Related
n00b, but not an idiot here. been playing with handhelds for many years, new to android though.
I've been watching this forum (CDMA Hero sect.) since I got my Hero, been learning quite a bit. Held off on rooting until there was a official 2.1 release for the device that a ROM could be built around (I wanted full function of the phone and software), did the stupid thing of running the RUU (leaked official), and had to wait until Regaw (thanx!) gave us root...
It would seem the tone of this forum has changed fundamentally since the release of the EVO and an official 2.1 for our Heros. I can understand that perhaps the "thrill" is gone, and since we can all get 2.1 now without rooting, I guess it's "why bother"? (see questions below)
Aaaaanyway...
just did my first root, my first nandroid BU, my first rom flash (hated the rom), and then my first nandroid recover ;-) (what an amazing function, what a relief!) About to try out a 2nd ROM, see if I like it better...
(as an aside to the point of this post, the ROM i tried was DamageR, found it too "messy" for my tastes, and while I can appreciate the work put into it, the options it offers... not my style. was thinking on Damageless, waiting for a "rerelease" of his final. Or perhaps the Aloysius...)
Now that I have my caveats and excuses out of the way, I had a few n00b questions?
1) while I think I have figured out what JIT is, why is it "enabled" in many new ROMs? Is it not an included part of Sense 2.1 from HTC on the Hero?
2) When I was wiping before flash, I was unable to wipe davlik (sp?), insisted I had to do through adb. Is this "normal"?
3) could someone explain what "push" an APK is? Since I have rooted, will I be unable to use the application installer in the HTCsync? (haven't actually tried yet...) And how to "flash" a file? (Example: Dammageless' LWP fix...) I am sure it's something very simple that I am just not getting dues to being unfamiliar with the jargon here.
4) I would really like to use the A2SD feature, and in the recovery screen (where one does the nandroid BUs) it gives me the option to create partitions. I was of course clever enough to BU all data on the card before doing Anything re: root/flashing/etc, but I would like to know if this was needed? Will it just use empty space already present on the card? And in general, I would love to know what I am doing re: A2SD in general, I know "search is my friend", but would someone point me to a quick and succinct link to the "instructions" of doing this? And the different kinds of partitions (ext2? ext3?ext4? huh? why?) I need to know about?
5) And, so why bother rooting now? I know this sounds like a dense question, but really since I don't know enough about it, I guess I am looking for a list of "the obvious reasons" that would not occur to me, or other Android nooblets. LWP will be nice i guess, other launchers, A2SD, bootscreens, OCing... what else?
5) Personally, I am hoping people will rise to the Froyo challenge. While being ignorant of most things involving "programing", or compiling (cooking?), my understanding is that 2.2 runs several times faster due to (a new?) JIT (admitted ignorance again), so does this mean "more efficient"? Would something like a Hero be able to take advantage of that? I realize that we (due to CPU) will never have the highend features (OpenGL, gaming, LWPs being sluggish), so please correct me if I am grossly missing something, besides it not being written for this HW, I see that many other versions written for other devices have been ported to this device.... is this being actively worked on, seen a worthy challenge? Or even a possible one? One that has any benefits?
7) And the n00best question of them all: ROM suggestions? I happen to like Sense, or thought I did because of the 7 screens and other neato features in the UI, but it seems from further reading I can get most features and function out of just about any of them... As an example, what will I gain from flashing Damageless as opposed to the stock RUU? (While Damageless' ROM seems to be the most popular, it is also the least described in his post re: features added/removed, and it's benifits. It would seem like his ROM was "da bomb" when we didnt have 2.1 officially, but since we do now... do I bother with his? Or move to something "more exciting"?
Thank you for your patience.
/n00b-rant
1) JIT just speeds up the phone a bit, although, it's incompatible with Sense :\
2) Don't worry about the dalvik cache unless you're getting problems with booting up a new ROM
3) Push = copying a file to the device (usually when you're putting an .apk in the /system/app/ directory) And about HTCsync? I've never used it before, but it probably wouldn't hurt to try.
4) A2SD? I suggest you back up the files on your sd card before trying anything with it, also, make sure it's a fast card.
5) Rooting? To get rid of annoying sprint bloatware, overclocking, Wi-Fi Tether, etc.
5b) It'll be a little while before we get a stable FroYo (when they release the source, the work will begin)
7) I was about to suggest DarchDroid, but seeing as you like sense.....
(although, 7 homescreens? That's available in just about every homescreen app on the market, my favorite being LauncherPro Beta)
1. The JIT leak we have is buggy at best, and Force close city at worst, but is supposed to be fully featured in 2.2
2. What version of recovery are you running?
3. You can still use the HTCSync installer, but to push system files, you need to use ADB (Google "Android SDK"). You flash a file the same way you flash a ROM, always nandroid backup.
4. A2SD is only really helpful if you have a Class 6 SDcard, and can be hurtful otherwise. A2SD requires a portion of the SDCard to be formated as EXT, so say you have a 1GB SDcard.
256MB EXT (Space for apps)
0MB Swap (basically, "RAM" on your SDCard)
The rest as FAT. In a file manager and you phone, your SDcard will only appear to be ~760MB, as 256 is taken up by EXT.
5. Being able to completly customize everything, getting day by day support to fix bugs instead of waiting on Sprint/HTC, Basically, rooting is what makes your phone YOUR phone.
6. 2.2 is currently available in a very basic install, and will be developed further when the source code is released. Yes, the new JIT is supposedly 450% faster, by being more efficient with how it handles everything, and theorhetically with it, we can expect to see performance increases in everything.
7. I'm a personal fan of DarchDroid, it lacks Sense but he's incorporating ADWLauncher into his next release (Google it, it's amazing.) Damageless is also no longer developing his ROM as the Evo is out. Same thing with Flipz.
Anything else?
Hello my name is P3Droid,
We (TBH) have a lot of experience in Motorola phones and hacking. This experience dates back to the Razr days.
Here is a word of caution. Do no delete apps from the System partition, I would suggest you only rename them to .bak. When Motorola pushes updates each of the files undergoes a hash check, if the file has been manipulated or is missing the entire update will fail.
Until a system only sbf or similar is released, unless you make a back up with bootstrap and recovery, you will eliminate your ability to take updates moving forward.
You can remove many of the stock apps without rooting just by using the built in app manager.
Those apps are in /data it is the apps that are in /system that count.
jimmydafish said:
Hello my name is P3Droid,
We (TBH) has a lot of experience in Motorola phones and hacking. The experience dates back to the Razr days.
Here is a word of caution. Do no delete apps from the System partition, I would suggest you only rename them to .bak. When Motorola pushes updates each of the files undergoes a hash check, if the file has been manipulated or is missing the entire update will fail.
