Database Develop

[Q] Android development

Let's say that I wanted to get into android rom development, what would be a good place to start to learn. I've downloaded several e-books about android development, but they all pertain to writing applications for android OS, not really getting into modding the OS itself. I suspect I'd need to learn about linux then translate that knowledge to android?
Anybody have any good places to start or good reference materials?
It appears that none of the cyanogenmod team is even going to do anything with the Captivate, they're all working on I9000 and Vibrant, totally ignoring the Captivate. So, I thought I'd get in there and try and learn.

Building Android from source - their own site is the best for instructions on how to build android: http://source.android.com/
Building Captivate requires downloading the sources, building the kernel using the build_kernel.sh after you've fixed the toolchain paths. Or you can just use the usual linux kernel building method that the script actually does underneath.
Then you need to build eclair (or froyo). Samsung has opensourced most of the code but not all so you need to figure out how to merge vanilla eclair source into Samsung's tree, and build it. There is a readme in the source from Samsung about what to change in the build files.
You're going to be doing a lot of googling . . . I haven't figured out all the details of the Samsung eclair build so you're on your own there. Maybe others can chime in.
-Atin

atinm said:
Building Android from source - their own site is the best for instructions on how to build android: http://source.android.com/
Building Captivate requires downloading the sources, building the kernel using the build_kernel.sh after you've fixed the toolchain paths. Or you can just use the usual linux kernel building method that the script actually does underneath.
Then you need to build eclair (or froyo). Samsung has opensourced most of the code but not all so you need to figure out how to merge vanilla eclair source into Samsung's tree, and build it. There is a readme in the source from Samsung about what to change in the build files.
You're going to be doing a lot of googling . . . I haven't figured out all the details of the Samsung eclair build so you're on your own there. Maybe others can chime in.
-Atin
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Click to collapse
Thanks. Thats what I'm talking about, a lot of what you said seems Greek to me. I'd like to learn how to do all that. I guess, just read a lot from the google source website?

My advice would be to first learn how to go muck in the linux kernel and the Android sources in general. The Captivate code has been hacked some by Samsung so it doesn't quite follow all the rules about where files are supposed to go (there is no vendor tree for example) but at least it is a start. The google source site is the best for instructions on how to do vanilla stuff that's not hardware specific. Google around for more specific instructions related to the particular problem you are trying to solve after that.
Building working stuff at this level isn't easy. Unless you are somewhat experienced or willing to spend a lot of time learning and making mistakes, I'd say leave this to people who have some experience at this level and come back to it when building for the Captivate is well understood and the knowledge has been distributed enough so lots of people can help you when you have specific questions (no one likes answering general "how to" stuff on a device specific thread).
-Atin

[Q] Can't build CM6 from sources. Help please!

Hi,
I'm trying to build cyanogenmod 6 (froyo) from sources on github for G1.
Sidenote. The reason I'm trying to do this is i'd like to modify kernel parameters. I'm trying to make the phone talk to external device using built in serial port. I can do it with my current CM6, but it looks like serial debugger engages and starts responding to the device and also steals some of the data being sent to phone.
To build I used instruction posted at cyanogen wiki "HTC Dream & Magic: Compile CyanogenMod (OS X)" which covers gingerbread but checked out froyo-stable branch at first. I know that gingerbread version stopped supporting G1 at some point last year.
Without much success even after fixing manifest to point to updated repo urls from kernel.org to googles repo etc. The problem is that apache-http seems incompatible with old sources and it is referenced by head.
I also tried froyo branch, but it doesn't build as well because something seem to be broken for dream_sapphire, and it is not present in the devices anymore.
I've tried searching for compilation errors, and general build questions/instructions here and on cyanogen's forum, but looks like CM6 is not very active these days.
Can someone point me into right direction where to search for relevant info on building it? Would getting a proper revision help or should I combine stuff from several branches to make it work?
I've already spent quite a lot of time figuring out how build is being configured and how things stitch together but without much progress on the actual build.
And with times required to sync a whole repo and build it, it is becoming frustrating.
Any help would be muchly appreciated!
Regards,
Oleg

It's dead.
I also wanted to make a cm6 rom, but I couldn't get anything to work.
I got the addresses all updated but it looks like a bunch of the files have completely dissappeared. You may be able to make it skip those, but then it may not work completely.
Go for AOSP?

