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TasksFunding » History » Version 242

dl lud, 04/16/2019 01:49 PM
Graphics acceleration: replaced ARM assembly for Neon Intrinsics.

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h1. Funding
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h2. Funding procedure
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h3. Funding status
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* [[Tasks_funding#"Finish porting Replicant to a newer Android version" nlnet Grant application|Finish porting Replicant to a newer Android version]]: Sent
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* [[Tasks_funding#"Complete libsamsung-ipc and libsamsung-ril" nlnet Grant application|Complete libsamsung-ipc and libsamsung-ril]] : Sent.
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* Graphics acceleration: Funding application WIP
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* Implement a fully-featured QMI-RIL: Lacks funding figures (how much time would it take to complete the work?), "contractor contacted at the last minute":https://aleksander.es/contact/ to hope to get some figures
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* Finish to port the Galaxy S 3 (I9300), Galaxy Note 2 (N7100) to Mainline Linux: Lacks funding figures (how much time would it take to complete the work?), despite having the kernel status
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h3. Applicant criteria
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* The applicants will need to already have Patches in Replicant to apply. So if you want to apply and don't have any patches in Replicant, the easiest way is just to send some useful patches.
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* The applicants will need to be able to demonstrate that they have the required skills by showing contributions in free and open source project in similar areas.
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* The applicants will need to be able to do contract work
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h3. Grant application template
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*url*: https://nlnet.nl/propose/
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*scope* : Is it per task?
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h4. Contact information
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|_. Your name | Denis Carikli |
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|_. Email address | [[PrivateContact#Email]] + our contact at the FSF |
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|_. Phone numbers | GNUtoo's phone number |
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|_. Organisation | Replicant and the FSF |
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|_. Country | France(Denis Carikli), USA (FSF) |
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h4. General project information
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|_. Project name |  <Depend on the task>  |
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|_. Website / wiki | <Depend on the task> |
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|_. Abstract: Can you explain the whole project and its expected outcome(s).(you have 1200 characters)
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Please be short and to the point in your answers; focus primarily on the what and how, not so much on the why.
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Add longer descriptions as attachments (see below).
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If English isn't your first language, don't worry - our reviewers don't care about spelling errors, only about great ideas.
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On the up side, you can be as technical as you need to be (but you don't have to).
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Do stay concrete. | <Depend on the task> |
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|_. Have you been involved with projects or organizations relevant to this project before?
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And if so, can you tell us a bit about your contributions? | Yes: I've been involved in Replicant since the beginning both as a developer and for managing the project:
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As a developer:
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* I did most/all the initial system work and made it work for the the HTC Dream, and the Google Nexus One.
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* I also worked on porting the Goldelico GTA04, Galaxy nexus, Galaxy Tab 2 7.1 along with other Replicant developers and did various bug fixes and improvements.
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* I am also doing code reviews for patches.
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And as for managing the project I'm involved in:
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* public relations (blog posts, etc)
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* fund usage decisions
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* infrastructure (system administration with other developers, etc)
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* documentation
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* project direction and strategic decisions |
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h4. Requested support
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|_. Requested Amount (Between 5000 and 50000 Euros) | <depends on the task> |
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|_. * Explain what the requested budget will be used for? | <depends on the task> |
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|_. * Does the project have other funding sources, both past and present? | 
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The Replicant project has about 200000 dollars at disposition:
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* The Replicant project has a donation page https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=19. Part of the donations were used for buying devices and reimburse conference attendances. We have about 20000 dollars remaining from the donation.
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* The Replicant project recently received 200000 dollars from Handshake: https://www.fsf.org/news/free-software-foundation-receives-1-million-from-handshake As the FSF takes 10% that leaves us 180000 dollars |
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|_. Compare your own project with existing or historical efforts. | <Depend on the task?> |
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|_. What are significant technical challenges you expect to solve during the project, if any? | <Depend on the task?> |
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Describe the ecosystem of the project, and how you will engage with relevant actors and promote the outcomes?
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<pre>
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The Replicant project contributors and the FSF will supervise
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contractors to do the work.
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I will write a blog post to announce that the Replicant project
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has got some funding for this specific task, and that it is
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looking for a contractor to work on it. This is to make sure
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that everyone has equal chances in the application process.
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Then the most suited contractor will be selected. Only contractors
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that already have worked on similar tasks as part of free and open
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source software projects will be chosen. This way we can look at
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their existing contributions and make sure that they are able to
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do the task before engaging with them.
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The Replicant project will also make sure that the contractor has
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or gets the hardware required to work on the task, before starting
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to work on it.
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</pre>
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|_. Attachments | None |
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h4. How may we handle your information
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|_. What should we do in the other case,
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 e.g. when your project is not immediately selected? | I allow NLnet Foundation to keep the information I submit on record, should future funding opportunities arise |
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|_. Send me a copy of this application. | check-box checked |
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|_. PGP pubkey | None (if we use Replicant contact address, we can't encrypt to it) |
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h3. Discussions
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There is "a thread about funding on the mailing list":https://lists.osuosl.org/pipermail/replicant/2019-January/001774.html about that
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h2. Tasks that could be funded
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h3. Port Replicant to a newer Android version
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Replicant is currently based on LineageOS 13 which is based on Android 6.0.
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It is becoming very urgent to upgrade Replicant to a newer release of Android, as Android 6.0 is not supported anymore. It would probably also make it way easier to fix the following issues:
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* Replicant is currently lagging behind with security fixes
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* Replicant cannot be built from a GNU/Linux distribution that follows the Free Software Distribution Guidelines
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*Hardware requirements* :
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* A computer that is able to build Replicant.
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* A smartphone or tablet that can easily supported by the new version of Replicant and that meet Android 9 [[HardwareRequirements]].
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*Expected outcomes*:
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* Remove all proprietary components of LineageOS and make sure that Replicant follows the "Free Software Distributions Guidelines (FSDG)":https://www.gnu.org/distros/"
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* Port all the changes needed to successfully boot without any proprietary software in Replicant
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* Make sure that most of the security issues are fixed, and lower the attack surface if possible.
