Database Info

The beginnings of the New Kitchen

Hi all,
Screen shoot of the beginnings of the new Kitchen interface.
There is still a great deal of work to do on it and I have a couple of people about to test and give some feedback and ideas.
Please feel free to post some ideas on this thread as to what usefull functionality could be added to it but no silly ideas please.
At the moment it is capable of building you four types of Rom, Vanilla, Business, Full Flavour and Custom (allowing you to select which OEMs to include) All you have to do is select your build type (and the OEMs you want added if you select Custom) then click the build button.
More functionality is being added and details will be added to this post as and when they become available
Regards,
Beast

Main point: whats working and what not working?

Hi beast0898,
Nicxe interface ! Perhaps too easy to use
I think this new kictchen will be release when the videocall will be 100% Fonctionnal
Nice work!

Is there any funtion where i can add extra oems other than given in your application (meaning from my own softwares)?

OEMs
satanisme said:
Is there any funtion where i can add extra oems other than given in your application (meaning from my own softwares)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The current design of the OEMs plugin would require two modifications to add an OEM to the library.
One you must CAB the existing OEM Dir (including it's Dir name ) and two modify a text file OEMs.txt in the root of the Kitchen Dir.
The OEMs.txt file contains a list of CAB Compressed OEMs, which are extracted to the OEM folder when selected in the Kitchen. So adding your own OEMs is simple.
Cheers
Beast

fla242 said:
Hi beast0898,
Nicxe interface ! Perhaps too easy to use
I think this new kictchen will be release when the videocall will be 100% Fonctionnal
Nice work!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
A lot of work has been done on VideoCall and it is still not 100% functional.
I am not sure, we will probably release the Kitchen shortly, maybe a month or so after some BETA testing.
The idea is to make it very simple.
So many people want different apps and utils that I thought a simple interface with a "One Click" Build function would make using Rom kitchens more appealing to new comers and sceptics.
Of course I'll have a disclaimer to indemnify myslef from any damage caused by it's use!
Cheers,
Beast

kdskamal said:
Main point: whats working and what not working?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Everything is working, but I wish to add more functionality and have Rom bug fixes to sort out and BETA testing before releassing this.
This will be released as a complete Kitchen, we are not just releasing the front end to plugin to existing Kitchens (although it will if you wish) and we are hoping to cram in as many OEMs bug fixes and tweaks as possible, so the result is a decent simple to use Kitchen and a fast stable, reliable WM6 Rom to boot(No pun intended)
Cheers,
Beast

beast0898 said:
The idea is to make it very simple.
So many people want different apps and utils that I thought a simple interface with a "One Click" Build function would make using Rom kitchens more appealing to new comers and sceptics.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's difficult to be easier, but probably easier than an "One Click" Build function I just can imagine a "Drag and drop" Build function without needing to change the text file OEMs.txt in the root of the Kitchen Dir.

Hi Beast,
Better, release an alpha so that people practically can realize about which feature he is missing or any bugs...etc...etc.
///Ranju
beast0898 said:
Everything is working, but I wish to add more functionality and have Rom bug fixes to sort out and BETA testing before releassing this.
This will be released as a complete Kitchen, we are not just releasing the front end to plugin to existing Kitchens (although it will if you wish) and we are hoping to cram in as many OEMs bug fixes and tweaks as possible, so the result is a decent simple to use Kitchen and a fast stable, reliable WM6 Rom to boot(No pun intended)
Cheers,
Beast
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

better to be engaged in a new build ... few who need kitchen. even in a form

mo3ulla said:
better to be engaged in a new build ... few who need kitchen. even in a form
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I totally agree. With a new kitchen and ROM, even if they were alpha, we could track some eventual bugs and make some suggestions.
As you said a lot of work has been done and VideoCall still isn't 100% functional, therefore it seems to be difficult to estimate how long it takes to solve this VC issue...

Can you use for this project helmi kitchen rom? It was perfect, no bug with wi-fi, no bug with mms, no bug with email etc.