Now that's a shame. I wanted to build CM because I'm familiar with it and the other thing is that they have reasonable instructions about building it. But at least I don't need to waste my time trying to figure out how to fix it.
In fact I don't need any extras they provide, a bare android would suffice to me if all the sensors and connectivity would be available. But I'm not familiar with internals of building vendor specific stuff. My understanding was that I need proprietary parts together with AOSP to build a working ROM and that's one of the things CM guys did. Correct me if I'm wrong.

aliher1911 said:
Now that's a shame. I wanted to build CM because I'm familiar with it and the other thing is that they have reasonable instructions about building it. But at least I don't need to waste my time trying to figure out how to fix it.
In fact I don't need any extras they provide, a bare android would suffice to me if all the sensors and connectivity would be available. But I'm not familiar with internals of building vendor specific stuff. My understanding was that I need proprietary parts together with AOSP to build a working ROM and that's one of the things CM guys did. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope AOSP is as easy to build now
Go to the android site and follow directions
Google for "build android"
At the part when doing repo init you need to get the right branch
Go to "build for devices" then scroll down for recommended branches and look for the dream
One thing you'll need to do differently is do "make otapackage" instead of plain "make"
And once that's done you'll need to tweak the zip and get rid of the "recovery" folder and tweak the updater-script
Oh yeah, and I don't know exactly how you would do this part, but you'll need to get the source for a newer kernel in there, like ezterry kernel and use it with 2708+ radio/spl
Unless you wanna use the AOSP kernel & spl & radio which is old
What I did is just flash his kernel after the rom, but you want to do kernel stuff so yeah...
Sent from my HTC Dream using Tapatalk

Anybody willing to guide a newbie?

Hi everyone!
I'm looking to become a future dev of the Samsung Captivate Glide, but as we're awaiting the official ICS from AT&T the forum right now is pretty dead. We have a project going but nobody to guide us, and we wish to compile CM9 or AOSP ICS. Would anyone take me in and teach me the basics of ROMing? I would greatly appreciate it! I have a Mac and Windows, I'm not sure if Linux is required :|
~Aquethys

the rom is the least of the worries to get dev going on your phone, getting the kernel going is the hard part. does your phone have the source code released?

I don't believe so, people in our ics port thread are saying we don't have a working ics kernel. We do have a gingerbread kernel though... :/
How would I start?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I927R using xda premium

well you take parts from the GB kernel and apply it to parts from the AOSP kernel, and troubleshoot until it boots. then you troubleshoot all the other issues, there will be issues, then you can start doing fancy things like add cwm. then tweak the kernel....
start reading on kernels, ramdisk, rils, libs, and drivers, linux, compiling, AOSP, github repositories.
you might be ready to take on this task in 6 months.... minimum
dont take that as snooty, ive been on here over a year, and know jack squat about half the things i just told you to study. though i have no desire to build kernels myself. there is lots of great info scattered all over xda. but you will need an experienced dev, to port ICS. you need to know basic kernel modification stuff before trying to do something as big as porting a new android version from out your but.
automated compiling isnt as automated as it sounds.

Alright. What programs will I need to begin with? Hopefully an experienced dev can guide me, I'm not too good @ following guides/tutorials but I'll try my best!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I927R using xda premium
EDIT: Made a dropbox account, hopefully you could guide me through the basics?

So, is this the source code for SGH-I927 you were talking about? I downloaded it, what do I do with it? Is it different for ICS and GB?

Since nobody seems to check the Q&A forum [Q] Kernel compiled in Ubuntu 12.04 fails

Since nobody seems to check the Q&A forum [Q] Kernel compiled in Ubuntu 12.04 fails
So i havent worked on a kernel in a while and decided id start workin on one again. Well I recently updated to 12.04 lts and no changes to my old source I just did a test compile and it wont boot. Same toolchain, source, ramdisk, etc.
Is there some sort of issue with compiling on 12.04?
Even redownloaded the source from my github and tried the toolchain recommended by samsung, stock tool chain, and 3 others and i still get nuthin. Just trying to compile a 2.2 kernel for the vibrant. No source i download works am i missing something?
does ANYONE have any ideas? I dont care who you are just something! I been at this for a freakin week and cant figure it out, ......i've changed nuthing but the OS and i really dont want to have to redo my entire setup because it is such a huge pain