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* Make sure that Replicant can be built on a GNU/Linux distribution that follows the "Free Software Distributions Guidelines (FSDG)":https://www.gnu.org/distros/
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* Rebrand LineageOS as Replicant
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*Funding*: We could apply to https://nlnet.nl/PET
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h4. Subtasks
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The following sub-tasks could also be worked on along with porting Replicant to a newer Android version, as it doesn't make sense to do them for older Replicant versions:
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* [[Tasks v2#Add support for devices with an upstream Linux kernel|Add support for devices with an upstream Linux kernel]]
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* [[Tasks v2#Add support for more recent smartphones|Add support for more recent smartphones]]
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* [[Tasks v2#Add support for the devices supported in Replicant 6.0 and 4.2|Add support for the devices supported in Replicant 6.0 and 4.2]]
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* [[Tasks v2#Support in-system upgrades|Support in-system upgrades]]
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h4. Add support for devices with an upstream Linux kernel
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It would also be useful to support devices using kernels that are based on upstream Linux with the least amount of kernel changes possible:
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Currently, Replicant uses a dedicated Hardware Abstraction Layer per device, because device manufacturers implemented non-standard kernel interfaces. However, Android works with mainline kernels and supports plug-n-play hardware nowadays, so it makes sense to have generic Hardware Abstraction Layers for the standard interfaces of the Linux kernel (ALSA, V4L2, etc).
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See also the [[Upstream#Upstream-Linux|wiki page on Upstream Linux]] for more details on why using upstream kernel is beneficial, and for what devices to choose to work on this task.
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*Hardware requirements* :
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In addition to the requirements for porting Replicant to a newer Android version:
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* A device that is already well supported by the Upstream kernel. That device don't need to be already supported by LineageOS or even Android.
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*Difficulty*: Medium
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*Requirements/Prerequisites*: Knowledge of C, some C++, the ability to understand Java, kernel interfaces knowledge
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*Expected outcomes*: 
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* Basic features working (graphics, touchscreen, buttons, audio, and telephony if there is a modem) for at least one device that use a kernel that is very closely based on upstream Linux with the generic HALs.
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h4. Add support for more recent smartphones
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The most recent smartphones that Replicant support are quite old (they were made around 2013). The goal here is to add support for more recent smartphones in Replicant.
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Even if we think that it's at lot more important to support devices that are better for freedom (samsung devices usually have a nonfree bootloaders), adding supporting common (Samsung) phones and tablets is relatively easy and fast to do and could be a good way to get started in contributing to Replicant. 
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It's advised to pick a device that:
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* has an isolated modem (no shared memory between the modem and the processor running Android)
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* meets Android 9 [[HardwareRequirements]] to still be useful when Replicant will be ported to Android 9
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* has a modem that can easily be supported by samsung-ril and libsamsung-ipc 
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* is or will be supported by lineageOS
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Make sure to evaluate the device before starting to work on it. Some devices have been evaluated in the [[TargetsEvaluation|TargetsEvaluation wiki page]]. There is also a "forum section":https://redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/boards/27 for devices evaluation.
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*Hardware requirements*:
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In addition to the requirements for porting Replicant to a newer Android version: 
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* One or more smartphones that are already well supported by LineageOS or the AOSP project and that can easily be added in Replicant.
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*Difficulty*: Medium
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*Expected outcomes*: 
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* Basic features working (graphics, touchscreen, buttons, audio, and telephony if there is a modem) without requiring Replicant or the user to install or ship nonfree software or firmwares.
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h4. Add support for the devices supported in Replicant 6.0 and 4.2
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When porting Replicant to a new version, it's also a good idea to keep supporting all the devices we supported in the older versions, however this is not always possible or desirable.
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In order not to require too much work, devices that were previously supported will have to meet the [[HardwareRequirements]] of the new Android version. Here many of the devices already supported by Replicant 6.0 already meet such requirements.
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*Hardware requirements and dependencies*:
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In addition to the requirements for porting Replicant to a newer Android version:
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* The port to the new Android version needs to be complete for at least one device before starting to work on this.
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* All the devices will need to be shipped to (or acquired by) the person working on this task before starting to work on this.
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*Expected outcomes*: 
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* For each device: evaluate if they meet the hardware requirements of the new Android version and document that in the wiki in an appropriate location  ( like [[HardwareRequirements]] for instance)
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* For each device: basic features working (graphics, touchscreen, buttons, audio, and telephony if there is a modem) without requiring Replicant or the user to install or ship nonfree software or firmwares.
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*Difficulty*: Medium
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h4. Support in-system upgrades
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It would be useful for a Replicant device to be able to update itself to a new version of Replicant without requiring being connected to a PC. LineageOS already supports this; we suspect that it should be possible to adapt this LineageOS functionality to Replicant.
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Whenever possible, it would be useful to complete and submit some of the code written for Replicant to LineageOS.
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*Difficulty*: Medium
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*Expected outcomes*: 
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* In-system updates working without being connected to a PC
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h4. "Finish porting Replicant to a newer Android version" nlnet Grant application
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|_. Project name | Finish porting Replicant to a newer Android version |
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|_. Website / wiki | https://redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/wiki/Porting_Replicant_to_Android_9 |
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Abstract: Can you explain the whole project and its expected outcome(s).in 1200 characters
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<pre>
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Replicant is a fully free software Android distribution which
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is approved by the FSF (http://gnu.org/distros).
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The combination of Android Open Source Project source code with
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the Linux source code provided by the device vendor is not
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sufficient to produce a fully free Android distribution that
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works: a lot of the code that makes critical hardware components
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work (the modem, graphics, audio, GPS, etc) is in userspace.
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Because of that, most device manufacturers don't release them as
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free software.
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To make such hardware work, the Replicant project manages to
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replace or avoid such nonfree software.
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Replicant is currently based on LineageOS 13.0 which in turn is based
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on Android 6.0.1 which are both not supported anymore. Replicant is
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based on LineageOS because it supports way more smartphones and
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tablets than the Android Open Source Project.
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The project consists in porting Replicant changes on top of the
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Android 9 release of the Android Open Source project,
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and when LineageOS 16 will be ready, to backport our changes on
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top of LineageOS 16.
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</pre> 
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|_. Have you been involved with projects or organizations relevant to this project before?
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And if so, can you tell us a bit about your contributions? | SEE TEMPLATE |
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|_. Requested Amount (Between 5000 and 50000 Euros) | 50000 Euros |
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|_. Does the project have other funding sources, both past and present? | SEE TEMPLATE |
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Explain what the requested budget will be used for? 
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<pre>
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The budget will only be used to fund this task through contract work.
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We think it will take something between 3 and 6 months of work
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for one full time developer.
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However it is always difficult to evaluate precisely the amount of time
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that this kind of project would take as sometimes it can be slowed down
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a lot due to bugs needing to be fixed.
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For instance, when adding support for the Nexus One to Replicant,
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a lot of time was spent dealing with display issues that didn't affect
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the upstream projects, because they relied on the GPU which required
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nonfree software to work.
