Updating LineageOS 15.1 for microG via TWRP + feature test

[AnotherElk]

I installed everything from scratch coming from a test-build 15.1 encryption which TWRP couldn’t handle (as of now).
I used the opportunity to go for less Google … so the microG fork of LineageOS it is (saves quite some hassle to get Wi-Fi and mobile network location going without GApps, and F-Droid is built-in, and perhaps this or that App from Google Play Store might still work, installed from Yalp Store).

• Encrypted phone (LineageOS 14.1 encryption)

  • Turned off the phone and disassembled the new main camera module
  • Booted TWRP
  • Destroyed the LUKS header to really seriously get rid of prior encryption (Advanced - Terminal - dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p20 bs=4096 count=512)
  • Formatted data to get a valid Ext4 partition again (Wipe - Format Data)
  • Resized data to not regret later that I left that out (Wipe - Advanced Wipe - data - Repair or Change File System - Resize File System)
  • Wiped everything except Micro SD card (Wipe - Advanced Wipe).
  • Rebooted into TWRP to make sure encryption is gone (no request for the encryption password when starting)
  • Installed lineage-14.1-20180808-microG-FP2.zip
  • Booted LineageOS 14.1
  • Set a PIN and encrypted the phone
  • Rebooted into TWRP to make sure 14.1 encrpytion was in place (request for the encryption password when starting and successful decryption)
  • Turned off the phone and reassembled the new main camera module

• modem-18.03.1.zip (unchanged)
  Baseband version: 4437.1-FP2-0-08 (Settings - System - About phone)
  How to make your own modem.zip

Update Installed via TWRP 3.2.3-0 (Releases)

• lineage-15.1-20180813-microG-FP2.zip (Changelog)
  Security patch level: 05 Aug 2018 (Settings - System - About phone)
  Vendor security patch level: 01 Apr 2018 (Settings - System - About phone)

• addonsu-15.1-arm-signed.zip (for Root access)

The following things work for me so far:

• call / be called
• send SMS / receive SMS
• internet via WiFi
• internet via mobile network
• location
• compass
• screenshot
• main camera (new module, flash works correctly with Open Camera, Edit: video recording is broken in this build)
• selfie camera (new module)
• USB connection to PC / MTP
• alarm
• MyPhoneExplorer 1.8.9
• Root access (Settings - Developer Settings - Root Access)
• USB OTG
• WiFi hotspot
• Bluetooth (music playback, data connection)
• FM radio
• weather (makeshift Yahoo weather provider at https://androidfilehost.com/?w=files&flid=243785 (Source)

For reporting bugs see the bottom of this page.

[Singulus]

Video recording is working for you?

[AnotherElk]

Video recording is working for you?

Nope. I never needed that, so I didn’t check before … will have to mention that, too, from now on. Thanks for the hint.

Easy info about LineageOS 14.1 features not working in 15.1 (e.g. Exchange)?

Open Camera (and probably all cameras) cannot record video. It seems to be since August security patch.

I guess we’ll see whether the recent fix mentioned in the linked bug report for “bacon” (OnePlus One) results in a fix for all devices in the next update, or whether somebody will have to enter a bug for FP2 specifically to get it fixed.

[Roboe]

or whether somebody will have to enter a bug for FP2 specifically to get it fixed.

Easy info about LineageOS 14.1 features not working in 15.1 (e.g. Exchange)?

Will be fixed in next release. Broke indeed because of August Android Security Bulletin. https://review.lineageos.org/#/c/LineageOS/android_device_fairphone_FP2/+/224858/ Chris

[LeonL]

Tried to update to new Version 20180820 with the updater. Produced an “update error”. Flashing manually with TWRP worked well.

[Loesje]

Same error, didn’t try flashing it manually yet.

[Roboe]

Some days ago I tried to re-install the build of August 13th with the same error. I can reproduce it with the August 20th build.

Relevant logcat:

[08-20 11:53:05.909 10334:10334 D/UpdaterService]
Starting service

[08-20 11:53:05.960 10334:10334 D/UpdatesActivity]
Adding remote updates

[08-20 11:53:05.963 10334:10334 D/Utils]
lineage-14.1-20180808-microG-FP2.zip is older than/equal to the current build

[08-20 11:53:05.963 10334:10334 D/Utils]
Ignoring incompatible update lineage-14.1-20180808-microG-FP2.zip

[08-20 11:53:05.963 10334:10334 D/UpdaterController]
Adding download: 1534141664

[08-20 11:53:05.963 10334:10334 D/UpdaterController]
Download (1534141664) already added

[08-20 11:53:05.963 10334:10334 D/UpdaterController]
Adding download: 1534747428

[08-20 11:53:05.963 10334:10334 D/UpdaterController]
Download (1534747428) already added

[08-20 11:53:05.963 10334:10334 D/UpdatesActivity]
Cached list parsed

[08-20 11:53:24.310 10334:13379 W/RecoverySystem]
!!! REBOOTING TO INSTALL /data/lineageos_updates/lineage-15.1-20180820-microG-FP2.zip.uncrypt !!!

