I had to use rpm a few times in the past because the scripts failed (can’t recall the packages anymore).
Using Openrepos always has been and still is a double-edge sword, that’s why I remove all even slightly questionable* packages and repositoriea manually before updating SFOS.
*) meaning: packages or repositories containing packages that replace or modify system files and/or core OS functionality - better safe than sorry! And yes, this totally includes my ncurses-compat-libs, which only adds new files.
I got my OTA 4.4.0.58 notification today (XA2) and I was somewhat apprehensive after reading all the horror stories here.
But it all went very smoothly and everything works. I did a backup while it was downloading and the backup notification even survived the upgrade! There is the start page browser bug which will be a bit annoying (I use the browser almost exclusively from shortcuts on the app menu) but I can live with it for the other browser improvements!
I did not uninstall storeman first but removed patches and patch manager some time ago for this very reason ie. upgrades. My three Android apps work fine but they are not complicated (bank login, card games and puzzles).
Congrats. The horror stories mostly come from a small group of EA-Users or people who experiment a lot with their devices. Keeping somewhere around middle of the road and thinking carefully about what to install and what not to install has given me a stable system for quite some time.
That’s just the way it is; if there’s a problem, people tell about it and want to get it fixed, but if everything goes smoothly, it’s left unsaid more often than not. That only strengthens the point - if all you read about an update is negative, you can get unnecessarily negative impression about it.
That could be changed, I think. For example, Manjaro Linux holds a poll in every release post about how did the upgrade process go and if there were any issues, and that works well in my opinion, and I do give my vote. I’ve been following those for some time now, and it seems to work well!
For example, Manjaro Linux holds a poll in every release post about how did the upgrade process go and if there were any issues, and that works well in my opinion, and I do give my vote. I’ve been following those for some time now, and it seems to work well!
This could indeed be a good idea and doesn’t take a lot of effort to be set up.
update poll: And what about about apps that break? I still get caught by that, even with a test device and public release… Was/is there a place with a list that I missed?
Just to shift the publication bias a bit: I updated my Xperia X to 4.4.0.58 the other day. Upgrading using sfos-upgrade went fine and everything seems to work.
Caveats:
1: Now the root filesystem occupies more than 2 GB, so I will probably not be able to update again.
2: The process was a bit scary…
First attempt via the Settings GUI asked me to remove collectd and SystemDataScope. I did so. Then my phone download the update again, now asking me to remove packages from a to z. The list must have been hundreds of items long.
That’s when I decided to go the sfos-upgrade plus post_sfos-upgrade route, which worked well.
Multiple issues with this upgrade (Sony Xperia X). Tried first with regular OTA method (failed, device bricked twice), then with sfos-upgrade, ended up in an error message (didn’t keep it sorry). At least one of those ‘upgrades’ also erased my 128Gb SDcard completely. Now device is working, BUT (not exhaustive list):
No access to any folder or file owned by root (permission management changed?)
Existing file managers display wrong contents
Almost zero patch supported
Touchscreen MUCH less responsive than before
Good old mcetool trick to restore doubletap on Xperia X no longer working
Many apps not supported or broken
Hidden changes in Contacts management prevent from restoring them after re-flash
Email accounts to be reconfirmed at least twice a day
Cannot send email from any account (EDIT: solved after deletion of all mail accounts, uninstall/reinstall email app) Notes:
The first incident happened while the device was still running Sfos 3.4. Apparently, an unsolicited library update (libcrypto or so) bricked the phone. Some libraries were perhaps momentarily stored in wrong repositories, or SSU was set wrongly. This was the reason for upgrading (I was happy with Sfos 3.4 until then)
Device NOT encrypted (I deliberately flashed it from Torronsuo to avoid encryption)
The only trial WITH encryption failed. Among other things, no fingerprint could be captured.
XA2 flashed. Only issue: browser click-delay and first page sometimes blocking.
No more MMS problem with patch manager.
Very happy to have an Goopple alternative with so big control and linux tools.
Yes I do. Upgrades were performed on a clean device after factory reset, zero app, zero patch. They resulted several times in a bricked phone anyway.
I also expect the successive OS releases are developed with some consideration for backward compatibility as far as possible.
