Related
Update 03/08/11
NotEnoughSpace has finally graduated to the Android Marketplace!
Beta testers can currently get it at its "thank you" price of $0.99.
I will set the regular price in a week so hurry
*** *** *** ***
Note #1: your phone needs to be ROOTED to use this application.
Note #2: so far, only tested on Droid Incredible and HTC Desire.
From the built-in help:
About this application
This application's goal is to help you understand and possibly work around a common vexation of using Android; i.e. these messages:
"not enough space"
"Low on space. Application data space is low."
What is happening?
You've checked your phone's vitals and it appears that it has plenty of space left, both internal storage and SD Card storage. So, what's happening?
Android allows your applications to store their data, primarily, in a dedicated partition whose size happens to be much smaller than even the phone's internal storage space. Generally south of 150 MBs.
This is the partition that fills up so quickly and that Android has been complaining about.
And the help goes on and on so I'll stop here.
The short version
Using this application, you can see which applications use up most of your phone's data space and decide what to do with them.
You can also move the biggest directories to the phone's SD Card.
Additionally, you can use the app to cleanup the Dalvik cache but it's not the app's primary function.
Please, help test it!
I will gladly welcome any constructive criticism; I expect most of it to be along the lines of "The tool is not quite accurate" and that's what I wish to address first.
To create a debug report (these are very important):
Simply select the "Debug" menu and follow the on-screen instructions.
The whole email business is so that you can copy/paste from a desktop client.
The .apk can be downloaded from nexus.zteo.com/projects/beta/
Update 12/04/10
The application should now display correct stats for phones/ROMs that use Busybox. If you have already tested it and it said "NaN" please try it again.
This should be interesting, maybe kinda Android GpartED?
cyansmoker said:
Using this application, you can see which applications use up most of your phone's data space and decide what to do with them.
You can also move the biggest directories to the phone's SD Card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Curious, does this mean you can move and symlink data, or are you talking about Froyo Apps2SD?
teorouge said:
This should be interesting, maybe kinda Android GpartED?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Obviously not, he's managing what's there, he's not partitioning anything.. Did you read?
khaytsus said:
Obviously not, he's managing what's there, he's not partitioning anything.. Did you read?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Come on, what's the matter dude? I did read, and from what I read I thought whole partition handling was the only thing this app would be missing. Single files is a good start, but making that "kinda GpartED" would be killer. Though I fear you should be in bootloader/recovery to work on those, don't know how Android deals with them (i.e. in Windows you have programs you can change partitions size "on the fly" with). Now that I elaborated more, are you still angry?
This application would be genius. I'm wondering however, will the phone still be able to access that data once it is moved off of the system memory and onto the SD Card? And is it possible to actually partition the /data/data section so that it will use more than the allowed 150mb that it has, like open it up so that instead of it being partitioned to a small amount, it just roams free with the rest of the 748mb or whatever that is in the system memory.
A promising app, thanks.
Navigon, however, doesn't like its data to be moved to SD card. Even after moving it back with the app, it FCs (Android 2.1). I think I have to reinstall. So be careful if you're trying to do the same.
Edit: After reinstalling the .apk (without doing anything with the maps), Navigon works again. The packet installer didn't ask me if I wanted to replace the existing installation (as is otherwise usual in such a case).
Edit2: There seems to be a general problem. The next app I tried was mediaU. It has a large database which I moved (using NES) to the SD card. It also FCed after having moved its database, and restoring to the old location (again using NES) also didn't succeed. No error message during restore, but app still won't run.
Phone: Galaxy 3, Android 2.1 (original ROM).
mizch said:
A promising app, thanks.
Navigon, however, doesn't like its data to be moved to SD card. Even after moving it back with the app, it FCs (Android 2.1). I think I have to reinstall. So be careful if you're trying to do the same.
Edit: After reinstalling the .apk (without doing anything with the maps), Navigon works again. The packet installer didn't ask me if I wanted to replace the existing installation (as is otherwise usual in such a case).
Edit2: There seems to be a general problem. The next app I tried was mediaU. It has a large database which I moved (using NES) to the SD card. It also FCed after having moved its database, and restoring to the old location (again using NES) also didn't succeed. No error message during restore, but app still won't run.
Phone: Galaxy 3, Android 2.1 (original ROM).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tonight I'm gonna try for sure and report back, this does look promising! Did you succeed with some apps?
teorouge said:
Did you succeed with some apps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
K9 seemed to work. However, I had to reflash for another reason, and now K9 reports its lib as being in the standard location (reported by NES). For now, I have stopped testing NotEnoughSpace so I can not say more.
mizch said:
K9 seemed to work. However, I had to reflash for another reason, and now K9 reports its lib as being in the standard location (reported by NES). For now, I have stopped testing NotEnoughSpace so I can not say more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
eh? K9 has native use of the SD card if you enable it... Why would you use this on it?
Thanks for doing this testing, guys.
I will install these apps and test them myself.
teorouge: you moved the database/ directory, is that it?
mizch: so, you re-installed K9 after reflashing, right?
