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[GUIDE] How to create a your own ROM

How to create your own ROM update.zip for the T-Mobile MyTouch 3G
Things you will need to perform this:
Java SE Dev Kit from Sun. java.sun.com
May need Cygwin with zlib0 package, from cygwin.com
This will give you Android 1.6 with all the Google applications, Root access.
I never found one place where all this information is all together, so that is why I compiled this together.
Now anyone can do this themselves.
Thanks to all the hard work others have done before this.
1.
First Root your phone and install a new Recovery image, either Amon Ra or Cyanogens Recovery image.
Instructions for one-click root: http://theunlockr.com/2009/08/22/how-to-root-the-mytouch-3g-or-g1-in-one-click/
2.
Download the Android 1.6 System image from
http://developer.htc.com/google-io-device.html
extract the contents of signed-google_ion-img-14721.zip.
3.
You now need to extract the contents of system.img using a tool called unyaffs. The source code is here:
http://code.google.com/p/unyaffs/downloads/list
Or download a prebuilt win32 version here.
http://jiggawatt.org/badc0de/android/index.html
Note you may also need cygwin1.dll and cygz.dll (zlib0 package). Found at cygwin.com
Of course if you already have Cygwin installed with the GCC packages, you can just compile it yourself. Then also
if you comment out the line 67 to "// symlink(oh->alias, full_path_name);"
then it will not create the copies of the symbolic link file, and you will not have to worry about deleting duplicate
symbolic link files later.
Now in the directory where system.img exists, create a new directory called "system"
go into the "system" directory.
type the following command:
unyaffs ..\system.img
That should extract all the files from the system.img file into the system directory.
4.
Now we just need to clean up some items. Since the system.img is a linux file system, it has symbolic
links built into it, but when we extracted it, it just created duplicate files, if you used the prebuilt unyaffs.exe.
So we can just delete the duplicates and have a script recreate the symlink on install.
So we need to delete some extra files from the system\bin directory.
Run the attached DeleteExtras.bat file from the same directory where system.img is in.
If you notice, all the files it deletes are 28 byte files, and if you open them in notepad only contain:
"!<symlink>toolbox..."
And we will remake the symbolic link when it is installed.
5.
Now from the directory where the system.img is, enter the following commands
mkdir META-INF
mkdir META-INF\com
mkdir META-INF\com\google
mkdir META-INF\com\google\android
Now copy the included file "update-script.txt" into the "META-INF\com\google\android" directory
and RENAME it to just "update-script".
This update-script gets run to recreate the symbolic links.
Not sure if these two are needed but they are in some custom ROMs here:
Copy the two files "fix_permissions" and "flash_image" to the "system\bin" directory.
6.
-- Optional --
These add root and Superuser access to the ROM, plus the Terminal Emulator application.
Copy the file "su" from Cyanogen's rom to the folder "system\bin"
Copy the file "Superuser.apk" to the folder "system\app"
Copy the file "Term.apk" to the folder "system\app"
You can also replace the "system\etc\apns-conf.xml" with a more complete one from here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=547718
or here
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AZNbAmKkmakoZGZxZHNwMnpfMjJkaHg3ejN3eg&hl=en
Turn data roaming off by default by editing line in the build.prop file:
ro.com.android.dataroaming=false
Also to fix the Market program to show "Protected" applications change the ro.build.fingerprint line to the following:
ro.build.fingerprint=tmobile/opal/sapphire/sapphire:1.5/COC10/150449:user/ota-rel-keys,release-keys
Only phones with a fingerprint of a "released" device can access some market applications.
--------------
7.
Now we just need to create a ZIP file for the final ROM
Zip up the following file and two folders:
boot.img
META-INF
system
8.
Now sign the zip file.
See here how to sign a ZIP file for flashing it.
http://androidforums.com/developer-101/8665-how-signing-roms.html
9.
Copy it to your SD card, boot into recovery, wipe, apply the update, Reboot.
You are now running Android 1.6!

the finger print is found in build.prop is this correct and what app do you use to edit your build.prop

Yes the fingerprint is in build.prop
Make sure to use an advanced text editor like TextPad, UltraEdit, or EditPlus. It has to handle UNIX text files.
Also use this for the update_script.

how abt kernel parameters?

