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Sadly, since January 1st, 2020 Termux team dropped[0] support for Android 5.x/6.x, so actually in F-Droidrepo it now requires minimum Android 7.x: > Support fo

Sadly, since January 1st, 2020 Termux team dropped[0] support for Android 5.x/6.x, so actually in F-Droidrepo it now requires minimum Android 7.x: > Support for Android 5.x.x - 6.x.x is dropped forever. Time to upgrade your devices or learn how to backport git changes.[1] And this part from Termux devs reply is especially cynical: > ... Time to upgrade your devices...[1] It looks like they has a contract with devices manufacturers... ... No, I no need such type of "app improvements in new version" which require me to buy a new device. FTR, In F-Droid Archive[2] repo there is still Termux v0.75 for Android 5.x/6.x (which I'm using on Ido device), but it is horrible because Termux packages repo for Android 5.x/6.x are now disabled[3] too. [0] https://github.com/termux/termux-app/issues/1516 https://github.com/termux/termux-app/issues/1516 [1] https://github.com/termux/termux-app/issues/1407#issuecomment-570550054 https://github.com/termux/termux-app/issues/1407#issuecommen... [2] https://apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/index/apk/com.termux?repo=archive https://apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/index/apk/com.termux?repo=arc... [3] https://github.com/termux/termux-packages/issues/4467 https://github.com/termux/termux-packages/issues/4467

driverdan 6y ago
Why would you expect them to continue supporting a 5 year old OS version?
- app4soft 6y ago
  Because its community driven FLOSS project. And it would "OK" if there would no releases with new features... but bug fix releases which is worse. Instead, team (owner & core members) just dropped & disabled everything, leaving Android 5.x/6.x device owners in frozen state. Even more, team not proposed itself & ignored any proposition from others to at least support Termux for Android 5.x/6.x in LTS-way.
- bill_mon 6y ago
  Because most devices can't be updated? Supporting version 4+ gives you a much larger audience than limiting to version 7+.
  - MrDresden 6y ago
    I think this was a very logical thing for them to do. Supporting platforms that old comes with a massive amount of headaches. It is hard enough for big teams of applications with high MRR to do, and is near impossible for a FOSS application to do in perpetuity.
- saagarjha 6y ago
  I know some people do this for iOS, so I would have expected it to almost be the norm on Android where many devices frequently fall behind on updates.
  - app4soft 6y ago
    > I know some people do this for iOS Apple devs has a smart trick how to declare you to buy new iPhone {n+1} just next day after it out: Apple devs just may decrease performance of your previous iPhone {n} fully remotely without any prompts to you and without your permission.[0] And such remoted control over users costs only $500M single pay - not too much as for Apple at all.[1] [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15965119 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15965119 [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22465829 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22465829
- badsectoracula 6y ago
  Because 5 year old isn't really that old. My Android 5 powered phone (which is my only phone) works perfectly fine, the only annoyance i have with it is that it has become sluggish - but that is the fault of software developers bloating their code (the software pretty much does the same stuff as it did when i got the phone years ago), not of the phone itself. Note that i do not expect someone to do free work for me, i just do not consider a 5 year old device "old" enough to be weird for it to be supported - especially when it works just fine.
thetinguy 6y ago
I think 5 years of support is reasonable.
- app4soft 6y ago
  No. Beside Android 5.x/6.x devices, I has Symbian 9.x (Nokia N82) smartphone which works perfectly. And there are a lot of new apps for it: - https://old.reddit.com/r/symbian/new https://old.reddit.com/r/symbian/new P.S. My 10+ year-old laptop perfectly works with latest MX Linux distribution (based on Debian 10 buster) and all modern FLOSS desktop apps (GIMP, FreeCAD, Inkscape, etc.) works like a charm on it. So, software devs should NOT declare users to buy/upgrade hardware.
  - _flux 6y ago
    So regardless the amount of work it involves and how few people use them, e.g. 6-year old devices should always be supported? With PC the compatibility is quite a success story, but hardly the standard.
  - michaelt 6y ago
    Phone manufacturers certainly ought to offer 5+ years of OS updates. Apple does, after all. So I agree with you to that extent. But if users want third parties volunteers to support devices whose vendors have already dropped support? If there are no volunteers wanting to do the work, the work doesn't get done. The bad guys here are the phone vendors, not the Termux developers IMHO.
    - app4soft 6y ago
      > The bad guys here are the phone vendors, not the Termux developers IMHO. Here is Termux devs reply to Termux user: > ... Time to upgrade your devices...[0] Who is bad guy here according this quote? P.S. It would not be so bad if devs just says "we don't support such devices", but instead devs declared to upgrade device in reply to user... [0] https://github.com/termux/termux-app/issues/1407#issuecomment-570550054 https://github.com/termux/termux-app/issues/1407#issuecommen...
matkoniecz 6y ago
It is not Termux devs fault that many phone manufacturers fail to handle OS upgrades. They are not obligated to support them, feel free to support all Android versions at once in your project.
- rodgerd 6y ago
  Precisely. If you want long-term support, don't use Android in the first place.
  - matkoniecz 6y ago
    Or at least buy phones where at least some support is promised.
- app4soft 6y ago
  > It is not Termux devs fault This reply to Termux user is Termux devs fault: > ... Time to upgrade your devices...[0] [0] https://github.com/termux/termux-app/issues/1407#issuecomment-570550054 https://github.com/termux/termux-app/issues/1407#issuecommen...
  - matkoniecz 6y ago
    If someone is stuck on Android 6 due to failure to deliver OS updates then it is still fault of whoever manufactured such device. And a bit of failure to buy something where there are updates.