Everybody: what about the "free space" numbers reported by the app? Do they seem correct to you? I had to use a dedicated algo to compute them, taking block size in account, and I've had reports of fairly surprising discrepancies.
Free space doesn't seem to update after moving, though I see the difference in the Titanium Backup count: tried for a couple of apps (G Earth and well... don't remember!) and it did move everything, free up space on /data and I can still use those apps. Still afraid to move many apps, just moving one at the time and test.
I just tested it out on my Droid 1, which is running CM6.1RC5 (Not sure if thats relevant or not), and it doesnt seem to work very well on my phone. All apps came back as 4KB, at the top it showed this... Total:261.8MB Used:NaNKB Free: 259.1MB Database NaNKB Files: NaNKB Preferences:NaNKB Cache:NaNKB.
Heres the debug report: 1:/dev/block/mtdblock6 268032 224572 43460 84% /data
2:62855 /data/data
3:4096/0/265352
Sorry - never mind; found the info in FAQ.txt after downloading
cyansmoker said:
Note #1: your phone needs to be ROOTED to use this application.
Note #2: so far, only tested on Droid Incredible and HTC Desire.
From the built-in help:
About this application
This application's goal is to help you understand and possibly work around a common vexation of using Android; i.e. these messages:
"not enough space"
"Low on space. Application data space is low."
What is happening?
You've checked your phone's vitals and it appears that it has plenty of space left, both internal storage and SD Card storage. So, what's happening?
Android allows your applications to store their data, primarily, in a dedicated partition whose size happens to be much smaller than even the phone's internal storage space. Generally south of 150 MBs.
This is the partition that fills up so quickly and that Android has been complaining about.
And the help goes on and on so I'll stop here.
The short version
Using this application, you can see which applications use up most of your phone's data space and decide what to do with them.
You can also move the biggest directories to the phone's SD Card.
Additionally, you can use the app to cleanup the Dalvik cache but it's not the app's primary function.
Please, help test it!
I will gladly welcome any constructive criticism; I expect most of it to be along the lines of "The tool is not quite accurate" and that's what I wish to address first.
To create a debug report:
Simply select the "Debug" menu and follow the on-screen instructions.
The whole email business is so that you can copy/paste from a desktop client.
The .apk can be downloaded from nexus.zteo.com/projects/beta/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have more details about this program anywhere? I went to the download page but see no further info...
Help Section Typo
Under A Quick user guide in your user guide(?) that prompts when you run the apk for the first time there is a typo in the last sentence:
You can touch any application to explore its content and figure out what is taking up some much space.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So far I havent run into any issues with the apk...
Not to burst anyones bubble, but Choose Install Location has been doing this in a comprehensive way for weeks. http://www.appbrain.com/app/choose-install-location-free/com.beidl.chooseloc
Free Memory?
bdt1995 said:
I just tested it out on my Droid 1, which is running CM6.1RC5 (Not sure if thats relevant or not), and it doesnt seem to work very well on my phone. All apps came back as 4KB, at the top it showed this... Total:261.8MB Used:NaNKB Free: 259.1MB Database NaNKB Files: NaNKB Preferences:NaNKB Cache:NaNKB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having the same problem as bdt1995. Running CM 6.1 RC1.. the only difference is the total memory is 196.2 and the free is:194.3 MB cuz I'm using a Nexus.. CM6 might be the problem?
bdt1995 said:
I just tested it out on my Droid 1, which is running CM6.1RC5 (Not sure if thats relevant or not), and it doesnt seem to work very well on my phone. All apps came back as 4KB, at the top it showed this... Total:261.8MB Used:NaNKB Free: 259.1MB Database NaNKB Files: NaNKB Preferences:NaNKB Cache:NaNKB.
Heres the debug report: 1:/dev/block/mtdblock6 268032 224572 43460 84% /data
2:62855 /data/data
3:4096/0/265352
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here (total 196.2MB, Free 194.3MB, all apps 4KB), system details in my sig. Using apps2sdext, over 200 apps.
Debug info:
Code:
1:/dev/block/mtdblock5 200960 112144 88816 56% /data
2:96070 /data/data
3:4096/0/198951
Same problem as above with Cyanogen 6.02, However it looks promising.
I Think that moving data to standard SD can leads to security issue, because SD can be readed and written by any apps. Should be better if the app recognize /EXT partition, if exist, and move data here.
i'd like to try it and i get my lil sis to try it also she gets this problem a lot i have the droid incredible and my sis has the droid eris.
bdt1995, rnh16, britoso, mmorselli:
Thanks for the debug info. Indeed Cyanogen is a tad "exotic" for NES at this point.
Please download the latest version of NES -- I just uploaded it. It contains an extra debug line which should allow me to make it work so please paste your debug output here one more time.
JerseyFF:
Oops, thanks.
lhinsz:
Because it is a beta version, it hasn't been released yet and all the information you may need is contained in the Help screen. I tried to make it comprehensive.
BigNate:
Should work with HTC devices, yes. Could you or you sister paste her phone's debug screen here?