How would one go about customizing this with Hero? Or is that not possible at this point?

detox702 said:
How would one go about customizing this with Hero? Or is that not possible at this point?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would like more info on hot to incorporate senseui

Thanks for sharing... Got nothing to do today, so I experimented on my phone... I gotta say, I'm pretty amazed w/ this feature. Was able to sort out and organize my files.
Kudos!

How does one create the system.img file once one has the system files...
What I want to do is use some of the custom roms here and put it on an AVD emulator system.
Can someone help with this please.
NOTE: I dont have linux. So if there is an alternative to mkbootimg, it will be excellent.

the ion is the 32b if I'm not mistaken?
Is there an image for the 32a or do we always have to use the ion and throw a patch over it?
Sorry if this is a stupid question

in step 5. it says
Not sure if these two are needed but they are in some custom ROMs here:
Copy the two files "fix_permissions" and "flash_image" to the "system\bin" directory.
Where do i copy the files from or download please?
thanks in advance
P.S. any tips on changing the splash screen would be much appreciated.

DeleteExtras.txt or DeleteExtras.bat doesn't work. I have to delete the extra files by myself - one by one.

codysoloman said:
DeleteExtras.txt or DeleteExtras.bat doesn't work. I have to delete the extra files by myself - one by one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
check this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=633246

Perhaps someone here knows or could point me to the right resources, but if the phone isn't supported by Cyanogen, how would a custom rom be made in that case?
How is a custom rom made from scratch? Since android is just linux, is it simply a matter of building it with the right drivers for the phone and installing it? How can an image be manually copied to the phone if it isn't supported by Clockwork recovery? How can it's steps be manually done?

ping pong...

Can i install my own rom on samsung ace?????

anybody knows how to make a ROM customized and make a "update.img" to run on a un-rootable device? I know when you backup a linux image for example ubuntu, this image will run on all other PCs, the image will automatically knows the new PC's drivers and adapt everything with that, is it what happening to an android too ?
---------- Post added at 08:36 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:33 AM ----------
and pls let me know how to open/edit a "update.img" file, thnx