Until a system only sbf or similar is released, unless you make a back up with bootstrap and recovery, you will eliminate your ability to take updates moving forward.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i take it that all the apps you can delete through app manager are on /data therefore are safe to delete right?
This should definitely be sticky'd.
franciscojavierleon said:
i take it that all the apps you can delete through app manager are on /data therefore are safe to delete right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes anything that you can delete through the application manager is okay to remove, those have no impact on the update process.
And to complete my thought above. When an update is released, and they are coming, then you need to just change the file names back to normal to take the update.
Sound to me like we ned an ap that lets toys select programs to rename and then can change then back when needed. Would make it alot easier. Ill look onto this...also if some one else can confirm this info I might stick it.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
I can confirm that what p3droid is saying is true for all recent Motorola devices, but the point is really that you won't know until an OTA update is released how they have written the updater script in the zip file.
We have been through this with releases for every phone since the Droid X and many people got caught out by it and were stuck until we released SBF files that could safely restore the stock configuration and allow updating to official release versions.
This brings up another important point about modding your phone at this stage in the cycle. Without a full SBF to recover with in the event of a problem that renders the phone unbootable or unable to access recovery, or if you haven't made a complete nandroid, you will be again be stuck and have to return your phone to AT&T/Motorola for warranty replacement. This is never good for anyone.
When we mod our phones against the wishes of the carriers and manufacturers, we should really take responsibility for those actions and not produce a mountain of bricked phones whose cost is passed along to everyone in the form of higher ETFs for smartphones and other ways.
So, until a full SBF is released of the current build, people should be very careful what they change or remove from their phone's system and/or NVM and radio.
I also tried to warn users about this in another thread that was locked before p3droid started this thread. We have watched hundreds or even thousands of users destroy their phones in myriad ways and helped many of them recover them by providing SBF files as a safety net. It's not fun and if it can be avoided it is to everyone's benefit to do so and only requires care and forethought.
Is there anyway we could make a backup of this partition for later use? would each user need to make one or would one for all users suffice?
Assuming a bootstrapped custom recovery is possible, and we know Koush is already working on it, then a nandroid backup of at least the system, userdata and cache partitions would be the first and best step to take. Also assuming that the bootloader is locked/signed and true recovery is not possible, then the boot image and kernel will not be able to be backed up or written to by the bootstrapped recovery. It is always best to make your own backup for your device and store it on the sdcard where you have easy access, but users have also been able to use someone else's nandroid backup to restore their device in many cases as well. The recovery will give you the option to restore each partition separately in the advanced options so that you won't be restoring someone else's data to your phone.
We at TBH have also been able to create our own update.zip files and SBF files to help users recover from various mishaps.
This was because we had access to both official and unofficial files and tools to accomplish those things.
We have no idea if that will be the case here and we will not likely have the device ourselves to work with given we are VZW users primarily.
Again, there are many variables here that are yet to be determined and modes of access to the various partitions and radio baseband will be different with this phone as opposed to previous Qualcomm chipset devices.
All of this means that at this stage extreme caution is advised and being overzealous with root access is very dangerous right now.
I suggest everyone that is rooted use TITANIUM BACKUP to deal with their bloatware issues. The pro version, which you will need, is only a few bucks and is worth it. TB allows you to 'freeze' bloatware apps, which to my knowledge just blocks it fro the system, but does not delete it. The apps you choose to freeze are also removed from the app tray - so no more clutter. This way when an update rolls around, you can run down the list and simply touch 'thaw' to bring those apps back to recognition. This seems like a much more efficient and easy way to go back and forth, rather than renaming the .apk's.
I apologize if someone already mentioned TB in this thread - I just skimmed quickly.
I deleted all the bloat apps using the app manager without root. They were gone!
I did a factory reset on the phone and *surprise* the apps were back!
The things that were not part of the system come back during reset. On the other hand, im ****ed because I went crazy and deleted some actual apps that the system will check. Yay me.
pwndrone said:
The things that were not part of the system come back during reset. On the other hand, im ****ed because I went crazy and deleted some actual apps that the system will check. Yay me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ouch. Might not work, but have you tried a hard reset?
We should make a list of what's safe to remove like we did for the Captivate. Might be helpful.
I did a full factory reset and those apps that weren't part of the system came back but stuff like the help center are still missing.
Hopefully there will be a way to load the stock firmware sometime in the future.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Would an app like "Autostarts" work in this case?
Guys, I can't emphasize this enough: use Titanium Backup to freeze the apps rather than deleting them, it will make your life much easier.
does this apply to using different font files as well? I'd like to use a ttf font that's a little larger than DroidSans. if i rename and use a different font will that impact OTA updates or anything else for that matter? thanks!
before reading about "freezing" apps, i reset my atrix back to factory settings. i need help rooting my atrix again. it keeps me in "Waiting for Device" where before i had no problem rooting. and another thing, when i had reset back to factory settings...i still have superuser installed. do i uninstall superuser in order to gain root access again?
I have not rooted yet. My question is can we use freeze to turn off BlurAccounts or is it fully baked into the Rom?
ok ive been reading a few posts but cant make head nor tails of this rom/kernal stuff and cant find a guide to it in the stickys so i have come here to ask some seasoned memebers for help
I am Uk based and english speaker any help is welcomed.
1. At a guess what are the chances of bricking my device and is it fix's able
2. what is diffrence between Kernal and rom
3 in what order do i need to install kernal and rom
4. what are the best kernal's and rom's availible For - Gameing, phonecalls, texting, wifi connections and battery life
5.what will i need to backup on my phone before i install them and what program's are needed?
6. after installing if all has installed correctly can someone recomend some apps for my phone (and will i be able to use the google playstore still if not how do i get them)
Please can you help me out there seem to be 100s of roms/kernals
Rom/Kernel Help
Hi mazoshi,
I'm no super-guru but I'm happy to share my experiences. Ref your questions:
1. It is possible to brick your phone to varying degrees as evidenced by all the help requests for bricked phones, but IMHO, it's very unlikely as long as you follow the directions scrupulously and make sure you only flash ROMs/kernels that are known to be compatible.
2. The kernel is the low-level operating system, derived from Linux, that handles the low-level interface to the hardware and manages device resources (CPU, memory, peripherals, interrupts, etc). The kernel is mostly written in "C". A "ROM" is the whole ball of wax, usually including the kernel as well as the Android framework and apps, written in java, that provides the user interface and all the apps you see on your screen.
3. For installation, you'll need a firmware flashing program, like ODIN or Heimdall. You'll also need a USB cable for your phone. And, of course, you'll need compatible zips or tars to flash.
4. Common question that's difficult to answer. The best ROM, the best religion, the best political party and the best pizza are almost completely personal choices and depend on your expectations.
