Related
Okay. If this is not where the MODs want this post, please move it.
[UPDATE] - Jump over to Post #12 for some of my recent ideas and changes for this application.
I have been using mods for the G1 and the myTouch 3G for a little while now. I have used Backup for Root, and I use Nandroid. I created just a little simple script to backup your device to your linux-based machine and restore from there too. The concept behind this is having your backup on your computer, not your sd-card. Please, feel free to contribute. (If this is not your cup of tea, please do not leave a comment). I am limited on time, and wanted to contribute a little to the community. All this script is a compilation of adb commands. Anyone could compile these commands, I just wanted it organized and in one place.
README
After using all of the backup tools for root, I have ran into random FCs and bugs. This script uses Android SDK's adb tool and was designed to be simple. This script goes through and backs up your applications, bookmarks, sms, alarm clocks, settings, launcher settings and dictionary. There are plans for this script to be interactive in the future. As for now, it is a very basic script that will backup your device then restore your device.
Notes. As for now this script requires sudo. On every other linux pc tested, sudo was required (maybe because user did not install adb correctly?). This will change in future versions.
= Details =
REQUIREMENTS
1. Android SDK Toolkit 1.5 or higher
2. Bash v4.0.33
3. Root access to your device
4. Root access to your pc
HOWTO
Backing-Up
1. Plug your device in
2. Open command-line (On PC)
3. Run ./abrtool -b
4. Done.
Restoring
1. Reboot from flash of rom (Enter credentials and let phone setup first)
2. Open command-line (on PC)
3. Run ./abrtool -r
4. Restart device
5. Done
Changelog
Version 0.1.5
- Merged into Android-Linux-Tools (alt)
- Changed zenity commands (shows restore progress)
- Option to restart device after restore
- Can install abrtool via command-line (./abrtool --install)
Version 0.1.4
- Added Icons
- Runs Fix Permissions after restoration of applications
Version 0.1.3
- Fixed Restore (Again) - Sets $BACKUPDIR as $PATH
Version 0.1.2
- Restore applications now uses adb install instead of push
Version 0.1.1
- Fixed Restore arugement (-r restores now)
Version 0.1
- Created initial script
- Creates backups for Apps, Sms, Bookmarks, Alarms, Settings, User Dictionary, and Launcher
- Restores device
Download
Project Page for Android-Linux-Tools (ALT) http://code.google.com/p/android-linux-tools
Project Page for abrtool http://code.google.com/p/abrtool
Download abrtool ConvertVideoToAndroid
Download InstallOnAndroid Nautilus Script
InstallOnAndroid
Disclaimer
I am not responsible for anything. Anything at all. I'm just not. Blame someone else if something goes horribly wrong.
[Reserved]
[Reserved for future post]
Nice script but bart.sh can accomplish a full backup of your Android environment for restoration at a later date. While it does it to the SD card initially, these "barts" can easily be copied to any computer. I can, however, see a use for this as it serves a slightly different purpose. Thanks.
I wasn't sure what response I would get to this post. I have had to flash, partition, format, wipe.. enough times that I just wanted to plugin into my computer, backup, wipe-flash then restore. Thanks!
nice. I don't use linux myself, but i see the point of having the backup else where (not an SD card attached to the phone itself).
will this, in theory be made to work on windows? Cause that will be awesome.
@str4vag It would be really simple to just use a .bat file for Windows. I don't have any plans on making a windows script anytime soon. Sorry. Same commands especially though.
This is exactly what I've been looking for, now I just need to mod it to sync apps/bookmarks/etc automatically whenever I plug in my phone, and to only sync the new items to keep it speedy, great work dev!
@ggolemg I can play around with some "real" features soon. I plan on having it archive your backups and allow you to select which backup (default is most recent) you would like to use. I am sure I can play around with your idea too. Thanks.
subscribing to the thread, idea is very interesting. i've been looking for a foolproof way to backup and restore bookmarks, sms messages, and different alarms, without all the issues of backup for root users. gonna check out the script tonight.
Update coming by the end of the week.
- Will only backup apps not already backed up.
- Possibly apply the Python interface I have developed.
