The first thing I want to say is that my English is not really good. I hope you understand my questions.
I have an idea for a new Android rom, but I'm faced with a dilemma. I want to have as much as possible supported devices, so I also can just build a launcher apk which can be installed through Google Play. In this way all mobile devices with the minimal platform version can use it. The biggest problem is that I don't only want a replacement for the application launcher but also the notification drawer and everything else. Is it possible to replace them also? I don't think so, so I think I'll work on a custom rom.
The next problem is which base rom I would use if I really build a custom rom. It's most likely to use AOSP as base because it's clean. The question is which version of AOSP: Gingerbread, Ice Cream Sandwich, or the newest version Jelly Bean. You would probably say Jelly Bean because this is the newest version. The problem is the phone support. Gingerbread is supported on most phones. If I build ICS or JB the phones which are supported by Cyanogenmod are easy to support, because I can use their device files. The only problem is that my phone, the Samsung Galaxy Gio is not officially supported and the unofficial port is not really stable. I don't think it's a big problem to use this device files and just wait till the developer makes it more stable, but I don't know for sure.
The last thing I want to know is if it's really that simple to support multiple devices. If I read tutorials about porting existing roms to your device they all say you just have to add your device files to the source and compile it. But they never say something about the kernel. Most devices need another kernel because their hardware is different isn't it? Please explain me how this works.
I'm sorry about this hazy story, but please help me before I make wrong choices. Thanks on purpose.
Wietse
WietsedeVries said:
The biggest problem is that I don't only want a replacement for the application launcher but also the notification drawer and everything else. Is it possible to replace them also? I don't think so, so I think I'll work on a custom rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These changes you are talking about can be done. They are system changes so not supported by the android app installer.
Eg: Your notification drawer, status bar are part of SystemUI.apk. The source for this is can be found in the AOSP source code under android/frameworks/base/...
You can make your modifications, compile it into an apk and then make a flashable zip to replace the current one (or push it via a rooted adb console).
or you can compile the entire source code into a flashable zip (eg CM7,9 etc..) and use it a replacement ROM with your modifications.
This is the line between an application under the android runtime and the android runtime itself.
these files, under framework are part of the OS. so to provide a customized version of the operating itself is what people like to call ROMs.
Now ROMs (like any OS) are device dependant. Windows has the code to run in a lot of different hardware configs, but android aims to be small. It should have only the minimum required code to efficiently run itself on a device.
Thats the kernel. The kernel communicates with the hardware and so the rest of the hardware can happily talk to a working kernel and expect the hardware to function as advertised. Kernel is a simple program which goes into the RAM on system start and sits there directing the operation of the phone.
Kernel devs work on making sure the hardware and the android runtime work perfectly together. Now, in this imperfect world, not all sources are open, even though they should be. and therein the issue lies.
If you want to compile android from source and make sure it works on your phone, first you need to make sure you have the kernel with all the changes(patches) to it made by the vendor (chap who made the phone and bullied you into buying it) to get it working on your hardware.
If you dont have that, you have to do it yourself. Or wait for someone else to do it.
once you can compile android and get it working on your phone with all the itty bitty hardware working A-OK.. then you can browse through the source, make changes as per your individual requirements and compile it into a ROM.
see the changes to the OS are separate from the changes to the kernel. The kernel changes are for hardware-software interaction so they are phone SPECIFIC.
but changes to your custom android OS (ROM) can be "cherry-picked" from other ROM/gerrit/AOSP/CM/AOKP sources and put inside your own source tree to get included in your build.
so if you have all the device / kernel stuff from a working android distribution, you can take the source of another android distribution and swap the device stuff into it and see if it works.
hope this helps.
wingie6200 said:
These changes you are talking about can be done. They are system changes so not supported by the android app installer.
Eg: Your notification drawer, status bar are part of SystemUI.apk. The source for this is can be found in the AOSP source code under android/frameworks/base/...
You can make your modifications, compile it into an apk and then make a flashable zip to replace the current one (or push it via a rooted adb console).
or you can compile the entire source code into a flashable zip (eg CM7,9 etc..) and use it a replacement ROM with your modifications.
This is the line between an application under the android runtime and the android runtime itself.
these files, under framework are part of the OS. so to provide a customized version of the operating itself is what people like to call ROMs.
Now ROMs (like any OS) are device dependant. Windows has the code to run in a lot of different hardware configs, but android aims to be small. It should have only the minimum required code to efficiently run itself on a device.
Thats the kernel. The kernel communicates with the hardware and so the rest of the hardware can happily talk to a working kernel and expect the hardware to function as advertised. Kernel is a simple program which goes into the RAM on system start and sits there directing the operation of the phone.
