Before reading.
This article requires that your phone is Rooted and has Busybox installed.
HTC owners, S-off your phone as well.
Android is a great operating system for SmartPhones. Only problem with it (From a more technical users point of view) is the small useless bad excuse of a linux system running behind the UI. Some of the smaller issues can be fixed by installing Busybox that provides a better basic set of tools to work with, but it's not enough. What I would like is to be able to use almost any real linux cli application, daemon, library etc. Also some compilers would be great. I'm using an HTC desire which has more than enough power to do things like compiling (I know, I have done it.), and so has a lot of other SmartPhones. Why would one need this when there is cross compilers you can use on regular and faster machines? Well, because It's fun, why else. I did not spend all that money on a SmartPhones just to make a few phone calls and write a few text messages. My old Sony Ericsson did that quite well. I spend that money to get a phone with many possibilities that I could play with.
I tried to search the web for some helping instructions on how to port a real linux system to this phone. What I mostly got, was people who ported linux systems that would run as an extra OS on the phone, some even with an Xserver accessible via VNC. Sounds fun, but not what I was after. I did not want an extra OS using CPU and unnecessary RAM. I just wanted some extra tools, libs etc to work with and the regular linux user management. I managed to find an old article from someone using Debians armel version on an old G1 phone. I thought that if it worked on that phone, it would be possible to do so on mine. So I started playing around with that.
The way this works is by installing a bare minimum debian on an second partition. This will not boot anything up since it will just work as extra tools and lib using the already booted android linux system.. You will still only have one OS but more tools (Including the nice APT package system) to work with.
Now there is two ways of using debian on android.
The first way is to setup the Debian in an chroot environment. This has some flaws like I have not yet been able to make the chroot start second jobs, which means that you will be able to start applications and daemons running in the current shell session. But you will not be able to make them run in the background. But as an development environment it will still work great, as you will be able to use the Debian libs and compilers.
The second way (The way I was after) is to setup Debian using the UAFS kernel module. This is used to merge directories into one with different rules for each. For an example you would be able to merge /debian_root/etc and /system/etc into a shared /etc with RW on Debians etc and RO on Androids forcing any changes to be made in /debian_root/etc. Using this option you will use Debian to extend the Android Linux part. Android UI with Debian Shell.
This article is split into 3 parts. The first part is the setup of Debian. Must be done whether you want chroot or a merged system. In the second part we will cover the setup of the chroot environment.
The third part is the setup of the merged system. This will require one thing in order to work.
You will need a kernel with the uafs module which is not default in most android kernels. You will need to compile your own kernel. People using the Thalamus kernel, can download a kernel with this module kernel-2.6.37.2_AUFS.zip. A big thanks to Thalamus for providing this. Note that this kernel was a special request from me that he was kind enough to provide. It comes with absolutely no guaranties. Do not email spam him about errors you might encounter using it as this is not an official release.
Note that once you mount the Debian system, you will not be able to mount the SD Card when connecting it to your PC. You can download the App “Multi Mount SD-Card” from Market which will be able to mount your SD Card on your PC while mounted on your phone. This app should also speed up transfers on 2.6.37 kernels, or so I have heard.
Part 1: Building Debian
We are going to run debian from a file containing a ext2 filesystem. If your SD Card is big enough you might be able to create an extra partition and force it to mount as something else other than ext-sd, but in this article we are going to use a partitioned file.
Also, this will require that you have the tool “debootstrap” on your PC. This is found in Ubuntu and Debian, dont know about other Linux distro's or Operating systems. If you don't use Linux or an distro with debootstrap you can download a Ubuntu Live CD from the Ubuntu website. This can be run on CD, DVD and USB disks without installing it. For this article I have used Ubuntu 10.10.
Open a terminal on your Ubuntu/Debian/LiveCD PC and cd to the folder where you want to temp. store your debian. I will call this path “debian_dir”
The first thing we will do is to create the partitioned file.
I'm creating a file with 1.5GB of space. You can create the size you want.
Don't use 0 in the size, dd don't like that.
Code:
cd debian_dir
dd if=/dev/zero of=debian.img seek=1499999999 bs=1 count=1
mke2fs -F debian.img
mkdir debian
mount -o loop debian.img debian/
Now that we have created the file and mounted it, we should download and place debian inside of it. First we will install debootstrap.
Code:
apt-get install debootstrap
debootstrap --arch armel --foreign squeeze debian http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian
umount debian/
Debian Squeeze is Debian 6.0 which replaces the old Lenny.
Copy the debian.img file to your SD Card on your phone. I placed mine in the root of the SD Card.
Now open a terminal on your phone. You can download one from market. There are some free once, but the paid “Better Terminal” is the best to work with in my opinion.
Note: All shell work is done on the phone from now on.
First we need some temp. exports.
Type the fallowing:
Code:
export PATH=/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:$PATH
export HOME=/root
export TERM=linux
export DM=/data/local/debian
export DI=/sdcard/debian.img
Now we will create the Debian dir and then create a loop device which we will use to mount the Debian image to the Debian dir.
Code:
mkdir -d $DM
mknod /dev/loop0 b 7 0
mount -o loop,noatime $DI $DM
Now that we have debian mounted in our debian folder, we need to finalize the installation. Not all files as been installed yet. Don't forget to activate Mobile Network or Wifi.
chroot $DM /debootstrap/debootstrap –second-stage
We also need to insert the debian repository and a DNS (I use OpenDNS).
