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[GUIDE] How to Build and Package a Kernel [D2]

This thread aims to be a comprehensive guide to building and packaging kernels for US Variant Samsung Galaxy SIIIs
In my opinion, a kernel is a great way to get into building things for your device and its pretty easy to do too.
Intro
What is a kernel?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernel_(computing)
This guide is for US SGSIII's (d2att,d2cri,d2mtr,d2spr,d2tmo,d2usc,d2vzw,others?)
It may be possible to adapt this to other devices, but I am not responsible for anything that happens should you try to do this.
This guide assumes you have a general knowledge of the Linux operating system. If you've never used it, you might consider playing around
with it for awhile before attempting this guide.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Prerequisites
On all devices you must be rooted, on Verizon SGS3 (d2vzw) you must also have the unlocked (VRALE6) bootloader installed.
This is not the thread for figuring out how to do this. You can use the forum's search function to figure out how to do this on your device.
You'll need a computer or a virtual machine running ubuntu. You may be able to figure out how to get this working on other distributions,
but since ubuntu is generally the most accepted distribution to use for building android things, I'll stick to using that here.
At the time of this writing, I'm using ubuntu 12.10, 64-bit.
You'll need to install some packages on your ubuntu machine:
Code:
sudo apt-get install build-essential git zip unzip
On 64-bit you'll also need some multilib and 32-bit compatibility packages:
Code:
sudo apt-get install gcc-multilib g++-multilib lib32z1-dev
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Setting up the Build Environment
Next, you'll need a toolchain which is used to actually build the kernel. You may download one of these:
GCC 4.4.3: Download || Mirror
GCC 4.6: Download || Mirror
GCC 4.7: Download || Mirror
If you aren't sure, go for 4.4.3 or 4.6.
4.7 requires some code changes to work. The original kernel developer may or may not have made these changes.
Here is what I needed to do in order for 4.7 to build, boot and have wifi work:
https://github.com/invisiblek/linux-msm-d2/commit/f8d7199d37cfbfa1bcb6b4bcae3fc15ae71fbdea
https://github.com/invisiblek/linux-msm-d2/commit/ea58076501e5874db7b934c215c4dae81ddfd0a6
The toolchains are also available in the android NDK.
*** There are many toolchains out there, some of you may know of the Linaro toolchain which is aimed to optimize your binary even further ***
*** If you choose to use a different toolchain, that is fine. Keep in mind that you may run into issues depending on the toolchain you use ***
You can check what your currently running kernel was built with by issuing these commands:
Code:
adb root
adb shell cat /proc/version
It should return something like:
Linux version 3.4.0-cyanogenmod-gc4f332c-00230-g93fb4aa-dirty ([email protected]) (gcc version 4.7 (GCC) ) #134 SMP PREEMPT Thu Feb 28 00:22:41 CST 2013
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This shows my particular kernel here was built with GCC 4.7
You can use wget to download one of the links from above, in this instance we'll download version 4.4.3 from the first link:
Code:
wget http://invisiblek.org/arm-eabi-4.4.3.tar.bz2
Extract this to somewhere you will remember, probably your home directory.
Code:
mkdir arm-eabi-4.4.3
tar -xf arm-eabi-4.4.3.tar.bz2 -C arm-eabi-4.4.3/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Obtaining Source
Find someone's source to use as a base. This can be a source archive from Samsung, a kernel tree from CyanogenMod, or any other developer around that makes kernels for your device.
TIMEOUT
This is a good spot to stop and take note that the Linux kernel is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL): http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html
What does this mean you ask? It means that if you plan to share your kernel with the community (if it's good, please do so!) then you MUST share your
source code as well. I am not liable for what you choose to do once you start building kernels, but know this: if you share your kernel and do not
provide source code for it, you will get warnings from XDA for a determined amount of time, after that you may have your threads closed, deleted and
possibly your user account terminated. This is extremely important!
Also, you may run into more problems than just XDA. There are organizations out there that do take action if you consistently refuse to comply with the GPL.
I recommend you read this: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html so that you are familiar with what legalities you are getting yourself into.
The main thing to remember is to share your source code if you decide to share your built kernel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In this instance, we will use CyanogenMod's kernel source for the US Galaxy S3's. You may browse the source code here:
https://github.com/CyanogenMod/android_kernel_samsung_d2
You'll notice that the branch there is cm-10.1
This is the default branch of this repository on github. This means that if you intend to build this branch, you'll need to use it on CM version 10.1. Most
likely it will not function on another version.
To obtain the source code:
Code:
git clone https://github.com/CyanogenMod/android_kernel_samsung_d2
This will take a little while, be patient.
When done, you'll have a directory called android_kernel_samsung_d2, cd into this directory.
Code:
cd android_kernel_samsung_d2
Next, you'll need to set up a couple environment variables. These tell the system two things:
1. What CPU architecture to build for, in this case arm
2. Where to find the toolchain we downloaded earlier, so that the system can cross compile for arm
Code:
export ARCH=arm
export CROSS_COMPILE=~/arm-eabi-4.4.3/bin/arm-eabi-
You'll need to set these variables on each new session. You can modify your Makefile in the root of your kernel tree in order to have these set permanently.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Building
At this point you can make any changes to the source code that you want. If this is your first time, I recommend not making any changes and make sure you have a
sane build environment before adding any complications.
When you build a kernel, you need to choose a defconfig. This is a specialized configuration file, specifically tailored for your device.
CyanogenMod names their defconfigs for their devices like so: cyanogen_<device>_defconfig and they are located in arch/arm/configs/
Code:
ls arch/arm/configs/cyanogen*
In this example, we will build for d2vzw.
Set up your tree to build for the d2vzw:
Code:
make cyanogen_d2vzw_defconfig
(do this in your kernel's root directory, in this example it was android_kernel_samsung_d2/ )
Now you are ready to build:
First, determine how many cpu's your computer has. You'll use this number to determine how many jobs the compiler command will use. The more jobs you can use, the more
cpu threads the compile will take advantage of, thus you'll get faster builds. If you don't know, just assume you'll use the number 2. We'll use 2 as an example here.
Code:
make -j2
Where 2 is the number of CPU cores your build system has.
And now we wait...until it's done compiling...
You'll know it successfully compiled when you have this line when it stops:
Kernel: arch/arm/boot/zImage is ready
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
PROTIP:
If it stops somewhere other than "zImage is ready" then you had build errors. Try running the 'make' command with no options after it. This will run the compile on a single thread
and will cause it to stop compiling as soon as it hits an error. When you run it on multiple threads, it definitely goes much faster, but if an error occurs, the console doesn't stop
until it finishes all of its threads. Causing you to have to scroll up and search around for an error
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now, assuming the build completed successfully, you have two things you are concerned with: A zImage (the kernel binary itself) and your kernel modules, which get built based
on what was configured in your defconfig.
You'll find your zImage at: arch/arm/boot/zImage
Code:
ls arch/arm/boot/zImage
The modules are scattered all over the place, depending on where the source existed that they were compiled from. We can easily search for them using this command:
Code:
find . -name "*.ko"
If both of the previous commands completed, you are now ready to package your kernel up for testing.
Move up a directory before continuing.
Code:
cd ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Packaging
You may know of an awesome developer by the name of koush.
Well, once upon a time, koush created a rather simple zip, called AnyKernel, that would flash a kernel on a device, regardless of what ramdisk the kernel has on it.
I've taken his zip and modified it for d2 devices and to work with the newer recoveries out there.
This has a script in it that will dump your current boot.img (kernel+ramdisk), unpack it, replace the kernel, repack it and flash it.
It'll also copy any modules to the proper directory (/system/lib/modules) and set permissions appropriately.
You can get a zip here: Download || Mirror
(You can get it here as well: https://github.com/invisiblek/AnyKernel )
(Everyone is invited to use this zip, it'll probably make your life easier to not have to worry about the ramdisk. Enjoy!)
IMPORTANT
This AnyKernel package is for US variations of the Galaxy S3.
NOT the international (I9300) or any other device.
There are checks in the updater-script that will ensure you are running a d2 device before it does anything.
If you were to remove these checks, and not modify the partition that it flashes to later, you could end up with a brick.
If you intend to adapt this package for another device (please, do this! its a very handy script!), make sure you know it well, or ask someone to help you determine your device's
partition scheme before using it.
The risk here is due to the fact that the script doesn't know your device's partition scheme. It is configured specifically for the d2 devices. Flashing it on something else, who's boot
partition is somewhere else, might cause a bad flash to the bootloader partition (bad bad news if this happens).
Just be careful if you want to use this on another device. You won't run into problems if you use this on a d2 device.
EDIT: I made modifications that should make this less likely, but please, if you intend to use this on a different device (which is completely fine!) make sure you configure
the scripts to flash to the proper partitions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Download and extract one of the above, we'll again use the first link for this example:
Code:
wget http://invisiblek.org/AnyKernel_samsung-d2.zip
unzip AnyKernel_samsung-d2.zip -d AnyKernel/
Now we'll copy our newly compiled zImage (still referring to the same kernel directory we used above, your repo might be called something different)
Code:
cp android_kernel_samsung_d2/arch/arm/boot/zImage AnyKernel/kernel/
cp `find android_kernel_samsung_d2 -name "*.ko"` AnyKernel/modules/
Finally we are ready to zip this up and test out flashing it.
Code:
cd AnyKernel
zip ../MyAwesomeKernel.zip -r *
cd ..
You'll now have a file named MyAwesomeKernel.zip which you should be able to flash via custom recovery (TWRP or CWM)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Extra Credit/Protips
Learn to use git. It's very powerful and great way to store your code.
Learn to use adb. It's an invaluable tool for any android developer.
Touchwiz and AOSP-based kernels are different. This means you cannot take CyanogenMod's source, build a kernel and expect it to work on a Touchwiz-based ROM.
Build a ROM next: http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Build_for_d2vzw
Crackflash your own stuff!
ALWAYS NANDROID!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Source code for all of my projects can be found here: http://github.com/invisiblek

