Database Info

Replacement for craptacular adb shell

Hey everybody. I'm on windows and adb's shell just keeps on pissing me off. Mainly, how pressing tab actually inserts a tab rather than tab completion . I'd really like to do something about this.
Here's a list of the things i've tried to get rid of this super-annoying behaviour.
-rolled a cross-compiler toolchain (glibc-based) for my phone (HTC Magic) and cross-compiled bash (in a vm). I actually made this work even with dynamic linking, and can start bash from within an instance of "adb shell". Unfortunatly, this doesn't change the tab behaviour, which appears to be baked into adb rather than a problem with the default shell.
-I thought i'd try something fancy by doing...
adb shell mkfifo /fifo
adb shell "bash > /fifo < fifo 2> /fifo"
adb forward tcp:9001 dev:/fifo
and starting putty in raw mode, connecting to localhost:9001. Unfortunatly, all is what happens is i get an echo of what i type and if i press enter a few times putty spits out ": command not found". I can't see why this shouldn't work but I suspect i'm Doing It Wrong.
-Searching the forum revealed puttycyg, which is actually really handy but unfortunatly suffers from the same tab completion problem as using adb shell in cmd.exe
How do you guys do it? Am I onto something with the adb forward thing? If so, how do I make that work?

I have also compiled bash but I have tab completion though adb. I do however use Linux as my desktop OS and am connecting through Konsole. So you could just try to install KDE for Windows. I know that I've looked for good terminal applications for windows but found none. They're all **** compared to what's available on nix.
This is my simple bashrc:
Code:
# If interactive do nothing.
[ -z "$PS1" ] && return
export HOME="/sdcard/"
PS1='[email protected]\h:\w\$ '
Also it's full of aliases for busybox. By replacing built in ls and similar you even get nice colors But still no line editing for some reason. I figure I might just need a proper libreadline or similar for that.

If anybody's interested in how I got this working, i cross-compiled socat for the droid. Required configuring with --disable-termios and manually editing config.h to set the #define for CRDLY_SHIFT and a couple other *_SHIFT macros to some values i found in Config/linux-2.6.24.h (or something similar, posting from memory here)
Once socat is on the phone, I made it pipe data from a bash shell to a unix socket it is listening on:
socat unix-listen:/dev/adbsock,fork exec:"/bin/bash -li",pty,stderr,setsid,sigint
(command shamelessly copied from http://superuser.com/questions/123790/socat-and-rich-terminals-with-ctrlc-ctrlz-ctrld-propagation ).
Then, on the pc i run adb forward tcp:9001 localfilesystem:/tmp/adbsock
And if i connect putty to localhost:9001 in raw mode (disabling line editing and local echo) I get a fairly complete bash shell that you can not only use tab completion on but even vi works
Again, posting from memory here so if anyone wants to try this and is running into problems i can dig it up from my ~/.bash_history.

Any chance you can post your socat port?
The tab completion thing is driving me insane! I don't understand why the ADB shell in *nix is proper, but the windows version sucks so much hairy donkey balls.
I've been using Ansicon so I at least get color in my shell, but ADB still mangles tab, and I don't even want to talk about what it does to Nano. Ugh!

Oh wow, this takes me back. I don't even have my android phone anymore (cancelled the contract due to terribly crap network service, and (unfortunately) the iPhone was the best phone in its price range from my new carrier).
So I don't have any files to give to you...
But, from what I can remember, to make it work, I built a cross binutils and gcc loosely following the instructions from the LFS book, compiled glibc + a few other libs socat wanted with it, and then socat itself, and then bash. I then copied the cross libc.so.6, ld-linux.so.2 (or whatever it's called on ARM) and all the libs socat wanted to /lib on the phone, and the socat and bash binaries to /bin. It's convenient that android keeps its important stuff in /system because it means you can avoid screwing around with your toolchain to make it look for a dynamic linker in some location other than /lib.
From memory socat was the only thing I had problems compiling, and thankfully I've already posted roughly what i had to do to it to make it build (because there's no way I remember lol)
Sorry I can't be more helpful!

[DEVS][THINK-TANK] Finding a solution for custom boot animations.

I need all your help on testing and finding a solid solution to get boot animations working for 100% of users and situations.
Desired behaviour:
1. Sprint files only -- shows Sprint animation.
2. bootanimation.zip only -- shows custom boot.
3. Both sets of files -- bootanimation.zip overrides Sprint.
Undesired behaviour: (i.e. things I've tried that have failed, or are ugly)
1. Sprint animation has fallback android animation overlay, blinking ANDROID over the Sprint stuff. UGLY!
2. Situations 1 and 2 work normally, but if both sets of files are present, both animations display.
3. Disabling sprint animation completely. This is not good, we want something to work for every user.
4. Custom boot animations that loop until boot completes don't stop when boot completes. This is very bad.
We need to thinktank some code to get this working right, so we can implement it easily in each kernel we produce.

So it is ro=read only, heh.

Ah, I love it! You weren't lying when you said elegant

DevinXtreme said:
Ah, I love it! You weren't lying when you said elegant
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do need you and others to test and improve upon it.
It doesn't act quite as expected, but even at this point it's far better than other alternatives.

tehdarkknight said:
I do need you and others to test and improve upon it.
It doesn't act quite as expected, but even at this point it's far better than other alternatives.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Blah. Gone over several scenarios and they all end exactly where we are. I'm not so hot with scripting, but the pseudo should translate the same.
What about nesting if-thens? Don't assume anything (rw.kernel.android.customboot shouldn't be set until going through the if-thens). Create the parent if-then that checks for the Sammy/Sprint files. If it finds them, set rw.kernel.android.customboot to false, then write the nested statement to check for the custom boot files. If they are there, set rw.kernel.android.customboot to true. Then, to the parent statement, write an else that just sets rw.kernel.android.customboot to true. This should solve the problem. So:
Code:
if(Sprint/Sammy Files exist){
rw.kernel.android.customboot = 0
if(Custom Files also exist)
rw.kernel.android.customboot = 1
}
else
rw.kernel.android.customboot = 1