- More goodies.
How about switchrom?
Android-Linux-Tools
Okay, so this week has been crazy for me. (Mind you I am a restaurant manager first and a developer (primary web) second). I think I am going to gear this project in a different direction. First off, I have created GTK2 Dialogs and a settings panel for this application. I would like to gear towards general linux tools on the pc side. So over the next two weeks you can expect,
- Graphical Interface for abrtool (Android-Backup-Restore)
- Configuration for each application.
- Nautilus Scripts for all applications.
- Right-Click to Encode Video (With GTK2 Dialog progress)
- Right-Click to Install APK (With GTK2 Dialog progress)
- Right-Click to Sign APK (With GTK2 Dialog progress)
- Right-Click to Copy Files to SD Card
- abrtool will backup to Ubuntu One Cloud (Simple adb pull ~/Ubuntu\ One/? or maybe play with the API?)
Ideas and Possibilities
- User.conf editor
- Select with applications to backup
- Switchrom features?
Any other thoughts or suggestions are welcome. I want to start simple, keep working on the abrtool and then make my way out to some other useful tools for us linux (Ubuntu) users. Let me know what you think and what would be helpful.
i had to make a bynch of edits so this dosent run as root, id recomend everyone do the same, only run root when you must. Also changed ,.adb to adb so i dont have to run it in my android sdk dir
@ahronzombi Can you post those changes?
I am a firm believer of only running root when needed, Like I mentioned before I don't really have a huge amount of time, and when I tested this on a friends notebook adb required root to atleast kill-server then you could perform shell/push/pull.
AFAIK, adb server only requires root if ou haven't set the proper udev rules for the device.
Exactly. If we want this script to run universally we cannot rely on all users to have added the udev rules. If they don't they have to run sudo. Maybe a quick check for the udev file then sudo if not?
boulderjams said:
Exactly. If we want this script to run universally we cannot rely on all users to have added the udev rules. If they don't they have to run sudo. Maybe a quick check for the udev file then sudo if not?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no i think it would be wise to have people understand there udev permissions rather than run root so its universal. that kind of thinking leads to very big security problems. with root in the script most of the simplest linux users could exploit anyone
I fully understand that. Do you mind posting your changes to the script?
this is the secure version of the script that dosent run as root
keep in mind i set my own adb and home directorys so you'll have to change those
Code:
#! /bin/bash
# abrtool version 0.1
# Last Updated Wednesday, November 18, 2009
# Android Backup Data and Restore Data Script
#TODO
# 1- See if config file exists
# 2- If not, create config file (for now, select directory to backup to)
# 3- See if arguments are specified
# 4- If not, return an error via dialog
# 5- If argument -b exists, run backup
# 6- If argument -r exsists, run restore
export PATH=${PATH}:/home/ahron/android/android-sdk-linux/tools:/home/ahron/android/abr
BACKUPDIR=/home/ahron/android/backups
USER=${username-`whoami`}
backupscript() {
export PATH=$PATH:$BACKUPDIR
adb kill-server
adb pull /system/sd/app $BACKUPDIR/apps
adb pull /system/app $BACKUPDIR/apps/device
echo "---------- Backed Applications"
adb pull /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/mmssms.db $BACKUPDIR/msgs/mmssms.db
echo "---------- Backed Text Messages"
adb pull /data/data/com.android.browser/databases/browser.db $BACKUPDIR/bookmarks/browser.db
echo "---------- Backed Bookmarks"
adb pull /data/data/com.android.alarmclock/databases/alarms.db $BACKUPDIR/other/alarms.db
adb pull /data/data/com.google.android.providers.settings/databases/googlesettings.db $BACKUPDIR/other/googlesettings.db
adb pull /data/data/com.android.launcher/databases/launcher.db $BACKUPDIR/other/launcher.db
adb pull /data/data/com.android.providers.userdictionary/databases/user_dict.db $BACKUPDIR/other/user_dict.db
echo "---------- Backed Other Settings"
chown -R $USER $BACKUPDIR
zenity --info --text "Successfully Backed-up to $BACKUPDIR"
}
restorescript() {
export PATH=$PATH:$BACKUPDIR