FAQ
Q: How do I update my source tree to the latest that is available from where I downloaded it?
A: This can be handy if, for instance, you are building a CyanogenMod kernel and they added some patches, after you downloaded the source, that you want to include in your next build. You'll want to cd to your kernel tree and issue a git pull:
Code:
cd android_kernel_samsung_d2
git pull
You may then continue with the building instructions.
This may, however, have other problems if you've made changes to files. You might run into conflicts. I won't cover fixing any of this here, its not in the scope of this thread.
Q: I'm using X as a kernel base, but Y has a patch that I really like. How do I get it in my kernel easily?
A: I'll let you check Google for this answer, but I'll give you a hint use: git cherry-pick

Nice tutorial bro! Always good to learn something new everyday

Really is a good thread，thanks

This guide would have made things too easy for me.
Too easy, indeed. haha
Great job, invisiblek! AnyKernel is the beez neez.

Ok so this is a noob question but I gotta ask anyway lol. Ok so I cloned the kernel source, I made my edits, now how do I push all this to my github?
I already have a github account, I already made a new repo for the kernel. Here's a link to my github if you need it...
https://github.com/ghicks12/d2vzw_kernel.git

spc_hicks09 said:
Ok so this is a noob question but I gotta ask anyway lol. Ok so I cloned the kernel source, I made my edits, now how do I push all this to my github?
I already have a github account, I already made a new repo for the kernel. Here's a link to my github if you need it...
https://github.com/ghicks12/d2vzw_kernel.git
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
git remote add origin git_location_you_created_on_github.git
git push -u origin somebranch
The -u is for first time run only, you can just git push afterwards.
Sent from my SCH-I535

GideonX said:
git remote add origin git_location_you_created_on_github.git
git push -u origin somebranch
The -u is for first time run only, you can just git push afterwards.
Sent from my SCH-I535
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! When I run
Code:
git remote add origin https://github.com/ghicks12/d2vzw_kernel.git
I get this back:
Code:
fatal: remote origin already exists.
I'm editing a CM based kernel, not sure if that matters or not?

