[Q] ubuntu rootfs build - Gen8, Gen9, Gen10 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Can someone help me with a rootfs build? It was built via the instructions in the gen8 debian wiki. I've copied the kernel from the Angstrom system but it doesn't seem to boot it correctly. The image runs okay in qemu on a debian 6 VM on my laptop. I've attached a pastebin of the startup but I'm not sure why the kernel is failing. I think it's wifi driver related but not 100%. I've loaded the wifi drivers via the wiki as well.
pastebin. com/7Xf7Rhvq

allenelson said:
Can someone help me with a rootfs build? It was built via the instructions in the gen8 debian wiki. I've copied the kernel from the Angstrom system but it doesn't seem to boot it correctly. The image runs okay in qemu on a debian 6 VM on my laptop. I've attached a pastebin of the startup but I'm not sure why the kernel is failing. I think it's wifi driver related but not 100%. I've loaded the wifi drivers via the wiki as well.
pastebin. com/7Xf7Rhvq
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think it is the wifi, I never tried ubuntu with the 2.6.29 kernel, so wouldn't what the problem is. Kernel panics are not an easy thing to debug. For ubuntu you can also use bootstrap to build your rootfs, alot easier. See http://dev.openaos.org/wiki/LubuntuGen8#a3Buildrootfstarballwithrootstock
You can also follow the complete guide and use the 2.6.37 kernel which is better for ubuntu.
divx118

divx118 said:
I don't think it is the wifi, I never tried ubuntu with the 2.6.29 kernel, so wouldn't what the problem is. Kernel panics are not an easy thing to debug. For ubuntu you can also use bootstrap to build your rootfs, alot easier. See *edited because I cant post urls*
You can also follow the complete guide and use the 2.6.37 kernel which is better for ubuntu.
divx118
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sorry divx i kind of lied. i didn't follow the guide to a T because the netboot installer fails. it doesn't find the disk if you set the root as /dev/ram, it needs to be /dev/sda with the valid image file.. so essentially i have been debootstrapping the installs but have also used the netboot install images with no success. TBH your name looks familiar, I'm pretty certain I was reading your documentation or maybe posts on here regarding gen8's you've written. but anyway..
my goal is ubuntu-desktop on the tablet. i've been using ubuntu natty as the base because it has desktop and also the armel-installer support (but installing both ways, netboot and bootstrap). i've even failed using older versions of debian. for the latest test i built a tiny 200MB test image with minimal packages installed. they run fine in qemu but die with a kernel panic and the same limited details. :/
as a test i compared the debianlxde floating around to the images i'm making but can't find an issue or difference between them that would cause them to fail. that's why i was hoping something would stick out in that greek error message but i think it's just the developer-os going through the reboot process. just the wifi statements stuck out, i was curious why the driver would even be referenced so early in the boot process of the tablet.

allenelson said:
sorry divx i kind of lied. i didn't follow the guide to a T because the netboot installer fails. it doesn't find the disk if you set the root as /dev/ram, it needs to be /dev/sda with the valid image file.. so essentially i have been debootstrapping the installs but have also used the netboot install images with no success. TBH your name looks familiar, I'm pretty certain I was reading your documentation or maybe posts on here regarding gen8's you've written. but anyway..
my goal is ubuntu-desktop on the tablet. i've been using ubuntu natty as the base because it has desktop and also the armel-installer support (but installing both ways, netboot and bootstrap). i've even failed using older versions of debian. for the latest test i built a tiny 200MB test image with minimal packages installed. they run fine in qemu but die with a kernel panic and the same limited details. :/
as a test i compared the debianlxde floating around to the images i'm making but can't find an issue or difference between them that would cause them to fail. that's why i was hoping something would stick out in that greek error message but i think it's just the developer-os going through the reboot process. just the wifi statements stuck out, i was curious why the driver would even be referenced so early in the boot process of the tablet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I indeed wrote the debian lxde guide and also the one I posted above for lubuntu. For testing if wifi is really your problem or not, just commend out the code to load it. BTW in the pastebin you posted there is nothing to see related to wifi. Did you perhaps mean the "twl4030" messages. IIRC it is has something todo with power supply for usb. To be sure I need to check the code in the kernel, but I know for sure it has nothing todo with wifi.
I still think you would be better of using the 2.6.37 kernel for ubuntu, so follow the guide I posted. Also be aware you have an hd device, this will slow down ubuntu/or any other linux distro. The rootfs is on your hd and there will be a constant need of read/write access, when using a gen8 flash version this will be faster.
Sadly my old gen8 101IT has blown batteries, so I don't use it anymore. However if you have some questions, you can also join #openaos on irc.freenode.net . My irc client is 24/7 online, there also be some other people that maybe can help. Just post your question there with details, then be patient. It can take some hours before you get an answer.
divx118

divx118 said:
I indeed wrote the debian lxde guide and also the one I posted above for lubuntu. For testing if wifi is really your problem or not, just commend out the code to load it. BTW in the pastebin you posted there is nothing to see related to wifi. Did you perhaps mean the "twl4030" messages. IIRC it is has something todo with power supply for usb. To be sure I need to check the code in the kernel, but I know for sure it has nothing todo with wifi.
I still think you would be better of using the 2.6.37 kernel for ubuntu, so follow the guide I posted. Also be aware you have an hd device, this will slow down ubuntu/or any other linux distro. The rootfs is on your hd and there will be a constant need of read/write access, when using a gen8 flash version this will be faster.
Sadly my old gen8 101IT has blown batteries, so I don't use it anymore. However if you have some questions, you can also join #openaos on irc.freenode.net . My irc client is 24/7 online, there also be some other people that maybe can help. Just post your question there with details, then be patient. It can take some hours before you get an answer.
divx118
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
appreciate the feedback sir. i'll give a different kernel a go. yes indeed, the twl4030 message was confusing me, but then again i was seeing it in the shutdown portion after the kernel panic. again thanks, i'll post again if i'm successful.

i'm still tinkering with the thing, trying to find some better ways to debug this. it seems minicom and securecrt dont print everything out. i think it loses the console connection after the image fails to load because if i pull the USB cable in minicom i do see some additional output but it's hard to tell whether or not it's actually in order.
i'm comparing these two pastebins, one from angstrom and one from a wheezy debian image i just created. i put a whitespace where the images succeed/fail. if you have a minute let me know what you think. i'll put the commands below i used to create the wheezy image and copy some angstrom files. it loops the image but isn't loading so i must be missing something fairly simple like the actual boot parameters or root to mount.
angstrom (good) - http://pastebin. com/X3qKDHtG
debian (bad) - http://pastebin. com/pGDDEHGx
root# dd if=/dev/zero of=rootfs.img bs=1M count=1024
mkfs.ext3 rootfs.img
losetup -f rootfs.img
mount /dev/loop0 /mnt/root
debootstrap --arch armel wheezy /mnt/root ftp.us.debian. org/debian
--- debootstrap complete, copy files from saved angstrom image ---
losetup -f angstrom.img
mount /dev/loop1 /mnt/ang
cp -a /mnt/ang/boot/. /mnt/root/boot
cp -a /mnt/ang/media/. /mnt/root/media
cp -a /mnt/ang/dev/. /mnt/root/dev
cp -a /mnt/ang/lib/firmware /mnt/root/lib
cp -a /mnt/ang/lib/modules /mnt/root/lib
cp /mnt/ang/etc/fstab /mnt/root/etc
umount /mnt/ang
umount /mnt/root
losetup -d /dev/loop*
--- plugin archos and enter USB from recovery ---
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/root
cp rootfs.img /mnt/root
umount /mnt/root
--- reboot archos with serial debugging ---

Related

Cant run Debian

Hi there, i was trying to run Debian on my pro, but i cant install it! i try two methods, the Linux installer Beta 1.7 (say kernel dosnt have ext and loop support) and the SU terminal emulator way (cant chmod to 4755 any file, even using the su command - from here: http://www.talkandroid.com/android-forums/android-development/1091-install-debian-android.html )...
My pro is ROOTED with latest z4root, i even do a factory repair with pc companion...
Any advice???
Regards!
I tried this as well... no loop is no loop ( required for chroot type runs )
works on a Samsung i5700 I have at work tho...
thnx for the reply, so i can add loop and the ext thing? or we need a custom kernel? , what rom have the samsung?, in other hand i dont know why i cant chmod the files, even using root explorer! regards...
needs a new kernel yes.
i5700 is running samdroid cooked ( forget which version, but added multitouch )
damn :/
now why i cant chmod the files using su terminal emulator or root explorer? maybe is because my sdcard is formated in fat32, regards!
fat32 knows nothing about *nix style permissions, in a way though... all files on a fat32 are set 0777, but not really... heh
For what it's worth, I've just had Debian running in a chroot on my X10 Mini Pro, using the instructions at talkandroid.com, as mentioned by the original poster. Sorry, but as a new poster, I'm not allowed to link directly to those directions. This is with stock ROM, upgraded to Android 2.1, rooted with SuperOneClick.
A few modifications are necessary to make it work. I'm going to try to describe what I've done, but I am working backwards, so it's entirely possible that I'll leave something out and you could suffer disastrous consequences. So please be sure you back up all crucial data before proceeding, and be prepared to accept the possibility that your phone could be destroyed in the process.
First of all, the instructions tell you to run scripts from your SD card, which isn't going to work unless the card has a partition with a Linux-compatible file system. I suggest following the directions as far as step 4. Then replace the "bootdeb" file in the "debian" directory with the modified version attached to this post. Rename it "bootdeb". Then you will have to run the following commands manually, preferably using adb shell, but it can be done in a terminal on the phone. Either way, using the ash shell helps by providing command completion and history.
As root (su):
Code:
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock0 /system
mkdir /data/local/mnt
cd /sdcard/debian
cp bootdeb /data/local/bin #note: you may need to mkdir /data/local/bin first
cd /data/local/bin/
chmod 4777 bootdeb
You should now be able to run the bootdeb script to start up Debian.
The installation file says, "Be sure to run /scripts/onetime.sh as root from the shell after your FIRST 'boot'." This will prompt you to set a root password.
At this point, the Debian installation is command line only and root only. The image file needs to be resized before much can be added.
The other files in the Debian directory may be useful, but they all need to be modified before they can be used.
This is only a beginning. I don't know that I'm likely to get very far with it, so anyone else who's inclined to jump in and make this work better is welcome to do so!
edit: correcting grammatical error
Just in case anyone else shares my obsession -- I mean interest in getting Debian to run on an X10 Mini Pro, I thought I should report my progress. Or lack thereof.
Actually, as I said in the previous post, command line Debian works, and that's a lot of power to have available. But it would be nice to get X working, despite the lack of video drivers.
There's a lot of information out there about setting up X with a VNC server on an Android phone, then running a VNC client to access the graphic environment. The source of most accounts seems to be a thread at the androidfanatic forums, with the title "Gnome, KDE, IceWM or LXDE Desktop on your Android!"
(Sorry, I'm still too new at this to be allowed to post links, so this is the only way I can indicate where to find the information.)
I've tried lots of variations on those directions, trying to adapt them to the X10 Mini Pro. And I've had a little success. I can get to the Icewm or LXDE desktop and run the terminal program, but I can't start any programs that use X. Invariably, I get this error:
Error: Can't open display: :1.0
I've run out of ideas, so I'm taking a break from the project. If anyone else is interested enough to try, good luck to you!
For what it's worth, the most recent and comprehensive account of running Debian with X on Android phones appears to be at lanrat.com, in the "android" directory, filename "debian".
@RobbH
Very interesting! I'm waiting a new 8gb card so that I try it! Should you come up with any new progress please report here

[DEV] Ubuntu 11.10 for A43/A101 [RELEASE 1]

Last summer I got Ubuntu 11.04 working on my A43 but didn't post anything about it. With the progress made on kexec and the new kboot bootloader, it is now possible to have multiple kernels for multiple OS'es. This means it just got a whole lot easier to boot Ubuntu without losing the ability to run OpenAOS or UrukDroid Android OS'es.
As far as I'm aware, Ubuntu doesn't work on the 2.6.29-omap1 kernel that Archos uses and is the base for most other development on gen8. However, for A43 and A101 users, OpenAOS member Nicktime made some headway in porting the 2.6.37+ kernel to gen8, but appears to have abandoned the project. I've cloned his repository and have been working to add features that he did not finish implementing. However, his kernel did have the ability to boot an Ubuntu rootfs and it works very well for desktop Linux distributions (this also works on Debian and I would assume other ARM distros as well).
As I have been unable to build an Ubuntu 11.10 rootfs using the rootstock method that Ubuntu describes here, I've started working with the HP TouchPadBuntu rootfs from this thread. This rootfs boots well on my TouchPad and I've removed the TP-specific items from it and added the gen8 items as necessary. The display is working and the touchscreen works as well (calibrated correctly as I copied my calibration from my 11.04 install). It boots into Unity 2D which is the default. I'm having issues getting the wl1271 wireless module up, I have had it running once but NetworkManager said device was not ready despite being able to iwlist scan and see a list of AP's and then connect to them manually.
RELEASE 1
You will need the rootfs and the modifications.
To install, mount your destination partition (should be at least 4GB and ext3 formatted) to a location, then run the following:
Code:
cd /media/UbuntuPartition (change this to wherever your Ubuntu partition is mounted)
tar xzf /path/to/TouchPadBuntuRootfs.tgz ./
tar xzf /path/to/Gen8Modifications.tar.gz ./
If you do not have a microSD card in the slot, you need to edit the file etc/fstab and change anything mmcblk1 to mmcblk0, this is because the SD card will identify as mmcblk0 if it exists, but if it does not exist then the internal storage gets identified as mmcblk0 instead. This is a kernel issue I have yet to find a solution to.
Kernels for Release 1
These boot from partition 3 of internal memory (/dev/mmcblk2p3)
Normal and Rotated 90 Degrees
This boots from partition 1 of external sdcard (/dev/mmcblk0p1)
Normal
These files do not need an initramfs, but to flash to device or to use with kboot you need one anyways. Simply create an empty (0 byte) file named 'initramfs.cpio.gz' and use it for this purpose.
INFO ON KERNEL MMC/SD INITIALIZATION
mmc0 (mmcblk0pX) - Micro SD card
mmc1 (mmcblk1pX, mmcblk2pX) - System and Data blocks of internal memory
mmc2 - wl1271 SDIO interface
I installed the rootfs to an 8GB microSD and boot it using root=/dev/mmcblk0p1 on the kernel command line.
USEFUL LINKS
http://dev.openaos.org/wiki/Gen8Linux2.6.37
https://github.com/CalcProgrammer1/archos-gen8-kernel-2.6.37
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1304475
http://www.omappedia.org/wiki/OMAP_WiLink_Connectivity_Home
http://www.omappedia.org/wiki/MAC802.11_based_Wilink
TIPS AND TRICKS
Disk Usage Power LED:
It is possible to make the Power LED function as a disk usage LED. This will let you know when the system is reading or writing to the memory and can be incredibly helpful in determining whether your system has locked up or is just being slow.
Simply write "mmc0" or "mmc1" (depending on what interface you wish to monitor) to:
/sys/class/leds/power/trigger (maybe power_led can't remember)
This can be changed in the kernel source in the file "archos-leds.c" as well if you want it to apply during boot time.
Charging the battery on A43:
(as root)
echo 1 > /sys/devices/platform/battery/usb_online
echo 3 > /sys/devices/platform/battery/charge_level
Enabling WiFi:
The wl1271 driver from linux-wireless requires firmware files to be placed in /lib/firmware. These files can be downloaded from here. The MAC address on the wl1271 is not stored on the actual wireless chip and instead resides in a configuration file on the system data directory in a file called system/persist.archos.WIFI_mac. This file is in the form:
Code:
Wifi MAC XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
To extract just the MAC address, use
Code:
cut -f3 -d" " /media/data/system/persist.archos.WIFI_mac
Then, to set the MAC of the actual device you can do
Code:
ifconfig wlan0 hw ether `cut -f3 -d" " /media/data/system/persist.archos.WIFI_mac
ifconfig wlan0 up
I'm doing this in /etc/rc.local which is run on boot. This means the WiFi card is prepared when the system boots. However, NetworkManager still sees the card as "not ready" and you must Disable Networking and then Enable Networking before it will start showing AP's. After doing this, the WiFi works properly.
Screen Rotation:
The A43's display is 480x854 ("tall screen" orientation). For Ubuntu it is likely more useful to have a widescreen 854x480 orientation. Fortunately, this is not hard. It involves adding two parameters to your kernel's command line (either via kboot or by adding them to .config and recompiling your kernel). THIS DOES NOT ROTATE THE TOUCHSCREEN INPUT, so make sure you have an alternate input device when using rotation (BT keyboard/mouse, USB keyboard/mouse).
Code:
omapfb.vrfb=y omapfb.rotate=1
Enabling Audio:
This is pretty easy. Audio is installed and ready to go, the only issue is that the default settings in the mixer for this chip happen to disable the output entirely. To fix this, open ALSA Mixer (alsamixer) and turn on either speakers or headphones, then turn on Left Mixer and Right Mixer (hit 'M' to unmute/mute a channel). Finally, turn up the 'PCM' volume and start playing music. I recommend getting rid of Pulse Audio, but I'm still trying to figure out the best way to do so as it uses a lot of resources and provides little benefit.
PowerVR SGX 530 GPU:
The OMAP 3630 CPU has an on-board PowerVR SGX 530 graphics processor. TI provides an SDK that contains the userspace driver libraries as well as the open-source kernel drivers. There are three modules that must be built (pvrsrvkm.ko, omaplfb.ko, bufferclass_ti.ko) and loaded into the system. Then the userspace stuff must be installed. There is information here that should help. So far I've got the drivers to compile, but they aren't properly loading yet. More work to be done on getting the modules to work.
RC.LOCAL START-UP SCRIPT
This script should enable everything at boot time and should make Ubuntu easier to use on gen8 tablets. It starts WiFi and Bluetooth as well as enables USB charging.
Code:
#!/bin/sh -e
#
# rc.local
#
#MAC_ADDRESS='00:22:33:44:55:66'
MAC_ADDRESS=`cut -f3 -d" " /media/data/system/persist.archos.WIFI_mac`
ifconfig wlan0 hw ether $MAC_ADDRESS
ifconfig wlan0 up
modprobe btwilink
sleep 10
hciattach /dev/ttyS0 texas 3000000
/etc/init.d/network-manager restart
echo 1 > /sys/devices/platform/battery/usb_online
echo 3 > /sys/devices/platform/battery/charge_level
exit 0
You must have /media/data mounted in your /etc/fstab file, the entry should look like this:
Code:
/dev/mmcblk1p4 /media/data ext3 defaults 0 0
If this entry isn't in /etc/fstab, the /media/data partition will not be available at the time rc.local is run, and it will fail trying to read the MAC address. Alternatively, you can uncomment the hard-coded MAC address and use that but it's not as clean.
First off, Thanks for the effort you've put in, I just cant wait to get this up and running on my 101. Hopefully I'll have some time this weekend to sort it out but I've questions, How well does it perform? Is unity actually working? & have you tried any other distros? The reason i ask is because i was gonna buy a linux tab running plasma active but if i could eventually run it reasonably well on my 101 i'd hold out and save a couple.
Cheers again and nice work.
It runs fairly well. Unity works (2D only at the moment, not 3D), but whether that's a good thing or not I'll leave up to you (personally I don't like the Unity interface at all, and I find it slow when in 2D mode). I have GNOME 3.0 Fallback installed which runs pretty smooth and fast as it is fairly lightweight. You can use any non-3D-accelerated interface at the moment (Xfce, fluxbox, LXDE, MATE/GNOME2, etc). I've heard of people running plasma active on other non-accelerated systems (including the HP TouchPad, which is where I got my starting image). I haven't bothered as I prefer a traditional desktop-style interface.
That said, if you're willing to test I'd love feedback on how this performs on A101. I don't have an A101 and I am not sure of the status of A101 support. I'm taking Nicktime's word for it that the kernel supports A101. The actual Ubuntu image should be pretty independent of the device but the kernel needs to specifically support each individual board.
To start I'd just download the TouchPadBuntu rootfs I posted (which despite its name doesn't have anything TouchPad related in it and should at very least boot to login screen on the Archos 2.6.37 kernel without modifications). I'll hopefully get a package of modifications up soon including drivers for WiFi, Bluetooth, and a script to get everything running properly at boot.
As for 3D acceleration, I think it should be possible. There are apparently user-space drivers for OMAP3 that will work under Ubuntu. The bigger issue is getting a version of Compiz/Unity3D/Gnome Shell/whatever accelerated desktop you prefer that is compile for OpenGL ES.
Hey dude, could you give me some instructions as to how you installed the roofs.tgz to the memory card? I've got the new boot loader installed and I'm mad to get this going this weekend. Cheers in advance.
P.s. if there is a link to a tut for it that'd be excellent because I don't mind searching for myself just couldn't find any info on it. Thanks.
EDIT:
First post updated, see it for full installation details and feel free to post any questions or problems you have during or after installation. I really want to know how well this plays on A101 devices, as I don't have one to test with. Also, anyone with kernel experience that wants to take on adding additional devices, go for it! It would be great to get A70 support at least, as that is a popular device that has seen Debian/Angstrom activity in the past.
I tar'd the files to the sdcard, created a folder inside OS called ubuntu and placed the zimage & intramfs inside but it wont boot? I probably missed something so feel free to tear me one .
Wasn't even thinking...Duh...the kernels provided assume the root device is /dev/mmcblk2p3 (my Ubuntu partition on internal SD card). You probably want /dev/mmcblk0p1 (first partition on external SD card). I'll build a new kernel and post it soon, or you can take a shot at compiling your own kernel (my GitHub sources need work, for now I'd go with Nicktime's sources at Gitorious as I realized I broke some things).
Kboot should have a cmdline option where you can specify a kernel command line (and thus a root device) but I couldn't get it to work. To clarify, you ARE seeing the kernel boot messages right? If you aren't then kboot probably isn't set up correctly. Try booting another kernel (such as OpenAOS boot menu) from kboot and see if that works.
EDIT: here
CalcProgrammer1 said:
As for 3D acceleration, I think it should be possible. There are apparently user-space drivers for OMAP3 that will work under Ubuntu. The bigger issue is getting a version of Compiz/Unity3D/Gnome Shell/whatever accelerated desktop you prefer that is compile for OpenGL ES.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know they
http://www.linaro.org/
are working on the Open GL ES port of Unity 3D.
Maybe u can find some sources there
And KDE should also have a builf of KDE Plasma wiht OpenGL ES.
Maybe you could add it? would be awesome.
Archos 70
Does/Will this work on the Archos 70? I'm trying to get it working but all I'm getting is static on my screen when Kboot tries to boot Ubuntu. This could be my fault and I could have just messed up the installation but I don't think so.
Thoughts?
shrewdlove said:
Does/Will this work on the Archos 70? I'm trying to get it working but all I'm getting is static on my screen when Kboot tries to boot Ubuntu. This could be my fault and I could have just messed up the installation but I don't think so.
Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you read the first post, you will see that this currently only works with A43 and A101. This is due to the kernel I'm using, which was ported by an OpenAOS user who hasn't been active in 6 months. Chances of him resuming his project are slim, so I've forked his kernel progress but don't have an A70 to work with. I could attempt to add A70 support to the kernel but I would be blind to the progress and would need testers. There aren't a ton of changes necessary, mainly just need to add the right LCD driver to make the screen work and then update the board file with the changes that have been made to the A43/A101 boards.
Unfortunately, I don't have much time as of late, I've got a senior design project and school work to deal with, plus I've been working on getting CM9 ICS to compile for gen8, and I've also been working on the HP TouchPad Ubuntu port. Adding A70 support to the kernel is low priority for me, but if any A70 owners want to take a stab at the kernel go right ahead, I'll gladly accept changes to the kernel. As far as Gen8 Ubuntu is concerned, my current focus is getting the SGX GPU up and running with TI's Graphics SDK. If successful, this GPU should be able to run hardware-accelerated Unity 3D and Compiz for a fast, fancy desktop experience.
shrewdlove said:
Does/Will this work on the Archos 70? I'm trying to get it working but all I'm getting is static on my screen when Kboot tries to boot Ubuntu. This could be my fault and I could have just messed up the installation but I don't think so.
Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've the exact same problem with my 101, at first I thought it was an issue with kboot but its able to boot uruk and bull. Every time I choose to run ubuntu it stalls with a static on the screen and I have to force a re-boot. I'm using a 2GB sd with only one partition if thats any help and the zimage in question is the one for boot from sd.
Any input?
Oh! Just looked at my kernel configuration again and I forgot to enable A101 support in the configuration file. I'll build a new kernel later today with A101 support enabled! Sorry about that. Should fix A101 but A70 still needs some real work before it will be supported.
EDIT:
Here it is
http://www.box.com/s/18d0e43877b5877ce79f
CalcProgrammer1 said:
Oh! Just looked at my kernel configuration again and I forgot to enable A101 support in the configuration file. I'll build a new kernel later today with A101 support enabled! Sorry about that. Should fix A101 but A70 still needs some real work before it will be supported.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude, don't apologize. I, and this community, appreciate what your doing. I'd love to have the knowledge to compile my own kernel and have a fully functional distro on this device, but I don't yet have that ability. You do, so any time you give up your time and effort to provide us with something new and cool is fricking brilliant. Keep working and let us know how you get on, but don't cause yourself too much hassle.
Thanks.
I've updated my previous post with an image with A101 support included. I have no way to test it. If any A101 users could take a short video or picture of the device booting Ubuntu I would like to see how it works on that device. I've also looked a bit into A70 support and it looks like the necessary modifications would be relatively straightforward, seeing as all the gen8's have essentially the same core hardware (OMAP3, Wolfson Audio, WL1271 WiFi/BT, MicroSD, POWER/VOL+/-, Power LED, etc). The primary difference (and probably most significant code change required) is the LCD panel, but seeing how the A43 got the short end of the stick on this one, the A70 should be easier to port (A43 has a DSI-interfaced serial LCD while the other gen8's have a DPI parallel LCD, DSI support is flaky at best in this kernel release).
Managed to get it to boot to ubuntu login screen but my usb keyboard doesnt get picked up, I dont know if the touch screen should register at this point but for me it doesnt. I've no bt keyboard but I can't see the device when I scan for bt from my phone either. If you want, I can take a vid of it booting to this point and send it to you. Just in case I get it to work, what are the login details (password) ?
The login is ubuntu/ubuntu (user/pass). I haven't tested the USB yet, and I'm not sure how the A101's host port is set up (the A43 supports USB OTG host but has no dedicated host port). It is a kernel issue for sure. As for the touchscreen, the A101 I think uses a USB touchscreen, so again with the USB issue. You can try forcing automatic login by modifying one of the files on the rootfs (would have to look up which one, can't remember, but should be possible). The fact that it boots is great and the fact that the panel works is also great. I'll look into USB host some more when I get a chance.
Cheers for getting back to me. Is there anyway we can pull something from either the bodhi image or android itself? or would it have to be changed at the kernel?
Pretty sure this is kernel level, the USB driver is being compiled differently than on the stock kernel (musb_hdrc should be a module, but this kernel it is built in, preventing you from loading in different modes). I booted up my A43 with a USB mouse attached, the kernel detected the mouse but then disconnected it before it could be used.

[DEV][CM9][HOWTO] Build CM9 From Scratch!

It's time. As offered previously for the Nook Color and HP Touchpad...
A Build CM9-for-NookTablet Walkthrough
What is this?
This document provides instructions for developers to build a complete Cyanogenmod 9 update.zip for the Nook Tablet aka "acclaim" (and more theoretically the newer 512MB model, aka "elation") from source code. The instructions require a Linux computer and appropriate tools (discussed below).
It is important to emphasize that CM9 is a work in progress and if you try it you will be building/using something in mid-development. Things may break and/or not work at any time. Read below, the build instructions, and the relevant licenses for additional info and disclaimers.
Hopefully, for those developers who are interested and willing to take the risks, this can be a fun and educational experiment. And hopefully more developers will help chrmhoffman, kuzma30, mik_os, and others improve CM and the 3.0 kernel.
So does this build use the new, experimental 3.0 kernel then?
Update: At first, I mentioned that 2.6.35 was also supported, but apparently this will require additional files that aren't currently installed. So for now, yes, it uses the 3.0 kernel, which may not be compatible with the newer 512MB NTs. Although it is not confirmed one way or the other, as it has not been tested on these devices.
The configuration uses the experimental 3.0 kernel, which is built on-the-fly from the latest source code.
Unless you really want to take some risks, if you have a newer-model 8GB/512MB Nook Tablet (aka "elation"), the 3.0 kernel build is not for you...yet! It may boot, it may not. It has not been tested by any of the developers with that device, and as of this writing there are known kernel issues with the 512MB. (So actually, this is a good opportunity for developers to try it and contribute.) The 3.0 kernel development thread has more on this.
Any further discussion below assumes the 3.0 configuration, as the 2.6.35 branch isn't as up-to-date and isn't really being maintained. 3.0 is the future!
These instructions are for Linux. How do I build on Windows/Mac/etc?
If you have Mac or Windows or something else, you may consider installing a virtual machine such VirtualBox (which is free). Then run Linux, say a Ubuntu distribution, as a guest from your host computer. This allows you to "sandbox" your development environment, and gives an opportunity to learn about Linux with actual hands-on experience, all without reformatting your computer...
CM9 can also be built on Mac natively, either in Snow Leopard or Lion. Instructions for building (CM7) on a Mac can be found on the CyanogenMod wiki.
A few modifications need to be made to those instructions for CM9 & Lion, but such instructions aren't hard to find.
Will my build actually be usable?
CM9 (and the acclaim port) is in active development, and when you do a build from the latest source, you are using a bleeding-edge build of whatever happens to be in the repositories at the time. There is no guarantee it will work in any capacity. It may actually cause terrible damage. So only try at your own risk, and assume responsibility for your actions. If you find a bug, help fix it.
It is critical that you understand the risks before trying this and fully back up your system before trying any build. It is equally important to have a bootable SD standing by so that you can restore your device to a known good version if something goes terribly wrong, which may actually happen. Hopelessly staring at a non-booting device is never fun. There are other threads about recovering hosed acclaim systems, so I will leave you to finding and understanding them and preparing yourself for solving such problems. You should always assume the worst will happen, so be prepared.
Speaking personally, I don't have either model of NT and have never run CM9 on one, so can not attest to its usability per se. You should consider this a work in progress full-of-bugs until told otherwise.
Which bootloader is this using?
Cyanoboot, based on u-boot. The full github repo w/history (rather than raw files) is now available as well. Special credit to bauwks for fixing the locked bootloader design flaw.
Will this build result in a working update.zip suitable for use with ClockWorkMod recovery?
The build process has been modified to generate a fully flashable update.zip, but, as, with everything else, nothing is guaranteed.
Does this create a build for SD Card or for EMMC (internal storage)?
EMMC.
I'm stuck! I've been at it for hours. Something isn't working. Where can I get help?
If you have never built an operating system before-- this may be a good way to learn, provided you accept the risks and consequences of trying. This and other forum threads may be a good place to look for help. Also try IRC.
You are also able to leave comments in the walkthrough document itself. If you have a tip that might help others, post it there. If I get a chance, I'll take the best of them and incorporate it into the doc.
Does this build ClockworkMod recovery too?
It should. Check the $OUT directory for two files-- recovery.img and recovery.img.sdcard. The recovery.img file is (hopefully) flashable via fastboot:
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
The recovery.img.sdcard can be renamed to recovery.img and put on your sdcard.
Can I build twrp2 instead of ClockWorkMod?
TWRP2, in case you're not familiar with it, is an alternative recovery image created by Team Win, particularly user dees_troy. It can be used for flashing update.zip files and making/restoring backups, among other things.st
The 3.0 build configuration currently contains the needed settings for a twrp build. You will just need to replace the ~/android/system/bootable/recovery repo with twrp's source code. You can do this by adding the following lines to your local_manifest.xml file:
<remove-project name="CyanogenMod/android_bootable_recovery"/>
<project name="TeamWin/Team-Win-Recovery-Project" path="bootable/recovery" remote="gh" revision="master" />
You can then repo sync (per the instructions) and then do this command to rebuild the recovery using twrp2.
mka recoveryimage
The recovery.img and recovery.img.sdcard files in $OUT should now contain the latest twrp2. (If it doesn't, try clearing out the recovery-related files in $OUT, including $OUT/obj/RECOVERY_EXECUTABLES)
Please direct twrp2-related questions and solutions to the twrp2 thread, not here.
Who do I thank?
Thanks to chrmhoffmann, mik_os, kuzma30, cyanogen, arcee, nemith, Texas Instruments, Barnes & Noble, and all the other devs, testers, and contributors, of which there are many. And special thank to bauwks, who made this all possible.
For this walkthrough in particular, big thanks to chrmhoffmann as well as eyeballer for testing. Everyone-- go find a thread by these people and thank them.
Who do I blame?
Yourself. Only yourself.
To whom do I donate?
Not to me. You can donate to any of the above if you feel like it. I do suggest considering a donation to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who among other noble activities are fighting to keep "jailbreaking" and its Android phone and tablet equivalents legal. Your Android devices are full-fledged computers. Don't let corporate or government special interests take away the right to mess with your own possessions as you wish.
Finally, good luck. We're all counting on you. If and when you have problems, post them, and hopefully others will help find a solution.
Developers are needed. Enquire within.
-ft
(twitter)
-----
How To Build CM9 for Nook Tablet From Source
(Google Doc... or is it Google Drive now?)
And one more thing...
If I think of something to add, I'll put it here.
Good stuffs. I'll give it a try later in the week. I have everything set up. Going to be fun testing.
Im planning on doing this too. Thanks for making a guide, although I'll probably be in the IRC within 5 minutes of starting with questions
Sent from my Team A CM9 Alpha 0.03 Nook Tablet
Thank you very much for putting this together!
I am testing on an 8GB nook.
I can verify that the cwm and twrp2 recovery images boot with the 3.0 kernel, however CM9 fails to boot, it hangs on a blank screen with the backlight on and eventually just reboots. I am not able to get it to connect via usb to print logcat so I don't think it is getting very far.
Do you happen to have any instructions for tapping into the serial on these devices to see what is going on?
Also, with the new cwm it will not mount the sdcard through the menu. If I open a shell within cwm recovery I can mount it fine, except it is read-only.
In case it is useful, here is a dmesg from cwm:
http://pastebin.com/0fkyuSwe
arcon2600 said:
Also, with the new cwm it will not mount the sdcard through the menu. If I open a shell within cwm recovery I can mount it fine, except it is read-only.
In case it is useful, here is a dmesg from cwm:
http://pastebin.com/0fkyuSwe
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, this is very interesting! It's similar behavior to twrp.. a mounting issue with sdcard... wonder if this means the kernel is somehow not letting it mount, or if the problem is with recovery.fstab...
New patch, there shouldn't be a gpio_wp pin assigned to begin with...
Also, this is tested on my 8GB, I don't have a 16GB to test with.
diff --git a/arch/arm/mach-omap2/board-nooktablet.c b/arch/arm/mach-omap2/board-nooktablet.c
index de38b5c..a10dd93 100644
--- a/arch/arm/mach-omap2/board-nooktablet.c
+++ b/arch/arm/mach-omap2/board-nooktablet.c
@@ -684,7 +684,7 @@ static struct omap2_hsmmc_info mmc[] = {
.mmc = 1,
.caps = MMC_CAP_4_BIT_DATA | MMC_CAP_8_BIT_DATA | MMC_CAP_1_8V_DDR,
// .gpio_cd = -EINVAL,
- .gpio_wp = 4,
+ .gpio_wp = -EINVAL,
.nonremovable = false,
// .no_off_init = true,
#ifdef CONFIG_PM_RUNTIME
Build environment ready but cannot use repo command
HI! i would love to build a zip with the new kernel but i cannot use the repo command in the terminal in Linux Mint latest build. I have downloaded Android SDK and all the required build libraries and set up all the directories. i have the NTsparkkernel folder in the android directory. Could anyone offer some advice on how to apt-get (the REPO module) so I can build the zip. Thank you for your time. Bruce
about repo
C64assembly said:
HI! i would love to build a zip with the new kernel but i cannot use the repo command in the terminal in Linux Mint latest build. I have downloaded Android SDK and all the required build libraries and set up all the directories. i have the NTsparkkernel folder in the android directory. Could anyone offer some advice on how to apt-get (the REPO module) so I can build the zip. Thank you for your time. Bruce
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The repo command is actually something you get from Google. It's not in the apt-get repositories.
To install the repo script:
mkdir -p ~/bin
curl https://dl-ssl.google.com/dl/googlesource/git-repo/repo > ~/bin/repo
chmod a+x ~/bin/repo
The repo binary will be in ~/bin and you can add this to your path if you like.
Confirmed by chrmhoffmann and committed. Thank you!
Thank you for this guide. I've compiled stuff before, but built my first Android from source last night. Although the build from that time has random reboots (the nature of the beast).
I'll be building quite a bit I think
Damn see I'm just porting right now I wanna build from source but my PC isn't Linux friendly yet I'm waiting on a tb internal so I can set up and learn this but it just looks so complicated and idk why. I feel once I learn it probably be easy as hell. Thanks Fattire
__________________________________________________
Sent from my SPH-L700-GNEX-using Tapatalk 2
Danrarbc said:
Thank you for this guide. I've compiled stuff before, but built my first Android from source last night. Although the build from that time has random reboots (the nature of the beast).
I'll be building quite a bit I think
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey congrats and welcome to the club!
Cannot Make the bacon...
Hey Fattire! Thank you for your guide. I was able to finally download the source for cm9 and add the 3.0 kernel repository. I have everything in one folder. I am new to Linux and had to add a Path command to get Repo Sync to work correctly. Once I got the Repos I ran into another problem trying to issue command cd ~/android/system/vendor/cm , then enter “./get-prebuilts”. The Make Bacon and or Croot <enter> brunch acclaim does nothing either. It seems I am missing somthing here. Maybe a different distro of Linux besides Mint would work better for me... getting close to building (i hope). Thanks!
I have to issue PATH=~/bin:$PATH every time I repo sync.
C64assembly said:
Hey Fattire! Thank you for your guide. I was able to finally download the source for cm9 and add the 3.0 kernel repository. I have everything in one folder. I am new to Linux and had to add a Path command to get Repo Sync to work correctly. Once I got the Repos I ran into another problem trying to issue command cd ~/android/system/vendor/cm , then enter “./get-prebuilts”. The Make Bacon and or Croot <enter> brunch acclaim does nothing either. It seems I am missing somthing here. Maybe a different distro of Linux besides Mint would work better for me... getting close to building (i hope). Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use Ubuntu here I started with 10.04 LTS since it was the the build used and supported by Googles build instructions. Yous should still be able to do it though.
Did you initialize the build environment using ". build/envsetup.sh" at android/system (it looks like is the base of your source from your post)
Yes. Thank you for your advice KeithN. I am going to start from scratch. I might just put Ubuntu 10.04 on my comp tonight if I cannot get it to build properly.
I'm going for Ubuntu 12.04 command-line. If that doesn't go well, I'll go for 10.04 as well.
I built mine on 12.04 (Xubuntu, but that doesn't matter so much).
I added a debian sqeeze apt repository to get sun-java6-jdk, then used -f install when it complained because one of it's dependencies exists in Ubuntu but not that same version #. Commented out the repository after it installed so I don't get more debian packages on accident. For everything else I think it was just following the guide as-is.
C64assembly said:
I am new to Linux and had to add a Path command to get Repo Sync to work correctly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I had recommended doing that. The PATH=$PATH:~/bin command will ensure that no matter what directory you type "repo", it'll know where to find the file.
C64assembly said:
Once I got the Repos I ran into another problem trying to issue command cd ~/android/system/vendor/cm , then enter “./get-prebuilts”. The Make Bacon and or Croot <enter> brunch acclaim does nothing either. It seems I am missing somthing here. Maybe a different distro of Linux besides Mint would work better for me... getting close to building (i hope). Thanks!
I have to issue PATH=~/bin:$PATH every time I repo sync.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Instead of entering it every time, you can add that PATH statement so that it's automatically invoked when you open a new Terminal window.
Just add the line to an "invisible" file (it's invisible because it starts with a period (.) and won't show up in a normal listing) called .bashrc in ~/.bashrc (the ~ is a shortcut for your home directory, or /home/youraccountname/). The hidden .bashrc file will probably exist already. Just add the statement to the end.
Keithn said:
Did you initialize the build environment using ". build/envsetup.sh" at android/system (it looks like is the base of your source from your post)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is right. Try this:
$ cd ~/android/system
$ . build/envsetup.sh
(the $ represents the prompt and should not be typed. For the second command, it's literally a period followed by a space followed by build/envsetup.sh)
I am using the latest 12.04 ubuntu, fwiw.
I know this is for CM9, but any help would be appreciated (trying aokp). I had issues with the packaging of the .zip it looks like. I was able to build for my fascinate so I know the source will build. Any suggestions?
Output

[Q] Making android kernel compatible with ubuntu?

Hello.
I noticed that kernels for ubuntu seem a bit old. I was thinking that maybe someone could modify cm10(or 3.0.21) kernel to support ubuntu/teach me how to add ubuntu support to android kernel. I did a bit googling, but results were filled with those loop ubuntus, not native.
I am also thankful if someone can point me to right direction.
(Trevd, i am counting on you )
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app
julle131 said:
Hello.
I noticed that kernels for ubuntu seem a bit old. I was thinking that maybe someone could modify cm10(or 3.0.21) kernel to support ubuntu/teach me how to add ubuntu support to android kernel. I did a bit googling, but results were filled with those loop ubuntus, not native.
I am also thankful if someone can point me to right direction.
(Trevd, i am counting on you )
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well as seeing as you ask so nicely, I'm far from an expert however especially in the ways of ubuntu kernels, A1Pha got the original ubuntu image going but ubuntu have done an official arm release now so that changes things ( probably ) I can only point you in the direction of more, hopefully better resources.
The Blaze Tablet seems to have have been the Development Platform for the G9 so you'll probably get some purchase from following that route.
Here's some links for you.
http://omappedia.org/wiki/Source_Trees
http://omappedia.org/wiki/OMAP_Ubuntu_Main
My days on the G9 could well be numbered, I foolishly overwrote the bootlloader in one of my more Laissez-faire moments. meh! That's what I get for having a caliver approach to consumer electronics.
trevd said:
Well as seeing as you ask so nicely, I'm far from an expert however especially in the ways of ubuntu kernels, A1Pha got the original ubuntu image going but ubuntu have done an official arm release now so that changes things ( probably ) I can only point you in the direction of more, hopefully better resources.
The Blaze Tablet seems to have have been the Development Platform for the G9 so you'll probably get some purchase from following that route.
Here's some links for you.
http://omappedia.org/wiki/Source_Trees
http://omappedia.org/wiki/OMAP_Ubuntu_Main
My days on the G9 could well be numbered, I foolishly overwrote the bootlloader in one of my more Laissez-faire moments. meh! That's what I get for having a caliver approach to consumer electronics.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for answering. I'm out of thanks for today, so i press that button when i have more.
Now to business.
After doing some research, and asking few questions on #ubuntu-arm, this seems a bit hard project because there are no sources. There is no source for CM10 kernel(Or i can't read the github) nor Ubuntu kernel, so i can't just apply tweaks of them both to archos 3.0.8+ kernel. A way to unpack the zimage from ubuntu kernel and cm10 kernel would help, but atleast the script i tried couldn't unpack the zimage of ubuntu. Lets see what i figure out next.
julle131 said:
After doing some research, and asking few questions on #ubuntu-arm, this seems a bit hard project because there are no sources. There is no source for CM10 kernel(Or i can't read the github) nor Ubuntu kernel, so i can't just apply tweaks of them both to archos 3.0.8+ kernel. A way to unpack the zimage from ubuntu kernel and cm10 kernel would help, but atleast the script i tried couldn't unpack the zimage of ubuntu. Lets see what i figure out next.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure what you mean by the CM10 Kernel, I don't think CM have any different settings from what is required by JellyBean itself. Plus the Kernel we originally used for the Archos CM10 is an ICS kernel with IPV6 Mangling adding, we got away with that because the Init.rc used to boot the Rom is a mashed up ICS Version. After thinking about it let me add the bit of knowledge I think I do know.
The kernels on arm platforms, to paraphrase Linus Tovalds was a complete mess, something which Linaro are working hard to fix, and are unique to the SOC vendor.
You need to get the Archos specific sources which are located on GItorious @ git://gitorious.org/archos/archos-gpl-gen9-kernel-ics.git, clone the 3.0.21 branch, in the directory there's a file called linux.config.g9 ( or something similar ). that's the config file. I just copy that to .config, change the settings I need to (if any) compile. That should setup an archos kernel which should run android
Code:
git clone git://gitorious.org/archos/archos-gpl-gen9-kernel-ics.git -b linux-icc-3.0.21
cp linux.config.g9 .config
make menuconfig
make -j8
Like I say I was thinking about it and the main difference between a standard kernel and android kernels is the binder, the switch class support and the log driver ( this is things I've noticed when building an android x86 Kernel )
When doing menuconfig the Android Driver settings are found in devices/staging/android, I suppose a place to start is to turn them off then switch on SYSV IPC ( i think that's in genral kernel settings ), from what I understand this is the sysv binder and should create a node at /dev/binder, standard kernel switch class support is set in Device Drivers ( Switch Class Support ).
I'm not sure about logging , It basically breaks down like this. The Android Kernel has a specific logging driver this creates device node at /dev/log/main /dev/log/system etc , Ubunutu ( on x86 at least ) has a single log device node which is created at /dev/log, I don't know weather this is something created by the kernel or something created in userspace by syslogd or something similar. I also don't know whether the Android Logs are compatible with ubuntu, or the android binder for that matter. I'll try and boot my x86 ubuntu with my Android Kernel later on , I suspect It won't work but speculation is one thing, knowing for sure is better
With regards to unpacking the zImage, I'll say this , Not all zImages are created equal , I notice you are using a samsung mobile ( galaxy s, if I'm not mistaken ) , so you're probably using the samsung zImage as a frame of reference... How I understand it Samsung pack the initramfs into the zImage, similar, but not same to the way android AOSP pack a boot.img. Samsung however do this in kernel itself, this is why Samsung zImage a) can be unpacked and b) require different tools than the standard tools used for unpacking boot images which work on just about every other device ( expect Archos of course ) . So you generally don't unpack zImage because It's just a binary blob that contains all the kernel functions, this is in the assembly language of whatever architecture you built your kernel for.
Given all that info you should now be able to build a working archos android kernel ( I assume you using linux etc and your not stupid ) , You now need the Ubuntu side of things..... Have you asked in the Archos G9 Ubuntu Development thread, they may be able to shed light on the changes to the config you need to make or alternativaly you could download the Ubuntu for Arm OMAP Image from https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ARM/OMAP , unpack/mount it and see if there is the kernel .config file, It is normally packaged somehow with the distro for example x86 lubuntu has .configs in /lib/modules/3.5.0-19-generic/build/.config, the arm distro may have something similar. Then it's a case of see what configuration options are different, You can't just copy the config whole sale however because there are Archos Specific board settings in the Archos Kernel. Failing that the kernel sources will be somewhere as it is a legal requirement under the GPL and Cannonical are compliant, at least I've not read anywhere to the contrary.
This is just really how I understand it at the minute, Some of it could be inaccurate or just plain BS but hopefully should give you something to run with, there is a bit of a barrier to entry on the whole subject kernels/android kernels as the information is in little pieces all over the internet, when I was first getting to grips with it, it did feel like a bit a of treasure hunt for knowledge. Also knowing the Keywords to search for in the first place can be difficult It sounds quite an interesting challenge, shame about my brick!!
If you want to understand more about the kernel generally ( and lets face it, who doesn't ) then Linux Kernel in a nutshell ( http://www.kroah.com/lkn/ ) is a free e-book written by one of the kernel maintainers a should be a useful reference.
JUST IN CASE: Don't forget prefixing a filename with a fullstop (.) makes that file hidden and won't display in normal file listings, using ls -a to display all file in a directory
The CM10 kernel i was refering to is the CM10 in dev section. I thought there were other "hacks" than just a IPv6 addon, and that's why i counsidered it as a totally diferent kernel.
I think i need to download the kernel source as soons as i get to my laptop then. I have some experience on it, because i have made a few builds of B2G, but that was mainly just: download source, choose the device and build.
For the differences, that is what i consider as the hardest part. Merging them and then getting the kernel to build might take some time. Luckily I have plenty of time.
For the zImage, I was trying to unpack the ubuntu zImage one, because I'm working on archos device . Unpacking Galaxy S2 kernel wouldn't make any sense. atleast to me . I was trying to use a general unpacker, but it didn't work, just as you wrote.
For the OS & Knowledge, i am using linux indeed. Backbox, which is based on ubuntu 11.04 to be precise. I didn't even think about unpacking the IMG file... Maybe i am stupid . I think i am able to mount it to folder, so it is easy to explore.
I think I know the basics, and folders starting with . is part of them
Lets see what happens the next time i pick my laptop, boot it and start fooling around :good:.
Edit: Well, after the menuconfig, i can't fand anything related to ipv6 mangling. There was a file on the root of cloned folder called linux.config, but it was the default config for kernel, not archos specific.
julle131 said:
The CM10 kernel i was refering to is the CM10 in dev section. I thought there were other "hacks" than just a IPv6 addon, and that's why i counsidered it as a totally diferent kernel.
I think i need to download the kernel source as soons as i get to my laptop then. I have some experience on it, because i have made a few builds of B2G, but that was mainly just: download source, choose the device and build.
For the differences, that is what i consider as the hardest part. Merging them and then getting the kernel to build might take some time. Luckily I have plenty of time.
For the zImage, I was trying to unpack the ubuntu zImage one, because I'm working on archos device . Unpacking Galaxy S2 kernel wouldn't make any sense. atleast to me . I was trying to use a general unpacker, but it didn't work, just as you wrote.
For the OS & Knowledge, i am using linux indeed. Backbox, which is based on ubuntu 11.04 to be precise. I didn't even think about unpacking the IMG file... Maybe i am stupid . I think i am able to mount it to folder, so it is easy to explore.
I think I know the basics, and folders starting with . is part of them
Lets see what happens the next time i pick my laptop, boot it and start fooling around :good:.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The 3.0.31 Kernel started by Quallenauge in the dev section is an Highly Expirimental effort. this was started before Archos released the 3.0.21 Kernel with their 4.0.2x roms which covered what was trying to be achieved by this development, It's best left alone unless you really want to get you're hands dirty with device bring up code, There's a version on my github which I think boots the G9A101's as well as the 80's......... anyway
You shouldn't have to do any merging of code, more a case of selecting the right options in the config, Thinking back, I've have booted Ubuntu using mainline kernel sources from kernel.org that I built myself so that kinda of suggests there's nothing special about ubuntu's kernels per se' .
Your main problem won't be with building , more booting, It should compile fine but I wouldn't be surprised to be looking at a blank screen then your problem is monitoring the output....There's an option in the archos config to get early debug output over USB, I think there's some modification you need to make to the USB Cable, Quallenauge knows about that, he did it , I was ghetto and used adb for my debugging. which can be probably made to work when booting ubuntu but I'd go the correct route , I just have my wierd ways of doing things.
Another thing that spring to mind with android "specialisms". Android runs /init in the root directory ubuntu normally likes /sbin/init. This is something that is specified again in the kernel config using the kernel cmdline option , just something to be aware of... If anything else springs to mind I'll let you know.
So I suppose as you say, Just fool around and see what happens. :good:
I think I know the basics, and folders starting with . is part of them
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just Checking LOL.
trevd said:
The 3.0.31 Kernel started by Quallenauge in the dev section is an Highly Expirimental effort. this was started before Archos released the 3.0.21 Kernel with their 4.0.2x roms which covered what was trying to be achieved by this development, It's best left alone unless you really want to get you're hands dirty with device bring up code, There's a version on my github which I think boots the G9A101's as well as the 80's......... anyway
You shouldn't have to do any merging of code, more a case of selecting the right options in the config, Thinking back, I've have booted Ubuntu using mainline kernel sources from kernel.org that I built myself so that kinda of suggests there's nothing special about ubuntu's kernels per se' .
Your main problem won't be with building , more booting, It should compile fine but I wouldn't be surprised to be looking at a blank screen then your problem is monitoring the output....There's an option in the archos config to get early debug output over USB, I think there's some modification you need to make to the USB Cable, Quallenauge knows about that, he did it , I was ghetto and used adb for my debugging. which can be probably made to work when booting ubuntu but I'd go the correct route , I just have my wierd ways of doing things.
Another thing that spring to mind with android "specialisms". Android runs /init in the root directory ubuntu normally likes /sbin/init. This is something that is specified again in the kernel config using the kernel cmdline option , just something to be aware of... If anything else springs to mind I'll let you know.
So I suppose as you say, Just fool around and see what happens. :good:
Just Checking LOL.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At the moment i'm trying to find the archos config file. there is a defcon file, which looks like a config file in arch/arm/configs called android_archos_defcon. It sounds correct. Next thing for me to do is to find the right place to put it. I guess the root of the project is correct, and rename it to .config and linux.config. After building I need to test it. [email protected] or 4.0.26 root will suffice, right? I also need to figure out if there is a way to force adb on through kernel. And the IPv6 Mangling is nowhere to be found
julle131 said:
At the moment i'm trying to find the archos config file. there is a defcon file, which looks like a config file in arch/arm/configs called android_archos_defcon. It sounds correct. Next thing for me to do is to find the right place to put it. I guess the root of the project is correct, and rename it to .config and linux.config. After building I need to test it. [email protected] or 4.0.26 root will suffice, right? I also need to figure out if there is a way to force adb on through kernel. And the IPv6 Mangling is nowhere to be found
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The config file " linux.config.g9" should be in the root kernel directory, if it's not there then your on the wrong branch and you need to checkout the 3.0.21 branch explicitly using
Code:
git checkout linux-ics-3.0.21
If your using ICS builds to check with, which I probably recommend then don't worry about IPV6 managling , I don't think It's named that exactly but something like that!, For reference , I've just had a check the option is "Networking support/Networking options/Network packet filtering framework (Netfilter)/IPv6: Netfilter Configuration /Packet Managling"
You have to look pretty deep on some of these settings
As a test. Boot with a normal kernel configure your android debug options , then swap the kernels out , that should give you adb while booting, when I've tried to force adb on an uncofigured rom it got a bit confused with itself
If your struggling a bit with git, http://gitimmersion.com/ has a great tutorial you can step through in about 10 minutes to get the basics and get it configured a bit better
---------- Post added at 09:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:20 PM ----------
EDIT: Make sure you building for arm as well
Code:
$ export ARCH=arm
$ export SUBARCH=arm
$ export CROSS_COMPILE=arm-eabi-
Reference: http://source.android.com/source/building-kernels.html
Huuuh i'm late... most had been pointed out already.
Just to add this...
As you might know Android is put on top of a Linux base system more or less.
In most cases a kernel built for Android will suit most linux distributions as well.
Trevd already highlighted the main aspects.
The other way round is more evil... unmodified linux kernel (or a kernel set up to run well with Ubuntu) will refuse to boot up an Android system.
Some addon's on the default config may be nice though, depends on how the whole rootfs stuff is arranged in the end and if your system heavily depends on udev and stuff.
Keep track of the startup scripts at /etc/init.d.
It's good to have an extensive look at the /etc directory of your distribution image... to much to point at here.
The kernel may handle to boot into a lot of different scenarios.
On the Archos tablets initramfs plays an important role.
You may even tweak this jumpboard and locate your final rootfs on an USB stick if you like.
It's all about handling mounts, chroot and similar during start up.
There are limits on the Archos with stock loader though, because you might need to influence the kernel command line at a certain point.
I'm aware that this is not very specific but there are so many ways to set things up.
Just follow the useful links trevd gave already... these are good starting points :fingers-crossed:
...and just to add this:
I don't speak of fine tune the system in the end. This is another story and sometimes very hard stuff, where you may need to reverse engineer some proprietary libs or executables.
Best regards,
scholbert
Well, I have now built my first kernel... And it was 3.0.8+... I think I downloaded wrong source . I have ipv6 mangling enabled on it, so I should try it with CM10 now. I think I should search the 3.0.21 source, and download it.
Edit: Well, my 3.0.8+ Kernel image can boot CM10, AOKP and 4.0.7 roms... Now i have to figure out why i downloaded 3.0.8+ kernel and not 3.0.21 kernel. Maybe i had wrong branch.
Edit:Yep, wrong branch. I did realize when i downloaded the srce that it informed that the branch does not exists. i had icc instead of ics
Do you have any tips where i can find info about kernel modifications, like adding governors? I tried adding few, but all i got was bunch of errors. I propably forgot something.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app
mer
Still working on this? I have been using Mer kernels with Ubuntu and they seem to be working fine.
Archos Gen9 Mer Adaptation Kernel --> http://gitorious.org/archos-gen9-mer-adaptation-kernel/
Archos Gen9 Mer Adaptation Kernel ICS --> https://gitorious.org/archos-gen9-mer-adaptation-kernel/archos-gen9-mer-adaptation-kernel-ics
I am using the 3.08 kernel from a Plasma Active distribution. --> http://share.basyskom.com/plasma-active/archos_gen9.html
Just mount the data partion in linux and convert it to ext4, write the linux image to it. Then cp the files from mer /boot /lib/modules to new rom, modules file in etc to load your modules, modify fstab, cp mtev.so to /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input, change or add a few other files.
/etc
modules
Code:
cypress_tma340
tr16c0_i2c
hso
compat
cfg80211
mac80211
wl12xx
wl12xx_sdio
cpt_i2c_tsp
pixcir_i2c_tsp
hci_uart
fstab
Code:
/swap none swap sw 0 0
/dev/mmcblk0p2 /media/system ext4 ro,noauto,users,uid=1000,gid=0,noatime 0 0
/dev/mmcblk0p4 /media/data ext4 ro,noauto,users,uid=1000,gid=0,noatime 0 0
none /proc proc rw,relatime,noexec,nosuid,nodev 0 0
none /sys sysfs rw,relatime,noexec,nosuid,nodev 0 0
none /dev devtmpfs rw,mode=0755 0 0
none /dev/pts devpts rw,relatime,gid=5,mode=0620,ptmxmode=0666 0 0
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults,noatime,mode=1777 0 0
binfmt_misc /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev 0 0
none /sys/fs/fuse/connections fusectl rw 0 0
none /sys/kernel/debug debugfs rw 0 0
none /dev/shm tmpfs nodev,nosuid,noexec 0 0
none /dev/bus/usb usbdevfs defaults 0 0
none /sys/kernel/security securityfs (rw) 0 0
/etc/udev/rules.d
70-persistent-net.rules
Code:
# net device ()
SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTR{address}=="08:00:28:90:64:31", ATTR{dev_id}=="0x0", ATTR{type}=="1", KERNEL=="wlan*", NAME="wlan0"
# USB device 0x9710:0x7830 (usb)
SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTR{address}=="00:13:3b:04:02:6c", ATTR{dev_id}=="0x0", ATTR{type}=="1", KERNEL=="eth*", NAME="eth0"
70-touchscreen.rules
Code:
KERNEL=="event*", SUBSYSTEM=="input", SUBSYSTEMS=="input", ATTRS{name}=="cypress-tma340", SYMLINK="input/touchscreen"
/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d
Add to the end of 10-evdev.conf, cypress-tma340 is the touchscreen on my G9.
Code:
Section "InputClass"
Identifier "Archos Touchscreen"
MatchProduct "cypress-tma340"
Option "Ignore" "off"
Option "CorePointer" "on"
Driver "mtev""
EndSection
openSUSE --> http://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:eek:penSUSE_on_your_ARM_board
Ubuntu --> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ARM/OMAP
Kubuntu 12.10 --> http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/12.10/release/kubuntu-12.10-desktop-armhf+omap4.img
Please i am using Backbox Linux Distribution (Dual booted ) wit my windows 7....... now i wish to use a dail up connection on my modem !! PLEASE HOW DO I GO ABOUT IT ...
Sent from my L3 using XDA Free mobile app

