What would be required for a port to Fairphone 5?

Hardware Adaptation
#1

Hello there,

I am a long-time user of SFOS, on J1, FP2, Xperia 10 III… But in parallel I always owned Fairphones (some on Android) which I consider the most ethical choice, and therefore I daily-drove a FP2 a long time with SFOS.
Now I am trying to follow the porting efforts to the FP4 by @mal and @dimac4455. But as far as I can tell, the port by @dimac4455 doesn’t offer encryption and has some other hiccups and for @mal’s port it isn’t foreseeable when it will be released (which is totally OK, as it is a project in the freetime and additionally @mal is involved in so many other valuable projects that maybe the priorities are somewhat others than mine :wink: )

As I don’t want to start a third port for the FP4, I am considering getting my hands on a FP5. But: I am not sure what it might take to port SFOS to this device. (Note: I have never done something like this before, but I followed @vlagged’s efforts and therefore I understand that the process isn’t as easy as a one-click-trick.) The main problem, as far as I understood so far, is that the HADK is written for devices up to Android 10 (plus build instructions for Xperia 10 III on A11). The FP5 is on Android 13 at the moment. As I have no insight into porting efforts by @mal and @dimac4455, I can’t estimate whether the HADK can still be applied or a totally different approach would be necessary. Furthermore, the FP5 isn’t supported by pure LineageOS (yet?). But: murena as well as iode offer their OS for the FP5 (and both are normally based on LineageOS, afaik.

So, I have found:

  1. The source code for Android itself https://code.fairphone.com/projects/fairphone-5/android.html, althogh they claim that it lacks some bits and is not buildable yet (Fairphone 5 source code release - Development - Fairphone Community Forum):

The source tree contains all Android and Linux kernel sources that we can publish, excluding some proprietary components. The public source tree also does not contain proprietary third-party apps such as the Google Mobile Services.
For now the sources are not buildable yet, this will follow at a later stage.

  1. The kernel source code: https://code.fairphone.com/projects/fairphone-5/kernel.html#fairphone-5-kernel

I don’t know if the lack of LineageOS can be compensated by iode’s or murena’s Android derivatives:
3. Murena (/e/): https://gitlab.e.foundation/e/devices/android_device_fairphone_fp5
4. iode: https://gitlab.com/iode/os/public/devices/fairphone/device_fairphone_FP5

Furthermore, there is @mal’s repository which seems to have some work done for support of Android 13, but as the commits are 10 months old, I don’t know whether they will be helpful for me.

Could anyone with more insight than me give me a hint what else I would have to consider?

9 Likes
Next port to buy
#2

A better place for questions of porting to a new device would be the sailfishos-porters channel. Sailfish OS IRC channels moved to oftc.net

7 Likes
#3

Have you checked out my getting started guide? There is also a WIP docker available to setup the SDK and build files for you. The process of starting a new port is a lot of work unfortunately, but don’t be discouraged! Feel free to contribute to this repo if you’d like.

In addition to mentioned ports I also know of CalyxOS

2 Likes
#4

I have one FP5 which I plan to use for porting hopefully quite soon. I found some unofficial LineageOS repos which hopefully work I could use for testing. I was hoping the official Android release from Fairphone would become buildable at some point and to use that as base but not sure if/when that will happen so probably lineage is a good starting point for me assuming those work. Using Android 13 as a base needs some additional things which are not well documented yet but it’s doable as I’m the one who added support for and i have used for device porting already.

17 Likes
#5

You can also use the Halium (11, because of device’s vndk version) as a porting base and structure the port in a similar way to Fxtec Pro1-X and Volla 22 ports by @piggz.

I’ve been working on getting FP5 kernel compiled for Ubuntu Touch, and that part should be mostly reusable for SailfishOS: UBports / Porting / Community Ports / android11 / Fairphone 5 / fairphone-fp5 · GitLab

6 Likes
Next port to buy
#6

Thank you all for your input!

I am afraid it will stay some more time in the unbuildable state, as confirmed by a FP-employee here:
https://forum.fairphone.com/t/fairphone-5-source-code-release/99616/15:

Thanks for you patience, unfortunately it will still take some time for us to wrap up this topic properly, say Q2-Q3 2024.
To clarify things, the currently published source tree is as complete as it gets, we published everything we legally can, everything that’s not proprietary in some way. The major change we’ll need to do is to restructure the source tree in a way that it can be built without proprietary dependencies (toolchains, headers, etc), and move those proprietary components into a blobs package, as we’re doing for the previous devices already. This is complex, because the source tree as it comes from suppliers is typically not set up in a way designed for open sourcing.

@dimac4455 thank you for the link to your getting started guide. I already had a look at it, but at first sight I couldn’t figure out if there are A13-specific things in it, and as @mal confirmed, there are some pieces missing for A13 in the HADK. Could you give me a hint which things were done differently to the HADK?