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If we take the cost of a Freelance developer in the USA (75$ to 150$
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per hour) as a basis, to enable people living in Europe and the USA
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to apply, we can fund a developer to work on it for a period that
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is mostly equivalent to something between 2 to 4 months full
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time.
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So far we have at least one person interested in working on it
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as a contractor (me), and one volunteer who wants to work on it at the
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same time, but who cannot do it full time. We will make sure
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that everybody has a chance to apply for doing contract work.
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If the work is not done when the 50000E run out, and if we cannot
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make sure that it will be completed by volunteers in a reasonable
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timeframe, the Replicant project will most probably use its existing
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funds to pay for contract work to make sure that this task is completed.
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The Replicant project will also take care of ensuring that the
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people that will work on this task have the necessary hardware to
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do it, for instance by shipping or reimbursing the purchase of a
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compatible smartphone with the Replicant project money.
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Once we have the Samsung Galaxy SIII fully working with
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Replicant 9, we will add support for most smartphones
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and tablets we currently support in Replicant, and add support
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for more recent smartphones (the most recent one we currently
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support has been released in 2013).
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We also have a very basic documentation on the Android 9 port here:
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https://redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/wiki/Porting_Replicant_to_Android_9
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</pre>
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Compare your own project with existing or historical efforts.
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<pre>
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Upgrading Replicant to a new Android version usually took about 2 or 3
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months of full-time equivalent work for one person.
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Here, we already have a device (The Galaxy SIII 4G) booting under Android 9
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master before the release, with a kernel that is closely based on upstream
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Linux, but a lot still needs to be done (modem, audio, sensors, etc) and
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validated. The Android architecture also changed a lot more between Android
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6.0.1 and Android 9 than it did when we ported Replicant to newer Android
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versions.
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</pre>
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What are significant technical challenges you expect to solve during the project, if any?
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<pre>
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We will also need to make sure that Replicant 9 can be built with a
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GNU/Linux distribution that is approved by the FSF. This could be
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challenging if they lack some of the packages required to build Android.
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</pre>
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|_. Describe the ecosystem of the project, and how you will engage with relevant actors and promote the outcomes? | SEE TEMPLATE |
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|_. Attachments | SEE TEMPLATE |
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h3. Graphics acceleration
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Currently, all supported devices on Replicant lack a free software driver for their GPU. This means that OpenGL ES (GLES) rendering must be done on the CPU (software rendering). The current approach to software rendering on Replicant 6 is based on "libAGL":https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/native/+/master/opengl, an optimized GLES 1.x implementation that uses "libpixelflinger":https://android.googlesource.com/platform/system/core/+log/master/libpixelflinger software renderer. Development on both these libraries ceased in 2013 and no work was done to support newer GLES versions.
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The major consequences of this are that:
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* Critical applications like web browsers crash due to lack of GLES 2.0 (#705). Replicant currently uses an out-dated browser that has many security flaws.
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* Replicant relies on patches to the Android framework to make things like the camera application work.
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* The rendering speed has degraded over the newer Android versions, like Android 6. Even applications that do not crash become difficult to use due to the huge rendering delays.
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This task aims to fix all these severe issues by putting together a new graphics stack for the Android 9 port. This new graphics stack must be compatible with Android 9 Hardware Abstraction Layers (HAL) and provide at least GLES 2.0 rendering. It should be flexible enough to do software rendering with "Mesa":https://www.mesa3d.org/intro.html or "SwiftShader":https://swiftshader.googlesource.com/SwiftShader (Google's current software renderer), and also GPU rendering on devices where a free GPU driver is available.
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"Joonas Kylmรคlรค":https://redmine.replicant.us/users/8585 has done some introductory work on the Android 9 port for the i9305, and found a way to have it rendering to the screen. He put together a graphics stack composed of: gbm_gralloc ("Gralloc HAL":https://source.android.com/devices/graphics/implement#gralloc_hal) + drm_hwcomposer ("Hardware Composer HAL":https://source.android.com/devices/graphics/implement#hardware_composer_hal) + Mesa with kms_swrast driver with softpipe backend (CPU software renderer for GLES). This will be the starting point for this task.
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Joonas' prototype shows that Replicant can use "gbm_gralloc":https://osdn.net/projects/android-x86/scm/git/external-gbm_gralloc/summary, an existing graphics memory allocator (gralloc) HAL maintained(ish) by Android-x86, in conjunction with "drm-hwcomposer":https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm-hwcomposer/drm-hwcomposer, a libre implementation of Android's Hardware Composer HAL based on Linux's DRM, to achieve software rendering with Mesa. This solution avoids the need to write a custom gralloc for Replicant, and takes advantage of the hardware acceleration for composition provided by drm-hwcomposer on devices with a free software DRM driver (e.g. exynos-based smartphones and tablets).
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Much more testing is needed to confirm that gbm_gralloc can be the definitive gralloc HAL on Replicant 9. It still wasn't tried with SwiftShader, or even Mesa's llvmpipe backend, which is a must since the softpipe backend is too slow to be usable.
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Joonas' tests showed that some other components will need our attention, mostly the drm/exynos driver. In order to make drm/exynos work with gbm_gralloc and drm-hwcomposer Joonas had to disable "DRM-Auth":https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_Rendering_Manager#DRM-Master_and_DRM-Auth and hack some missing pixel formats into it by using the default pixel format for everything. Besides drm/exynos, we will also have to make the graphics stack work with the "virtual GEM (vGEM) driver":https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=DRM-vGEM-Mesa-Software, in order to support devices that lack a real drm driver.
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The major and first goal of this task is thus to build upon Joonas's prototype and put together a stable and fully free graphics stack, compatible with GLES 2.0, that does software rendering through Mesa's llvmpipe with a decent performance.
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*Hardware requirements*: A computer that is able to build Replicant. A Samsung Galaxy S3 or S3 4G to run the [[Porting_Replicant_to_Android_9|current Replicant 9 port]].
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*Difficulty*: Medium / Hard
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*Requirements/Prerequisites*: Knowledge of C++, kernel interfaces knowledge or the ability to learn them
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*Expected outcomes*:
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* Graphics stack with decent performance on software rendering
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* Working GLES 2.0 implementation
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* Fast enough graphics
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* F-Droid applications not crashing anymore because of GLES.
