Help in building AOSP rom for our devices - Ascend Mate 7 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

First off I'm a new entrant to android, and I would like to build AOSP rom for our device. I have read quite a few posts on the internet about it. In one post Its said that the steps to AOSP building are 1) setting up environment
2) Syncing device tree 3) downloading the android source 4) downloading the drivers (kernal source code?)
4) building it. Is it actually that simple?
Forgive me if I'm wrong.
Lets discuss the possibility of AOSP rom for our devices.
Can some one post all the resources which we have, that will help building the rom?
Also, this thread can be a starting point for many developers out there.

kr1shna said:
First off I'm a new entrant to android, and I would like to build AOSP rom for our device. I have read quite a few posts on the internet about it. In one post Its said that the steps to AOSP building are 1) setting up environment
2) Syncing device tree 3) downloading the android source 4) downloading the drivers (kernal source code?)
4) building it. Is it actually that simple?
Forgive me if I'm wrong.
Lets discuss the possibility of AOSP rom for our devices.
Can some one post all the resources which we have, that will help building the rom?
Also, this thread can be a starting point for many developers out there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi kr1shna.
I saw your post on another thread involving the same topic.
The fact of the matter is, with the Mate 7 and Huawei devices in general, that Huawei does not release certain sources needed for creating a custom kernel, meaning that the only ROMs that can be created for these devices have to based off the existing EMUI sources, meaning there really isn't much use in doing it at all. @gabry3795 has managed to get the GPU drivers running (reported on his thread, which can be found here), however that's as far as anyone has come. After that the only way to get the device to actually boot (as far as my very limited knowledge on these things go) is to implement Huawei's sources and files, meaning you will just eventually end up with EMUI again.
TL;DR: Huawei is a jackass when it comes to releasing sources, meaning creating custom, non EMUI-ROMs and kernels is pretty much impossible.
If you do figure it out though, rest assured you will have the praise of all of us here that's absolutely sick of EMUI. So best of luck to you, however don't get your hopes up too high.

Scruffykid said:
Hi kr1shna.
I saw your post on another thread involving the same topic.
The fact of the matter is, with the Mate 7 and Huawei devices in general, that Huawei does not release certain sources needed for creating a custom kernel, meaning that the only ROMs that can be created for these devices have to based off the existing EMUI sources, meaning there really isn't much use in doing it at all. @gabry3795 has managed to get the GPU drivers running (reported on his thread, which can be found here), however that's as far as anyone has come. After that the only way to get the device to actually boot (as far as my very limited knowledge on these things go) is to implement Huawei's sources and files, meaning you will just eventually end up with EMUI again.
TL;DR: Huawei is a jackass when it comes to releasing sources, meaning creating custom, non EMUI-ROMs and kernels is pretty much impossible.
If you do figure it out though, rest assured you will have the praise of all of us here that's absolutely sick of EMUI. So best of luck to you, however don't get your hopes up too high.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the information, so buying a huawei was a bad decision. I should have got the htc m9 or a9 instead.

kr1shna said:
Thank you for the information, so buying a huawei was a bad decision. I should have got the htc m9 or a9 instead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
very bad decision! i have been trying to get help from huawei to release their sources for over a year but have had no luck. at this point im pretty much done and will probably just end up buying the next nexus device regardless of screen size. its sad that their are no good 6 inch phones with custom rom support.
i was going to try and pursue legal action but seeing as how the mate 7 was not legally released in the US, their is no legal recourse. im hoping someone in the EU could do some research regarding legal action against huawei in the hope of pressuring them to release source codes.

