I just realize that there has been a lack of a long-form communication from the Ubuntu base upgrade side, which causes some frictions and confusions when trying to contribute to Ubuntu Touch during this transition period. This post aims to provide status updates and information that I think everyone has to know.

Name changes for Noble-based images

Due to some confusion in the word devel which has been used differently before, I've decided to rename the word devel that is used in various places to just next or utnext. In practice, this means:

• The image name from the rootfs job will be in the format of e.g. ubuntu-touch-android9plus-rootfs-next-arm64.tar.gz
• The system-image channel for testing out Noble-based is now called utnext/arm64/android9plus/daily. Note that we've set up redirection in place, so if you're already on the old channel, you'll automatically be redirected to this new name.
• The Clickable images (which we're still working on) will be available under the version next.

The name next is chosen to represent that this will become the "next" major release of Ubuntu Touch. When we enters the phase where we stabilize the release, we'll produce another set of channels, rootfs and Clickable images with the release number (which is yet to be finalized).

Status of Noble-based Ubuntu Touch

Since the last time I made a forum post, the following features has become usable:

• Web Browser
• Media Playback
• Sensor

This may seem not much, but more features are already in the code review phase. It could even be possible that we'll have the image in the state ready for wider testing before the Chrismas. We'll see...

Please be careful when submitting changes to core applications

Mike Gabriel and his team is currently working to package up a number of UT/Lomiri core applications for Debian, making them available on a more up-to-date OS with newer Qt compared to Ubuntu 20.04 our current images are based on. Meanwhile, our Noble-based Ubuntu Touch image is start to be more usable. Both of these expose our applications to new warnings which has not appeared before on Ubuntu Touch 20.04 with Qt 5.12.

However, in many cases, the only way to solve those warnings is to migrate the code to the new syntax. Syntax which is not compatible with Qt 5.12. In particular, those syntax changes include:

• Using function onFoo () { } form for Connection { } component.
• Setting restoreMode property of Binding { } component.

Since we've not make a separated branch for 20.04 just yet (and we can't do so because Clickable support for Noble-based Ubuntu Touch is not available yet), please don't introduce those changes into our core application repositories (more specifically, repositories under "ubports/development/apps" GitLab group). We've yet to decided if we need a separated branch for Ubuntu Touch 20.04 compatibility, but personally I would prefer that we don't need one.

Also, please be reminded that these applications are first and foremost core applications for Ubuntu Touch. When submitting changes for them, please be mindful of this fact. When reviewing changes, please think of a possible breakage on phone (and wrt. Click packaging). Preferably test them on a phone first if the change seems big.

Side note: we're planing to ship an environment variable drop-in file to silence deprecation warnings for the 2 syntax changes above. This should ease your eyes when reading through the log on the device.

Heads up for porters: please drop touch.pa overlay if possible

We expect ports that are available on Ubuntu Touch 20.04 to require only minimal changes in order to run on Noble-based Ubuntu Touch (unlike the 16.04 -> 20.04 transition). We've yet to finalize all changes that will be required. However, one change is certain: touch.pa will have to be updated, or be dropped if possible.

This is due to how a newer Pulseaudio changes how it handles Bluetooth audio, requiring us to update the configuration for the Bluetooth module. However, if touch.pa file is overlaid from ports, the old configuration would be used, preventing voice call over Bluetooth headset to work properly.

If your port requires overlaying touch.pa to hard-code the API level of pulseaudio-module-droid to 30, then you'll be glad to know that it will no longer required when MR at [1] is merged, as it will now happen automatically when required. If, however, your port requires overlaying touch.pa to specify quirks to pulseaudio-module-droid, we'll soon provide a way to specify this quirk without overlaying touch.pa. And if you need to overlay touch.pa for other reasons, please tell us so that we can understand your need better.

[1]: https://gitlab.com/ubports/development/core/hybris-support/pulseaudio-module-droid-discover/-/merge_requests/6

Another thing that might require special consideration is that, if your port overlays binary files (which we would not recommend, for security update reason and other reasons), please make sure that your overlaid binary can be executed on Noble-based images, as not every library retains its interface and/or soname.

