Hi Guys
The problem I see for most ROM developers is that they only provide full releases , so existing ROM users should reflash the whole ROM for only a few minor upgrades and the worst part is that they may lose some apps due to upgrade. like the latest HyDrOG3N-ICS upgrade which deletes all google apps and you need to flash them separately again after upgrade.
So I am going to make incremental updates for the ROM I use and share it with community. lets say I have two full releases named ver1 and ver2. is there a way to compare these ROMs and create a CWM flashable incremental update from ver1 to ver2 ?
I know it may not be as easy as it sounds , just point me to right direction and tools and I will do my homework
I would have thought the starting point is to ask the dev for his permission .
jje
My question here is a technical question , has nothing to do with dev.
Lets say I want to do it for myself
Although I dont think it needs devs permission , do all devs have official permission from google ? NO , android is an opensource project and anyone can fork it respecting the GPL. also the thing I am going to accomplish here is not modding any ROM , just incremental updates for users. the user will still get the original ROM. it is for community , not for devs
Related
This is a call out to all existing and future developers of Xperia MDPI Devices.
For about a month now there is an app called Update Me Smartphone, which basically gives OTA update functionality for our Custom Roms.
From 01/05/2012 the developer of this app has given it a very interesting feature. You can view all Roms compatible with the Update Me Smartphone application. Even though you get a list a bunch of irrelevant devices, I suppose if we all "help" him with our suggestions he can make an application that will be on par with the Rom Manager app for devices that are fully supported by CWM.
To make this as simple as possible....
User "A" wants to download a new Rom for his Xperia MDPI Device. He has already downloaded and flashed a custom kernel (whether this is a Stock Kernel, or a CM kernel), then proceeds to download the app, install it and browse any compatible Rom's with his device... From then on his device will stay updated, through the Update Me application providing OTA updates of the Rom he has installed. If he wished to download another rom (compatible with the kernel he has - there are 3 Different Kernels AFAIK: GB CM, ICS CM, GB-ICS Stock Sony Kernel) he will just proceed to download the latest version of the rom he has selected straight to his device. No need to download to your computer, then connect the device, then copy it, then flash it. If you have the compatible kernel already installed, then its easy as pie.
Please let me know of your thoughts on this...
Edit: Link to the application's thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1590170
Edit 2: Apart from Rom's we can also implement various mods, tweaks, fixes, etc for our devices. Even though that would be extremely hard, due to the fact that all these files need to be stored in a direct download location like Dropbox, its is a viable option.
OMG I love the idea, that would be awesome!!
It's very interesting, thanks a lot for the info I will try it!
Some modification: In GB we have 3 different kernel (Stock Based, CM Based, MIUI Based [not released yet]). In ICS we don't have Stock based to Xperia MDPI, because Sony don't released yet the stock for us. So we have CM9 based, AOSP based (it's work with CM9 ROMs btw), and ported Stock based.
Some another notice: I saw a lot of thread (not only in this forum), but sooo many people trying to make ROMs. It's not a problem, but some guy don't know some full minimum things... So who will help this guys to add this app to their ROMs?
Are you using a different Kernel for the Sony ICS rom port? I mean the Ramdisk is the same size and you're using the same zImage from a stock GB rom correct?
Well nobody is forced to do this. All we have to do is provide the app developer a link with the update_me_check.xml so that he will sort of add a link for that in the application.
By the way, i now got my goo.im account, and this have own OTA app. I will try it, and I will report.
But I know, this is not only OTA app... Hmm... I need to think in it
So the only developer checking the thread is Expeacer?
Ok...
dumraden said:
So the only developer checking the thread is Expeacer?
Ok...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What makes you think like this?
Well, it's been a couple of days since I posted this, either people dont have an opinion of their own, or they don't care...
dumraden said:
Well, it's been a couple of days since I posted this, either people dont have an opinion of their own, or they don't care...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also read quite a lot of topics, but I don't respond in every topic.
My question goes to ROM developer. If we can make a flash-able zip files to install or modify files, why can we not only flash the updated files when ROM developers update their ROM?
For example the normal process is:
-Find ROM your like
-Download and flash full ROM(some LG G2 Roms are 1 gig in size)
-New update comes out
-Download full 1 gig ROM again and flash again
why can we not go
-Find ROM
-Download and flash full ROM
-New update comes out
-Download only the updated files (most likely a few MB's only)
-Flash them
Note: I am not a ROM developer so I do not know all the technical aspects that goes into making a ROM. This is why I am asking why something like this is not possible or we just don't do it.
Some roms do support incremental updates. The G2 roms probably aren't that stable yet.
We're just now starting to see an more and more custom 4.4 roms (even on the Nexus 5). Most were typically based off stock.
Once they get stuff ironed out, you should start to see some smaller updates.
1gb roms do sound unnecessary
-sent from my LG G2 using XDA Premium 4
Thanks. I was really wondering about that. So it is possible, it is just up to the developer.
player911 said:
Some roms do support incremental updates. The G2 roms probably aren't that stable yet.
