Create your Linux environment to build YOUR Android - XPERIA X10 Android Development

Hello all,
if you are like me, you love to do things by yourself and see how it works. In this thread I'll show you how to create your Linux environment in order to create and compile your own roms - any version (1.5, 2.3, etc etc). I had soooooo many problems to make it work, so here is THE thread
BE CAREFUL : this thread is ONLY to set up the OS. The Android you will compile will not be compatible with your x10 as it needs to be "edited" for our phones. It basically shows you how to get ready
Note : parts 1 and 2 explain how to set up Ubuntu into a virtual machine in Virtualbox. If you don't virtualize Linux, if your Ubuntu is already installed, etc etc you can directly go to 3. It's just here to explain how to install Ubuntu.
This tutorial works of course for any "hard installation" of Ubuntu (I mean not in a Virtual machine) and in any virtualizing software (Virtualbox, VMWare, etc etc). I've dropped the Virtualbox tutorial because the software is free
1. Requirements
2. Set up Ubuntu 64 bit (Virtualbox)
3. Set up Android Source dependencies
4. Set up Android Source
5. Regular use
1. Requirements
A working computer, capable of virtualization (if you don't want to wipe your Windows or your MacOS X !) and with Internet connection
Few Gb on your hard drive (10Gb minimum ! Recomended : 15-30Gb)
As much RAM as possible (Minimum 1024Mb), and as powerful CPU as possible (Core2Solo, Core2Duo, ...)
A bit a time
2. Set up Ubuntu 64 bit
Download and install the latest Oracle VM Virtualbox for Windows
Download latest 64-bit Ubuntu Linux (as .iso package) - you can store the file wherever you want.
(Optional) Download the VirtualBox v4 extension, this will allow you to support improvements like USB2.0... Install : once VirtualBox will be installed, File>Preferences>Extensions>Add... If you get an error (Error 1), try to put the file in a "very simple" location (like C:\) and reinstall.
Once you've set up Virtualbox, run it. Click on "New", then follow the wizard.
Make sure you set the following :
Operating System : Linux
Version : Ubuntu (64 bit)
RAM : 512Mb (you can adjust more, but avoid use lower than 512Mb - I use 2Gb)
Create a new hard drive : set it variable size or fixed sized, but you'll need at last 15Gb to get all the files. To feel confortable, I use 30Gb (variable)
The computer is created, now run it. It will say there's no OS. Click on Devices > CD/DVD > More CD/DVD... Here is you virtual player. Click on Add, and select the Ubuntu .ISO file you downloaded. Then, choose it in the list, and click Choose. Now, you can restart the virtual machine by clicking Machine > Restart.
The computer should restart from the virtual CD, so install it to your virtual hard drive - regular install, same as if you were installing it on a physical HDD.
Once it's installed, do not forget to kick the .iso file from the virtual player for you not to start always on the CD
3. Set up Android Source dependencies
In Ubuntu, do right-click on the upper bar (where are Applications, Shortcuts...), and click Edit Menus. Then, go to System > Administration and tick Software Sources. We need to do this because Sun is highly restrictive on access to Java setup files...
Close that, then click on System > Administration > Software Sources.
Enable all sources, then on the second tab, tick the two Canonical sources (the most important ones, as these sources allow to install Java !)
Close the window and allow to refresh the sources (if you don't, next steps won't work).
Go and read the official Android Source page. That's what we're going to do.
Run a terminal, and copy/paste this : (this is a corrected setup, it should work like a charm -- please tell if it's not)
Code:
sudo apt-get install git-core gnupg flex bison gperf build-essential zip curl sun-java6-jdk zlib1g-dev gcc-multilib g++-multilib libc6-dev-i386 lib32ncurses5-dev ia32-libs x11proto-core-dev libx11-dev lib32readline5-dev lib32z-dev
After setup complete, make sure Java works, by typing
Code:
java
and
Code:
javac
This should return help on both commands. If one of these doesn't work (ie. "command not found"), your environment is not configured properly.
4. Set up Android Source
Create a dir called "bin" in your user dir.
Code:
cd ~
mkdir bin
echo $PATH
Then, type this :
Code:
curl http://android.git.kernel.org/repo >~/bin/repo
chmod a+x ~/bin/repo
Next step is to create a folder where we'll store Android sources we work on. You can place it and name it as you wish, let's call it "android" and place it on the user folder.
Code:
mkdir android
cd android
Then, run this command :
Code:
repo init -u git://android.git.kernel.org/platform/manifest.git
If it returns "command not found", restart Ubuntu !
Enter username and email, although I'm not sure it's useful for our use -custom roms-.
Now, let's get the files ! Type
Code:
repo sync
and wait... Wait... Wait... Lots of commands, of "Resolving deltas", "Receiving", etc etc. It can be very long (depends of your Internet speed), just wait...
Finally, let's register the public key and finalize setup process. Type
Code:
gpg --import
And the cursor will down a line and nothing will appear. Stuck ? Broken ? Woooops ? Not at all ! Program is waiting for you to type the key, which is sooooooo big. So, copy and paste all this :
Code:
-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.2.2 (GNU/Linux)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=Wi5D
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Once pasted, hit CTRL+D, this will make the program to register the key, and will display the key has processed.
Everything is now done, you have all the sources and you are ready to create your own roms. You can edit files simply by double-click, or use any software you want.
If you want to compile, simply run a terminal, go to your folder (remember it is cd android (MS-DOS-like command), where android is the folder you defined above) then type
Code:
make
. After a long time (depends on how much RAM you assigned to the machine, 512Mbits is slow), you will generate IMG files.
5. Regular use
If you want to get the latest source files (ie you have 2.1 files and want 2.2.1 files), simply run a terminal, go to your working folder and type
Code:
repo sync
. This should do the trick (correct me if I'm wrong)
Compiling sources takes hours to process, and you may want to kill the compile or pause it. You can then abuse of these keyboard shortcuts (common to Ubuntu OS) :
Code:
CTRL+C
will kill the process. Use it carefully, as it instantly kills it with no prompt.
Code:
RIGHT CTRL+P
is a Virtualbox command. Il will pause the whole Ubuntu (and also your process), and makes the screen ugly/gray (it just stuck the screen on Virtualbox v4.x). This is helpful when you run a Virtual machine, as you can pause the OS and make your computer to sleep/hibernate (or save an image - do NOT turn off your computer, as it will turn off the Virtual machine also !). Out of sleep, you can type again RIGHT CTRL+P to make the process to continue.
** Please note it might be risky to flash your phone with the stock rom you compiled (I mean with no modification), as this is not intended to work on X10
** Please note this install is for AOSP and NOT for Android SDK (you can install it with ease).
What's the difference ?
Android Open Source Project (AOSP) allows you to get the source code of the Android Operating System, in order to improve/change it, and create your personalized Android operating system
Android SDK allow you only to create and edit apps for Android Operating System.
Please note that compiling takes hours to process ! (3 hours or more)
** For any question, deeper info : please FIRST read official documentation. Easy to use, you'll get all info ! **​

