

It should show the currently installed /e/OS version. It MIGHT be that the dev-keys are just for signing something which is not tied to the “flavor” of the /e/OS build.