adb kill-server
#sudo adb push $BACKUPDIR/apps /system/sd/app
echo "----------- Installing Applications"
cd $BACKUPDIR/apps
for searchfile in ./*.apk
do
echo "------------ Processing $searchfile"
sudo adb install "$searchfile"
done
echo "---------- Restored Applications"
adb shell su
adb shell fix_permissions
echo "---------- Fixed Application Permissions"
adb push $BACKUPDIR/msgs/mmssms.db /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/mmssms.db
echo "---------- Restored Messages"
adb push $BACKUPDIR/bookmarks/browser.db /data/data/com.android.browser/databases/browser.db
echo "---------- Restored Bookmarks"
echo "---------- (Please, make sure to restart your browser)"
adb push $BACKUPDIR/other/alarms.db /data/data/com.android.alarmclock/databases/alarms.db
adb push $BACKUPDIR/other/googlesettings.db /data/data/com.google.android.providers.settings/databases/googlesettings.db
adb push $BACKUPDIR/other/launcher.db adb pull /data/data/com.android.launcher/databases/launcher.db
adb push $BACKUPDIR/other/user_dict.db /data/data/com.android.providers.userdictionary/databases/user_dict.db
echo "---------- Restored Other Settings"
zenity --info --text "Successfully Restored Android device from $BACKUPDIR"
}
if [ "$#" -eq 0 ]
then
echo "Usage $0"
echo " -b Backup"
echo " -r Restore"
exit $E_OPTERR
fi
set -- `getopt "br:" "[email protected]"`
while [ ! -z "$1" ]
do
case "$1" in
-b) backupscript;;
-r) restorescript;;
esac
shift
done
When I CD to the platform-tools folder and type
Code:
adb devices
it says "adb: command not found" If anyone could help me that would be wonderful. I am on the Inspire/DesireHD running AOSP Gingerbread. Thanks!
You have two choices. You can either run the command prefixed with ./ (dot slash), which allows for executing an executable in the current directory:
Code:
./adb devices
Or, the other choice (which will be better if you intend to use adb a lot) is to add the platform-tools folder to your path by editing or creating the file .bashrc in your home folder (~/.bashrc).
Let's suppose your platform tools folder is: ~/.android-sdk/platform-tools
Then, you would want to add something along the lines of the following to your bashrc:
Code:
export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/.android-sdk/platform-tools"
Save the file, the run this or log out/in:
Code:
source ~/.bashrc
Et voila, you should now be able to run adb from any folder without issue.
Explanation: adding the new path (folder) to your PATH environment variable tells BASH to include that folder in its search for an executable. The reason $PATH is added at the beginning of the new string is so that your default path does not get overwritten. $HOME will simply expand to /home/your_user_name when BASH interprets it.
GENIUS! IT WORKED! Thank you! Now, one more question- how do I get superuser privileges using ADB? (device is rooted, of course)
No problem.
On my G1 you were root as soon as you adb'd in. Just tested on my Defy and '$' - shocking. So once you have run adb shell, just run 'su' (without quotes of course) and accept the permission on your phone screen as usual for root programs and you should be good to go.
Sorry to keep asking questions, but when I typed
Code:
su
into adb, it asked for a password. No popup on device screen. I do have superuser installed on the device.
That is odd. I'm not sure why that would be. I'll see if I can think of something though. Hopefully someone else can make a suggestion.
Thanks! You have been very helpful.
Don't think I can hit the thanks button from the app, sorry
Sent from my Inspire 4G using XDA App
ADB:-
Android Debug Bridge
Very useful program made itself by Google for Programmers and developers. Its based on command line and basically communicates with your Android to respond to certain commands. There is vast amount of knowledge about adb but its most useful commands limit to getting:-
Logcat:-
A real time log of what is happening in background of our devices. It is really useful for developers to see which component has malfunctioned and helps to narrow down their search for what failed and what needs to be fixed. Several times users are asked to give logcats of their devices which are giving errors. We will go in detail that how to get logcats in every and easiest way possible.
