Please upgrade Xperia X's Android support from 4.4 to 8.1

asked 2019-08-09 14:02:38 +0300

This post is a wiki. Anyone with karma >75 is welcome to improve it.

updated 2019-11-15 20:38:20 +0300

pakman
911 ●17 ●29 ●31

Dear Jolla,

please upgrade the Android support of Sailfish OS for the Xperia X from 4.4 Kitkat to 8.1 Oreo (rsp. the same "AlienDalvik" Android runtime environment the Xperia XA2s use).

This community wiki collects

• reasons why this should be high in your list of things to implement
• technical status and steps to be done to help with the implementation (planning)

Supporting reasons

Security: Google has stopped maintaining the AOSP 4.x codebase in 2017. Jolla (or still Myriad Group at that time) seems to have subsequently updated to that code base, but since then the AOSP components integrated in AlienDalvik likely have received no security fixes at all.

Security relevant functionality: AOSP 4.x and the AlienDalvik versions based on it do not support hash algorithms of the SHA-2 family, but only older algorithms as SHA-1, MD5 etc., which are broken meanwhile and hence being broadly phased out since 2018. Examples are the webservers of most banks (this is one of the reasons why so many Android banking apps stopped working), Gitlab, Github and many more. Note that only apps using Android's cryptography APIs are affected (while Firefox, OpenKeychain and a few other apps bring their own cryptographic functions).

Some functionalities are simply not supported by any native app, hence Android apps are the only way to perform these tasks under Sailfish OS. Not being able to use those, which require Android 5 (API level 20) or higher constitutes a blocker for real life usage of Sailfish OS on the Xperia X for many (most prominent example: many banking apps).

A unique selling point of Sailfish OS is that devices are supported a long time, this is good for the environment and users can keep their experience with the phone. Upgrading the Android support strengthens this selling point and can be used as an example for future buyers: "See, if you buy Sailfish OS now (for a fresh device), we will make sure you can use it well for many years."

If Sailfish OS on Xperia X has the same Android support level as on Xperia XA2 this allows more users to share their experiences and probably leads to less questions.

A large percentage of the users who have bought Sailfish OS for their Xperia X are still running these devices.

Over time Android apps make use of newer Android API features, so the fraction of apps which still support Android 4.4 (API level 19) is shrinking.

Quite some people are willing to pay for an updated Android runtime environment "AlienDalvik" for the Xperia X (see comments below).

Editors: Please focus on Xperia X because a single technical task is easier to consider in detail. Also important is to stay constructive and respectful. It is understandable and normal that there are other items on the implementation roadmap. The goal is to raise the priority by making the task and its importance for the user base and company well understood.

Relevant apps affected (examples)

• Banking apps (see comments below for reports and also the comments on Jolla's Seitseminen blog post).

Affected users

Other places where users are wishing for an improved Android support for Sailfish OS on the Xperia X:

• 7 users asked for it on https://blog.jolla.com/seitseminen/ , it is the most requested improvement in the 81 comments as of 2019-08-09.14:00
• 81 upvotes for https://together.jolla.com/question/198410/is-android-81-support-coming-for-xperia-x/ (accessed 2019-08-09)

References

The SailfishX FAQ answer 11 states (accessed 2019-08-09; formerly answer 13)

we will look into whether supporting other Sailfish devices (like Xperia X) is feasible only after we’ve got the support in XA2 in good enough maturity level and well stabilized.

(With the Sailfish OS 3.1.0 release came a number of improvements to the "Android support" based on AOSP 8 (only for / on the XA2 devices) and Jolla named this as one reason why Sailfish OS for the XA2s was put out beta status with the 3.1.0 release (see section "Sailfish X and Xperia XA2"), so they are considering porting efforts for the Xperia X and likely also the Gemini PDA now; this is more or less confirmed by the quotes from the mer-meeting 2019-07-11 below.
Note that "considering" or "working on" does not predetermine a specific outcome of these efforts.)

Technical

As outlined in https://together.jolla.com/question/208404/what-version-of-android-is-supported-currently-on-sfos-and-xperia-x/ Sony is providing drivers and kernels which are a precondition to port to a new "Baseport 8" adaption layer, which is needed. (This is a technical difference to older devices, where this precondition is missing, e.g. Jolla 1, Jolla C, Intex Aquafish, Jolla Tablet.)

http://merproject.org/meetings/mer-meeting/2019/mer-meeting.2019-07-11-08.00.log.html at

08:50:12 <sledges> #topic WIP AOSP8 rebase for X / X Compact (10 min - asked by vknecht)</sledges>

indicates that Jolla has a proof-of-concept implementation ("mal" is likely a (nick)name of an Jolla employee):

08:57:25 <sledges> that's why best is to ask us for the best approach before starting a job of such magnitude:) especially, when mal has already a PoC</sledges>

Continue reading up to 09:01.

Also on a possible Android 9 port:

09:21:47 <sledges> vknecht: forgot to add earlier: Android 9 sfos wiki has been designed with porting X and XA2 to 9 as well (see the -pie suffix on repo names)
09:21:56 <sledges> so the soil is fertile</sledges></sledges>

Does anybody know, where the source code repositories of these ports are located?
By @Andy Branson in a comment on 2019-08-20, below:

All of the Xperia SailfishX adaptations are open-source and can be found here:
https://github.com/mer-hybris/

Update 2019-Sept-23

http://merproject.org/meetings/mer-meeting/2019/mer-meeting.2019-09-19-08.00.log.html has this hint:

08:45:07 <KeeperoftheKeys> What is the chance that we will get Android 8 support on the Xperia X? Sony supported it there (I actually didn't listen to the instructions and updated my phone all the way to 8 before installing SFOS - no issues as far as I can tell)
08:45:07 <Jaymzz> anyhow, time is up for this one too
08:45:43 <Jaymzz> KeeperoftheKeys: We are preparing a statement regarding that which will come out with the next Sailfish OS update blog post (most likely) so stay tuned for that
08:45:58 <Jaymzz> as we don't usually announce things on the IRC meeting :P
08:46:07 <KeeperoftheKeys> (I would be willing to even make a "donation" to Jolla to get that, the Xperia X is superior to the XA2 and the 10)
08:46:31 <pasik> Jaymzz: thanks :)
08:47:12 <Jaymzz> thanks KeeperoftheKeys :) let's wait a couple of weeks or so, so that we can get our facts straight regarding the matter and make the announcement on what we plan to do.

Update 2019-Nov-15

Another tantalising hint from yesterday's meeting:

10:47:10 <Hummer12007> did jolla publish the statement on xperia x+ad future yet btw?
10:47:21 <Jaymzz> Hummer12007: not yet :)
10:47:25 <Jaymzz> but it's coming
10:47:33 <Hummer12007> no eta?
... snip ...
10:48:18 <Jaymzz> Hummer12007: No proper eta but before the end of the year :)