Update Factory Android Client 1.5 is released

Build and manage from remote your fleet of embedded Android devices with Update Factory. Update OS and application at scale.

Enhancements

• Update the license from EPLv1 to EPLv2.
• Upgrade Kotlin to 1.8.21 which fixes the false positive type mismatch in Android Studio.
• The “uf-client-example” module has moved to a new repository and renamed to “UF Service API Reference Implementation”: https://github.com/Kynetics/uf-service-api-reference-implementation
• Exclude the “os-mock” module from the Jitpack build.
• For security reasons, the ufConf.conf file is ignored when the Service API is used to configure the client.

Bug fixes

• Handle crash caused by failing to evaluate the file scheme used by ufConf.conf file.
• Fix the “Reboot on the same partition” bug, when the UF Client Service crashes during a double-copy OTA update.

See the project Release Notes and artifacts for download

We are thrilled to announce the availability of the Update Factory Android Client 1.4.1 for OTA Updates on your Embedded Android device!

Enhancements

• Retry to send messages to the update-server if the sending fails
• Improve message sent to the update-server during A\B update (Marked messages generated by UpdateEngine)

Bug fixes

• Kotlinx.coroutines.channels.ClosedSendChannelException exception (fixed updating hara-ddiclient)
• make a new request when the previous response is still open: call response.close (fixed updating hara-ddiclient)

See the project latest Release Notes

The new Android Client includes new features and bug fixes we have been working on for the past months. Let’s cut to the chase and dig into what is new!

Installation time windows. The time windows feature allows customizing the Android Client installation behavior of forced updates. When time windows are specified via API, the UF Android Client Service installs the forced update only when the device time is within the defined time intervals. This feature allows applications that use the integration API to configure when a device is allowed to install updates, e.g., only outside working hours.

Prioritization of Service update. When the Android Client Service is included in an Application Update, its installation is prioritized for other applications that may be included in the same Software Module. This ensures that applications using the most recent integration API can be bundled in a single Software Module with the required Android Client Service to support the corresponding API version.

Bug Fixes. Several bug fixes are implemented in the 1.3 release. See the project Release Notes for a detailed Change log.

We are thrilled to announce a new release of the Update Factory Android Client (1.2.0) to manage Android Updates at scale.

The new Android Client includes important improvements and bug fixes that we have been working on during the past months. To achieve this milestone, our customer feedback has been a key factor in order to improve robustness and usability of the Update Factory Android Client. Let’s cut to the chase and dig into what is new!

Switch to Eclipse Foundation’s hara-ddiclient library. During the past year Kynetics has worked hard to refactor its open source uf-ddiclient library, core component of the Update Factory Android Client. The uf-ddiclient library has been since renamed to hara-ddiclient and, as previously announced, Kynetics has contributed the code of the hara-ddiclient library to the Eclipse Foundation. Release 1.2.0 of the Update Factory Android Client marks the full adoption of the vendor neutral hara-ddiclient library that guarantees its code has passed the Eclipse Foundation due diligence.

Improved handling of download failures. Thanks to the feedback from our customer we realized poor internet connections are a common source of headaches. While the Update Factory Android Client already performed multiple download attempts, in release 1.2.0 we improved the retry behavior by implementing an exponential backoff strategy. Please increase the Artifact Download Lifetime to be at least 2 days to fully take advantage of this new feature.

Bugfixes. Several bugfixes are implemented in the 1.2.0 release. See the project Release Notes for a detailed changelog.

We are happy to announce the release of the Update Factory evaluation images for the Raspberry Pi 4. The images are available in the Linux Images section of the Update Factory documentation, including an example update file.

The release of the evaluation images for RPi4 have been possible thanks to recent developments in the new “hardknott” branch (Yocto version 3.3) of our Yocto layer meta-updatefactory. 

Here are the release notes:

• Raspberry Pi family boards are now in the list of supported boards
• it is now possible to generate SWUpdate compatible .swu update files directly from the Yocto build system
• expanded the amount of reference images, including evaluation image with Weston implementation of the Wayland compositor and example image update recipe

Have a look at our updated documentation for details about integrating meta-updatefactory in Yocto Linux builds.

Kynetics, member of the Eclipse Foundation and part of the IoT and Edge Native working group, is proud to announce the initial contribution to the Hara project.

Hara-ddiclient is a Kotlin library that facilitates and speeds up the development of DDI API clients for devices connecting to hawkBit servers. 

Eclipse hawkBit™ is a domain independent back-end framework for rolling out software updates to constrained edge devices as well as more powerful controllers and gateways connected to IP based networking infrastructure. More information here: https://www.eclipse.org/hawkbit/

Hara-ddiclient can be used from any JVM compatible language (Java, Kotlin, etc) and it is part of the Eclipse Hara™ project, more information can be found here: ​​https://projects.eclipse.org/projects/iot.hawkbit.hara

Source code is available here: ​​https://github.com/eclipse/hara-ddiclient

A special thanks to the Eclipse Foundation for their great work and support.

We’ve released our Update Factory client v.1.1.2 for Android, which resolves the following bugs:

• The download authorization pop-up shows up twice when applying a soft update with API Mode ON and the UF example UI open in full screen.
• When the service starts it doesn’t check the md5 file of the already downloaded files that could be corrupted.
• Service crashes when it receives an unexpected serialized class.
• The service isn’t restarted when its configuration is changed using api.

Useful links:

• UF Android Client on GitHub
• UF Documentation

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.

We’ve put together a demonstration video of Auto Assignment in Update Factory. Auto Assignment is a powerful feature that allows you to deploy specific updates to specific devices that match a pre-determined criteria using custom filters.

To learn more, watch here: Update Factory – HOWTO – Auto Assignment.

Update Factory 1.0 for embedded Android is out!

New Features:

• Code refactored in Kotlin to improve maintainability
• Support for A/B double copy system update mechanism alongside single copy and APK updates
• Example Update Factory UI with more information and statistics
• Updated API information, here.

Kynetics‘ Nicola La Gloria will be speaking at EclipseCon Europe 2019 in Ludwigsburg, Germany on Tuesday 10/22/2019. The session is: From Eclipse hawkBit to Update Factory: How to Take an Open Platform to Production (Sponsored by Bosch).

You can find the presentation abstract here.

Kynetics will be attending the inaugural Embedded Technologies Expo & Conference 2019 in San Jose, California during June 25 to June 27, 2019.

We will be at the Toradex booth showing off our latest Android BSP developments for the Colibri and Apalis family product lines. If you would like to connect with us at the show to discuss your project, Contact Us.