App Installation and Management:-
adb proves really handy if you want to install apks directly from your PC or want to batch install or delete them.
Shell Execution:-
You must have heard of Terminal Emulator. It is an app for android to execute shell commands(linux commands) which are basically present as applets in /system/bin, /system/sbin or /system/xbin(in our case) folders. A very imporant applet called busybox is installed there mainly used for execution of basic commands during root browsing or ROM installation. Many times updater script of ROMs use busybox commands to install it. Well, these commands can be initiated from your device too but they can be initiated from adb also making it easy for programmers.
Pushing and Pulling:-
Most used commands of adb. adb makes it a piece of cake for new device developers to get an ideo of structure and basic knowledge of devices by pulling command. We can pull out i.e copy any files or folders from our devices to our PC, even the root directories without rooting the devices. It help rooters and ROM chefs of new devices to get an idea and implement their mods on them. Pushing is also very useful command. It copies your files and folders from PC to your device. Very useful in pushing some /system apps and other things
Remounting and setting permissions
Basic commands:-
Of-course basic commands such as reooting and rebooting in recovery ode and download mode are supported.
Others:-
There are several other features of adb such as fastboot, aapt, etc
Setting up ADB
Pre Requirements:-
A little amount of brain
PC(This is a windows guide, if asked I will add linux and mac guide later)
Java Runtime environment or Java Developing kit
Your Device Drivers
An Android Device
Assuming you all these ready and working properly, we continue
If you are having trouble completing Pre-Requisites, there are several guides featuring them too
Start
1. First Download Android SDK. Roughly about 70 MB
2. There may be any compressed zip file or exe file
If zip file, then extract it to C:\android-sdk
If exe file then double click on it and install it in C:\ Drive(or any other drive you want)
3. Now to get adb and other tools, you need to download 'Platform Tools'
To download them, go to the android-sdk folder and double click on SDK Manager
It will ask you which package to download? However, it is your choice which package to Download, but here, we will only talk about platform
Tools. So, simply tick on Platform Tools and click on install. Once you have done it. Go to the platform-tools folder in the directory where you installed android-sdk. You will find several files there like adb, fastboot, aapt, etc
4. Now, you can backup the whole folder of android-sdk to any external storage that will make you not download package
again if you want to. You can have it placed in any computer and run it as it does not require registry to work
5. Now, you are just one step away from using adb. Next step is SKIPPING SETTING ENVIRONMENT VARIABLE
Many guides on internet say that it is to be done for making it easy for users and if you have some basic knowledge of Command Prompt,
you will know that to execute any application with command prompt, you first need to change the directory to the one where application is
placed. And to skip changing the directories every time you open CMD, you need to put that application is environment variable. Howeve, we will not do so.
6. Type cmd in the search bar. Copy cmd.exe from there. Go to the directory where you have installed android-sdk. Go to platform-tools folder. Paste cmd there, right click on it and in the settings, select Run as Administrator.
7. You are done. Now what to do in it?
ADB Commands
Type adb in command prompt. And several commands will show up on your screen. It is very difficult to analyse these all commands, so we will only talk about most used and important commands
Connect your device via USB cable
And open the CMD in platform-tools folder(Make a shortcut of it on desktop). And type the suitable commands
Code:
adb devices
Will show the list of devices attached to the PC andtheir serial numbers. If this shows up correctly on your PC, then it means that everything is fine for continuing.
Logcat
Code:
adb logcat
It will display the real time log of your device
Best time to do it is when your device boots up
Now, many users ask me how to copy the logcat and upload it from CMD
There are several methods:-
1. Right click on the Title Bar of Command Prompt. Hover the cursor over edit and select mark. Select all the things you want to copy and then click enter. All the things will be copied to clipboard.
2. This is the correct way of getting logcat saved.
Code:
adb logcat > logcat.txt
This command will create a logcat.txt document in platform-tools folder with the complete logcat of the device. Ofcourse you can type any name instead of logcat.txt
3. I prefer taking logcat this way as it neatly compiles logs of different time
Code:
adb logcat -v long > logcat.txt
This is a very nice way to get logcat.
