Database Info

[HOW-TO]Create Custom ODIN Images for Backup/Restore

I'm sure several people will be wanting this information, so I figured I would post it here for everyone. This will allow you to backup your system and create custom Odin images for restore purposes. For anyone unfamiliar with the Samsung system, they use Odin to flash things to the device, much like HTC has RUU and Moto has SBF. Odin files are either .tar files, or .tar.md5 files.
The .tar.md5 files are .tar files with the md5 checksum added to the end of the file. If you attempt to flash a .tar.md5 file, Odin will automatically check that the contents are what they should be before flashing and proceed with the flash if the md5 is valid, otherwise it will stop.
In Odin, you should use the PDA button for all flashing. The PIT button may be used as well, if we can get a valid .pit file for the device, but for now, PIT won't be used either. Other than PDA, Start/Reset are the only other buttons you need to worry about.
Now, on to creating the backup files. First, you will need your device to be rooted (perm or temp root will work), and you also need to have access to terminal on the phone, either via an emulator or adb shell access. To create the backup files, you won't need a Linux/UNIX system, but you will if you want to create a flashable Odin package. The following will output the files on the root of the SDCard, adjust the "of=" path if you want them somewhere else. It will also create the files for the proper filename for Odin as well. So to create the files, here are the commands you will use from root shell (#):
System:
Code:
dd if=/dev/block/stl10 of=/sdcard/factoryfs.rfs bs=4096
Kernel:
Code:
dd if=/dev/block/bml8 of=/sdcard/zImage bs=4096
Recovery:
Code:
dd if=/dev/block/bml9 of=/sdcard/recovery.bin bs=4096
DO NOT INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING IN ANYTHING BUT A PERSONAL BACKUP
Cache:
Code:
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p3 of=/sdcard/cache.rfs bs=4096
DBData:
Code:
dd if=/dev/block/stl11 of=/sdcard/dbdata.rfs bs=4096
Data:
Code:
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p1 of=/sdcard/movinand.bin bs=4096
The last three files (cache, dbdata, data) may contain personal information, so do not include these 3 files in anything but a personal backup/recovery package.
To create a flashable Odin package, you need to pull all of the files off of the phone/sdcard and onto your computer. From there, you use the following to create the package:
Code:
tar -H ustar -c factoryfs.rfs recovery.bin zImage > package_name.tar
md5sum -t package_name.tar >> package_name.tar
mv package_name.tar package_name.tar.md5
If you want to include cache/dbdata/data in the above for personal use, just add them after the "-c" and before the ">".
There are other files that may be in Odin packages, but they are protected by Samsung and cannot be dumped properly. The files are the bootloader, secondary bootloader, modems, and .lfs partitions. The files would be boot.bin, Sbl.bin, modem.bin (not sure what it would be for the CDMA/LTE dual modem here), and param.lfs. It however isn't that big of an issue that these can't be dumped as the can't really be altered by normal flashing of the device, and are usually only altered via OTA updates.

Thanks for this info imnuts! I unfortunately updated to the new update and would like to go back to rooted but cant until I downgrade.

Thanks!
Thanks for posting this. I'm going to attempt to make a personal backup and then I can factory reset the phone and make a stock version for people to use. I'm haven't installed the update yet either, so I'm hoping this will let people get back to ED1. I've also been playing around with theming using the fascinate community rom theme and ninjamorph to swap files. It'll take a while, but it's currently the only way I feel safe messing with framework-res.

wynalazca said:
Thanks for posting this. I'm going to attempt to make a personal backup and then I can factory reset the phone and make a stock version for people to use. I'm haven't installed the update yet either, so I'm hoping this will let people get back to ED1. I've also been playing around with theming using the fascinate community rom theme and ninjamorph to swap files. It'll take a while, but it's currently the only way I feel safe messing with framework-res.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm definitely looking forward to having a downgrade ROM image to get back to ED1!

