Call for testing: background location updates

mardy

Thanks @cliffcoggin ! I realized just now that not all the packages made it to the PPA: the lomiri changes are not there, and they are essential to get this functionality working fine. I'm still trying to understand what is the correct branch to use for lomiri, and then I'll rebuild the package. I'll keep you guys posted!

For the time being, better not use this PPA, as it's incomplete.

cliffcoggin

@mardy OK. I will await developments.

To get back to stable channel I changed to RC which appeared to go well. I then tried changing back to stable channel, and it told me it was switching channels, but it remained on RC. Is that because RC is essentially the same as stable at the moment? Do I need to do anything more?

mardy

OK, now the PPA seems ready

Please test it again, and sorry for the previous glitch!

cliffcoggin

@mardy Initial indications are good. Lockscreen engages as normal, Sensor Status and Pure Maps show the correct location.

I'll perform a longer test next time I go out and let you know the outcome.

cliffcoggin

@mardy Further information: the battery level dropped from 65% to 5% in less than three hours. (I don't know the precise time as the phone turned itself off while I was away from it.) That's probably similar to what it would have been before the modification.

kugiigi

If i remember correctly, the main issue before is that location stops working when you lock the screen even if you disable suspension. I had to stop automatic locking whenever I use Activity tracker. I was lucky Bq E5's battertly is great so I was able to use it for many hours.

TotalRando

Hey this just turned my GPS on! Thanks!

magdesign

@mardy
Thanks!
After doing

sudo ubports-qa install xenial_-_locationbg

and rebooting my oneplus6 several times the GPS is finally working!

hsce1

Hey @mardy, do you know if your background location service implementation has survived the transfer to focal?

Edit: I guess I found the relevant MR: https://gitlab.com/ubports/development/core/lomiri/-/merge_requests/70

aimar

Wow! How did I miss this feature? I have seen the last post and realize that it was available two years ago.
Well, BQ E4.5 OTA 25. I have just installed it, but I am not very confident it will work. I get some errors that make me suspect:

ubuntu-location-service-bin#####]
W: No sandbox user '_apt' on the system, can not drop privileges
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
ERROR:ubports-qa:Failed to run 'apt full-upgrade'. See the output above for details.
mount: / is busy
WARNING:ubports-qa:Failed to remount root filesystem read-only.
WARNING:ubports-qa:Please consider rebooting your device.

I have rebooted the phone. This weelend I will test the background data adquisition.

aimar

I think ubuntu-location-service-bin is not properly installed.

Just some questions. I see the following packages upgraded:

biometryd-bin
libbiometry1
qml-module-biometryd

Why do we need biometry stuff?

This ones were downgraded:

libubuntu-location-service3
qtubuntu-sensors
ubuntu-location-service-bin
unity8 unity8-common
unity8-private unity8-schemas

@mardy you mentioned Lorimi, but I still see unity. Is it all right? I understood this change was for xenial devices.
I hope I do not miss anything with the downgrade.

aimar

It works.
I tried it with Activity Tracker and records my position with the phone locked.
During the first try, the location switch turned off automatically whenever I turned it on. But now the switch and me seem to have achieved an understanding.
Thank you very much for such a useful feature.

AmauryDBZ

@aimar didn't worked for me. Any tests that I can perform ?

aimar

Hi @AmauryDBZ. Sorry, I am not a developer, so I cannot provide any hint. I usually use a trial and error approach. You can try uninstalling the package and reinstalling it again.
Actually for me, the first time it was not properly installed because I lost the wifi connection. I tried again and although I had some doubts (see posts above) it works.
My phone requires some time to connect to the satelites, but once it is done, Activity Tracker followed me.

aimar

Why have I been downvoted?
I was just reporting an initial weird behaviour, but finally a succesfull performance.

AmauryDBZ

@aimar thanks I'll try this :thumbs_up:

@aimar said in Call for testing: background location updates:

Why have I been downvoted ?

I had the same question

danfro

Can anyone here, who had background recording working, please confirm if that still works with current OS (OTA4 or newer RC/devel)? We sadly couldn't get it to work on two Xperia X and on OP5T with ActivityTracker.

AmauryDBZ

@danfro not working on my FP4, but I didn't investigate much