Installing Apps
Code:
adb install %PATH OF APK%
This will install an app on your Android
For example, if my app AreeB.apk is in G:\ drive (G:\AreeB.apk)
Then I will type
Code:
adb install G:\AreeB.apk
Be sure your apk is not in a folder that has space in its name, else the command will break at space bar.
For eg:-
G:\Program Files\AreeB.apk
Mounting
However, I never found any problem in tweaking with system files with adb, but some users said that they couldn't do it, so the problem was that their system partition was mounted as Read Only(R/O)
So, it is necessary now to tell how to mount system partition as Read Write(R/W)
Code:
adb remount
It is easiest way to do so, if it does not work then
There is another method that we will discuss in ADB Shell commands section
Pushing and Pulling
For pushing,
Type
Code:
adb push %PATH TO BE PUSHED% %PATH WHERE TO BE PUSHED%
Suppose I have an app named SystemUI.apk(PATH = G:\SystemUI.apk) which I want to push in /system/app/ on my android(or in other words, install an app as a system app). Then I would type
Code:
adb push G:\SystemUI.apk /system/app/
More examples
G:\Dance.txt file to be pushed in Dance folder in sdcard
Code:
adb push G:\Dance.txt /sdcard/Dance/
OR
Code:
adb push G:\Dance.txt /mnt/sdcard/Dance/
G:\Movies folder to be transferred in SDCARD in Videos Folder
Code:
adb push G:\Movies /sdcard/Videos/
G:\system\framework\framework-res.apk to be pushed in /system/framework/
Code:
adb push G:\system\framework\framework-res.apk /system/framework/
For pulling,
push command replaces with pull and paths are swapped
Code:
adb pull %PATH TO BE PULLED FROM% %PATH TO PLACE PULLED FILE%
Example,
All system apps are to be pulled to G:\ROM\system\app
Code:
adb pull /system/app G:\ROM\system\app\
build.prop to be extracted to desktop
Code:
adb pull /system/build.prop C:\Users\Areeb\Desktop\
However, if a folder is in platform-tools folder, you don't need to type full path
Suppose if I type
Code:
adb pull /system/ system
Then a folder named system will be created inside platform-tools with all the files in system in it
If a file is in platform-tools folder, then also no need to type full path
For example,
There is an app name DeskClock.apk in this folder then, to push it to /system/app, type
Code:
adb push DeskClock.apk /system/app/
ADB Shell Commands
This mode of adb allows you to execute linux shell commands from your PC
These commands can aldo be executed through the mobile using Terminal Emulator
To initiate shell mode
Type
Code:
adb shell
You will get an prompt like this
sh-3.2#
Now you are in shell mode
adb commands won't work here and a new set of commands will work here. But we will only go in a little detail here.
Assuming you are in adb shell mode, I will only type commands that will work on shell. Note:- These commands won't work if you type them alone on cmd. But, these command will directly work on your mobile's Terminal Emulator
As these commands can also work on mobile, I am going to tell you a way of taking logcat on mobile
Type
Code:
logcat
You will see log of your device
To save this
Type
Code:
logcat > /sdcard/log.txt
A file named log.txt will be generated in sdcard
Uninstalling Applications
Code:
cd /data/app
This will change the directory to /data/app
Code:
ls
This will show the list of files in there
Suppose, there is an app named com.opera.browser (Opera Mobile) you want to uninstall it
Type
Code:
rm -r com.opera.browser
This will uninstall the app
Mounting Command:-
Code:
mount -o rw,remount /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
Miscellanous commands:-
su: Initiates root request
du: Shows file foldrs and size
date: Shows todays date
Forgot next ones, will write later
Credits
Google: For Android and several searchings
Samsung: For Galaxy Ace s5830I
Broadcom: For their Open Sourceness
XDA Forums : For the precious knowledge
My Uncle: For gifting me this Phone
My Teachers: For teaching me English(I would not be here without them)
You: For future Thanks
Till now, thats it, will add some more things later
If any problem, I will add it too
Suggestion? They are welcome
Hey everyone,
I was asking myself what the "adb backup" command will actually perform on the device and more important: is it possible to run those same commands on a device shell directly (from Terminal Emulator for example).