That just means you added the remote already. Just issue the push command then.
Sent from my SCH-I535

Why is this happening? I don't know what i did wrong
[email protected]:~/cm$ make VARIANT_DEFCONFIG=cyanogen_d2att_defconfig
scripts/kconfig/conf --silentoldconfig Kconfig
drivers/media/video/msm/Kconfig:123:warning: choice value used outside its choice group
drivers/media/video/msm/Kconfig:128:warning: choice value used outside its choice group
***
*** Configuration file ".config" not found!
***
*** Please run some configurator (e.g. "make oldconfig" or
*** "make menuconfig" or "make xconfig").
***
make[2]: *** [silentoldconfig] Error 1
make[1]: *** [silentoldconfig] Error 2
make: *** No rule to make target `include/config/auto.conf', needed by `include/config/kernel.release'. Stop.
[email protected]:~/cm$

Hey. I'm having some problems with some GIT terminology and procedures. I'm a .NET developer and I use TFS and SVN on a daily basis. Forgive me if this is complete off basis from what you'd do with GIT.
What I want to do is merge one branch into another branch. In other words I want to take the latest kernel source from my favorite dev and merge in the latest from cyanogen's 4.3 d2 branch. Is this a rebase thing? It doesn't seem like cherrypicking to me.

I have successfully compiled kernel and made modules.I inserted zImage and modules inside any kernel updater,flashed via TWRP.When reboot stuck in odin and it says could not do normal boot.

[GUIDE][HACK]Cross Compiling for OSX on Linux with AOSP

Hi Folks
I wasn't sure where this should belong but as it is a bit of an Hack this forum is probably the most appropriate
Introduction
This short tutorial will show you how to patch the Android Build System to allow you to cross-compile Android AOSP host tools ( adb, fastboot etc ) for OSX using a linux based machine. This is something Google said was impossible or at the very least unsupported.
Assumptions
You have a linux based machine and working copy of the AOSP source tree.
You can/have successfully compile(d) a full Android Release from this tree.
A basic idea of how the Android Build System works is beneficial.
Getting Started
I've set-up a git repository which contains a binary copy of the OSX SDK 10.6 and the apple-darwin10-gcc cross compiler. So first things first. open a terminal and set the root of the AOSP sources tree to the current directory.
STAGE 1: Copy the OSX SDK
Step 1.
Clone the repo with the SDK and toolchain
Code:
git clone https://github.com/trevd/android_platform_build2.git build2
Step 2.
Create /Developer directory at your filesystem root, this is a known location for the SDKs
Code:
sudo mkdir /Developer
sudo chown $USER.$USER /Developer
Step 3.
Copy and unpack the SDK package
Code:
cp build2/osxsdks10.6.tar.gz /Developer
cd /Developer
tar -zxvf osxsdks10.6.tar.gz
rm osxsdks10.6.tar.gz
cd - # back to aosp root
STAGE 2 : Swapping the Toolchain
This is where the fun begins :laugh:
The Android Build system has the majority of the infrastructure in place already to build for OSX, the only problem is that you need OSX to build for OSX. However we can remedy that with a couple of dirty hacks :laugh:.
The prebuilts/gcc/darwin-x86 directory contains a toolchain compatible with osx ( mach-o binaries ). We are going to swap this for a linux compatible ( elf ) executables.
Step 4:
Copy and unpack the elf compatible darwin cross toolchain
Code:
cp build2/i686-apple-darwin-4.2.1.tar.gz prebuilts/gcc/linux-x86/host
cd prebuilts/gcc/linux-x86/host
tar -zxvf i686-apple-darwin-4.2.1.tar.gz
cd - # back to aosp root
Step 5:
Remove the mach-o binaries and symlink the elf binaries in it's place
Code:
cd prebuilts/gcc
rm -rf darwin-x86
ln -s linux-x86 darwin-x86
cd - # back to aosp root
Step 6:
We also need to replace the mach-o version of the ccache executable which live in the prebuilt/misc directory
Code:
cd prebuilts/misc
rm -rf darwin-x86
ln -s linux-x86 darwin-x86
cd - # back to aosp root
STAGE 3: Patching the build system .mk files
We need to patch a couple of files in the build directory namely the build/core/combo/HOST_darwin-x86.mk the main crux of this is swapping the ar tool for libtool so static libraries can be created without error.
Code:
patch -p1 < build2/build.patch
If the patch has been applied successfully you should see the following
Code:
patching file system/core/adb/Android.mk
patching file build/core/combo/HOST_darwin-x86.mk
patching file build/core/combo/select.mk
patching file build/core/envsetup.mk
patching file build/envsetup.sh
You are now ready to cross compile!! :good: ..... well not quite, but nearly.... here's why!
The Android Build System will attempt to build both the Target and Host files for most modules so I'd advise using a lunch option which already has a full target built for it or alternatively you can build the generic sdk using the following commands at the AOSP source tree root.
Code:
. build/envsetup.sh
lunch sdk-eng
make sdk
This will stop target dependency errors occurring when you build individual modules.
NOW we're ready to cross compile.
STAGE 4: Building Modules
At present module build is very much a piecemeal process. To build adb for example we need to build the dependencies first. This is not too onerous as most host modules have very few dependencies.
Building adb
adb has dependencies on the following libraries
Code:
external/zlib
external/openssl
system/core/liblog
system/core/libcutils
system/core/libzipfile
I've found the easiest way to compile the dependencies is to navigate to each directory in turn an use to "mm" build system command to compile the individual module. the commands I run to compile adb are as follows.
From AOSP Source Root
Code:
cd external/zlib
USE_DARWIN=true mm -j8
cd ../openssl
USE_DARWIN=true mm -j8
croot # go back to the AOSP root
cd system/core/liblog
USE_DARWIN=true mm -j8
cd ../libcutils
USE_DARWIN=true mm -j8
cd ../libzipfile/
USE_DARWIN=true mm -j8
cd ../adb
USE_DARWIN=true mm -j8
All being well you should now have and adb binary located at out/host/darwin-x86/bin/adb. running the file command on this binary should produce the following output
Code:
adb: Mach-O executable i386
Conclusion
Although this method is a little rough and ready, it should produce the desired results if you need to cross compile for OSX. The eventual goal would be to compile a full OSX Android SDK on linux in a similar manner to the way the windows-sdk is currently compiled. This requires more investigation as compiling the windows sdk on linux employs a little bit of trickery on the part of the build system.
Final Notes and FAQs:
Why can't I just type make <module> from the root?
Doing this triggers building of additional modules such as LLVM and clang which are to deployed out/host/darwin-x86/bin the build system then attempts to use binary later on. These are obviously built for the Mach-o architecture and as such are incompatible with the linux. This results in a build error which can and would be resolved by the above mentioned trickery ( see conclusion )