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*Time +estimation+*:
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|_. Step |_. man-hours |
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| Set up the development environment, including the current Replicant 9 port on the test device. |>. 24 |
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| Read AOSP documentation and understand all details of the graphics stack. |>. 16 |
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| Adapt the build files to use Mesa's llvmpipe backend instead of softpipe. Fix potential LLVM version incompatibilities between Mesa and Android. |>. 40 |
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| Properly implement the missing pixel formats in drm/exynos and try to have it merged into upstream. |>. 72 |
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| Find a proper way to use DRM-Master and DRM-Auth with gbm_gralloc and drm-hwcomposer. |>. 40 |
348
| Create test scenarios and check if the graphics stack works as expected. Consider "alternative grallocs":https://redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/wiki/GraphicsResearch#Gralloc if necessary. |>. 40 |
349 238 dl lud
| Make the graphics stack work with vGEM driver besides drm/exynos. |>. 40 |
350 234 dl lud
| Document the design decisions. |>. 16 |
351 1 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
|_. TOTAL |_>. 288 |
352
353
h4. Subtasks
354
355
The following sub-tasks could also be worked on after finishing writing the gralloc:
356 235 dl lud
* [[Tasks_funding#SwiftShader|SwiftShader]]
357 1 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
* [[Tasks_funding#llvmpipe optimizations|llvmpipe optimizations]]
358
* [[Tasks_funding#Lima driver|Lima driver]]
359
360 235 dl lud
h4. SwiftShader
361
362 238 dl lud
"SwiftShader":https://swiftshader.googlesource.com/SwiftShader is Google's current software renderer that is capable of GLES 2.0 and is now "under work to support Vulkan":https://swiftshader.googlesource.com/SwiftShader/+log/master.
363 1 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
364 238 dl lud
Mesa is the preferred renderer on Replicant for several reasons such as its support for both software and hardware (GPU) rendering, and its big community, with hundreds of active contributors. However, Mesa lacks a Vulkan software renderer. With Vulkan soon becoming a "requirement for new Android versions":https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2019/03/introducing-android-q-beta.html, we must make sure that Replicant's graphics stack can use SwiftShader in order to become futureproof. Furthermore, SwiftShader was built with performance in mind, specially for ARM CPUs, and may bring speed improvements on some devices.
365 232 dl lud
366 238 dl lud
The goal of this sub-task is thus to create a compile-time or run-time option that allows using Replicant 9 with SwiftShader as it's software renderer instead of Mesa.
367 233 dl lud
368 232 dl lud
*Hardware requirements*: A computer that is able to build Replicant. A smartphone or tablet that is supported by Replicant to be able to test the result.
369 1 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
370
*Difficulty*: Medium
371
372
*Requirements/Prerequisites*: Knowledge of C++, Makefiles and git. Android's graphics stack knowledge or the ability to learn them.
373
374
*Expected outcomes*:
375 238 dl lud
* SwiftShader running on Replicant.
376
* Working Vulkan implementation.
377 1 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
378 211 dl lud
*Time +estimation+*: 40 man-hours.
379
380 1 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
h4. llvmpipe optimizations
381
382
Mesa is a highly versatile library that can be extended with device drivers to allow it to be used in different environments ranging from software emulation to complete hardware acceleration. One such driver is the "Gallium llvmpipe driver":https://www.mesa3d.org/llvmpipe.html, which is a software rasterizer that uses LLVM to do runtime code generation. It only needs a CPU to run graphics computations and thus brings full GLES support to all Replicant devices.
383
384
"llvmpipe has been integrated in Replicant 6":https://git.replicant.us/replicant/external_mesa3d/log/ but it's not activated by default yet as it is very slow. It is also not fully complete.
385
386
To fix that, llvmpipe and/or the integration of it in Replicant should be optimized. We should first start by configuring llvmpipe and/or Mesa "to not implement very expensive OpenGL operations":https://www.mesa3d.org/perf.html. If that's not sufficient, or if that breaks application compatibility, various software or hardware features ("ARM NEON":https://www.arm.com/products/processors/technologies/neon.php, hardware 2D acceleration, etc) could be used to improve the speed.
387
388 231 dl lud
Considerable speed improvements may be achieved with a fine-tuned emulation for division instructions. The ARM cores on many Replicant devices do not have hardware "support for the SDIV/UDIV instructions":https://community.arm.com/processors/b/blog/posts/divide-and-conquer. We should profile some apps and check whether GLES functions requiring divisions are to blame for the poor performance.
389
390 1 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
*Hardware requirements* : A computer that is able to build Replicant. A smartphone or tablet that is supported by Replicant to be able to test the result.
391
392
*Difficulty*: Medium / Hard (depending on the amount of optimizations required)
393
394
*Requirements/Prerequisites*: See with Mesa project
395
396
*Expected outcomes*: faster llvmpipe on ARM devices, able to run apps such as Fennec F-Droid (Firefox).
397 211 dl lud
398
*Time +estimation+*:
399
400
|_. Step |_. man-hours |
401 234 dl lud
| Setup a "testing and benchmarking environment":https://source.android.com/devices/graphics/testing |>. 40 |
402
| Disable expensive OpenGL operations. Check speedup and stability. |>. 24 |
403
| Recap matrix operations (Linear Algebra) and study ARM NEON. |>. 48 |
404
| Do a profiling of several apps to find the most used GLES operations. |>. 32 |
405 242 dl lud
| Use "Ne10 library":https://github.com/projectNe10/Ne10 or "Neon Intrinsics":https://developer.arm.com/architectures/instruction-sets/simd-isas/neon/intrinsics for the most used GLES operations. |>. 80 |
406 234 dl lud
| Fix bugs, re-write the code where needed, get it stable. |>. 80 |
407
|_. TOTAL |_>. 304 |
408 1 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
409
h4. Lima driver
410
411
"Lima":https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/lima is a free software Mesa driver for ARM Mali-4xx (Utgard) GPUs. These GPUs are present in several Replicant supported devices such as Galaxy S2, S3, S3 4G, Note and Note 2. 
412
413
Lima aims to full GLES support but it is still in development. However the "current implementation status":https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/lima/mesa/issues/39#note_79193 already allows the hardware acceleration of several tasks. GPU-based hardware acceleration is faster and less power hungry than software rendering, both by several orders of magnitude. It would allow Replicant devices to run applications with a performance close to that of non-free devices.
414
415 167 dl lud
*Hardware requirements* : A computer that is able to build Replicant. A Replicant device with a Mali-4xx GPU that can run mainline Linux (e.g. Galaxy S3 or Note 2).