Goddchen
adb help
From the "adb help":
Code:
adb backup [-f <file>] [-apk|-noapk] [-shared|-noshared] [-all] [-system|-nosystem] [<packages...>]
- write an archive of the device's data to <file>.
If no -f option is supplied then the data is written
to "backup.ab" in the current directory.
(-apk|-noapk enable/disable backup of the .apks themselves
in the archive; the default is noapk.)
(-shared|-noshared enable/disable backup of the device's
shared storage / SD card contents; the default is noshared.)
(-all means to back up all installed applications)
(-system|-nosystem toggles whether -all automatically includes
system applications; the default is to include system apps)
(<packages...> is the list of applications to be backed up. If
the -all or -shared flags are passed, then the package
list is optional. Applications explicitly given on the
command line will be included even if -nosystem would
ordinarily cause them to be omitted.)
Intuition would lead me to believe that this backs up your application directories (the installed directory). You can include the application packages, system packages with the system/nosystem flags, and possibly your data in your /sdcard/ directory as well.
hm okay, let me rephrase my question:
Was commands does the adb backup command execute the create the backup and what commands does the adb restore command execute to restore the backup?
Is it possible to execute those commands on a device's shell without the use of adb...
And maybe: Is it possible in any way to make a adb connection to the local device?
I get the impression that you're looking for the inner workings of adb backup to see if you can integrate it into some scripts.
That being said, I came across something that might help you out. I skimmed over it and it seems to give a low level overview of the adb backup process. I hope that helps.
android.stackexchange.com/questions/23357/is-there-a-way-to-look-inside-and-modify-an-adb-backup-created-file
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
qdev said:
I get the impression that you're looking for the inner workings of adb backup to see if you can integrate it into some scripts.
That being said, I came across something that might help you out. I skimmed over it and it seems to give a low level overview of the adb backup process. I hope that helps.
android.stackexchange.com/questions/23357/is-there-a-way-to-look-inside-and-modify-an-adb-backup-created-file
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that is some awesome background info
Unfortunately it doesn't take me closer to my goal. I don't think that one can launch a backup from a shell (or app), right? The backup only seems to be able to be triggered by adb (the adb backup command). I don't see any other way of starting a backup
Is there any possible way to create a adb connection to the local device?
iamareebjamal said:
ADB:-
Android Debug Bridge
Very useful program made itself by Google for Programmers and developers. Its based on command line and basically communicates with your Android to respond to certain commands. There is vast amount of knowledge about adb but its most useful commands limit to getting:-
Logcat:-
A real time log of what is happening in background of our devices. It is really useful for developers to see which component has malfunctioned and helps to narrow down their search for what failed and what needs to be fixed. Several times users are asked to give logcats of their devices which are giving errors. We will go in detail that how to get logcats in every and easiest way possible.
App Installation and Management:-
adb proves really handy if you want to install apks directly from your PC or want to batch install or delete them.
Shell Execution:-
You must have heard of Terminal Emulator. It is an app for android to execute shell commands(linux commands) which are basically present as applets in /system/bin, /system/sbin or /system/xbin(in our case) folders. A very imporant applet called busybox is installed there mainly used for execution of basic commands during root browsing or ROM installation. Many times updater script of ROMs use busybox commands to install it. Well, these commands can be initiated from your device too but they can be initiated from adb also making it easy for programmers.
Pushing and Pulling:-
Most used commands of adb. adb makes it a piece of cake for new device developers to get an ideo of structure and basic knowledge of devices by pulling command. We can pull out i.e copy any files or folders from our devices to our PC, even the root directories without rooting the devices. It help rooters and ROM chefs of new devices to get an idea and implement their mods on them. Pushing is also very useful command. It copies your files and folders from PC to your device. Very useful in pushing some /system apps and other things
Remounting and setting permissions
Basic commands:-
Of-course basic commands such as rebooting and rebooting in recovery mode and download mode are supported.