I use OSX binaries (along with Windows and my native Linux) in one of my projects. Thanks, I have always relied on finding compiled binaries elsewhere. Lack of an OSX aapt held up an update at one point.
One of those things that you don't really use until you need it, but I will try to remember to give it a shot. I don't have any doubt that it works.

mateorod said:
I use OSX binaries (along with Windows and my native Linux) in one of my projects. Thanks, I have always relied on finding compiled binaries elsewhere. Lack of an OSX aapt held up an update at one point.
One of those things that you don't really use until you need it, but I will try to remember to give it a shot. I don't have any doubt that it works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. Yes this really is an edge case. Hopefully It will help some folks out.
Regarding aapt in particular.... It's perfectly possible to build aapt, however, we need to do some slight of hand with the clang and clang++ executables as libpng on which aapt depends uses these 2 binaries as part of it's build process.
Here's the build list and the clang trick if you want to try it some time.
Code:
build/libs/host
external/expat
external/zlib
system/core/liblog
system/core/libcutils
mkdir out/host/darwin-x86/bin
cp out/host/linux-x86/bin/clang out/host/darwin-x86/bin
cp out/host/linux-x86/bin/clang++ out/host/darwin-x86/bin
external/libpng
frameworks/base/libs/androidfw
frameworks/native/libs/utils
frameworks/base/tools/aapt
I started off with a clean out/host/darwin-x86 directory so I didn't miss any dependencies.
like I mentioned the clang "swap out" is something the make win_sdk option does automatically so with it a little more research I should be able to get the mac build to do the same but you'll have to "fill yer boots" with the ghetto method for now
For reference here's a link to the sdk building instructions http://tools.android.com/build which describes how to cross compile the windows sdk on linux ( in case anyone was wondering what the hell i'm on about)

My use case has come up
I will be cross-compiling for OSX today...specifically with aapt in mind. I will report back, but I fully expect it to work as described.

mateorod said:
My use case has come up
I will be cross-compiling for OSX today...specifically with aapt in mind. I will report back, but I fully expect it to work as described.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cheers Man!
Hopefully no bitrot has crept in since april and now. I know I've changed my OS version since to Lubuntu 13.04, not like the OS version really matters any.
mateorod said:
but I fully expect it to work as described.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then you Sir, are either Drunk or a Fool! LOL Keep expectations Quantum and only decided when the result is observed a'la Schrodinger Cat

okay...So I was trying to compile SlimRom (so as to get an OSX aapt binary with the SlimRom changes) and things did not necessarily go as planned. There were enough changes to the SlimRom android_build that your build/build.patch does not apply cleanly. I spent some time and tried to modify the patch so that it would work for both SlimRom, AOSP and probably others, but each android_build repo has some differences in surrounding the HOST_AR line, so commenting that just was not portable between flavors. Not cool.
Anyway, turns out that this method does not quite work out of the box for non-AOSP versions (not that you claimed that it did). I got some unfamiliar errors related to (I believe) some OSX toolchains. But in both times I tried this, I actually had to pretty immediately swap out of that flavor and so I was unable to do much debugging. (I keep all the flavors I build {CM, AOKP, SlimRom, PAC, PA, OpenPDroid, etc, etc, etc} all layered in one android/system/jellybean directory. It saves a ton of space, but only allows me to do one thing at a time.)
So the only feedback I have is nothing...I even formatted my hard drive in-between and forgot to put up a paste, so the errors are currently lost to history.
Things that I noticed, for better or worse
You recommend putting the SDKs in the root dir. I believe the documentation is recommending the Developer be placed in home (as per the SDK/ADT bundle docs).
You might want a
Code:
mv android_platform_build2 build2
line. I normally wouldn't bother, but it looks like you are trying to post a line-by-line guide.
I would put the recommendation that a full build be available to the out folder (or a built generic sdk) right at the top, since it is a preliminary step. I had to revert my handwritten changes, then build, then reapply the changes and rebuild since I thought it needed a clean out dir.
Did you have any trouble with git reverting the toolchain swap? On two separate machines, I had to go so far as to delete .repo/projects/prebuilts/gcc/* and prebuilts/gcc/darwin-x86/arm/arm-eabi-4.6. It kept complaining of that the project in the .repo folder was a bad match. No amount of git trickery (which I am not terrible at) let me back out more easily.
I am willing to try again...but I have some other small things to attend to first. It is an admirable hack you have here sir. I will return to it soon and report back once more.

