Database Info

Testing ROM Images in the SDK Emulator!

I started looking at Android Development and got the whole Dev kit and the Eclipse enrionment setup and working fine.
The question I have is that I would try different apps I develop on the different ROMs available.
How do I get any of the new ROMs, like the HERO ROM ZIP files I can download to run in the emulator or is it even possible?
Im assuming that the system.img file in the SDK id the file I need to replace or re-create, but how is this done?
I am a noob to the develop stuff so step by step instructions would be much appreciated.
I also think this would be great for other developers and ROM makers to be able to test in this way.
Thanks
Simon

Hopefully THIS one dont get closed, it IS asking a development question...anyway,
I would like to know this as well. I would like to test things myself (getting better at manipulating them), and would like to know what he is asking as well.
Thanks.

I don't think this would work, as the ROMs are hardware depending, me thinks. Or at the least the kernel and drivers are.

maybe this will help, maybe not, just an emulator primer, so maybe people can jump on board with this
under <sdk path>/tools
to list out your AVD(android virtual device)
android list targets
will return:
Available Android targets:
id:1
Name: Android 1.1
Type: platform
API level: 2
Skins: HVGA (default), HVGA-L, HVGA-P, QVGA-L, QVGA-P
id:2
Name: Android 1.5
Type: platform
API level: 3
Skins: HVGA (default), HVGA-L, HVGA-P, QVGA-L, QVGA-P
id:3
Name: Google APIs
Type: add-on
Vendor: Google Inc.
Description: Android + Google APIs
Based on Android 1.5 (API level 3)
Libraries:
* com.google.android.maps (maps.jar)
API for Google Maps
Skins: HVGA (default), HVGA-L, QVGA-P, HVGA-P, QVGA-L
from here we choose our integer target, lets say 2
creating an AVD:
android create avd -n your_chosen_name_here -t 2
When you create an AVD, the android tool creates a dedicated directory for it on your development computer. The directory contains the AVD configuration file, the user data image and SD card image (if available), and any other files associated with the device. Note that the directory does not contain a system image — instead, the AVD configuration file contains a mapping to the system image, which it loads when the AVD is launched.
By default, the android tool creates the AVD directory inside ~/.android/avd/ (on Linux/Mac), C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\.android\ on Windows XP, and C:\Users\<user>\.android\ on Windows Vista
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
to run your newly created AVD:
emulator -avd your_chosen_name_here
maybe this will help, but I'm guessing everyone here already knows all of this.
references:
http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/emulator.html#starting

Yeah, I understand that you can specify the AVD.
The only thing now is to edit the AVD to point to a different image. This is easy!
The system image file is a *.img file.
So how do we get our ROM images compiled into the IMG file format?
There must be a tool, but I cant find anything.
And what hardware does the emulator, emulate? Maybe it ignores the hardware specific calls throu an API so the ROM image target hardware shouldn't matter.

I just started messing around with rom's and after I build one I put system.img userdata.img and ramdisk.img from my /mydroid/out folder into the sdk's image folder and start the and it uses the new rom when I start the emulator

thats the easy part
do a nandroid backup
copy the sdk/platforms/android-1.5
to something like sdk/platforms/MINE
go to your AVD directory AVD/whateveryoucalledit
open up the config.ini
edit:
skin.name=HVGA
skin.path=platforms\MINE\skins\HVGA
image.sysdir.1=platforms\MINE\images\
go to your nandroid backup on your sdcard
copy system.img
go to sdk/platforms/MINE/images/
and paste the nandroid system.img
now run your AVD and it will boot that system.img
im running CyanogenMod rom right now in the emulator
hint* number pad 7 with numlock off in the emulator is how to open up the hardware keyboard

Awesome. I'll be giving this a try later.
One question: The apps are in the system.img file on the SDK images as far as I can tell. What do you do with all the apps in the new ROMs?

whatever you want to do with them, they're all there, even android market works perfectly

And where are you guys getting the system.img file from?
The ROM zip files dont have them.
Sorry....Im noob to this. LOL

ggolemg said:
whatever you want to do with them, they're all there, even android market works perfectly
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, Im confused. Can you just unzip the ROM files and place in the folder that you point using the same folder structure?
OR
Do you have to have a system.img ?