Kitchen update suspended for now
Hi all,
Laurentius and I have decided to release an updated Rom with bugfixes for now, so work on the new Kitchen will be delayed for a bit.
Thanks to those who were going to Alpha test, I'll get it over to you guys as soon as I can, maybe a week or two.
Cheers,
Beast

[Q] Some information about sec.ko ???

Hi kernel hackers,
it is getting very silent recently about possible security hacks on the Milestone platform.
Today i stumbled over some kernel code located in /drivers/misc/sec.
Maybe this had been discussed already.... anyway
There're some interesting functions in the source code and i wonder which application is using this module to enter the secure world of OMAP.
Some of the functions are accessing registers, that are also involved in low level routines of the bootcode (e.g. mbmloader).
Some questions:
Which application in android userspace is using this module?
Could we tweak this module to get access to some of the protected OMAP registers?
Is it a signed module?
Would be nice to use a modified module and activate some of the blocked features (e.g. DAP controller for debugging).
Any comments welcome!!!
Regards,
scholbert

scholbert said:
Hi kernel hackers,
it is getting very silent recently about possible security hacks on the Milestone platform.
Today i stumbled over some kernel code located in /drivers/misc/sec.
Maybe this had been discussed already.... anyway
There're some interesting functions in the source code and i wonder which application is using this module to enter the secure world of OMAP.
Some of the functions are accessing registers, that are also involved in low level routines of the bootcode (e.g. mbmloader).
Some questions:
Which application in android userspace is using this module?
Could we tweak this module to get access to some of the protected OMAP registers?
Is it a signed module?
Would be nice to use a modified module and activate some of the blocked features (e.g. DAP controller for debugging).
Any comments welcome!!!
Regards,
scholbert
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I'm not a kernel hacker, but I have an educated guess...
I believe that the radio system uses those functions to check whether the kernel is valid or not, so, we have the radio not working with a replacement kernel that is loaded using kexec...
Perhaps, if it is possible to "change" this function using a module, we could get a function always telling the kernel is valid and have kexec working on Milestone. Again, I'm not a kernel hacker, but that is my guess.

Hi, I'm sorry that I wont be much help but these guys might;
https://www.droid-developers.org/
irc://irc.freenode.net/#milestone-modding

Hi,
thanks for your comments so far.
To be more precisely i think this kernel driver is calling the secure monitor in some way. See here:
https://www.droid-developers.org/wiki/Secure_Monitor
There's also a structure defined in that driver. I think i'll have to compare some of the ioctl entries.
https://www.droid-developers.org/wiki/Secure_Services
I'll do some investigation on this issue and search the web for some userland source code using this driver.
Again, if someone knows more about it, your welcome
Cheers,
scholbert

scholbert said:
Hi,
thanks for your comments so far.
To be more precisely i think this kernel driver is calling the secure monitor in some way. See here:
https://www.droid-developers.org/wiki/Secure_Monitor
There's also a structure defined in that driver. I think i'll have to compare some of the ioctl entries.
https://www.droid-developers.org/wiki/Secure_Services
I'll do some investigation on this issue and search the web for some userland source code using this driver.
Again, if someone knows more about it, your welcome
Cheers,
scholbert
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you don't have to search for the source, it's on SourceForge:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/milestone.motorola/files/

SophT said:
you don't have to search for the source, it's on SourceForge:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/milestone.motorola/files/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah sure, i knew this
Anyway, thanks for the hyperlink!
In the meantime i grepped all binaries from the latest distribution.
I found out, that two applications are using /dev/sec.
1. dbvc_atvc_property_set
2. tcmd
If someone knows which package of source code they belong to... would save some time searching.
EDIT:
O.K. Google did it for me...
Seems that both binaries are proprietary code. Some early conclusions:
1. dbvc_atvc_property_set
This one is started as a service in init.mapphone_umts.rc and seems to use /dev/sec for granting rights to access OMAP secure world (e.g. read eFuse values for unique device id, IMEI etc.).
This binary contains a certificate which is not Milestone specific (XT720 uses the same).
So right now i don't know, if this certificate is needed to access /dev/sec or the application itself identifies itself as trusted application (signed app).
Would make sense, if the BP uses signed applications to access certain low level functions, e.g. read/write the eFuse bank.
2. tcmd
This one is also started as a service in init.mapphone_umts.rc to access a variety of devices. Seems to be related to data streaming or stuff.
As stated it has an entry for /dev/sec and it got no certifcate.
Would be interesting to get some more info about that.
Further comments....
P.S.: This bloody security stuff is making me sick
Regards,
scholbert