You can use whatever you want for the DNS, you routers IP for an example. It should have some default Ips configured.
Code:
echo “deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian squeeze main contrib non-free” > $DM/etc/apt/sources.list
echo “208.67.222.222” > $DM/etc/resolv.conf
Now change the root to the debian dir and set a root password and make sure that certain folders already exists.
Code:
chroot $DM /bin/bash
passwd root
mkdir root
exit
Now we need to make sure that certain variables exists and that the values is as they should be. So we will alter the /system/bin/sh that android uses as login shell.
Code:
cd /system/bin
mv sh sh0
Create a new /system/bin/sh file with the fallowing content.
This will ensure that these variables is created and/or changed every time you enter a new shell session. You can call another shell like bash or ash instead /system/xbin/sh, just make sure to use ash or sh at the top, since bash does not seam to understand [email protected]
Warning: It is very important that the /system/bin/sh file is made correct. Android will not boot if anything is wrong with this file. It should be exactly like the one I posted, and you cannot make it on your PC and push it to the phone. Don't know why, it works fine with other shell scripts, but not that one.
Enter an adb shell from your PC and use vi or nano (You can download nano here here) to copy and paste the content directly into the ADB Shell.
Note: ADB from the recovery will always work. It does not use /system/bin/sh
Code:
#!/system/xbin/sh
/system/xbin/sh --login [email protected]
Make sure that it has execute rights. Then type sh in the terminal to make sure that it works before you close your ADB Shell session.
Code:
chmod a+x /system/bin/sh
sh
sh0 will not be used, it's up to you wether you want to save it or not. Just make sure that /system/xbin/sh exists, otherwise
copy /system/bin/sh0 to /system/xbin/sh.
Now we need the profile file that is needed by this method. This file will make sure that we have all our variables and the data that they should contain.
Android does not keep very good track of these things. Place this data in the file /system/etc/profile
Code:
export TERM=linux
export TERMINFO=/etc/terminfo
export PATH=/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/vendor/bin:/system/bin:/system/xbin
if [ "$EUID" == "0" ]; then
if [ -z "$HOME" ] || [ -z "$USER" ] || [ -z "$GROUPS" ]; then
export HOME=/root
export USER=root
export GROUPS=0
fi
else
# Make sure that this user id variable exists.
if [ -z $EUID ]; then
export EUID=$(echo $(id | cut -d "(" -f 1) | cut -d "=" -f 2)
fi
# If we have an /etc/passwd file available,
# we should also make sure to get name, group and home info from that file and
# store in the default linux variables.
if [ -f /etc/passwd ]; then
# Create the user info variables based on user id and /etc/passwd
export USER=$(grep "x:${EUID}:" /etc/passwd | cut -d : -f 1)
export GROUPS=$(grep "x:${EUID}:" /etc/passwd | cut -d : -f 4)
export HOME=$(grep "x:${EUID}:" /etc/passwd | cut -d : -f 6)
fi
fi
export ADID=$EUID
if [ "$PS1" ]; then
if [ "$BASH" ]; then
# The file bash.bashrc already sets the default PS1.
if [ ! -z $HOME ] && [ -f $HOME/.bashrc ]; then
. $HOME/.bashrc
elif [ -f /etc/bash.bashrc ]; then
. /etc/bash.bashrc
else
export PS1='\h:\W\$ '
fi
else
if [ "$EUID" == "0" ]; then
PS1='\w # '
else
PS1='\w $ '
fi
fi
else
PS1='\h:\W\$ '
fi
if [ -d /etc/profile.d ]; then
for i in /etc/profile.d/*.sh; do
if [ -r $i ]; then
. $i
fi
done
unset i
fi
We will also need an /etc/bash.bashrc which is needed because /etc/profile not always gets executed.
Code:
if [ "$ADID" != "$EUID" ]; then
# Some times /etc/profile is not executed (For an example when using Androids su command).
# /etc/bash.bashrc however it used instead. So we just execute it manually in these cases.
# If you create a local bashrc ($HOME/.bashrc), remember to include this check.
# /etc/bash.bachrc is not used when a local file exists.
if [ -f /etc/profile ]; then
. /etc/profile
# Since /etc/profile links back to this file,
# we will make sure not to start an unending loop.
# the profile file should update this, but it's better to be on the safe side.
if [ "$ADID" != "$EUID" ]; then
export ADID=$EUID
fi
fi
fi
PS1='\h:\W\$ '
And last we have some user and group configurations in order to make Debian better work with Android. Open your Android terminal emulator and make sure it opens as user and not root. Now type "/system/xbin/id".
What we need here is the uid, gid and the ids of each accosiated groups along with the names of it all. In my terminal I have "uid=10048(app_48) gid=10048(app_48) groups=1015(sdcard_rw),3003(inet)".
What we will do it create this user along with the groups in our Debian inveroment. However, I use the uid name and gid name "bterm" instead of app_48, but still with the original IDs. The inet and sdcard_rw groups will be created as system groups. Do the same for your app user and group if you don't want any login possibilities with this user. I however have assigned home and password to this user.