Question
androidcustomrom said:
How to create your own ROM update.zip for the T-Mobile MyTouch 3G
Things you will need to perform this:
Java SE Dev Kit from Sun. java.sun.com
May need Cygwin with zlib0 package, from cygwin.com
This will give you Android 1.6 with all the Google applications, Root access.
I never found one place where all this information is all together, so that is why I compiled this together.
Now anyone can do this themselves.
Thanks to all the hard work others have done before this.
1.
First Root your phone and install a new Recovery image, either Amon Ra or Cyanogens Recovery image.
Instructions for one-click root: http://theunlockr.com/2009/08/22/how-to-root-the-mytouch-3g-or-g1-in-one-click/
2.
Download the Android 1.6 System image from
http://developer.htc.com/google-io-device.html
extract the contents of signed-google_ion-img-14721.zip.
3.
You now need to extract the contents of system.img using a tool called unyaffs. The source code is here:
http://code.google.com/p/unyaffs/downloads/list
Or download a prebuilt win32 version here.
http://jiggawatt.org/badc0de/android/index.html
Note you may also need cygwin1.dll and cygz.dll (zlib0 package). Found at cygwin.com
Of course if you already have Cygwin installed with the GCC packages, you can just compile it yourself. Then also
if you comment out the line 67 to "// symlink(oh->alias, full_path_name);"
then it will not create the copies of the symbolic link file, and you will not have to worry about deleting duplicate
symbolic link files later.
Now in the directory where system.img exists, create a new directory called "system"
go into the "system" directory.
type the following command:
unyaffs ..\system.img
That should extract all the files from the system.img file into the system directory.
4.
Now we just need to clean up some items. Since the system.img is a linux file system, it has symbolic
links built into it, but when we extracted it, it just created duplicate files, if you used the prebuilt unyaffs.exe.
So we can just delete the duplicates and have a script recreate the symlink on install.
So we need to delete some extra files from the system\bin directory.
Run the attached DeleteExtras.bat file from the same directory where system.img is in.
If you notice, all the files it deletes are 28 byte files, and if you open them in notepad only contain:
"!<symlink>toolbox..."
And we will remake the symbolic link when it is installed.
5.
Now from the directory where the system.img is, enter the following commands
mkdir META-INF
mkdir META-INF\com
mkdir META-INF\com\google
mkdir META-INF\com\google\android
Now copy the included file "update-script.txt" into the "META-INF\com\google\android" directory
and RENAME it to just "update-script".
This update-script gets run to recreate the symbolic links.
Not sure if these two are needed but they are in some custom ROMs here:
Copy the two files "fix_permissions" and "flash_image" to the "system\bin" directory.
6.
-- Optional --
These add root and Superuser access to the ROM, plus the Terminal Emulator application.
Copy the file "su" from Cyanogen's rom to the folder "system\bin"
Copy the file "Superuser.apk" to the folder "system\app"
Copy the file "Term.apk" to the folder "system\app"
You can also replace the "system\etc\apns-conf.xml" with a more complete one from here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=547718
or here
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AZNbAmKkmakoZGZxZHNwMnpfMjJkaHg3ejN3eg&hl=en
Turn data roaming off by default by editing line in the build.prop file:
ro.com.android.dataroaming=false
Also to fix the Market program to show "Protected" applications change the ro.build.fingerprint line to the following:
ro.build.fingerprint=tmobile/opal/sapphire/sapphire:1.5/COC10/150449:user/ota-rel-keys,release-keys
Only phones with a fingerprint of a "released" device can access some market applications.
--------------
7.
Now we just need to create a ZIP file for the final ROM
Zip up the following file and two folders:
boot.img
META-INF
system
8.
Now sign the zip file.
See here how to sign a ZIP file for flashing it.
http://androidforums.com/developer-101/8665-how-signing-roms.html
9.
Copy it to your SD card, boot into recovery, wipe, apply the update, Reboot.
You are now running Android 1.6!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you tell me where I can correct the fake data in the phone like the real RAM is 512 MB but it say 1GB ,can you tell me how to
correct it thanks in advance:good:

[GUIDE] How to extract system files from stock firmware

Ok, so I know many users are looking forward to create a custom rom. Where are you gonna get the system files from? Sure you can get it from a CWM backup. You can also extract the system files and the respective kernel from PDA.tar. Sure everyone knows it's in there but very few exactly know how to extract them. The system files are in the file "system.img".
So the 1st step is to open the PDA.tar using 7-zip and extract the system.img to a particular folder.
Download sgs2toext4.jar from attachment. It's a .jar file created by dphrozen to convert .img files to .ext4.img. Place that file anywhere in C:\ and then open the Command Prompt. In the command prompt, set the directory to the folder where sgs2toext4.jar is placed. Then type this command :-
Code:
java -jar sgs2toext4.jar
A window will open which is gonna ask you to drop the .img file in it. Simply drag the system.img to the window and the process of converting it to system.ext4.img will start. After the process is complete, you'll find system.ext4.img file in the same folder where your system.img file was placed.
Now, download Linux Reader. Install and then open it. At top left, go to Drives -> Mount Image. A window will open up. Browse to system.ext4.img and select it.
That's it! Now you can view all the system files. Export all of them to a particular folder. After exporting, you'll see an extension .efs.ntfs at the end of each file. Just delete that extension and you're good to go!

[Q] unpack userdata***.backup from cwm on windows

Hi/Hello/good evening!
I have a broken MTK phone waiting for spareparts and one backup file from its SDCard made with CWM
name userdata_20130615_140224.backup where I need to extract contact data from.
How to do it?
I have been searching a whole while now but could not find one single post about opening this archive.
Pls help!
Thank you,
Erwin

If u have any spare phone with Titanium Backup installed then u can transfer ur backup to tat mobile's sd card and use TB to extract data from Nanoid Backup..
Sent from my WT19i using xda premium

expanding file
hi,
unyaffs doesnt work on that .backup file and I dont have a spare phone lying around. I got the file on windows
and please after reading 20.000 tuts on "backups" can there be one that explains how to extract the file
with windows?
thank you,
Erwin