[08-20 11:53:25.349 13539:13539 I//system/bin/uncrypt]
  received command: [--update_package=@/cache/recovery/block.map

[08-20 11:53:25.354 13539:13539 I//system/bin/uncrypt]
--locale=es-ES

[08-20 11:53:25.354 13539:13539 I//system/bin/uncrypt]
] (59)

[08-20 11:53:25.349 13539:13539 W/uncrypt]
type=1400 audit(0.0:2536): avc: denied { write } for name="mmcblk0p10" dev="tmpfs" ino=8256 scontext=u:r:uncrypt:s0 tcontext=u:object_r:block_device:s0 tclass=blk_file permissive=0

[08-20 11:53:25.368 13539:13539 E//system/bin/uncrypt]
failed to set bootloader message: failed to open /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/pad: Permission denied

[08-20 11:53:25.369 4624:8338 E/RecoverySystemService]
uncrypt failed with status: -1

[08-20 11:53:25.370 13539:13539 I//system/bin/uncrypt]
  received 0, exiting now

[08-20 11:53:25.409 10334:13379 E/UpdateInstaller]
Could not install update
java.io.IOException: Setup BCB failed
	at android.os.RecoverySystem.installPackage(RecoverySystem.java:591)
	at android.os.RecoverySystem.installPackage(RecoverySystem.java:514)
	at org.lineageos.updater.controller.UpdateInstaller.installPackage(UpdateInstaller.java:100)
	at org.lineageos.updater.controller.UpdateInstaller.-wrap0(Unknown Source:0)
	at org.lineageos.updater.controller.UpdateInstaller$1.run(UpdateInstaller.java:142)
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:764)

[08-20 11:53:29.308 10334:10334 D/UpdaterService]
Service no longer needed, stopping

Seems like it’s copying the unencrypted update to the pad partition and that’s failing for some reason. My phone is encrypted, yes.

Manually flashed from TWRP worked. It doesn’t work to re-install the August 20th from the OS itself.

BTW, video recording works now, but I’m sure @AnotherElk will test and reflect this better than me in his update reports,

[AnotherElk]

• Encrypted phone (LineageOS 14.1 encryption)

• modem-18.03.1.zip (unchanged)
  Baseband version: 4437.1-FP2-0-08 (Settings - System - About phone)
  How to make your own modem.zip

• addonsu-15.1-arm-signed.zip (for Root access, unchanged)

Update Installed via TWRP 3.2.3-0 (Releases)

• lineage-15.1-20180820-microG-FP2.zip (Changelog)
  Security patch level: 05 Aug 2018 (Settings - System - About phone)
  Vendor security patch level: 01 Apr 2018 (Settings - System - About phone)

The following things work for me so far:

• call / be called
• send SMS / receive SMS
• internet via WiFi
• internet via mobile network
• location
• compass
• screenshot
• main camera (new module, flash works correctly with Open Camera)
• main camera video recording
• selfie camera (new module)
• selfie camera video recording
• USB connection to PC / MTP
• alarm
• MyPhoneExplorer 1.8.9
• Root access (Settings - Developer Settings - Root Access)
• USB OTG
• WiFi hotspot
• Bluetooth (data connection, music playback - had to turn off/on the phone for music playback, System UI got stuck)
• FM radio
• weather (Your local weather, Weather Widget)

For reporting bugs see the bottom of this page.

[AnotherElk]

• Encrypted phone (LineageOS 14.1 encryption)

• modem-18.03.1.zip (unchanged)
  Baseband version: 4437.1-FP2-0-08 (Settings - System - About phone)
  How to make your own modem.zip

• addonsu-15.1-arm-signed.zip (for Root access, unchanged)

Update Installed via TWRP 3.2.3-0 (Releases)

• lineage-15.1-20180827-microG-FP2.zip (Changelog)
  Security patch level: 05 Aug 2018 (Settings - System - About phone)
  Vendor security patch level: 01 Apr 2018 (Settings - System - About phone)

The following things work for me so far:

• call / be called
• send SMS / receive SMS
• internet via WiFi
• internet via mobile network
• location
• compass
• screenshot
• main camera (new module, flash works correctly with Open Camera)
• main camera video recording
• selfie camera (new module)
• selfie camera video recording
• USB connection to PC / MTP
• alarm
• MyPhoneExplorer 1.8.9
• Root access (Settings - Developer Settings - Root Access)
• USB OTG
• WiFi hotspot
• Bluetooth (data connection, music playback - had to turn off/on the phone for music playback, System UI got stuck)
• FM radio
• weather (Your local weather, Weather Widget)

For reporting bugs see the bottom of this page.

[AnotherElk]

• Encrypted phone (LineageOS 14.1 encryption)

• modem-18.03.1.zip (unchanged)
  Baseband version: 4437.1-FP2-0-08 (Settings - System - About phone)
  How to make your own modem.zip

• addonsu-15.1-arm-signed.zip (for Root access, unchanged)

Update Installed via TWRP 3.2.3-0 (Releases)

• lineage-15.1-20180903-microG-FP2.zip (Changelog)
  Security patch level: 05 Aug 2018 (Settings - System - About phone)
  Vendor security patch level: 01 Apr 2018 (Settings - System - About phone)

Edit: This build gave me a few random reboots when the phone was idle, I didn’t have any of those with the builds 20180827 and 20180910 (predecessor and successor).

