Database Develop

Edit roms before flash

I want to make my own rom based on the cyanogen rom. I want to add a few apps and remove a few that already exist.
I have tried using the adb but it wont uninstall the ones I dont want.
I would like to mod a rom before I flash it, Is there a how to for this?
Thanks,
Dubstar_04

I dont think there's a how-to, but I can type a quick one in a jiffy;
Tools;
A computer (Windows PC in this example)
7zip (google it)
The rom you wish to modify.
Either JRE or JDK (so you can run java apps) (google it)
JF's testsign.jar (google it)
Method:
Install 7zip in your computer. Also install the Java runtimes so you can run java apps through the console (ahem, command prompt).
Unzip (if it's not already) your testsign.jar and place it somewhere easy on your HDD (C:\, for example, doesn't get easier than that). Also place the rom you wish to modify in the same folder.
Open the update.zip file (or whatever it's called) with 7zip (you can do this by either using the command dialog (right click) and selecting 7-zip > Open Archive, or by going right-click > Open With > Choose Default Program and select "Always open with this program" with 7zip FM (file manager)).
Once it's open, navigate to the folder system/app and remove in there any apks you don't want in there (for example, I always remove VoiceSearch.apk, VoiceDialer.apk, SystemUpdater.apk, Talk.apk, and when available, SpareParts.apk, com.mp3.amazon.apk, and a few others). That is basically the uninstall process. If you have the apks for the apps you wish to install, you can drag them into the 7z windows at this point too (if you have hboot spl, you have a lot of space in system, so dumping them here is safe). If you don't have the apks, but you have them installed in your phone, you can use adb to get them. Just make a folder in your desktop called app (or whatever you wish) and run adb with your working directory in the desktop (C:\users\myname\desktop). The adb command would be: adb pull data/app app. This will place all the contents of downloaded apps (free ones) inside the app folder in your desktop as apks. I don't know that there's anything you can do at this point about paid apps.
Anyway, once you're done deleting and adding apks to your zip. Close the 7zip window (it saves the changes automatically, you should have kept the window open through the whole process).
Open up the command prompt again, and change your working directory to C:\ (usually cd ../..), then, if you placed all like I told you to, you can just run; java testsign updatenamewhateveritis.zip
Ofcourse, replace updatenamewhateveritisi.zip with the name of the update, but I recomend renaming it to update.zip beforehand so you don't have to type a lot.
After it's done signing, the rom is ready to flash.
Good lucks to you

Wow...Good explanation.
I have few questions.
-Do i need the jar sign thing?
-Can I create a flasheable update.zip to "add/remove" apps to a fresh flashed rom? (I mean, flash a custom rom and then apply update.zip which can add and remove apk ), or do you recommend to modify the zipped rom instead of creating a update.zip ?
Many thanks

Depending on your recovery you can just toggle on/off if you need a signed zip or not. This is a very old thread and I imagine it was much harder to push apps into /system back then or to remove /system apps for that matter. With root access there are many apps you can do this with now, or with adb or terminal emulator
What is your purpose for this by the way? I feel there may be easier ways to accomplish what you're after
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

Thanks for answer
Yeah...it's and old thread, but actually it saved me to post a similar topic thread again :good:
My purpose? Not developing anything nor cooking rom. I just found at http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/wiki/Barebones that i can safely uninstall apks that i don't use. So i uninstalled some of then, and i was thinking, in case of reinstalling the rom or flashing a new version of it, how to erase the unusefull apks(for me at least) in one step.
I think the easiest way is removing them from the zipped rom before flashing.
What do you think?

yes you can unzip and rome .apks, but then you will have to sign it unless your recovery allows unsigned zipps. why not flash the rom as is, remove all the unwanted, add what you like, then make a nandroid copy of the way you like it. this can then be flashed whenever
Sent from my HTC Vision using xda premium

Oh...the sign thing!
Anyway, there are few useless apks, so i think i can do it manually after flashing rom.
Hey. I'd like to know what nandroid is...
I use CWM recovery to backup/restore data/rom and I use Titanium Backup for the applications. So what the **** is nandroid. I mean, is an apk? Is a boot tool? And what can i do with it?
Thanks a lot dude!

it is the backup you make in your recovery, you will make either a nandroid backup or bart backup. depending how it is done it will be an exact copy of your rom, apps, call log, etc. any thing stored to you phone @ that "recovery" point
it gets its name from nand (the nand flash memory) and android, some recoveries may just call it a backup
Sent from my HTC Vision using xda premium

com.androidmegastore.livewallpaper.gogreen.zip

I installed this from the market on my legend rom. I have created a nandroid backup of that rom and I'm now rockin the nonsense rom from team-slide (great rom by the way!). However I'm trying to find this on the market now and it seems like it is nowhere to be found. I've tried a variation of searches with no luck. So I thought, well I'll just restore my legend rom backup and adb pull the file from there. It was located in the /data/app as a .zip file while the other apps were .apk. Anyhow I was able to pull the file and its now on my computer. I then did a restore to my nonsesnse rom but I'm unsure how to get the zip file back on the phone. I can adb push it on there but it doesn't 'install' it per sey. Any ideas on how to get this app back on the nonsense rom?

