I wasn't sure how to send questions to the official LineageOS people, so guess I post here and hope it makes its way over.
I have many old devices and no new ones, these include some that are no longer supported by LineageOS (Samsug Galaxy Tab 2.0 7", "Tate" Kindle, LG G3 "985" ...)
My question is this: I used to do builds for projects (such as the IRIX Nekoware project), and would consider doing it for these but need to make sure I don't get in over my head too much, as IRIX is "the way things were done in 1998" and Android definitely isn't. It would help if there were a Wiki page or similar with notes on why support was dropped so I can figure out if it is practical for me to try and resurrect them.
I'm following several devices for some time now. Lack if support has many reasons. Most of them are personal reasons. At the moment we see a generation change in LOS team. The new people have new devices. Would be fine to have a old school guy like you in that team. This thread is not the right place for getting into contact. Sorry.
saq-xda said:
I wasn't sure how to send questions to the official LineageOS people, so guess I post here and hope it makes its way over.
I have many old devices and no new ones, these include some that are no longer supported by LineageOS (Samsug Galaxy Tab 2.0 7", "Tate" Kindle, LG G3 "985" ...)......
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I have never built a ROM before myself but, Devices that are no longer maintained by the Lineage Team (that actually had Official LineageOS Builds released) are still kept in places like Github as well as the Device information within their Official Wiki page.
For example, you had mentioned interest for the LG G3 VS985 device. The following is the device information page for this device...
https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/vs985
The following is the information regarding the instructions for individuals who are looking to work on their own builds...
https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/vs985/build
The following is the LineageOS Github page for that specific device.
https://github.com/LineageOS/android_device_lge_vs985
With that clarified for you...
Also keep in mind that when the LineageOS Team updates various areas for devices that ALSO applies to one, that's no longer maintained, it also gets applied to that device because of those being shared with other applicable devices but, if an update that ONLY applies to a device, that's no longer maintained, it will probably not be bothered with (though, I can't state this specific item 100%).
I hope that this was helpful and I do wish you the best of luck!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I DO NOT provide support via PM unless asked/requested by myself. PLEASE keep it in the threads where everyone can share.
I figured that, but they have occasional notes in the updates about why support is being dropped, and if it is some variant of "we can't get drivers anymore" or "new version of Android will not work with hardware X without major rewrite" I figure it's probably outside of my league.
If it's dropped just because the former maintainer was too busy that's another kettle of fish and much more manageable.
I guess it's either the IRC or Reddit to get in touch with them based on their site info. For some reason I guess I just have trouble considering Reddit as a platform for anything serious.
saq-xda said:
I figured that, but they have occasional notes in the updates about why support is being dropped,.....
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From what I understand, a device is dropped, typically, because of 1 of the following reasons...
1) There's a limited number of Maintainers and they get stretched very thin as to keeping up with the amount to devices they maintain.
2) This is the more likely reason... The Maintainers must possess the actual device in order to ensure the stability and such for the devices they maintain. If a Maintainer no longer possesses that device, they are no longer able to maintain it and the device has to be dropped.
I've seen, on a few occasions, where a device is added back again but, this doesn't happen that often.
Good Luck in your pursuit to develop!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I DO NOT provide support via PM unless asked/requested by myself. PLEASE keep it in the threads where everyone can share.
MOD EDIT: Rude content removed
True, it's just sad that everyone keep begging xiaomi for Android 10 update, seriously.
They should have appreciated on what xiaomi offers with this phone at this kind of price like good display, build quality and superior cameras! You are getting what you payed for.
I mean... if they, or you, really love Android 10 flavouring their A3, just grab a big selection of Android 10 custom ROM from our community, its way simpler than keep doing that. I know they may have bugs but they like Android 10 because of these... Dark mode, gesture navigation, privacy control, etc.
Now if they, or you decide to keep on begging xiaomi for Android 10 update, by all means go ahead! But this won't speed up their (xiaomi dev) development. Simple common sense, isn't it?
I strongly disagree with you, how does Xiaomi have enough resources to build MIUI 11? In fact Xiaomi has also released MIUI11 based Android 10 updates, if they have enough resources for them then they definitely work on Android One phones too.
Another thing: The reason Android One phones are supposed to get updates faster is manufacturers don't need to modify the OS much as compared to their own flavour (MIUI).
If they don't have enough resources they should not produce a Android One phone at first place. The MI A3 community is not being impatient, the update is quite late already, clearly there is no benefit of this phone having Android One program.
---------- Post added at 04:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:33 PM ----------
MarcusMario0605 said:
True, it's just sad that everyone keep begging xiaomi for Android 10 update, seriously.