Others:-
There are several other features of adb such as fastboot, aapt, etc
Setting up ADB
Pre Requirements:-
A little amount of brain
PC(This is a windows guide, if asked I will add linux and mac guide later)
Java Runtime environment or Java Developing kit
Your Device Drivers
An Android Device
USB Debugging MUST be turned ON in the device for ADB to see it & Developer options is hidden in Android 4.2 and
above, Hitting Build number 10 times in
About Phone/Tablet reveals the menu (Thanks lilHermit for reminding me to add it)
Assuming you all these ready and working properly, we continue
If you are having trouble completing Pre-Requisites, there are several guides featuring them too
Start
1. First Download Android SDK. Roughly about 70 MB
2. There may be any compressed zip file or exe file
If zip file, then extract it to C:\android-sdk
If exe file then double click on it and install it in C:\ Drive(or any other drive you want)
3. Now to get adb and other tools, you need to download 'Platform Tools'
To download them, go to the android-sdk folder and double click on SDK Manager
It will ask you which package to download? However, it is your choice which package to Download, but here, we will only talk about platform
Tools. So, simply tick on Platform Tools and click on install. Once you have done it. Go to the platform-tools folder in the directory where you installed android-sdk. You will find several files there like adb, fastboot, aapt, etc
4. Now, you can backup the whole folder of android-sdk to any external storage that will make you not download package
again if you want to. You can have it placed in any computer and run it as it does not require registry to work
5. Now, you are just one step away from using adb. Next step is SKIPPING SETTING ENVIRONMENT VARIABLE (If you however want to set environment variables. Click on Show Content)
We can easily append the sdk platform-tools and tools folder to your systems environmental path variable directly from command line(cmd) by simply issuing one command and performing a system reboot:
Code:
SETX PATH "%PATH%;[COLOR="Indigo"]SDK_Install_Path[/COLOR]\platform-tools;[COLOR="Indigo"]SDK_Install_Path[/COLOR]\android-sdk-windows\tools" -m
Just replace the "SDK_Install_Path" in the above with the proper path of your SDK installation. Example: C:\android-sdk-windows
(Thanks to WugFresh for telling me :victory
Many guides on internet say that it is to be done for making it easy for users and if you have some basic knowledge of Command Prompt,
you will know that to execute any application with command prompt, you first need to change the directory to the one where application is
placed. And to skip changing the directories every time you open CMD, you need to put that application is environment variable. Howeve, we will not do so.
6. Type cmd in the search bar. Copy cmd.exe from there. Go to the directory where you have installed android-sdk. Go to platform-tools folder. Paste cmd there, right click on it and in the settings, select Run as Administrator.
7. You are done. Now what to do in it?
ADB Commands
Type adb in command prompt. And several commands will show up on your screen. It is very difficult to analyse these all commands, so we will only talk about most used and important commands
Connect your device via USB cable
And open the CMD in platform-tools folder(Make a shortcut of it on desktop). And type the suitable commands
Code:
adb devices
Will show the list of devices attached to the PC andtheir serial numbers. If this shows up correctly on your PC, then it means that everything is fine for continuing.
Logcat
Code:
adb logcat
It will display the real time log of your device
Best time to do it is when your device boots up
Now, many users ask me how to copy the logcat and upload it from CMD
There are several methods:-
1. Right click on the Title Bar of Command Prompt. Hover the cursor over edit and select mark. Select all the things you want to copy and then click enter. All the things will be copied to clipboard.
2. This is the correct way of getting logcat saved.
Code:
adb logcat > logcat.txt
This command will create a logcat.txt document in platform-tools folder with the complete logcat of the device. Ofcourse you can type any name instead of logcat.txt
3. I prefer taking logcat this way as it neatly compiles logs of different time
Code:
adb logcat -v long > logcat.txt
This is a very nice way to get logcat.
Installing Apps
Code:
adb install %PATH OF APK%
This will install an app on your Android
For example, if my app AreeB.apk is in G:\ drive (G:\AreeB.apk)
Then I will type
Code:
adb install G:\AreeB.apk
Be sure your apk is not in a folder that has space in its name, else the command will break at space bar.