This needs to be doen in chroot
Code:
chroot $DM /bin/bash
groupadd --system --gid 1015 sdcard_rw
groupadd --system --gid 3003 inet
groupadd --gid 10048 bterm
adduser --home /home/bterm --gid 10048 --uid 10048 bterm
gpasswd -a bterm sdcard_rw
gpasswd -a bterm inet
exit
Now your ready for the next step. Remember that the user you have created, is the user used by your terminal emulator when you are not logged on as root. This ID is only assigned to that specific app, if you install another terminal, it will get another ID.
Part 2 – Setting up a chroot environment
The best way of doing this is to make two small scripts and place them in /system/bin or /system/xbin. One script for doing the mount after phone boot. And one script for entering the chroot when open a new shell session.
Here is the mounting script that I call mkdebian.
This needs to be executed once every time the phone has rebooted. If your ROM supports init scripts, you can add it there for auto-mount on boot.
Code:
#!/system/bin/sh
export DM=/data/local/debian
export DI=/sdcard/debian.img
# Create the loop device and mount the debian image
mknod /dev/loop0 b 7 0
mount -o loop,noatime $DI $DM
# Let's make sure that we can access our sd card from within the chroot
if [ ! -d "$DM/mnt/sdcard" ]; then
mkdir $DM/mnt/sdcard
fi
mount --bind /mnt/sdcard $DM/mnt/sdcard
# Now we make sure that the chroot has access to all the device maps
if [ ! -d "$DM/dev" ]; then
mkdir $DM/dev
fi
mount --bind /dev $DM/dev
# We also need to make proc, sys etc available from within the chroot
chroot $DM mount -t proc proc /proc
chroot $DM mount -t sysfs sysfs /sys
# And last fix the mtab
chroot $DM rm -f /etc/mtab
chroot $DM ln -s /proc/mounts /etc/mtab
echo “Debian was mounted in $DM/”
Now for the script that I called “debian”.
This script will make you enter the chroot environment using one single command. Every time you exist the debian chroot, you can enter back using the command “debian”.
Code:
#!/system/bin/sh
chroot /data/local/debian/ /bin/bash
And that is it. Open a terminal, type debian and start using your debian environment. It might be a good idea to run aptitude update or apt-get update before you start using the package manager.
Part 3 – Settings up a merged Android/Debian environment
This is the fun part to play with. A merged Android/Debian environment without the usage of chroot. This only requires a script to be executed at boot, or after boot.
Remember that this will not work unless your kernel has the aufs module.
Code:
#!/system/xbin/sh
export DM=/data/local/debian
export DI=/mnt/sdcard/debian.img
# Now we mount the debian image to our debian folder.
mknod /dev/loop0 b 7 0
mount -o loop,noatime $DI $DM
# These two directories exists in both android and debian,
# so these are going to be merged together.
mount -t aufs -o dirs=$DM/etc=rw:/system/etc=ro aufs /system/etc
# For some reason, mounting /sbin with aufs does not work.
# So we make a little cheat with symbolic links instead.
mount -o remount,rw /
mv /sbin /sbin0
ln -s $DM/sbin /
rm -rf /sbin/adbd
rm -rf /sbin/ueventd
ln -s /sbin0/adbd /sbin/
ln -s /sbin0/ueventd /sbin/
# Let's get all the debian root directories out to the real root dir.
rm -rf /root
for x in tmp root lib bin boot home media opt selinux srv usr var
do
ln -s $DM/$x /
done
if [ -f /system/xbin/bash ]; then
mount --bind /bin/bash /system/xbin/bash
mount --bin /system/xbin/bash /system/xbin/sh
else
mount --bind /bin/bash /system/xbin/sh
fi
echo "Debian has been merged with Android..."
Run this at startup and start using all of debians possibilities (Don't run it yet).
The / dir is left with RW permissions. If this is set to RO then apt-get will not work. It writes tmp log files to this dir when running. It does not matter since all changes to this dir is restored to default on every boot.
Also dont forget to run apt-get update or aptitude update to update the package list.
You are now able to install and run almost anything (CLI Only) that runs on debian systems and other linux dists. Personally I'm currently running OpenSSH Server and Lighttpd with PHP. A perfect small transportable web server.
You can use either /etc/init.d/[your service] start
or
service [your service] start
to start daemons you have installed.
Now you can use the "mkdebian" command to merge your new Debian with Android.
Note: The command “su” from debian works differently than the android “su” command.
The debian command uses the regular linux management to provide access which means that it will ask for your root password that you created in the first part. The android command will just provide you with su rights without a password. Both commands provides su rights to both android and debian, so it is possible to remove the android command and create a new Android/Java based SU app for the Android UI that will require root password.
Note: There is a small problem with the Android "su" command. It does not recheck the /etc/profile.
That means that if you log on using the regular user, and then uses the "su" command, user variables does not get updated with su paths.
Using the Debian "su" command will work fine, just note that this command will promp for password. Also logging in using the root account
directly works fine.
Good luck
[Edit: 2011-03-09 11:06]
- Changed the /etc/profile script in Part 1
- Added /etc/bash.bashrc script in Part 1
- Changed User and Group setup and moved it from Part 3 to Part 1
- Fixed error in /system/bin/sh
All of this will fix some permission problems with Debian
[Edit: 2011-03-08 11:21]
- Fixed problems with user management by adding an /etc/profile and changing /system/bin/sh and the debian merge script. Using the "login" command is no longer needed.