I got it working a little better.
init.rc:
Code:
on property:rw.kernel.android.customboot=1
start bootanimcustom
on property:rw.kernel.android.stockboot=1
start playlogos1
service playlogos1 /system/bin/playlogos1
user root
oneshot
disabled
service bootanimcustom /system/bin/bootanimation
user graphics
group graphics
disabled
oneshot
customboot.sh
Code:
#!/system/bin/sh
if [ -f "/data/local/bootanimation.zip" -o -f "/system/media/bootanimation.zip" ]; then
setprop rw.kernel.android.customboot 1
else
setprop rw.kernel.android.stockboot 1
fi
I do, however, have a problem. The boot animation never ends. The system starts up and the UI is loaded, but the boot animation takes over the screen and never seems to die. Using adb shell I was able to see the process and kill it, which restored the screen to the OS. Any ideas on how to stop it automatically?

ttabbal said:
I got it working a little better.
init.rc:
Code:
on property:rw.kernel.android.customboot=1
start bootanimcustom
on property:rw.kernel.android.stockboot=1
start playlogos1
service playlogos1 /system/bin/playlogos1
user root
oneshot
disabled
service bootanimcustom /system/bin/bootanimation
user graphics
group graphics
disabled
oneshot
customboot.sh
Code:
#!/system/bin/sh
if [ -f "/data/local/bootanimation.zip" -o -f "/system/media/bootanimation.zip" ]; then
setprop rw.kernel.android.customboot 1
else
setprop rw.kernel.android.stockboot 1
fi
I do, however, have a problem. The boot animation never ends. The system starts up and the UI is loaded, but the boot animation takes over the screen and never seems to die. Using adb shell I was able to see the process and kill it, which restored the screen to the OS. Any ideas on how to stop it automatically?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you using stock animations or a custom one?
Also, won't this run into the same problem? If both conditionals end up true, you've got it trying to run both.

DevinXtreme said:
Are you using stock animations or a custom one?
Also, won't this run into the same problem? If both conditionals end up true, you've got it trying to run both.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried the sketch android. I also noticed that the bootanimation2nd loads up an "Android" text that doesn't take over as much of the screen.
The conditionals can't both end up true, only one can ever be set in the shell script. If I delete the bootanimation.zip, I get the standard "Galaxy S" animation via playlogos. If I have a bootanimation.zip, that's what displays. It just never goes away.

ttabbal said:
The conditionals can't both end up true, only one can ever be set in the shell script. If I delete the bootanimation.zip, I get the standard "Galaxy S" animation via playlogos. If I have a bootanimation.zip, that's what displays. It just never goes away.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Blah. That's what I get for not paying attention. I read the if-then-else totally wrong... I'm in class right now, doing Java programming... they meshed.
That's weird feedback, though. Eff Sammy making this harder than it needs to be.
Is it possible to nest with these shell scripts?

DevinXtreme said:
Blah. That's what I get for not paying attention. I read the if-then-else totally wrong... I'm in class right now, doing Java programming... they meshed.
That's weird feedback, though. Eff Sammy making this harder than it needs to be.
Is it possible to nest with these shell scripts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nest? You mean like a nested-if-then-else?
if [ test ] then
if [ test2 ] then
fi
fi
That's the basic structure for shell scripts if-nesting if I'm understanding you right.

ttabbal said:
Nest? You mean like a nested-if-then-else?
if [ test ] then
if [ test2 ] then
fi
fi
That's the basic structure for shell scripts if-nesting if I'm understanding you right.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly. I've never actually worked with shell scripting before, so while I get the function, I just don't know enough to write my own. Syntax is weird like that. I don't see why it would loop.

DevinXtreme said:
Exactly. I've never actually worked with shell scripting before, so while I get the function, I just don't know enough to write my own. Syntax is weird like that. I don't see why it would loop.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, it's like the bootanimation process is waiting for a trigger to tell it to stop. I suspect that the samsung Android doesn't do this, as they don't use that program. I just don't know what it is that it needs to do. If I can figure that out, I can likely write something to trigger it.

thought the epic doesnt like if [insert command here] statements?

shabbypenguin said:
thought the epic doesnt like if [insert command here] statements?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depends on the shell interpreter I would think. I'm on a Vibrant though, so perhaps there are differences.

shabbypenguin said:
thought the epic doesnt like if [insert command here] statements?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My initramfs installs busybox
ttabbal said:
I got it working a little better.
<snip>
I do, however, have a problem. The boot animation never ends. The system starts up and the UI is loaded, but the boot animation takes over the screen and never seems to die. Using adb shell I was able to see the process and kill it, which restored the screen to the OS. Any ideas on how to stop it automatically?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have two things to note about your code. The first is that we should only use one prop, it's just good coding practice and prevents unintended behaviour. The second is that the reason playlogos1 loops is because the service needs to be oneshot, if you start it normally, it loops. But it would appear that you can't oneshot a service inside an 'on' statement in init.rc.
I think our solution lies here: http://www.kandroid.org/android_pdk/bring_up.html

The problem was my bad syntax in init.rc. I think I have it fixed, i'll compile tomorrow morning.

doesnt install it all the way, still had to link some things in order for me to debug the battery tweak

That's a good question. The initramfs runs /system/bin/busybox --install, but I've never checked the linkage. I'll be pushing my initramfs to github soon.

if tahts the case i may start over with the project and just use your kernel as a base install, kinda like what collin did for cm6
update:
finished check sig

Necro'ing this thread. Check OP for new information, and let's get this ***** solved!