Related

Here is the Xoom build.prop thanks to thefredelement

Guys,
Have at it ! Here is the Xoom build.prop thanks to thefredelement... Give him a HUGE thanks for sharing this
Just download it; then extract the zip file and there you go!!!
Thanks again thefredelement !!!
Does this mean we will have honeycomb soon or do we still need the drivers from nvidia?
You still need a boot.img. Just so you know people have had access to the xoom for more than a week already and have been working on this.
Thanks, but based on the early indications this fingerprint will actually cause the market to shrink rather than expand. It is interesting to read though as it specifically states nosdcard, and does include the telephony stuff, if nothing else there is potential that once we have a honeycomb port 3G usb modem drivers may become available.
I just posted this so we could take a look at what was in it... it is a good read if nothing else ;-)
thebadfrog said:
You still need a boot.img. Just so you know people have had access to the xoom for more than a week already and have been working on this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would have thanked you but I've exceeded my max per didn't know there was a maximum. You learn something new everyday.
Anyways, it's also my understanding that to get the boot.img, the Xoom will need to be rooted. Is that correct? So, is that what we should be really looking for? Xoom has been rooted threads?
Look for "Rom based on Honeycomb". And yes it needs root. It will happen people. Posting endless honeycomb threads is not gonna make it any faster.
Ok I'm kind of a noob, please don't slam me 'frog. Since the whole purpose of Android and the whole Open Source thing is to make source available, don't either Motorola, nVidia or Google NEED to release this Honeycomb-Tegra 2 code at some point. I do realize that there may be proprietary pieces but I thought once you used open source code, you were obliged to release your resulting code to the community. Am I missing something here or is all this chatter just an attempt to get it faster?
I hate seeing all of the teaser threads as well, but I also try to keep an open mind and view it more as humorous than obnoxious. I'm sure the real dev's are quite adept at skipping and ignoring the stupid comments by people like me.
I'm just saying ...
thebadfrog said:
Look for "Rom based on Honeycomb". And yes it needs root. It will happen people. Posting endless honeycomb threads is not gonna make it any faster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol. I shouldn't have posted the last two sentences. It's not like I was saying that I was being impatient. Just wanted to learn that's all.
I'm assuming we'll see a lot of the bits and pieces of the XOOM system posted in here and just wanted to know what's relevant or not.
Thanks again.
Its all good. I understand people wanna learn.
Yes they have to release anything that is open source but if you use linux you can use the nvidea and ati example. They don't release their proprietary libs for their cards and as a result its quite likely when you upgrade your kernel you break your video drivers. Its not so bad now but a couple years ago I couldnt keep an ati card working.
All the endless threads that are repeats make it nearly impossible for noobs to find good information and it makes it harder for me to link the correct posts for noobs to follow. Everyone was new at one time but you will never learn anything if you keep asking and not looking. This is a developer forum....xda DEVELOPERS.... not a customer service forum. Most devs here go out of their way to answer questions as do a few of us power users. My tirades are not directed at people like the 2 previous posts. Its the ones that dont want help. They want someone to hold there hand and type out each and every command for them and supply them a fix for every problem. And they want it now
sverbanic said:
Ok I'm kind of a noob, please don't slam me 'frog. Since the whole purpose of Android and the whole Open Source thing is to make source available, don't either Motorola, nVidia or Google NEED to release this Honeycomb-Tegra 2 code at some point. I do realize that there may be proprietary pieces but I thought once you used open source code, you were obliged to release your resulting code to the community. Am I missing something here or is all this chatter just an attempt to get it faster?
I hate seeing all of the teaser threads as well, but I also try to keep an open mind and view it more as humorous than obnoxious. I'm sure the real dev's are quite adept at skipping and ignoring the stupid comments by people like me.
I'm just saying ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Typically one week is the lead time afforded the trail blazing device for each generation of Android, and then the plain vanilla source AOSP is posted at source.android.com (read about git first, where the kernel is posted). However none of the proprietary information in specific devices needs to be made available right away.
Will th devs that made the honeynook sdk preview be able to update that if they get a Xoom, amd in turn would that help the g tab devs?
I'm just curious about how much of a problem the fact that the XOOM has a Gig of system ram rather than 512 megs will be. I could see an easy way to protect some exclusivity under the guise of "ensuring compatibility" where one of the first boot steps is to check for enough available ram...
Good thing my Zpad has 1 gig ram then eh
boot img and tegra 2 aosp source here
http://android.modaco.com/content/advent-vega-vega-modaco-com/333138/xoom-rootboot-img/#entry1614605
I think.
Alpha06 said:
boot img and tegra 2 aosp source here
http://android.modaco.com/content/advent-vega-vega-modaco-com/333138/xoom-rootboot-img/#entry1614605
I think.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a Xoom boot.img, and the (tegra 2) kernel source for honeycomb (2.6.36).
Ok, per Engadget Xoom has been rooted... Next?
Here are the init files as well: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=11615922&postcount=9
You can get a rooted boot image here: http://www.koushikdutta.com/2011/02/motorola-xoom-rooted.html
Love it when things start moving at nearly the speed of light,... uh oh, getting dizzy... frog, will you hold my hand?
MikeTheSith200 said:
Will th devs that made the honeynook sdk preview be able to update that if they get a Xoom, amd in turn would that help the g tab devs?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Nook is so heavily supported because it's so god damn cheap for a tablet. (it's really an "e-reader")
there was no touch interface released with the version of honeycomb from the preview sdk.
With a real Honeycomb product (and full SDK) full development is possible.
If you wait, They will build it, we will come. =]

Cyanogenmod Info.