So how do you add the last personal 3 i just got the droid charge and i am not very familiar with samsung files i had a droid x and a thunderbolt very shortly and am familiar with ruu and sbf but how do you add cache dbdata and the other one. I meab like the actual command not the instruction to put it after c

rami98 said:
So how do you add the last personal 3 i just got the droid charge and i am not very familiar with samsung files i had a droid x and a thunderbolt very shortly and am familiar with ruu and sbf but how do you add cache dbdata and the other one. I meab like the actual command not the instruction to put it after c
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only thing that would change would be the tar command. If you want to include the other files, it would be:
Code:
tar -H ustar -c cache.rfs dbdata.rfs factoryfs.rfs movinand.bin recovery.bin zImage > package_name.tar
md5sum -t package_name.tar >> package_name.tar
mv package_name.tar package_name.tar.md5
You just need to pull the files from your phone and have them in the same directory that you're in in terminal, and have them named appropriately. It also doesn't matter what order they are in (that I know of), I just have them in alphabetical order for ease of reading.

So im going to try and do the voodoo lagfix for the first time ever but I wanted to make a backup. Im on ED2 and NOT rooted so how would I go about making these backups?

imnuts said:
The only thing that would change would be the tar command. If you want to include the other files, it would be:
Code:
tar -H ustar -c cache.rfs dbdata.rfs factoryfs.rfs movinand.bin recovery.bin zImage > package_name.tar
md5sum -t package_name.tar >> package_name.tar
mv package_name.tar package_name.tar.md5
You just need to pull the files from your phone and have them in the same directory that you're in in terminal, and have them named appropriately. It also doesn't matter what order they are in (that I know of), I just have them in alphabetical order for ease of reading.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried the above and I keep getting this error message in the command prompt:
'tar' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.
(I'm trying this on windows 7 professional)
Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

mypantsaretorn said:
I tried the above and I keep getting this error message in the command prompt:
'tar' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.
(I'm trying this on windows 7 professional)
Any help would be appreciated, thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You wouldn't by any chance be trying the "tar" command at a windows command prompt, would you?
imnuts said:
To create the backup files, you won't need a Linux/UNIX system, but you will if you want to create a flashable Odin package.
To create a flashable Odin package, you need to pull all of the files off of the phone/sdcard and onto your computer. From there, you use the following to create the package:
Code:
tar -H ustar -c factoryfs.rfs recovery.bin zImage > package_name.tar
md5sum -t package_name.tar >> package_name.tar
mv package_name.tar package_name.tar.md5
If you want to include cache/dbdata/data in the above for personal use, just add them after the "-c" and before the ">".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Course you might be running Linux in a vmware or Hyper-V environment....hint?
HTH

Damn! I didn't pay attention to the second part of that sentence! Lol
Thanks for the "hint"..
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA App

The other option would be using Cygwin, but I've never tried it, so it may or may not work.

imnuts said:
The other option would be using Cygwin, but I've never tried it, so it may or may not work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cygwin works!
Edit: Here is how:
1. Search google for cygwin - download
2. Run - you will be prompted to get packages - I assumed "archive" was a good place to start - not sure if you need this or not...
3. When complete you will see a new icon on your desktop - double-click
4. Be patient as it loads
5. Copy the files output'ed from first post to same folder on PC
6. Back in cygwin:
a. cd x: (where x: is the drive letter of the drive that has the folder with the files)
b. tar -H ustar -c cache.rfs dbdata.rfs movinand.bin factoryfs.rfs recovery.bin zImage > package_name.tar
c: md5sum -t package_name.tar >> package_name.tar
d: mv package_name.tar package_name.tar.md5
Complete output of commands:
These files are for the users to personalise their cygwin experience.
They will never be overwritten nor automatically updated.
`./.bashrc' -> `/home/UWINKET//.bashrc'
`./.bash_profile' -> `/home/UWINKET//.bash_profile'
`./.inputrc' -> `/home/UWINKET//.inputrc'
`./.profile' -> `/home/UWINKET//.profile'
Your group is currently "mkgroup". This indicates that neither
your gid nor your pgsid (primary group associated with your SID)
is in /etc/group.
The /etc/group (and possibly /etc/passwd) files should be rebuilt.
See the man pages for mkpasswd and mkgroup then, for example, run
mkpasswd -l [-d] > /etc/passwd
mkgroup -l [-d] > /etc/group
Note that the -d switch is necessary for domain users.
[email protected] ~
$ cd h:
System Volume Information
[email protected] /cygdrive/h
$ cd downloads
[email protected] /cygdrive/h/downloads
$ cd charge
[email protected] /cygdrive/h/downloads/charge
$ cd tarbackup/
[email protected] /cygdrive/h/downloads/charge/tarbackup
$ tar -H ustar -c cache.rfs dbdata.rfs movinand.bin factoryfs.rfs recovery.bin
zImage > package_name.tar
[email protected] /cygdrive/h/downloads/charge/tarbackup
$ md5sum -t package_name.tar >> package_name.tar
[email protected] /cygdrive/h/downloads/charge/tarbackup
$ mv package_name.tar package_name.tar.md5
[email protected] /cygdrive/h/downloads/charge/tarbackup
$