5. There are a number of "backup" programs that can back up your personal settings and data, e.g., Titanium backup. Note that these do NOT backup up the kernel and system stuff. You need to be rooted to do that. After root, you'll probably get ClockworkMod (CWM) which has a nice function to back up whole partitions, including the system stuff. There is a chicken-and-egg problem here though: You can only back up the system after you root, but after you root you've got a "new" system. I've never been able to figure out a way to do a complete backup of a stock system, i.e., to be able to restore to factory new state.
6. Like 4, apps are also a matter of personal chioce. There are zillions of apps on play.google. And yes, you can get to that after rooting but you'll have to manually install the Google apps package first. I don't know the latest, but a quick google search should locate many. They're usually called "gapps-something". They are supplied as a zip and can be installed with CWM.
Hope this helps.
Hello, all! Just joined up to post a few questions. Every Android phone I have owned has been rooted and a custom ROM installed, so I am no stranger to all this. I'm finally getting around to replacing my ancient Motorola Triumph (Virgin Mobile USA) and for cost reasons I am seriously considering the Desire 510. I'd love to get the Desire 816 but that's out of my current price range Anyway, I have been reading the posts here and over at Android Forums dot com and I am confident that I will have no problems with the 510 should that be the phone I end up purchasing. But I've got several questions before I make a final decision.
1. Can anyone tell me (or how can I find out) if the 510 from Virgin Mobile USA is the 32-bit or 64-bit phone? I wasn't able to find much information except something online (unrelated to Virgin Mobile) that says the U.S. version is 32-bit while all other countries get the 64-bit. Since that information is now several months old can anyone confirm that it still holds true, or is there a possibility that 64-bit devices are now available in the U.S.?
2. If the Virgin Mobile USA version is indeed 32-bit, is there anywhere I can get a 32-bit ClockworkMod recovery? I see a post here for a 64-bit CWM but couldn't find mention of 32-bit anywhere. Nothing against TWRP, just that I have been using CWM since Day 1 of rooting and that's what I'm comfortable with. Also, before flashing a new recovery, how do I go about making a backup of the stock recovery.img? I imagine there's a way to rename it (i.e. recovery-stock.img) or copy it to my PC for safekeeping, but I'm not very familiar with Android SDK. (My current phone does not need SDK for anything. Simply plug in, copy new recovery where it needs to be, and reboot.)
3. What, exactly, is the write protection that I have seen mentioned all over the place? Correct me if I'm wrong, but it *SOUNDS* like rooting and/or installing a custom recovery and/or installing a custom ROM essentially cuts off SD card access until a "fix" is applied. So if anyone can offer a simple explanation or a link to some information, that would be fantastic.
4. Taking #4 into mind, what do I need to consider in choosing a kernel? If it matters, I have been looking mainly at CurbThePain's RevMod, but also LarryBoyG's RaptorRom GPE v2 and shinru2004's Unofficial CM11.
I know that's a lot of questions all in one place but I figured I'd start somewhere. Any and all answers are appreciated, and any questions for me will be answered in as timely a manner as I can. Thanks in advance for any info you guys are able to provide me.
EDIT:
5. Supposedly this phone has 8GB of internal memory but all the screenshots I see say it has 4GB, and most of that is taken up by the operating system. I was just reading the reviews on virginmobileusa.com and almost every single one of them is negative, focusing on the fact that nobody can download more than a few apps before the phone runs out of memory. What's the official internal storage for OS and apps, 4GB or 8GB, and how does the memory look after a custom ROM is installed?
Some answers before you purchase
GKNByNW said:
Hello, all! Just joined up to post a few questions. Every Android phone I have owned has been rooted and a custom ROM installed, so I am no stranger to all this. I'm finally getting around to replacing my ancient Motorola Triumph (Virgin Mobile USA) and for cost reasons I am seriously considering the Desire 510. I'd love to get the Desire 816 but that's out of my current price range Anyway, I have been reading the posts here and over at Android Forums dot com and I am confident that I will have no problems with the 510 should that be the phone I end up purchasing. But I've got several questions before I make a final decision.
1. Can anyone tell me (or how can I find out) if the 510 from Virgin Mobile USA is the 32-bit or 64-bit phone? I wasn't able to find much information except something online (unrelated to Virgin Mobile) that says the U.S. version is 32-bit while all other countries get the 64-bit. Since that information is now several months old can anyone confirm that it still holds true, or is there a possibility that 64-bit devices are now available in the U.S.?
2. If the Virgin Mobile USA version is indeed 32-bit, is there anywhere I can get a 32-bit ClockworkMod recovery? I see a post here for a 64-bit CWM but couldn't find mention of 32-bit anywhere. Nothing against TWRP, just that I have been using CWM since Day 1 of rooting and that's what I'm comfortable with. Also, before flashing a new recovery, how do I go about making a backup of the stock recovery.img? I imagine there's a way to rename it (i.e. recovery-stock.img) or copy it to my PC for safekeeping, but I'm not very familiar with Android SDK. (My current phone does not need SDK for anything. Simply plug in, copy new recovery where it needs to be, and reboot.)
3. What, exactly, is the write protection that I have seen mentioned all over the place? Correct me if I'm wrong, but it *SOUNDS* like rooting and/or installing a custom recovery and/or installing a custom ROM essentially cuts off SD card access until a "fix" is applied. So if anyone can offer a simple explanation or a link to some information, that would be fantastic.
4. Taking #4 into mind, what do I need to consider in choosing a kernel? If it matters, I have been looking mainly at CurbThePain's RevMod, but also LarryBoyG's RaptorRom GPE v2 and shinru2004's Unofficial CM11.
I know that's a lot of questions all in one place but I figured I'd start somewhere. Any and all answers are appreciated, and any questions for me will be answered in as timely a manner as I can. Thanks in advance for any info you guys are able to provide me.
EDIT:
5. Supposedly this phone has 8GB of internal memory but all the screenshots I see say it has 4GB, and most of that is taken up by the operating system. I was just reading the reviews on virginmobileusa.com and almost every single one of them is negative, focusing on the fact that nobody can download more than a few apps before the phone runs out of memory. What's the official internal storage for OS and apps, 4GB or 8GB, and how does the memory look after a custom ROM is installed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello GKNByNW,
1. Only one person on here said they have a 64-bit model that they bought in the U.S. from Cricket. You can probably ask the salesperson when you purchase it, but I think it's highly likely that the device you are going to buy will be 32-bit.
