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OTA (Over-the-Air) Updates#

You can setup to upgrade a Sailfish OS device over the air, a.k.a. OTA update.

Prepare the infrastructure#

  • Ensure your Sailfish OS version is at least 3.2.1 (3.4.0 for aarch64)
  • Create file 20-mydomain.ini (rename "mydomain" as you see fit) under $ANDROID_ROOT/hybris/droid-configs/sparse/usr/share/ssu/repos.d/ with the following content:
[release]
adaptation=https://mydomain.net/%(release)/%(vendor)-%(adaptation)/%(arch)/
  • Substitute https://mydomain.net/ with your Web server address (including subpath if exists)
  • The %(release)/%(vendor)-%(adaptation)/%(arch)/ format is advised, because it's the most future-proof. E.g. for the Nexus 5 this string would resolve to 4.5.0.19/lge-hammerhead/aarch64/
  • Commit the above change to droid-configs (including updating the submodule, which introduces timestamped versioning, so updates get picked up)
  • Make new image and ensure devices are flashed which will be receiving future updates
  • Make some changes to your adaptation (e.g. fix some HW issue) and rebuild the affected part via build_packages.sh, so that version numbers increase

Test for any breakages#

Before deploying any updates to production, they must be tested first.

Prerequisites:

  • Web server (e.g. Apache) running on HOST and accessible within network
  • Directory listing doesn't need to be enabled
  • Assuming Web server's rootdir is /srv/http

Perform the following:

HOST
. ~/.hadk.env
rm -rf /srv/http/sailfish-tmp-test-repo
cp -ar $ANDROID_ROOT/droid-local-repo/$DEVICE /srv/http/sailfish-tmp-test-repo
rm -rf /srv/http/sailfish-tmp-test-repo/repo
createrepo_c /srv/http/sailfish-tmp-test-repo

SSH into your device and execute (substituting https://mydomain.net with the address to your Web server):

DEVICE
ssu ar sfos-test https://mydomain.net/sailfish-tmp-test-repo
devel-su -p pkcon install zypper
devel-su zypper refresh sfos-test
devel-su zypper dup --from sfos-test

Check that all the packages you touched are to be updated or removed as expected. Afterwards you can press "Yes" to execute the update and check if the device functions as desired, also after reboot.

Once happy, clean up the testing environment:

DEVICE
ssu rr sfos-test
HOST
rm -rf /srv/http/sailfish-tmp-test-repo

Release into production for all users#

Once successfully tested, deploy the stable packages to the release repo:

HOST
. ~/.hadk.env
rm -rf /srv/http/$RELEASE/$VENDOR-$DEVICE/$PORT_ARCH
mkdir -p /srv/http/$RELEASE/$VENDOR-$DEVICE
cp -ar $ANDROID_ROOT/droid-local-repo/$DEVICE \
       /srv/http/$RELEASE/$VENDOR-$DEVICE/$PORT_ARCH
rm -rf /srv/http/$RELEASE/$VENDOR-$DEVICE/$PORT_ARCH/repo
createrepo_c /srv/http/$RELEASE/$VENDOR-$DEVICE/$PORT_ARCH

To receive the update, each device will have to execute devel-su -p version --dup, and reboot when instructed.

Adding custom RPM packages#

You can add any other RPM binary packages to the local build repository (i.e. packages that were not created by running build_packages.sh). For example:

PLATFORM SDK
cd $ANDROID_ROOT
# Alternatively you can use `mb2 --output-dir ... build` instead of copying
cp -a path/to/custom-built.rpm droid-local-repo/$DEVICE

To make the devices of your users pull this RPM package in, ensure some other package or pattern requires it, then test and deploy your repo as per instructions above.

Updating to the next Sailfish OS release#

If another official Sailfish OS update has been released since you last published your HW adaptation update, perform the following:

Update your SDK target device build environment (see how in the last paragraph of Setup the Platform SDK).

Alternatively, you can remove it and create a new one as per Installing Build Tools for Your Device.

Remove or backup your local build repository:

PLATFORM SDK
cd $ANDROID_ROOT

PREV_RELEASE=4.4.0.68    # adjust to the previous release version you were on

mv droid-local-repo/$DEVICE droid-local-repo/$DEVICE-$PREV_RELEASE
mkdir droid-local-repo/$DEVICE

Then rebuild all packages and a new image by executing build_packages.sh.

Afterwards test the rebuilt repo. The actual testing sequence on the device will be different:

DEVICE
ssu ar sfos-test https://mydomain.net/sailfish-tmp-test-repo
ssu dr adaptation0
ssu re 4.5.0.19    # adjust to the actual version
devel-su -p version --dup
ssu rr sfos-test
ssu er adaptation0

Then reboot as and test device functionality.

Once satisfactory, publish your repo for all users.

Finally, to receive the update, each device will have to execute:

DEVICE
ssu re 4.5.0.19    # adjust to the actual version
devel-su -p version --dup

Note

The %(release) in your self-hosted repo (visible via ssu lr) will get updated automatically after ssu re.

After devel-su -p version --dup has finished, reboot as instructed.