416
417
*Difficulty*: Medium
418
419
*Requirements/Prerequisites*: "See with Lima project":https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/lima/web/wikis/home#build-and-install
420
421 1 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
*Expected outcomes*: Lima driver being used for GLES rendering on a supported device.
422 212 dl lud
423
|_. Step |_. man-hours |
424 234 dl lud
| Rebase "Lima's Linux kernel DRM driver":https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/lima/linux on top of "forkbomb's Midas on Mainline kernel":https://blog.forkwhiletrue.me/pages/midas-mainline/. |>. 80 |
425
| Replace mainline Mesa for "Lima's Mesa":https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/lima/mesa (with their driver).  |>. 16 |
426
| Build and test thoroughly with "synthetic":https://source.android.com/devices/graphics/testing and real applications. |>. 40 |
427
| Create a fallback mechanism that uses the software renderer for GLES functions not yet implemented in Lima. |>. 100 |
428
|_. TOTAL |_>. 236 |
429 222 dl lud
430
h4. "Graphics acceleration on Replicant" nlnet Grant application
431
432
|_. Project name | Graphics acceleration on Replicant |
433
|_. Website / wiki | https://redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/wiki/Tasks_funding#Graphics-acceleration |
434
435
Abstract: Can you explain the whole project and its expected outcome(s) in 1200 characters
436
<pre>
437
Replicant is a fully free software Android distribution which is approved by the
438
FSF. All supported devices on Replicant currently lack a free software driver
439
for their GPU. As such, OpenGL ES (GLES) rendering must be done on the CPU
440
through software rendering (SR).
441
442 223 dl lud
Replicant's current renderer is both incomplete and slow. It causes essential
443 222 dl lud
apps like web browsers to crash due to lack of GLES 2.0, and many other
444
apps run too slow to be usable.
445
446
This project aims to fix this by complementing Android's 9 graphics stack.
447
Adding a few missing components will created of a fully-free, fast and compliant
448
graphics stack.
449
450
First we will write a gralloc (graphics memory allocator) tailored for SR that
451
is compatible with drm-hwcomposer (a libre implementation of Android's Hardware
452
Composer HAL). This gralloc enables drm-hwcomposer to work with SurfaceFlinger
453
and SwiftShader, creating a stack capable of GLES 2.0 on the CPU of all Replicant
454
devices.
455
456
Afterwards we will integrate and optimize Mesa's llvmpipe SR, which offers better
457
community support than SwiftShader. As last step we will add support for the
458
Lima driver, which will bring an even faster GPU-backed GLES to at least 5
459
devices.
460
</pre> 
461
462
|_. Have you been involved with projects or organizations relevant to this project before?
463
And if so, can you tell us a bit about your contributions? | SEE TEMPLATE |
464
465
|_. Requested Amount (Between 5000 and 50000 Euros) | 50000 Euros |
466
|_. Does the project have other funding sources, both past and present? | SEE TEMPLATE |
467
468
Explain what the requested budget will be used for? 
469 1 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
<pre>
470 223 dl lud
The budget will only be used to fund this project through contract work.
471 1 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
472 223 dl lud
We estimate that this project should take 868 man-hours to reach full completion,
473
with 632 man-hours being enough to reach all software rendering goals, leaving only
474
the GPU rendering to be done. A detailed run-down of this estimate is available at
475
https://redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/wiki/Tasks_funding#Graphics-acceleration
476
477
So far we have a team of two people interested on working on this project (the
478
two authors and submitters of this application). Both can commit to the project
479
on a part-time regime (17.5 hours per week), which means that the project should
480
be fully completed in about 6 months.
481
482
We will make sure that everybody has a chance to apply for doing contract work.
483
If we take the cost of a freelance developer in the USA (75 to 150 USD
484
per hour) as a basis, to enable people living in Europe and the USA
485
to apply, we can fund between 380 and 760 man-hours with the 50000 EUR budget.
486
This should be enough to cover all work on software rendering plus the initial
487
work on GPU rendering.
488
489
As happens on all software projects, getting a precise time/effort evaluation is
490
a difficult endeavour, specially when dealing with a project that is heavy on
491
research such as this one.
492
493
If the software rendering goals are not reached when the 50000 EUR budget runs
494
out, or if the Replicant project deems it necessary to have GPU rendering, it
495
will use its existing funds to pay for contract work if no volunteers are found
496
to finish the project.
497
498
The Replicant project will also make sure that the people working on this project
499
have the necessary hardware to do it, for instance by shipping or reimbursing the
500
purchase of a compatible smartphone with the Replicant project funds.
501 222 dl lud
</pre>
502
503
Compare your own project with existing or historical efforts.
504
<pre>
505 224 dl lud
Past Replicant versions have relied on patches to the Android framework to make
506
software rendering work. These patches were quite specific for Replicant and
507
had no use elsewhere. This made them unfit for upstreaming or sharing with any
508
other project.
509 222 dl lud
510 224 dl lud
Android's Project Treble new graphics stack allows us to follow a different
511
approach this time. Instead of patching the Android framework, we will
512
implement one of the well defined Android HALs (Hardware Abstraction Layer):
513
the gralloc HAL. The end result will be a software library that can prove to be
514
useful on several projects besides Replicant (e.g. Android-x86 project) and
515
thus fit for upstreaming.
516
517
518
Furthermore, past Replicant versions relied on Google's software renderers
519
(ligAGL and libpixelflinger) for OpenGL ES support. As quite a few other
520
Google's open-source projects, these two had no community behind them and got
521
stalled as soon as Google deprecated them.
522
523
This time will we take a different approach. Although our first graphics stack
524
will rely on Google's SwiftShader renderer, we will then move our efforts into
525
Mesa. Mesa is a big community project, with hundreds of active contributors and
526
great community support. It includes the llvmpipe software renderer along with
527
new drivers in development for GPUs present on current and future Replicant
528
devices. Mesa should provide a stable and maintained platform for years to come.
529 222 dl lud
</pre>
530
531
What are significant technical challenges you expect to solve during the project, if any?
532
<pre>
533 225 dl lud
We expect to solve significant technical challenges during this project:
534
1. Implementation of the first Android gralloc library compatible with software
535
rendering.
536
2. Development of free-software benchmarks for OpenGL ES on Android, used to test
537
our optimizations to llvmpipe.
538
3. Optimization of llvmpipe by at least one order of magnitude.
539
4. Running an exynos based smartphone with fully free-software GPU graphics
540
acceleration.
541 222 dl lud
</pre>
542
543 229 dl lud
Describe the ecosystem of the project, and how you will engage with relevant actors and promote the outcomes?