mateorod said:
okay...So I was trying to compile SlimRom (so as to get an OSX aapt binary with the SlimRom changes) and things did not necessarily go as planned. There were enough changes to the SlimRom android_build that your build/build.patch does not apply cleanly. I spent some time and tried to modify the patch so that it would work for both SlimRom, AOSP and probably others, but each android_build repo has some differences in surrounding the HOST_AR line, so commenting that just was not portable between flavors. Not cool.
Anyway, turns out that this method does not quite work out of the box for non-AOSP versions (not that you claimed that it did). I got some unfamiliar errors related to (I believe) some OSX toolchains. But in both times I tried this, I actually had to pretty immediately swap out of that flavor and so I was unable to do much debugging. (I keep all the flavors I build {CM, AOKP, SlimRom, PAC, PA, OpenPDroid, etc, etc, etc} all layered in one android/system/jellybean directory. It saves a ton of space, but only allows me to do one thing at a time.)
So the only feedback I have is nothing...I even formatted my hard drive in-between and forgot to put up a paste, so the errors are currently lost to history.
Things that I noticed, for better or worse
You recommend putting the SDKs in the root dir. I believe the documentation is recommending the Developer be placed in home (as per the SDK/ADT bundle docs).
You might want a
Code:
mv android_platform_build2 build2
line. I normally wouldn't bother, but it looks like you are trying to post a line-by-line guide.
I would put the recommendation that a full build be available to the out folder (or a built generic sdk) right at the top, since it is a preliminary step. I had to revert my handwritten changes, then build, then reapply the changes and rebuild since I thought it needed a clean out dir.
Did you have any trouble with git reverting the toolchain swap? On two separate machines, I had to go so far as to delete .repo/projects/prebuilts/gcc/* and prebuilts/gcc/darwin-x86/arm/arm-eabi-4.6. It kept complaining of that the project in the .repo folder was a bad match. No amount of git trickery (which I am not terrible at) let me back out more easily.
I am willing to try again...but I have some other small things to attend to first. It is an admirable hack you have here sir. I will return to it soon and report back once more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi
Thanks for this, It sounds like you've suffered an exercise in frustration there. I wasn't aware that "SlimRom" had a different aapt ( just out of general ignorance and not having paid any attention )
SDK - My Tree last time I used this was /Developer directory in the root - I think It comes from what the toolchain is expecting, I just gave it what it wants
mv android_platform_build2 build2 - Yep I did mean that it's the git clone line which wants changing
Code:
git clone https://github.com/trevd/android_platform_build2.git build2
SDK Recommendation - I shall move that to the top, even though it is already in there, It should probably be highlighted better and possible it's own "Stage"
Reverting the toolchain - Ahh , It appears I work slightly different from most in this respect. I have a general mistrust of SCM's ( I lost too much code on too many different SCM's, Probably through my own inability to use them correctly but ) what I do to revert to change is
Code:
cd prebuilts/gcc/darwin-x86/host/
rm -rf i686-apple-darwin-4.2.1
repo sync i686-apple-darwin-4.2.1
You can do this "trick" on any project in the source tree it's only on rare occasions where I screwed up badly that I have to delete anything in .repo/projects but I also have my distro in their own individual directories with there own full git trees, which is a massive waste of space and has a ton of redundancy due to the AOSP repositories being mirror by every single one but switching between them is a lot easier
If SlimRom's changes are localized to aapt, I'd be more inclined to drop it into the AOSP build and try that... If you have a link to slimrom's frameworks/base repository I'll grab it and try it myself.
On a final note there's a "full version" of the HOST_darwin make file in the build2/core/combo directory the changes to envsetup.mk and select.mk are minimal and can easily be applied manually. You don't need to patch the adb makefile if your not building it.
Again Thanks for the feedback

[Q]Repo Instructions for JFLTE 5.x?

I know that Jake had to step away from the project, and I pretty much intend on running my jfltetmo into the ground, so I'll be on jflte long-term. I'd like to start giving back to the community by seeing if I can pick up where Jake left off. I'm an electrical engineer with plenty of programming experience. I just don't have much in the embedded world. I saw that Jake had some work posted to Github on the 5.1 branch for jflte, but when I follow the directions in omnirom's Github Readme, I get an error of
error: Cannot fetch android_device_samsung_jflte
Can I manually copy the files, and where do they fit within the android structure?
Is Android Studio a good IDE for ROM development?

uagent said:
I know that Jake had to step away from the project, and I pretty much intend on running my jfltetmo into the ground, so I'll be on jflte long-term. I'd like to start giving back to the community by seeing if I can pick up where Jake left off. I'm an electrical engineer with plenty of programming experience. I just don't have much in the embedded world. I saw that Jake had some work posted to Github on the 5.1 branch for jflte, but when I follow the directions in omnirom's Github Readme, I get an error of
error: Cannot fetch android_device_samsung_jflte
Can I manually copy the files, and where do they fit within the android structure?
Is Android Studio a good IDE for ROM development?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, post the full error log? Also, if the branch is only in Jake's personal repos you may need to use a custom local manifest to use that for the device tree instead of Omni's jflte device tree.
I personally just use grep + emacs, I've never been much of an IDE person.

Entropy512 said:
Hmm, post the full error log? Also, if the branch is only in Jake's personal repos you may need to use a custom local manifest to use that for the device tree instead of Omni's jflte device tree.
I personally just use grep + emacs, I've never been much of an IDE person.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, thanks for getting back to me! I deleted the directory and reinitialized the omni repo. Here is the error I keep getting, it seems to be choking on arm/linux/androideabi:
repo sync -j8 -f --no-clone-bundle|tee >> reposynclog.txt 2>&1
Fetching projects: 100% (480/480), done.
Syncing work tree: 93% (447/480) error: in `sync -j8 -f --no-clone-bundle`: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: u'/media/rhill/25e87ad3-e539-4009-9c40-0ab4db81d8e0/rhill/WORKING_DIRECTORY/prebuilts/gcc/linux-x86/arm/arm-linux-androideabi-4.8/.git/HEAD'
error: manifest missing or unreadable -- please run init
I re-ran
Code:
repo init -u git://github.com/omnirom/android.git -b android-5.1 > repoinitlog.txt 2>&1
Which doesn't seem to have thrown any errors at me, but I keep returning to the same broken package, even when I just run repo sync, with no options.