Hi again,
i just compared some of the defines in the kernel driver headers (/drivers/misc/sec/sec_core.h) with the ones xvilka reversed inside mbmloader.
Code:
...
#define API_HAL_KM_SOFTWAREREVISION_READ 33 // 0x21
...
#define API_HAL_NB_MAX_SVC 39 // 0x27
#define API_HAL_MOT_EFUSE (API_HAL_NB_MAX_SVC + 10) // 0x31
#define API_HAL_MOT_EFUSE_READ (API_HAL_NB_MAX_SVC + 15) // 0x36
...
For comparison see the table here:
https://www.droid-developers.org/wiki/Secure_Services
It is obvious that /dev/sec allows to access OMAP secure world and uses the above mentioned API calls to push information to userspace apps.
The question would be, if ioctl must be certified through the API using some key ...
O.K. i see this is deep down code creeping, but maybe someone understands what i try to work out
See ya,
scholbert

scholbert said:
O.K. i see this is deep down code creeping, but maybe someone understands what i try to work out
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I know what you are trying to work out, but I can't think of any way to help
You're pretty much comparing the results of your findings with that of the mbmloader dump right?

I would like so much to fully understand what you are doing, but I can understand just a little..
btw I hope that you'll be glad to know that you have all my psychological support!

mystichobo said:
I think I know what you are trying to work out, but I can't think of any way to help
You're pretty much comparing the results of your findings with that of the mbmloader dump right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, kind of... we know for sure there's an API to access security functions on OMAP. I just digged out some parallels in kernel code and mbmloader.
If we could make use of security functions from within kernel space (by using a tweaked module) this would be a nice playground.
Perhaps, there's any bug or backdoor we could shamelessly exploit to:
a. boot custom kernel with second boot
b. tweak the security system and enable some hidden functions inside OMAP
puffo81 said:
I would like so much to fully understand what you are doing, but I can understand just a little..
btw I hope that you'll be glad to know that you have all my psychological support!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot for pointing out
Best regards,
scholbert

scholbert said:
Yeah, kind of... we know for sure there's an API to access security functions on OMAP. I just digged out some parallels in kernel code and mbmloader.
If we could make use of security functions from within kernel space (by using a tweaked module) this would be a nice playground.
Perhaps, there's any bug or backdoor we could shamelessly exploit to:
a. boot custom kernel with second boot
b. tweak the security system and enable some hidden functions inside OMAP
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I thought
Surprised noone has looked into it earlier really
Anyway good luck with it, adding my moral support too.
Cheers,
hobo

mystichobo said:
Surprised noone has looked into it earlier really
Anyway good luck with it, adding my moral support too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got into contact with xvilka.
Obviously there'd been some investigations concerning this issue.
To be honest, i don't know if it's worth to digg a little deeper or if it will ever led to something useful in the end. Could be fun though
Perhaps it would be nice idea to tweak the driver and put some debug message in the code.
Another interesting thing to do would be a logging function.
This way it would be possible to get some insights of the API to secure monitor.
Anyway, i think it's never useless to discuss about some hacking here. At least were at xda-developers
If you like to tweak some kernel code, join in!!!
Have fun!
scholbert