They should have appreciated on what xiaomi offers with this phone at this kind of price like good display, build quality and superior cameras! You are getting what you payed for.
I mean... if they, or you, really love Android 10 flavouring their A3, just grab a big selection of Android 10 custom ROM from our community, its way simpler than keep doing that. I know they may have bugs but they like Android 10 because of these... Dark mode, gesture navigation, privacy control, etc.
Now if they, or you decide to keep on begging xiaomi for Android 10 update, by all means go ahead! But this won't speed up their (xiaomi dev) development. Simple common sense, isn't it?
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Click to collapse
No brother, users are NOT getting what they paid for. Faster updates was one of the main selling point of this Phone, clearly Xiaomi has no interest in their Android One devices, their priority has always been phones with MIUI. And yes, NOT everyone has enough technical knowledge to flash custom roms.
zenkhas said:
I strongly disagree with you, how does Xiaomi have enough resources to build MIUI 11? In fact Xiaomi has also released MIUI11 based Android 10 updates, if they have enough resources for them then they definitely work on Android One phones too.
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They surely don't have as much income from Android One opposed to MIUI, which is their brand. Of course they are not working as hard on it and the teams working on MIUI are definitely bigger. The number of phones that got Q is really handful compared to Xiaomi's lineup and those that did got an update, cost a lot more than this device. THAT is whole point.
zenkhas said:
Another thing: The reason Android One phones are supposed to get updates faster is manufacturers don't need to modify the OS much as compared to their own flavour (MIUI).
If they don't have enough resources they should not produce a Android One phone at first place. The MI A3 community is not being impatient, the update is quite late already, clearly there is no benefit of this phone having Android One program.
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Click to collapse
And I repeat, no one said, not Google nor Xiaomi, that Android One updates are faster.
Name me a midrange phone that got Q? Galaxy A50... nope?
m4RinKo2 said:
They surely don't have as much income from Android One opposed to MIUI, which is their brand. Of course they are not working as hard on it and the teams working on MIUI are definitely bigger. The number of phones that got Q is really handful compared to Xiaomi's lineup and those that did got an update, cost a lot more than this device. THAT is whole point.
And I repeat, no one said, not Google nor Xiaomi, that Android One updates are faster.
Name me a midrange phone that got Q? Galaxy A50... nope?
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Click to collapse
Well, I'm not sure about mid-range devices which have received Android 10 update, but If you go to Android One's website, their title says "Secure, up-to-date and easy to use", but unfortunately our devices have been outdated for quite a while now. Simple.
But yes, we can't do anything but to wait.
zenkhas said:
Well, I'm not sure about mid-range devices which have received Android 10 update, but If you go to Android One's website, their title says "Secure, up-to-date and easy to use", but unfortunately our devices have been outdated for quite a while now. Simple.
But yes, we can't do anything but to wait.
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Click to collapse
Outdated? We have patch from 5th December and we're in the middle of January. Sounds pretty up-to- date to me. Don't confuse the latest Android version with the latest security patch - Android One is primarily about monthly security updates. 2 Android version upgrades are a nice bonus, but with no guaranteed time frame when is it going to be received.
Fuuuuuu
zenkhas said:
No brother, users are NOT getting what they paid for. Faster updates was one of the main selling point of this Phone, clearly Xiaomi has no interest in their Android One devices, their priority has always been phones with MIUI. And yes, NOT everyone has enough technical knowledge to flash custom roms.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Xiaomi never said it will release faster update, they just said Android One provides a simple, clean UI, providing 2 yrs of software update and 3 yrs of security update only.
If they had no interest on A series phone then why they joined Android One program and manufacturing a widely successful Mi A1 in the first place? They put priority to MIUI phones because MIUI has ads in it, Xiaomi makes money from them, whereas Android One, Xiaomi didn't make any money at all. Then why they keep making Android One phones? Just because users love clean Android, that is something you can't beat with.
Our community provides a large numbers of tutorials on how unlock bootloader/root/install custom ROM, so many of you shouldn't have any difficulties, in case if they have so, our community members will be nice enough to help them find/ solve their difficulties.
m4RinKo2 said:
Spolier: this is a rant about the community and their impatience.
Ever since I bought the device 3 months ago, I immediately started searching for ROMs and Telegram groups, etc. And all the time I was seeing people spamming threads, groups and even official Xiaomi Twitter page with questions about the update and such. Some also contacted the customer support and asked them about the update, although the customer support doesn't have any idea about it. And I saw a tweet from Mi India that the update will come mid February. Most replies to that were like: "**** you xiaomi, I will never buy your phone again, you disappointed your customers....".
First of all, it was never said on the Android One page nor the Mi A3 page that the updates will be immediate.