For eg:-
G:\Program Files\AreeB.apk
Note:
If you have spaces in path of apk, you can execute the command without breakage if you include the path inside quotes. (Thanks to etcman)
Eg:-
Code:
adb install "G:\Program Files\AreeB.apk"
Mounting
However, I never found any problem in tweaking with system files with adb, but some users said that they couldn't do it, so the problem was that their system partition was mounted as Read Only(R/O)
So, it is necessary now to tell how to mount system partition as Read Write(R/W)
Code:
adb remount
It is easiest way to do so, if it does not work then
There is another method that we will discuss in ADB Shell commands section
Pushing and Pulling
For pushing,
Type
Code:
adb push %PATH TO BE PUSHED% %PATH WHERE TO BE PUSHED%
Suppose I have an app named SystemUI.apk(PATH = G:\SystemUI.apk) which I want to push in /system/app/ on my android(or in other words, install an app as a system app). Then I would type
Code:
adb push G:\SystemUI.apk /system/app/
More examples
G:\Dance.txt file to be pushed in Dance folder in sdcard
Code:
adb push G:\Dance.txt /sdcard/Dance/
OR
Code:
adb push G:\Dance.txt /mnt/sdcard/Dance/
G:\Movies folder to be transferred in SDCARD in Videos Folder
Code:
adb push G:\Movies /sdcard/Videos/
G:\system\framework\framework-res.apk to be pushed in /system/framework/
Code:
adb push G:\system\framework\framework-res.apk /system/framework/
For pulling,
push command replaces with pull and paths are swapped
Code:
adb pull %PATH TO BE PULLED FROM% %PATH TO PLACE PULLED FILE%
Example,
All system apps are to be pulled to G:\ROM\system\app
Code:
adb pull /system/app G:\ROM\system\app\
build.prop to be extracted to desktop
Code:
adb pull /system/build.prop C:\Users\Areeb\Desktop\
However, if a folder is in platform-tools folder, you don't need to type full path
Suppose if I type
Code:
adb pull /system/ system
Then a folder named system will be created inside platform-tools with all the files in system in it
If a file is in platform-tools folder, then also no need to type full path
For example,
There is an app name DeskClock.apk in this folder then, to push it to /system/app, type
Code:
adb push DeskClock.apk /system/app/
ADB Shell Commands
This mode of adb allows you to execute linux shell commands from your PC
These commands can aldo be executed through the mobile using Terminal Emulator
To initiate shell mode
Type
Code:
adb shell
You will get an prompt like this
sh-3.2#
Now you are in shell mode
adb commands won't work here and a new set of commands will work here. But we will only go in a little detail here.
Assuming you are in adb shell mode, I will only type commands that will work on shell. Note:- These commands won't work if you type them alone on cmd. But, these command will directly work on your mobile's Terminal Emulator
As these commands can also work on mobile, I am going to tell you a way of taking logcat on mobile
Type
Code:
logcat
You will see log of your device
To save this
Type
Code:
logcat > /sdcard/log.txt
A file named log.txt will be generated in sdcard
Uninstalling Applications
Code:
cd /data/app
This will change the directory to /data/app
Code:
ls
This will show the list of files in there
Suppose, there is an app named com.opera.browser (Opera Mobile) you want to uninstall it
Type
Code:
rm -r com.opera.browser
This will uninstall the app
Mounting Command:-
Code:
mount -o rw,remount /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
Miscellanous commands:-
su: Initiates root request
du: Shows file foldrs and size
date: Shows todays date
ls: Shows list of directory
cd: Changes working directory
rm: Removes the file
logcat: Displays logcat
mount: Mounts the partition
busybox: Busybox Applets
Forgot next ones, will write later
Credits
Google: For Android and several searchings
Samsung: For Galaxy Ace s5830I
paxChristos for amazing logcat guide
Broadcom: For their Open Sourceness
XDA Forums : For the precious knowledge
My Uncle: For gifting me this Phone
My Teachers: For teaching me English(I would not be here without them)
You: For future Thanks
Till now, thats it, will add some more things later
If any problem, I will add it too
Suggestion? They are welcome
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This should help the new members in appealing their problems in a deeper and better way.
Originally posted by iamareebjamal
Original thread here.