I've heard many things, all great, about CM since the beginning of time (...well, close to it.). Frequently, before a real android phone was obtainable via the average pathways here in the U.S. of A, and the iPhone was the only real option for a smartphone, I found myself pulled towards CM-even though I had no way of actually using it at the time. The open-source, power-to-the people feel has always appealed to me...and my journey, starting from the age of 12, when I started crashing my parents computer so I could spend more time with the boutique builder that would fix it, later fixing it myself, then exploring the down-and-dirty innards of my gadgets-- this journey, has always felt like home to me.
My personal tinkering with phones and the like started with my sisters HTC Tilt, which I skinned to look like an iPhone for her. This was one of the first phones with Wi-Fi (Ha!), and trying to get it work was just as fun as using it.
Moving on, I received, for my birthday, a palm PDA (one of the first with a camera and a color screen...the device itself was blue), but I had to return it due to an exploding display.
Finally, a couple years ago, I got my first smart-phone. An iPhone. And within an hour after getting it, I had it jailbroken and themed. But the innards were still off limits. While searching under terms lie? "Hack phone" and "tethering, I always came across posts speaking of Cyanogenmod...In fact, I'd say that an astounding 50% of my searches relating to customizing or modifying--in some way or another, led to a post or thread--sometimes a whole article, on how to do something with android, and specifically CM. This proved fruitful for my later endeavors.
When I was doing better financially, I bought my first android device, and have never felt so empowered, and have never had such a strong ownership of my devices. That device was the Transformer.
Again, after just an hour of owning the device, I was looking up terms...and searching XDA for every bit of relevant information I could find. Some of the questions I had: What is Clockwork Mod? What is Clockwork Mod Recovery? What's the difference? NVflash? What's a B70 serial number mean for my prognosis? What's a Nandroid? How do I choose a ROM?
Although there was a metric ten of terminology I needed to learn to know what I was doing--and even though there was almost a complete vacuum of centralized information--- at least authoritative information (any questioned asked in forums led to me being booted and marked as a noob), things eventually worked out.
I learned about the Boot loader situation for the transformer, the status of honeycomb as a sort of non-open-source open source operating system, and about the battery issues....about kernels, and speaker mods, about modules and root apps-and along the way I learned almost the full metric ton of terminology, and had a metric ton of fun...with you guys.
Which brings me to today...I own a brand new galaxy note, but am once again in the dark. Only this time, its far worse...because my questions pertain to CM, the gold reference when it comes to running a custom rom, and its structure...that is to say, the structure of the ROM, the team that builds it, and the community that helps support it...all relevant to understanding the dearth of work and choice that we find in this very forum. And because its been around for so long, the staple that CM has become, assumes that all things and all people know what's happening.
Which brings me to my real questions....which I've searched, and searched, and searched again for answers to, but have found no conclusive, or concise and relevant answers. I've searched the cyanogenmod site, the forum, this forum, and Google. And while I found half-answers, and although I'm confident I can root any device I, or my friends can buy, and I can install custom roms, edit props, change permissions, dump radios, flash pre rooted kernels and other kernels, and backup and edit every settings app and image I can find, I still find myself lacking a fundamental understanding of Cyanogenmod and Cyanogenmod work, official, and unofficial--information that would make my life complete, and help me bear the fruit of this journey I'm on.
That journey ends with a device that I own...one with cyanogenmod on it...specifically...a device in the near future that runs a version of CM that I helped contribute to-either officially or unofficially to.
And the beginning of the end to that journey, and the desired end game--developing, begins here. With my ASUS Transformer. And my questions.
Note: I illustrated this story in-depth, for a reason. To let you know that I've searched long and hard for clear answers, and that I plan to contribute significantly in the future to Android, and to XDA. I just need a teeny bit of help...a little direction. And so do a lot of us. I haven't found anywhere, a discussion of this subject--a significant one when it comes to understanding our community, our choices, and how to contribute...that subject is the structure of Cyanogenmod: the ROM, the team, and the community that constitutes them. The following questions are relevant to, and seek to address this fundamental lack of understanding.
Since the release of IcS, we've seen an explosion of CM in the Transformer forum. And while I understand how to read a change log, and a list of "what's working" and "what's not working", and can rely on a search find out what "Cornerstone" is, its still damn near impossible to define the relationship that constitutes all of the CM builds that are available. It might be clear, after a search, what the term "Kang" is, but what isn't clear, is what this means for the end-user. Its not clear what's official, what's parallel work, and what makes up the night lies that we can find on the CM repository. Is it one man aggregating work from forums like this, and throwing all of the features and fixes into a centralized build? Are the ROMs that we find in the Development section of the Transformer section off-shoots of CM to be worked on and differentiated in the future? Because where it stands now, I don't see a ton of differentiation. Maybe its because there's just been a new release, and I'm seeing the beginning of a process here. But I'm still unaware of what makes up a CM team. Its not clear how these things work-- if there is one man from the team working on the transformer, another working on the Epic 4g...and so on, or if everyone works on the same thing, and the feature or fix is distributed by a magic machine, or if each person on the team works on the same thing, and then a designated person ports it to his device. It's context like this that makes an informed overview of the current situation possible. And without that context, I'm stuck.
