Dumb question.. How to make a update.zip - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I know people talk about this all the time... I found a lot of thread of how to create a flashable zip file.. But every thread has it different than others. So I have tried it several ways and still get errors...
I'm trying to make a flashable zip to push an apk to system/app and I decided to do this to test it out...
This is the update-script I have tested it with
run_program("/sbin/busybox", "mount", "/system");
delete("/system/app/FlashBarService.apk");
package_extract_dir("system", "/system");
run_program("/sbin/busybox", "unmount", "/system");
Ok what I figure is the run_program is to mount system with busybox. Every line i see that it have this on there.. Then Im trying to replace an app from system/app so I put in delete("/system/app/name of app");
then package_extract_dir("system", :/system"); is so recovery can extract and push the zip file
and again run_program to unmount... But recovery is giving me an error status 4
I also deleted that delete line and still got status 4.
Again this is another way I tried it to do it with
run_program("/sbin/busybox", "mount", "/system");
run_program("/sbin/busybox", "mount", "/cache");
run_program("/sbin/busybox", "mount", "/data");
package_extract_dir("system", "/system");
run_program("/sbin/busybox", "umount", "/system");
run_program("/sbin/busybox", "umount", "/cache");
run_program("/sbin/busybox", "umount", "/data");
And this way too
mount("ext4", "EMMC", "/dev/block/mmcblk0p14", "/system");
mount("ext4", "EMMC", "/dev/block/mmcblk0p14", "/data");
package_extract_dir("system", "/system");
run_program("/sbin/busybox", "unmount", "/system");
run_program("/sbin/busybox", "unmount", "/data");
And till got status 4.
Inside my xxx.zip I have it set up this way META-INF/com/google/android
And other folder on root system/app
I have a GS3.
Like I said I have followed several threads about this and all looks different and none worked.
I know this is supposed to be the easies thing to do when it comes to android. But I just need to be directed to the right path.
Can somebody with more experience with this help me out?

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Status 4 means that you have a syntax error somewhere... (yep, you have a syntax error or you're using notepad or wordpad to edit the files. That's it).
The best guide I ever seen out there is this one, take a look at it.

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I use notepad++ to edit any android related files like build.prop. Thanks will look at that
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

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Anyone?

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gypsy214 said:
I use notepad++ to edit any android related files like build.prop. Thanks will look at that
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah. Notepad++ is best for this type of Editing in Windows.
Have you chosen the correct format in settings?
Edit>>EOL Conversions>>UNIX Format
The problem may be that windows use CR(carriage return) while unix(Android) uses LF (line feed) for a new line character.
You can also try to mount the system manually(there is option in CWM for that) & may be leave only the "package_extract_dir("system", "/system");" in the updater script.
Also, post the zip file here, so that problem can be easily identified.

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GobletSky31689 said:
Yeah. Notepad++ is best for this type of Editing in Windows.
Have you chosen the correct format in settings?
Edit>>EOL Conversions>>UNIX Format
The problem may be that windows use CR(carriage return) while unix(Android) uses LF (line feed) for a new line character.
You can also try to mount the system manually(there is option in CWM for that) & may be leave only the "package_extract_dir("system", "/system");" in the updater script.
Also, post the zip file here, so that problem can be easily identified.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will do.. But it works when I use notepad++ to add ui_print.