NOW!!!
ewoewo said:
hi,
unyaffs doesnt work on that .backup file and i dont have a spare phone lying around. I got the file on windows
and please after reading 20.000 tuts on "backups" can there be one that explains how to extract the file
with windows?
Thank you,
erwin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
tell me the tec solution internet!

ewoewo said:
Hi/Hello/good evening!
I have a userdata#######.backup and I cant enter into recovery mode. once i try toenter recovery mode in boots and shuts down without entering into recovery mode. I want to restore this backup file. Help me out
Thank you!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

It's a 512 byte header in front of a "tar.gz"
hexdump -C userdata_xxxxxxxx_yyyyyy.backup | less​showed the magical zip header "1f8b0800 00000000" at offset 0x200
So, skipping 512 bytes, the rest can be gunzip | tar
dd if=userdata_xxxxxxxx_yyyyyy.backup bs=512 skip=1 | gunzip -c | tar xv​

Code:
dd if=/home/user/_backups/E380-android-phone/userdata_20160126_223433.backup bs=512 skip=1 > /home/user/_backups/E380-android-phone/userdata_20160126_223433.backup.dd-out.tar.gz
Worked for me. Then just used KDE's archive opener (Ark) to view the files, looks to have everything in there except keys and whatnot.

if you prefer a linux solution use this script it converts android backup to nandroid backup
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=65374561

Hello! Super-Developers, mega-programmers and smart hackers!
Nobody does not know how to open *. backup file?
No one can't help in this problem suffering millions of android/windows users?
You suggest them to install Unix/Linux system, - everybody to become hackers and programmers?!
maybe in the World exists GUI- programme to open *. backup file?
Someone can solve this problem of the century?

Philoandr said:
Hello! Super-Developers, mega-programmers and smart hackers!
Nobody does not know how to open *. backup file?
No one can't help in this problem suffering millions of android/windows users?
You suggest them to install Unix/Linux system, - everybody to become hackers and programmers?!
maybe in the World exists GUI- programme to open *. backup file?
Someone can solve this problem of the century?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you expect. You are trying to edit a Linux based file. Not to mention a closed sourced compressed file.

There are free programs like OSFMount or DiskInternals Linux Reader for mounting (android) linux file system images on Windows. Also 7-Zip for Windows can extract files from linux file system images.
However, there is metadata like user identifier and group ownership, file permissions, SELinux context (user role type range) stored for each file, which gets lost once you have saved linux files to windows disk. Without this metadata you can not restore files to phone.
Regardless you can extract files in windows if you just care about pictures, music files etc. Maybe one day there is a developer who may write such a program no matter its useless for restoring complete user data to phone.
Regarding the userdata*.backup files (no cwm) this is a chinese feature not provided by google android open source project. Without source code its nearly impossible to analyze the checksum algorithm. You can not re-create a userdata*.backup file.
What you can do is unpacking it. make a guess. cut off the first 512 byte header of each file which is probably the checksum. then merge the files together. Now you have a file for further analysis. Its probably either a ext4 disk image or a (gz compressed) tarball archive. a disk image can be mounted as a new drive, metadata keeps preserved in this case. a tarball archive must extracted with gnu tar to linux file system. when extracting with 7-Zip you will lose metadata.
There is a risk of tarball archive is unheadered Tar, in this case 7-zip will not extract it. If your phone is encrypted, the disk image is probably encrypted disk image (thats where the hacker stuff starts).
If you want to remove the checksum in windows, there is a small problem. There is no such command. You can use a third party command line utility Trunc to try it. (truncate deletes only from tail)
Another way for Windows, you can use some linux utils with cygwin. I don't know exactly how to do it, but @Doc_cheilvenerdi.org released a Windows script Odinatrix which converts unheadered Tar to Ustar Tar. From this you can use some linux utils (i don't know if it works for converting backups, too)
1. unpack the Odinatrix-WINDOWS.zip file. copy the folder named "files" containing cygwin linux utils. rename the folder to bash (or any meaningful name)
2. create a new folder on Windows Desktop
3. move the backup files to <some folder>
4. open the Windows Command Prompt
goto Windows Start - Run...
type: %SystemRoot%\system32\cmd.exe - press OK
now type the following commands in Windows terminal console:
5. add bash folder to windows environment variable %PATH%
(example: PATH=%PATH%;C:\Program Files\bash)
Code:
PATH=%PATH%;<path to bash folder>
6. change directory and list backup files
Code:
cd %UserProfile%\Desktop\<some folder>
dir /a userdata*.backup*
7. cut off 512 byte header from each file using (cygwin) gnu "dd" linux util like @ektoric suggest in post #6.
do this for each file, skipping 512 bytes only (without unpacking). replace the wildcard * with <date>_<time>
Code:
dd if=userdata*.backup of=userdata*.part0 bs=512 skip=1
dd if=userdata*.backup1 of=userdata*.part1 bs=512 skip=1
dd if=userdata*.backup2 of=userdata*.part2 bs=512 skip=1
dd if=userdata*.backup3 of=userdata*.part3 bs=512 skip=1
8. merge the files with windows
Code:
copy /v /y userdata*.part0 /b + userdata*.part1 /b + userdata*.part2 /b + userdata*.part3 /b userdata*.img /b
9. try to mount the userdata*.img with OSFMount. if not working, try extracting with 7-zip.
Besides this linux is no hacker-os and just as easily operated as windows. You can boot a live distribution from usb-stick without installing.
for further questions, please visit the main thread
[Q] How to Extract data from .Backup file ? - Created with android system recovery

