Another quick update.
I'm really pleased to announce that I got the SharePlugin part of the app working as well. I successfully pushed a file from my Pixel 3a to my (Linux) laptop over BT, but even more importantly for me, I was able to push selected contacts to my car kit 
The user interface is still too rough for the app to be published as is (at this stage, you have to select the target device based on its MAC address, which is far from convenient), but I'm working on it.
The present post does not contain any question. When I flashed my first phone with UT four years ago, I struggled a bit to gather all relevant information, so I'm offering the below procedure to the community in the hope that it may ease the journey of first-time users.
Disclaimer: this is a description of what worked for me. Use at your own risk. Flashing is performed from a PC installed with openSUSE Leap 15.6 -- some commands may need to be adapted if you use a different distro.
Important: if flashing the phone with either Android Flash Tool or the flash-all.sh script hangs / fails to detect the phone, DO try from a different PC if you can (I have a Lenovo laptop and a custom-built PC both installed with openSUSE Leap 15.6: I was never able to flash from the laptop, while the PC worked like a charm). It may also be worth trying different USB cables / USB ports.
Note: in the steps below, '#' denote commands that are executed as root, '$' denote commands that are executed as a regular user.
unbox and fully charge phone (do not turn on yet)
insert SIM, turn phone on
select language (English UK)
click Get Started
connect to WiFi (provide credentials)
-> "getting your phone ready..."
"Copy apps & data" -> select "Don't copy"
Google account sign-in -> login
Accept conditions
set a PIN
Continue setup or get reminder -> get reminder
Unselect all optional apps
Settings -> System -> Updates
(Android 12, build SP2A.220505.008)
Settings -> About Phone
tap "Build number" 7 times, enter PIN to confirm
-> "you are now a developer"
Settings -> System -> Developer Options:
turn phone off
unzip 'platform-tools' archive below ~/platform-tools/
edit ~/.bashrc to add ${HOME}/platform-tools to your PATH
install (update) 'android-udev-rules' package from build service
# zypper addrepo https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/hardware/15.6/hardware.repo
# zypper refresh
# zypper install android-udev-rules-20250314-lp156.51.1.noarch
(this also installs adb and fastboot by way of dependencies)
add your own user account to 'adbusers' group:
# usermod -aG adbusers <userID>
(logout/login)
# grep adb /etc/group
adbusers:x:453:<userID>
turn phone on (regular mode). Unlock it
plug phone into PC
ADB connection detected by phone. Check box to always allow connection from PC (allow PC's RSA key fingerprint on device):
$ adb devices -l
List of devices attached
XXXXXXXXXX device usb:1-6 product:sargo model:Pixel_3a device:sargo transport_id:1
turn phone off
boot into Fastboot Mode
(volume down + power -- hold for 5")
Fastboot menu appears
$ fastboot devices -l
XXXXXXXXXX fastboot usb:1-6
unlock bootloader
$ fastboot flashing unlock
OKAY [ 0.133s]
Finished. Total time: 0.133s
phone screen prompts: do not unlock / unlock
(use volume keys to select, power button to confirm)
-> bootloader confirmed unlocked
turn phone off (use volume button to select option, power button to confirm)
(the steps below refer to the Android Flash Tool -- using the flash-all.sh script also works fine but starts with the phone booted into the bootloader)
check that 'adb' is not running
(otherwise, stop it with 'adb kill-server')
turn phone on the usual way
redo basic setup, as bootloader unlock returned it to factory default (see above)
reconnect to phone using 'adb devices' to get prompt to authorized PC and allow it
visit following URL in Chrome (authorise pop-ups in browser):
https://flash.android.com/
select device
select target build (PQ3B.190801.002)
DO NOT select to relock bootloader
click Install Build (confirm, accept license)
flash successful -- power cycle device
reboot to Android 9, redo initial setup, enable dev. mode, USB debug, connect and allow PC, turn phone off
install 'snapd' daemon
# zypper addrepo https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/system:/snappy/openSUSE_Leap_15.6/ Snappy
# zypper refresh
# zypper in snapd
# systemctl enable snapd.apparmor.service
# systemctl start snapd.apparmor.service
# systemctl enable snapd.service
# systemctl start snapd.service
reboot
install UBports installer
# snap install ubports-installer
$ which ubports-installer
/snap/bin/ubports-installer
$ snap info ubports-installer
name: ubports-installer
summary: The easy way to install Ubuntu Touch on UBports devices.
publisher: UBports
store-url: https://snapcraft.io/ubports-installer
contact: https://github.com/ubports/ubports-installer/issues/new
license: GPL-3.0
description: |
A friendly cross-platform Installer for Ubuntu Touch. Just connect a
supported device to your PC, follow the on-screen instructions and watch
this awesome tool do all the rest.
commands:
- ubports-installer
snap-id: mq0sTMV7a8744UTRBwQHimStAqsGzbjj
tracking: latest/stable
refresh-date: 2022-09-11
channels:
latest/stable: 0.9.7-beta 2022-09-11 (435) 97MB -
latest/candidate: ?