Another thought:
I dont want to have to install all the ROMs just to create a Nandroid backup to get the images. There must be a way to create the images from the raw files in the ZIP files.
Any ideas?
UPDATE: The same technology used by Nandroid itself!

The google android emulator included in the google android sdk is limited. Although you can use 'adb push' to upload more tools, but one has to do it again next time. Follow the steps to create a enhanced system.img:
1. system.img is yaffs2 flash file system, so firstly you need the mkfs.yaffs2 tool, download it in the following link: Release Android Yaffs2 Tool (Both X86 And ARM). One has to be a registered user to download the tools.
2. use the 'adb push' to upload tools to android emulator, executables in /system/bin/, libraries in /system/lib, one can also create folder. One need change the file mode necessary.
3. upload the ARM mkfs.yaffs2 tool, use the following command to create system.img: # mkfs.yaffs2 /system /system.img
4. download the system.img to local with command 'adb pull', replace the system.img in your emulator folder/tools/lib/images/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so it seems like it would be just as much fun doing a nandroid backup
*edit*
so now the real question is, how do we go about ripping out the nandroid functionality to be able to do this locally?
*edit 2*
it is the mkfs.yaffs2 tool
Usage:
mkfs.yaffs2 yourdir yourimage
Ohsaka said:
NANDROID - CYGWIN DIRECTIONS (not not not, I repeat, not fully tested and verified yet)
Changes so far if you are using cygwin:
1) Make sure you have the 'netcat' and 'gcc' packages, else just run cygwin.exe again and get them.
You can test if you have them by running 'which nc' and 'which gcc', both commands should return /usr/bin/<command>
2) Compile the mkyaffs2image executable.
Inside the extracted nandroid archive directory, goto the tartools\yaffs2\utils\ directory (inside a cygwin prompt) and type 'make'.
This should generate a file named "mkyaffs2image.exe" which you need to place somewhere on your path.
(Hint: If you haven't downloaded the Android SDK, abort now. Wait for more explicit directions... Else, place the .exe where adb is, since it should be on your path already)
3) Edit the nandroid.sh script. (else you get a permission denied error when the script tries to run the dump_image-arm file)
Find the line:
adb push ./$tool /cache/$tool
Add the following line after it:
adb shell chmod 777 /cache/$tool
4) Make a managed mount named /tmp (else windows will puke on the long unix filenames with colons, etc)
mkdir /tmp
mount -o managed c:/cygwin/tmp /tmp (Note: change c:/cygwin to be the directory cygwin was installed to, you can find it by typing 'cd /' and then 'explorer .')
5) Follow the standard "tar + mkyaffs2image" directions to generate the last three .img files. They refer to the /tmp directory which you created in the previous step.
Viola! Looks like I have a complete backup image now...
$ ls -l
total 117504
-rw-r--r-- 1 Osaka None 2621440 Jun 12 21:31 boot.img
-rw------- 1 Osaka None 737088 Jun 12 22:07 cache.img
-rw------- 1 Osaka None 53570880 Jun 12 22:06 data.img
-rw-r--r-- 1 Osaka None 262144 Jun 12 21:31 misc.img
-rw-r--r-- 1 Osaka None 5242880 Jun 12 21:31 recovery.img
-rw------- 1 Osaka None 57885696 Jun 12 22:06 system.img
Now I just need to drink up the courage to test it on my phone!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

ggolemg said:
so it seems like it would be just as much fun doing a nandroid backup
*edit*
so now the real question is, how do we go about ripping out the nandroid functionality to be able to do this locally?
*edit 2*
it is the mkfs.yaffs2 tool
Usage:
mkfs.yaffs2 yourdir yourimage
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is this for Linux (which I don't have) and if so, is there a Windows version?