zelendel said:
What do you expect. You are trying to edit a Linux based file. Not to mention a closed sourced compressed file.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the answer!
Please comment next:
1) Video how to extract files from
"Linux based, Not to mention, a closed sourced compressed" backup file with metadata:
Распаковка и извлечение файлов из резервной копии - YouTube
m.youtube.com/watch?v=HNXed7RGR2g
2) quote from Android Backup Extractor's README-TXT-instruction:
"Usage:-- Windows: very easy"?
Android Backup Extractor - -- sourceforge.net/projects/adbextractor/files
-sourceforge.net/projects/adbextractor/reviews?source=navbar
I tried to use Android Backup Extractor In WinXp SP3
but windows version of this app shows cygwin&some other files missing.
Do you know why it doesn't work?
I don't need to recover backup on its own place.
My target is to extract and open few files: photos, videos, documents...
Strangely 7zip also doesn't work. Thank you in advance!

adbextractor is for adb backups *.ab only (btw open source).
cygwin is a implementation of linux utils running in windows.
the above solution uses cygwin, did you try?

aIecxs said:
adbextractor is for adb backups *.ab only (btw open source).
cygwin is a implementation of linux utils running in windows.
the above solution uses cygwin, did you try?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for first very detailed answer!
It seems that you have a remarkable grasp of this subject,
that's why I ask you to comment my previous post about video and Android Backup Extractor.
Your second post is not clear for me: adbextractor is only for *.ab files??
I have few files cygwin, is it a separate program??
I attempted to run file start.exe - windows version of Android Backup Extractor with those few cygwin files
but unsuccessful.
I read and test a lot, but The problem is still unsettled.

i came up two years ago with same question, how to unpack, and ended up with learning linux. i have uploaded a bash script, but i don't know if it works. i am not a developer and still learning, and nobody give feedback.
what is exactly file name of your backup? suffix *.ab or *.backup? these are completely different, don't mix up tools.
if you mean userdata_20180313_161000.backup files, please try mini tut above beginning 1.

aIecxs said:
i came up two years ago with same question, how to unpack, and ended up with learning linux. ... i am not a developer and still learning
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is classic aphorismic sentence!! I like it.
What's the bash script? for what goal? it is for Windows? If yes, I'll try it. give me the link.
my files are userdata_20100102_045926.backup, -=-=.backup1, 2, 3......
I'm not Englishman, "mini tut" is mini tutorial?
You have 100 posts and 25 thanks - super rate for notdeveloper.