Zandog:
I do not think that both apps share the same goal so no lives should be lost (Seriously, not much of a bubble to burst?)
or: How to avoid rejected text message errors with lots of free space available
Background:
This post helped me a bunch and alleviated my issue with lost text messages due to "low space" errors. I'm using cMTD + eFOS [forum.cyanogenmod.com/topic/8711-read-this-recovery-and-installing-cyanogenmod6-firerats-cmtd-ennons-fso-gapps/] + magpie [forum.cyanogenmod.com/topic/9731-magpie-2010-12-07] on my nexus one and my "low space" threshold jumped from ~20mb (stock) up to ~40mb with all the mods. Clearly 40mb is more than enough space for receiving text messages [hell 20mb was more than enough, but I digress...]. Since my internal memory is much, much larger than default (~320mb on /data) I've set my threshold to 2% of the total space available instead of the 5% suggested in the post. At this ratio that drops my "low space" threshold down to ~10mb which is what I would expect it to be at by default.
So if you're having issues and need a real solution that isn't "just remove some of your apps so you have more free space" then try this mod. I would suggest making a copy of settings.db just in case you need to go back to default, but really there isn't much that you could break by doing this. Keep in mind that the number you're changing is a percentage and not a fixed number value, so mileage will vary from device to device. Play with the numbers and see what works best for you. The way I tested it was dropping a bunch of dummy files (actually just multiple copies of an .apk, don't forget to delete these when you're done testing ^_~) into /data/local/tmp until the free space message was displayed, then texted myself using gVoice [voice.google.com] and altered the threshold percentage until I got to a comfortable level.
As a side note, it would be *awesome* if there was an option in the Settings > CyanogenMod Settings menu that let us alter this value through a gui so we don't need adb. I would do it, but I have no confidence in my java programming skills =p *hint hint*
Anywho on to the meat of this post...
---------------------
Low on Space – Phone storage space is getting low.
Its a cursed message on my Android HTC Hero, but there is 16MB free on /data partition! I want my email to sync a bit more and I want to receive text messages and I dont want to delete any apps.
You need to have rooted your android device and have the android sdk installed and debugging enabled on your phone. I might package this recipe up into an apk for easy installation.
The default limit is 10% of free space, i’ve reduced mine to 5%, I don’t know if there are any terrible side effects. As you’ve already rooted your phone you’ve already probably voided your warranty
To reduce from 10% to 5% warning from your “adb shell”:
Code:
# sqlite3 /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db
sqlite> insert into secure (name, value) VALUES('sys_storage_threshold_percentage','5');
sqlite> insert into gservices (name, value) VALUES('sys_storage_threshold_percentage','5');
sqlite> .quit
# reboot
*** don't include the # or sqlite>, those are the console prompts... ***
Some firmwares seem to look for the setting in gservices but the latest android source looks like it looks for it in the secure settings, so i’ve included both for good measure.
---------------------
Note:
reposted (with a few edits) from [bryars.eu/2010/10/how-to-reduce-the-threshold-for-low-on-space-android-warnings/]
Disclaimer:
This is not my work / information / blog, but since it was a huge help to me and I couldn't find the information anywhere else I thought I'd post it here for others to use ^^
Additional information:
If you want more information or a gui to edit the settings.db file, use adb to pull the file from /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db, edit settings.db using a program like SQlite db browser [blog.dreamcss.com/dev-tools/sqlite-database-browser/], then push the file back to the phone using adb and reboot.
Sorry for reviving an old thread but this is an excellent find, especially on my S-Off Desire when the phone complains about the lack of space at 30 MB!
Apps won't install or update, insufficient storage, 200MB free
Same here, sorry for reviving the thread, maybe I should have started a new one, but this topic has half the answer... this works perfect to stop the notification, but...
I still get the "Insufficient storage available." notification when I try to update or install an app.
I've looked around and searched here and on Google
I have the Galaxy S2 Skyrocket, with 2GB for /data, so it still has 200MB free. I know I've gone app crazy with over 200 apps installed, but that's not the point. I plan to organize and thin them out once I get some time to see which ones I want to stick with, but since there is plenty of space left, that shouldn't be a problem.
This is not related to the other issues I found on the forum (like this one or this one), and I know I can gain some space back by clearing caches and obviously by removing some apps or getting an sd card and moving apps to it. That's not the correct solution, those are all just workarounds.
Any ideas? Based on this topic, it would make sense that there is another key I can add to the database somewhere to lower the same threshold but for installing/updating apps.
@WebGuru, I am also interested in finding a way to lower the point at which my device start telling me insufficient storage. My S-OFF HTC Desire with custom HBOOT has 387MB /data and therefore I get insufficient storage prompts when I have ~35MB of space remaining. Most annoying. I've applied the DB update and I confirm it silences the notification only.
If I find anything useful I'll post it here.
Regards, Martin.
From what I understand the problem with app installs is due to the free space threshold value being hard coded into some aspect of the ROM itself and therefore no DB value exists nor can be created which will allow for adjustments. The issue would have to be taken into account by the ROM developer or by someone willing to hunt down the values and create a custom build with the appropriate fix.