short answer: yes its only for linux
long answer is a plea for help i posted in the nandroid thread about it:
I was wondering if there was a method to use the yaffs3 command to make a system.img from an unzipped rom placed on the sdcard through ADB, from what I've seen nandroid is almost exactly what I'm after.
The issue of why I can not just do this through linux, i can. I just want to be able to do it through windows some way without loading the entire rom on the phone and nandroiding the system.img out.
Either the aforementioned method, or the ability to mount a portion of my computers hard drive as a recognizable mountable partition within android running on the usb connected phone, loading the rom on that partition, unzipping it there, running ADB and making the system.img. But this way seems to bring up more problems than it's worth.
Or.. running the make yaffs3 command through ADB running the emulator with the rom unzipped on the virtual sdcard. This would actually be the best option as it would not require an actual phone.
I hope someone can help. Thank you very much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hopefully someone knows the answer, I'm still trying though.
so on windows we would adb push the update.zip to the sdcard on the emulator
unzip it on the sdcard, there are apps for that
adb shell mkfs.yaffs2 sdcard/<extractedzipfilename>/system/ sdcard/system.img
adb pull the newly created system.img and proceed to load it in the emulator
i know im missing a ton here, please someone correct me

I'd love to be able to run these images in the emulator on windows!

ggolemg said:
thats the easy part
do a nandroid backup
copy the sdk/platforms/android-1.5
to something like sdk/platforms/MINE
go to your AVD directory AVD/whateveryoucalledit
open up the config.ini
edit:
skin.name=HVGA
skin.path=platforms\MINE\skins\HVGA
image.sysdir.1=platforms\MINE\images\
go to your nandroid backup on your sdcard
copy system.img
go to sdk/platforms/MINE/images/
and paste the nandroid system.img
now run your AVD and it will boot that system.img
im running CyanogenMod rom right now in the emulator
hint* number pad 7 with numlock off in the emulator is how to open up the hardware keyboard
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hm, the emulator just hangs on the ANDROID.. message, similar to when the standard system.img was in.

anyone figure out how to do this on a mac?
thanks if anyone can.

johnnylicious said:
anyone figure out how to do this on a mac?
thanks if anyone can.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found this somewhere else and take no credit for it. I did shorten the steps.
Of course this is once you have the sdk installed on your mac
1. Run Terminal, and change to the 'tools' directory of the SDK (or add the tools directory to the path settings in ~/.profile).
2. Type './android list target'
3. Note the 'id' number of the '1.5' target (in my case it's '2')
4. Type './android create avd -n enhanced -t 2' (substitute 2 with the target number determined above if required)
5. You will be prompted to create a hardware profile. {You can leave as default no}
6. Use nandroid to create a backup then copy system.img
7. Copy file to ~/.android/avd/enhanced.avd/system.img
8. You're ready! Type './emulator -avd enhanced' to run! Note: inital boot may take a few minutes!

Can anyone post up the
Android Yaffs2 Tool (Both X86 And ARM)
for download? The above link doesn't work. I did a google search and all the D/L links are referring to the same location.
thanks!

[Dev]Automatic Update Zip Generator

Everyone:
I've recently finished creation a program that will take an existing directory structure (i.e with /system and/or /data) in the root directory and generate a signed update zip from it. Let me know if there are any problems and I'll do my best to fix them in a day or so. Enjoy!
Features:
Generates the META-INF folder structure and update-script if the META-INF folder isn't present. If it is present, you folder structure and scripts will not be overwritten
Experiemental: Gives the option to run a script before copying the contents or /system or /data to your phone. I've tested this feature using a simple echo script with no ill-effects, but still use it at your own risk. If you want to verify the command to run a custom script is being written correctly, you can check the source at: (line 18)
code.google.com/p/android-customization-autotool/source/browse/trunk/src/standalones/UpdateZipWizard/CreateUpdateZip.py
Generates a signed update zip (named whatever you want) containing your files (including the META-INF folder) that can be flashed in Clockwork
Download:
code.google.com/p/android-customization-autotool/downloads/list
Report an Issue/Make a feature request/suggestion:
code.google.com/p/android-customization-autotool/issues/entry