Hmm flash did not work with my personal data in it - got an error. Created a new .tar file with just factoryfs.rfs recovery.bin and zImage and was able to flash that. TG for TiBu!

jism31 said:
Thanks for this info imnuts! I unfortunately updated to the new update and would like to go back to rooted but cant until I downgrade.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you start doing this. How do I get to root shell (#)... Thanks
AD

I plan to get rooted on ED1 so I can get a stock image backed up, and have a clean base to work from. Still getting my head around the odin stuff first.

RaptorMD said:
I plan to get rooted on ED1 so I can get a stock image backed up, and have a clean base to work from. Still getting my head around the odin stuff first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you dont have to do that its already done
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1085190

Well, I successfully followed all the instructions and have created my first ODIN flashable file, I have not tried to flash it yet. I'm just curious, I pull all the different .rfs, .bin, and zImage on this file and noticed it's about 1.8gb file. Is this normal?
Also, before I try to flash this. Should I have dissable voodoo lagfix and converted back to rfs before I dumped the files?
Thanks for all the help!

JKChad said:
Well, I successfully followed all the instructions and have created my first ODIN flashable file, I have not tried to flash it yet. I'm just curious, I pull all the different .rfs, .bin, and zImage on this file and noticed it's about 1.8gb file. Is this normal?
Also, before I try to flash this. Should I have dissable voodoo lagfix and converted back to rfs before I dumped the files?
Thanks for all the help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, that's normal for it to be so large as dd will dump the partition, including empty space. If you were to compress it with zip or lzma, it'd drop down considerably.
Not sure about the voodoo part as I've never dumped files from an ext4 partition. I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work, but I'd flash with caution and have another working image ready just in case.

imnuts said:
Not sure about the voodoo part as I've never dumped files from an ext4 partition. I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work, but I'd flash with caution and have another working image ready just in case.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Shouldn't be an issue as long as he keeps the voodoo kernel.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk

Anybody try this with voodoo yet ?

[Samsung Galaxy Gio GT-S5660][Tutorial] Export ROM for use in Odin

This tutorial is about how to export your /system partition or your own ROM.
Requirements
- ADB Shell for Windows, Linux, Mac OSX or Android Terminal Emulator installed on your GT-S5660
- If you are using Windows use cygwin else use Terminal in Linux.
Process
1. Install Cygwin from here, skip this step if you use Linux
2. Connect the Gio to the computer.
3. a) Open windows command prompt and type:
adb shell
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3. b) If you use Android Terminal, open it
4. Whether you use option a or b from the previous step type this
dd if=/dev/block/stl12 of=/sdcard/system.rfs bs=4096
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
5. Now you have a system.rfs file on your sdcard.
6. If you use cygwin place the system.rfs in this folder (where you installed it):
C:\Cygwin\home\%yourusername%
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you use Linux I assume you have the skill to set the correct paths yourself...
7. Now we are going to pack it into a tarball:
tar -H ustar -c system.rfs > thisismyrom.tar
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you have an additional moddified boot.img for example you could have typed this as well:
tar -H ustar -c boot.img system.rfs > thisismyrom.tar
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
8. Add md5 hash to our tarball for security and integrity checks
md5sum -t thisismyrom.tar >> thisismyrom.tar
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
9. Renaming our tarball with md5 extension:
mv thisismyrom.tar thisismyrom.tar.md5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
10. Happy flashing with odin!