I agree with WebGuru, the topic is still relevant and I have LG G2 5.0.1 16 GB version and have free ~500 MB and receiving insufficient memory. . . Has anyone knows any ROM files for solving this problem?
stupid low storage threshold value
Coolguy981 said:
I agree with WebGuru, the topic is still relevant and I have LG G2 5.0.1 16 GB version and have free ~500 MB and receiving insufficient memory. . . Has anyone knows any ROM files for solving this problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i think it is still relevant too, because i still experience on several modern devices.
the only possibility i found after hours and hours of crawling the web is to change value sys_storage_threshold_percentage and/or
sys_storage_threshold_max_bytes in /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db which would be easy enought to do, if this settings.db would still be used and would not be deprecated by now (as far as i have understood).
based on the information i found the standard value is "10" for the percentage which for our modern devices nowadays is unnecessary much. additionally it is quite iphone-y imo to force this value on us without an easy possibliity to customize it to our own preferences/use cases, but that's another story of course. ^^
i would really appreciate any information, suggestion or help on this issue, i am quite desperate by now and have no more ideas where to look or what to try.
thx and greetz,
sUsH667
Good Day Folks.
I'm a Noob in need of help and i'm hoping the more experienced among us might be able to assist. I have an issue with disappearing phone storage. Over the course of a week I realized that I was losing about 1MB a day. My phone would basically be dormant and I would still see my storage space dropping by this amount everyday.
Cache cleaning didn't work. Later I realized that Android creates a bunch of log files in Data/System/Dropbox that was responsible for the disappearing phone storage trick I've been seeing for a while now.
I know now that Google has incorporated into Android as of the 2.2 iteration, a DropBox Manager that's responsible for logging all of the events that take place during the course of a running Android session. Everything from what took place at boot to force close details.
I understand that this is used for debugging purposes but I'm no developer . So my question is.... Can this DropBox Manager be disabled....somehow.
I really don't need all these files (and its A LOT OF THEM) being created as they serve no practical purpose for me. Not sure if anyone else might have noticed this but I'm hoping to receive some help. Even if it means pointing me in the right direction so I can work on it myself.
I really don't have a clue on how to start. Any help will be appreciated....Seriously...
Currently using G1 with CM6 Magpie running on EZTERRY's 2.6.34.7 kernel.
Its perfect except for this annoying problem.......
Hm what happens if you rename the directory. It might throw some errors in the logger, but probably won't create anymore files.
I just deleted the content of my dropbox folder, the DropboxManagerService was throwing some errors that he could not open files, but the phone was fine, no FCs or anything.
Renaming the directory just results in a random reboot. My guess is that when Android tries to create a new log, its unable to find the directory and then it just freezes and after a while it reboots. Once restarted it just reappears... I've tried that too.
And its true.. Its ok to delete the files. Its what I do currently. All of those files in Data/System/Dropbox as well as the ones located in Data/Tombstones are ok to delete. As I said, its just used for debugging purposes. Whats really annoying though is that, no matter how many times you delete anything, they just get repopulated just as fast as they're deleted. I'm ok with micro-managing my memory and phone storage (its a G1 after all) but this is ridiculous. It just creates too many of these log files too quickly.
If there was a way to turn the DropBoxManager service off then that would be the end of it all.
What's unusual about it too is that in my particular case, the contents of these text files just have two things listed in them. Pertaining to my online accounts associated with the phone: My Google account and My Whatsapp account...
It just repeats the same thing over and over again. I'm starting to think that the event data might actually be synchronization data or at least synchronization attempts made at regular intervals. But ultimately i'm guessing....
I really don't have a clue... Have you ever heard of anything like this on XDA......possible resolutions of this issue?
epolaris said:
I really don't have a clue... Have you ever heard of anything like this on XDA......possible resolutions of this issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not yet .
What about replacing the folder by a symlink to /dev/null ?
You could also try to change permission on the folder.
Ok... I'm a real Noob but I'll take a shot.. When you say symlink what do you mean.
I'm not really familiar with Android at that level yet its really just flashing and such.
But I know a symlink is really just a reference to a location that the OS would interpret and follow (like a pointer i think). So, is it that you're suggesting some sort of redirection where the Data/System/Dropbox directory is pointed to another arbitrary location. Kind of like a creating a dead link that Android is unable to follow up on. Or maybe, redirecting the folder to an entirely new location that Android would then follow. I'm not sure... How do you perform a symlink in Android... I'm willing to try.
You can do it with a console on the phone it self or using adb shell. You need root of course.
You could make a link to another location where you have more space?
Or you change to permissions of that directory to write only.
Or you can mount a different file system to that directory that is read only.
On how to do that just google a bit for linux tutorials on that topic.
I have just googled a bit and it seems you can't symlink directories to /dev/null.
If all that doesnt help post again, there might be an option to make an app delete the files automaticly, first time they get created.
If that would be an option too let me know, im in the mood to program something intresting .
Disabling Android 2.2 DropboxManager [RESOLVED]
I took your advice and did the research you suggested and it worked.
The first thing I tried was changing the permissions on the "Data/System/Dropbox" directory and it worked. But I didn't use CHMOD and console command line to do it.