Awesome!
Appreciated

No problem. I'm currently trying to finish out the all-in-one tool but if anyone has any feature requests, I'd rather contribute some more new programs to the community than making existing ones better. Any ideas can be submitted here:
code.google.com/p/android-customization-autotool/issues/entry?template=Feature%20Request
If they aren't phone specific, there's a higher chance I'll pursue it. If it is phone specific, I can code it to tutorial specs, but I only have a Droid X to test on so if it's not a Droid X, you'll have to do the testing (or assume it's right --> Bad idea)

Recently made an update to the tool... A user had a problem with the Java heap size so that has been decreased. Additionally, the command window would close before errors could be seen, and this has been fixed.
The updated version can be found at the original link. Let me know if there are any additional issues.

androidfan44 said:
Everyone:
I've recently finished creation a program that will take an existing directory structure (i.e with /system and/or /data) in the root directory and generate a signed update zip from it. Let me know if there are any problems and I'll do my best to fix them in a day or so. Enjoy!
Features:
Generates the META-INF folder structure and update-script if the META-INF folder isn't present. If it is present, you folder structure and scripts will not be overwritten
Experiemental: Gives the option to run a script before copying the contents or /system or /data to your phone. I've tested this feature using a simple echo script with no ill-effects, but still use it at your own risk. If you want to verify the command to run a custom script is being written correctly, you can check the source at: (line 18)
code.google.com/p/android-customization-autotool/source/browse/trunk/src/standalones/UpdateZipWizard/CreateUpdateZip.py
Generates a signed update zip (named whatever you want) containing your files (including the META-INF folder) that can be flashed in Clockwork
Download:
code.google.com/p/android-customization-autotool/downloads/list
Report an Issue/Make a feature request/suggestion:
code.google.com/p/android-customization-autotool/issues/entry
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How to use this aplication ?

[FULL HOW-TO][!DEV] How to Make a ROM --Explained In every Step-- ALMOST!!

.:Index:.
Basic Needs and Extraction of ROM (.rfs)
Editing your ROM and Removing and addition of System Apps
Custom Boot Animation And Boot Sound
nstalling the Cygwin and Setting up the Kitchen
Cygwin Basics and De-Odexing Firmware
Extracting and odin build
.: Downloads :.
What You Need?
->Cygwin
-> DSIXda Kitchen
-> A windows/ Linux environment.
-> MagicISO
-> Base ROM --NOT CUSTOM ROM-- --AN OFFICIAL ROM--
*Dont take works of Developers of Custom ROM. Develop your OWN custom ROM*
You can find ALL official Firmwares(ROMS) here**
->7Zip
Basic Thing.
Extraction of RFS.
Well, THis is the First thing you should do.
Here are the steps:
-> Download a Firmware of your choice from the above link.
-> If you Firmware is in .zip format, be sure to extract the FW to a folder.
-> In the folder, you should find a PDA file ( The file which use put in the PDA place when you flash using ODIN)
-> Install 7-Zip if you dont have it, if you have it...Proceed to next step
->Right Click on the PDA file and open the archive using 7-zip.
-> Now, you can see a file named "system.rfs" or "factoryfs.rfs" or "systemFS.rfs", just copy the file to your C:\ (YOU CAN COPY IT ANYWHERE. I am taking C:\ as my base location)
Part II - Extracting RFS
-> Download and Open MagicISO.
->Click on File-> Open and browse to the place where you have your extracted system.rfs or factoryfs.rfs or systemfs.rfs.
-> Now, you should be able to see many folders like lib,system,xBin,vendor,etc.
-> Copy ALL the folders to your desired location. Be sure to put all of them in a folder called system. For example, In C:\ , create a folder called ROM and create a sub-folder called "system" and put the files there.
In my case, The Extraction is placed at C:\ROM\system
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
END OF STEP 1