Thank you for this suggestion! I am not familiar with this route (I saw the post by @piggz, but due to no example like in the HADK I don’t feel able to estimate what effort this would take). Could you give me a link for reading something that I could make myself familiar with this approach? I didn’t find anything, but maybe I searched for the wrong things…

You are right, but I wanted to share my thoughts and findings here first and get some feedback, as I wanted to be able to ask the right questions on the porter’s channel :slight_smile: But if I decide for trying, I will go there and ask my questions.

2 Likes
#7

But maybe you could share your plans with the FP4? I don’t think that a port for the FP5 by me could be only near as stable as I know your port (fir the FP2) is. In the case that you are planning to release it in a foreseeable time frame, I don’t see a point in making a worse port for the FP5 by myself.

#8

Since you asked for feedback: Yes please, a port of SailfishOS to Fairphone 5 would be highly appreciated! :smiley:
I have seen some screenshots of PostmarketOS and Mobian running on the device, Ubuntu touch is booting already and Luca Weiss from Fairphone is constantly mainlining new drivers/configurations for the device. I hope this will help the porting in the long run.

3 Likes
#9

I actually have Sailfish OS running on top of mainline linux kernel on Fairphone 5, of course it’s not something that could be released to public because too many things are not working. That project is not related to making regular Sailfish OS port for Fairphone 5.

12 Likes
#10

Well, you seem to have a lot of very interesting projects! For me the most interesting fact would be whether a release is planned for the FP4 in the near future, because I am sure that I wouldn’t be able to make a port for the FP5 in a quality that only comes close to the one I know from your port for the FP2. If a release for the FP4 is around the corner, I don’t see a point in starting a port fir the FP5 myself (which would take ages due to no experience on my side), as I don’t really care whether I have a FP4 or a FP5, as long as it runs SFOS properly.

2 Likes
#11

As stated earlier in another thread I am going to apply to an NLNET grant to port Sailfish OS to FP5. I know usually @mal has a head start on this but also he may not have the time with all the other stuff that he’s doing.

If you have input on the application please comment on codeberg in the next days, probably 15-16 March I will post it.

LE: application posted

9 Likes
The Fairphone 4 Thread
#12

15-16 March Salfish Port???

#13

No, NLNET grant to port Sailfish OS to FP5

#14

A small status update. I started doing a Sailfish OS port for FP5 and have had quite much progress, currently only known issues left are broken hardware codecs, video recording in camera and microphone input (both calls and otherwise). Microphone support is the most critical one and prevents releasing the port to public for now. Also for example changes needed for vibrator are not yet merged and need some cleanup first.

24 Likes
#15

Thank you for the update! Nevertheless, I am not sure whether it sounds promising or not :wink: For me it sounds like there is still much work left to do, but as I ain’t a porter in any way, I might be completely wrong. Is there a chance of a release in foreseeable time frame?

#16

That is very impressive! For me, the microphone support is the only critical feature missing to switch to SailfishOS as a daily driver again. I almost regretted replacing my damaged XA2 with a Fairphone only days before the presentation of the new C2. But now I am hopeful again! :grinning:
Android works for me, but I miss Sailfish OS every day and still try to sideswipe all the time. :roll_eyes:
Please share your progress (code) early, even if it hurts a bit to publish unfinished “dirty” code.

5 Likes
#17

your not a porter but you can really give a positive, enciuragibg feedback :wink:

#18

You think it sounds discouraging? Well, I didn’t intend to sound so, but I know that sometimes I write in a way that can be misunderstood. Every time that happens I’m very sorry, but nevertheless it happens.

My intention was to express a big hurray on the status update, as I am thankful that @mal is doing this task. As I am thankful that people work on the browser. Both tasks are things that make SFOS stay alive.

I just wanted to understand whether the remaining work was a lot or some minor tasks, as I have no real idea how hard this is. So, if I insulted somebody, I am very sorry, that wasn’t my intention.

7 Likes
#19

Hi Mal,
This is very exciting news, and thanks for all the work. Amazing.
With Australia’s 3g closing in mere weeks, I cannot help but ask, is there any chance voLTE will be part of this port?
If the microphone starts up, and VoLTE arrives, I’ll be an enthusiastic user of all your hardwork.
Thanks again

1 Like
#20

Hey @mal that sound like exciting news!

Can you say something about the camera in general? On Xperia 10 III there is this annoying behavior of the camera taking no shot because the autofocus doesn’t work correctly, especially off moving objects like children. Is that better on the FP5? The issue prevents taking snapshots of my child, which is really a sad thing.
If I understand it rightly, you solved the systemd issue you mentioned in the FP forum? Sounds like nice progress :slight_smile:

Do you think the microphone issue is solvable? Or asked in another way: do you think it is a safe bet to buy an FP5 instead of C2?

Thanks so much that you are making this happen!

3 Likes