I have a program called Root Explorer that allows me to permanently change the permissions on any file or folder I select. I set all of the offending folders to read only and the log files stopped being written to those folders.
These are the directories I set to read only:
1. "Data/System/Dropbox"
2. "Data/System/UsageStats"
3. "Data/Tombstones"
Since changing the permissions on these folders my phone storage has stopped dwindling out of control. No additional programming necessary
Disabling the DropBoxMangerService itself is not necessary which is good.
I'm going to take your advice and read up some more on Linux commands (specifically Ubuntu as its what I currently use).
You have been very helpful, thanks for the advice. If you have any ideas about Froyo ROMS (Maybe even Gingerbread ) I should try let me know.
Thanks again....
I have also found these files. They can take MUCH space in memory and nothing seems to delete them. I made the dropbox system folder RO but I think this is a bug. It should be reported to the dropbox team. Is there a bug report form somewhere? I did not find it... Just found the forum, QA,...
[edit]I reported it in the forum... Just see http://forums.dropbox.com/topic.php?id=41227 [/edit]
vax said:
I have also found these files. They can take MUCH space in memory and nothing seems to delete them. I made the dropbox system folder RO but I think this is a bug. It should be reported to the dropbox team. Is there a bug report form somewhere? I did not find it... Just found the forum, QA,...
[edit]I reported it in the forum... Just see http://forums.dropbox.com/topic.php?id=41227 [/edit]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are mistaken: /data/system/dropbox, has NOTHING todo with www.dropbox.com !
See http://developer.android.com/reference/android/os/DropBoxManager.html
Dark3n said:
You are mistaken: /data/system/dropbox, has NOTHING todo with www.dropbox.com !
See http://developer.android.com/reference/android/os/DropBoxManager.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, just looked at your SD Maid app (looks cool).
So what do you know about /data/system/dropbox? I just read that htc uses the dir to store phone events which is then sent to the htc cloud of spying-on-your-ass. But since non-htc phones have this dir, is htc merely misusing the directory and it has other legit uses, or is this a directory we should try to keep cleaned out?
(I like the idea of changing perms so nothing writes to it if that's the case.)
600 MB additional free storage
Hi all
Just found a smart way to increase your Dropbox account with 600 MB:
1 Sign into your existing Dropbox account (or create a new account)
2 Goto https://www.dropbox.com/free
3 Follow instructions ... and voila 600 MB additional free storage
Mittaa said:
Hi all
Just found a smart way to increase your Dropbox account with 600 MB:
1 Sign into your existing Dropbox account (or create a new account)
2 Goto https://www.dropbox.com/free
3 Follow instructions ... and voila 600 MB additional free storage
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yay, nice to see you didn't read the thread at all.
This has nothing todo with dropbox.com
Yea other day I got the SD Maid, and the Pro version after I saw how handy it was. I too on my G1 (with 2.2) see that dropbox folder.. and lately Ive been thinking its causing my G1 to constantly reboot. When I look, it has 300+ files in it. So I clear that folder and seems to stop rebooting for a lil while.
Not sure what the deal is here however, been trying to find out. HOWEVER it only seems to reboot once its connected to the internet, so I am wondering if this is where it tries to upload and so. Not really sure. That and its hard to tell in logcat whats going on before it reboots.
Thanks
Excellent information. This works on my Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro MK16a, Rooted. Thank you so much. My best regards.
Try to change the permisions of the folder, I'm not sure if it would work but you could try ^^
Sent from my GT-I9001 using xda premium
All is ok
All was fine. The permissions :laugh:changed with root explorer. Thank you so much
Note completely disabled but only 1 file in the /data/system/dropbox folder with these Android shell commands (or use Sqlite3 editor):
content insert --uri content://settings/secure --bind name:s:dropbox_max_files --bind value:i:1
Or for Android 4.2+
content insert --uri content://settings/global --bind name:s:dropbox_max_files --bind value:i:1
settings put global dropbox_max_files 1
Reboot.
more dropboxmanager settings:
dropbox_age_seconds
dropbox_max_files
dropbox_quota_kb
dropbox_quota_percent
dropbox_reserve_percent
I've been using the advice from this thread to control this "dropbox" data collection directory for several years now until I updated to 9.0 and found that the folder and default permissions were restored after every reboot. Was irritating bc I can use root to modify /system but no longer have control over my own data partition Something is over-riding my root-user!!!
I tried different apps, TWRP's FM, adb, and almost gave up when init.d scripts wouldn't work either. init.d will work tho. A simple script to run
Code:
#!/system/xbin/sh
busybox rm -f /data/system/dropbox
at boot. You can probably chown and chmod if you want but I just deleted it. Just put it in your init.d folder and make sure you give it the correct permissions (root:shell -755), then immediately perform a soft reboot. Use hardware keys if you have to. You want the phone to go immediately OFF, no spinny wheels or "powering off" notifications. That's the only way I could get rid of the damn thing.