Most know that nightlies come before the release candidate(s), and that a stable release follows. But what I don't know, is why I never hear about an actual release, and almost always hear people speak of night lies, and in general, they're almost categorically excited.
So, if we were to examine my complete and utter lack of knowledge together, wed conclude that it's impossible for me to understand where XDA, and the ROMs that are available in the development section fit in to the grander-scheme of things. Is it better to get a nightly from CM? Is the nightly made up of the very fixes and developments we find in the various ROMs here in the development section?
How does someone go about deciding which of the dozen ROMs to install? Because the threads for ROMs don't explain anything when it comes to explaining an end goal, and a developers intent for the ROM, and the reasons why he/she is making one, I find myself stuck in the quick-sand of change-log after change-log, feature list after feature list.
Give me the 411. Explain to me what I'm missing in my Rosetta stone of the big picture..the grand scheme of things. Maybe I'm looking at this all wrong...maybe I'm just an idiot. Maybe you'll rage at me. But maybe, just maybe, I'm missing only, one small, key, piece of information here, and I spent a couple pages typing on the touchscreen of my transformer for thirty five minutes to find the answers that I badly need.
I'm sorry if I wasted your time. Thank you very much for reading this.
If you have a problem with my post, or a suggestion, attack, or complaint, please Private Message it to me...unless it pertains to the questions I posed...in which case I would very, very much appreciate your comment, your input, you sharing your knowledge, or even a question of your own.
Thanks.
Seriously? All that wall of text to ask the same question that everyone else asks?
This is how you divide up the custom ROMs to make your choice easier:
Do you want cornerstone or no?
If you want cornerstone, you pick between Team EOS or CM9
If you don't want cornerstone, you have these to pick from(in no particular order):
Revolver
Android Revolution HD
Codename Android
AOKP
CM9 no cornerstone version
Just try them and see what you like. I don't understand why people are so cautious before picking a ROM as if it's a permanent choice that can't be reverted.
If you don't like it, you can quickly flash a different ROM.
It's better for you to make your own decision based on your own experience with the ROMs rather than rely on someone else's recommendation whose needs and personal preference might not match yours.
Thank you, actually a nice read, there is also official cm support for our tf, on the cm website, last i seen there were 3 nightlies, since ics iv flashed the official cwm modded rom, then revolutiin, then team eos, then cm9, back to revolution, then codename android, now back on krakd hc rom until jcarrz releases his ics rom.
Sent from my R800i using xda premium
You gotta keep in mind that all ICS development now is in an early stage. Every rom is new, we don't have a solid stable one. Even stock asus have problems with rebooting, dock integration and so on.
CM is fragmented in 2 or 3 builds, and what diferentiates then is only the commits from CM repository and some dev preferences, like cornerstone or full support for the dock.
All roms that aren't Asus based (AOSP) suffers from some aditional issues, like:
- Dock won't be fully working, except on CM9 by ricardopvz and Codename Android. The touchpad still works different from stock asus.
- Some Wi-fi and GPS issues, probably driver related
- Screen rotation have a lag issue (all AOSP roms)
- Dock battery info missing, even with widget.
- Battery drain issues.
I have tested almost all roms and can say most of then is pretty usable. But if combined with overclock kernel, you can certainly expect problems.
[noobquestion]What is this cornerstone everyones talking about? lol [/noobquestion]
Im personally running team EOS nightly build (no cornerstone) with blade's OC kernel running at 1.4Ghz.
I think the ROM works very well. It hasnt really given me any issues except 2 random reboots and 1 semi-freeze (all on the same day lol). Its been running perfect for 3 days now though.
Don't worry about hondroid he is kind of a troll no hard feelings
I have not used CM for quite some time but here is my understanding from having worked with the captivate and transformer for over a year now.
Cyanogen mod is based off of the true source code of andorid taken directly from google and with no OEM's getting their greasy little fingers over them and polluting them with bloatware and skins. From there cyanogen set up a git repository where they have the main android tree as pure as it is and then branches for each device. Then there are plenty of devs working directly on the tree optimizing the core android and adding features which can then be accepted or regected by the otehr devs. Then there is a smaller team of devs on each "Branch" which normally consists of a certain type of processor or chipset. Ex Hummingbird or Tegra 2
The job of the devs there is to integrate that to make it work smoothly and they have the same peer approval system. There are also smaller branches which contain the drivers for most pieces of hardware (Speakers, Screens ect). Then finally there is the device dev there are normally about 5 from my experience but once all the work is done the team can be cut to 1 or 2. They are the people that get it up and running on the device writing missing drivers fixing device specific bugs ect. And once they are done there work they can compile it all together and there we have our nightly.
Then if there is a change in the core all the device devs have to do is recompile and build the rom and there is your next nightly.
The RC happens when they hit a stable nightly or when development has slowed enough that all of the bugs have been fixed
Hope this is helpfull
Thanks to all of your for your responses. I think this is a beautiful conversation that isn't happening enough. All of you have provided great information, that when combined helps to depict the structure of the community we have all grown to love.