Shouldn't stl12 be system? And stl14 cache?
Also, you could make a shell script to automate part of your process. Scripts can be run from Cygwin and Linux.
Regards,
Darkshado

Sorry! Made a typing mistake. Corrected it!

No need of cygwin, adb in windows cmd will do fine, and use total commander to tarball it on windows, other tools mess it up n can brick your device

Hi!
How can i export the CSC (or all the ROM) from Android 2.2.1?
thanks

I may have got the wrong end of the stick here and this could be the wrong thread, but it does seem to be the most specific to my interest.
I'd like to be of service by exporting my own ROM (Stock Firmware) so others can use it themselves in case of disaster. I started a thread at Samfirmware.com here http://www.sammobile.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3420 because they don't have it on their list for Samsung Galaxy Ace, and I was surprised to see it got 64 views, so I presume there would be some modicum of interest in it.
I really don't have any experience with this but I am fascinated and keen to learn. I had assumed (and I know assumption is the mother of all f*** ups) that I could simply create a CWMrecovery backup and it could be zipped up and exported to other phones. But I read somewhere that this would include my google account details.
Anyway. If you can tell me a) how to be of some use regarding this b) tell me its not worth it but point me in the direction of a place where I can start to learn what to do or c) politely show me the exit sign and tell me not to darken your door again...I'd be most grateful

[GUIDE] How To Convert ODIN Tars to System.imgs for CWM (and vice versa)

This will probably get moved, but I do believe it is development related because it is important to everyone who flashes ROMs but can't use ODIN for whatever reason (ie Linux/Mac users).
Seeing all the ROM cookers get asked so much to make system.imgs or update.zips to cater to the Linux/Mac users, I decided it was time to tell people how to just convert an ODIN Tar.
I will tell people how to do it on Ubuntu seeing that is what I have (in a VM), but once I have the patience to install Mac OS in a VM, I shall make a guide for that.
Please note that if the factoryfs.rfs is in RFS format (ie it's a stock ROM or it's a ROM by someone who doesn't like EXT4 for whatever reason), you will not be able to do this. The format the factoryfs.rfs is in (EXT2, 4, JFS, whatever) needs to be supported by your Linux kernel. You can check that by doing cat /proc/filesystems
After a lot of investigating, I have learnt that RFS is a broken version of FAT. You could poke around with it and try mounting it as vfat but I don't guarantee success.
ODIN TAR -> System.img
Download your TAR and save it to your Desktop (I will use Kyorarom Ascendency Beta)
Open the TAR with Archive Manager (or whatever you use) and extract the factoryfs.rfs from it to your desktop. You don't need anything else
Open Terminal (under Applications > Accessories)
Go into superuser mode:
Code:
sudo -s
Make a mountpoint for the system:
Code:
mkdir /mnt/system
Mount the image
Code:
mount -o loop ~/Desktop/factoryfs.rfs /mnt/system
Change directory to /mnt and make the tarball for the system.img
Code:
cd /mnt
tar cvf system.img system
Unmount and clean up
Code:
umount /mnt/system
rm -rf /mnt/system
Copy the system.img to your phone
System.img -> ODIN TAR
Download a TAR from another ROM, and the system.img to your desktop.
Open the TAR with Archive Manager (or whatever you use) and extract the factoryfs.rfs from it to your desktop. You don't need anything else
Open Terminal (under Applications > Accessories)
Go into superuser mode:
Code:
sudo -s
Make a mountpoint for the system:
Code:
mkdir /mnt/system
Mount the image
Code:
mount -o loop ~/Desktop/factoryfs.rfs /mnt/system
Change directory to /mnt and make the tarball for the system.img
Code:
cd /mnt
rm -rf system/*
tar xvf ~/Desktop/system.img
Unmount and clean up
Code:
umount /mnt/system
rm -rf /mnt/system
Put the factory.rfs into a TAR and flash it with ODIN.
Done! Hopefully this should all work nicely for everyone.

Nice One... Should be helpful for ROM Developers to provide system.img for their ROM's...

