February 2020, “Community Choice” Project of the Month – ExpressLuke GSI

For our February “Community Choice” Project of the Month, the community elected ExpressLuke GSI, source built GSIs based on phhusson’s great work.

ExpressLuke GSI offers both Android Pie and Android 10 unofficial GSIs, which includes the likes of Pixel Experience, Resurrection Remix and Havoc OS for all users no matter what architecture or partition layout is being used.

We caught up with creator and developer Luke Williams as he shared some thoughts about the project’s history, purpose, and direction.

SourceForge (SF): Tell me about the ExpressLuke GSI project please. What made you start this?
Luke Williams (LW): Initially ExpressLuke GSI wasn’t an idea I had at the beginning as I was just creating Project Treble Images of popular custom ROMs so I could try them out on my Galaxy S7, from which I then created a community. I was not aware that my images were being spread to many other device communities. That inspired me to create the ExpressLuke GSI community where I would still continue to build popular custom ROM images but for a wider community of people.

SF: Has the original vision been achieved?
LW: Most certainly, beyond my expectations. Although I still have a lot more to do, such as helping contribute towards fixing issues that are currently plaguing some device categories, as well as bringing more choice by building more popular custom ROMS as system images.

SF: Who can benefit the most from your project?
LW: Absolutely anyone! As long as they have a Project Treble supported device whether officially or unofficially. It especially benefits devices that do not directly have support for their device.

SF: What core need does ExpressLuke GSI fulfill?
LW: For the satisfaction that any user can install and enjoy any custom ROM they want just by flashing the image they desire.

SF: What’s the best way to get the most out of using ExpressLuke GSI?
LW: To put it simply, to flash and try as many GSIs until they find their favourite.

SF: What has your project team done to help build and nurture your community?
LW: Currently I am a single person who has created the community from nothing, but certainly creating a Telegram channel and group as well as linking through XDA has helped users find their place in my community.

SF: Have you found that more frequent releases helps build up your community of users?
LW: Definitely! Not only does it give users more choice, it builds up the community because they can safely know that their favourite ROM exists finally for their device.

SF: What was the first big thing that happened for your project?
LW: Getting recognized by other developers/ aspiring developers in the Android world. To get recognition from others means you have made an impact.

SF: What helped make that happen?
LW: Pretty much my Telegram group and XDA made that happen, with the amount of sharing by them they established Treble communities and elsewhere.

SF: How has SourceForge and its tools helped your project reach that success?
LW: SourceForge has assisted us by providing us the proper avenue in order to provide builds and organise them into folders that are easy for users to find specific ROM and treble configurations.

SF: What is the next big thing for ExpressLuke GSI?
LW: To build a team that can assist me in growing the number of ROM images that can be created to further build the community.

SF: How long do you think that will take?
LW: Might take a few months to establish the vision and get working on a release schedule.

SF: Do you have the resources you need to make that happen?
LW: I believe so! We have the proper tools in GitLab, servers and of course, SourceForge to support our builds!

SF: If you had to do it over again, what would you do differently for ExpressLuke GSI?
LW: I think mostly to have built my team earlier, so I could get out there to even more people!

SF: Is there anything else we should know?
LW: Literally would like to thank phh for laying the groundwork to help make ExpressLuke GSI possible.

[ Download ExpressLuke GSI ]