Step 2-> Editing your ROM and Removing and addition of System Apps
First, Go to the folder where you extracted the ROM and then go to \System\App.
Here, you can find ALL the applications which are un-installable by the user.
So, If you want to REMOVE apps, you can remove them and their .odex's. But, be sure, For what apps you are planning to keep, DONT REMOVE THE ODEXES.
------
If you want to add up apps, just copy the .apk of that app and put it to \system\app. But, the User can not uninstall this app.
For any Theme changes, replace the Framework-res.apk in the \system\framework.
For Status Bar Changes, replace the systemui.apk in the \system\app.
Do Not Change Anything in xBin and Vendor folder.
On changing stuff there, your ROM will not boot.
-----
If you want to put apps which the user can un-install, here's how to do it.
-> Go to your BASE FOLDER. In my case C:\ROM
-> Create a folder called Data and a sub-folder called \data\app.
-> Put ALL your .apks in here. On doing so, the user of the ROM can un-install the app.
------
Just copy the META-INF folder of any other ROM and put it in your base folder. (C:\ROM in my Case)

Custom Boot Animation And Boot Sound
Cutom Boot sound
First, navigate to /system/etc and find PowerOn.wav. This will enable you to change the boot sound. Replace it with a short tone of .wav format only. Now you,have changed the boot sound
To change the boot animation
1) Download the bootanimation and samsungani file attached in the Downloads Section
2) Put them in the /system/bin folder and replace the existing files there
------------->>>> The Above two steps are not needed<<<<------------------ Only if the bootanimation does not work, use these files >>>>>>>>>-----------<<<<<<<<
3) Now download any boot animation, and rename the bootanimation to “sanim.zip”.
4) Now, navigate to /system/media and replace the “ODEanim” with “sanim.zip”
You are done with the bootanimation change
----------------------------------------------------

nstalling the Cygwin and Setting up the Kitchen
Download the Cygwin files attached below. Extract the zip to a folder. Now, you can see 3 icons, a read-me,a setup, and a folder. Choose the setup. Here You will choose install from local directory. Next, Navigate to the the folder of extraction of cygwin and choose the folder Cygwin_packages inside the cygwin extraction folder. Wait for some time. Then, You will come across a list of file. Click the 2-circle-arrows,untill, it displays “install”
After the procedure is complete, run the batch file. Now, minimise it and extract the android kitchen.
Keep it in some location like C:\Kitchen
Now, open the batch file window and type
cd C:\Kitchen
Wait for some time and then when the location the changed, type
./menu
As this is a HTC kitchen, you can't use all the features,
Now, go back to the base folder (C:\ROM in my case) and create a zip (Recomended to use Winzip) ( I repeat zip and NOT rar) of all the folder in the “Bse Folder”(C:\ROM in my case). After that is done, navigate to the kitchen folder (C:\Ktichen) and palce the .zip in the “original_update” folder.
P.S- Here's one of the amazing Threads on how to setup cygwin. (Credits to ajay8055) http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1532660

Come back to the Cygwin Batch window. Now you select 1 (i.e. the first option and press enter.
Then, again press 1 twice!
Now after this is done, you can also use option 2 (rooting). You can change the ROM's name using option 8.
De-odexing the FW.
In the batch window, choose option 0 and then choose 1.
Using this you can de-odex your FW.
Next, choose 99 to build and pack you ROM.
You are now Done with the custom ROM and can find your build in the Output_zip folder of the Kitchen (C:\Kitchen in my case)
WARNINGS::
-> IF you are asked to add a fake boot.img, choose yes.
-> If you are asked to change updater-script to update-script, choose NO.

For EXPERIENCED DEVS and LINUX USERS.
No n00b Post
Extracting and odin build
xvf ODIN_FILE.tar.md5
NOTE:.md5 is optional
Rebuilding
Code:
$ tar -H ustar -c amss boot.img csc.rfs recovery.img system.rfs >ODIN_FILE.tar
$ md5sum -t ODIN_FILE.tar >>ODIN_FILE.tar (signing the file)
$ mv ODIN_FILE.tar ODIN_FILE.tar.md5
Of course,u Have to put the name of ur file in place of ODIN_FILE
Mounting rfs(on linux)
Code:
mkdir system_mount
$ mount -o loop system.rfs system_mount
$ cp /folder/application.apk system_mount/app/ (adding aplications)
$ rm system_mount/app/application.apk (removing applications)
$ cp /folder/application.apk system_mount/app/application.apk (replacing aplications)
$ umount system_mount

:: DOWNLOADS ::
-> Cygwin
-> MagicISO
-> Kitchen
-> Custom Booting Files

You can do the following withthe kitchen.
Please dont try anything else, else, you will get bored of seeing the Same boot-animation again and again!
-> Zip-Align
-> Dis-Able bootscreen sounds
-> Add Root Permissions
->Change name of ROM
->Deodex files in your ROM
->Add Apps2SD
->Add custom boot animation functionality
->Build ROM from working folder (Duh )

Last one reservation please!