Nice one. Thanks. Though I don't use .imgs still was quite Informative.
Sent from my GT-I5800 using xda premium

Nice tut, on windows they can use adb and dd/ mkyaffs2img
From my fingers to your eyez

cdesai said:
Nice tut, on windows they can use adb and dd/ mkyaffs2img
From my fingers to your eyez
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can u pls explain tht furthur.

vsoft11 said:
Can u pls explain tht furthur.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pretty much do the same thing but from in ADB shell, and instead of the command:
Code:
sudo -s
with
Code:
su
and
Code:
tar cvf system.img system
gets changed to
Code:
tar cvf /sdcard/system.img system
Also I'm pretty sure on the phone, /dev/loop0 is called /dev/block/loop0.

I'll probably have to wait until you put up a mac tutorial..

harkan89 said:
I'll probably have to wait until you put up a mac tutorial..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As MacOS is basically Unix you should be able to do the same with/on/in a mac when you open a Terminal/Console (forgot how it's called exactly)....

Wouldnt it be easier if you run this commands?
Code:
mount -o loop factoryfs.rfs ~/Desktop/system
tar cvf system.img system
the mount command mounted it succesfully for me

mankokoma said:
As MacOS is basically Unix you should be able to do the same with/on/in a mac when you open a Terminal/Console (forgot how it's called exactly)....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait a sec.. I have to use adb for this? Cuz I tried the commands as mark mentioned but it didnt turn up any results.. I do recognize some of these commands, so probably it should run on the mac Terminal..

TearsDontFalls said:
Wouldnt it be easier if you run this commands?
Code:
mount -o loop factoryfs.rfs ~/Desktop/system
tar cvf system.img system
the mount command mounted it succesfully for me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because I am foolish. I shall improve the guide later today.
harkan89 said:
Wait a sec.. I have to use adb for this? Cuz I tried the commands as mark mentioned but it didnt turn up any results.. I do recognize some of these commands, so probably it should run on the mac Terminal..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got my Mac VM working so I will use that and make a Mac guide.

hillbeast said:
I got my Mac VM working so I will use that and make a Mac guide.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yaay! Finally!

harkan89 said:
Wait a sec.. I have to use adb for this? Cuz I tried the commands as mark mentioned but it didnt turn up any results.. I do recognize some of these commands, so probably it should run on the mac Terminal..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can use adb too (but these commands should work on a Mac too, as Mac | Linux -- UNIX (based on)
Or you can always use cwm!

is there also a way to convert system.img to tar files...

cdesai said:
You can use adb too (but these commands should work on a Mac too, as Mac | Linux -- UNIX (based on)
Or you can always use cwm!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have superuser enabled on mac.. WHen I try the first command.. mkdir /mnt/system.. it says no such file or directory found.. and losetup is apparently not a command recognized by mac terminal..

mohsin2cool said:
is there also a way to convert system.img to tar files...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I shall make a guide for that after Christmas.
harkan89 said:
I have superuser enabled on mac.. WHen I try the first command.. mkdir /mnt/system.. it says no such file or directory found.. and losetup is apparently not a command recognized by mac terminal..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Macs don't use a /mnt directory. They use /Volumes, just like how Ubuntu is moving over to /media.
And I don't think the mach kernel supports losetup type stuff. I will make a Mac guide after Christmas.

HI
If u got the time, Can u pls make a tutorial video for this using adb. Would have bn very helpful.

devc0ol said:
If u got the time, Can u pls make a tutorial video for this using adb. Would have bn very helpful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure. I will do it in the coming days.

nice guide, but will it also work if you convert it with CWM recovery?

JasonPurungrit said:
nice guide, but will it also work if you convert it with CWM recovery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean?