Captivate DOES have SOME CIQ!! Here is how to check

Ive been reading on this and was curious. I know infuse and skyfire have this on there system. Looks Like WE HAVE SOME evidence that we do have this installed.
CHECK SECOND POST
Here is OG posted and what it doeshttp://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=11763089
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1122569
Here is more info on it really starts on post 55 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1338733&highlight=Carrier+IQ&page=6
HERE IS HOW TO CHECK (CAPPY DOES HAVE SOME)
DOWNLOAD Supercurio Voodoo Carrier IQ detector at the market here is link(THIS IS MORE FOR OUR DEVICE) and what I used to find on my and my wife cappy
https://market.android.com/details?id=org.projectvoodoo.simplecarrieriqdetector
This one doesn't show any detected on our device
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=17612559&postcount=110
HERE IS GOOD READING ABOUT
http://lifehacker.com/5863895/carri...everything-on-your-phone-and-how-to-remove-it
http://www.xda-developers.com/android/the-rootkit-of-all-evil-ciq/
http://androidsecuritytest.com/features/logs-and-services/loggers/carrieriq/
twolostminds said:
By now anyone who has an Android phone has heard about CarrierIQ, CIQ or IQAgent. Business Wire in London announced on June 8th:
For the few who may be scratching their heads wondering what CarrierIQ is...
Steve Topletz, a member of an international group of hackers, human rights workers, lawyers and artists that fights internet censorship and promotes the right to privacy has described it as follows:
Information on CarrierIQ can also be found in the ACS SFR Epic4G ROM discussion thread and a thread I started requesting information from Epic4G Dev's here.
References to CIQ have been found deeply embedded Epic4G
Code:
Provided by chris41g
to be effectively removed you only need to remove it from 4 files. it is referenced elsewhere scattered throughout... but the four main files are
DialerTabActivity.apk
ext.jar
framework.jar
services.jar
then in the kernels initramfs, you have to disable the service in the init.rc
Provided by mkasick
Here's all the files that reference "CIQ", "carrieriq", or "libiq" with instances unrelated to Carrier IQ removed:
/ (initramfs):
- init: /dev/ttyCIQ0 UART, presumably to communicate with radio.
- init.rc: Start iqmsd service if property:service.iq.active=1.
- lib/modules/dpram.ko: Implements ttyCIQ UARTs.
/system:
- app/DialerTabActivity.odex
- app/FactoryTest.odex
- bin/iqmsd
- framework/ext.odex
- framework/framework.odex
- framework/sec_feature.odex
- framework/services.odex
- lib/libiq_client.so
- lib/libiq_service.so
Of these, bin/iqmsd is a purpose-unknown daemon, and libiq_client.so & libiq_service.so the client & service native code. The client & service managed code is implemented in framework/ext.odex & framework/framework.odex respectively.
In addition, the following framework classes reference Carrier IQ in some fashion:
framework/ext.odex:
- org.apache.http.impl.client.DefaultRequestDirector
framework.framework.odex:
- android.inputmethodservice.InputMethodService
- android.net.http.Request
- android.webkit.{BrowserFrame,CallbackProxy,LoadLis tener,WebViewCore}
- com.android.internal.telephony.SMSDispatcher
framework.services.odex:
- com.android.server.BatteryService
- com.android.server.WindowManagerService
- com.android.server.am.UsageStatsService
Finally, libiq_service.so is used exclusively by framework/framework.odex (com.carrieriq.iqagent.client.NativeClient), and libiq_client.so is used by:
- bin/iqmsd
- framework/ext.odex (com.carrieriq.iqagent.service.IQService)
- lib/libopencore_player.so
Makes you wonder what might be in the closed source.
The Android platform, like Linux, is based on openness. I am calling on all Android developers, programmers, hackers and users to band together as a community and come forward with any information you may have on CarrierIQ.
I am asking all those with the knowledge and resources to delve deeper into this issue to please do so and help spread the truth.
For anyone who wishes to contribute confidentially and anonymously please email:
CIQINVESTIGATION @ VERIZON dot NET
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I am going to start adding what ROMS have it and locations so that way we have handle on this thing for future reference. I need your guys help on what roms you are running and locations
These DO NOT have any CIQ
Andromeda3 (2.2 ) Froyo
Nothing found here. Not even empty libraries.
Serendipity VII (I9000XXJVO 2.3 Gingerbread)
Stock Froyo UCKB1
MIUI
ANY AOSP ROM
IF You find files under XBIN
I have and others have deleted or renamed the /system/xbin/iqbridged file and so far no adverse effects. Im not responsible if you do and bad thing happen.
FOR THOSE GETTING FILES UNDER
Test for: Android logcat debugging log
(LOGCAT, confidence 100)
just delete after each startup by doing this with Terminal Emulator
su
mount -o remount rw /dev/
rm /dev/log/*
OR
You could also try deleting the folder /dev/log (delete "log")
Do NOT delete /dev/
FOUND THESE *Using Supercurio Voodoo Carirer IQ DETECTOR
Cog 4.5.3 (I897UCKB1 2.2) Froyo
/system/xbin/iqbridged
Stock (I897UCKK4 2.3.5) Gingerbread
Stock (I897UCKF1 2.3.3) Gingerbread
/system/xbin/iqbridged
Serenity 6/6.1(I897UCKK4 2.3.5) Gingerbread
/system/xbin/iqbridged
FUSION XII (I897UCKK4 2.3.5) Gingerbread
Roms bineraries and daemons
/system/xbin/iqbridged
Pinnacle 1.3 (I897UCKH3 2.3.4) Gingerbread
Roms bineraries and daemons
/system/xbin/iqbridged
Andriod logcat debugging log
D/IQClient( 232): new IQClent()
Cognition 5 v2(I897UCKF1 2.3.3) Gingerbread
/system/bin/iqmsd
/system/lib/libiq_client.so
/system/lib/libiq_service.so
FASTY 3 KK4
/system/xbin/iqbridged
MaxQ/Sparko KK4
/system/xbin/iqbridged