[Edit: 2011-03-07 08:49]
- Fixed bug in Part 1 sh script.
[Edit: 2011-03-07 00:20]
- Added a new /system/bin/sh script to Part 1
- Added the way we create missing users and groups in Part 3
[Edit: 2011-03-06 19:36]
- Inserted a warning text in part 1 about avoiding problems when creating a new /system/bin/sh.
Applying Host name
If you want to set a custom hostname for your phone, you can create an init script (If your ROM supports it).
Code:
#!/system/bin/sh
# Get the hostname if it exists, or set it to localhost
if [ -f /system/etc/hostname ]; then
_HOSTNAME=$(cat /system/etc/hostname)
if [ -z $_HOSTNAME ]; then
_HOSTNAME=localhost
fi
else
_HOSTNAME=localhost
fi
# Update the Hostname
echo "$_HOSTNAME" > /proc/sys/kernel/hostname
# Update the hosts file
echo "127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost" > /etc/hosts
# If the hostname is not localhost, we add one more line to the hosts file
if [ "$_HOSTNAME" != "localhost" ]; then
echo "127.0.0.1 $_HOSTNAME" >> /etc/hosts
fi
This will look in /system/etc/ for the regular linux hostname file. If it exists, it will take the hostname from that file and set as the global hostname.
If it does not exist, "localhost" is used instead. Also it creates the /system/etc/hosts file.
Add or Edit your hostname like this.
Code:
echo "myhostname" > /system/etc/hostname
Note: Remember to delete the hosts and hostname files in your debian /etc/ dir when using merged environment. Otherwise they will overwrite the once in /system/etc/ as debian has first priority.
Manipulating the Android Permissions
Androids permissions works by providing a User ID for each application. This user (Application) can then get a range of different permissions by being added to groups with the permissions required by the app. For an example an app that needs to write to the SD Card, should be a member of Androids sdcard_rw group which translates into 1015 in a Linux group id. Using the numeric values of the Android groups, we can assign these permissions to shell users, daemons etc.
An example:
I had problems with my Http Server because I wanted my www folder on my sdcard. But, the www-data user and group could not be allowed to write to the SD Card, which I needed it to do, because Android controls what permissions the SD Card should have, not even root can change that.
What I did was creating a system group that I named sdcard_rw (Same name as the android, just to better keep track of the groups) with the same Id as the Android sdcard_rw (1015). I then assigned that group to my www-data user (gpasswd -a www-data sdcard_rw) and now my lighttpd had Read/Write access to my sdcard.
You can use the same example for creating a regular SSH User by using the Android shell group or for any other type of user that needs some Android permissions to work properly.
[Edit: 2011-03-08 21:13]
- Added an permission example
Great...
I was just looking into this myself for the last few days.
strange how there isn't more of this being talked about.
at least I have been unable to find anything.
Omg this sounds awesome,
Will try this when u get home and will report back
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
I'm still trying to work out some problems with User Rights on SD Card. Can't get lighttpd to be allowed to create files in my SD Card www dir (Does not matter what user and group I set it to use). I can't even get the root account to be allowed to change permissions on SD Card files and folders. It's not the biggest problem, but will report back when I figure it out.
Nice! I've been constantly disappointed for the past year at how un-Linuxy Android is under the hood and unimpressed with the old chroot tricks. This looks much better and I'll try it soon.
I have added a new /system/bin/sh script that can be found in Part 1. This script will automatically look for bash and, if that exists, try to find bash.bashrc, .profile or .bashrc in /etc or the users home dir. If bash does not exist, it looks for sh instead. If you have both one of the Android specific compiled bash, then Debians bash is used when available as this is made to work in a real linux environment. Android bash does not seam to work that way. Also debians packages gets updates via APT.
Also I changed the way groups and users is created in Part 3. Manually inserting them to /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow and /etc/group did not seam to be enough. The users and groups where only half registered. For an example the command "login" gave me a lot of errors, and i had problems with user rights. By using adduser and addgroup in a chroot before the first merge, the user management seams to work as it should now.
I was playing with Debian on my phone just a few days ago too. I've found that same G1 article you mentioned, and installed Lenny in a chroot environment. Background daemons work fine for me, I've installed OpenSSH and I'm using ConnectBot connecting to 127.0.0.1 to get a terminal, so I don't have to chroot every time. I even have X with tightvnc server + android-vnc-viewer. Running the desktop Firefox on my phone is fun Although not very useful. I'm still thinking about what awesome things we could do with this that we couldn't otherwise.
Anyway, great howto.
Do you have any details on the Thalamus kernel? What phone is it for? Overclocked, audio hack, etc? Or is it just a vanilla kernel with the extra module?
What applications can we dream up?
The first thing that springs to mind is could this be used to create a low power server running bittorrent and the like?
Would a cheap device like the Vodafone 845 be under-powered for this?
Can you connect to a usb hub to allow multiple devices to be connected to it? I'm thinking usb network adapters, external storage, etc.
How much additional effort on top of this guide would be needed?
Just curious...
will not... - -!