The following things work for me so far:

• call / be called
• send SMS / receive SMS
• internet via WiFi
• internet via mobile network
• location
• compass
• screenshot
• main camera (new module, flash works correctly with Open Camera)
• main camera video recording
• selfie camera (new module)
• selfie camera video recording
• USB connection to PC / MTP
• alarm
• MyPhoneExplorer 1.8.9 (nightly 19.08.2018 for syncing with Thunderbird 60)
• Root access (Settings - Developer Settings - Root Access)
• USB OTG
• WiFi hotspot
• Bluetooth (data connection, music playback)
• FM radio
• weather (Your local weather for me seems to have some trouble currently unrelated to the update, Weather Widget works)

For reporting bugs see the bottom of this page.

[neolovich]

At the moment i use LOS 15.1 with GAPPS.
Can i make a clear install of LOS 15.1 with MicroG and then restore apps like Signal, Threema with Titanium Backup?
Or do i have to expect problems because this apps used GCM before and cant use the microG services?

[AnotherElk]

Can i make a clear install of LOS 15.1 with MicroG and then restore apps like Signal, Threema with Titanium Backup?

I can’t say much about Titanium Backup, as I never used it … if it’s any good, it should work that way I guess.
Be safe with a backup …

Oooh. Ohhh. Lineage 15.1 (testing)

Here’s what I do … Make sure I have the install files with which I installed the old OS (+ Open GApps in my case). Use MyPhoneExplorer to “Multi-Sync” everything there is to sync … complete Internal Storage, contacts, messages, photos etc. … to my PC to be on the safe side with a data backup. Make a full system backup in TWRP and copy that to my PC. Then I can wipe and format and test all I like, and if I want to have the old system back … Wipe everything in TWRP. (In case encryption is go…

… substitute my usage of MyPhoneExplorer with your usage of Titanium Backup (if it is able to completely backup Internal Storage), and you should be good to go back to the LineageOS installation which worked before, if all else fails.

Or do i have to expect problems because this apps used GCM before and cant use the microG services?

microG tries to mimick Google services as good as it can, so in an ideal scenario the Apps themselves shouldn’t notice and work just fine.

Possible problems might arise from the fact that you can’t 100% rely on microG.
Google services constantly get updated and changed, so that microG constantly has some catching up to do. In the meantime Google-dependent Apps might become a pain to use (before the last update e.g. Discord nagged me about having to update my Google Play services every single time I tapped something in it, not only when I started the App) or downright break.

If you really are dependent on these Apps to work, you should consider staying with GApps.
If it’s just a nice bonus for you to have those Apps perhaps working, and you could otherwise live without them or use a website version of them in the browser for a while, using microG should be fine.

[neolovich]

Thanks for the detailed answer.
I have a backup of the LOS 15.1 with GAapps and installed LOS 15.1 with MicroG now.
Threema didnt show the contact pictures so i made a fresh installed and restored the data backup in Threema. But it cant connect to the GCM when i want to update the Push-Token, but maybe it doesnt have to and i can use polling.
How get i the pro license for Titanium Backup to work with Aurora Store? Is there a chance or not?

[AnotherElk]

How get i the pro license for Titanium Backup to work with Aurora Store? Is there a chance or not?

If the paid/unpaid status of an App is only managed by the Play Store, as far as I know this will not work with Aurora or Yalp, they only download free (unpaid) APKs from the Play Store and manage updates.

However, if an App provides an extra APK to install to elevate it to Pro/paid/whatever (I had an App that did it this way, but I didn’t try it with Yalp now), and you still have this extra APK and don’t need to download it again, then installing it might still work.

I don’t know how Titanium Backup handles this.

[neolovich]

However, if an App provides an extra APK to install to elevate it to Pro/paid/whatever (I had an App that did it this way, but I didn’t try it with Yalp now), and you have this extra APK, this might still work.

Yes, it is a small extra APK but Titanium Backup says, that it couldnt connect to Google Play.

[AnotherElk]

Well, if you really need the Pro version for this … sounds like bad luck for now.

[Singulus]

AFAIK you can’t backup Signal with TitaniumBackup anymore, as Signal is now using the Android keystore, which won’t be included in the TB backup. Signal has internally a backup function, which can be used to restore it’s messages.

See here for backup/restore instructions: https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007059752-Backup-and-Restore-Messages

[Singulus]

How get i the pro license for Titanium Backup to work with Aurora Store? Is there a chance or not?

You can visit the developers page, there is a web form where you can enter some information about the purchase via PlayStore and they can send you a text file, which allows TB to be registered without using a GAPPS contaminated phone.

See here: https://www.titaniumtrack.com/support/lost-license.html

[vthejay]

@neolovich
I use the Pro version of Titanium Backup since 2 1/2 years…ever since I have an FP2…I downloaded and got the license here:
https://matrixrewriter.com/