The mailing list for users of the eduroam Configuration Assistant Tool (CAT)

[Stefan Paetow <Stefan.Paetow AT jisc.ac.uk>]

Guy,

 

I must apologise because that completely slipped my mind (the fact that the developing world sticks to devices a lot longer than the consumerist ‘first’ world).

 

However, the problem is that eduroam CAT cannot be updated in the Play Store *at all* if I understand correctly. This is of course a problem if that is the case, because the suggestion had already been made that the app metadata be updated to include a reference to geteduroam for newer versions of Android when geteduroam was initially released.

 

With Kind Regards

 

Stefan Paetow
Federated Roaming Technical Specialist

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From: <cat-users-request AT lists.geant.org> on behalf of Guy Halse <guy AT tenet.ac.za>
Organisation: Tertiary Education & Research Network of South Africa NPC
Reply to: Guy Halse <guy AT tenet.ac.za>
Date: Wednesday, 8 September 2021 at 09:43
To: <cat-users AT lists.geant.org>
Subject: Re: [[cat-users]] Discontinuing Android 4-7 support / eduroamCAT app altogether?

 

Hi

On 2021/09/01 09:10, Stefan Winter wrote:

I know that discontinuing old versions is always a controversial topic,

and particularly so for Android where ancient versions tend to live much

longer than one might hope. Hence this mail, to open a discussion. If

you have strong feelings about old Android versions, please reply to

this mail.

As a general rule, devices live much longer in the developing world than you might expect of be used to in Europe or North America. More importantly, the argument that users should simply upgrade or replace a device is deeply problematic in societies where doing so costs more than the average monthly wage. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated this problem by putting a greater reliance on whatever device is available to continue studies when face-to-face teaching is not possible, and the same countries that suffer from the long tail are probably also well behind in any vaccination programme. That means we should always tread as lightly as possible when discontinuing old devices, and should be more cautious about this while COVID-19 remains part of the problem.

The above also means that any stats of version downloads from the CAT website are also of limited use. It is the emerging eduroam NROs that are disproportionally likely to experience this problem, and they're by definition comparably low numbers of users.

I would argue that the morally right approach here is not to look at what is passed manufacturer EOL, but what is technically practical to support.

From your bug report, there's a suggestion that there's a potential for a work around in Android 6+. If that's true and it is possible to rectify the problem with relatively minor changes and still support 6+, it would make sense to do so and leave the eduroamCAT app in place for those versions. That would imply discontinuing support for Android 4.3 - 5 as no longer technically practical, and continuing to support those versions 6+ that are.

By all means remove the links to the eduroamCAT app for later Android versions where the geteduroam app is available and works. And per the above, update the entry for Android 4.3 - 7 on CAT's website to reflect Android 6 - 7. I would even go so far as suggesting explicitly marking those versions as deprecated/unsupported because they're EOL, while still leaving the entry in place.

However, contrary to some of the suggestions here, I would strongly argue against removing the eduroamCAT app from Play Store if that's at all possible. Instead I would suggest marking it (either in the description or platform support) as no longer supporting more recent versions of Android, and in the description referring people to the geteduroam app as a replacement.

Regards,

- Guy

--

Guy Halse Executive Officer: Trust & Identity Tertiary Education & Research Network of South Africa NPC Fault Reporting: +27(21)763-7147 or support AT tenet.ac.za Office: +27(21)763-7102 http://www.tenet.ac.za/contact https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9388-8592