2. I don't know of a CWM for the 32-bit model. I was the same way. CWM was the only recovery I was used to. The first time I used TWRP was with this phone. I think you should try TWRP. I like it a lot. I have never used CWM Touch, but I'm sure TWRP may be like that. It is very user friendly. I don't know how you would go about making a backup of your stock recovery, but you should be able to use this one. It works great for my Boost phone. You may need to get familiar with adb and fastboot if you are not already. I don't know if we can just copy the recovery to where it needs to be, but most of us have been fastboot flashing it.
3. Write protection was included with Android KitKat. It has nothing to do with modding the phone. Google restricted some access to the sdcard, I believe for security reasons. When you flash a write-protect removed kernel, you can delete system apps, make changes to build.prop and make other changes. If you do not have a write-protect removed kernel, you can delete system apps, but when you restart the phone, they will return. You can also make changes to build.prop but when you restart they will not stick. I'm not sure of all of the things that will not stick if you have the stock kernel but those are a couple. Here is some more information: http://www.androidcentral.com/kitkat-sdcard-changes and https://source.android.com/devices/storage/index.html.
4. There are currently 2 kernels that most people use: Modded Desire 510 Kernel v2.6.1, which is tuned more for stability and Rhinstone-kernel, which is tuned more for performance. I haven't tried RevKernel and it hasn't been updated in a while, but you can check it out. Definitely check out the ROMs we have available and read through some threads to see which you like best.
5. The phone has 8GB internal, but we can only use ~1GB in the /data partition. I guess ~5GB is used for Android and Sense, since ~2GB is used for the /system partition. Check out this Storage Truth: https://goo.gl/photos/tCD1P26QTXM7my2r7
It's kind of weird, but this is the Storage Truth from my wife's phone, which has never been modded, and she has Cricket:
https://goo.gl/photos/uijoVA8Bk8tCtwe3A
She can still only use ~1GB, but I wonder why it shows ~4GB for the /data partition and only ~1GB for me.
After app updates and after you download a couple of apps the storage gets full, quick. The custom ROMS free up a lot of space. On a Jelly Bean based phone I had, without the sdcard restriction, I was able to integrate pretty much all of my apps on /system and have tons of room left over in /data. So I had so much space for apps and that phone didn't have as much "space" as this one has. On this one we're not so lucky. If you integrate the Google Play Store, Google Play Services, and the Gallery you will get force closes. There are more apps that will cause force closes if you integrate and delete them, but those are the main ones. You can delete the lockscreen with no issues, if you prefer the AOSP one. You can use Aparted and Link2SD to free up space. This method will allow you to download apps to your heart's content. Check out this thread to find out how to do that.
honestly,id skip the 510 and go for the 816 any day of the week. even if its more expensive,if i would have checked this thing out before i bought it after breaking my moto g,i would have bought a new moto (cricket dosent carry the 816)
blaqueknight said:
Hello GKNByNW,
1. Only one person on here said they have a 64-bit model that they bought in the U.S. from Cricket. You can probably ask the salesperson when you purchase it, but I think it's highly likely that the device you are going to buy will be 32-bit.
2. I don't know of a CWM for the 32-bit model. I was the same way. CWM was the only recovery I was used to. The first time I used TWRP was with this phone. I think you should try TWRP. I like it a lot. I have never used CWM Touch, but I'm sure TWRP may be like that. It is very user friendly. I don't know how you would go about making a backup of your stock recovery, but you should be able to use this one. It works great for my Boost phone. You may need to get familiar with adb and fastboot if you are not already. I don't know if we can just copy the recovery to where it needs to be, but most of us have been fastboot flashing it.
3. Write protection was included with Android KitKat. It has nothing to do with modding the phone. Google restricted some access to the sdcard, I believe for security reasons. When you flash a write-protect removed kernel, you can delete system apps, make changes to build.prop and make other changes. If you do not have a write-protect removed kernel, you can delete system apps, but when you restart the phone, they will return. You can also make changes to build.prop but when you restart they will not stick. I'm not sure of all of the things that will not stick if you have the stock kernel but those are a couple. Here is some more information: http://www.androidcentral.com/kitkat-sdcard-changes and https://source.android.com/devices/storage/index.html.
4. There are currently 2 kernels that most people use: Modded Desire 510 Kernel v2.6.1, which is tuned more for stability and Rhinstone-kernel, which is tuned more for performance. I haven't tried RevKernel and it hasn't been updated in a while, but you can check it out. Definitely check out the ROMs we have available and read through some threads to see which you like best.
5. The phone has 8GB internal, but we can only use ~1GB in the /data partition. I guess ~5GB is used for Android and Sense, since ~2GB is used for the /system partition. Check out this Storage Truth: https://goo.gl/photos/tCD1P26QTXM7my2r7
It's kind of weird, but this is the Storage Truth from my wife's phone, which has never been modded, and she has Cricket:
https://goo.gl/photos/uijoVA8Bk8tCtwe3A
She can still only use ~1GB, but I wonder why it shows ~4GB for the /data partition and only ~1GB for me.
After app updates and after you download a couple of apps the storage gets full, quick. The custom ROMS free up a lot of space. On a Jelly Bean based phone I had, without the sdcard restriction, I was able to integrate pretty much all of my apps on /system and have tons of room left over in /data. So I had so much space for apps and that phone didn't have as much "space" as this one has. On this one we're not so lucky. If you integrate the Google Play Store, Google Play Services, and the Gallery you will get force closes. There are more apps that will cause force closes if you integrate and delete them, but those are the main ones. You can delete the lockscreen with no issues, if you prefer the AOSP one. You can use Aparted and Link2SD to free up space. This method will allow you to download apps to your heart's content. Check out this thread to find out how to do that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
pattyboi:) said:
honestly,id skip the 510 and go for the 816 any day of the week. even if its more expensive,if i would have checked this thing out before i bought it after breaking my moto g,i would have bought a new moto (cricket dosent carry the 816)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the replies, guys. I'm sorry for taking so long to get back and respond. Anyway... Yes, pattyboi, I am in total agreement. After reading reviews on Virgin Mobile USA's website and Amazon, I am definitely NOT going for this phone. Virgin no longer carries the 816 though it is still available new through retailers on Amazon, but the $180 price tag is a bit more than I want to spend on a phone right now. The other phone I had considered was the Samsung Galaxy Core Prime but it looks like that is only available for their Data Done Right plans, unless I am misunderstanding something. I don't really get what the whole Data Done Right thing is. It looks to be cheaper than my current plan ($45/mo. for unlimited talk/talk/1GB data) but I think Data Done Right is only for multiple lines. Also, I looked up the Galaxy Core Prime a couple weeks ago and it doesn't look like there's much information yet in regards to rooting and custom ROMs for that particular phone, so I might want to wait a while.
Hi all.
Noob here on the forum, my very first post so i am not allowed to post this where i imagine this would belong - the 'Original Android development'. That's why it is posted here.