Heads-up for app developers: you'll need to re-build your app

Due to changes in Ubuntu 24.04, we cannot guarantee that every application built against Ubuntu Touch 20.04 will run on Noble-based Ubuntu Touch. As such, we'll enforce it through Click's framework system that every native applications must be re-built against the next Ubuntu Touch version.

However, we've not finalized how the Clickable support for the new release scheme will look like. So you can't quite do that just yet. Sorry for the delay.

Meanwhile, if your application is QML-only, and the Click package declare this fact through Click framework (i.e. by using ubuntu-sdk-20.04-qml framework), your application should work as-is without any change. However, due to a shortcoming in Clickable, you might not be able to do that just yet. Please follow issue at [2] to see if this has been solved.

[2]: https://gitlab.com/clickable/clickable/-/issues/444

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Phew! That's a lot of stuffs. I didn't expect it to be this long when I first decided to sit down and start writing this up. But here we are.

If you still have any question, feel free to reply to this post or to ping me on Telegram in the "UBports Development" channel. I'll try to answer as much as I can.

@domubpkm I'm sorry I didn't notice this before start rolling out. However, since this should be able to be remedied later via Open-Store, I've decided to not holding back the system update.

I personally am unable to reproduce the crash, but maybe I don't understand the reproduction steps well. Could you please elaborate more on this at Music app's issue tracker?

https://gitlab.com/ubports/development/apps/lomiri-music-app/-/issues

As for the Music app being unable to re-install, please help us gathering the log and then follow the workaround at:

https://gitlab.com/ubports/development/core/click/-/issues/27

(Music app's click package id is music.ubports)

Ubuntu Touch 20.04 OTA-7 is released. Thank you everyone involved in testing.

https://ubports.com/blog/ubports-news-1/post/ubuntu-touch-ota-7-focal-release-3943

@Kinuk We've not encountered any application trying to exploit this yet. That said, because Pulseaudio (the audio server) doesn't log a successful attempt at loading/unloading modules, should any application try to exploit this, there would be no evidence that we can see. This is one of the reason we've decided to roll out this update as soon as possible.

We're going to release Ubuntu Touch 20.04 OTA-7 earlier than schedule to fix a number of security issues affecting Pulseaudio, our audio server. One of the issue affects privacy of Ubuntu Touch users, and thus we've decided to release an out-of-schedule update.

The issues are as follow:

• Confined applications can remove the Trust Store permission system module from Pulseaudio, allowing such applications to access the phone's microphone without user knowing, amongst a number of privileged actions.
• Confined applications are able to crash Pulseaudio by performing a volume control on a specific virtual device when a Bluetooth headset is connected.

Both of the issues are specific to the way Ubuntu Touch patches and uses Pulseaudio. However, the second issue has a potential to affect some Ubuntu 16.04 installations running non-default configuration (newer versions are not affected). As such, we've coordinated with Canonical on the timing before making this announcement.

Due to the way our release pipeline works, Ubuntu Touch 20.04 OTA-7 will also contain a number of fixes which are not related to the aforementioned issues. Thus, we'll release an RC for 20.04 OTA-7 in upcoming days and we'll announce a call-for-testing. We plan to release Ubuntu Touch 20.04 OTA-7 on Friday 29 November 2024.

Updated: Ubuntu Touch 20.04 OTA-7 RC is out, which should have version 2024-W47. Please take some time to switch your spare/development phone to the 20.04 RC channel and test this OTA.

Update: Ubuntu Touch 20.04 OTA-7 is released. Thank you everyone involved in testing.

Ubuntu Touch 20.04 OTA-6 is released. Thank you everyone involved in testing.

https://ubports.com/blog/ubports-news-1/post/ubuntu-touch-ota-6-focal-release-3942

@Charly Thank you for testing.

@wally Thank you for testing. Whether or not MMS works on Ubuntu Touch with Wi-Fi on depends on how the carrier configure their MMS service. This issue contains all relevant information.