Linux Installer 3.3 is out

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.galoula.LinuxInstall
New every thing. Redesign of everything every where, rewite of all English parts, many bug fixes.
What for ? install Debian using debootstrap in chroot, and use your Android device like if you had installed Linux on a standard computer.
Bugs shall be reported to [email protected] .
Misc questions about how to use and feature request and general discussions to [email protected]
Market description:
This application will allow you to install a complete Debian distribution in your Android device. Based on chroot, it will perform a standard debootstrap and install a legacy Debian so that you can install, and run any classic Linux command, tool, daemon or service.
The package has few limitations; it is not restricted to Debian; we already offer the choice to use Ubuntu, and will add more distributions in close future. Each distribution is available in several tastes (stable, testing ...). It will not require to reboot; chroot is run inside Android. Installation can be done on any storage device, either on SD card, or inernal memory; no need to repartition any thing, run mkfs or fdisk. We do with what you let use. If you have almost nothing, the package will manage with almost nothing; if you can afford for a large ext4 partition on your SD card, the package will be happy to use it.
It will allow you to install all classic LAMP services like Apache, MySql, PHP, Samba, Netatalk, or just any classic Linux tool like vim, xterm, aterm, Abiword, Firefox, dillo, wget, cron, Perl, Python ... just everything.
Package utilisation will require a rooted device.
Reasons to install this package can not be listed. Just too many: want a cron daemon ? want to have gcc inside your phone ? want to recompile some kernel driver because the legacy Android driver for your Wi-Fi card has is bogus or limited ? want to use vim, or the real full featured desktop ls, ip, nmap, or top commands ? this package will give you all this for free, and much much more.
Requierments:
- an Android device based on some Linux kernel
- a rooted environment
- 300M free space
That's all.
Optionnal registration on our website, http://android.galoula.com/LinuxInstall/Register.php , will allow you to use advanced management features, and install package from within the application interface. You will not need to type any strange command in any terminal. And you will be able to make some services start automaticly at phone boot, and/or application start.
Online documentation: http://android.galoula.com/en/LinuxInstall/
Quick installation guide: http://android.galoula.com/en/LinuxInstall/QuickTutorial.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Free space must be on sd-card or phone memory?

Both accepted You choose where to install.
500M by default on SD card using loop method (on ext2 or fat). Down to 180M using the directory method (does not work on FAT).

thanks for this man.

Sorry if this is a noob question but will this in any way brick/soft brick my device?
Sent from my GT540RR using XDA App

Yes, it can.
But this app is underdevelopment since almost two years, and nobody ever bricked yet. I have written a very long complete tutorial, where I say what you should NOT do. I could easily tell you how to brick in 5 steps.
But we have been working very hard on default settings, to make default settings as much safe as possible.
There are many bugs, many known bugs; but 99.999% bugs will just make the chroot not work. Data loss is very rare. Data loss was highly probable in previous version 3.2 . But default settings are now safer. And if you do not do what we claim to be dangerous ... you are safe.
The most frequent case with 3.2 was complete wipe of /sdcard and /data . This have been fixed.
We never ran into wipe of /system until now. Never bricked.
And since Galoula and me are working on it, we are the most exposed ones. We test every single feature, in all possible situations. And when we find a wipe case, we repro it dozen time until we understand why, and how to fix, so that it won't happen to YOU.
3.3 is way safer than 3.2. And nobody reported wipe on 3.2 ...
But if you blindely clik any where, yes it can. And if I tell you where to click, you can brick in 5 steps for sure And it won't be a soft brick. I promise a good real brick where even HTC will be in trouble to repair it It's explained in the tutorial.

Wow. Thanks for the reply. At least i have an idea now. Is the tut on the app itself? I'll nake sure to read it very carefully coz i wanna learn all about this stuff
Sent from my GT540RR using XDA App

A not so short tuto is inside; but since most mobile devices have only one screen, you may want to read the online tuto on your computer: http://android.galoula.com/en/LinuxInstall/
Default settings are safe. Just follow the guide.

Will go ahead and read this tut. I'll make sure to give feedback. Thanks for paying attention to this noob
Sent from my GT540RR using XDA App

this is just great, are there any videos or screen shots?
edit: nevermind i just checked the market

Feel free to send us screen shots; I am not good at doing that (i can to shots, but I don't know what could be nice to upload).
We would apreciate shots of working (of course ) VNC clients connected to server running localy, or local consoles (like Connectbot) doing funny things.
Send to support. Thanks.

Spent the whole weekend on this...
I'm trying o get an X- GUI on the Samsung Captivate, (hope i said that right) like Ubuntu so i can VNC to a linux desktop environment. I'm on FASTY and wondering why I keep running into refusal of connection. I have the password and localhost as well as the port correct. I've lost sleep on making this work. Can anyone help...?

You question is somehow off topic.
You seem to have a basic VNC connexion issue.
Could not help without deeper description. And I rarely use VNC, i have very low experience.
First point: do you have free space in the distro ? depending on installation method, and what you installed, you may have run out of disk space (especially Ubuntu, uses lot more than Legacy Debian).
The distribution manager is still beta AOT. It may report the VNC service to be up and running, when it could not rally run. First thing to check is: is it up ?
- from local machine, to ps, and check if process is up
- from remote machine, just scan your IP for the device. VNC should be port 5800 or 5900, forgot which one.
Your VNC password is *NOT* your distribution password. VNC password need to be set at a different place (this is VNC specific; VNC is not UNIX, and never claimed to be fully a *UNIX "merged" service*).
Never used VNC in LinuxInstaller. Never yet. Not enough time to test it. We take report, and will test only major and frequent issues. We have many "easy success" reports, so, we don't worry about it. We have much more issues about rooting (getting root on phone), and starting debootstrap; this is what we focus on.
Make sure you have enough free space (at least 50M free left), then join any Debian or Ubuntu forum. They will ask you if you have a CLI; you shall use either adb shell, or connectbot. Fact you are in a chroot is not an issue, chrooting is not frequent for debian users, chrooting is the normal procedure to install Gentoo; and all debootstrap users use chroot daily; forums should not reject you for this reason. As long as you have a CLI.
Good luck.

Lost me fast...
Sorry..but you lost me, and FAST! I really don't have the terminology down...but I do have the Linux 3.3 Installer running properly...it indicates so. I was assuming that this would allow me to somehow load Ubuntu on my Captivate..as I've seen on some screen shots...I guess I'm just lost...a little knowledge is dangerous...I have a little. Just enough to accomplish the basics..but the vernacular is LOST to me. Guess I'll have to wait for the Ubuntu apk...thanks for trying...

I've got this errors...(see attached files).
I have busybox 1.19, connectbot and the superuser (v2.3.6.3 and su binary v2.3.2, the latest from the maket)...
What can I do?

you guys are still lucky.your able to make it work...
im running the ongoing cm7 2.3.5 on moto defy...
kernel is not supporting this yet.

hailmary what's missing in your kernel ? I don't know any Android that won't have ext2 in; if you have an Android without any ext2 filesystem, please contact me in private, I know it could be done, and I would be VERY CURIOUS to see how HTC did it.
If you are missing loop support in kernel, try block or directory method. Blocck will require ext2; directory won't (but will work only over ext FS ... so ... unless you can use NFS )
dugryce , ScumpinatoS, I will come back later (maybe today, maybe not).

ScumpinatoS said:
I've got this errors...(see attached files).
I have busybox 1.19, connectbot and the superuser (v2.3.6.3 and su binary v2.3.2, the latest from the maket)...
What can I do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reading the first message, you as, as said, a CPU issue. What's your CPU ? device model ?
run in some console:
uname -a
which tail
Application could not load viable environment to work; it is an issue, but it can be fixed. I can help digging, but I won't give you any solution. Send an email to Galoula; the bug report system via the console should work for you.

doublehp said:
Reading the first message, you as, as said, a CPU issue. What's your CPU ? device model ?
run in some console:
uname -a
which tail
Application could not load viable environment to work; it is an issue, but it can be fixed. I can help digging, but I won't give you any solution. Send an email to Galoula; the bug report system via the console should work for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a Huawei Ideos CPU: MSM7225 without GPU.

I am use it and try install Ubuntu Natty but after download all deb package i get error installation, "issue binary, try other version"
Can someone help me what distro (Ubuntu/Debian) and what version of it that have installed succesfully.. please...
Sent from my GT-S5570 using XDA App

[Q] use tf to unlock and root phones

hey everyone,
so i finally got the dock for my TF a couple weeks ago.. i have several friends that are not as tech savvy as i am, but still like android, well i want to offer to root their devices for them. more out of curiosity then need i was wondering if it is possible to unlock and push the recovery from a TF? i know that the TF has ADB on it, but i havent really started any development on the TF its more for fun, i use my nexus 1 for development.. any light you can share on this would be appreciated.

Interesting...
Nice thread i hope some one comes up with further info about this idea i would like to do this too!!!! I have sold mi laptop TF can do everything... And soon W8 will be possible on it and STABLE Ubuntu!!!

I was contemplating this also since a girl I work with wanted me to root her Galaxy S1 but I only had my TF with me and we can't install drivers on the work computers.
I assume it should be possible, you just may need more of the Linux binaries, for example you may need to do it via a chroot install of Ubuntu or as a native (dual-boot) system. Look at the shell scripts and see what binary tools they require (cp, mv, cd etc...), you may be able to do it with Android's toolchain.

There's something in the market called "remote adb" which "might" be of use, but I kind of doubt it. It could also be one of those adbwireless versions of adb where you still do the heavy lifting from the PC.
My take would be to look at the results of google "+source +adb +android" and you'll get a couple of hits that point at adb repos in git format.
Then use a linux box to clone one and point it at some crossbuild tools (see for example the howto build kernel threads that are here and there) and built it for our architecture (arm{le}). I've done this for the bash shell and a few other things I liked in linux and it should be possible. One built, push it into /system/xbin, chmod 755 adb and see how things go.
I don't have the keyboard dock or the OTG dongle so no point in my doing it since I can't test.
Good luck -
edit: http://lackingrhoticity.blogspot.com/2010/02/how-to-build-adb-android-debugger.html seems like as good a place as any since it has source, instructions, etc. So probably all you have to do (if this nutty project will work at all) would be to modify the Makefile so that it's pointing to the toolchain for armv7le (or that's what uname -a shows on my eeepad).
edit: Another one that's already been built for android (I tested it), is sshd or dropbear and here is a link: http://jhulst.com/c/dropbear-ssh-android .
The main thing is being able to hit the device you want to setup using either ssh or scp, and functionally this'll do most if not all or more than adb will. What won't work are any scripts written that are already using adb commands.

thanks for the input originally i was thinking being able to use terminal inside honeycomb, but i suppose the easier (or perhaps better stated, the "road more traveled") route would be dual booting linux and just setting up the dev kit on there..

Latest version of ubuntu by little stevie is your best bet

[TOOL] ApkSpy v1.8 - Resurrected (APK: view manifest on PC and/or Install APK via PC)

APKSPY - RESURRECTED​
First:
I want to thank @ido for the original application -- It was his idea (and his code I've hacked :cyclops and modified.
Second:
Since Ido seems not to be active anymore I'll re-publish the application here.
Unless for some reason Ido will specifically ask me to remove it.
The original post
ido said:
ApkSpy is a simple tool I hacked up tonight which allows you to easily view the manifest of an APK (screenshots attached - not up to date though) just by double clicking it. (It can even associate with the .apk filetype, yay!)
ApkSpy relies on the aapt.exe tool from the android SDK, so you must have that installed (or just copy aapt.exe from somewhere, that's the only file needed to run ApkSpy).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Third:
Requires Microsoft©® .Net Framework v4
(Kind of since I've done it some time ago and waited for Ido [the orignal developer] to respond and allow or disallow me to re-publish... So, I don't remember all the changes I've already done...)
v1.8.19 CHANGELOG:
Fixed some Date parsing function (zipped file with no time stamp) in ZipStorer (by @Jaime Olivares) maybe causing some of the error reported here...
v1.8 CHANGELOG:
Changed Icon - CONTRIBUTED BY @Jarmezrocks
Removed unneeded tabs (System, Batch Rename, Log)
Minimize / Maximized restored back
v1.7 CHANGELOG:
(Actually 4.1.7.870, but the first and the last parts are internally used :fingers-crossed:)
Try to automatically find adb.exe and aapt.exe in ApkSPY directory or in PATH variable: If failed finding any of the executables, the user is asked to manually locate them
(★ Currently the location is not saved... ★).
Check if the ADB server is running and Start or ask if to Restart ADB server
Tidy up the code
Refining the original libraries written by Ido related to ADB and AAPT
Some more minor code updates
Revised most of the "General" tab (other tabs ware not touched) of the UI:
Grouped and ordered controls on form
Added DropDown of devices attached (★ Not automatically updating upon plugging... ★)
Added some control over ADB actions
Added status bar that some other details are shown, e.g. device type (Nexus, I9100...), OS version (4.1.2, 4.4.2...) and OS build (KOT49H, KVT49L...)
Added (nice looking) information panel with clickable links (for actions on the form) and coloring
Other changes (I can't recall right now, since I've done it some time ago and waited for a response from Ido for permission to republish)
(★ Maybe I'll add an option for this later, depending on my -- not to much -- free time and requested by users .... ★)
Known bugs:
Sometimes ADB fails to return build.prop property for the status bar (however it has not caused any critical problem, so (I think) it can be safely ignored) -- haven't been able (yet) to find the exact state it is happening
Please take the time to look at the application ABOUT tab
Any Other ideas are welcome!
If you like it, Don't forget to Thank me
If you enjoy using this application as much as I have enjoyed re-writing it
please donate to show your appreciation​

RESERVED

Nice
Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

Good news
Bug report, every time I open this program, this dialog pops up, after click OK, this program works well.
PS, aapt.exe is in the same dir with ApkSpy

I got this errors:
1:
2:
Error in property: [email protected]@usrdata

cmlx said:
Good news
Bug report, every time I open this program, this dialog pops up, after click OK, this program works well.
PS, aapt.exe is in the same dir with ApkSpy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey dude,
I am not sure what you are doing wrong on your PC but it's certainly not the app as it works perfectly fine on my computer? Out of interest and for the sake or helping the new dev I thought I would raise a few points just to eliminate any finger pointing. There's a wishy-washy area when it comes to building/hacking things that were originally someone elses work...so yeah one can easily make great improvements yet open the door to bugs at the same time too. Anyway...thought I'd ask this:
Does aapt sit on your path? I know you said it is in the same directory, however just like a batch script in Windows it needs to "CD" or change directories to the %~dp0 if it is to understand what an executable is that happens to be sitting in the same directory as it's self. So this is is kinda directed at the new dev now. What I think is happening is that aapt is assumed to be in the system path when quite often it is not (i.e. those on XDA who have not yet played with the Android SDK properly). Put simply unless the application knows it is in the same directory as your executable it won't at all understand what aapt is. Does that make sense?
@dmagician , I would make sure that the apkspy app can do a check (even if it is a string search for the first few lines returned from aapt.exe), a simple if statement before throwing that error ....actually it would likely be an 'if not' statement. I don't have any of the code in front of me atm but I can help you out if you like? I was hacking this app myself sometime ago when ido first released it just using reshacker.
Note: If you are stuck and don't have source code you technically could write a full AutoIT wrapper for this app that could do all the checks and more and then bundle everything up into the one exe still. Check out the newer WinAPI stuff for AutoIT and in particular "Run binary" (yes that's correct you can just about run anything repackaged now and not need to deploy the original exe's or even libraries....they can all be stream fed to AutoIT @Compile time and need not be typically "installed" like you used to have to do. Anyway...I am waffling on shoot me a PM man.
@cmlx, to overcome your ApkSpy woes, and until dmagician can put his finger on what the cause is or what ido did when building it ages ago.....then you will firstly need to be patient (props to dmagician to figuring sh!t out so far) but till then where ever you have dumped the ApkSpy and aapt.exe on your system; just copy the address and put it on your system path. To do this 1) right click on My Computer or Computer if you are on Win 7 or 8. 2) Choose properties. 3) Advanced System settings and then at the bottom of tab you will see 'Environment Variables', click it and you will see some "User" and "System" options. Depending on your User access rights on the system you are running on (hopefully you are running as Admin surely?) then you can choose to edit your main system path or create a new variable in your user settings called 'path' Note User variables are always postfix to system variables but should always work anyhow.
Disclaimer: cmlx, if however you have already got an aapt.exe already existing on your system path but it is dodgy then you have to ensure that the good aapt.exe in your app directory is placed on path BEFORE the dodgy one....just sayin. Cause your system searches till it finds what it wants and then doesn't search anymore. Simple but can stuff people up quite often....and likely your case. Nowdays we tend to work from the known application location and not from a "Global environment path" when we know that there are going to be conflicts...and I can assure you that aapt is possibly the worst and most modified binary out there LOL. Hence this is also a note to the dev to ensure that ApkSpy reads from the current directory.....or like I am suggesting, wrap aapt up in the main application as well and that way there is no confusion EVER.
And I am done.....
Oh wait no I am not....sorry bug reports LOL :good: you thought I was all praise eh? Got another thing coming man
OK....so um the red boxes should explain everything. A picture says a thousand words (and yeah I needed at least 1 picture for this god damned long arsed post - sry). Um why in gods name would you remove the minimise and expand buttons? WTF? Anyway...it works but errrm yeah it doesn't wrap the text anymore? and it cuts the words off lol.
Other than that....I only really have one suggestion and it isn't even really a suggestion as I have kind of already made it so I can just give it to you if you want it? And that is that most people (well I can't say most as I am not speaking for everyone) tend not to like how apps take over their system. This isn't your fault at all in anyway as the first dev thought it was a good idea back then.....and back then hardly anything in Windows knew what a freakin apk was so it was a GOOD thing.....However now, every man and his dog wants to steel .apk extension for himself. I myself tend to be all over the shop with apks so I tend not to want to have any particular Windows app take it away from my control. I use WinZip as the main app for simple double click open as I want to see the contents of apks without needing to decompile them (great for theming) however I have apk shell extensions displaying the apks main icon to explorer, so if I set WinZip as default I get a nice lumping hunk of gold turd/box running rampet all over my Windoze bro ......so if you like I can show you my code that allows me to have default apps for specific tasks without interfering with anyones existing sh!t It looks neat too as you can right click any apk and just choose from a dropdown list what particular app you want at the time. If one has the need to use more apps then they need only put those apps in a list. There is nothing worse than double clicking an apk to find that Bluestacks or some other rubbish Windoze crApp has taken offf with your apk.
Lastly I thought I'd ask, Why no config file? Why store everything in memory? I know it's only small....but seeking for things everytime it is executed is a pain in the arse and not good practice. At the very least if you have no idea how to make an exe totally portable then you could reference a config file in the same directory....Or do as most do and write entries to the registry all neat and tucked away. If we get paranoid about "portable-ness" then we write to temporary space in the registry and make sure we clean up upon closing and/or inspect at runtime. simple!
I have plenty of AutoIT scripts that do exactly that too, so if you are stuck for ideas let me know. Anyway I have rambled enough, good luck and I will keep reporting bugs haha
Edit: That's waaaay too many emoticons. Oooops someone is a little high aren't they?
PS: I have attached my PNG of the icon I used for this bugger waaaaaay back....it's less generic and feel free to take it and abuse it and do as you please.

cmlx said:
Good news
Bug report, every time I open this program, this dialog pops up, after click OK, this program works well.
PS, aapt.exe is in the same dir with ApkSpy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I know of this one (and I've specifically wrote about it in the OP), it is NOT related to AAPT executable but to the way ADB is acting (sorry, out of my hands... :angel:
Explanation
The error comes from the application when trying to query the "ro.build.id" property via adb ('ADB shell getprop "ro.build.id" ') command.
I've came across this one but cannot determine the exact situation it is happening (as it can occur when first launching of the app, but after the app is loaded, clicking on refresh does not show this error)...
[ I've tried it on with the (only) two devices I own (1st dev. is stock (only the kernel is changed) 4.4.2 Nexus 4, 2nd dev. is S2-i9100 with customized RR ROM)and it seems to happen ONLY on the S2...]
It looks that in times, the getprop is being executed before the whole "build.prop" is being processed by ADB (This one I cannot control since it is happening on the ADB shell side [running on the device] -- unless MAYBE doing some [UGLY] delay after first initialization of ADB, which is, by far NOT best practice of process handling according to the literature)...

CyberianIce said:
I got this errors:
1:
2:
Error in property: [email protected]@usrdata
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which came first, the "SpkSpy spy stopped working" or the "Error in property" (if anyways related)?
Was it on the same run or two different runs?
As of the 1st one:
I do not have enough information from your post to check it up...
I'll post a new version which shows the exception details
As of the 2nd one:
Can you send me a copy of your /system/build.prop (so i'll be able to dig trough it and check it)?
It looks like my name-value splitter character exist as part of a given value in your build.prop .

Wooow, Long one! But it is nice to know people are using (trying) it!
Jarmezrocks said:
Hey dude,
I am not sure what you are doing wrong on your PC but it's certainly not the app as it works perfectly fine on my computer? Out of interest and for the sake or helping the new dev I thought I would raise a few points just to eliminate any finger pointing. There's a wishy-washy area when it comes to building/hacking things that were originally someone elses work...so yeah one can easily make great improvements yet open the door to bugs at the same time too. Anyway...thought I'd ask this:
Does aapt sit on your path? I know you said it is in the same directory, however just like a batch script in Windows it needs to "CD" or change directories to the %~dp0 if it is to understand what an executable is that happens to be sitting in the same directory as it's self. So this is is kinda directed at the new dev now. What I think is happening is that aapt is assumed to be in the system path when quite often it is not (i.e. those on XDA who have not yet played with the Android SDK properly). Put simply unless the application knows it is in the same directory as your executable it won't at all understand what aapt is. Does that make sense?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi
As I've replied to @clmx, This error is not related to AAPT (either executable [location or whatever] or results), but to the ADB command being used...
Jarmezrocks said:
@dmagician , I would make sure that the apkspy app can do a check (even if it is a string search for the first few lines returned from aapt.exe), a simple if statement before throwing that error ....actually it would likely be an 'if not' statement. I don't have any of the code in front of me atm but I can help you out if you like? I was hacking this app myself sometime ago when ido first released it just using reshacker.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry I did not understand... Check for what?
Jarmezrocks said:
Note: If you are stuck and don't have source code you technically could write a full AutoIT wrapper for this app that could do all the checks and more and then bundle everything up into the one exe still. Check out the newer WinAPI stuff for AutoIT and in particular "Run binary" (yes that's correct you can just about run anything repackaged now and not need to deploy the original exe's or even libraries....they can all be stream fed to AutoIT @Compile time and need not be typically "installed" like you used to have to do. Anyway...I am waffling on shoot me a PM man.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do not need the Auto-IT to wrap these files (although I am using it for other automation in windows), as I can do it right in the C# code (on one of my early versions these files was embedded...)
BTW, I know there are some antiviruses out in the wild that do not like the embedded executables -- but it can be done -- and probably will save some time to anyone using this app...
If it will be required / asked, I'll embed the 4 binaries (AAPT.EXE, ADB.EXE, and two DLL's AdbWinApi.dll and AdbWinUsbApi.dll [I'm not sure both are required]) needed by the application.
Jarmezrocks said:
@cmlx, to overcome your ApkSpy woes, and until dmagician can put his finger on what the cause is or what ido did when building it ages ago.....then you will firstly need to be patient (props to dmagician to figuring sh!t out so far) but till then where ever you have dumped the ApkSpy and aapt.exe on your system; just copy the address and put it on your system path. To do this 1) right click on My Computer or Computer if you are on Win 7 or 8. 2) Choose properties. 3) Advanced System settings and then at the bottom of tab you will see 'Environment Variables', click it and you will see some "User" and "System" options. Depending on your User access rights on the system you are running on (hopefully you are running as Admin surely?) then you can choose to edit your main system path or create a new variable in your user settings called 'path' Note User variables are always postfix to system variables but should always work anyhow.
Disclaimer: cmlx, if however you have already got an aapt.exe already existing on your system path but it is dodgy then you have to ensure that the good aapt.exe in your app directory is placed on path BEFORE the dodgy one....just sayin. Cause your system searches till it finds what it wants and then doesn't search anymore. Simple but can stuff people up quite often....and likely your case. Nowdays we tend to work from the known application location and not from a "Global environment path" when we know that there are going to be conflicts...and I can assure you that aapt is possibly the worst and most modified binary out there LOL. Hence this is also a note to the dev to ensure that ApkSpy reads from the current directory.....or like I am suggesting, wrap aapt up in the main application as well and that way there is no confusion EVER.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The application IS searching for AAPT and ADB executables; The order is
Application directory (where ApkSpy.exe resides)
PATH environment variable
Jarmezrocks said:
OK....so um the red boxes should explain everything. A picture says a thousand words (and yeah I needed at least 1 picture for this god damned long arsed post - sry). Um why in gods name would you remove the minimise and expand buttons? WTF?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mostly I like it this way, otherwise - No specific reason...
It will be back in the next version...
Jarmezrocks said:
Anyway... it works but errrm yeah it doesn't wrap the text anymore? and it cuts the words off lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This Tab was NOT changed by me in any way... To be honest, I've thought of removing it completely -- But -- out of respect to Ido's work -- I've left it in.
I assume it is not wrapping due to Font size changed by me globally...
I'm seriously giving it second thoughts -- if it should stay at all (It was originally meant for batch rename of multiple APK's... I haven't used it even once...)...
I'm Really, REALLY, think of removing it completely (unless someone is / will be using it -- then I'll fix it all)...
Jarmezrocks said:
Other than that....I only really have one suggestion and it isn't even really a suggestion as I have kind of already made it so I can just give it to you if you want it? And that is that most people (well I can't say most as I am not speaking for everyone) tend not to like how apps take over their system. This isn't your fault at all in anyway as the first dev thought it was a good idea back then.....and back then hardly anything in Windows knew what a freakin apk was so it was a GOOD thing.....However now, every man and his dog wants to steel .apk extension for himself. I myself tend to be all over the shop with apks so I tend not to want to have any particular Windows app take it away from my control. I use WinZip as the main app for simple double click open as I want to see the contents of apks without needing to decompile them (great for theming) however I have apk shell extensions displaying the apks main icon to explorer, so if I set WinZip as default I get a nice lumping hunk of gold turd/box running rampet all over my Windoze bro ......so if you like I can show you my code that allows me to have default apps for specific tasks without interfering with anyones existing sh!t It looks neat too as you can right click any apk and just choose from a dropdown list what particular app you want at the time. If one has the need to use more apps then they need only put those apps in a list. There is nothing worse than double clicking an apk to find that Bluestacks or some other rubbish Windoze crApp has taken offf with your apk.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The application is NOT taking over anything, Unless you've clicked the asterisk ("*") button on the System Tab...
Was it registered for you without clicking this button?
If so, I'll recheck the code (may be it's some residue from the original code).
BTW
As the previous part of the answer I've wrote -- this one was left in as of respect to @ido's work...
2nd BTW
I'd like to see that explorer extension (and [preferable] the code of it - if you are willing to share it) you ware writing about...
Jarmezrocks said:
Lastly I thought I'd ask, Why no config file? Why store everything in memory? I know it's only small....but seeking for things everytime it is executed is a pain in the arse and not good practice. At the very least if you have no idea how to make an exe totally portable then you could reference a config file in the same directory....Or do as most do and write entries to the registry all neat and tucked away. If we get paranoid about "portable-ness" then we write to temporary space in the registry and make sure we clean up upon closing and/or inspect at runtime. simple!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, I've thought of it... But... I was thinking, that (at least) everyone is as geeky as me dauuh , and the most are setting the path correctly...
It'll be added in next version (I hope... TIME, TIME!!!! :cyclops...
Jarmezrocks said:
I have plenty of AutoIT scripts that do exactly that too, so if you are stuck for ideas let me know. Anyway I have rambled enough, good luck and I will keep reporting bugs haha
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I prefer writing my own code (sorry, I'm a developer in heart and soul...) then using automation like Auto-IT...
Jarmezrocks said:
Edit: That's waaaay too many emoticons. Oooops someone is a little high aren't they?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Jarmezrocks said:
PS: I have attached my PNG of the icon I used for this bugger waaaaaay back....it's less generic and feel free to take it and abuse it and do as you please.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
(@Jarmezrocks please see my PM to you.)
PHEW...
Long Answer, BUT HEY, I'm not the only one writing longies... :angel: (and i like referencing each and every part separately)...