I don't find word to express my feelings thank-you
Sent from my GT-S5670 using xda premium

Mr.Oug said:
I don't find word to express my feelings thank-you
Sent from my GT-S5670 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're Welcome

Firstly, thanks a lot for this!!! Will surely try it out when my exams get over!!!
And there are a lot of additional stuff that you didn't cover, hopefully you will add them...
(Like kernal development, do you know about it??)

a.cid said:
Firstly, thanks a lot for this!!! Will surely try it out when my exams get over!!!
And there are a lot of additional stuff that you didn't cover, hopefully you will add them...
(Like kernal development, do you know about it??)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have No idea of the Kernel Development!
Total n00b there!
I know only about Themes and ROM's!
And, A BIT of .apks

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1186409
found this for kernel dev

If the file is not a .zip and a .tar.md5 file, where will I find the .rfs file?
Please help

Thanks for the Link!
Will Post it in the OP!

rgshah3 said:
If the file is not a .zip and a .tar.md5 file, where will I find the .rfs file?
Please help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just Open the .ta.md5 file using 7-Zip and you can find a file named System.rfs / systemfs.rfs / factoryfs.rfs

bangalorerohan said:
Thanks for the Link!
Will Post it in the OP!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The kernel development guide is for galaxy 3 which uses zImage while galaxy fit doesn't! So this guide is quite useless

Aah!
Never knew about a device also called Galaxy 3

bangalorerohan said:
I have No idea of the Kernel Development!
Total n00b there!
I know only about Themes and ROM's!
And, A BIT of .apks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dude, i appreaciate for the work, bt fit has a low internal memory, for that we need app2sd working which further needs ext4 partition !!
so this guide willnt be complete without that ,
i saw the same guide on Galaxy SL forums by you only,
n before posting the Custom Booting file (if same as G-SL's) u must check it on Fit, because that might cause a boot loop !!

[Q] use 7za.exe to create update.zip

I have created a batch file to edit new roms I download. Basicilly the batch file takes the rom extracts it, then deletes all the apk's etc I dont want and then zips it up again as update.zip.
Once it has done this, it then copies the update.zip to my SD card and then uses the adb commmand to reboot the phone into the recovery menu.
This all works fine. The problem I have is when I go to flash the zip I get error aborted. I found that when it creates the zip file it doesn't add the META-INF folder as uppercase in the update.zip file.
As linux is cse sensitive I think this is my problem. Is there any way to use 7za.exe to add it as upper case into the update.zip and all the other folders as lower case?
The command I use to create the zip is: 7za a -tzip update.zip *

Any ideas on how to zip the file in dos and preserve the uppercase folders?
Fixed it needed to use the -r switch with 7za. Now when I get a new rom I can fully extract it, delete all the files I want zip it transfer it to the phone and reboot the phone!

[Tutorial] NOOB-Friendly Instructions on Packing and Repacking system.new.dat file