Are you sure the kernel works? What is causing it to not boot?
I build ICS kernels just fine.
Check this and update tools for 12.04 http://source.android.com/source/initializing.html

trailblazerz11 said:
Are you sure the kernel works? What is causing it to not boot?
I build ICS kernels just fine.
Check this and update tools for 12.04 http://source.android.com/source/initializing.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
100% sure it works, its the same source as my old nightly# 3 kernel which i can flash and works fine. Its a 2.2 kernel so thatd be the main diff there, and I've already done the setup of the build environment. I dont get past the vibrant logo so i have no idea what the problem is >.< its driving me nuts
i tried the linaro TC, 2 diff code sourcery, google toolchain even, and no luck
I even started a fresh kernel from scratch and added just the EXT4/voodoo stuff and my ramdisk and still nuthin
so i remade my voodoo ramdisk and that still doesnt work.
I'm out of ideas, I've quadruple checked to make sure all my tools and erthing are installed......idk what the issue is

Not a developer but wouldn't downgrading to an older Ubuntu fix the problem? Btw I loved your gingerbread kernels and I hope you can get back to the top again Aim for 400mb ram with 720p and you will achieve something high

helikido said:
Not a developer but wouldn't downgrading to an older Ubuntu fix the problem? Btw I loved your gingerbread kernels and I hope you can get back to the top again Aim for 400mb ram with 720p and you will achieve something high
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Click to collapse
Id rather not but it seems that might be the case -_- I gotta look into how well older versions of ubuntu suppport the BullDozer cores before i do i guess.....
also I only made GB kernels for the NS4g i think ? o .o Vibrant I had been workin on it but I like being able to have MSAA in my games and what felt like greater stability, so i scrapt the new projects in favor of specific features i use :3

Ecotox I really wish you or another dev could make an updated CM7.2 kernel with Voodoo Color, OC/UV, and performance tweaks since Glitch is outdated and probably won't be updated for CM7.2. I know most devs have gone to ICS kernels, but CM 7.2 is still snappier and better for gaming then ICS.

hurtz777 said:
Ecotox I really wish you or another dev could make an updated CM7.2 kernel with Voodoo Color, OC/UV, and performance tweaks since Glitch is outdated and probably won't be updated for CM7.2. I know most devs have gone to ICS kernels, but CM 7.2 is still snappier and better for gaming then ICS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been gone working on a game project, so I really haven't been doing much android stuff in months. If I get some time I might but can't make promises. Don't take this the wrong way but I'm looking for some help if anyone has any ideas not requests or compliments on previous work (though both are appreciated)
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Can you use windows xp to compile kernels?

helikido said:
Can you use windows xp to compile kernels?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no
10 char

No but ty for the try....looks like imma have to revert back to 11.10...so let it be known for best results on compiling android use Ubuntu 11. If u have Ubuntu 12 and it works fine then leave it and good for u
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk 2

Hey there! Try downgrading gcc and g++ to version 4.4. If that doesn't work you can always just set up a dev VM in xen or vmware instead of blowing away the whole box. Hope that helps.

Modified cm10 kernel, stuck on LG logo.

Firstly, I haven't got much knowledge about programming. I'm just quick learner, have a lot of free time and some ambitions to do something on my own. Don't hate me if i did anything REALLY bad ;p
My way of modifying cm10 kernel is simple and intuitious. I've looked at Huexxx's and boype's githubs, read a lot here on xda and tried to understand as much as i was able to. Results are not so bad, i've compiled my own cm10 kernel just with few changes/modifications. But when i wanted to change cpu opps, voltages i realized that i need help of someone more intelligent than me
The question is here: If anyone experienced can look at THIS github, especially at "further modifications" commit connected with CPU frequencies and voltages (this is a step when i failed) i will be thankful. Result of flashing this kernel is being stuck on LG logo forever, with leds turned on.
I've set up github today because i failed to make further modifications and wanted to ask for help.
Thanks in advance,
Hbo.

I suggest you to see my github. Look at how i add 900MHz

It will be better if someone could explain exactly what mistakes i've done, because as everyone knows, learning from own mistakes is best

You need to correctly modify some arrays in smartreflex. I am not a professional at this point and only huexxx is sure of this. There is another method for directly modifying OPPs but i am unable to teach you as it is extremely difficult to understand. PM huexxx, this will be much easier