[Q] Can someone port 4.2, 4.3, or 4.4 when it comes out?

I know other devices have custom ROMs that port OS updates even if they're not officially supported. Can someone do this for this phone? I'm tired of waiting for HTC, and we're already 3 updates behind.
To port from which device?
To our device is not likely to be the new kernel source code.
BrateloSlava said:
To port from which device?
To our device is not likely to be the new kernel source code.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is that policy just for htc? Because I saw a lot of devices has no official jb but have custom ones.
This devices have some skilled dev's who know how to do!
J.ali.li said:
Is that policy just for htc? Because I saw a lot of devices has no official jb but have custom ones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know the Galaxy Nexus is getting a 4.4 ROM, even though it's not officially getting the update. Why doesn't someone do that for our phone?
@deathvoxxxx
we are lucky enough to have small handful of awesome devs that own this phone.
what they develop for us is completely up to them.
ONLY if they decide to post a 'request' thread, is it 'cool' to keep asking questions like when and why and why not?
usually the answer is
Why don't you do it yourself?
and then you say 'sheesh! I was just asking'
and then they get annoyed and lose interest in developing anything else for us, so please, please, please don't ask ridiculously unneeded questions like these. some/most devs find them rude.
russellvone said:
@deathvoxxxx
we are lucky enough to have small handful of awesome devs that own this phone.
what they develop for us is completely up to them.
ONLY if they decide to post a 'request' thread, is it 'cool' to keep asking questions like when and why and why not?
usually the answer is
Why don't you do it yourself?
and then you say 'sheesh! I was just asking'
and then they get annoyed and lose interest in developing anything else for us, so please, please, please don't ask ridiculously unneeded questions like these. some/most devs find them rude.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So let's ask something unusual.
How complicated is it to go from Android 4.2 to Android 4.4 ? (For HTC, and for a dev? )
And compare to 4.1 to 4.2 transition, how is it ? (easier, harder?)
Is there a big change in the drivers, that require intervention from hardware manufacturer? Or is it possible to re-use the same driver from 4.2 ?
If drivers are the same, how complicated is it to go from Android source code with 4.2 drivers to a ROM ?
I'm not a developper, i don't do code. But identifying the tricky parts and requirements might be a good start. (Let's not talk about Sense for now)
Our SoC is a very common one. So Driver wouldn't be so hard to get?
Maybe HTC will follow 18months support recommendation from Google and grant us with a new update in May 2014 (18 months after nov. 2012)
Our phone was a "transition", to keep people waiting for their HTC One flagship. It also was in a tought financial period for HTC with decreasing sales. So a little consideration would be welcome...
I remember that in France, the press was talking about the ONE. They "used" the buzz in ads, calling it the HTC ONEsv (with big ONE and very little sv so you almost don't see it from the car on in the subway ... ) It is called as part of the One family, but it is a Desire family model...
Regards,

[Q] [Opinion] Why do all the roms look the same?