Kernel devs work on making sure the hardware and the android runtime work perfectly together. Now, in this imperfect world, not all sources are open, even though they should be. and therein the issue lies.
If you want to compile android from source and make sure it works on your phone, first you need to make sure you have the kernel with all the changes(patches) to it made by the vendor (chap who made the phone and bullied you into buying it) to get it working on your hardware.
If you dont have that, you have to do it yourself. Or wait for someone else to do it.
once you can compile android and get it working on your phone with all the itty bitty hardware working A-OK.. then you can browse through the source, make changes as per your individual requirements and compile it into a ROM.
see the changes to the OS are separate from the changes to the kernel. The kernel changes are for hardware-software interaction so they are phone SPECIFIC.
but changes to your custom android OS (ROM) can be "cherry-picked" from other ROM/gerrit/AOSP/CM/AOKP sources and put inside your own source tree to get included in your build.
so if you have all the device / kernel stuff from a working android distribution, you can take the source of another android distribution and swap the device stuff into it and see if it works.
hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very very much for your explanation! It's a pity it's impossible to hit multiple times "Thanks".
I think I'm going to make a modified SystemUI.apk but you didn't tell the application launcher is also in this file. Did you just forget this or is this stored in another file/folder? And the lock screen? And I want also to replace the boot animation if it's possible.
If I take the source files of the SystemUI.apk of AOSP ICS, does this work on every phone running ICS? Included CM, AOKP and other (smaller) custom roms? And my last question: Since SystemUI.apk a apk file is, is it possible to edit these files through Eclipse and build it in Eclipse? Or do I get errors?
//Edit:
Still another question: How much work is it to, as example, port a modified Gingerbread SystemUI.apk to ICS? (Or vice versa)
WietsedeVries said:
Thank you very very much for your explanation! It's a pity it's impossible to hit multiple times "Thanks".
I think I'm going to make a modified SystemUI.apk but you didn't tell the application launcher is also in this file. Did you just forget this or is this stored in another file/folder? And the lock screen? And I want also to replace the boot animation if it's possible.
If I take the source files of the SystemUI.apk of AOSP ICS, does this work on every phone running ICS? Included CM, AOKP and other (smaller) custom roms? And my last question: Since SystemUI.apk a apk file is, is it possible to edit these files through Eclipse and build it in Eclipse? Or do I get errors?
//Edit:
Still another question: How much work is it to, as example, port a modified Gingerbread SystemUI.apk to ICS? (Or vice versa)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only way is through exchanging the png files since porting the whole .apk is impossible.
Sent from my Jelly Beaned Ace
Thanks for the answer. And do you also know the answers of the other questions?
Sent from my GT-S5660 using xda app-developers app
WietsedeVries said:
If I take the source files of the SystemUI.apk of AOSP ICS, does this work on every phone running ICS? Included CM, AOKP and other (smaller) custom roms? And my last question: Since SystemUI.apk a apk file is, is it possible to edit these files through Eclipse and build it in Eclipse? Or do I get errors?
//Edit:
Still another question: How much work is it to, as example, port a modified Gingerbread SystemUI.apk to ICS? (Or vice versa)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are two roads you can go now - one is use apktool to *decompile* apk the apk file that you've taken from your phone, it doesnt convert the app to java source code but java bytecode in .smali files (like an assembly version of the source) but you will have access to the resource files (xml, images etc..) so you can replace them and create some new themes.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1814441
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1760133
And no - a GB systemUI.apk will *NOT* work on ICS. It is very probable that any changes you make through any of these methods can brick you phone. So make sure you have CWM and a nandroid backup.
If you want to add/edit functionality within the source code of systemUI.apk, you need to learn how to compile Android from Source. i would suggest getting hold of the CyanogenMod source tree for your device and playing around with it.
Ginger bread is CM7 and ICS is CM9.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1552090
once you have the full source tree, you'll find a folder called android/frameworks/base/core/...something../systemui/..
this will contain the javasource code for your application. Here you can edit stuff to your hearts content!
Note that this cannot be compiled standalone by eclipse. The Android build system must be used to compile this (cuz its a system app).
a nice resource i used when i was doing the same thing :laugh:
http://iserveandroid.blogspot.in/2011/01/how-to-implement-your-own-status-bar.html
cheers and have fun.
Hi All,
I need to get APK from AOSP (a 4.2.2 Browser in particular), I have an Android SDK with synced 4.2 branch. Is there a way to extract just one APK or do I need to make a ROM?
Thanks in advance!
yes u can do so...
Summer Son said:
Hi All,
I need to get APK from AOSP (a 4.2.2 Browser in particular), I have an Android SDK with synced 4.2 branch. Is there a way to extract just one APK or do I need to make a ROM?