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man...did you ever stop?!

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THANKS FOR INFO. If you can explain how to make system images for our X10 then we can use the dual boot option to make gingerbread or froyo roms for dual boot using Zhidu chargemon file.
I am not clear on making and android system image for the x10. can we extract a system image from a running rom? that way I could make a system image of black freedom and we can all dualboot it instead of installing it.

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rendeiro2005 said:
man...did you ever stop?!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol I can't stop
@SuperUserMovado : I'd love to know, unfortunately I am like you - I don't know how to do this. I'm gonna get several info there and there and try to do some stuff
Regarding Zd's Dual, please note it is not compatible with his xRecovery, which makes things a bit boring when you want to easily install a custom rom AND benefit of Dual Boot.
Dual boot by the way is an excellent idea, but it has limitations (of course), like no SD card mount and few other things because it run from SD card and not from NAND.
EDIT : here is a good start : http://source.android.com/porting/index.html

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I have just started playing with this and have compiled one aosp rom from source. I think it can be extracted from a running rom but I'm not sure how yet. On the other hand it looks like the source is available on the se dev website. I'm having trouble downloading it... not sure yet if its on my end or theirs.
Here's the error if someone could help me out: (Ubuntu 64bit)
Archive: /tmp/X10_X10mini_X10_minipro_X8_2.0.A.0.504.tar.gz-4.zip
[/tmp/X10_X10mini_X10_minipro_X8_2.0.A.0.504.tar.gz-4.zip]
End-of-central-directory signature not found. Either this file is not
a zipfile, or it constitutes one disk of a multi-part archive. In the
latter case the central directory and zipfile comment will be found on
the last disk(s) of this archive.
zipinfo: cannot find zipfile directory in one of /tmp/X10_X10mini_X10_minipro_X8_2.0.A.0.504.tar.gz-4.zip or
/tmp/X10_X10mini_X10_minipro_X8_2.0.A.0.504.tar.gz-4.zip.zip, and cannot find /tmp/X10_X10mini_X10_minipro_X8_2.0.A.0.504.tar.gz-4.zip.ZIP, period.
Check this site out as well. The whole site is really helpful. I'm in the process of compiling a captivate rom with some slight changes and i hope it works.
Edit: Btw if you get the error repo not found, type this into the command line
code:
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin' >> ~/.bashrc
then close the terminal, reopen another one and it should work

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@superusermovado
I'm pretty sure you use unyaffs for the system.img and split_bootimg.ph for the boot.img.
That's how to decompile an update.zip.
From there you recompile as usual. I'm not going to post the instructions because they are all over the net.
Hint: Andy rubins tweet lol