Well I learned one thing. Don't make Shell scripts when you are tired. I started a shell loop on phone bootup with my /system/bin/sh fix (Which had been changed). When using the merged environment, you need (for now) to enter /bin/login when you open a new shell and login as user with the password you created in Part 3. This will make Debian take over the user management which among other things will make sure that the right variables etc. exists. I have tried to locate where android controls new shell sessions, but I cant seam to find it.
When you make Debian take over, you can use your Linux shell as any other. .bashrc, .profile, /etc/bash.bashrc, /etc/profile files, change default shell (bash, sh, ash) in /etc/passwd and so on.
#9 Well the kernel is the same that is found in the Oxygen 2.0.1, so it's an gingerbread rom (2.3.3). If it works only in Oxygen, I don't know but I don't think so.
#10 He he, Could not say. For now I'm just trying to make it work as I want it to work. After that I might start playing around with different things.
The "login" command is no longer needed. I finally found a way to successfully control user variables and management, making Android and Debian work together as one when merging the two.
This is amazing. Totally going to do this later tonight when I get home.
If you merge using AUFS instead of making a chroot, you should perhaps use the system user (Id: 1000, Group: 1000) as the regular user.
There are only two static users in Android, 0 and 1000.
Android just isn't made to work as an multi-user system. This is how the Java UI is made, and we really need to Linux part to be compatible with that part of the OS. Instead of multi-users, android uses it's apps as users. Each app works as one user with different id. So the 10048 I used as regular user is just the ID of mine "Better Terminal". Switching to another terminal app changed the EUID.
Use the root and only root to work with in the shell. And then delete Debians "su" command and stick with the one from android. Debians need all users that execute "su" to be written to the /etc/passwd.
All GNU tool and library, that's Great. thanks a lot.
I have added an example of how to apply Android rules to shell users, daemons etc. Some daemons will need this in order to function.
I have added this in Thread 2 below the hostname example.
I also changed the main Thread. Found a fix for the rest of the permission problems, including the Android "su" command issue.
I have tested this Android/Debian merge using several methods (ADB, SSH, different local terminals) and it worked on most. I had one problem with one local terminal app that did not execute /etc/profile and some Debian users in /etc/passwd that didn't either.
To fix this I changed /system/bin/sh from using "/system/xbin/sh --login [email protected]" to instead use "/system/xbin/sh --rcfile /system/etc/profile [email protected]". I then moved the Debians /bin/bash to /usr/bin/bash and made a similar script file in /bin/bash > "/usr/bin/bash --rcfile /etc/profile [email protected]". You can make the same for /bin/sh if you don't like using bash for your /etc/passwd users.
Remember to change the bash bind mount in the mkdebian script from /bin/bash to /usr/bin/bash
Use whatever method works on your phone.
This looks like a ton of fun, and could be very useful. I'd like to try this on my NookColor (N2Acard, CM7.1), probably using The Guardian Project's lilDebi image as a base. They go the chroot route with their installer, and I'm going to have to do some hacking on their scripts to make them work with the NookColor. I figure if I'm going to have to hack on it, I might as well put my efforts toward a more ideal solution.
Question: It doesn't look like the CM7.1 kernel supports aufs. That is,
Code:
cat /proc/filesystems
doesn't return aufs as one of the supported filesystems.
Aside from a lack of elegance, is there any reason we can't apply your /sbin workaround to "merging" the whole filesystem? [I recognize there's a certain amount of ignorance behind the question; I figure there's only one way to cure that: Ask.]
OR, how difficult might it be to take a complete CM7.1 kernel and add aufs support to it?
'preciate any help I can get!
mailman1175 said:
This looks like a ton of fun, and could be very useful. I'd like to try this on my NookColor (N2Acard, CM7.1), probably using The Guardian Project's lilDebi image as a base. They go the chroot route with their installer, and I'm going to have to do some hacking on their scripts to make them work with the NookColor. I figure if I'm going to have to hack on it, I might as well put my efforts toward a more ideal solution.
Question: It doesn't look like the CM7.1 kernel supports aufs. That is,
Code:
cat /proc/filesystems
doesn't return aufs as one of the supported filesystems.
Aside from a lack of elegance, is there any reason we can't apply your /sbin workaround to "merging" the whole filesystem? [I recognize there's a certain amount of ignorance behind the question; I figure there's only one way to cure that: Ask.]
OR, how difficult might it be to take a complete CM7.1 kernel and add aufs support to it?
'preciate any help I can get!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
here's where you get aufs patches.
you'll have to build the kernel yourself to make it work.
to the OP:
using the aufs mount method instead of a chroot...
I have a small problem, I don't know if it shows up with your .img filesystem method, but with an sd-ext partition used intead of the .img file, apt-get fouls massively when trying to update/upgrade libc6.
it complains about the libc6*.so existing in two places at once, and requests the existing one be removed. If it's removed, then nothing in the Linux install works, because just about everything is compiled against libc. I can use busybox to manipulate files with the libc6 removed or hidden away, but can't seem to get past the error since dpkg and apt don't work without some version of libc installed.
Any hints/suggestions? I like your scripts a lot better than the chroot ones I cobbled together from everyone else's work last year for similar purposes before I got aufs working in a kernel.
Hi,
I want to learn some of the commands for use in SManager (Script Manager) for ANDROID.
https://sites.google.com/site/devwom/script-manager
Does anyone know a suitable thread with guide or commands for SManager? I tried searching the web and XDA but did not find anything myself.