Secondly, building and polishing an Android update to maybe millions of devices costs money and time. I'm not saying that we will get a bug free update, but something probably close to. You can't expect from a company that releases new phones every month with minimal profit margins to push updates so fast. Some flagships still didn't get the update, but their price was 2 or 3 times bigger. You get what you pay for. Appreciate that you have a really nice phone for nothing basically.
Lastly, that behavior is cancerous. Being angry at a company for not fullfiling all of your expectations is your problem. Rather than spamming groups and whatnot, spend some time finding phones that suit you better or find devs that you can donate to. Send them a dollar or two so that they can pay their building servers and drink coffee while removing bugs with no logs.
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For your opinion must waiting on september.few days befor release android 11.
This is not android one my friend is meizu rom.
The most of miui took android 10 and xiaomi forget the vanila android.
This is the truth.
Is the last time buy xiaomi smartphone.never i will buy again this brand.
I have delete until now 3 brands.
Apple motorola xiaomi.
This phone has easy to unlock the boot loader and a bunch of custom ROMs. Go over to the other forums for other phones. It's crickets on the dev side.
Clean Android: good. If mi 9 had it I would jump on one. A month or two delay over the life of the phone is not a huge deal.
I have used 2 Android One phones recently. And they were soo cheap phones. Now I have the Mi A3 and this phone is more expensive than the others. (In Android One category)
And these phones updated very fast. Beta tests begin 1 week after the beta release for Pixel phones. So Android One program means an early update to me. If the update will be late why did I bought this phone?
But there is a point to mention. Another android one phone that I have purchased at the same time with A3, didn't receive Android 10 eighter. There could be a problem with the Google maybe?
i agree with you friend but please explain why A2 got update before A3?
---------- Post added at 11:27 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:21 AM ----------
And in your first point there was a promise, refer to mannu jain tweet. What is the meaning of "One of the first few device" if 2 year old nokia phone got an update, and Samsung cheap phone also received it and motorola too. Then what is the meaning of that tweet, please explain it too sir.
m4RinKo2 said:
They surely don't have as much income from Android One opposed to MIUI, which is their brand. Of course they are not working as hard on it and the teams working on MIUI are definitely bigger. The number of phones that got Q is really handful compared to Xiaomi's lineup and those that did got an update, cost a lot more than this device. THAT is whole point.
And I repeat, no one said, not Google nor Xiaomi, that Android One updates are faster.
Name me a midrange phone that got Q? Galaxy A50... nope?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nokia 7.1, motorola one action
It’s just a typical way of thinking of those who had very few or even no knowledge about how programming and the software development process works…
Keep dumping pressure to devs only makes things worse.
It's like torque down the wheel nuts without even using a proper torque wrench; imagine if a guy was hurrying tightening down the nuts by bare hands. The wheels nuts can be loosened up and fall off the car! How safe would that be? Same applies for software development, if they rushed for an update, it can be buggy as hell, who knows!
So “Patience” is definitely the key, I had the same experience with A2 last year, where people just kept begging for Android 9 update. Xiaomi rushed, and pushes out buggy update like battery drain, inconsistent UI, and more severe, bootloop in its Jan update. Now, A2 got android 10 update doesn't mean it is better, it can have bugs like UI, bluetooth, slow charging bugs. It's a last major software update for A2, Xiaomi can rush the update, can't they? I know in Xiaomi website it said "Android one provides up-to-date software experience", but there's the fact that nothing is absolute. The update can be delayed for whatever reason.
The A3 is a cheap, budget, yet mid-range phone and people still want to interpret it as a “flagship” phone. Although this is an Android One phone, Xiaomi still need to fix bugs and add their own custom features. That would generally take some times for the completion, that doesn’t even count for fixing various bugs. Even though Motorola, Nokia phones get Android 10, it’s just depends on certain devs. They can be more productive than us.
Even more surprising, when Xiaomi india replied a tweet at twitter saying that android 10 will arrive on mid-Feb. People are screwed... they f**k Xiaomi and said that they won’t buy their phone again. Well, I feel quite miserable on why are people so impatient and complaining so much, seriously.
That is all I want to say, and I don’t want to dump any more time in this weird tragedy. If you disagree with me, feel free to blame, swear, or report to me. But the Fact that 'the arrival of Android 10 has no exact date' is going to Never change! So please, stop complaining about the update.
Thanks Captain!
m4RinKo2 said:
Spolier: this is a rant about the community and their impatience.
Ever since I bought the device 3 months ago, I immediately started searching for ROMs and Telegram groups, etc. And all the time I was seeing people spamming threads, groups and even official Xiaomi Twitter page with questions about the update and such. Some also contacted the customer support and asked them about the update, although the customer support doesn't have any idea about it. And I saw a tweet from Mi India that the update will come mid February. Most replies to that were like: "**** you xiaomi, I will never buy your phone again, you disappointed your customers....".