It says that it's very difficult to turn off with Samsung devices but that there is an off switch. Where is it?

As I understand it, all Samsung android devices have it deeply embedded, so much so that removing the binaries will cause boot to fail. Sign me up for a removal tool. I'm not a dev, but this kind of garbage makes me wish I was. I wonder how much CIQ charges the NSA for their 'services'? Somebody call 60 Minutes....

OwenW71 said:
As I understand it, all Samsung android devices have it deeply embedded, so much so that removing the binaries will cause boot to fail. Sign me up for a removal tool. I'm not a dev, but this kind of garbage makes me wish I was. I wonder how much CIQ charges the NSA for their 'services'? Somebody call 60 Minutes....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+2
9CHAR

I just flashed stock froyo to my phone from gingerbread and did not see any libiq service or libiq client in the system/lib folder
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using Tapatalk

bump for a true answer

sfernandez said:
bump for a true answer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Our phone does not have CIQ on it.
Sent from my Captivate

miztaken1312 said:
Our phone does not have CIQ on it.
Sent from my Captivate
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you please elaborate on how you know this and what did you check to verify that we dont have it?

logging test app.by trevE
for the purpose of testing ciq
and by talking to the the other devs when i offered to help...
and by just reading and trying the things it says in the things you are reading...

TRusselo said:
logging test app.by trevE
for the purpose of testing ciq
and by talking to the the other devs when i offered to help...
and by just reading and trying the things it says in the things you are reading...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So thats everything u did? sorry Im hella slow this morning mind not working for SH**T

no prob.. no point doing what others have done. and cant know without asking.

TRusselo said:
logging test app.by trevE
for the purpose of testing ciq
and by talking to the the other devs when i offered to help...
and by just reading and trying the things it says in the things you are reading...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you I added in OP trevE post about removing it so it others have concerns and some more reading..THANX AGAIN

This thread was reported, and I agree, I think this belongs in General, not Q&A.

Cognition
My Captivate is running Cognition 5.2. I ran the CIQ checks in the Logging Checker apk. The CIQ File List returns with three entries:
/system/bin/iqmsd exists!
/system/lib/libiq_client.so exists!
/system/lib/libiq_service.so exists!
Am I interpreting it right that my phone has CIQ? I have a screenshot, but it seems I need more posts before I can post it.

Max Tempest said:
My Captivate is running Cognition 5.2. I ran the CIQ checks in the Logging Checker apk. The CIQ File List returns with three entries:
/system/bin/iqmsd exists!
/system/lib/libiq_client.so exists!
/system/lib/libiq_service.so exists!
Am I interpreting it right that my phone has CIQ? I have a screenshot, but it seems I need more posts before I can post it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Two CIQ libraries and a binary daemon - I'd say that's a pretty strong indicator that you do

Running Team Hacksung ICS.. Looks like it's clean, as nothing opened.

Is this for firmware 2.2 or just original stock?