latest/beta: 0.9.8-beta 2022-11-02 (445) 102MB -
latest/edge: 0.10.0 2023-04-23 (462) 103MB -
installed: 0.9.7-beta (435) 97MB -
switch ubports-installer to "edge" channel
$ snap refresh ubports-installer --edge
ubports-installer (edge) 0.10.0 from UBports refreshed
$ snap info ubports-installer
name: ubports-installer
summary: The easy way to install Ubuntu Touch on UBports devices.
publisher: UBports
store-url: https://snapcraft.io/ubports-installer
contact: https://github.com/ubports/ubports-installer/issues/new
license: GPL-3.0
description: |
A friendly cross-platform Installer for Ubuntu Touch. Just connect a
supported device to your PC, follow the on-screen instructions and watch
this awesome tool do all the rest.
commands:
- ubports-installer
snap-id: mq0sTMV7a8744UTRBwQHimStAqsGzbjj
tracking: latest/edge
refresh-date: today at 13:47 CET
channels:
latest/stable: 0.9.7-beta 2022-09-11 (435) 97MB -
latest/candidate: ?
latest/beta: 0.9.8-beta 2022-11-02 (445) 102MB -
latest/edge: 0.10.0 2023-04-23 (462) 103MB -
installed: 0.10.0 (462) 103MB -
start ubports-installer
$ ubports-installer
Gtk-Message: 19:40:25.179: Failed to load module "window-decorations-gtk-module"
Gtk-Message: 19:40:25.179: Failed to load module "colorreload-gtk-module"
info: Welcome to the UBports Installer version 0.10.0!
connect phone (off) via USB
click select device manually
-> Google Pixel 3a:3a XL
click "My device is unlocked"
select OS
-> Ubuntu Touch
click Install
Installation options:
info: device selected: sargo
info: Installing Ubuntu Touch on your Google Pixel 3a/3a XL (sargo)
info: configuring...
info: settings: {"bootstrap":true,"wipe":true,"channel":"20.04/arm64/android9plus/stable"}
info: Downloading 3 files
info: Downloaded file 1 of 3
info: Downloaded file 2 of 3
info: Downloaded file 3 of 3
boot phone to bootloader, click Continue
(flashing firmware)
boot to recovery, click Continue
(if button fails, try adb reboot recovery)
=> shows 3-circles recovery logo and menu
info: Downloading 12 files
info: Downloaded file 1 of 12
info: Downloaded file 2 of 12
info: Downloaded file 3 of 12
info: Downloaded file 4 of 12
info: Downloaded file 5 of 12
info: Downloaded file 6 of 12
info: Downloaded file 7 of 12
info: Downloaded file 8 of 12
info: Downloaded file 9 of 12
info: Downloaded file 10 of 12
info: Downloaded file 11 of 12
info: Downloaded file 12 of 12
info: All done! Your device will now reboot and complete the installation. Enjoy exploring Ubuntu Touch!
(pushing files to phone)
phone reboots at the end
=> goes to longish 3-circles recovery logo animation while installing (may last a few minutes -- have patience)
phone reboots again
=> this time it boots to UT and asks you to perform the initial setup
Status update:
As it happens, I took the opportunity of having the phone on the dev channel to re-test an application that typically froze the GUI (the app called "Steps" -- I already opened a bug report on that specific issue). Turns out the behaviour was the same on v763, so I wanted to force a power cycle by rebooting the phone on the recovery image (Power + Vol+).
But instead of the recovery menu, I was greeted by the spiralling animation: the phone was clearly installing something. When it finished rebooting, I was back on OTA-20, and both SIMs were still active!
Following @DPITTI suggestion, I also removed v763 from the upgrade history.
I'll now mark this post as "resolved". Many thanks to all those who contributed.
@alter Thinking back about the whole sequence, I'm a bit concerned that my first failed attempt at flashing UT (before adapting the udev rules) may have left the phone in an "unexpected" state, which in turn caused the 2nd flashing attempt to fail with these ominous error messages.
It is perhaps best at this point that use TWRP again to put Android9 back on the phone (in both slots), make sure the phone is bootable again, and retry the whole 'ubports-installer' process again.
@stanwood Thanks a lot for the advice.
Just upgraded to OTA-20: the upgrade process itself went flawlessly, but the SIM card in slot #1 is no longer detected!
Is there any information I could collect on the phone to help troubleshoot this?
Problem has been resolved -- phone is now running UT OTA-19 stable.
Details about the fix in the device-specific post (see URL in previous post). I'll now mark this one as resolved as well.
Many thanks to all those who helped.
I just installed the phone with UBP-installer v0.10.0 -- everything went like a charm this time round.
Many thanks to both of you for your support.
@lduboeuf said in Trying to revive 'ubtd' (Bluetooth file transfer):
Congrats, So some changes are needed on UT to make it work ?
If your question is: did I need to hack my phone to make the app work in its current state, then the answer is no. As suggested by @gpatel-fr, I just gave it an "unconfined" AA profile (which I understand would prevent me from publishing it on the OpenStore).
So eventually an updated bluetooth AppArmor Policy Group would be needed, I guess (or a extra one dedicated to OBEX).