SGH-i497 - NEED HELP FLASHING MODEM.IMG

Hey I was wondering if some1 could help me out here.....so I have a Galaxy Tab 10.1 At&t (sgh-i497) and what i did was accidentally downgraded from JB back 2 ICS using this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2130960 zip that i flashed thru recovery...now my WIFI and LTE doesn't work and my modem reads UNKNOWN
I am wondering if flashing this modem img http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2102895 could fix the problem ?
ive already tried this command dd if=/sdcard/modem.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p1 and that didn't do it, so i was wondering if some1 could show me how to make this modem.img into a .tar or flashable zip so that i dont have to send it back 2 Samsung.
Any help would be greatly appreciated AND i am willing 2 throw some $$ 2 whoever can help me out
thanks in advance and i hope this is the right place 2 post this request.

There are guides. But the last time I was trying to do this it looked like linux was the only way. Goodluck. Let us know if you find a way
sent from MY BAD A$$ ET4G

Yeah im going to try that..looks like I need 2 boot into linux and run a command then flash via odin...ill report back 1 way or the other
Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2

RE: .img to .tar didnt work
Ok so I tried placing the modem.img in the home folder of Ubuntu and ran the following commands
$ tar -H ustar -c modem.img > modem.img
$ md5sum -t modem.tar >> modem.tar
$ mv modem.tar modem.tar.md5
and then tried flashing it thru Odin and it FAILED
any ideas?

[TUTORIAL] How to repackage ODIN files

First the disclaimer:
I am not responsible for what you do to your phone. Following these directions could cause you to brick, locust plague, or end of times. You assume ALL responsibility for what you do with this information.
Now, on to the fun stuff. I take *NO* credit for this information at all. I am a student of people far more knowledgeable about these things. However, I've managed to take what I've learned and apply it in really fun ways. For example, I have a script that takes an OTA and builds a new full ODIN image from it...with all partitions fully signed except system. Many people have asked me to "repackage it" with various requests. This tutorial is going to show how to do that.
Requirements:
o) You will need to install Cygwin. A default installation should suffice for this exercise.
o) You will need one of the ODIN TAR Full Rooted Restore images. They are gzipped to make them smaller.
Process:
o) You need to unpack the files stored inside the gzip. 7 Zip is a handy program for doing that. We need the individual partition files extracted to a work directory that can be accessed from a Cygwin command prompt. I create a C:\Android\S4_GPE directory for my own image creation tasks.
o) Once the individual files are unpacked, we need to repack them. Open a Cygwin command prompt and navigate to the directory you extracted the files to. In my case, that would be cd c:/Android/S4_GPE
Follow the directions below to repack the files as needed. I give a few examples here to show you the basics of how it's done. Basically you run each command in your Cygwin command prompt. Or you can add them to an SH script and run it that way. Whatever you feel most comfortable with.
The output of these commands is an ODIN flashable file that will install what you choose.
BOOT
filename=boot
tar -H ustar -c boot.img > $filename.tar
md5sum -t $filename.tar >> $filename.tar
mv $filename.tar $filename.tar.md5
RECOVERY
filename=recovery
tar -H ustar -c recovery.img > $filename.tar
md5sum -t $filename.tar >> $filename.tar
mv $filename.tar $filename.tar.md5
MODEM
filename=modem
tar -H ustar -c NON-HLOS.bin modem.bin > $filename.tar
md5sum -t $filename.tar >> $filename.tar
mv $filename.tar $filename.tar.md5
FULL ODIN IMAGE
filename=I9505GUEUB_FULL_ROOTED
tar -H ustar -c boot.img recovery.img NON-HLOS.bin modem.bin system.img.ext4 > $filename.tar
md5sum -t $filename.tar >> $filename.tar
mv $filename.tar $filename.tar.md5
gzip $filename.tar.md5
Those are some of the common ones. What if I wanted a "semi-full rooted image"? For instance, without the modems? You just modify this line:
tar -H ustar -c boot.img recovery.img NON-HLOS.bin modem.bin system.img.ext4 > $filename.tar
so that it becomes:
tar -H ustar -c boot.img recovery.img system.img.ext4 > $filename.tar
Of if you don't want recovery, either, and just want boot and system:
tar -H ustar -c boot.img system.img.ext4 > $filename.tar
And the rest stays the same. I really hope this helps people. I will update this post to clarify anything that's confusing and will try to help people in this thread to create whatever they need. Again, you take responsibility for anything you create using these instructions and flash to your phone.

whats the command to create a system dump to an odin compatible system.img file? been a while. i forget