Cognition 5 is based on the official release of 2.2 KB1
My Captivate is running Stock Samsung Froyo 2.2 KB1, I have a running application called Mobile Tracker Settings in my list that when I press force close does nothing but highlight the button blue. DOES NOT FORCE CLOSE. are you going to tell that's not odd?
Most people are running 2.3.3+ builds BASED OFF OF CYANOGENMOD 7's Kernel, which in turn if you read the articles would indicate that the CM Kernel's have the CIQ hooks removed already so CIQ is not present on ROM's based on Recent CyanogenMod updates.
Just because your phone doesn't have it doesn't mean it doesn't exist...

Stinking stuff this CIQ !
Of course, the concept itself already exists on every PC running windows - it is called error reporting. Every time you have a crash or software error, you get a pop-up that asks whether you want to send an error report. Ever see that?
The one BIG difference is that it GIVES YOU THE OPTION of not sending. I never send error reports. The situation here is a little more sneaky, because on the phones there is no pop-up that allows you to choose "Don't Send". Malware like keyloggers etc. use this to "evil" ends. So the problem is not that it may be for innocuous error collecting, but someone with savvy can actually use the CIQ via an app you download to collect this info.
Manufacturers need to stop this or provide ABSOULTE GUARANTEES that it will not be misused or cannot be hacked in form another app. And that is where my beef is with this S^&t peice of software. Unfortunately, this stuff is so rampant in everything any device collects data - including browsers like Chrome and PCs and iPads - we need an "OCCUPY S*^T DATA COLLECTION" movement to make this prominent.

[Q] Switch between keyboard layouts

Hi,
I already read about the option to remap some keys by editing the keyboard layout file. Is it also possible to switch between keyboard layouts as you type (using a hotkey) - e.g. I need to be able to quickly change between Cyrilic and Latin keyboards.
Thanks.

I think you're talking about hardware keyboard.... But keyboard apps like swiftkey allow for 3 allow for 3 languages simultaneously.
Sent from my ICS Splashed MT4GS using xda premium

Oops haha double post

Hi indeed, I was talking about the hardware keyboard, if it is not possible to use both cyrillic & latin keys and quickly switch between them, this would decrease the benefit of the keyboard for me and I might decide to go with a non qwerty phone in the end.
Thanks for you insight though.

nickexel said:
Hi indeed, I was talking about the hardware keyboard, if it is not possible to use both cyrillic & latin keys and quickly switch between them, this would decrease the benefit of the keyboard for me and I might decide to go with a non qwerty phone in the end.
Thanks for you insight though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In this dev thread: Hardware Key Mapping | Flashable zips & Requests
...user Paitor has come up with and explained how to implement swedish language support for the hardware keyboard.
Given what Paitor has figured out how to do, it is absolutely within our ability to sit down and make exactly what you are asking.
All it takes is someone willing to sit down and invest the time into actually making it happen.
I would volunteer, but I have a lot on my plate already and realistically it's just not feasable for me to do this and keep up with my other projects on this device.
I will however be willing to take a finished keymapping and turn it into a flashable zip file and update the first posting of the key mapping thread with the result.
(and I always credit the author both in the installer package and thread post)
We still have to write in hardware keyboard language support for other languages, and I invite anyone else who wants to use alternative languages to read that thread and see about putting some time into helping us make that available for everyone. What you want to do is not exactly a small project, but pushing what we know to the next level is the reason for XDA's existence.
So, short answer is yes, what you are asking for is completely possible - you can make a key map file that has all of the keys in the languages you would want.
This is XDA, where you can get exactly what you need right down to the last little detail - if you want to put the time into making it happen. We'll be glad to help out where we can along the way.
--------
Edit:
If I were to tackle this project - this would be my approach:
Some apps, like Drocap2 or soundhound, pop up in the list when you have the Genius key remapped to 'search' and long press it. If there is nothing else that utilizes this shortcut function it will default to the only app that does ( in the case of a stock installation or on my ROM, voice search ).
So what I would do is write in each hardware keyboard layout that I wanted, then design an app that utilizes that Genius shortcut function to run - and the sole purpose of the app would be to switch between hardware keyboard layouts.
To me, that seems like the most elegant and refined approach to your problem without making one monstrously cumbersome key-mapping.
You could just press the Genius button to access the app wherever you happened to be, and then have it just show a menu as an overlay to swap between whatever keymappings you wrote in.
--------
My time is being invested in my ROM - then once that's set to my satisfaction, on to kernel work on overclock/undervolt leading into GPU work in conjunction with TV-out, and then on to bluetooth work for controller support on a Sense device.
These are big projects and very time consuming undertakings, so as you can see a project like this keylayout issue is a long time coming before I can get to it - but i'm happy to help where I can for anyone who wants to dive in and do.
Figured i'd throw out what my approach would be to give someone an idea on where to start - and while certainly not the only solution, is something to consider.