First of all, i wish to express my sincere gratitude to all you people that work hard on making it possible for rest of us mortals to make the best of those small devices that somehow managed to become so big parts of our lives.. I have been following the forum for a while and been using some things posted here to fiddle with several devices without actually bricking any of them as yet. And this is the first time i felt the need of actually asking for help and/or guidelines.
Anyhew - here's the thing: i still run a N910F on stock marshmallow as my main device. (Please no lectures about this). And lately i came to really, really resent mr.Google. I did make a Lineage version of the Android Pie work together with microG (without google), and that actually is rather sweet, runs smooth as silk. I run that on my backup N910F device. (Ok, so i am a Note 4 freek, sue me).
But for different reasons, actually mainly because i really appreciate the s-pen, i want to continue using stock rom on my daily driver so now i am looking for a google-free version of the stock marshmallow for the N910F (trlte) model. I tried to find it here on the forum, but i couldn't, or i couldn't understand the terminology. Haven't found in the rest of the internet either. So i would appreciate if somebody here could either:
1. point me to the direction of such a version if it's already existing, or
2. give me very specific information as to how i could de-google the stock rom by myself. Either on the device or in Windows. I haven't used adb or fastboot yet, but perhaps i could learn if i don't have to take a class in engineering first…
Or could i simply use Titanium backup and just delete (freeze first of course) all the apps that have 'google' in their name?
The third option is perhaps that some kind sould de-googles the stock rom for me and lets me download it. I would donate, of course.
I would really appreciate all the pointers you could give me.
Regards,
prkfsz
Nope, the N910F stock firmwares are definitely not de-Googled. Flash one for yourself and see. I would recommend flashing a LineageOS/AOSP-based ROM, they are generally Google-free.
If you are really insistent on running stock, then do this to completely de-Google it:
In Titanium backup, search for 'goo', this will find almost all Google apps on the ROM. Uninstall them.
Also, download the latest OpenGapps ARM 6.0 nano zip from opengapps.org. Extract the gapps-remove.txt file from the zip. Use the contents of that file as a reference, find all the files listed in it, manually delete them. The reason for this is that Titanium will miss some things.
Now you should be mostly if not entirely Google-free.
Once you have done that, you can optionally patch your ROM for signature spoofing support, and install MicroG, which is an open source Google Play Services alternative. These 2 steps are optional, your choice.
Very simple. I've done this before, things will work fine overall. But some things (apps) requiring Google components may not work correctly, if at all. MicroG can help mitigate this to an extent. You've been warned.
I'm running Resurrection Remix Nougat v5.8.5 (Android 7.1.2), SPen works fine here. Every app I've tested that can use the pen, works fine. There is really no reason to stay with stock just for pen functionality. I also like the huge amount of customization options that RR has compared to stock. And I can use Substratum (no go on stock) with all black themes, for battery savings.
Thank you! Wasn't aware of the google-remove.txt file within gapps. Will definitelly use it. Otherwise it's like i thought: use Titanium and just go loose on everything that starts with 'go'...
I know about microG and use it regularly. Happy customer…
I do like stock marshmallow on note 4 and want to run it as long as it can go. I will perhaps try the RR nougat you suggested on the backup unit. Even tho i am in no particular need of customisation.
Thanx again.
prkfsz said:
Thank you! Wasn't aware of the google-remove.txt file within gapps. Will definitelly use it. Otherwise it's like i thought: use Titanium and just go loose on everything that starts with 'go'...
I know about microG and use it regularly. Happy customer…
I do like stock marshmallow on note 4 and want to run it as long as it can go. I will perhaps try the RR nougat you suggested on the backup unit. Even tho i am in no particular need of customisation.
Thanx again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might find this of some interest.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/general/guide-degoogle-device-install-microg-t4058743
I'm afraid i got stuck here and i need a bit further assistance.. :-/
Coming from stock marshmallow on Galaxy Note 4. I uninstalled google things first using Titanium. Then manually cleaned some leftovers using file manager in TWRP (not sure i did the right way), altho it looked quite empty in the /system map. Another time erased just the Google Play-services before going to TWRPs file manager and it looked just as empty. At both occasions i lost auto-rotate. Is this normal?
After deleting all the google (and in the second try only google play services app) i tried just for the heck of it to run the Nanodroid patch file but i got an error message that it couldnt deodex services.jar file, which was pretty much expected. My skills are not sufficient for deodexing files so i tried other approaches for patching. Smalipatcher - the damn thing couldn't even see i had admin privileges in Win no matter what i did and just refused to run alltogether.
Then i tried the link that was put here by @MrJavi in the post above (thank you sir!). Did everything as the tutorial says, got no error message, everything seemed to run smooth and the apps i chose were installed. (altho TWRP did freeze a couple of times during aroma setup so i had to reset by taking out the battery). When i wanted to set up the microG settings, the microG icon and the app is nowhere to be found. The modul named NanoDroid exists and is activ in Magisk, but it's not possible to open it.
Last, but not least of course, i tryied patching with fake gapps module in Xposed, but Xposed of course does not want to play nice with mr.Samsung. Even when i try and run Xposed from Magisk...
Not sure how to proceed from here.. I'm thinking of switching my starting point to the already deodexed version of marshmallow i thought i saw around here, because it would be easier to patch.
If it's still out there available for download, which i don't take for granted anymore nowadays..
But i would like to make it work on my device anyway. So, if anyone has any ideas, they will be so welcome.
Perhaps Samsung knox is causing issues with Xposed framework/installer. The link below is for a different "Samy" but the the Knox remover is a flashablw .zip made specifically for the Note 4 .
https://www.google.com/amp/s/forum....-how-to-deodex-root-remove-knox-t3458921/amp/
https://www.google.com/amp/s/forum....al/toad-source-android-deodexer-t3848307/amp/
Always take a full Nandroid backup by checking all partition beforehand and save to your external sd card. You can then choose to flaah an Aroma Google debloater .zip .
https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/software-hacking/aroma-google-services-debloater-t3668456
Mr. JAVI said:
Perhaps Samsung knox is causing issues with Xposed framework/installer. The link below is for a different "Samy" but the the Knox remover is a flashablw .zip made specifically for the Note 4 .
https://www.google.com/amp/s/forum....-how-to-deodex-root-remove-knox-t3458921/amp/
https://www.google.com/amp/s/forum....al/toad-source-android-deodexer-t3848307/amp/
Always take a full Nandroid backup by checking all partition beforehand and save to your external sd card. You can then choose to flaah an Aroma Google debloater .zip .
https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/software-hacking/aroma-google-services-debloater-t3668456
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wow, those were really some good links! thanks, @mr.javi. However....
tried the first link and to work with firmware but the ext4uninstaller does not want to recognize the ext4 file (wtf??), regardless from where i download the software and regardless what ext4 file and from what firmware (tested a few), and without that part working it was pretty much impossible to go on. So i ran only the deknoxing tool through twrp. No error. But still when i try and install the xposed - boom! it will not boot. Not even damn zip uninstaller for magisk will work as it should..