driverdan 6y ago

Why would you expect them to continue supporting a 5 year old OS version?

app4soft 6y ago
Because its community driven FLOSS project. And it would "OK" if there would no releases with new features... but bug fix releases which is worse. Instead, team (owner & core members) just dropped & disabled everything, leaving Android 5.x/6.x device owners in frozen state. Even more, team not proposed itself & ignored any proposition from others to at least support Termux for Android 5.x/6.x in LTS-way.
bill_mon 6y ago
Because most devices can't be updated? Supporting version 4+ gives you a much larger audience than limiting to version 7+.
- MrDresden 6y ago
  I think this was a very logical thing for them to do. Supporting platforms that old comes with a massive amount of headaches. It is hard enough for big teams of applications with high MRR to do, and is near impossible for a FOSS application to do in perpetuity.
saagarjha 6y ago
I know some people do this for iOS, so I would have expected it to almost be the norm on Android where many devices frequently fall behind on updates.
- app4soft 6y ago
  > I know some people do this for iOS Apple devs has a smart trick how to declare you to buy new iPhone {n+1} just next day after it out: Apple devs just may decrease performance of your previous iPhone {n} fully remotely without any prompts to you and without your permission.[0] And such remoted control over users costs only $500M single pay - not too much as for Apple at all.[1] [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15965119 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15965119 [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22465829 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22465829
badsectoracula 6y ago
Because 5 year old isn't really that old. My Android 5 powered phone (which is my only phone) works perfectly fine, the only annoyance i have with it is that it has become sluggish - but that is the fault of software developers bloating their code (the software pretty much does the same stuff as it did when i got the phone years ago), not of the phone itself. Note that i do not expect someone to do free work for me, i just do not consider a 5 year old device "old" enough to be weird for it to be supported - especially when it works just fine.

thetinguy 6y ago

I think 5 years of support is reasonable.

app4soft 6y ago
No. Beside Android 5.x/6.x devices, I has Symbian 9.x (Nokia N82) smartphone which works perfectly. And there are a lot of new apps for it: - https://old.reddit.com/r/symbian/new https://old.reddit.com/r/symbian/new P.S. My 10+ year-old laptop perfectly works with latest MX Linux distribution (based on Debian 10 buster) and all modern FLOSS desktop apps (GIMP, FreeCAD, Inkscape, etc.) works like a charm on it. So, software devs should NOT declare users to buy/upgrade hardware.
- _flux 6y ago
  So regardless the amount of work it involves and how few people use them, e.g. 6-year old devices should always be supported? With PC the compatibility is quite a success story, but hardly the standard.
- michaelt 6y ago
  Phone manufacturers certainly ought to offer 5+ years of OS updates. Apple does, after all. So I agree with you to that extent. But if users want third parties volunteers to support devices whose vendors have already dropped support? If there are no volunteers wanting to do the work, the work doesn't get done. The bad guys here are the phone vendors, not the Termux developers IMHO.
  - app4soft 6y ago
    > The bad guys here are the phone vendors, not the Termux developers IMHO. Here is Termux devs reply to Termux user: > ... Time to upgrade your devices...[0] Who is bad guy here according this quote? P.S. It would not be so bad if devs just says "we don't support such devices", but instead devs declared to upgrade device in reply to user... [0] https://github.com/termux/termux-app/issues/1407#issuecomment-570550054 https://github.com/termux/termux-app/issues/1407#issuecommen...

matkoniecz 6y ago

It is not Termux devs fault that many phone manufacturers fail to handle OS upgrades. They are not obligated to support them, feel free to support all Android versions at once in your project.

rodgerd 6y ago
Precisely. If you want long-term support, don't use Android in the first place.
- matkoniecz 6y ago
  Or at least buy phones where at least some support is promised.
app4soft 6y ago
> It is not Termux devs fault This reply to Termux user is Termux devs fault: > ... Time to upgrade your devices...[0] [0] https://github.com/termux/termux-app/issues/1407#issuecomment-570550054 https://github.com/termux/termux-app/issues/1407#issuecommen...
- matkoniecz 6y ago
  If someone is stuck on Android 6 due to failure to deliver OS updates then it is still fault of whoever manufactured such device. And a bit of failure to buy something where there are updates.