Week 46 2023: Development and Testing updates

Release Information

v1.17

Status: Release to be initiated

ETA: 14 Nov to 21 Nov :crossed_fingers:

  • Release Notes will show up here once the builds are released

  • Some devices require additional partitions to be installed while flashing /e/OS R (Android 12) or /e/OS T (Android 13). The v1.17 builds will include these partitions in the recovery zip files for those devices. The list of devices is given below.

    List of devices

    This is the list of devices which require additional partitions to be flashed before flashing Android 12 - /e/OS S or Android 13 - /e/OS T

    These are the device codenames. To find the device code name for your smartphone check this list

    • alioth
    • avicii
    • barbet
    • berlin
    • berlna
    • bluejay
    • bramble
    • cheetah
    • coral
    • dubai
    • flame
    • guacamoleb
    • guacamole
    • haydn
    • hotdogb
    • hotdog
    • instantnoodlep
    • instantnoodle
    • kane
    • kebab
    • lemonadep
    • lemonade
    • lisa
    • Mi439
    • nio
    • oriole
    • panther
    • pro1x
    • pstar
    • raven
    • redfin
    • renoir
    • sunfish
    • troika
    • dre
    • sake

 

Upcoming milestones / Releases

Development in Progress

Status : :green_circle: Development abd internal testing

Read more
  • Updated version of the Bliss Launcher or Bliss launcher 3
    • Currently undergoing testing and code cleanup.
  • /e/OS browser will be updated to the latest chromium version. Team is working on adding some features to the interface
  • A tablet with /e/OS T. Tablet name will be shared once we have the go ahead from build team. The release is tied with the launch of the updated Bliss launcher. Release will be delayed and may not be in 2023
  • Easy Installer to be updated to flash /e/OS T builds.
  • GSI builds to be made to run on /e/OS T. As users may be aware the current GSI is on /e/OS Q.We will skip (Android 11) R and (Android 12) S and directly update the GSI to (Android 13) T.

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

Links to the last 5 releases

 

: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 26.0.8.12 :new:

Status : :green_circle: Released

  • We have upgraded Murena.io nextcloud backend to NC26, which includes performance improvements, bug fixes and security patches.
  • The release notes are available here

Self hosting Murena cloud v 25.0.8.19

 

How to check the NextCloud version šŸ¤“ 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 šŸ˜ 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

v1.16 :new:

Status: :green_circle: Released

 

Roadmap for 2023 and beyond

Read all about it

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)ā†’ Android 11 (R)
  • Oneplus: avicii : A12
  • OnePlus : avicii : Q ( A10) ā†’ R (A11)
  • Fairphone: FP4 : R ( A11) ā†’ S (A12)
  • Fairphone:FP3 : R (A11) ā†’ S (A12)
  • Fairphone:FP3 : Q (A10) ā†’ R (A11)
  • Samsung: s7 / s7+ : Nougat (A7) ā†’ Q (A10)
  • Samsung: s9 / s9+ : Oreo (A8) ā†’ Q (A10)
  • Samsung: Galaxy S9/9+ : Q (A10)ā†’ R(A11)
  • Samsung: s8 / s8+ : Pie (A9) ā†’ 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 šŸ†•
  • Google Pixel ā€˜redfinā€™: S(A12) ā†’ T(A13) :new:
  • Gigaset: GS290: R(A11) ā†’ S (A12)
    • All OTA OS upgrades are on stable builds
Under development
  • Samsung: S7 ā€˜herolteā€™ ā€˜hero2lteā€™: Q ( A10) ā†’ R (A11) :new:
To be planned
  • Fairphone: FP3 : S (A12) ā†’ T (A13) :new:

 

Support dropped

Only one OS version per device

  • Support of multiple OS versions on the same device has been stopped. You would see older OS version builds stuck at
  • 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 šŸ˜ž 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 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/ the unGoogled mobile OS and online servicesphone

16 Likes

Any updates on when Stable T builds for hotdogb will be released? Thank you for all your hard work.