Anyway, I came across this thread while searching for a solution and thought I would add this in case any other paranoids like me are concerned about this mysterious "dropbox" directory. This will probably break any ability for google to troubleshoot your phone but I don't think that's real anyway. It's just spyware as far as I'm concerned.
p.s. (off-topic) Thanks @Dark3n I'm also a frequent SD Maid user btw and in case you happen to read this, I thought I might mention I intended to send a donation via your app the other day (i like to show love when ppl share badass works) but balked at the only available option for "pizza," not bc I don't appreciate it that much but I can afford a little every now and then. If you add a smaller option, "coffee" or beer or whatever, maybe even an outside of googlePlay option, BTC perhaps. I'd be happy to shoot a few dollars at you.
Hi all.
I'm after quite specific need but would like to know more general answer / solution if possible at all.
I know that wihtout being rooted there's not much one can do with system folders, but still, there are some ways and tricks to get to them, one of them being Backup option provided by android, using ADB shell.
I'm after specific file, that is /data/data/com.android.mms/shared_prefs/com.android.mms.categoryInfo.xml
Using Htc One M8, stock rom, I've tried to do adb backup of com.android.mms application, but all I got was 1kb (actually 41 bytes) sized file, which contains nothing.
I wonder, is there any other way to get to the specific system app folder, if you're NOT rooted?
Any help would be highly appreciated.
Additional info: I'm after that file because it has stored Secure message box password in Plain text. My phone is about to go to the service due to several issues, including battery getting way overheated when used, and not charging over 25% at all, and the only thing left to make a backup is the secure box storage, which I used as an "Other inbox" folder in order to have the main Inbox a bit more "clean", and I know I've set it to something stupid and short, and I've accessed them not long ago, but for the f's sake I can't get in the folder anymore (and I'm highly betting that after several attempts even the real password is no longer accepted, and that being the reason I can't figure out the pass by trying, but there's nowhere info it thats true, and if so, how long to wait before real one would be accepted etc...)
Big thanks if anyone could help out, if not - not gonna be the end of the world. But would kinda like to store some of the messages that are newer than my latest backup...
Cheers!
cucolino said:
Hi all.
I'm after quite specific need but would like to know more general answer / solution if possible at all.
I know that wihtout being rooted there's not much one can do with system folders, but still, there are some ways and tricks to get to them, one of them being Backup option provided by android, using ADB shell.
I'm after specific file, that is /data/data/com.android.mms/shared_prefs/com.android.mms.categoryInfo.xml
Using Htc One M8, stock rom, I've tried to do adb backup of com.android.mms application, but all I got was 1kb (actually 41 bytes) sized file, which contains nothing.
I wonder, is there any other way to get to the specific system app folder, if you're NOT rooted?
Any help would be highly appreciated.
Additional info: I'm after that file because it has stored Secure message box password in Plain text. My phone is about to go to the service due to several issues, including battery getting way overheated when used, and not charging over 25% at all, and the only thing left to make a backup is the secure box storage, which I used as an "Other inbox" folder in order to have the main Inbox a bit more "clean", and I know I've set it to something stupid and short, and I've accessed them not long ago, but for the f's sake I can't get in the folder anymore (and I'm highly betting that after several attempts even the real password is no longer accepted, and that being the reason I can't figure out the pass by trying, but there's nowhere info it thats true, and if so, how long to wait before real one would be accepted etc...)
Big thanks if anyone could help out, if not - not gonna be the end of the world. But would kinda like to store some of the messages that are newer than my latest backup...
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes and not.
if you don't have root access, you can not copy an application from the system folder, to make this the ADB would need root permissions. but....
You can download the stock rom, and copy/extract/edit the app you need it.
xdedeone said:
Yes and not.
if you don't have root access, you can not copy an application from the system folder, to make this the ADB would need root permissions. but....
You can download the stock rom, and copy/extract/edit the app you need it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually no, if the file is user specific, as in my case, the help of stock rom's file is not gonna help.
Anyway, SOLVED now.
As per this post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2054401
The backup of the app was made and got the file. I've done the same thing without success, because on HTC, the messaging app is com.htc.sense.mms and NOT com.android.mms.
Therefore creating backup of the com.htc.sense.mms did result kin getting exactly what I needed.
In the extraction of the tar .ab archive using dd in linux, I got folder app, within there is a folder com.htc.sense.mms, wihtin there's a folder sp, and there is com.htc.sense.mms.categoryInfo.xml which has the secure box password stored in plaintext.
Voila! )
Greetings,
I am currently working on a 100% Android Marshmallow v6.0.1 variant for the Samsung On5 SM-G550T/1 (T-Mobile).
THIS IS NOT A THREAD ON HOW TO ROOT YOUR PHONE
This thread assumes you have already rooted and installed TWRP on your phone and have basic understanding on to backup and recover your phone.
If you need that sort of help, please see my other thread:
https://goo.gl/jWNVNX
Reasons for Project:
I started this project for two reasons:
- Frustration for the lack of support for an otherwise great phone.
- Stumbling across the Samsung Factory Test Rom doing research for other projects.
This ROM has a a 100% Native Driver Set for Android v6.0.1 on the SM-G550T/1. The driver set is identical for the TMO or MetroPCS variants, but the EFS folder will remain different for each.