Hi.
I don't post much, I know, but I've been a lurker for quite a while. Anyway, long story short, I had a SGS for a while and by then (when it was new and shiny and the best thing of the world) every (or almost every) custom rom had something that distinguished it from the others (even with all the locked and closed source stuff). Either a new launcher, supercharged scripts, themes... you probably know what I mean. Fast-forward to 2014 and here I am with a brand new Nexus 5 with readily available source and binaries... I mean it's the or one of the most open phones in the world.
But, every custom ROM, be it stock or CM based, looks the same to me. Sure, names differ a lot (Dark UI, Black Carbon Fibers or whatever it is) but the overall functionality is the same. Innovation (or Imagination?) is near null values.
Apart from a few (SlimKat comes to mind even tho it has much of the functionality of the others, it's quite small in size compared) every rom looks the same. Not to mention there is quite less roms available for the device than for others.
Note that by saying this I mean no disrespect to the cookers or kitchen teams. Their work is highly appreciated.
Is it just me? Am I missing something?
Because every dev is building their ROMs using the same source.
Xeon3D said:
Hi.
I don't post much, I know, but I've been a lurker for quite a while. Anyway, long story short, I had a SGS for a while and by then (when it was new and shiny and the best thing of the world) every (or almost every) custom rom had something that distinguished it from the others (even with all the locked and closed source stuff). Either a new launcher, supercharged scripts, themes... you probably know what I mean. Fast-forward to 2014 and here I am with a brand new Nexus 5 with readily available source and binaries... I mean it's the or one of the most open phones in the world.
But, every custom ROM, be it stock or CM based, looks the same to me. Sure, names differ a lot (Dark UI, Black Carbon Fibers or whatever it is) but the overall functionality is the same. Innovation (or Imagination?) is near null values.
Apart from a few (SlimKat comes to mind even tho it has much of the functionality of the others, it's quite small in size compared) every rom looks the same. Not to mention there is quite less roms available for the device than for others.
Note that by saying this I mean no disrespect to the cookers or kitchen teams. Their work is highly appreciated.
Is it just me? Am I missing something?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
by look the same, you mean theming? you can do your own theming. nexus devices are lucky, they have access to source and the binaries, the other devices dont. from what i see, most other devices try to get aosp working on them, but dont fully or in a non hacky way. so they try other stuff with their roms, like more theming. people mostly buy nexus devices because they lack all the oem thrown in stuff and run pure android. the developers buy nexus devices for the same reason. generally, there isnt much demand for theming a nexus rom. nexus people like the basic android ui, as well as the developers. plus, id say that the over all age of nexus users is a little older than other android phones, and theming is more prefered by children and teenagers.
oh, and btw, nexus developers only use open source code, as its illegal to publish anything public using closed sourced code. anyways, nexus is all ooen source code, except for the binaries.
While all my examples were about theming, I didn't want to focus just on theming. I don't see roms using custom launchers or even a custom theme or kernel.. Nor do they integrate apps from other devices or from the market/devs here on XDA. Every cm11 based rom is pretty much the same functionality wise and I don't even want to talk about the stock based ones.
I thought that nexus owners being them users or developers bought the devices because it would be easier to use or create custom roms for them due to the openness of the system.
Also if it is illegal to post stuff with closed source code (and I know it is) why do all the other devices have a ****load of roms with proprietary stuff in them?? They're still pretty much available here (I'm thinking of the live with Walkman forum)..
Most roms there have stuff from newer and better devices which do actually work and that phone is really poor on terms of hardware specs.
It seems to me that most cookers for the nexus 5 are cooking the same dish but calling it different names because they might plate it In a different way.
It's a bit late now for me now, but I guess sooner or later I'm going to create a deviation of the rom list available as a Google document here and try every rom and compare them feature wise. So I can know for sure if I'm right with what I say here or if it's just a product of my imagination.
Xeon3D said:
While all my examples were about theming, I didn't want to focus just on theming. I don't see roms using custom launchers or even a custom theme or kernel.. Nor do they integrate apps from other devices or from the market/devs here on XDA. Every cm11 based rom is pretty much the same functionality wise and I don't even want to talk about the stock based ones.
I thought that nexus owners being them users or developers bought the devices because it would be easier to use or create custom roms for them due to the openness of the system.
Also if it is illegal to post stuff with closed source code (and I know it is) why do all the other devices have a ****load of roms with proprietary stuff in them?? They're still pretty much available here (I'm thinking of the live with Walkman forum)..
Most roms there have stuff from newer and better devices which do actually work and that phone is really poor on terms of hardware specs.
It seems to me that most cookers for the nexus 5 are cooking the same dish but calling it different names because they might plate it In a different way.
It's a bit late now for me now, but I guess sooner or later I'm going to create a deviation of the rom list available as a Google document here and try every rom and compare them feature wise. So I can know for sure if I'm right with what I say here or if it's just a product of my imagination.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well, then nexus romming wont be right for you.
on second thought, the nexus 5 is definitely not right for you.
there are many roms that include custom kernels. and, there is a large number of custom kernels that you yourself can CHOOSE to flash on your own.
and the thing about nexus devices, all of them, is that they dont include bloat. which is another reason people buy them. the far majority of people here dont want roms to add more apps. again, you can do that on your own. it gives you choice of what you want, and you dont. many here like roms debloated.
and you talk about cm as its something big. cm isnt big for the nexus 5, its aosp. thats what people want. they want the pureness. not the over-hacked bloated of a rom. and again, thats what people buy nexus devices. we have full source. no over hackery needed, its clean and pure.
the proprietary stuff comes with the phones already, so people that buy those phones have a right to it. anyways, people that arent part of open source steal it. sometimes they get in trouble, sometimes they dont. legally, they can get in trouble if they distribute it. people that are part of open source respect others rights, and adhere to the rules and practices.
and there are two kinds of developer forums here, if you haven't noticed. android development and original development. in original development, they create an original piece of work. in android development, they take whats already out there, and do what they want with it.
it also seems as you think of the same and original works are about features. well, they are not. most of it is going to be inside the rom itself. like things that add speed, smoothness, and efficiency. most of the features are just added into the roms later, what its users like.
there are so many ways that you can make a rom your own, original. there are multitudes of ways you can mod what you are running. be creative, set it up as you personally like. make it yours.
Xeon3D said:
I'm going to create a deviation of the rom list available as a Google document here and try every rom and compare them feature wise. So I can know for sure if I'm right with what I say here or if it's just a product of my imagination.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't post it here. It will be against the rules.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Whatever you say we all love our Nexus 5 and what it offers..
shadowdevil said:
Whatever you say we all love our Nexus 5 and what it offers..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do love mine as well.
rootSU said:
Don't post it here. It will be against the rules.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really? There's one already available here (even tho it's outdated), that I found out in the OP of this Stickied Thread
simms22 said:
well, then nexus romming wont be right for you.
on second thought, the nexus 5 is definitely not right for you.