the tool in video (adbextractor) can not unpack your backup. your backup is a splitted ext4 partition image. OSFMount can open ext4 partition images from Windows
bckp2cwm.sh script is basically doing the same steps like mini tutorial above. unfortunately it is for linux. main goal is convert userdata*.backup to cwm backup, but its paused in the middle (after unpacking, before repacking)
as windows user, all you need is a usb-stick. there is a tool unetbootin running in windows. it is a one-click-solution for downloading and copying any linux distribution to usb-stick. you can boot into linux from this usb-stick, for example ubuntu

aIecxs said:
OSFMount can open ext4 partition images from Windows
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OSFMount can extract few files from my backup?
Thank you very much for efficient advices!!!:highfive:
I'll try them in sequence.
although Linux is not my :angel:dream.

Solution for Windows
1. Download and install free hhd hex editor neo.
2. Open each of your .backup files, in select menu select range at 0 offset size 512 decimal, delete and save.
3. Use Windows copy command to join files as described in post#11 (Thanks to the author for free education).
4. Use any program that reads Linux disk image files. I used diskinternals (mount image from the drive menu first). Openext worked too.
This won't work on tar archives if I understand correctly. This took me days to figure out and only minutes to execute. No thanks to confusing android prompts while upgrading to a new OS.

yoyohelp said:
1. Download and install free hhd hex editor neo.
2. Open each of your .backup files, in select menu select range at 0 offset size 512 decimal, delete and save.
3. Use Windows copy command to join files as described in post#11 (Thanks to the author for free education).
4. Use any program that reads Linux disk image files. I used diskinternals (mount image from the drive menu first). Openext worked too.
This won't work on tar archives if I understand correctly. This took me days to figure out and only minutes to execute. No thanks to confusing android prompts while upgrading to a new OS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi i have a problem i have 5 files from the backup each with 2gb when i do the command from post 11 it works nice but when goes to backup part 3 it gives an error, what could it be? Im i doing something wrong?

[Guide] How to easy extract system.new.dat [No CMD] Required

Guide​How to easy peasy extract system.new.dat​
Note this tutorial is created for thus who doesn't want to use the Command Promt tool to convert the system.new.dat and this is also a faster method :good:
If moderators thinks this is in wrong section they can feel free to move it, i didn't know where this should go sorry​
This thread aims to easily extract system.new.dat for windows users (no need for command tool) or anything
What you need
the package which contains system.new.dat
Diskinternals Linux Reader
Tutorial
Extract The System.new.dat to your desired location
Open Disk Internals and navigate to Drivers > Mount Image (or press CTRL+M) at the same time
Navigate to your extracted system.new.dat and just click open
Disk internals will now mount the partition as Linux Ext Volume X* (X stands for the volumes that has been mounted)
This was easy right?
No need to convert the files and then you can extract the files you want This has been tested on Flyme OS which comes in with the new "installation" feature, if it doesn't work for you maybe the package built from source uses a different extension

Conversion of one file type to another for purposes you will not be informed of. (intentionally vague)

HOW, in detail, step by step, can I take stock firmware in the Samsung 4 file format tar.md5, and somehow, with minimal extra steps, create a flashable zip file with it?

If you're on a Windows computer, use 7Zip tool to untar & zip an archive
More info here:
https://allthings.how/how-to-use-7-zip-in-windows-11/
BTW:
You can untar a .TAR via Windows command prompt, too:
Code:
tar -xf <TAR-FILE>

jwoegerbauer said:
If you're on a Windows computer, use 7Zip tool to untar & zip an archive
More info here:
https://allthings.how/how-to-use-7-zip-in-windows-11/
BTW:
You can untar a .TAR via Windows command prompt, too:
Code:
tar -xf <TAR-FILE>
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So it is that easy? No special hand coded files to direct things or anything like that? So when people say a "flashable zip", it's no different internally than the tarballs are? Just decompress one and compress into the other? I had a suspicion it might be that way, but everyone has been so cryptic with other users, and just refusing to answer, I thought it must be more complicated than that. Thank you very much for the straight answer, I am very grateful.
So i state this as overtly as possible for posterity: nothing signifies a flashable zip as different than an ordinary zip other than the contents, which are identical to the contents of a tar archive. Easy.