I'm going to outright confess that I am not a programmer and this is truthfully the first ROM I am trying to develop on my own. I'm a Project Manager and Software Designer by trade, but I rarely get this deep into ROM developments. I figured it was a good project to take on to learn the nitty griddy of what a truly pure Android Experience looks like. That being said, I'd greatly appreciate any help anyone can contribute and will make all my work freely available to anyone wanting to help provided that everyone participating goes into it with good faith that they have no intent on making substantial gains from this project.
Usage of these ROMs/Files/Programs are subject to the following licenses:
- Google's Android Open Source Project Licnese (AOSP):
https://source.android.com/setup/start/licenses
- Google's Individual Contributor License Agreement:
https://cla.developers.google.com/about/google-individual
- Apache Software License, Version 2.0
http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
- Samsung Open Source Release Center (OSRC) License:
http://opensource.samsung.com/reception/
That being said, I believe this remains a good enough device, IMHO, to transition people into Android or to provide to people not requiring a fully featured phone.
KNOX Status:
The Factory Test ROM is mostly clean having all the drivers intact and lacks most Samsung Bloatware "tampering". It *DOES* have some preliminary containers for KNOX installed, but none of it is active and takes up less then 1 MB of total space after cleaning passes to remove as many traces as could be removed without breaking things. It is currently being "managed" by an init.d script that generates the folders. I haven't been able to track down yet.
Known Issues:
- 100% Pure Android Menus.
- Rooted/Super User.
- Sound, Camera, GPS, TMO Modem, Wifi, Bluetooth 100% working.
- 100% Native Tethering.
- Adblocker pre-installed (for both Apps and Websites).
- The smallest amount of KNOX installations outside of Lineage. >1mb of KNOX is present with the only items being present are installer containers.
- I'm trying to track down Init.d files that loads with Android and automatically disables/flushes WIFI.
- By default, the power button is set a 100ms push time to turn off (not show power menu). I'm trying to figure out a work around for this.
- I'm trying to find a compatible Contacts Storage file.
- There is no shutdown menu.
Please note that any released versions of this ROM will have makeshift ways to get around these issues.
Downloads:
Please see the second post in this thread.
How to Install:
#01.) Backup your device.
#02.) Download the zip file for the TWRP backup.
#03.) Unzip the TWRP backup.
#04.) Load the downloaded restore into your TWRP Backup Directory.
#05.) Boot into TWRP Recovery.
#06.) Restore the ROM copied into your TWRP Backup Directory.
#07.) Reboot.
Note: No personal data has been configured.
References:
Update Log:
https://goo.gl/CEGCx9|
Required System Apps for Samsung Phones:
https://goo.gl/emTvgX
Things I Could Use Help On:
- A very good way to figure out what Init.d files are doing what without reading through them.
- A good way to change the PIT so we can move 2 gig from the System Rom into the User Rom space.
- Easy methods for changing key button presses.
- A shutdown menu setup.
- A way to make this into an installer.
Note that all those things I'm working on ALREADY, but suggestions would be helpful.
Thanks in advance for any help anyone offers.
Donations Welcomed:
Dev elopement of this ROM is timely, I appreciate any contributions you wish to provide.
https://goo.gl/esVVqA
DOWNLOAD LINKS:
[2019-03-11] Android (v6.0.1) Build #13 [RC] - Google
https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=1395089523397913770
- Note, due to Google Now being installed on this one, I can't configure the home long press as the restart menu.
[2019-03-11] Android (v6.0.1) Build #13 [RC] - Diagnostics
https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=1395089523397913771
[2019-03-02] Android [v6.0.0] Build #10F [RC]
https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=1395089523397908668
i would love to test this rom
Its been taking a little longer then I expected to get it working correctly --- I've been having trouble tracking down some bugs, but with a little luck, I'll post the Google variant tomorrow.
Here is a "working" version to look at:
https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=1395089523397901430
It's a restore for TWRP (not an install).
It has all the aforementioned bugs, but is pretty clean only with a few basic utilities installed on it.
I'm trying to track down a number of things:
How to change the Power Button function:
In my most current build, I have made the power button simply put the device to sleep with a long hold of the home button bringing up the power menu. I can't for the life of me figure out where the power button menu lives at or how to define it.
Normally, you'd go edit /system/usr/keylayout/Generic.kl, however, editing it button 116 (the power button) for "Power" only makes it turn off. I can remap it easily as sleep. I compared several other ROMs who use the exact same parameter.
My current version, I just use an app to remap several of those functions; but I don't feel like that's a "release worthy" fix.
Factory Mode:
I can't figure out how to get this version of the ROM to get out of factory mode. The only real problem this causes is, on bootup, it will display a message saying as such and then disable WIFI and turn off the sound. Both, of which, can be immediately be turned back on. It also disables power saver modes.
At first, I thought this was an Init.d file, but after doing some digging I determined this has to the /efs/factoryapp/factorymode file. I may need to swap elements from another EFS to get this fixed.
Contacts Storage:
This is another one I can't seem to track down, but I have a working idea how to fix it. At current, anything that uses Contact Storage won't work. I wonder if the contact storage I have on the system is simply incompatible for some reason. I'm going to try to pull over those system apps from another working rom.