I am a Windows user, and I was having quite the trouble unpacking and repacking system.new.dat files. I tried all sorts of Windows Chinese tools for the job, but no matter what I did, when I put the system.new.dat file and system.transfer.list file back into the flashable zip (even if I made no changes to the system.new.dat file... just unpacked and repacked), I would get an error flashing the file.
I finally got around this by installing Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial Xerus on VirtualBox. You can find a lot of tutorials online about how to do that. I am basing my instructions off of xpirt's tutorial on unpacking and repacking with the tools he provides. But it took me about 2 days to figure it out because I kept running into problems since some of the instructions made assumptions that the user knows how to use Linux. I am very new to Linux. I am not completely sure how to do *everything* from the command line, so if someone wants to add to my instructions to make it easier, please do so. But these are the things I did to figure it out.
So here are the noob-friendly Linux Ubuntu instructions on how to unpack and repack:
Section 1: Getting everything Ready
1. Download your flashable .zip rom. In my case, I downloaded cm-12.1-20150619-UNOFFICIAL-afyonltetmo.zip to my Ubuntu Desktop. You can download it to your Home Directory as well. Doesn't matter.
2. Download sdat2img. I downloaded mine to my Home Directory.
3. Download img2sdat. I also downloaded this to my Home Directory.
4. Extract all 3 zips, by right clicking on them and choosing 'Extract Here.' It will extract them into their own directories. The main directories that you need to pay attention to are /sdat2img-master/ and /img2sdat-master/
5. Download ext4fs either right into the sdat2img-master folder, or anywhere you want and then drag and drop it into the sdat2img-master folder.
6. Open Terminal, and install Python 2.7, if it's not already installed. Put
Code:
sudo apt-get install python-2.7 python-pip
Section 2: Beginning the Unpacking Process
*Note, you can copy and paste the codes; however, you can't use keyboard shortcuts in terminal. You have to right click and choose your option.
*Another note: Where you see "user" in the terminal commands, substitute it with your Linux username.
1. In your extracted folder from your flashable zip, right click on system.new.dat and system.transfer.list and choose 'cut.' Then paste them in the sdat2img-master folder.
2. Back in Terminal put
Code:
cd sdat2img-master
. That will get you into the right directory.
3. Now put
Code:
./sdat2img.py system.transfer.list system.new.dat system.img
. That will create your raw ext4 .img file.
4. You want to create an output directory for all the files that are in system.img. Put
Code:
mkdir output
5. Now you can mount system.img, and it will mount it into that output folder. Put
Code:
sudo mount -t ext4 -o loop system.img output/
6. You might have the problem that you don't have ownership of all the files (they have little "locks" on them). To gain ownership, put
Code:
sudo chown -R user:user /home/user/sdat2img-master/output
. If you still can't get read and write access, just try rebooting your Ubuntu virtual computer. That was the only thing that finally worked for me. You can start modifying stuff as you wish.
Section 3: Compress files back to a raw ext4 image
1. You are now going to need your file_contexts file from your original extract rom zip. COPY (not cut) and paste it into the sdat2img-master folder.
2. You are also going to need your 'make_ext4fs' file. Make sure it is in the sdat2img-master folder. You might have trouble with permissions, so just in case, put
Code:
chmod 777 /home/user/sdat2img-master/make_ext4fs
into terminal.
3. In Files (Ubuntu's "File Manager"), in the sdat2img-master folder, right click on your system.img file and go to 'Properties'. Notice the information in "Size." Ignore the GB, but look at the bytes. Mine is 2,411,724,800. Copy that number, but remove the commas. So mine is 2411724800.
4. Next is the actual compressing part. Put
Code:
./make_ext4fs -T 0 -S file_contexts -l 2411724800 -a system system_new.img output/
into terminal, but substitute '2411724800' with whatever size you got from the Properties in system.img. You will now how a new file called system_new.img.
Section 4: Converting ext4 (raw image) to img (sparse image)
1. Now you will need to install img2simg. In Terminal, put
Code:
sudo apt-get install android-tools-fsutils
2. Now you can put
Code:
img2simg system_new.img system_new_sparse.img
You will now have a file called system_new_sparse.img that is ready to be packed in a new dat file.
Section 5: Converting img (sparse image) to dat (sparse data)
1. Cut and paste your system_new_sparse.img into img2sdat-master folder that you made earlier.
2. Now you need to navigate to that folder in terminal. Put
Code:
cd /home/user/img2sdat-master
3. Now you can put
Code:
./img2sdat.py system_new_sparse.img
to create your new dat file. It will first ask you which Android version it's for. Enter the number corresponding and hit enter.
4. You're now pretty much done. As you'll see, it created 3 files: system.new.dat, system.patch.dat, and system.transfer.list. Just paste these files into your folder where your flashable zip files are, replacing any original ones in there. Make sure you also have your file_contexts file in there as well. Highlight all the files in there, right click, and zip them up. Then name your flashable zip whatever you want and try flashing!