Tried the second link with the TOAD. Weird: some versions get recognized as malware by my antivirus and windows does not want to run other versions for safety reasons. Strange..
Tried the third and that de-googling script is rather sweet.
But my conclusion from all this is that it is not so hard to exorcise the google, but to patch the rom in the next step... If i understand correctly i have to get the rom deodexed first to be able to patch it with nanodroid?
I tried some deodexing tools on pc, but i'm not really sure if i'm doing it correctly. I take it i have to copy some folders (/apps, /framework and one more) from the phone to the computer to work with them there, but i get error message when i try to copy files through file manager in twrp. Am i supposed to do it some other way? And can you do that directly in the phone? I tried an app called 3c -all in one-toolbox that has native option of deodexing but i get error message there, something about classes i think, i don't remember and i can't see it now cause the phone is just being reflashed..
Any more thoughts and ideas? As usual, grateful for anything you can give me.
AnonVendetta said:
Once you have done that, you can optionally patch your ROM for signature spoofing support, and install MicroG, which is an open source Google Play Services alternative. These 2 steps are optional, your choice.
Very simple. I've done this before, things will work fine overall. But some things (apps) requiring Google components may not work correctly, if at all. MicroG can help mitigate this to an extent. You've been warned.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HOW?! did you manage to patch it??
prkfsz said:
wow, those were really some good links! thanks, @mr.javi. However....
tried the first link and to work with firmware but the ext4uninstaller does not want to recognize the ext4 file (wtf??), regardless from where i download the software and regardless what ext4 file and from what firmware (tested a few), and without that part working it was pretty much impossible to go on. So i ran only the deknoxing tool through twrp. No error. But still when i try and install the xposed - boom! it will not boot. Not even damn zip uninstaller for magisk will work as it should..
Tried the second link with the TOAD. Weird: some versions get recognized as malware by my antivirus and windows does not want to run other versions for safety reasons. Strange..
Tried the third and that de-googling script is rather sweet.
But my conclusion from all this is that it is not so hard to exorcise the google, but to patch the rom in the next step... If i understand correctly i have to get the rom deodexed first to be able to patch it with nanodroid?
I tried some deodexing tools on pc, but i'm not really sure if i'm doing it correctly. I take it i have to copy some folders (/apps, /framework and one more) from the phone to the computer to work with them there, but i get error message when i try to copy files through file manager in twrp. Am i supposed to do it some other way? And can you do that directly in the phone? I tried an app called 3c -all in one-toolbox that has native option of deodexing but i get error message there, something about classes i think, i don't remember and i can't see it now cause the phone is just being reflashed..
Any more thoughts and ideas? As usual, grateful for anything you can give me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're very welcome @prkfsz
https://mtkcustomroms.com/deodex-stock-rom-custom-rom-without-pc-2018/
https://how-to-easily-deodex-android-stock-rom-without-pc/
Mr. JAVI said:
You're very welcome @prkfsz
https://mtkcustomroms.com/deodex-stock-rom-custom-rom-without-pc-2018/
https://************/how-to-easily-deodex-android-stock-rom-without-pc/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanx again, @Mr. JAVI! :good:
Both links are about the same app and i've tried that one recently, so it seems like we think rather alike.
I get the exact same error message like the guy that wrote that one comment at the bottom of the second link (error saying "needs rebuild classes.dex").
And strangely enough when i open the deodexing window in the app it says that of the number of apps in the rom not all are odexed (says something like "deodexed 124/187"), which is rather perplexing because it's on the freshly installed stock (from nandroid backup directly after factory reset). So I tried to fool the app and get all the apps odexed first, but that didn't fly either..
Btw, thanks for the advice before - i always back the device upp (all partitions) before messing with it.. I forgot to do that on one device before and instantly regretted it..
-------------------------------------------
Edit: the second link in your last post was dead so i tried to correct it in my message, but xda forum doesn't like that.
Tried to post in the right link here in the message too, but that didn't work either for some reason.
but searching the phrase 'how to easily deodex Android stock rom without pc' will give you the first search result.
Oat2dex.jar
https://www.google.com/amp/s/forum....eral/tool-deodex-tool-android-l-t2972025/amp/
https://github.com/testwhat/SmaliEx/releases
---------- Post added at 01:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:43 PM ----------
prkfsz said:
Thanx again, @Mr. JAVI! :good:
Both links are about the same app and i've tried that one recently, so it seems like we think rather alike.
I get the exact same error message like the guy that wrote that one comment at the bottom of the second link (error saying "needs rebuild classes.dex").
And strangely enough when i open the deodexing window in the app it says that of the number of apps in the rom not all are odexed (says something like "deodexed 124/187"), which is rather perplexing because it's on the freshly installed stock (from nandroid backup directly after factory reset). So I tried to fool the app and get all the apps odexed first, but that didn't fly either..
Btw, thanks for the advice before - i always back the device upp (all partitions) before messing with it.. I forgot to do that on one device before and instantly regretted it..
-------------------------------------------
Edit: the second link in your last post was dead so i tried to correct it in my message, but xda forum doesn't like that.
Tried to post in the right link here in the message too, but that didn't work either for some reason.
but searching the phrase 'how to easily deodex Android stock rom without pc' will give you the first search result.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well to tell you the truth, even a full Nandroid backup couldn't fix a dm-verity/drk issue on one of my Note 4's. Up until then I have always recovered from softbricking my devices. Stubborn as I am, I spent hours and hours and hours o no avail. I connected my other N4 but still kept trying to revive my old N4. It wasn't until a year and a half later, assisting another member that I came across a possible solution and it worked. Spent more time than my old N4 was worth but my record is untarnished non the less. lol I sure hope you never ever encounter either of thoughts @prkfsz .
Mr. JAVI said:
Oat2dex.jar
https://www.google.com/amp/s/forum....eral/tool-deodex-tool-android-l-t2972025/amp/
https://github.com/testwhat/SmaliEx/releases
---------- Post added at 01:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:43 PM ----------
Well to tell you the truth, even a full Nandroid backup couldn't fix a dm-verity/drk issue on one of my Note 4's. Up until then I have always recovered from softbricking my devices. Stubborn as I am, I spent hours and hours and hours o no avail. I connected my other N4 but still kept trying to revive my old N4. It wasn't until a year and a half later, assisting another member that I came across a possible solution and it worked. Spent more time than my old N4 was worth but my record is untarnished non the less. lol I sure hope you never ever encounter either of thoughts @prkfsz .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And i thought i was stubborn for this, insisting on tweaking an age-old os and spending hours on looking for solutions.. thank you!
