Custom Firmware
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This might be asking for too much, but could anyone of you rom cookers/modifiers make a small step by step tut on how to package a rom update, let's say starting off from some of the currently available roms?I guess no one's actually compiling their roms from source (yet), but it'd be good to know how to add/remove bits & pieces from a rom to create your own custom rom.
I'm also interested in making my own roms... already installed ubuntu on vmware at home and read most of the custom rom threads in the apad forum here...- i've unpacked update.img on my pc with afptool.exe- afptool created the other image files (boot.img, kernel.img, system.img, ...)now i want to extract e.g. system.img - but this DOESN'T work with afptool - help now is needed ;D hope someone will share his knowledge - to newcomers
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sudo aptitude install cramfsprogssudo mkdir -p /mnt/systemsudo mount -o loop system.img /mnt/systemYou can now read /mnt/system. Tough mount shows rw on /mnt/system it is only readonly.
[quote author=alex_speed link=topic=733.msg5856#msg5856 date=1275900892]sudo aptitude install cramfsprogssudo mkdir -p /mnt/systemsudo mount -o loop system.img /mnt/systemYou can now read /mnt/system. Tough mount shows rw on /mnt/system it is only readonly.[/quote]is it a must to have a linux environment to do so?? anyway using M$ windows??
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[quote author=uniqlo link=topic=733.msg5863#msg5863 date=1275902112]is it a must to have a linux environment to do so?? anyway using M$ windows??[/quote]I don't know maybe through Cygwin. By the way, Android doesn't compile on Windows system.
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[quote author=uniqlo link=topic=733.msg5863#msg5863 date=1275902112]is it a must to have a linux environment to do so?? anyway using M$ windows??[/quote]Using cramfsck and cygwin it's possible to unpack a cramfs image even on windows. At least I managed to, by dd'ing /system to the sd card and then pulling it over to my Windows box.But to do anything serious, you must use Linux to set file properties and stuff.So, by mounting system.img you can extract everything it contains. Now - is it just a matter of recreating a cramfs image (from the extracted contents) with mkcramfs and putting it back into update.img (and how would one go about that)?
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Hello,You can start by making a customized version of system.img. As I said in another thread, it is pretty straighforward to extract the system.img. You'll need a debian based system or find the commands yourself.Read the guide in whole before starting !# This will create a new directorymkdir -p /mnt/system# Install cramfs toolssudo aptitude install cramfsprogs# mount the system.imgsudo mount -o loop system.img /mnt/system# copy the readonly system to an editable locationcp -rp /mnt/system /path_to_a_valid_directorycd /path_to_a_valid_directory and start cutstomizing. I suggest removing/Adding some apps in app directory.# Repack the systemsudo mkfs.cramfs /path_to_a_valid_directory my_system.imgFlash only system.img with the Flasher tools.WARNING : as I don't have received my aPad yet, I haven't tested it so YOU DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK.Maybe someone else can confirm/add details to it. Also be carefull that there is a size limit for the system.img. See HWDEF file, maybe there is some changes to do there.
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[quote author=ZilverZurfarn link=topic=733.msg5879#msg5879 date=1275902990]Now - is it just a matter of recreating a cramfs image (from the extracted contents) with mkcramfs and putting it back into update.img (and how would one go about that)?[/quote]Check there http://www.slatedroid.com/index.php?topic=729.0
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Great! Exactly what I was looking for. Except for one thing - How to create the update.img (the link provided "just" explains how to create system.img)
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The size limit - What is it really? I'd really like to have /system as something else (not cramfs - perhaps yaffs?) to allow for "on the fly" updates to system files. The question is - will it fit as a non compressed FS?
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You can use the AFPTool.exe from the 530 firmware update to package update.img files.
thanks a lot! that really helps - i'll try that in the evening.found in this forum category an equal thread - http://www.slatedroid.com/index.php?topic=729.0probably a moderator could merge this two threads - otherwise it could get a little confusing.... ;D
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[quote author=ZilverZurfarn link=topic=729.msg5900#msg5900 date=1275908016]The size limit - What is it really? I'd really like to have /system as something else (not cramfs - perhaps yaffs?) to allow for "on the fly" updates to system files. The question is - will it fit as a non compressed FS?[/quote]Take a look at the HWDEF file inside the update packages. It shows position and size of the partitions.
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[quote author=cadrogui link=topic=729.msg5973#msg5973 date=1275922062]If i want to use a 2.1 Version how could it be?[/quote]Well, we'd need the source code for the hardware drivers and compile Android from source I think. Acompletely different ballgame than replacing/removing/adding bits & pieces to the original rom. I also sincerely doubt there is enough ram to successfully run any 2.x Android version on the aPad.
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