I think I have very good news for you!
There's a keyboard called "AnySoftKeyboard" (search for it in the Market and click Dev Website if you want more info) which supports hard kbd mapping (and switching bet layouts by pressing Alt + Space), they have a Russian language pack (Cyrillic & Phonetic), and it is all free.
I have never used it, but remembered coming accross it a while back and decided to check it out for you.
Hope it works

Hey guys, thanks for your replies!
I will definitely check this application - i am not sure it supports all hardware keyboards in general (or just the g1/droid as written in the description), but I will give it a try if I get this phone
And yes, I will gladly help in creating a layout for a Bulgarian keyboard. Unfortunately I cannot create an application for switching between the layouts myself, as I am not a developer.
thanks again.

AnySoft does work
Got my phone and installed AnySoftKeyboard. It does allow for switching bet layouts on the MT4Gs, but does seem a bit quirky so far... (that's with Hebrew & English, you might want to experiment yourself)

[Q] Hook and substitute hardware keyboard events

Hi all,
Few days ago I'v repaired HTC Desire Z with Russian keyboard and installed CM10.2 onto it. And of course I want to have working Russian keyboard layout.
Unfortunately only official firmware support it, and problem cannot be solved by editing layout tables because for some buttons there is two Cyrillic letters on one button. There is ruKeyboard application to fix it, but it closed source, so it doesn't acceptable for me.
So, I'm going to develop my application for it (open source, of course) and want to ask some questions... I have a lot of development experience (especially low level, e.g. drivers, MCU's firmware and so on), but never programmed for Android (however I know Java to some degree).
Of course, I can patch android kernel/sources to get my task done, but I suppose that it's a bad idea, because I'll need to port changes to new versions and so on. So, I want to process keyboard events from userspace.
My question: Is it possible to hook all hardware keyboard events (i.e. scancodes, not characters) from userspace, remove them from message queue, and produce new events? I know that producing new events is possible, but what about hooking it (like MS Windows event hooks?). Can you give me a hint (maybe link to example or API, suitable for it)?
Thank you in advance.

FossaFX said:
My question: Is it possible to hook all hardware keyboard events (i.e. scancodes, not characters) from userspace, remove them from message queue, and produce new events? I know that producing new events is possible, but what about hooking it (like MS Windows event hooks?). Can you give me a hint (maybe link to example or API, suitable for it)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not a programmer, but I would be interested in an app that could substitute key press events (on my Motorola Droid 4).
Have you heard of the Xposed framework? Maybe this would be a possibility to achieve your goal and Xposed might make things much easier for you.

daniel_m said:
I am not a programmer, but I would be interested in an app that could substitute key press events (on my Motorola Droid 4).
Have you heard of the Xposed framework? Maybe this would be a possibility to achieve your goal and Xposed might make things much easier for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, I'll read about it (and no, I didn't hear about it, I have never programmed for Android).

daniel_m said:
I am not a programmer, but I would be interested in an app that could substitute key press events (on my Motorola Droid 4).
Have you heard of the Xposed framework? Maybe this would be a possibility to achieve your goal and Xposed might make things much easier for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.howtogeek.com/195476/7-t...ramework-on-a-rooted-android-phone-or-tablet/ looks like good thing. So I'll investigate sources of Xposed to look how do they did it.

Good luck!
Would be wonderful for yet another useful Xposed module to see the light of day