[GUIDE] Building Pure Nexus

Introduction
Hello everyone, this is a guide to get you up and running with your own build of Pure Nexus for the Nexus 5X. In this thread, you will learn how to get your computer set up to build and the commands you will need to run. Please read the entire guide and the FAQ. Additionally, this is a developer's thread, there should be no off topic discussion.
Compilation Guide
This is available on my Github, where it may be a little more up to date.
0. Getting started
In this guide, I will go over how to build Pure Nexus on your Linux machine. This particular tutorial will focus on Ubuntu 16.04 as that is what I use (Mint 18 is also good) but this should work with any version of Linux; it does need to be 64-bit however. I will leave the installation of that up to you, Google is a wonderful resource. If you don't have a good computer but still want to build, check out this thread on XDA: http://forum.xda-developers.com/chef-central/android/guide-how-to-build-rom-google-cloud-t3360430
1. Set up your environment
1. Automatically
Code:
sudo apt-get install git-core
git clone https://github.com/akhilnarang/scripts
cd scripts
ls
bash <script-name>
<script-name> should be one of the scripts in the folder for your particular architecture.
2. Manually
1. Install Java 8
Code:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install openjdk-8-jdk
sudo apt-get install openjdk-8-jre
2. Install other build tools
Code:
sudo apt-get install git-core gnupg flex bison gperf build-essential zip curl zlib1g-dev gcc-multilib g++-multilib libc6-dev-i386 lib32ncurses5-dev x11proto-core-dev libx11-dev lib32z-dev ccache libgl1-mesa-dev libxml2-utils xsltproc unzip
2. Configure repo and git
If you have any problems with the below commands, try running as root:
Code:
sudo -s
Git is an open source version control system which is incredibly robust for tracking changes across repositories. Repo is Google's tool for working with Git in the context of Android. More reading if you are interested: https://source.android.com/source/developing.html
Run these commands to get repo working (only do this if you did the manual set up method above:
Code:
mkdir ~/bin
PATH=~/bin:$PATH
curl https://storage.googleapis.com/git-repo-downloads/repo > ~/bin/repo
chmod a+x ~/bin/repo
Run these commands to get git working:
Code:
git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "[email protected]"
3. Download the source
First, before downloading the source, create a folder for the source and move into it.
Code:
mkdir ~/<foldername> (eg. mkdir ~/PN or ~/PureNexus)
cd ~/<foldername>
Then, we need to grab the manifest and sync down the repositories. Here are the commands to do this for Pure Nexus for Nougat (make sure you are in the source folder you made above):
Code:
repo init -u https://github.com/PureNexusProject/manifest.git -b n
repo sync --force-sync
Here is the process generally for other ROMs:
When you go to build a ROM, you must download its source. All, if not most, ROMs will have their source code available on Github. To properly download the source, follow these steps:
Go to your ROM's Github (e.g. http://github.com/PureNexusProject)
Search for a manifest (usually called manifest or android_manifest).
Go into the repo and make sure you are in the right branch (located right under the Commits tab).
Go into the README and search for a repo init command. If one exists, copy and paste it into the terminal and hit enter.
If one does not exist, you can make one with this formula:
Code:
repo init -u <url_of_manifest_repo>.git -b <branch_you_want_to_build>
For example:
Code:
repo init -u http://github.com/PureNexusProject/manifest.git -b n
After the repo has been initialized, run this command to download the source:
Code:
repo sync --force-sync
This process can take a while depending on your internet connection.
4. Build it!
At this point, it'd be a good idea to set up ccache. ccache is a compiler cache, it stores previously compiled files in a directory and pulls from that instead of recompiling if nothing has changed. This speeds up compilation a LOT. If you want to use it, follow the below steps:
Open up your .bashrc file in your home directory using a text editor or nano and append this to the end of it:
Code:
export USE_CCACHE=1
Then type:
Code:
source ~/.bashrc
After that, run one of the below command (replacing the # with how many GBs of ccache you want, 50 is recommended)
Use this one if you used the manual method of set up in section 1:
Code:
prebuilts/misc/linux-x86/ccache/ccache -M #G
Use this one if you used the automatic method of set up in section 1:
Code:
ccache -M #G
After that, it's time to build!
Code:
. build/envsetup.sh
breakfast bullhead
mka bacon
After that, your computer will build the flashable zip file and if you see something that says make completed, you've done it!
Any time that you want to rebuild, type the following commands:
Code:
repo sync --force-sync
. build/envsetup.sh
breakfast bullhead
mka clobber
mka bacon
I also have a script to do this on my Github here
Frequently Asked Questions
1.1 Q: I got an error, what do I do??
1.1 A: Well to start, if it is anything with Ninja, I would go ahead and disable it. You can add this to your .bashrc file:
Code:
export USE_NINJA=false
Then type this
Code:
source ~/.bashrc
. build/envsetup.sh
breakfast bullhead
mka clobber
mka bacon
If it is saying you ran out of memory, follow this post.
If it isn't Ninja related, check out @AzraelsKiss's post here, where he has documented a few common issues. If none of those apply, post here with a detailed list of what you have done and we will do our best to help you.
1.2 Q: Can you guys share your personal builds?
1.2 A: No, personal builds are just that: personal. Beans releases whenever he feels that the release is ready for the masses and if a bunch of personal builds are floating around, that tarnishes the Pure Nexus name. We are more than happy to help get you up and running but we will not be sharing our builds. Thanks for understanding!

this wont work on Windows, right?

RonnellTapawan said:
this wont work on Windows, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have heard people try to use Bash for Windows but I don't think it will work. Linux or bust.

nathanchance said:
I have heard people try to use Bash for Windows but I don't think it will work. Linux or bust.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried on bash for windows but it can't build android roms

Dude you should seriously get a XDA medallion or some sort of metal for all you do all over XDA. I see you everywhere. Thanks for building for us and also for this write up. :good: @ nathan

SM210 said:
Dude you should seriously get a XDA medallion or some sort of metal for all you do all over XDA. I see you everywhere. Thanks for building for us and also for this write up. :good: @ nathan
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Talk to my superiors :silly: thanks for the kind words

Edited.......
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

myawan said:
Anybody wanna share home made build?
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you read at the end of the OP, it says:
"1.2 Q: Can you guys share your personal builds?
1.2 A: No, personal builds are just that: personal. Beans releases whenever he feels that the release is ready for the masses and if a bunch of personal builds are floating around, that tarnishes the Pure Nexus name. We are more than happy to help get you up and running but we will not be sharing our builds. Thanks for understanding!"
Reason being, because if we start compiling these and handing it out like it's no ones business, we're going to run Pure Nexus into the ground and people will start uploading them on AFH and it'll be one big mess. My guess is, this is just a courtesy by the original poster to those of us who can't wait.
My two cents.:laugh::highfive:

i'm on it!!!!! thank you very much!!! download is taking forever ugh

Building it right now! Thanks

I think this would work in Cygwin. I used to compile stuff for the PS3 way back. I'd have a lot of reading to do if I wanted to build this for my phone.