This is how I do it in my script:
adb shell "su -c 'cd /sdcard; dd if=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/system of=/sdcard/system.img.ext4'"
adb pull /sdcard/system.img.ext4
adb shell rm /sdcard/system.img.ext4

SamuriHL said:
This is how I do it in my script:
adb shell "su -c 'cd /sdcard; dd if=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/system of=/sdcard/system.img.ext4'"
adb pull /sdcard/system.img.ext4
adb shell rm /sdcard/system.img.ext4
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I'm a relative noob and just learning as much as I can and this is alot of great info. I am able to pull system dump and pull recovery.img from my but when I create an odin flashable recovery image (for back-up purposes) it fails auth. Is there a way to pull a signed recovery image from system? Thanks.

No. When you dd extract a partition it adds padding to it which messes with the signature. I create a signed recovery img file by patching the boot img with the recovery-from-boot.p in the OTA update. That's a lot more involved than what's in this tutorial, however.

SamuriHL said:
No. When you dd extract a partition it adds padding to it which messes with the signature. I create a signed recovery img file by patching the boot img with the recovery-from-boot.p in the OTA update. That's a lot more involved than what's in this tutorial, however.
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Got it, thank you. I found the thread on hexediting the partition file. I will see if that works.

muniz_ri said:
Got it, thank you. I found the thread on hexediting the partition file. I will see if that works.
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My initial results weren't very conclusive on that. I tried it with the NON-HLOS.bin file just to see if I could make it consistent with the one I create by patching, and the results were not good. There's no way to know exactly how long to make the cut. It seems like all you do is remove the trailing 00's when hexediting, but, I can tell you that's not enough to make it match. I've got more research to do on this as it would be extremely useful to be able to edit the dd extracted files to make them match the signed files. So far, that doesn't seem possible.

SamuriHL said:
My initial results weren't very conclusive on that. I tried it with the NON-HLOS.bin file just to see if I could make it consistent with the one I create by patching, and the results were not good. There's no way to know exactly how long to make the cut. It seems like all you do is remove the trailing 00's when hexediting, but, I can tell you that's not enough to make it match. I've got more research to do on this as it would be extremely useful to be able to edit the dd extracted files to make them match the signed files. So far, that doesn't seem possible.
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That's too bad, I was also hoping removing the trailing zeros would work. Can you point me to a tutorial, etc where i can learn how to patch using the OTA files? thanks again.

muniz_ri said:
That's too bad, I was also hoping removing the trailing zeros would work. Can you point me to a tutorial, etc where i can learn how to patch using the OTA files? thanks again.
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It's not quite as simple as that. There isn't a tutorial on it. I learned what I know from Matt Groff. It started with a thread here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1702233
But that thread isn't going to teach nearly enough to learn how to do this. It involves parsing the update scripts from the OTA to find the command they use to patch the actual partition and then converting that to a command to patch the file. So if you look at this command from install-recovery.sh:
applypatch EMMC:/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/boot:8036608:1ad324cf48a6e19fd402603477cd0ed8472ed863 EMMC:/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/recovery f4579fa7099942ec2f214cff81014b8e8b1a550f 8632576 1ad324cf48a6e19fd402603477cd0ed8472ed863:/system/recovery-from-boot.p
What that's doing is taking 8036608 bytes from the boot partition, ensuring it has a sha1 hash of 1ad324cf48a6e19fd402603477cd0ed8472ed863, patching it with the contents of the recovery-from-boot.p file, and then writing it to the recovery partition.
Each time an OTA comes out for our phones, I create signed recovery, modem, and non-hlos files using this process. Then I use the process outlined in this tutorial to create the ODIN tar md5 files that I post.