Specifically I want to know the cmd line to start an app.
EDIT 1:
Spent a good few hours trying to google a solution but drawn a blank.......Maybe Shell Scripts for Linux are not same as for Android...?
I would like to be able to run a script that does the following:
Checks if a directory exists on the sdcard
then executes a command (renaming of 2 directories)
then starts a program
EDIT 2:
well a few emails with the author of SManager and I was able to write my first script to check if the app is running and then if not, to rename folders and start the other version of the app. (I have Navigon Europe as well as Navigon Australia and was looking for a solution to allow both to co exist on my One-X at the same time. As both apps share the same directory structure the issue was that starting one version would overwrite the critical files of the other).
Now with my script installed as a widget I can toggle between each version without problem.
Here is some useful information on shell language for others (credits to the author of SManager Devwom):
http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Bash-Prog-Intro-HOWTO.html
Here are some critical bits of info received during my emails with him:
Thanks a lot for your interest in SManager.
The requested commands is a mix between linux commands and android os commands.
To get info about each command you can search in google and select the preferred page.
But the commands available in each Android device depends on running rom.
To get all available commands in your device, simply execute a ls (lower case LS) in system directories, that is:
ls /system/bin
ls /system/sbin
ls /system/xbin
ls /system/usr/bin
ls /system/usr/sbin
ls /system/usr/xbin
These are the most common directories where binaries resides in android devices.
May be you also can have commands at:
ls /bin
ls /sbin
ls /usr/bin
ls /usr/sbin
usually android rooted roms have the well known busybox, to get a list all comands inside it simply execute
busybox
to get all installed packages (and running names) from your device you can execute:
pm list packages
to get info about running process
ps
or
ps aux
or
ps -aux
depending on ps version installed
If conditions are based on test bash command this command is a bit confused, because usually it is named as [, and other times it is built-in inside shell
read "test man page" to get a full list of test command flags.
To check if an app is running:
if [ -n "$(ps|grep os.tools.scriptmanager)" ] ; then
echo SManager is running
fi
To check if app is NOT running:
if [ -z "$(ps|grep os.tools.scriptmanager)" ] ; then
echo SManager is NOT running
fi
To check if a file exist:
if [ -e /sdcard/file ] ; then
echo /sdcard/file exists
fi
To check if a file exist and it is a directory:
if [ -d /sdcard/file ] ; then
echo /sdcard/file exists and is directory
fi
To rename a directory simply use mv command:
I hope you can build your script with this info.
Start app it is very easy but getting correct info to start app is a bit confused.
starting app uses "am command"
To get correct info to start app you should execute:
logcat |grep Starting
in a terminal on device
then go to launcher and launch desired app
then go back to the terminal and you will see a line with info about how to fill am command.
For example if you execute SManager
in
logcat|grep Starting
output you will see
I/ActivityManager(* 275): Starting: Intent { act=android.intent.action.MAIN cat=[android.intent.category.LAUNCHER] flg=0x10200000 cmp=os.tools.scriptmanager/.launcherActivity } from pid 377
so to start scriptmanager you need the following command
am start -a android.intent.action.MAIN -c android.intent.category.LAUNCHER -n os.tools.scriptmanager/.launcherActivity
I do not know how to stop apps from command line, I usually use killall command:
killall os.tools.scriptmanager
if you do not have killall command you can use grep and awk or cut commands
kill "$(ps|grep os.tools.scriptmanager|grep -v grep|awk '{print $2;}')"
or
kill "$(ps|grep os.tools.scriptmanager|grep -v grep|cut -f5 -d" ")"
may you need adjust -f5 flag
To execute script as shortcut install SMWidgets.
Scripts usually ends with last line , ie, not special action is required, it will exit with the last executed command return code
Also you can add
exit 0
or preferred exit value, but 0 usually means OK
To end script in the middle use
exit value
where value usually it is not 0
Also it is better use mv command instead rename command.
rename command it is not linux standard, but mv command is in all linux shells.
Android shell programing it is not equals to linux shell programming but this was one of my first scripting documents many years ago and it can be used as a guide. http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Bash-Prog-Intro-HOWTO.html
Best regards,
Devwom
Thanks, this is valuable information! It's a shame this thread didn't get more replies
I've been looking to change my wallpaper by script, but so far I haven't been succesful. With your guide, I guess I'm a step closer to my goals!
Hi.
Perhaps developer of smanager or any expert is reading...
I would like to write a script for 2 purposes. Both handle with samba share running on my ubuntu.
1st situation.: I would like to move my media, download and documents files from android to the desired folder on my Ubuntu, which is shared by samba in my LAN.
The goal is to start this script with just touching a widget.
2nd situation: I would like to copy files from my samba shared folder in ubuntu to a specific folder on sdcard in android. All files in folder on sdcard should be deleted before copying. Again just by touching a widget.
Shared folder on samba are with password and rw.
Till now I am doing it manually with esexplorer...
I would like to do it with script.
Sent from my Incredible S using xda app-developers app
# What is Cron ?
Cron is the time-based job scheduler in Unix-like computer operating systems. Cron enables users to schedule jobs (commands or shell scripts) to run periodically at certain times or dates.