there are many roms that include custom kernels. and, there is a large number of custom kernels that you yourself can CHOOSE to flash on your own.
and the thing about nexus devices, all of them, is that they dont include bloat. which is another reason people buy them. the far majority of people here dont want roms to add more apps. again, you can do that on your own. it gives you choice of what you want, and you dont. many here like roms debloated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I never meant to say that I wanted bloated roms. I understand the Nexus thing with AOSP, I really do. But while I agree that it having AOSP with full source and absolutely no bloat is its greater selling point (and one of the reasons I bought it), I'd think that if people with "closed devices" are tinkering with their devices in order to make them faster/nicer/prettier/<insert adjective here>, that a device for which there is full source and binary blobs compatible with every android version released after the device's released date, people would be more inclined to make custom roms that differ a bit more/offer more functionaly than AOSP. One of the things with open-source is freedom of choice, and sure, if you want pureness by all means go AOSP, but what if you don't? While AOSP is pure, it's lacking quite some features we've come to love on other phones...
simms22 said:
and you talk about cm as its something big. cm isnt big for the nexus 5, its aosp. thats what people want. they want the pureness. not the over-hacked bloated of a rom. and again, thats what people buy nexus devices. we have full source. no over hackery needed, its clean and pure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again, see my previous point. If we have full source, we should have less issues while creating something more functional, prettier than people with closed devices.
simms22 said:
the proprietary stuff comes with the phones already, so people that buy those phones have a right to it. anyways, people that arent part of open source steal it. sometimes they get in trouble, sometimes they dont. legally, they can get in trouble if they distribute it. people that are part of open source respect others rights, and adhere to the rules and practices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure they have rights to it, as long as it is from the same device. Having a Xperia Z1 or T lockscreen or system UI on a LWW rom tho? I know it's illegal (on most countries) yet it is "accepted" here. I don't want stuff from another phone in my Nexus, but in the market there are so many good alternatives to AOSP/CM defaults that I find it strange that everyone is using either the AOSP Launcher (which has almost nil features and settings) or Launcher3 (or whatever it's called, which has like 1 or 2 more features than the AOSP launcher) and this is just a simple example.
Xeon3D said:
Really? There's one already available here (even tho it's outdated), that I found out in the OP of this Stickied Thread
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats a list of roms, kernels and mods. It just gives people links. It does not seek to compare. Its comparison that is not allowed
rootSU said:
Thats a list of roms, kernels and mods. It just gives people links. It does not seek to compare. Its comparison that is not allowed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
he's talking about the google excel spreadsheet that compares the features. its a link in the thread.
Zepius said:
he's talking about the google excel spreadsheet that compares the features. its a link in the thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess it's been missed by the moderators then as any comparison is against the rules.
rootSU said:
I guess it's been missed by the moderators then as any comparison is against the rules.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is this an xda-wide rule? I've seen posts such as this one for quite a while now.
source: http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-s/general/war-obscurity-enter-risk-t2551028
Xeon3D said:
If we have full source, we should have less issues while creating something more functional, prettier than people with closed devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean you expect devs here to build a rom that is quite similar to touchwiz, sense, and miui?
Xeon3D said:
Again, see my previous point. If we have full source, we should have less issues while creating something more functional, prettier than people with closed devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
prettier.. you do realized pretty is in the eye of the beholder? whats pretty to you is ugly as sin to me.
anyways, about creating something new and more functional.. the devs here work for free, on their own time. they have full time jobs, families, kids, and so on. they dont get paid for their efforts, or otberwise rewarded. where are they supposed to get the time for it? by the time they cteate something new, a new version of android will come out, and what they made will be looked past, among other things. maybe if we had full time xda devs.
what you need to do is create a rom yourself, or "shut up". as what you are posting is very disrespectful to the developers that we do have here.
rootSU said:
I guess it's been missed by the moderators then as any comparison is against the rules.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The forum rules don't say anything about this. The only thing that seems similar is the "no best rom threads," but there's nothing about not being allowed to create a comparison thread.
Anyway, I think there are a few reasons for what the OP is saying.
The SGS ran a custom manufacturer skin, so you would have an assortment of TouchWiz ROMs and AOSP ROMs that would seem to lead to more variety.
Although it has always been possible to run a custom launcher, Google has made it much easier/more seamlessly integrated with the addition of the Home settings. There's no real reason to integrate a custom launcher unless you're building your own, which CM does still include.
With the Theme Engine you don't see too many ROMs integrating their own themes. SlimKat does still have TRDS which is basically a custom theme.
raptir said:
The forum rules don't say anything about this. The only thing that seems similar is the "no best rom threads," but there's nothing about not being allowed to create a comparison thread.
]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's right up there in the general forum. It's a STICKIE! I don't know how you missed it.
Anyways here's the thread made by a moderator where it's clearly written that any kind of comparison threads aren't allowed:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/google-nexus-5/general/message-moderators-users-please-read-t2500184
---------- Post added at 09:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:12 PM ----------
ej8989 said:
Is this an xda-wide rule?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it is. Comparison threads are frowned upon everywhere.
vin4yak said:
It's right up there in the general forum. It's a STICKIE! I don't know how you missed it.
Anyways here's the thread made by a moderator where it's clearly written that any kind of comparison threads aren't allowed:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/google-nexus-5/general/message-moderators-users-please-read-t2500184
---------- Post added at 09:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:12 PM ----------
Yes it is. Comparison threads are frowned upon everywhere.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IMHO, the list about OP is talking about is much more a "feature list" than a "comparison list".
vfmmeo said:
IMHO, the list about OP is talking about is much more a "feature list" than a "comparison list".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't quote the OP, did I?? I was replying to the other two.
vfmmeo said:
IMHO, the list about OP is talking about is much more a "feature list" than a "comparison list".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol, the op is NOT talking features. he wants to compare Roms for oiriginality, that isn't a feature list.
vin4yak said:
It's right up there in the general forum. It's a STICKIE! I don't know how you missed it.
Anyways here's the thread made by a moderator where it's clearly written that any kind of comparison threads aren't allowed:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/google-nexus-5/general/message-moderators-users-please-read-t2500184
I missed it because we're in the Q&A forum not the general forum
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
simms22 said:
lol, the op is NOT talking features. he wants to compare Roms for oiriginality, that isn't a feature list.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Xeon3D said:
It's a bit late now for me now, but I guess sooner or later I'm going to create a deviation of the rom list available as a Google document here and try every rom and compare them feature wise. So I can know for sure if I'm right with what I say here or if it's just a product of my imagination.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