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
u can extract apk code but if u try to build through ecllipse then it wont compile because of missing libraries that are only available in full source...
just look in Android.mk
and try to satisfy the needed libraries...
Hi to all!
I am new in the Android world and I have a mutimidia car system with Android 2.3.4.
The problem i have is to install new applications available on the playstore like Viago.
This application requires at least Android. I have the Android 2.3.4 ROM soucecode and my doubt is if can i make a compilation of the ROM, to upgrada to Android 4 just modifying the sourcecode of the ROM i have.
Or if can i use any other V4 stock ROM, and add the kernel i have and cook it together.
Thanks in advance.
c_verri said:
Hi to all!
I am new in the Android world and I have a mutimidia car system with Android 2.3.4.
The problem i have is to install new applications available on the playstore like Viago.
This application requires at least Android. I have the Android 2.3.4 ROM soucecode and my doubt is if can i make a compilation of the ROM, to upgrada to Android 4 just modifying the sourcecode of the ROM i have.
Or if can i use any other V4 stock ROM, and add the kernel i have and cook it together.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, what you could do is modify the AndroidManifest.xml in the apk file so that the minSdkVersion is set to API 10. so it would look like this:
minSdkVersion="resource_id:0x10"
Make sure that the app does not require any features that are not in Gingerbread. I hope this helps.
rcunningham said:
Well, what you could do is modify the AndroidManifest.xml in the apk file so that the minSdkVersion is set to API 10. so it would look like this:
minSdkVersion="resource_id:0x10"
Make sure that the app does not require any features that are not in Gingerbread. I hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your quick response. I have some trouble. When I decompile the apk, i am having some errors and dont know what to do. The apk is fully functional in my s4 mini With Android 4.2. this apk (garmin viago) and apktool are not good friends. Initially there are some errors with .9.png images, i've made the Changes in the AndroidManifest.xml and then a recompiled the apk. The result: More and more errors. The only i want to do is modify the min sdk to 10. I Dont know where to follow.
c_verri said:
Thanks for your quick response. I have some trouble. When I decompile the apk, i am having some errors and dont know what to do. The apk is fully functional in my s4 mini With Android 4.2. this apk (garmin viago) and apktool are not good friends. Initially there are some errors with .9.png images, i've made the Changes in the AndroidManifest.xml and then a recompiled the apk. The result: More and more errors. The only i want to do is modify the min sdk to 10. I Dont know where to follow.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Trying to get a apk file from Android 4.2 to work on Gingerbread is hard. Getting a apk from ICS to work on Gingerbread is much more simple. But if you only make changes to the AndroidManifest.xml everything should work. If you have more issues, message me on XDA and I could help you a bit more. I might get marked as spam if I post on this page to much.
I just built AOSP from source for my MTK6589 phone. This is my first time building android from scratch, luckily the rom is working great. The only problem I'm having is that there are some languages missing from it (probably changed by the original author of the source code).
How do I go about re-adding these languages?
Is there a config file I can edit before building the rom?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
If your device makefile inherits the full product you should theoretically have all available locales.
To add custom ones you could use the CUSTOM_LOCALES variable in your buildspec.mk file. Look into build/buildspec.mk.default for further details on this file.
Or you add the locales to your device's config, but I can't recall the exact variable name atm.. May you want to look into other device trees for this method. It should be something like PRODUCT_LOCALES I think.
Sent from my AOSPA One m8 using XDA Free mobile app
Thanks! I managed to fix it by editing MTK_PRODUCT_LOCALES in ProjectConfig.mk
oddhap said:
Thanks! I managed to fix it by editing MTK_PRODUCT_LOCALES in ProjectConfig.mk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great to hear
So I really like google dialer and have a Samsung s5. Now the new lollipop dialer or the google dialer 2.0/2.1 won't install on a tw ROM as it would appear. So I was thinking if I could make my own build from the source I could have the dialer I want without losing the tw features. So I have successfully clone the source to my PC and imported it into android studio as a project. Every time I try to build or try to produce an apk I have 31 errors stating ”no resource...” in the style.XML. I have tried to find a guide that would help me to build an apk from source with no avail. So I am curious to what I'm missing? Some direction would be greatly appreciated.
Do you have the Android sdk installed? Even then it wont install. You have to have it as a system APP and then you will lose the TW features of the dialer.
zelendel said:
Do you have the Android sdk installed? Even then it wont install. You have to have it as a system APP and then you will lose the TW features of the dialer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I do have SDK installed.
Ok and it is updated? I would track down the errors and just fix what is missing by comparing it to a pre-built apk