Examples :
The following line specifies that the amazing V6 Supercharger flush script execute every 3 hours of every day of the month, of every day of the week :
0 */3 * * * /system/xbin/flush
The following line causes the user program /data/jitter.sh to be run at 1am, 6pm and 11pm :
0 1,18,23 * * * /data/jitter.sh
# What is this thread about ?
This thread created just to share my little knowledge to activate crond in android phones, which could be usefull as additional tweak for our android phones.
# Disclaimer
Do this at your own risk - Ensure you understand that you are assuming all risks and there may also be other adverse effects. If you do not want to bear the risk, Please don't continue.
# Tested Device
- Galaxy Wonder GT-I8150 Stock ROM GB 2.3.6
- Lenovo S880 Stock ROM ICS 4.0.3
- Lenovo A560 Stock ROM ICS 4.0.3
# Requirement
1. Device is rooted, search Here howto root.
2. Already enable init.d, read Here howto enable init.d.
# Howto Install
1. Download SP8-CRON_v2.zip
2. Extract the Zip file to your SD card ( Install.sh & SP8CRON), for example in /mnt/sdcard.
*** Installation Method ***
Using ADB :
1. Connect to phone using adb, then run su.
2. go to extraction directory, example cd /mnt/sdcard
3. run this command : sh Install.sh
4. Installation script will begin and automatically reboot your phone when finish.
Using Script Manager :
1. Install Script manager.
2. Run Script manager, choose "Browse as Root".
3. Go to extraction directory, tap : Install.sh file , then tap : enable su (skull icon).
4. Installation script will begin and automatically reboot your phone when finish.
# Howto IUse
To modify cron schedule to meet your needs, please modify cron file at : /data/cronjob/root
(Examples above)
To check whether crond is running or not :
from ADB or Script Manager Console :
1. Run : su
2. Run :
pgrep -l crond , System will respon with showing pid number.
... and ...
crontab -l , System will list cron schedule list.
Thanks for reading this simple thread, Please hit Thanks if you found this thread is usefull
Changes :
V1 - Script on data folder and add logs.
V2 - Modify script to run on system folder, add Amazing V6 Supercharger flush and sclean script to schedule
-[spikecursed]-
Code:
# Mounting root
busybox mount -o remount,rw rootfs / 2>/dev/null;
ln -s /system/bin/ /bin 2>/dev/null;
mkdir -p /var/spool/cron/crontabs 2>/dev/null;
ln -s /system/etc/cron.d/root /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root 2>/dev/null;
busybox mount -o remount,ro rootfs / 2>/dev/null;
This is messing up my "internal sd card" so I am trying to set the path in the cron file instead but PATH=/system/bin isn't doing it, anyone know how to achieve this?
I have used the script and it's work great! Thank you very much.
I am writing this for any person having same problem as me.
I was struggle finding the real path for cron script.
The command crontab -e leads me to the incorrect path, the real and origin is at "/system/etc/cron.d/root".
We have to mount /system first with "mount -o remount,rw /system".
Then edit "/system/etc/cron.d/root" for cron script.
Don't forget to mount back /system as read-only with "mount -o remount,rw /system".
This is a tutorial for setting up crontab on Samsung Galaxy Note II. This is intended for native unix users to be able to use cron on their phones for scheduling various tasks such as reminders, backups, scheduled reboots, wifi on-off, etc.
Installation Instructions:
What you need:
Rooted Galaxy Note II with latest busybox installed
Ability to run scripts at startup [not required if you are willing to manually start crond every time you reboot.]
Step 1: Create a directory /data/root, and create a text file name root inside it. Your cron entries should go inside /data/root/root.
Step 2: Download the attached crontab.sh and place it in your mobile phone. You need to execute this script on startup. So if you have /etc/init.d folder, please it there. If you dont, you should contact your dev to check if your rom supports executing user scripts on startup.
Step 3: Understanding the (attached) script.
Any unix program including crontab references a users details from the /etc/passwd file. So we create a passwd file with root user's credentials. (Android does not have this by default).
Crontab is a compiled binary that looks for sh shell in the directory /bin/sh - a standard for unix. Unfortunately bin directory is inside /system in our phones, so we symlink it.
Set Timezone. TZ variable is sources by crontab to know the local timezone. Please modify the script to set it according to your location.
And finally, crond -c /data/root will start cron daemon on your phone sourcing crontab files from /data/root directory.
Step 4: Write your crontab file (Below is a typical crontab file). Please visit this link for an awesome tutorial on crontab.
Code:
[B][email protected]:/data/root # cat /data/root/root[/B]
# Script to make sure crontab is running
* * * * * echo "Crontab last ran on `date`" >> /storage/sdcard0/.crontab
# Script to backup whatsapp databases at 5 am everyday.
0 5 * * * cp /data/data/com.whatsapp/databases/* /storage/extSdCard/backups/whatsapp/
### FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ###
How to make sure it is working
In terminal - type pgrep -l crond (lower case L). If it return a process id and command name, crontab is running. If you see more than one "crond" running, it is likely that executed your script twice. kill the other script using command kill -9 <process id>
[*]My tasks are executing twice
Please re-read FAQ #1.
[*]It stopped working after i rebooted my phone.
You are probably not executing this script on startup. Reread this thread properly again.
kkoolpatz said:
This is a tutorial for setting up crontab on Samsung Galaxy Note II. This is intended for native unix users to be able to use cron on their phones for scheduling various tasks such as reminders, backups, scheduled reboots, wifi on-off, etc.