First of all, it was never said on the page that the updates will be immediate.
Secondly, building and polishing an Android update to maybe millions of devices costs money and time. I'm not saying that we will get a bug free update, but something probably close to. You can't expect from a company that releases new phones every month with minimal profit margins to push updates so fast. Some flagships still didn't get the update, but their price was 2 or 3 times bigger. You get what you pay for. Appreciate that you have a really nice phone for nothing basically.
Lastly, that behavior is cancerous. Being angry at a company for not fullfiling all of your expectations is your problem. Rather than spamming groups and whatnot, spend some time finding phones that suit you better or find devs that you can donate to. Send them a dollar or two so that they can pay their building servers and drink coffee while removing bugs with no logs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for this Post! got already tired of people complaining about a good, cheap phone whose dev's are taking care of a bug free release first instead of rushing things. The A3 is working purrrfeect for what you pay <3
From my point of view thinking of that mi A3 has some type of priority is as foolish as of believing that this extra time (Chinese New year) will mean a more polished and refined rom.
I think someone should learn what Android One means before starting to make a thread.
MarcusMario0605 said:
Xiaomi never said it will release faster update, they just said Android One provides a simple, clean UI, providing 2 yrs of software update and 3 yrs of security update only.
If they had no interest on A series phone then why they joined Android One program and manufacturing a widely successful Mi A1 in the first place? They put priority to MIUI phones because MIUI has ads in it, Xiaomi makes money from them, whereas Android One, Xiaomi didn't make any money at all. Then why they keep making Android One phones? Just because users love clean Android, that is something you can't beat with.
Our community provides a large numbers of tutorials on how unlock bootloader/root/install custom ROM, so many of you shouldn't have any difficulties, in case if they have so, our community members will be nice enough to help them find/ solve their difficulties.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats completely untrue. Xiaomi have made alluded to faster android upgrades for their Android One phones. And sometimes even made direct statements on that issue - one statement was from Manu (India's VP) saying "Mi A3 is going to be one of the first few devices to get Android Q".
After all the hype about faster updates from their fanbase, now you've amazingly said Xiaomi never promised anything at all! How very Trumpian of you.
And now you've made some more incredible statements like Xiaomi is only producing Android one phones because they have to, not because they actually want to, and Xiaomi don't make any money at all on these phones. No facts, no figures, just an outright assertion.
Customs roms are nice but it has no bearing on this issue. These roms are generally not vetted, tested, checked to see if they are stable and free from malware.
MarcusMario0605 said:
True, it's just sad that everyone keep begging xiaomi for Android 10 update, seriously.
They should have appreciated on what xiaomi offers with this phone at this kind of price like good display, build quality and superior cameras! You are getting what you payed for.
I mean... if they, or you, really love Android 10 flavouring their A3, just grab a big selection of Android 10 custom ROM from our community, its way simpler than keep doing that. I know they may have bugs but they like Android 10 because of these... Dark mode, gesture navigation, privacy control, etc.
Now if they, or you decide to keep on begging xiaomi for Android 10 update, by all means go ahead! But this won't speed up their (xiaomi dev) development. Simple common sense, isn't it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bro, would like to disagree with you here. If in the end we have to choose a custom rom, then why would I buy an Android One device. I could simply buy a MiUI based Xiaomi device and simply install custom rom (Probably that's what the Xiaomi wants). The other reason people prefer Android One device is to get rid of complications a custom rom develop.
Secondly, there's no hiding away from the fact that update is delayed for whatever reason may it be. Both the parties are at fault, I agree lots of people are baby shouting about Android 10 but the fact is and will be is that the update has been delayed. And for this no one is blaming developers. I always respect the developers. They work behind the scenes without getting applaused. But the anger of people is over Xiaomi not the developers. The fact is people showing here as if they care for developrs are actually diverting the company's fault to developrs. Xiaomi aren't focusing on Android One with majority of developers assigned to MiUI. And this device is not the one which has been sold less. This is one of the best selling phones. It offering a lot at this price.
Manu (India's VP) saying "Mi A3 is going to be one of the first few devices to get Android Q".
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Typical non-committal language - just consider how many vendors and devices are out there - if the Mi A3 gets Android 10 in March 2020, it might very well be part of the "first few devices". In short, there is no reason to assume Mr. Manu wasn't being truthful at the time of tweeting this (back in Aug 2019). That is what he was led to believe then.
Xiaomi should be a bit more open about the roadmap/update progress, to ease everyone's mind.