Not sure about what that issue you mentioned was, since i'm not really on that experience level, but i'm sure it was a mean one.. lol Good job of fixing it! I ended up a few times in similar situations (not with that high level issues apparently) and i just couldn't let go untill i resolved them or bricked them completelly... Luckily haven't bricked anything even tho i play mostly with older devices so it wouldn't be such a waste. But as you too apparently feel - unblemished record is a matter of pride..
And yes, i too recently understood that nandroid backup isn't allmighty - it can't for instance save certain safety settings, fingerprints and such. I always thought of nandroid backup like a 'clone' feature on PC. Loved that..
Aanyhew - back to business.
I hit the wall here again, the same one as with Fulmics deodexer. It's not that it isn't working, it's that i don't know how to point it to the right maps for deodexing.
As far as i understand, i have to copy those 3 folders from the phone to the PC, do the deodexing on the pc, and then move back to the phone and replace the original folders. Is this correct? I tried doing this in TWRPs file manager using micro sd card, but i gott error message that it wouldn't copy all the files for some reason. Should i use some other method of copying those folders to the PC?
Perhaps a stupid question but is there any way to let the deodexer on the pc find the folders directly on the phone?
As always - a huge thank you from the struggling noob, @Mr. JAVI. :good:
Perhaps this is the Xposed framework and installer that might be compatible with your N910f
https://forum.xda-developers.com/note-4/themes-apps/unofficial-xposed-v87-3-magisk-v18-t3897017/amp/
As far as TWRP you might be able to patch it and save internal data with Tipatch apk. The drawback is you backups will be much larger.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/forum....pp-twrp-tipatch-backup-internal-t3831217/amp/
PS: Thsnks for the compliment my friend but I'm still learning. Modifications is just a hobby of mine. We learn from each other here on XDA.
PC : skills are not my strong point . Your skills with PC far
exceed your ability. I actually bought a laptop years ago, just so I could flash TWRP Odin and root . The complete ssd laptop cost alot more than my Note 4. I port or create my own flashable .zips. Although, I've never been faced with having to deodex a custom rom, simply because there readily available from the developers on xda for the n910p. Sucks there hasn't been one developed for your n910f.
Something posted by @IBNobody
"Anything past Magisk v15.3 will not pass SafetyNet on QI5.*
Magisk v15.4+ added a check in its Magiskhide subsystem that looks a service (logd) to be loaded. That service is not running on our stock or slightly modified QI5 build. If this service check fails, Magiskhide does not get loaded. If Magiskhide is not running, it can't hide Magisk from the SafetyNet checks.
(You'll know if this is affecting you because the Magisk Manager app won't remember any settings you make in the Magisk Hide tab.)*
Our only options are:
1. Build our own fork of Magisk that skips this check.
2. Enable logd by modifying the init.rc file in boot.img. (logd is commented out. I have not tried un-commenting it.)
3. Remain on v15.3."
DQ15 is the Sprint firmware 6.0.1 and not n910f but it could be the same with yours as well.
A slightly lower version Xpoaed framework api 23
https://androidfilehost.com/?fid=529152257862685344
Mr. JAVI said:
Perhaps this is the Xposed framework and installer that might be compatible with your N910f
https://forum.xda-developers.com/note-4/themes-apps/unofficial-xposed-v87-3-magisk-v18-t3897017/amp/
As far as TWRP you might be able to patch it and save internal data with Tipatch apk. The drawback is you backups will be much larger.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/forum....pp-twrp-tipatch-backup-internal-t3831217/amp/
PS: Thsnks for the compliment my friend but I'm still learning. Modifications is just a hobby of mine. We learn from each other here on XDA.
PC : skills are not my strong point . Your skills with PC far
exceed your ability. I actually bought a laptop years ago, just so I could flash TWRP Odin and root . The complete ssd laptop cost alot more than my Note 4. I port or create my own flashable .zips. Although, I've never been faced with having to deodex a custom rom, simply because there readily available from the developers on xda for the n910p. Sucks there hasn't been one developed for your n910f.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Laptop cost way over Note 4? I see i'm not the only one..... ehh, let's say determined bloke around here haha.. Hope it was worth it.. And btw creating your own flashable zips is way above my level of skills, i can tell you that, my friend. Never did that, nor am i planning to. But since i am stubborn (or so i've heard.. lol) and i feel uttermost distaste for mrGoogle and, like you said, noone has apparently done the deodexing the stock N910F - I am simply forced to take matters into my own hands. Flashing a pie and microG is ... apparently too easy. Besides, i am already running that on one of my spare Note 4s.. And i appreciate xda, just like you say people can give each other a hand. What i dislike tho is lots of dead download links... Oh, well..
ok, back to business again.
I guess i am going to need a more detailed help now.
I tried with that version of Framework you linked to. At that page the link for Xposed installer app for Magisk is dead. Tried to play a little with the other file, the version 87.3 of Xposed and just flashed it in TWRP, but nothing happens.
As far as the Tipatch, excuse my ignorance but i have to ask here: what difference would it make for deodexing to be able to copy internal storage? I am thinking it's other folders that need to be copied, like /system.
Apart from that, i love the idea of Tipatch! Will install it anyway.
--------------------------------------------------------
I am beginning to realize that there are not many reasonable options left, since i'm not sure it is worth much more time and effort on my part. I am not going to be an engineer over this..
So there is but one more question to perhaps get solved before i run out of options and go with custom Pie anyway.
And that is - how do i copy the needed 3 folders intact to PC for deodexing software? I can't find that information anywhere together with this pc based deodexers.
Oh well. I have vague memory of ES file manager being mentioned somewhere. So i guess that will be my last attempt before i give up. Unless some new solution emerges.
Mr. JAVI said:
Something posted by @IBNobody
"Anything past Magisk v15.3 will not pass SafetyNet on QI5.*
Magisk v15.4+ added a check in its Magiskhide subsystem that looks a service (logd) to be loaded. That service is not running on our stock or slightly modified QI5 build. If this service check fails, Magiskhide does not get loaded. If Magiskhide is not running, it can't hide Magisk from the SafetyNet checks.
(You'll know if this is affecting you because the Magisk Manager app won't remember any settings you make in the Magisk Hide tab.)*
Our only options are:
1. Build our own fork of Magisk that skips this check.
2. Enable logd by modifying the init.rc file in boot.img. (logd is commented out. I have not tried un-commenting it.)
3. Remain on v15.3."
DQ15 is the Sprint firmware 6.0.1 and not n910f but it could be the same with yours as well.