544
<pre>
545
This project will re-use code from several projects such as Android,
546
drm-hwcomposer, Mesa and Lima driver. Whenever possible we will foster
547
collaboration with these projects and submit our changes upstream.
548
549
The Replicant project contributors and the FSF will supervise
550
contractors to do the work.
551
552
A blog post will announce that the Replicant project
553
has got some funding for this specific task, and that it is
554
looking for a contractor to work on it. This is to make sure
555
that everyone has equal chances in the application process.
556
557
Then the most suited contractor will be selected. Only contractors
558
that already have worked on similar tasks as part of free and open
559
source software projects will be chosen. This way we can look at
560
their existing contributions and make sure that they are able to
561
do the task before engaging with them.
562
563
The Replicant project will also make sure that the contractor has
564
or gets the hardware required to work on the task, before starting
565
to work on it.
566
</pre>
567
568 222 dl lud
|_. Attachments | SEE TEMPLATE |
569 167 dl lud
570
h3. Implement the missing features of Samsung-RIL
571
572
Samsung-RIL is the RIL (Radio Interface Layer) that many Replicant devices use to communicate with the modem.  It is a free, reverse-engineered replacement for the proprietary RIL that the Samsung phones ship with by default (which has been found to have backdoors).
573
574
Right now, Samsung-RIL mostly implements only the protocol features that are absolutely necessary for the phone to be operable.  As a result, many more rarely used protocol features are unimplemented, which decreases functionality compared to the proprietary RIL. You can help by implementing the missing features of Samsung-RIL.
575
576
It would also be nice to fix most the reported bugs involving samsung-ril and libsamsung-ipc that are impacting users very seriously. This includes the bugs about the SIM card not being detected, and the issue about having metallic sound quality when doing voice calls over 3G (bug #1773). It would also be nice to be able to recover from EFS (the modem filesystem) corruptions (Bug #1869).
577
578
*Hardware requirements* : A computer that is able to build Replicant. A smartphone or tablet supported by Samsung-RIL.
579
580
*Difficulty*: Medium to Hard
581
582
*Requirements/Prerequisites*: Knowledge of C.
583
584
*Expected outcomes*: Implement the missing features listed at [[Samsung-RIL]]. When all the features have been implemented, also ask usptream (LineageOS) if they want to use libsamsung-ipc and samsung-ril.
585 184 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
586 174 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
*Dependencies*: This task should be fairly independent as:
587 175 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
* [[Libsamsung-ipc]] should already be independent of the Android version (it can even run on GNU/Linux)
588
* [[Samsung-RIL]] can probably easily be adapted to newer Android version
589 174 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
590
*Funding*: We could apply to https://nlnet.nl/PET
591
592
h4. "Complete libsamsung-ipc and libsamsung-ril" nlnet Grant application
593 176 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
594
|_. Project name | Complete libsamsung-ipc and libsamsung-ril |
595 1 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
|_. Website / wiki | https://redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/wiki/Samsung-RIL |
596
597 176 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
Abstract: Can you explain the whole project and its expected outcome(s).in 1200 characters
598 213 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
<pre>
599
Replicant is a fully free Android distribution that is
600 197 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
approved by the FSF (http://gnu.org/distros). It supports
601
several Samsung smartphones tablets that have a modem.
602 174 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
603 197 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
The modem can be thought as a separate computer in a chip that
604 1 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
is dedicated for interfacing with the cellular network.
605
606 207 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
Many use custom protocols that are implemented by nonfree software
607 197 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
to communicate with the smartphone OS (Android). This has issues:
608 1 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
https://redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/wiki/SamsungGalaxyBackdoor
609 197 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
610
The Samsung IPC protocol is used by the modems of the devices
611 207 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
currently supported by Replicant, and in many other Samsung
612 176 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
smartphones and Tablets.
613
614 1 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
Replicant implemented it in:
615
- libsamsung-ipc: the low level protocol implementation
616 197 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
- libsamsung-ril: the interface between libsamsung-ipc and Android
617
618 208 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
The project consists in implementing their missing features, which
619
are known and documented in the RIL API. They are things like
620
"start a conference call".
621 197 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
622 207 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
When they are completed, we expect other Android and GNU/Linux
623 219 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
distributions to start using and contributing to these libraries.
624 1 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
625 208 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
This will also lower our maintenance burden and improve Replicant
626
usability and compatibility with networks.
627 174 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
</pre>
628
629
|_. Have you been involved with projects or organizations relevant to this project before?
630
And if so, can you tell us a bit about your contributions? | SEE TEMPLATE |
631
632
|_. Requested Amount (Between 5000 and 50000 Euros) | 50000 Euros |
633
|_. Does the project have other funding sources, both past and present? | SEE TEMPLATE |
634
635
Explain what the requested budget will be used for? 
636
<pre>
637
The budget will only be used to fund this task through contract work.
638
639 198 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
We think it will take something between 3 and 4 month of work
640 1 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
for one full time developer.
641 174 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
642
If we take the cost of a Freelance developer in the USA (75$ to 150$
643
per hour) as a basis, to enable people living in Europe and the USA
644
to apply, we can fund a developer to work on it for a period that
645
is mostly equivalent to something between 2 to 4 months full
646
time.
647
648 219 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
The Replicant project will take care of ensuring that the
649
people who will work on this task have the necessary hardware to
650 174 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
do it, for instance by shipping or reimbursing the purchase of a
651
compatible smartphone with the Replicant project money.
652
</pre>
653
654
Compare your own project with existing or historical efforts.
655
<pre>
656 205 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
Here, implementing the missing features will be done in the same
657
way than before, which is running the proprietary implementation
658
and understanding the data format of the data going from/to the modem
659
that is gathered either with strace or by patching the kernel, and
660
implementing the feature in libsamsung-ipc and libsamsung-ril.
661 174 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
</pre>
662
663 167 dl lud
What are significant technical challenges you expect to solve during the project, if any?
664 1 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
<pre>
665 203 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
There is currently no CDMA support at all in Replicant
666
and libsamsung-ril/libsamsung-ipc.
667
A lot of areas in the world don't have any CMDA coverage,
668
so testing the implementation could be challenging as it
669
would either require the contractor to live in an area
670
with CDMA coverage, or to be able to build a cheap CDMA
671
infrastructure to be able to test the implementation.
672 204 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
673
If we don't have good enough assurances that implementing
674
CDMA is doable, that will not be attempted.