@Charly Hmm Ok. Could you please get the updater's log, available at /var/log/system-image/client.log? The file is restricted to root only, so use sudo to gain access to it.

sudo cat /var/log/system-image/client.log >client.log

@Charly the Updates page has been known to have some flakiness that we can't quite figure out yet. Could you please try clearing the updater's cache by pressing the bin icon on the top right (next to the cog wheel)?

Update: We've released another RC, which should have tag 2024-W45. This contains the oFono backend revert for VPx23 and VP22_H12, as well as Pixel 3a's kernel fix which should fix random reboot.

If nothing else crops up, we expect to release Ubuntu Touch 20.04 OTA-6 on 8 November 2024.

@Charly (and anyone affected by broken mobile data on OTA-6 RC), could you please try resetting APN settings and replace them with the current values from the database?

To do so, go to System Settings > Cellular > Carrier & APN > APN, then select "Reset All APN Settings…". Confirm the action, and then note if the settings change or not. See if mobile data is restored. If not, try rebooting the phone and check again.

In any case, logs gathered using my previous instructions are still valuable.

@Charly Thank you for the log. This pins point the area of the potential problem. The following commands enable debugging output of oFono, a telephony component, and restart it. The setting disappears after reboot.

sudo mkdir -p /run/systemd/system/ofono.service.d
sudo tee /run/systemd/system/ofono.service.d/zz-debug.conf <<EOF
[Service]
ExecStart=
ExecStart=/usr/libexec/lxc-android-config/ofonod-wrapper -d
EOF
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl restart ofono.service

Wait around 1-2 minutes for stuffs to settle, then re-run the log collection command again.

journalctl --boot --identifier=ofonod --identifier=NetworkManager >journalctl.log

The previous log does not contain (much) private information. However, this one is going to potentially contain (more) private information. So you probably want to send this log via the forum's chat or via Telegram (@peat_psuwit).

@Charly Don't worry. We consider loss of mobile data to be a major breakage, and will not release OTA-6 before it was dealt with.

If https://paste.ubuntu.com doesn't work for you (and you still can't upload the file directly to this thread), you may try a few alternatives.

• https://pastebin.com
• https://www.toptal.com/developers/hastebin
• https://paste.debian.net/

And failing that, you're welcomed to join us on Telegram (https://t.me/ubports_qa_team) too.

@lduboeuf Could you please try the devel image? @fredldotme mentioned that he has reverted a kernel change that supposedly cause a kernel panic on sleep. If it's fixed there, we can have another RC, possibly also with a fix for the mentioned above Volla Phone X23 breakage.

@mariogrip, maybe change the title of the topic to indicate that this is only for Qualcomm devices?

Please don't turn this thread into forums diagnostic thread. A better category would be the General category or perhaps the Off Topics category.

@Charly are you on Telegram? Maybe join our Quality Assurance group on Telegram (https://t.me/ubports_qa_team) and we can chat in a bit more realtime fashion. You can also send logs this way.

@Charly Hmm... indeed. I didn't notice that this forum doesn't allow you to attach the files. In that case, you could also upload the file's content to a "paste" web site, such as https://paste.ubuntu.com/ or https://pastebin.com/.

Also, may I know which carrier in which country are you using?

@Charly could you please collect log for us? Using ADB [1] or the Terminal app, run command journalctl --boot --identifier=ofonod --identifier=NetworkManager >journalctl.log. Then, please share file journalctl.log with us (using ADB or your file manager).

[1]: https://docs.ubports.com/en/latest/userguide/advanceduse/adb.html

Just for curiosity, I made a libbinder_ndk libhybris wrapper, then ran the aidl utility through the actual .aidl files for IVibrator to generate bindings. With a few twists, it does let me talk to AIDL vibrator HAL using a very straight-forward code.

Interesting and could be used to deal with some hard-to-manually-marshal AIDL protocols. There's no intention to actually use it in UT yet (hence the off-topic channel), but it could be interesting to someone.

https://gitlab.com/ubports/development/core/hfd-service/-/tree/personal/peat-psuwit/aidl-via-libbinder_ndk/src?ref_type=heads