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gavriel18 said:
I have just started playing with this and have compiled one aosp rom from source. I think it can be extracted from a running rom but I'm not sure how yet. On the other hand it looks like the source is available on the se dev website. I'm having trouble downloading it... not sure yet if its on my end or theirs.
Here's the error if someone could help me out: (Ubuntu 64bit)
Archive: /tmp/X10_X10mini_X10_minipro_X8_2.0.A.0.504.tar.gz-4.zip
[/tmp/X10_X10mini_X10_minipro_X8_2.0.A.0.504.tar.gz-4.zip]
End-of-central-directory signature not found. Either this file is not
a zipfile, or it constitutes one disk of a multi-part archive. In the
latter case the central directory and zipfile comment will be found on
the last disk(s) of this archive.
zipinfo: cannot find zipfile directory in one of /tmp/X10_X10mini_X10_minipro_X8_2.0.A.0.504.tar.gz-4.zip or
/tmp/X10_X10mini_X10_minipro_X8_2.0.A.0.504.tar.gz-4.zip.zip, and cannot find /tmp/X10_X10mini_X10_minipro_X8_2.0.A.0.504.tar.gz-4.zip.ZIP, period.
Check this site out as well. The whole site is really helpful. I'm in the process of compiling a captivate rom with some slight changes and i hope it works.
Edit: Btw if you get the error repo not found, type this into the command line
code:
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin' >> ~/.bashrc
then close the terminal, reopen another one and it should work
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for info
About this package, what's the content ?? The easiest way is to download from XDA the generic global rom, it's the same -- with no bug

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Perceval from Hyrule said:
Thanks for info
About this package, what's the content ?? The easiest way is to download from XDA the generic global rom, it's the same -- with no bug
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Huh? The generic ROM is compiled. The one we are talking about here is source-code. I thought you should know since you started this topic on how to setup a build environment. Im not intirely sure what the download from from SE is but it looks like the source-code from all the changes and additions SE made to the bare system. So there's the kernel source and some other stuff that I don't know the purpose of.
Sent from my SNES using Mario Paint

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LouNGeRR said:
Huh? The generic ROM is compiled. The one we are talking about here is source-code. I thought you should know since you started this topic on how to setup a build environment. Im not intirely sure what the download from from SE is but it looks like the source-code from all the changes and additions SE made to the bare system. So there's the kernel source and some other stuff that I don't know the purpose of.
Sent from my SNES using Mario Paint
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A compiled rom is not a problem
I was asking what was the content within the rom, and as you said - i supposed too - it is the original + all SE garbage.
Very interesting to get some apps back on AOSP (some like the *Scape, i do like predictive input from SE, gains a lot of time)
To answer then, the SE kit should contain everything of what SE adds : RachaelUI, all their apps (the *Scape), modules (keyboard, apis...), etc etc and all files to link these components to the kernel. And make our phones as fast as a monster truck. Not as fast as AOSP (Formula 1 !!!!!)

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Don't forget the most important part, the package contains the SE kernel.
Sent from my SNES using Mario Paint

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After using, struggling more like with Ubuntu and VMware, the main issue being I couldn't figure out getting VMware tools running so copy and pasting was hit and miss, I tried the Cygwin method instead which works much better for me on Windows 7 Ultimate x64.

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XperiaX10iUser said:
After using, struggling more like with Ubuntu and VMware, the main issue being I couldn't figure out getting VMware tools running so copy and pasting was hit and miss, I tried the Cygwin method instead which works much better for me on Windows 7 Ultimate x64.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
VMWare is much more difficult to run than VirtualBox. But course you can try and compile Android from Windows
But I definitely can't tell you if the kitchen method will work for XPERIA.

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Perceval from Hyrule said:
VMWare is much more difficult to run than VirtualBox. But course you can try and compile Android from Windows
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've put VB on too, but thought I'd try the Cygwin method, which as I've said works for me, and is better imo, at least for what I need.
Perceval from Hyrule said:
But I definitely can't tell you if the kitchen method will work for XPERIA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can, and it does.

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XperiaX10iUser said:
I've put VB on too, but thought I'd try the Cygwin method, which as I've said works for me, and is better imo, at least for what I need.
I can, and it does.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for info then

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Hey guys, did someone do the same install as me ? (Windows 7 x64 host // Ubuntu 10.10 x64 guest).
I've never been able to make USB to work, kinda weird... Because when you compile Android, you'd like to send it to your phone *warning !*

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Perceval from Hyrule said:
Hey guys, did someone do the same install as me ? (Windows 7 x64 host // Ubuntu 10.10 x64 guest).
I've never been able to make USB to work, kinda weird... Because when you compile Android, you'd like to send it to your phone *warning !*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's why I went the Cygwin route, much less hassle imo.

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XperiaX10iUser said:
That's why I went the Cygwin route, much less hassle imo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would say it depends. Linux environment is much cooler to work with source files (no boring "NOOO Windows can't find how to open this weird non-Windows file. What to do ? 1.Delete 2.Crash Windows 3.Phone Ballmer to make a tender offer)
Is compiling long with Cyg ? From AOSP, it takes me up to 3 hours with my (well RAM-ed, well CPU-ed) Virtual Machine.