New to Android ROM dev, have much kernel/driver development experience. Need protips

Hi, I started researching and messing with custom ROM/Kernel development 3 weeks ago. I've successfully compiled the kernel for my s5 neo Exynos 7580/MALI 200 (no hardware acceleration yet but I'm a kernel developer and reverse engineer so I can get that working given enough time, and have chosen all the apps I want to include in my first ROM. I made the ROM into and Odin flashable image and bricked my phone because I didn't adjust for the differences between the s7 and the s5 neo's power requirements. I bought 3 more S5 Neo's though, fixed the kernel, and all 3 devices have been 100% stable for 3 days with some minimal usage to test all the features. I am a kernel/driver developer, and as of now have taken over a dozen kernel MOD's from other people's kernels, and applied them to mine. There are more mods I could extract and apply, but I don't care to add them because I don't think they suit the goals of my ROM.
I would like to know things that aren't documented or easy to find that I will have to work with as I progress in the complexity of ROM development. So most of my ROM right now is apps I extracted from other ROMs and the play store and f-droid. But I am a coder and am working on my own settings app is suited for my ROM, including providing all the functionality of the root requiring apps I have installed now, also, I have about $80 of premium paid apps in my current setup, and want to put all the things they do into my custom settings app. I eventually plan on turning this into an android fork but for now, I'm starting out with baby steps to learn at a pace I can handle without overloading myself.
Please, any ROM/Kernel/App developers provide me any things you have learned from experience that I can't find on google and will be useful to know for my project.
Also, I have 2 questions. A) is UBER GCC better than Samsung eabi GNU compiler collection compilers?
B) Is deodexing really so good? because I've looked at the pros and cons and I don't think deodexing is worth the tradeoffs, but I feel like there's a reason almost every custom ROM does it. I know the tools to deodex ROM's don't work on Samsung android or other not AOSP based ROMS, but I already wrote a python script that deodex's my phone perfectly, I tried it, but I wasn't happy with the differences in response time and boot time and I believe it was causing a lot more memory to be used although I'm not sure why. Is deodexing better than I think it is, or is it just the cool thing to do for people who don't know how it really works?
Links, tips, polite criticisms, are all welcome. Also, this is my first post and I'm pretty sure these forums are the only place I can find people with the skill level to do these things well or at all.
I see some very knowledgeable people post here so I hope they find my post and reply with some tips. I tried the Freenode android channels and they are all plebs. They actually made fun of me for claiming I could make a custom ROM for this phone, they said it's impossible, and in 3 hours I had a screenshot of my about device showing my own compiled kernel running on my phone, no mods, just proof this been stuff is doable. Then I told them off about pretending to be experts but really knowing nothing and calling me a fool because they are too ignorant, then I left all 3 Freenode android channels and came here. In the channel for android ROM's and rooting, 99% of them were people who needed help rooting their phone or installing a custom ROM, not people I can learn from and grow to become a member of their community like I hope to do here.
if you didn't stop reading by now because of tl;dr, thanks for taking the time to read my post and please respond if you have helpful info. I've already read all the stuff I can find from google and these forums, I'm looking for the tips that aren't documented or that I may have written off as not important.
-zerorax, AKA Will O
Also if anyone wants to join forces to help me, I'm open to contributions and will give credit for them where it is due.

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