Last year me and agnostic-apollo applied for a grant from NLnet’s Mobifree fund. The project we outlined was to make Termux compliant with the latest Android targetSdkVersions. Currently Termux works thanks to it targeting older sdkVersions, but apps are not allowed to target older version forever, sooner or later the current app variant will hence no longer be installable on modern android version. The technical details are explained in this Termux blog post.
We were extremely fortunate to be chosen by NLnet, after some rounds of interviews and discussion. I am very excited to be working on a project financed by the EU, and am looking forward to help my fellow EU citizens to get more out of their android device. More information about the Mobile Freedom EU project can be found at doi.org/10.3030/101135795.
In our application I had planned for working ~50 % for ~6 months to achieve the project goals. At my dayjob I work as a battery specialist consultant at the company Etteplan, and when we were chosen for the project I approached them and explained the situation. The company was very supportive (probably in large parts thanks to my awesome boss), and allowed me to decrease my hours to 60 % from 2025-02, giving me two days per week to work on Termux (to start with).
This is the first time I am working professionally on an open-source project. Stay tuned for more development updates, here or in Termux’s blog.
Hopefully my story can inspire someone else to look into different ways to actually getting funding for working on the projects they are passionate about!