A slightly lower version Xpoaed framework api 23
https://androidfilehost.com/?fid=529152257862685344
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, i managed to actually copy the system directory from the phone to the pc using Root explorer app. And none of the deodexers work. Fulmics says it needs smali and baksmali versions over 2.2 even tho i fed it with versions 2.4. SVADeodexerforart runs through all the files without actually doing anything. Logfile shows error 'cannot acces jar file' on all 300+ files.
So i believe this is it for me at this point. I just can't see how further struggle would be meaningsfull since it would just take even more time and i already invested way too much of it on this. But i guess being stubborn has it's price.. :silly:
I want to extend my sincere gratitude, @Mr. JAVI, for your patience, tips and guidelines. I think if it wasn't for you i would given up much quicker.. Which perhaps would've been a smart thing to do... But i wouldn't learn anything..
We will probably bump into each other more times here, since we seem to share the common affection towards a certain gadget.
all the best to you
prkfsz said:
Ok, i managed to actually copy the system directory from the phone to the pc using Root explorer app. And none of the deodexers work. Fulmics says it needs smali and baksmali versions over 2.2 even tho i fed it with versions 2.4. SVADeodexerforart runs through all the files without actually doing anything. Logfile shows error 'cannot acces jar file' on all 300+ files.
So i believe this is it for me at this point. I just can't see how further struggle would be meaningsfull since it would just take even more time and i already invested way too much of it on this. But i guess being stubborn has it's price.. :silly:
I want to extend my sincere gratitude, @Mr. JAVI, for your patience, tips and guidelines. I think if it wasn't for you i would given up much quicker.. Which perhaps would've been a smart thing to do... But i wouldn't learn anything..
We will probably bump into each other more times here, since we seem to share the common affection towards a certain gadget.
all the best to you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am just one of the "common folk". One of my hobbies is modifying my rooted Note 4. I have learned from my failures as well. The creating custom zips is not as hard as you think, in fact it was a failed camera .zip fash that ended in FC's. I came up with an idea to take the previous working camera .zip. left the meta-imf and replaced tge rest with an N7 camera from another rom and fkashed it. It's much easier explained with screen shots.
One of my favourite apps is ZArchiver apk. Downliad it and you'll see why. Ext4, tar, zip, roms, jar, apks and more. Freaking Awesome!!!
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...pk&pcampaignid=APPU_1_YUIBX4STE-aD9PwPh7ylmAg
Its like gold and did I mention free? lol
Welcome to XDA @prkfsz
Mr. JAVI said:
I am just one of the "common folk". One of my hobbies is modifying my rooted Note 4. I have learned from my failures as well. The creating custom zips is not as hard as you think, in fact it was a failed camera .zip fash that ended in FC's. I came up with an idea to take the previous working camera .zip. left the meta-imf and replaced tge rest with an N7 camera from another rom and fkashed it. It's much easier explained with screen shots.
One of my favourite apps is ZArchiver apk. Downliad it and you'll see why. Ext4, tar, zip, roms, jar, apks and more. Freaking Awesome!!!
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...pk&pcampaignid=APPU_1_YUIBX4STE-aD9PwPh7ylmAg
Its like gold and did I mention free? lol
Welcome to XDA @prkfsz
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why thank you good sir, @Mr. JAVI! :good:
Every noob should get this friendly a welcome..
See? All that meta-inf, FC-talk is a bit over my lever right now. But i will check out your tool. Might come in handy for some future project. And free it is you say? Sold! haha
As for this project i had, i had to abandon it for now. I realized it wasn't the degoogling that was the problem, but the patching afterwards, and the deodexing that turned out to be downright impossible to get done. And it just gotten too time-consuming in relation to how much time i actually have and how much win i would get out of it. So i took the easy way for now and i went with the custom Pie. I do want the audio from the headphones..
@prkfsz: I used Tingle patch to integrate signature spoofing. You have a few options:
Tingle patch (requires deodexed framework.jar)
Needle patch (requires deodexed framework.jar)
Nanodroid patcher (requires deodexed services.jar)
Haystack patch (requires deodexed services.jar)
Smali patcher (services.jar can be odexed or deodexed, it will deodex and patch the file for you)
FakeGApps (requires Xposed)
Options 1/2/4/5 require a PC. Options 3/6 can be done on device without PC.
Hope this helps!
I don't really have a lot of time to go into detail, but if either of you are looking for a comprehensive way to properly deodex a ROM, check out SuperR's Kitchen. There a free and paid/donate versions. The free version can do what you want just fine.
I had recently used this to deodex the latest stock MM UK firmware for the N910F. In addition to deodexing, the Kitchen can also customize your ROM, and even build a zip that you can flash in TWRP. It flashed and booted fine for me. Once you have done this, you can debloat the ROM (or let the Kitchen do it for you). It won't remove all Google stuff by default, but you can configure it to delete pretty much any file/directory in the system partition. My advice is to use the Kitchen's debloater/Knox removal features, then use gapps-remove.txt and a root file manager to delete the rest. Once you have debloated/deodexed, you can then easily signature spoof patch with any of the tools I mentioned in my previous post.
I have also discovered that you can also run the Tingle patch without a PC, by using QPython3 app. Just supply the deodexed framework.jar and build.prop, it will do the rest. Grab the Tingle master zip from GitHub, unpack it into QPython3's scripts directory on the internal storage, then provide the 2 files into input folder, and run main.py from within the app. You will find the patched jar file in output folder, replace your ROM's framework.jar with the patched one. Use Signature Spoofing Checker to confirm that it worked. I don't think root is required, but it's better to have it anyway, just enable root in QPython3 settings.
Some last notes: don't use Titanium to debloat Google apps, it may also remove some needed shared library files that Android uses. Namely, a library file called libgnustl_shared.so, which will cause autorotation to not work. Use Titanium to determine the locations of Google apps, then delete them manually. This will keep the shared library files while still deleting the apps. On top of this, use gapps-remove.txt.
But while you are debloating, there may be 2 Google apps present that you should not remove, period:
/system/app/WebViewGoogle
/system/priv-app/GooglePackageInstaller
The first is needed by Android and apps to provide webview functionality (this might not sound important, but it is). The 2nd is needed to install apps, remove it and you won't be able to install any app from anywhere (Play Store, manual APK install, etc).
On the subject of Xposed, do *NOT* install the Xposed installer from the Magisk Manager downloads. It isn't designed to work on stock Samsung MM firmware, you won't be able to boot. Use the custom Xposed by wanam (available on XDA). Or you can google for "Xposed kevintm78", this will come up with an AndroidFileHost link that you can install from Magisk. The latter is just a systemless Magisk version of Wanam's Xposed.