Which gapps to use with this?

Open Gapps micro are working fine.
Gesendet von meinem Nexus 5X mit Tapatalk

So WE can't share our build either? Or what, i didn't get it.

CreasingMass Dev said:
So WE can't share our build either? Or what, i didn't get it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't distribute personal builds. Flash them yourself and that is it.

4 hours of download :crying:
OOH MAN!!!!!! no more space in my device!!! how can i resume that???
Code:
Checking out files: 100% (1717/1717), done.
error: unable to write file current/platforms/android-21/arch-x86_64/usr/lib/libz.a
error: unable to write file current/platforms/android-21/arch-x86_64/usr/lib/libz.so
fatal: cannot create directory at 'current/platforms/android-21/arch-x86_64/usr/lib64': Spazio esaurito sul device
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/matteo/Scaricati/PureNexus/.repo/repo/main.py", line 531, in <module>
_Main(sys.argv[1:])
File "/home/matteo/Scaricati/PureNexus/.repo/repo/main.py", line 507, in _Main
result = repo._Run(argv) or 0
File "/home/matteo/Scaricati/PureNexus/.repo/repo/main.py", line 180, in _Run
result = cmd.Execute(copts, cargs)
File "/home/matteo/Scaricati/PureNexus/.repo/repo/subcmds/sync.py", line 769, in Execute
project.Sync_LocalHalf(syncbuf, force_sync=opt.force_sync)
File "/home/matteo/Scaricati/PureNexus/.repo/repo/project.py", line 1325, in Sync_LocalHalf
self._InitWorkTree(force_sync=force_sync)
File "/home/matteo/Scaricati/PureNexus/.repo/repo/project.py", line 2482, in _InitWorkTree
raise GitError("cannot initialize work tree")
error.GitError: cannot initialize work tree
can i move the PureNexus folder in an external drive and resume??? please

MatteXperiaU said:
4 hours of download :crying:
OOH MAN!!!!!! no more space in my device!!! how can i resume that???
can i move the PureNexus folder in an external drive and resume??? please
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can try. Your build times will be much slower though.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using XDA Labs

nathanchance said:
You can try. Your build times will be much slower though.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using XDA Labs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have another partition in the same HD (300GB).. i can use that :fingers-crossed:
which command i need to resume?
sorry for the questions man, you're too kind

TPMJB said:
I think this would work in Cygwin. I used to compile stuff for the PS3 way back. I'd have a lot of reading to do if I wanted to build this for my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No promises...
http://www.howtogeek.com/249966/how-to-install-and-use-the-linux-bash-shell-on-windows-10/

Out of curiosity, realistically how much disk space would be required to download everything and compile with a 50GB cache? I got everything downloaded and the compile ran but threw some warnings (most of which may have been benign). When the compile terminated with an error, I had about 40MB left on my Linux Mint 18 partition so I assume it ran out of space I started with about 70GB free space
I deleted everything and decided to try again if and when I have a larger partition to play with..... I am currently dual booting on a Windows machine and didn't think to allocate that much space to Mint.
Paul