dmagician said:
PHEW...
Long Answer, BUT HEY, I'm not the only one writing longies... :angel: (and i like referencing each and every part separately)...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahh yes. I write long messages sometimes when my medication has kicked in and I am high....not my fault I kinda need to get all the info out of my head in one go while I am awake.....or else there would just be zeds on the response zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz lol :laugh: (ref narcolepsy).
I commend you on your efforts at responding to such gibberish and making good sense of it! :highfive:
I have responded to your PM accordingly, and hopefully covered all you need? I have attached all info and sources etc.....well most of it...actually a fair bit of it you will have to workout your self but that is part the fun. Shoot me any questions if you need to...although I have a feeling that you will have mostly all of it covered as you are streets ahead of my knowledge already. I may have misjudged a little in my previous post (although hopefully not to make you feel any less than you actually are? please excuse me if I had said anything that may offended - being naive or what ever....you ARE definitely on the right track). As for the middle menu....I think you could easily remove it and not offend the original dev. It wasn't being used as you mention...and I think it could make way for more/better functionality don't you think? (discuss). However I would ensure all the things I mentioned in my PM first before going too deep and releasing on here.
Good move on bringing the buttons back. They were functional. But I DO like the single button close GUI myself on just about everything else....It looks clean. We have similar taste in that regard. It just isn't functional for me to pressing the task notification desktop link everytime I want to minimise the app LOL.
The rest I we can discuss via PM, this is pretty much only posted here as an open area for other forum members to provide input and opinion (or complaint....like how often it usually is, eh?).

CyberianIce said:
I got this errors:
1:
2:
Error in property: [email protected]@usrdata
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd got the same error!
For me it helped to copy two files to the install dir
"adb.exe" and "AdbWinApi.dll"
Both are installed with the well known MyPhoneExplorer into "Program Files\MyPhoneExplorer\DLL"
Hope it helps!

Feature Request
I use this tool for testing new APK builds on a project I am working on it. It allows me to quickly verify the version number and push to the device. However, since I am usually installing another version of an existing installed APK, I must manually uninstall before using APKSPY. Would it be possible to add a check box that would uninstall any previous versions? It would be really helpful.
Nevermind - I didn't fully read the message presented when it fail. It say uninstall/update and it allows the installation. HOWEVER, that brings up a question... Does it uninstall or does it update? There is a difference as you know.
Thanks,
Jonathan

Hi, I try to run this on Mac via Wineskin Winery, but no luck. Do I need something like .Net, or something else to run ApkSpy?
Thank you.

Ja_som said:
Hi, I try to run this on Mac via Wineskin Winery, but no luck. Do I need something like .Net, or something else to run ApkSpy?
Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only requirement is the Microsoft .Net 4.
(I'll add this to OP)

jmo said:
I use this tool for testing new APK builds on a project I am working on it. It allows me to quickly verify the version number and push to the device. However, since I am usually installing another version of an existing installed APK, I must manually uninstall before using APKSPY. Would it be possible to add a check box that would uninstall any previous versions? It would be really helpful.
Nevermind - I didn't fully read the message presented when it fail. It say uninstall/update and it allows the installation. HOWEVER, that brings up a question... Does it uninstall or does it update? There is a difference as you know.
Thanks,
Jonathan
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I know there is difference between the two (update vs uninstall and install again).
It is updating the application (like using "adb install -r apk_file_name.apk"), not doing remove and install

Removed unneeded tabs (System, Batch Rename, Log)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The unneeded Batch Rename tab was the only tab I needed really. :laugh: Luckily I found Ido's original version. It's ideal for renaming all those apk's I downloaded and still have the package name when I back them up to my PC.
I have an Asus Memo Pad 10 and an Asus Memo Pad 7 and neither are recognised by APKSpy. Not that it's a problem as I have no problem copying to and from them with Windows Exploder or Total Commander.
Other than that, it's been a handy little app for this tablet/smartphone virgin newbie.
Martin.

wolrik said:
The unneeded Batch Rename tab was the only tab I needed really. :laugh: Luckily I found Ido's original version. It's ideal for renaming all those apk's I downloaded and still have the package name when I back them up to my PC.
I have an Asus Memo Pad 10 and an Asus Memo Pad 7 and neither are recognised by APKSpy. Not that it's a problem as I have no problem copying to and from them with Windows Exploder or Total Commander.
Other than that, it's been a handy little app for this tablet/smartphone virgin newbie.
Martin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello.
1st:
I can -- if requested - re-add the Batch rename.
2nd:
I don't know why these two devices are not being recognized -- unless not being recognized by ADB itself -- since I'm spawning devices by parsing the resulting text of "ADB devices" command, So unless being unrecognized by ADB, there should be NO PROBLEM detecting ANY android device with ADB on...
if you have any exception messages thrown by the application, please post them here.

dmagician said:
Hello.
1st:
I can -- if requested - re-add the Batch rename.
2nd:
I don't know why these two devices are not being recognized -- unless not being recognized by ADB itself -- since I'm spawning devices by parsing the resulting text of "ADB devices" command, So unless being unrecognized by ADB, there should be NO PROBLEM detecting ANY android device with ADB on...
if you have any exception messages thrown by the application, please post them here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No need to re-add the tab just for me, but thanks for the offer. As I get to know my way around Android I'll probably need such things less and less.
Sorry, but I know nothing about ADB other than APKSpy needing it. As you can see from the attached pic, the Asus is recognised by Total Commander
Martin.

Hi dmagician,
Nice work, and a shout-out to Ido who originally created it.
I have a feature request:
Could you add the option to remove certain permission(s) and save the modified APK file?
There are many apps which I feel allow themselves way too much permissions, and this option could be very useful to tame them apps.
One more thing:
I noticed that APKSpy v1.8.2 doesn't work with the latest version of AAPT.exe (1432KB), from the Android SDK r24.
So I had to use a previous version of AAPT.exe (833KB), which worked.
Thanks,
Eric

Hey does anybody know where the name of the apk is in the XML files inside the apk?