Storage
I've mapped out all the partitions but am having trouble figuring out how to actually change the partitions. There is a whole 2 GB being wasted on the system partition. I'm actually very surprised that no one has ever released a rom with this fixed.
I've tried using parted, but my ADB Install is messed up something major and I cant track down that problem. Reinstalled ADB hasn't fixed it. Its largely a PC problem on my end; a problem I'm dragging my feat going and trying to fix. This is an issue I REALLY wish I could use PC tools for :-\. I've done these changes a thousand times on Windows based machines, but never on a Linux based OS.
Now that I think about it, maybe I should try doing this from the terminal prompt in TWRP. I just wish the keyboard in TWRP didn't suck :-\.
Other Thoughts:
Beyond those very vexing bugs, I have to honestly say that I feel like this experience on this rom is vastly superior to that of the stock Samsung Experience. Sure, these issues are vexing, but I'm also seeing much less system overhead (CPU usage, RAM usage) with this Rom then anything else outside of Lineage.
Update
Here's an update for everyone who might be interested:
The last couple of week's I spent an ENORMOUS amount of time trying to track down as much as I can to get this ROM to work as intended.
For those interested, I've developed a completely new spreadsheet describing everything that's bloatware versus needed items:
https://goo.gl/emTvgX
This spreadsheet will probably be handy for EVERYONE working on Samsung related devices. When its a little more clean, I'll throw it some place better; but since this is specific towards this device, I'll keep it here for now.
It describes everything in /system/app/ and /system/priv-app/ in Samsung's default install and which of those items are actually needed for a 100% clean Android Experience.
I've also rolled through the architecture and have cleaned a lot of "junk" out of the system. Overall, I've pulled it the system from around 1.3 gb installed all the way down to about 800 mb and still feel confident I can trim more out of it.
I've also made it a point to install as much updated system apps as possible. Its been a game of juggling Google, Samsung and other ROM apps to find what works. In general, there are only one major programs left that are Samsung based in any way and that's the Samsung Phone Service app; which seems like its required to interface with the specific hardware on the phone. I've tracked down a number of native Google teleservice.apk-s and none have worked to date.
I am, sadly, still having the aforementioned problems:
- Contacts won't sync despite being able to connect to the contact services and seeing what backups are available. Manual restores work and updating contacts TO the server works now.
- The Power Button turns off the device immediately. The problem resides in a configuration somewhere that's telling the "Power" function to not bring up the power menu. The power menu is in the system, but appears to be renamed or something. I'm having trouble tracking this down. For documentation sake, in theory you should be able to just go to /system/usr/keylayout/General.kl and edit button 116, but that doesn't work.
- The phone is still locked into "Factory Mode". Various documentation says that if you go to /efs/FactoryData/factorymode and edit the contents to "ON", it should resolve this issue, but it doesn't. I feel that the problem resides in the CSC folder and EFS folder, but I haven't gotten around to testing yet. I suspect if you swap the CSC and EFS folders out and set all the correct permissions it might fix that. As it stands now, however, its only a minor inconvenience.
Overall, there's a lot more junk to sift through on the last two problems. The first problem I am kind of stumped on.
If you want to download the ROM and look at it or run it, you can follow the below link. It's currently setup with my "trouble shooting environment" making key places to tinker with easily accessible.
DOWNLOAD HERE:
https://goo.gl/MuPqE3
@LighthammerX
Im very grateful for this site where we can come and learn from one another. I just wanted to say thanks for taking time to work on this device and then sharing your findings. I've been using my on5 for 2 months now after other device died. I'm in the process of moving now but once I'm done with that I'm going to scope out this bad boy and see if I can figure out a few things. Appreciate you sharing your information with us all. Cheers.
Sent from my on5ltemtr using XDA Labs
Thanks. I'm glad to see there's some interest here. IMHO, with the right setup, this little phone is actually a very nice device today.
I actually took a lot of what I learned from hack this ROM apart and applied it to Super Starz to get it running a lot cleaning as my daily runner until/if I get these few bugs figured out.
Personally, I think the most valuable thing I've been learning is just how bloated Samsung Devices truly are out of the box.
I'm going to go ahead and dump my progress log here too so you guys can see what I've been toiling with in hopes someone has some specific feedback on issues and if I am in the right place or not:
https://goo.gl/CEGCx9
As of the writing of this post, I'm virtually confident any problems I am experiencing has nothing to do with /efs/ or /system/csc/.
I've found some inconsistencies in /etc/ and in a few other directories in /system/.
I still wonder if there isn't a init.d file I haven't tracked down yet, but personally I find folder compares faster and easier to try to normalize then I do init.d files.
When it comes to folder compares, I can do a fast reboot and see if things break. When it comes to lines of code, I have to do a bulk of edits, reboot and hope for the best.
Just as an FYI, I plan on completely rewriting the OP when things are at a place where things work.
For anyone following the thread, the Downloads Section has been updated.
This seems really interesting ? I've been trying to find a good ROM for a while with little success, so hopefully this might be the one. I just have one question: what are the differences between the Google and Diagnostics versions of this ROM?