A noob tries his hand at ROM development for the MiA1 tissot

The problem with reading the articles on XDA is that eventually you want to try out some of the things described in these pages. I am no exception. After reading the superb article https://forum.xda-developers.com/mi-a1/how-to/guide-build-rom-source-tissot-t3754723 I decided to try my hand at developing the ROM for the Xiaomi MiA1. This is my daily driver and that in itself was a strong reason for motivation.
I tried replicating the steps given in the article on my Dell Inspiron and immediately ran into issues. The basic requirements mentioned are a linux or Mac computer. So to start with I formatted my laptop. Removed windows 10 and installed Ubuntu's latest 18.04 LTS.
I believed I had the next set of requirements for custom ROM development which were
• A basic understanding of Linux based OS specifically Ubuntu.
• Ability to type and use the command line. Write or copy paste commands in the Ubuntu konsole.
• A basic understanding of programming concepts, read and update XML files, understand error messages.
• Fast internet access.
• Steady electricity supply.
• Lots and lots of patience.
This still did not solve my problem. The build would crash repeatedly. Then I read the https://source.android.com/setup/. A whole new set of requirement came up. The article said that ideally the build system should exceed these conditions
• 64 bit environment
• 100 GB of free hard disk space
• 16 GB RAM / swap space.
At home my son was about to buy a new PC and this made his old PC available. I upgrade the RAM and added a new hard disk. Now my hardware configuration was as under :
• Intel i5 processor
• 16 GB RAM
• 1 TB hard disk.
With a new hard disk I had to create a boot-able USB drive. This I achieved with Rufus. My old laptop which again had its Windows 10 installation was used to install Rufus based on the instructions i got from https://rufus.akeo.ie/
The latest version of Ubuntu I downloaded from https://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop
Setting Ubuntu from scratch for someone used to the world of windows is not exactly easy. I found the tutorial at https://tutorials.ubuntu.com/tutorial/tutorial-install-ubuntu-desktop#0 extremely helpful.
I wrote down the steps I took in reaching the final goal of a Lineage ROM for my Mi A1.
Step 1: Setup Ubuntu - already completed
I chose the default settings as recommended in the setup.
Step 2: Installation of Java Development Kit
Once Ubuntu was up and running I opened a konsole window and typed the following commands
PHP:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install openjdk-8-jdk
Ubuntu did all the installing as I looked on.
Step 3: Installing required packages
PHP:
sudo apt-get install git-core gnupg flex bison gperf build-essential zip curl zlib1g-dev gcc-multilib g++-multilib libc6-dev-i386 lib32ncurses5-dev x11proto-core-dev libx11-dev lib32z-dev libgl1-mesa-dev libxml2-utils xsltproc unzip
Step 4: Configure your smart phone access
I next installed the tools required to access the phone. This access would be required to later flash the phone or access its internals with ADB.
PHP:
sudo apt-get install android-tools-adb
sudo apt-get install fastboot
Step 5: To creating the work directories i typed the following commands. I was following the instructions from the above two articles alternately.
PHP:
mkdir -p ~/bin
mkdir -p ~//lineage
Step 6: Installing repo
I was informed that the Android source tree is located in a Git repository which is hosted by Google. The Git repository includes metadata for the Android source. Repo is a tool that makes it easier to work with Git .
PHP:
curl [url]https://storage.googleapis.com/git-repo-downloads/repo[/url] > ~/bin/repo
Once the repo was downloaded I had to make it executable
PHP:
chmod a+x ~/bin/repo
Step 7: The next step was to initialize the lineage source
This required to change to the directory created in step number 5 above. As someone coming from the world of windows I preferred to use the GUI and open the lineage folder created by using the mouse click. There right click brings up the option of ' Open in Terminal' . Those who prefer to type commands can use the below command
PHP:
cd ~//lineage
Once I had made sure that I was in the newly created lineage folder I moved ahead.
Step 8: Now i was required to configure my Git user
PHP:
git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "[email protected]"
I replaced the text within the " " with my creadentials, which I had created on https://github.com/
Step 9: Now we moved on to initializing the repo
PHP:
repo init -u [url]https://github.com/LineageOS/android.git[/url] -b lineage-15.1
A successful initialization showed a message stating that Repo is initialized in your working directory. The lineage directory now contain a .repo folder. To check hidden folder I used control + H key.
Step 8: Download the source code
This is the step where you will realize the importance of having a fast internet connection. The source code size is about 30 – 35 GB. I have a 10 mbps line and at times the download speed shoots up to 20- 25 mbps!!!* Yet it takes me anything from 4 – 10 hours to download the entire code!
My suggestion is check the time when your local ISP download speeds are at its best. For me it is during the night. I set the download up at night and go to sleep!
The command to get the source code is :
PHP:
repo sync -c -f --force-sync --no-clone-bundle --no-tags --optimized-fetch –prune
Optional Step 8 a: Making a backup of your source code
I copied the entire folder and kept a copy on an external device. This is just in case there is any need for me to format my hard disk. While copying I do not copy the .Repo and .Cache folders on to my backup. To check hidden folders press control + H keys.
Step 9: Get the source code for your specific device.
This is where I was stuck numerous times. As I understood the code which was downloaded is generic in nature. For your particular device you would need to get files which are specific to your device.
The source for all these files is github. You are targeting three sets of folders – Device, Kernel and vendor.
The git clone commands given below are for the tissot or Xiaomi MiA1 phone. Similarly other phones have their locations on GitHub from where you can get files specific to them.
PHP:
git clone [url]https://github.com/TheScarastic/andr...msm8953-common[/url] -b lineage-15.1 device/xiaomi/msm8953
git clone [url]https://github.com/TheScarastic/andr..._xiaomi_tissot[/url] -b lineage-15.1 device/xiaomi/tissot
git clone [url]https://github.com/TheScarastic/prop..._vendor_xiaomi[/url] -b lineage-15.1 vendor/xiaomi
git clone [url]https://github.com/Tissot-Developmen..._xiaomi_tissot[/url] -b 8.1 kernel/xiaomi/msm8953
Step 10: Modify Caching to speed up the build process.
PHP:
export CCACHE_DIR=./.ccache
ccache -C
export USE_CCACHE=1
export CCACHE_COMPRESS=1
prebuilts/misc/linux-x86/ccache/ccache -M 50G
Step 11: Configure JACK
JACK is the java compiler and can cause crashes – believe me! A simple fix is this command which you type next
PHP:
export _JACK_VM_ARGS="-Dfile.encoding=UTF-8 -XX:+TieredCompilation -Xmx4G"
Step 12: Cleaning up the build folder
PHP:
make clean
Step 13: Initializing the build
PHP:
source build/envsetup.sh
Step 14: Starting the build
PHP:
croot
brunch tissot
Watching the build on the screen is an interesting phase. It can get a bit tedious. In my case it took about 3 hours to complete the build. There were numerous errors that were thrown up. Files were declared as missing. After a couple of failures I realized I could search for them and then paste the file in the appropriate folders.
The one good thing about the build errors is googling for them usually gets you the right help. There would definitely be someone in some part of the world who would have run into a similar issue.
Finally after a 3 hour wait I got my zip file which when i flashed through TWRP on my MiA1. The sheer joy of having a ROM you created on your phone is indeed beyond words. It took me about a week of sitting for about ten to fifteen hours to get the various combination right, but believe me when I tell you the results are worth it.
My thanks to arunassain https://forum.xda-developers.com/member.php?u=6768248 from whose article I was able to understand the basics. He helped me with responses to my queries when I was stuck.
I further picked up from the excellent articles under the title Establishing a build Environment at https://source.android.com/setup/build/initializing
A great video that helped me was available on the topic How to build your own custom Android ROM at https://www.androidauthority.com/build-custom-android-rom-720453/
To check out the ROM's built for the MiA1 please click here
Now coming to the question if I have understood everything that is to learn about ROM development, well the answer is no. This was just the first build by a noob of a ROM which somehow worked. I have been using the ROM on my daily driver for the past one day and it is working perfectly. Having said that I still need to understand more of what happens behind the scenes in this wonder world of Custom ROM development.

Don't tell me you thought that you could build a rom on x86 processor/OS

Give him a break, he admitted that he is new to this building ROM world, I can understand that some people can think that if a proc is powerful enough they can use it to build no matter if it's a x64 or x86.
Thanks for you story mate! And don't hesitate to ask dev on telegrams or G+ to explain you some what you don't understand :good: I'm pretty sure that would love to finally have someone like you, who is truly interested in this whole world