675 167 dl lud
</pre>
676
677
|_. Describe the ecosystem of the project, and how you will engage with relevant actors and promote the outcomes? | SEE TEMPLATE |
678
|_. Attachments | SEE TEMPLATE |
679
680
h3. Implement a fully-featured QMI-RIL
681
682
The LTE variants of the Samsung Galaxy S3 and Samsung Galaxy Note 2 use a different modem from the non-LTE variants that Replicant currently supports.  You can help Replicant support those modems by implementing a QMI-RIL, which performs a similar role on the LTE variants as what Samsung-RIL performs on the currently-supported non-LTE variants.  Wolfgang has done some preliminary work on this, so you'll probably be picking up where he left off.
683
684
*Hardware requirements* : A computer that is able to build Replicant. A smartphone or tablet supported by QMI-RIL like the Galaxy SIII 4G (i9305).
685
686
*Difficulty*: Hard
687
688
*Requirements/Prerequisites*: Knowledge of C.
689
690
*Expected outcomes*: A QMI-RIL that supports voice calls, SMS, and data, with as complete a protocol implementation as possible.
691 172 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
692 167 dl lud
*Dependencies*: This task should be fairly independent as:
693
* The lower layers should already be independent of the Android version as they are used under GNU/Linux
694
* [[QMI-RIL]] can probably easily be adapted to newer Android version
695
696
*Funding*: We could apply to https://nlnet.nl/PET
697
698 215 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
h3. Finish to port the Galaxy S III (I9300) and the Galaxy Note 2 (N7100) to Mainline Linux
699 167 dl lud
700
The the Galaxy S 2 (I9100), Galaxy S 3 (I9300) and Galaxy Note 2 (N7100) currently use a kernel based on a vendor fork of Linux, which poses a maintainability and security issue.  Forkbomb has done some initial work on porting these devices to use mainline Linux.  You can help by continuing this work. This would also enable these devices to use generic hardware abstraction layers (HAL) when abstractions layers are ready, and to do some research on whether the "TrustZone operating system":https://blog.fossencdi.org/u-boot-galaxys3.html can be removed from such devices.
701
702 85 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
*Hardware requirements* : A computer that is able to build Replicant. A Galaxy S 2 (I9100), Galaxy S 3 (I9300) or Galaxy Note 2 (N7100), and a serial port adapter to get the kernel boot logs.
703
704
*Difficulty*: Medium
705
706
*Requirements/Prerequisites*: C programming language, driver development
707
708 1 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
*Expected outcomes*: Audio working, modem working, and Replicant or LineageOS booting with mainline Linux.
709 214 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
710 215 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
h4. "Finish to port the Galaxy S III (I9300) and the Galaxy Note 2 (N7100) to Mainline Linux" nlnet Grant application
711 214 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
712 239 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
|_. Project name | TODO |
713 241 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
|_. Website / wiki | https://redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/wiki/Upstream#Replicant-supported-Samsung-Exynos-devices |
714 214 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
715
Abstract: Can you explain the whole project and its expected outcome(s).in 1200 characters
716
<pre>
717 1 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
Replicant is a fully free Android distribution that is
718 239 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
approved by the FSF (http://gnu.org/distros).
719 214 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
720 239 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
TODO
721
 
722 214 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
</pre>
723
724 1 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
|_. Have you been involved with projects or organizations relevant to this project before?
725 214 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
And if so, can you tell us a bit about your contributions? | SEE TEMPLATE |
726
727
|_. Requested Amount (Between 5000 and 50000 Euros) | 50000 Euros |
728
|_. Does the project have other funding sources, both past and present? | SEE TEMPLATE |
729 1 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
730 214 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
Explain what the requested budget will be used for? 
731
<pre>
732
The budget will only be used to fund this task through contract work.
733
734
We think it will take something between 3 and 4 month of work
735
for one full time developer.
736
737
If we take the cost of a Freelance developer in the USA (75$ to 150$
738
per hour) as a basis, to enable people living in Europe and the USA
739
to apply, we can fund a developer to work on it for a period that
740
is mostly equivalent to something between 2 to 4 months full
741
time.
742
743
The Replicant project will take care of making sure that the
744
people that will work on this task have the necessary hardware to
745
do it, for instance by shipping or reimbursing the purchase of a
746
compatible smartphone with the Replicant project money.
747
</pre>
748
749
Compare your own project with existing or historical efforts.
750
<pre>
751 239 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
TODO
752 214 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
</pre>
753
754
What are significant technical challenges you expect to solve during the project, if any?
755
<pre>
756 239 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
TODO
757 214 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
</pre>
758
759
|_. Describe the ecosystem of the project, and how you will engage with relevant actors and promote the outcomes? | SEE TEMPLATE |
760
|_. Attachments | SEE TEMPLATE |
761 85 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
762
h1. Other tasks
763
764
h2. Tasks that are being defined
765
766
h3. Test infrastructure
767
768
Having an automated build and test infrastructure would be very beneficial for Replicant.
769
770
Issues:
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* Running costs of such infrastructure have to be kept low, not to depend on continuous flow of money
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h3. Documentation
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775 59 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
A lot of time is spent on the wiki documentation, and a lot of information is redundant (for instance the installation guide)
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TODO:
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* Research documentation systems
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* Research the technical knowledge required to use them
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* Look into communities like RockBox on the benefit of non-wiki documentation
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* Look if transitioning to non-wiki documentation would make the Replicant Project loose its contributors to the documentation
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h2. Devices with 512M of RAM or less
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We might want to consider Android 9 [[HardwareRequirements]] before working on that
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h3. Advance the Optimus Black U-Boot and Linux mainline ports
788 1 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
789 61 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
The Optimus Black from LG is an interesting device from the perspective of freedom and privacy/security. It has the ability to run a free bootloader and uses an OMAP3 SoC that is well-documented and supported in upstream U-Boot (bootloader) and Linux (kernel). Its modem is well-isolated from the rest of the device, ensuring a sane base for privacy/security. Currently, the device-specific parts of the mainline U-Boot and Linux ports are still at an early stage, where they are functional with a very limited set of supported hardware.
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Advancing the Optimus Black U-Boot and Linux mainline ports would allow using the device with free, up-to-date and maintainable software and would pave the way for support in GNU/Linux systems as well as Replicant. A list of priorities in hardware support will be defined, with the objective of tackling as many as possible.
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*Hardware requirements* : A computer that is able to build Replicant. An Optimus Black with u-boot and modified boot pins, a serial port adapter to get the kernel boot logs.