@dpitti The device initially came with Android 8.1, but I flashed it with v9 as recommended before proceeding with the UT installation.
@gpatel-fr said in Trying to revive 'ubtd' (Bluetooth file transfer):
excellent !
For the record, I remember that you are using Focal on your phone. If you did not look at the last QA for Ubuntu Touch, there was a mention of the 'last' Focal OTA, meaning that 20.04 is on limited life support.
Thanks for letting me know. I'll try to get myself a 3rd phone and flash it with Noble, so I can port the app to it while maintaining the original version for a little while.
Do you know what device offers the best user experience under Noble?
Further update: I successfully tested the SharePlugin part of the app while using the enforcing AppArmor profile, which is great news.
This means that only the main app (used for receiving files) will need an updated AA profile. But this will wait until after publication of the first version.
@gpatel-fr said in Trying to revive 'ubtd' (Bluetooth file transfer):
there is no MR yet, it's for this issue
OK, understood -- I take your point and I'll try to publish ASAP.
@gpatel-fr said in Trying to revive 'ubtd' (Bluetooth file transfer):
how about setting up a public directory of what you have (if you have cleared the license question) ? It'll allow me to test it under Noble and possibly send a MR to gitlab once I'm sure that it works. Don't want to harass you of course, it's up to you to decide.
Yes, the licensing issue has been cleared up. Michael Zanetti agreed with me using the GPL v3.
What I'm working on right now is getting the code in a state where I could submit it on the OpenStore (with the understanding that it would need a full review as it still uses an unconfined profile). Of course, in the process, I will also push the code to a public Github repository.
Can you clarify what the Gitlab merge request you mentioned would be about? I'm afraid I missed a step here.
Another quick update.
I'm really pleased to announce that I got the SharePlugin part of the app working as well. I successfully pushed a file from my Pixel 3a to my (Linux) laptop over BT, but even more importantly for me, I was able to push selected contacts to my car kit
The user interface is still too rough for the app to be published as is (at this stage, you have to select the target device based on its MAC address, which is far from convenient), but I'm working on it.
@gpatel-fr said in Trying to revive 'ubtd' (Bluetooth file transfer):
@PhAndersson said in Trying to revive 'ubtd' (Bluetooth file transfer):
certain types of D-Bus requested are blocked by AA (such as AuthorizePush
I have actually taken a look at the ubtd code and as I understand it AuthorizePush is a method defined by ubtd for obex.
Correct -- it's still present in my current code.
Looking at the Ubuntu touch bluez code with some dismay, it seems that this method is defined quite officially to allow the obex daemon to send data to a client, squarely fitting your use case, so why is there no apparmor policy for that ? As a wild guess, it looks like an oversight by Canonical that was forwarded by Ubuntu Touch - or even an oversight by Debian, forwarded by Canonical, forwarded by Ubuntu Touch. Maybe a bluetooth policy should exist.
Well, there is a bluetooth policy group, and I used it. But it doesn't seem to cover that use case.
Or maybe it already exists ? looking at usr.sbin.cupsd in my Kubuntu 24.04 installation, I see a string 'network bluetooth'. Maybe adding that to your apparmor profile could strike gold ? Absolutely wild guess of course
If you refer to the network and bluetooth policy groups, I already use both (as you will see in one of my earlier posts), but that was not enough.
If there is a way to extend an app AA profile past the predefined policy groups offered by the platform, I would be interested. Can you point me to a doc. that covers it? I already tried hacking the .apparmor file provided with my app, but clickable didn't seem to approve 
@gpatel-fr said in Trying to revive 'ubtd' (Bluetooth file transfer):
@projectmoon said in Trying to revive 'ubtd' (Bluetooth file transfer):
I think any spawning of external processes that are not inside the app's ~/.local/share directory require unconfined.
If 'running an external process' means 'activating a service' via dbusk, not 'spawning', it can be done from confined I think. I did not check how exactly is working this application.
Yes, that was my experience as well. Even with an enforcing AA profile, my app was able to ask D-Bus to start the OBEX daemon if needed.
Only certain types of D-Bus requested are blocked by AA (such as AuthorizePush -- see log extract in one of my posts above).
@lduboeuf said in Trying to revive 'ubtd' (Bluetooth file transfer):
Congrats, So some changes are needed on UT to make it work ?
If your question is: did I need to hack my phone to make the app work in its current state, then the answer is no. As suggested by @gpatel-fr, I just gave it an "unconfined" AA profile (which I understand would prevent me from publishing it on the OpenStore).
So eventually an updated bluetooth AppArmor Policy Group would be needed, I guess (or a extra one dedicated to OBEX).
@gpatel-fr said in Trying to revive 'ubtd' (Bluetooth file transfer):
Great ! have happy file exchanges with your car
That won't work yet, unfortunately. For this, I need the SharePlugin to work. That one still crashes as soon as I select it which causes the phone to restart.
More troubleshooting needed
Well, good news! With the "unconfined" AA profile, the app works
The phone successfully received a .jpeg file sent over BT from my laptop:
