Release Notes for Serval Mesh 0.91 “Glossy”

Serval Project, June 2013
These notes accompany the release in June 2013 of version 0.91 (codename “Glossy”) of the Serval Mesh app for Android 2.2 “Froyo” and above.

What's new since 0.90

Reduced importance of root access, and redesigned the way that you connect to other people. While previous versions of the software could operate without root permission, this was not explained very well to new users.
Opus audio codec enabled by default. This should result in significant bandwidth savings, without any noticeable impact on call quality.
All new link state routing engine. This routing engine should greatly improve our ability to route packets over complex network topologies. With per-hop retransmission of packets, we should be able to carry a voice call in conditions that would previously have been unusable.
Improved help text within the application.
While it isn't visible from inside the application, we've spent significant effort updating the content and structure of our wiki since our last release.

Known Issues

While rhizome is synchronising content, voice calls are likely to be unusable. However, once all synchronisation is complete everything should recover.
Currently, you can not share files or send messages without External storage. External storage usages is also not managed by the software at present.

 

Release Notes for Serval Mesh 0.9 “Shiny”

Serval Project, January 2013
These notes accompany the release in January 2013 of version 0.90 (codename “Shiny”) of the Serval Mesh app for Android 2.2 “Froyo” and above.
This release succeeds version 0.08 that was released in June 2012.

What is Serval Mesh?

Serval Mesh is an app for Android 2.2 “Froyo” and above. It provides free, secure phone-to-phone voice calling, SMS and file sharing over Wi-Fi, without the need for a SIM card or a commercial mobile telephone carrier. In other words, it lets your Android phone call other Android phones running Serval Mesh within Wi-Fi range.
The Serval Mesh Privacy Policy describes how Serval Mesh handles your personal and other sensitive information.

Warnings

Serval Mesh version 0.90 is EXPERIMENTAL SOFTWARE. It has not yet reached version 1.0, and is intended for pre-production, demonstration purposes only. It may not work as advertised, it may lose or alter messages and files that it carries, it may consume a lot of space, speed and battery, and it may crash unexpectedly.
Serval Mesh requests root permission (super-user) on your Android device in order to put Wi-Fi into Ad-Hoc mode. If you grant super-user permission to Serval Mesh, then it will take control of your device’s Wi-Fi and use it to contact other Serval Mesh devices in the vicinity. This will cut off normal Wi-Fi network access.
If your device has no root access or if you deny super-user permission to Serval Mesh, or if no other Ad-Hoc mode devices are nearby, then Serval Mesh will revert to using Wi-Fi in the normal Client mode. This should not interrupt conventional network access, but it could do so. If there is no nearby access point like a home Wi-Fi router or public hot-spot then Serval Mesh will put your device’s Wi-Fi into Access Point mode (turn on personal hotspot). This will give nearby devices access to your mobile data plan, and COULD COST YOU MONEY.
Serval Mesh telephony is a “best effort” service, primarily intended for when conventional telephony is not possible or cost effective, and MUST NOT BE RELIED UPON for emergencies in place of carrier-grade communications systems. The Serval Project cannot be held responsible for any performance or non-performance of the technologies that they provide in good will, and if you use these technologies you must agree to indemnify the Serval Project from any such claims.
The Serval Mesh software copies all files shared using the Rhizome file distribution service to other phones and devices running the Serval Mesh software, regardless of size, content or intended recipient. The Serval Project cannot be held responsible for the legality or propriety of any files received via Rhizome, nor for any loss, damage or offence caused by the transmission or receipt of any content via Rhizome.
See the disclaimers below.

What’s new since 0.08

If you have used version 0.08, the first things you will notice are:
The Main Interface contains a redesigned navigation system: There is a redesigned and more detailed Help System. This contains: There is a new Settings system.This contains:
There have been enormous changes under the hood since 0.08:

Supported Devices

This release of Serval Mesh has been extensively used and tested on the following devices with no problems:
Prior releases of Serval Mesh are known to work on the following devices, which is a strong indication that this release may also work:
This release of Serval Mesh is known to work on the following devices with minor problems:
The following devices have major known problems in this or prior releases:
See the Mobile Device Compatability Table for more details and devices.

Known Issues

The following issues are planned to be fixed by version 1.0:
There are more known bugs and issues listed under the GitHub Issues page for batphone issues and serval-dna issues.

Copyright and licensing

Serval Mesh is free software produced by the Serval Project and many contributors. The copyright in all source code is owned by Serval Project Inc., an organisation incorporated in the state of South Australia in the Commonwealth of Australia.
The Java/XML source code of Serval Mesh is licensed to the public under the GNU General Public License version 3. The serval-dna component of Serval Mesh is licensed to the public under the GNU General Public License version 2. All source code is freely available from the Serval Project’s batphone and serval-dna Git repositories on GitHub.

Acknowledgements

Development of Serval Mesh was funded by the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute and the Shuttleworth Foundation.
The Serval Project was founded by Dr Paul Gardner-Stephen and Romana Challans, both academic staff at the School of Computer Science, Engineering and Mathematics at Flinders University in South Australia. Their work on the Serval Project is made possible by the ongoing support of the university.

Disclaimer

SERVAL MESH refers to the software, protocols, systems and other goods, tangible and intangible produced by The Serval Project, Serval Project, Inc., and Serval Project Pty Limited.
SERVAL MESH COMES WITH NO WARRANTY, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, AND IS NOT FIT FOR MERCHANTABILITY FOR ANY PURPOSE. USE AT YOUR SOLE RISK.
SERVAL MESH WILL REDUCE THE BATTERY LIFE OF DEVICES ON WHICH IT RUNS.
SERVAL MESH MAY CONSUME ALL STORAGE, both LOCAL and EXTERNAL (eg, MICRO SD CARD) ON THE DEVICES ON WHICH IT RUNS.
SERVAL MESH SHOULD NOT BE INSTALLED ON DEVICES WHICH ARE DEPENDED UPON FOR EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION.
SERVAL MESH MAY TRANSMIT SOME DATA, INCLUDING TELEPHONE CALLS, MESSAGES AND OTHER POTENTIALLY PRIVATE DATA IN THE CLEAR.
SERVAL MESH PROTECTIONS against IMPERSONATION or OTHER MISAPPROPRIATION of IDENTITY ESTABLISHING FACTORS MAY BE DEFECTIVE and MAY NOT PERFORM AS EXPECTED.
SERVAL MESH SHOULD NOT BE RELIED UPON IN AN EMERGENCY is it is an INCOMPLETE PROTOTYPE and BEST EFFORT in nature, and may FAIL TO OPERATE.
SERVAL MESH may COST YOU MONEY if you have a MOBILE DATA PLAN by allowing NEARBY DEVICES TO USE YOUR DATA PLAN WITHOUT YOUR KNOWLEDGE OR CONSENT.
SERVAL MESH may REVEAL AND/OR BROADCAST YOUR LOCATION, IDENTITY OR OTHER INFORMATION through its normal operation.
SERVAL MESH is an INCOMPLETE, PRE-PRODUCTION software, experimental in nature and is not to be considered fit for merchantability for any purpose. It has many defects, omissions and errors that will hamper its fulfilling of its intended purposes.