SamuriHL said:
It's not quite as simple as that. There isn't a tutorial on it. I learned what I know from Matt Groff. It started with a thread here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1702233
But that thread isn't going to teach nearly enough to learn how to do this. It involves parsing the update scripts from the OTA to find the command they use to patch the actual partition and then converting that to a command to patch the file. So if you look at this command from install-recovery.sh:
applypatch EMMC:/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/boot:8036608:1ad324cf48a6e19fd402603477cd0ed8472ed863 EMMC:/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/recovery f4579fa7099942ec2f214cff81014b8e8b1a550f 8632576 1ad324cf48a6e19fd402603477cd0ed8472ed863:/system/recovery-from-boot.p
What that's doing is taking 8036608 bytes from the boot partition, ensuring it has a sha1 hash of 1ad324cf48a6e19fd402603477cd0ed8472ed863, patching it with the contents of the recovery-from-boot.p file, and then writing it to the recovery partition.
Each time an OTA comes out for our phones, I create signed recovery, modem, and non-hlos files using this process. Then I use the process outlined in this tutorial to create the ODIN tar md5 files that I post.
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Success! Thanks so much, just created my first signed odin image!

Theres two more ways the get signed images. One is using dd if=of with the right bs and count. For example, I extracted the stock signed PIT file for the S4 using
Code:
su
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0 of=/sdcard/sch1545.pit bs=8 count=580 skip=2176
you can see the thread and md5 comparisonhere The other method is hexediting but it was easier on 4.2.2 but still very doable on 4.3. You have to know what signatures look like though. Hexediting can also be useful for manually extracting the zimage and ramdisk from a boot.img
Sent from my SCH-I545 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Surge1223 said:
Theres two more ways the get signed images. One is using dd if=of with the right bs and count. For example, I extracted the stock signed PIT file for the S4 using
Code:
su
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0 of=/sdcard/sch1545.pit bs=8 count=580 skip=2176
you can see the thread and md5 comparisonhere The other method is hexediting but it was easier on 4.2.2 but still very doable on 4.3. You have to know what signatures look like though. Hexediting can also be useful for manually extracting the zimage and ramdisk from a boot.img
Sent from my SCH-I545 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
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I'm also going to play around more with hexediting, if it will work it seems much more straightforward. Thanks again for all of the good info!

SamuriHL said:
My initial results weren't very conclusive on that. I tried it with the NON-HLOS.bin file just to see if I could make it consistent with the one I create by patching, and the results were not good. There's no way to know exactly how long to make the cut. It seems like all you do is remove the trailing 00's when hexediting, but, I can tell you that's not enough to make it match. I've got more research to do on this as it would be extremely useful to be able to edit the dd extracted files to make them match the signed files. So far, that doesn't seem possible.
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Sam, id be glad to try hexediting the NON-HLOS.bin file and then send you the md5.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Surge1223 said:
Sam, id be glad to try hexediting the NON-HLOS.bin file and then send you the md5.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
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I'll pm one to you tomorrow. I definitely am curious if you're able to md5 hash it correctly.

Pm sent. Good luck.
Sent from my SM-P600 using Tapatalk 4

SamuriHL said:
Pm sent. Good luck.
Sent from my SM-P600 using Tapatalk 4
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How do you limit the number of bytes extracted for the mdm.bin to match the updater script's parameters? Thank you.

muniz_ri said:
How do you limit the number of bytes extracted for the mdm.bin to match the updater script's parameters? Thank you.
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I didn't. The first signed modem bin I made was done by looking at the size in the updater script and using cygwin to copy that many bytes to a new file. From then on I just patched the previous version's modem bin and NON-HLOS bin files.
Sent from my SM-P600 using Tapatalk 4

SamuriHL said:
I didn't. The first signed modem bin I made was done by looking at the size in the updater script and using cygwin to copy that many bytes to a new file. From then on I just patched the previous version's modem bin and NON-HLOS bin files.
Sent from my SM-P600 using Tapatalk 4
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First time quickly hexediting it I got
md5: 9616e85b765e0365e8ccd57550a715b8

Surge1223 said:
First time quickly hexediting it I got
md5: 9616e85b765e0365e8ccd57550a715b8
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Which doesn't match the digital signature. This is what I was afraid of and what I was running into.
Sent from my SM-P600 using Tapatalk 4

SamuriHL said:
Which doesn't match the digital signature. This is what I was afraid of and what I was running into.
Sent from my SM-P600 using Tapatalk 4
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what are you comparing the sig to?
Sent from my SCH-I545 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app