You can place the apk on the sd card and then on the phone you can use astro to install it. If that doesn't work you can connect to the pc and use the "adb install" command.
Sent from my HTC Mytouch 3G Slide using XDA App

Part of the problem is that I don't see an apk file. The file is actually .zip in the /data/app path. The other files in the /data/app path are .apk files. Am I missing something here or is the apk file in another path? When I unzip the file on my computer there are multiple folders. If I had the actual apk then I might be in business. Any suggenstions on where it might be hiding?

go to app private in the backup that u got the zip from there should b the apk

update - app private had the apk, installed and working fine, thanks for all the help. So is it safe to say if it is a zip file the apk will always appear in app private? Why make this different from the other apks? Is it just developer specific i guess?

.Img file extracter

My default browser went foobar on me when i tried to go into the about menu.
Could someone upload the 2.1 apk and odex pls.
Thanks
EDIT: Changed the topic name to reflect the newly found utility that helped me recover my files since. I had no current backup and did not want to start from scratch. Figured it could help if you ever find yourself in that situation or want to extract files from other rom backup.

nm 10 chars

Unyaffs
Did some digging around and found a nice utility to extract the files from the .img. Extracted the system.img from the stock rom unpackaged it with unyaffs.
Here's the utility
Code:
Usage: unyaffs name_of_file.img
WARNING **This will extract all the files in the working directory**

Japanese iWnn IME v1.40 for htc desire hd.

Hello all. I have been looking for this for a way to do this for a while now but i have finally discovered how to install the NEWEST iWnn IME on to the DHD with a custom ROM. Quite simple actually.
Get the iWnnIME.zip by googling.
save it to your SDcard.
Install it using the Clockwork Recovery mode and install zip from sdcard.
Restart phone
You will have the IME installed. OLD crappy version not for the DHD....
To update to the more user friendly version ACTUALLY FOR the DHD:
You need to extract the iWnnime.apk from either a NANDROID backup or a RUU from softbank FOR YOUR DHD
Howto: Nandroid.
Download unyaffs for windows
copy your nandroid backup to the same directory as the unyaffs exe and the cigwin1 file.
Open a CMD window and cd into the directory with unyaffs
Type unyaffs system.img
This will extract the folders contained within system.img.
Once extracted open the app folder and find iWnnime.apk file and simply copy it to your sd card, put it in your phone and using an explorer type software go to the sd card and intall the apk.
Done! You should now have the NON crappy version 1.40

[GUIDE][Windows] Making backups with adb

NOTE: The Nexus 4 does not have a physical sd card. However, the user directory on the phone is located at /storage/sdcard0/ and will, for the purposes of this guide, be referred to as the sdcard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Making sdcard backups with MTP is often unreliable. First of all, files are not always immediately updated with the ones on your phone. As a result, there may be folders missing, files that you deleted on your phone still showing up, etc. Also, the Date modified values of files are changed to the time that the files were moved onto your computer, which can cause errors when restoring them to your phone; i.e. photos in gallery not appearing in order. Other times, MTP is simply not available (if you have an older computer or an unsupported OS, for example). The best way to go about a backup is by using adb (Android Debug Bridge).
So, let's get started.
1. First, you're going to need some variant of the Android SDK/Software Development Kit as well as the Nexus 4 drivers installed. I won't show you how to do this, as there are already many guides and tutorials available.
Here's the link to the official Google ADT/Android Developer Tools.
2. Once you've got everything on your computer set up, open up the Settings app and go to About phone. Scroll down and quickly tap the Build number tile seven times. You have now enabled Developer options.
Go back, enter Developer options and enable USB debugging. An authorization pop-up will appear; allow it.
3. Now, open up a command prompt window and change directory to the location of adb on your computer. If you installed the official SDK, this will be under
Code:
folderyouextractedto\sdk\platform-tools
Connect your phone via USB and type
Code:
adb devices
You should see something like this:
Code:
List of devices attached
random numbers and letters device
If you don't, you probably don't have the drivers installed properly OR you failed to authorize your computer for USB debugging.
4. Make a folder on C:\ (or whatever your OS drive is) with NO SPACES in the file name. You can now make the backup.
Type
Code:
adb pull /storage/sdcard0/ C:\folderyoumade
You are now backing up your entire sdcard. This can take a while, depending on how many files you have on your phone.
When the copy is complete, you should see something like
Code:
x files pulled. 0 files skipped.
0 files skipped is very important, as it confirms that all of the files were copied over correctly.
To backup specific folders on it, simply change the command to that directory on your phone.
i.e.
Code:
adb pull /storage/sdcard0/folderyouwant/ C:\folderyoumade
5. To restore a backup, simply type
Code:
adb push C:\folderyoumade /storage/sdcard0/
NOTE: Restored folders DO NOT replace existing folders on your sdcard. They are merged (so pre-existing files in a folder remain, while any new files are copied in).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
NOTE: I recommend that you do not use your phone during a backup or restore so as to make sure all files are properly copied.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Remember, this is only an sdcard backup. App and system data are NOT copied over. If you want to make a backup of your app data, the easiest way to do this is with Titanium Backup, Helium, or a similar app and then backup those files using adb pull. If you wish to make a complete backup of your file system (not including sdcard though), make a nandroid from recovery.