Hi! Any news on a FP3 T build release? Seems itā€™s been left behind (release was announced before november 7th)ā€¦

4 Likes

Any news about Bliss Launcher ?

1 Like

Milestone is set on Dec 12

4 Likes

Any news about when the release would start? 1.17 T is really important to me.
Thank you in advanceā€¦

As mentioned in the initial post, the roll-out of builds should start from 13th Nov ā€¦it will be a staggered release as always. So it would take a couple of days for all the devices to receive the builds. Expect to complete the release by 20 or 21 Nov.

The release start date has been update to todayā€™s date as some of the T builds were still not completed yesterday night, which delayed the release. Team is working to start the release of the builds later today 14 Nov.

2 Likes

Sorry Manoj for not really explaining well what I meantā€¦
Is there ANY phone for which 1.17 T has been released? Apparently the rollout has not been started yet ?!
Probably the Release notes are not updated on first builds put on serverā€¦
I guess the builds are put in batches and not all at onceā€¦ no? So do you know when the first builds are going to be made available? Team should knowā€¦

I get the fact that many people (me included) are eager to check out the new builds, but i really cannot understand this demanding impatience. Is there a reason for this?

3 Likes

Unfortunately, servers have a mind of their own and do not always work as we want them to. The team had hoped to get the release started last night EU time, but that did not happen. Plans are to initiate the release later today.

3 Likes

Whatā€™s the difference for you?

Can you detail this a bit?

I really hope, this section is not up to date, as this would mean that there is currently no testing not even devlopment for FP4 T OTA update. That would be really disappointing.

To clearify: Iā€™m a bit afraid that after releasing a working T build for fresh install the support for S could be dropped before T is available OTA. Furthermore FP4 was updated to Android 13 recently which means that firmare updates presumbly are no longer released for Android 12 (S) for example to fix the brightness issue we are suffering for a long time.

It means as of now I do not have a clear-cut start date for the development. Will share it once I get it from the development team.

1 Like

Let me check with the developers and get back on this.

I find the style of some visitors here increasingly bad! As far as I know, eOS is essentially a free product. If I understand correctly, only a few people buy their hardware from Murena and pay the small surcharge for elaborately developed and individually installed software.

And yet I see an increasing sense of entitlement and growing impatience here! With expensive products, such as an Apple phone, the fanboys applaud, but here they are increasingly demanding services. I hope that people will at least donate to the eFoundationā€¦

17 Likes

OTA upgrade =/= OTA update

1 Like

Well, I donā€™t like many things either in this world. Thankfully /e/ OS is one of the few great things so I want it dearly to succeed.
But just to make things clear: I have not demanded anythingā€¦ I was just ā€œputting a questionā€ (a few actually). 1.16 T had been delayed for a week and I thought that history might repeatā€¦ things happenā€¦ Iā€™m not accusing anyone of anything. I also have never requested any new feature or modification from the developers from respect for their hard work.
Iā€™m not really an impatient personā€¦ itā€™s just that I wanted to install /e/ OS T on my XZ2 premium for ~11 months (since Lineage OS 20 appeared). I know that the /e/ OS have announced support for it much laterā€¦
And as a matter of fact I tried to help /e/ OS trough a company I work for. Unfortunately tax deductions in France are different from where I live so nothing has materialized in the end but I had not lost hope (yet). A few Euros from my side wonā€™t have any meaningful effect.
And finally as a project manager (myself) trying to respect delivery targets itā€™s a bit sad seeing them pushed further. If they put ONE Rom on the server they can say the release has startedā€¦ Again not a criticā€¦just a remark.
Iā€™ve always spoke good about and tried to spread /e/ OS as much as possible. My review on distrowatch (from 2023-03-17) was positive.
In my humble opinion the problem with releasing/patching is that there are too many phones supported and they overwhelm the team of developers from Murena, but Gael knows best what to do with his nice project.
Sorry if anyone have felt offended by my (maybe) not so well chosen words.
Peace!

1 Like

Brilliant comment. Thank you

FP4 OS OTA upgrade to T development should start in the coming week. ETA for completion will be shared later.

8 Likes