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*Difficulty*: Medium to Hard
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*Requirements/Prerequisites*: C programming language, driver development
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*Expected outcomes*: Improved hardware support for the Optimus Black in U-Boot and Linux
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h3. Advance the Kindle Fire (first generation) U-Boot and Linux mainline ports
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803 62 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
The Kindle Fire (first generation) from Amazon is an interesting device from the perspective of freedom and privacy/security. It has the ability to run a free bootloader and uses an OMAP4 SoC that is well-documented and supported in upstream U-Boot (bootloader) and Linux (kernel). It does not embed a modem, ensuring a sane base for privacy/security. Currently, the device-specific parts of the mainline U-Boot and Linux ports are still at an early stage, where they are functional with a very limited set of supported hardware.
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Advancing the Kindle Fire (first generation) U-Boot and Linux mainline ports would allow using the device with free, up-to-date and maintainable software and would pave the way for support in GNU/Linux systems as well as Replicant. A list of priorities in hardware support will be defined, with the objective of tackling as many as possible.
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*Hardware requirements* : A computer that is able to build Replicant. A Kindle Fire first generation, a serial port adapter to get the kernel boot logs.
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809 67 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
*Difficulty*: Medium
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*Requirements/Prerequisites*: C programming language, driver development
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*Expected outcomes*: Improved hardware support for the Kindle Fire (first generation) in U-Boot and Linux
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h3. Select and/or port a tablet with an Allwinner SOC to mainline Linux and U-boot, and Replicant
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Tablets with Allwinner SOCs are an interesting targets because they do not use signed bootloaders and the SOCs and various devices using them have good Linux and u-boot mainline support. If not much work is required for that, once the code is merged, the candidate is also required to work on the generic abstraction layer project which is also documented in this page.
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The chosen tablet should have:
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* A SOC that has good mainline support, see "the Linux mainlining effort page on linux-sunxi":https://linux-sunxi.org/Linux_mainlining_effort for more details.
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* A Free software bootloader, or the ability to easily add support for the tablet to a free software bootloader.
822 56 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
* The ability to power and use an USB WiFi card or chip that is compatible with the ath9k_htc driver.
823 3 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
824 55 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
It would be better if the chosen tablet doesn't use an AllWinner SOC with a PowerVR GPU, as MALI GPU have more probability to be usable with free software in the future.
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826 43 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
*Hardware requirements* : A computer that is able to build Replicant. An Allwinner tablet, a serial port adapter to get the kernel boot logs.
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*Difficulty*: Medium
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*Requirements/Prerequisites*: C programming language, driver development
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*Expected outcomes*: Replicant support for a tablet using an Allwinner SOC, with free software bootloader and mainline based Linux kernel.
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h2. Tasks for Replicant 6.0
835 1 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
836 43 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
h3. Tackle security issues in Replicant 6.0
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Replicant is plagued by various security issues, that are mostly due to using a downstream codebase. One of the most crucial issues is that Replicant uses an old version of the Android WebView (from circa 2015), which is also a functionality drawback.
839 46 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
An initial evaluation of the security issues in Replicant should be conducted, followed by the integration or update of the concerned components of the system.
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It would also be nice to do the same for privacy issues. Since Replicant indirectly depends on the "Android Open Source Project" and directly depends on LineageOS, not all privacy issues might have been found fixed by Replicant. Once security issues have been fixed, it would be nice to try to identify as many privacy issues as possible, and in a second time to fix them.
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843 48 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
*Hardware requirements* : A computer that is able to build Replicant. A smartphone or tablet that is supported by Replicant to be able to test the result.
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845 46 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
*Difficulty*: Medium-Hard
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*Requirements/Prerequisites*: Android build system, knowledge of system security, advanced git
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*Expected outcomes*: Integration or update of components of Replicant to tackle security issues
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h3. Fix the Free software distribution guidelines issues and improve the build system in Replicant 6.0
852 21 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
853 44 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
Replicant has some issues with "FSDG (Free System Distribution Guidelines)":https://www.gnu.org/distros/free-system-distribution-guidelines.html compliance: "F-droid":https://f-droid.org/ repository is not FSDG compliant anymore (Bug #1629), and Replicant can't be built from an FSDG distribution (Bug #1861). This ought to be fixed. Replicant should also be fixed to build without issue.
854 3 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
855 1 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
It would also be nice to have the build system not depend on pre-built dependencies anymore, and to document which FSDG compliant F-droid applications crash because Replicant's incomplete EGL implementation (#705) and tag such applications as incompatible (so they are greyed out) until the EGL implemetation is fixed. Ideally Replicant builds should also be made "reproducible":https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deterministic_compilation if they are not already.
856 23 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
857 36 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
*Hardware requirements* : A computer that is able to build Replicant. A smartphone or tablet that is supported by Replicant to be able to test the result.
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859 1 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
*Difficulty*: Easy
860 44 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
861 1 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
*Requirements/Prerequisites*: Knowledge of shell scripts and the ability to learn the Android build system
862 39 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
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*Expected outcomes*: The ability to compile Replicant from "an FSDG distribution":https://www.gnu.org/distros/free-distros.html, F-droid only showing FSDG compliant software.
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h2. Research
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h3. Improve support for the free software compatible external WiFi adapter
868 1 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
869 50 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
All devices currently supported by Replicant have WiFi chips that requires a non-free firmware to work. So to have WiFi working with free software, users need to use external WiFi adapters. They typically use tiny ath9k_htc compatible USB WiFi adapter along with a tiny USB OTG Host adapter.
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Such external USB WiFi adapters used with Replicant are originally intended for laptops, not phones. As a result, they tend to consume a lot of power. According to lsusb some ath9k_htc compatible devices can consume up to 500mA.
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This poses several issues:
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* Some smartphones and tablets might not be compatible, at the hardware level, with such big power consumption.
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* They can adversely impact battery life
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877 66 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
Such USB WiFi adapters can also randomly stop working completely on some devices (e.g. needing to unplug and replug the adapter periodically to keep it operational).
878 1 Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli
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You will need to investigate reliability issues such as the one mentioned above and look how power consumption can be improved in the adapter firmware and/or kernel driver.
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You will also need to investigate how much miliampers USB devices can use, at the hardware level, on the smartphones and tablets Replicant supports.
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*Hardware requirements* : An ath9k_htc compatible WiFi card, the ability to measure the current usage, the ability to build the ath9k_htc firmware and driver.
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*Difficulty*: Medium/Hard
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*Requirements/Prerequisites*: Knowledge of C
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*Expected outcomes*: Reliable WiFi with external WiFi adapter