Reserved

klvnhng said:
Reserved
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good method if MTP failes or crashes! Thanks!

Thanks!

I get remote object '/storage/sdcard0' not a file or directory when I try pull. Help?:crying:

nphone said:
I get remote object '/storage/sdcard0' not a file or directory when I try pull. Help?:crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You forgot the frontslash at the end of 0. Try that

On some devices you can't specify destiny forlder in order to use adb push or pull, you have to use current folder:
Code:
cd C:\folderyoumade
adb pull /storage/sdcard0/folderyouwant/
It's better to backup the sdcard this way than using adb backup because it also backups the Android folder inside the sdcard.

Or much shorter;
adb pull /sdcard C:\SDCARDBackUp
__________________________________________________
Device: Google Nexus 4 (LG-E960) 16GB (MAKO)
ROM: SimpleAOSP-L-ROM (Stable Build 7)
Kernel: Stuxnet v4.5 (3.4.105)
Gapps: PA-Gapps-5.0.1-BETA4 (MINI)
_________________________________________________

Is there a way for pull to skip files which already exist in your specified destination? Sometimes it errors in the middle of a long transfer because it doesn't like a file name or something.

I was looking for a better way to push my virtual sd card backup, as using the copy and paste method in windows doesn't copy all of the files for some reason. It will copy all the files from the sd card to the PC, but not back again. I was having to search through every folder and copy and paste to get everything copied back. Thank you so much for this tutorial. I knew about adb push command, but I never tried it, because I always thought the copy and paste method would be easier. Boy was I wrong. This way pushes all the files in one try. Soooo much easier.

I have a question, can I also backup this file directory: /storage/emulated/0? Or is this something else, I checked both folder and they seem to be the same.

Hi,
I've done a full backup using adb backup, including the whole content of my sd card (using the -shared option).
However, when restoring my device using adb restore, nothing is restored on my sd card (not the apps and not the files).
Am I doing something wrong?
Is there any special option to use for the restore?
Is there any other way to restore my apps&data from my backup file (.ab) using other commands ?
The content of my backup file seems correct though.
Thanks!

NikoBe00 said:
Hi,
I've done a full backup using adb backup, including the whole content of my sd card (using the -shared option).
However, when restoring my device using adb restore, nothing is restored on my sd card (not the apps and not the files).
Am I doing something wrong?
Is there any special option to use for the restore?
Is there any other way to restore my apps&data from my backup file (.ab) using other commands ?
The content of my backup file seems correct though.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like the adb backup didnt copy the /storage/sdcard0/android/ folder on the sdcard perhaps? Maybe try using adb pull to copy the scdard seperately in addition to doing the adb backup to be safe. You could push the sdcard data back manually if the restore doesnt. See below:
scandiun said:
On some devices you can't specify destiny forlder in order to use adb push or pull, you have to use current folder:
Code:
cd C:\folderyoumade
adb pull /storage/sdcard0/folderyouwant/
It's better to backup the sdcard this way than using adb backup because it also backups the Android folder inside the sdcard.
!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

it doesnt work

Why?
klvnhng said:
You forgot the frontslash at the end of 0. Try that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I font understand why is the front slash required?
I also forgot the front slash and was facing the same problem. Now its working after adding the front slash.
So, why is the front slash required and what does it mean ?

can I backup the sd card even if it is external using this method (apps are moved there too)?
edit: ok, I got the android folder from sd card, the message was:
/storage/sdcard1/Android/: 147 files pulled. 0 files skipped.,
but how am I supposed to see them?
I contacted AppMgr III, maybe they can tell me