Installation Instructions:
What you need:
Rooted Galaxy Note II with latest busybox installed
Ability to run scripts at startup [not required if you are willing to manually start crond every time you reboot.]
Step 1: Create a directory /data/root, and create a text file name root inside it. Your cron entries should go inside /data/root/root.
Step 2: Download the attached crontab.sh and place it in your mobile phone. You need to execute this script on startup. So if you have /etc/init.d folder, please it there. If you dont, you should contact your dev to check if your rom supports executing user scripts on startup.
Step 3: Understanding the (attached) script.
Any unix program including crontab references a users details from the /etc/passwd file. So we create a passwd file with root user's credentials. (Android does not have this by default).
Crontab is a compiled binary that looks for sh shell in the directory /bin/sh - a standard for unix. Unfortunately bin directory is inside /system in our phones, so we symlink it.
Set Timezone. TZ variable is sources by crontab to know the local timezone. Please modify the script to set it according to your location.
And finally, crond -c /data/root will start cron daemon on your phone sourcing crontab files from /data/root directory.
Step 4: Write your crontab file (Below is a typical crontab file). Please visit this link for an awesome tutorial on crontab.
Code:
[B][email protected]:/data/root # cat /data/root/root[/B]
# Script to make sure crontab is running
* * * * * echo "Crontab last ran on `date`" >> /storage/sdcard0/.crontab
# Script to backup whatsapp databases at 5 am everyday.
0 5 * * * cp /data/data/com.whatsapp/databases/* /storage/extSdCard/backups/whatsapp/
### FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ###
How to make sure it is working
In terminal - type pgrep -l crond (lower case L). If it return a process id and command name, crontab is running. If you see more than one "crond" running, it is likely that executed your script twice. kill the other script using command kill -9 <process id>
[*]My tasks are executing twice
Please re-read FAQ #1.
[*]It stopped working after i rebooted my phone.
You are probably not executing this script on startup. Reread this thread properly again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interresting indeed,
Will digg this based on your informations, thank you
thx, can confirm it`s working on cm7.
You may have applied V6 Supercharger to your phone. And after reboot, you stuck at the boot splash. Reboot once and V6 Supercharger install script tell you that you aren't supercharged. Here is how to fix it. (If you get looped in boot animation, this is NOT your fix. Sorry!)
Depend on your rom, you may have to do one of following:
Open the (rooted) File Manager, open the directory /etc/init.d/ and open file 99SuperCharger. OR
Turn on ADB on your phone, use your computer to pull the file /etc/init.d/99Supercharger by running
Code:
adb pull /etc/init.d/99SuperCharger
Edit the file at the almost bottom of the file, change the following code:
Code:
if [ "`ps | grep -m 1 [a]ndroid`" ]; then HellzYeah;
else HellzYeah &; fi;
To look like this:
Code:
if [ "`ps | grep -m 1 [a]ndroid`" ] || [ $1 = "bypass" ]; then HellzYeah;
else
rm $bootloopcookie
$0 bypass &
fi;
Depend on what you have done on step 1, do the following:
If you use (root) file manager, save the file. Grant the superuser permission if needed. Then browse to /data and delete file !!SuperChargerBootLoopMessage.log. Don't worry if it's not exist.
If you use your computer to edit your file, run the following command:
Code:
adb root
adb remount
abd push /path/of/99SuperCharger /etc/init.d/99SuperCharger
adb shell
And inside the adb shell, run:
Code:
chmod 755 /etc/init.d/99SuperCharger
rm /data/!!SuperChargerBootLoopMessage.log
exit
Don't worry if file /data/!!SuperChargerBootLoopMessage.log doesn't exist.
And that's it! The V6 Supercharger bootscript is worked as it's designed to. Thanks to zeppelinrox to make this great script.
For one who want to know some technical info (and my assumption of the cause), wait me until tomorow and i'll explain how i found it. read on:
In order to run script in /etc/init.d at boot, the line like this is inserted in init.rc:
Code:
on boot
...
# Start the init.d service
exec /system/bin/sysinit
(In case of cm - for example)
But, what does the /system/bin/sysinit do? Just this:
Code:
#!/system/bin/sh
export PATH=/sbin:/system/sbin:/system/bin:/system/xbin
/system/bin/logwrapper /system/xbin/run-parts /system/etc/init.d
And this is the real source of problem. For some reason run-parts with logwrapper doesn't move on when you run a shell script function in background. If you scroll up in file 99SuperCharger, you'll found that "HellzYeah" is actually a function. And when it's execute in a boot process, "HellzYeah" will wait for boot process to continue. But run-parts (and the whole boot process) is waiting for the script to finish. You see? A deadlock!
The workaround is to execute function in the other way. What my modification do is re-executing the script with the parameter "bypass" in the background. This way, run-parts will not wait for it anymore. Then, when the script is re-executed, it will detect that it's called with the parameter "bypass". It'll run the function "HellzYeah", wait for boot process to finish, and, when the boot process is finished, supercharge your phone!
(if anyone is reading this, please inform zeppelinrox about this problem. I'm not able to post on the development forum yet.)
(This is my first post in xda. Hopefully it's helpful)