We're just now starting to see an more and more custom 4.4 roms (even on the Nexus 5). Most were typically based off stock.
Once they get stuff ironed out, you should start to see some smaller updates.
1gb roms do sound unnecessary
-sent from my LG G2 using XDA Premium 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I may be really off base here. But from past phones and roms it seems that some updates only work really well when built into the Rom. Some have used SVN to put out updates and then you build the Rom with the small update you download. I believe it all depends on how deep the update goes. Looking forward to see how far we can go with this phone. Tomorrow is my 14th day so I guess its a keeper.
CyanDelta does what you are asking for Cyanogenmod.
Consider this. A developer creates a ROM. You download and install it. Then, the developer wants to update it. If he uses a small incremental update, you can download and flash it. Then when it is updated again, you just flash the next update, and so on.
This is all fine and dandy, if you downloaded the ROM from the very beginning, prior to any updates.
If you find the ROM a few weeks or a month or whatever into development, it will likely have gotten at least a few updates. But in order to get to the latest stuff, you would have to download that first build, flash that, and then individually download and flash every update that has been released for that ROM until it is up to date. That is a pain.
If the developer just releases a whole new build for each update, both new and old users can flash it and be on the most current version of the ROM. Yes, it is a bigger file to download, but it saves quite a lot of headaches. Both for the developer and for the end users. Especially if a re-flash is necessary for some reason.
Or, the developer could do both, and create a whole new build, and a small update for the current users. But that would make for a big mess of files to keep and maintain, and could be confusing to make sure the right one is downloaded. Just creating all those updates and ROM builds and writing all the installation scripts sounds like a big pain to me. It's generally simpler to just build the ROM. Still, it does happen.
Just my thoughts, and I am not a ROM developer, so please correct me if I am mistaken about something.
Its a pain plain and simple. Who wants to look at hases to see if a lib changed and stuff. Its also simply more reliable to just keep each base its own then to start merging the two.
Can anyone tell me why are there roms up of to 1gb in size and yet most are just 200mb more or less.
Usually AOSP ROMs are going to be small. When you start to add in LGs ui, features, provider rubbish etc, they climb in size. Most of my Galaxy Note II ROMs were huge. My TWRP back ups would be around 3GB.
Sent from my LG-LS980 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
I want to learn how to build a rom for an new device that no one has created a custom rom for. I am kinda new at this. But I want to learn how. I is there a full on guild or something on how to do it... I want to know. There are devices out there that have to custom roms yet that I would like to build for. I would like to use AOSP to build a clean fresh pure Android rom. Those devices I want to build for have the right specs to run a newer Android version but the developers did not realse an update for. I really would like to learn how to build/create my own Android rom from scratch... Learn how to build a kernel, bootloader, etc. to help the rom run right. Can anyone help?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1272270
Thanks me if it helps you
@jakeh9777
Read this http://forum.xda-developers.com/chef-central/android/guide-android-rom-development-t2814763
Especially post #4 and below
Thanks!
My only problem is where do I get a device tree and all the files for the device? I am wanting to build roms for devices that no one else build roms for yet. So it is going to be hard to customize roms for those devices without any roms in the first place. I know how to download source but I can't build it a rom from it. I just want to support devices that no one else has but the ones people want still... And some of them aa silde out qwerty keyboards. Can I get some more easier instite... I better at learning physically, so a video will be good too.
P.S. I can't get a device tree from CM if the device is not been added... That is why I said these devices don't have roms yet.
Hello everyone,
I don't know if this is the right place to ask, please move to the appropriate section if needed.
My question - let's say I have a rom on my device that is no longer maintained by the developer, is there any way through which I can manually update Android security patches or maybe maintain the rom myself??
** considering that I don't have any custom kernel available or its no longer updated at all.
Can anyone help me with this?
good question
Hello everyone.
Im new here.
I just want to ask something.
When porting roms can my base ROM and my port ROM have different android version?
Looking forward to having responses
P/s: sorry for bad engrisk )
XdaNeko said:
Hello everyone.
Im new here.
I just want to ask something.
When porting roms can my base ROM and my port ROM have different android version?
Looking forward to having responses
P/s: sorry for bad engrisk )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It has been a looong time since I knew about those things but if I remember your base ROM should have that same Android version as your port ROM.
And if you want an advice, please consider building a ROM from source. Troubleshooting is hell with ported ROMs. Building ROM is scary because it has commands that you don't know yet, but it's way more easy than porting. Trust me.
Here is a guide on how to build ROM from source :
https://forum.xda-developers.com/chef-central/android/guide-android-rom-development-t2814763
@XdaNeko
It's NOT the version of Android what does matter. If that would be the case then an upgrade via OTA never would be possible.
A Stock ROM always at 100% matches phone's hardware ( CPU, GPU, RAM, storage memory, etc.pp ) - it's built by OEM's / Carrier's R&D department, the guys who know best of.
Whereas a Custom ROM necessarily does NOT because it gets built by 3rd-party companies/programmers associations - who think they can do it better, but don't always have the specific Android device at hand.