SU for Android on ChromeOS

This is a cross-post from a reddit thread I started, but this is probably a more appropriate location for it.
I have been trying to modify files in the system folder for the Android container on the Asus Flip so I can install SuperSu, but have run into some problems.
The system folder is contained in a squashfs image on the chromebook at /opt/google/containers/android/system.raw.img. Mounted squashfs images appear to not support read-write access. I have been able to unsquash the image, add the SuperSU apk to the /system/priv-app folder and su to the /system/xbin folder, and remake the image. This boots, but SuperSU force closes as soon as it starts.
To make tinkering easier, I've tried building a writable image using dd and mkfs. I placed it in a location that has rw access and modified the /etc/init/android-ureadahead.conf script which mounts it to enable rw access. Unfortunately though it won't boot. The boot logs for the android container show a litany of SELinux errors for different things that it could not set context, operation not permitted. I can post the exact log if necessary. Some googling led me to find that the SELinux security context attributes weren't being replicated in my image, so I tried mounting with context and fscontext options equal to the contexts from the original image, but I get the same problem.
If anyone has any ideas I'd be especially grateful.
lionclaw said:
This is a cross-post from a reddit thread I started, but this is probably a more appropriate location for it.
I have been trying to modify files in the system folder for the Android container on the Asus Flip so I can install SuperSu, but have run into some problems.
The system folder is contained in a squashfs image on the chromebook at /opt/google/containers/android/system.raw.img. Mounted squashfs images appear to not support read-write access. I have been able to unsquash the image, add the SuperSU apk to the /system/priv-app folder and su to the /system/xbin folder, and remake the image. This boots, but SuperSU force closes as soon as it starts.
To make tinkering easier, I've tried building a writable image using dd and mkfs. I placed it in a location that has rw access and modified the /etc/init/android-ureadahead.conf script which mounts it to enable rw access. Unfortunately though it won't boot. The boot logs for the android container show a litany of SELinux errors for different things that it could not set context, operation not permitted. I can post the exact log if necessary. Some googling led me to find that the SELinux security context attributes weren't being replicated in my image, so I tried mounting with context and fscontext options equal to the contexts from the original image, but I get the same problem.
If anyone has any ideas I'd be especially grateful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wayyyy out of my area of expertise, but here's my (completely novice) best guess.
>All Chromebooks are write-protected with a screw on the motherboard
>Putting a Chromebook in developer mode allows for some tinkering ie things like chroots, and on the asus flip, the ability to install apks from unknown sources.
>Unscrewing the write-protect screw allows for the ability to completely install a new operating system or dual boot setup.
>Maybe you need to do that before you're able to accomplish root access?
My other idea would be to try and figure out a way of doing a systemless root?
Also, total aside but since this is the only thread I've found on XDA about this device, I think chroots are theoretically possible now without the need to be in developer mode via Android apps (even without root on Android). Download the GIMP port from the Play Store to see what I'm talking about. Playing around with that for a few minutes really made me wish that it didn't use emulated mouse/keyboard in it's implementation. Also, it appears that apt-get is broken, but regardless it might interest someone out there looking for a project.
back from the dead, any progress on this?
I have been able to successfully root the Android image on my Asus Flip.
I built a blank image with dd in /usr/local, formatted it with mkfs, mounted it to a folder, mounted the original system.raw.img to a folder, copied the files across, placed *all* the SuperSU files listed as 'required' in the SuperSU update-binary in the relevant places in /system in my new image, set permissions & contexts for those files, edited arc-system-mount.conf and arc-ureadahead.conf to point to the new image and, finally, patched /etc/selinux/arc/policy/policy.30 with the SuperSU sepolicy patching tool in order to boot my rooted Android instance with selinux set to enforcing.
I have created a couple of scripts which more-or-less fully automate this procedure, which can be downloaded from nolirium.blogspot.com. Please feel free to download, open the scripts in a text editor to check them out, and try them out if you like. Only tested on Asus Flip, though.
I seem to be unable to post attachments at the moment so I will just add the descriptions here, I could probably post the entire scripts here too if anyone wants. Feel free to let me know what you think.
DESCRIPTIONS:
1-3.sh
Combines the first three scripts listed below.
01Makecontainer.sh
Creates an 900MB filesystem image in /usr/local/Android_Images, formats it, then copies Android system files therein.
02Editconf.sh
Modifies two system files: arc-system-mount.conf - changing the mount-as-read-only flag and replacing the Android system image location with a new location; and arc-ureadahead.conf - again replacing the Android system image location. Originals are renamed .old - copies of which are also placed in /usr/local/Backup.
03Androidroot.sh
Mounts the previously created Android filesystem image to a folder, and copies SuperSU files to the mounted image as specified in the SuperSU update-binary.
04SEpatch.sh
Copies an SELinux policy file found at /etc/selinux/arc/policy/policy.30 to the Downloads folder, opens an Android root shell for the SuperSU policy patching command to be entered, then copies the patched policy back to the original location. A copy of the original policy.30 is saved at /etc/selinux/arc/policy/policy.30.old and /usr/local/Backup/policy.30.old
Uninstall.sh
Removes the folder /usr/local/Android_Images and attempts to restore the modified system files arc-system-mount.conf and arc-ureadahead.conf.
ok so two questions, one do you think this would work on the Acer r13 convertable? and 2 where can I find the actual instructions/scripts
keithkaaos said:
ok so two questions, one do you think this would work on the Acer r13 convertable? and 2 where can I find the actual instructions/scripts
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The R13 has a 64-bit Mediatek processor, right?
I have added a version for ARM64, but I haven't tested it.
You can find the instructions and scripts at nolirium.blogspot.com
ya, its a mediatek. and thanks ill go see if i can find it
---------- Post added at 03:31 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:58 AM ----------
wow, ok. i can do this but im not sure i want to.. after reading the possible problems i may run into. Im going to be getting the G. Home in a couple weeks and i gotta keep things running smooth. This seems like going a tad too far then i need to. The other day i had action launcher going and it looked pretty damn good but i really want to try and get the action3.apk that i have put into the pri-app folder or whatever the chromebook uses i found the syst folder but cant access it. Im wondering if i make the machine writable it would work but im afraid of losing my updates, as long as i could do them manualy, i guess that would be cool. Also since im already going on... has anyone found a way to disable the dev boot screen without tinkering with the physical chromebook yet?
SuperSU on Chromebook
Hey there I love this post but unfortunately im on the mediatek (well not unfortunately cause i love it) but i do really want super su .. But i found this other post that i tried out but i am having a problem executing the scripts. When i go to run the first one, it says can not open "name of script" but the dev takes a pretty cool approach. Im still new to Chrome OS but thanks for the post and if you have any advice on executing scripts id love to hear it!! http://nolirium.blogspot.com/
I'm guessing the above post was moved from another thread...
Anyway, it turns out that zipping/unzipping the files in Chrome OS's file manager sets all the permissions to read-only. Apologies! sudo chmod+x *scriptname* should fix it...
Regarding OS updates, I actually haven't had a problem receiving auto-updates with software write-protect switched off; the main possible potential issue I could imagine arising from the procedure I outlined would involve restoring the original conf files if both sets of backups get deleted/overwritten. This seems unlikely, but in that case either manually editing the files to insert the original string (/opt/google/containers/android/system.raw.img), or doing a powerwash with forced update might be necessary in order to get the original Android container booting again.
I don't think anyone's found a way to shorten/disable the dev boot screen without removing the hardware write-protect screw - from what I've read, the flags are set in a part of the firmware which is essentially read-only unless the screw is removed. Perhaps at some point the Chrome OS devs will get fed up of reading reports from users whose relatives accidentally reset the device by pressing spacebar, and change the setup. Here's hoping.
Hey just jumpig in the thread right quick to see if these instructions are old or what-- got a chromebook pro and the notion of having to update a squashed filesystem every timeto install su seems like a pain..
Is there any kind of authoritative documentation/breakdown regarding what Chromeos is mounting where before I start breaking things? Also anyone happen to know if there's a write-protect screw anywhere in the chromebook plus/pro?
Other questions:
* adbd is running, but is not accessible from adb in the (linux) shell, which shows no devices. Do I need to access adb from another device (i'm short a usb c cable right now) or can I use adb (which is there!) on the chrome side to access adbd on the android side?
* Anyone know if adb via tcp/ip is available? Don't see it in the android settings.
Hey,
There's no real documentation AFAIK, the thing is that ARC++ is a bit of a moving target, as it's so actively being developed/reworked. For instance, with the method described earlier in the thread - it started off being possible to just swap out a file location in arc-ureadahead.conf, then they changed it to arc-setup-conf, and now, since a few CrOS versions ago, the rootfs squashfs image is mounted in a loop fashion via the /usr/sbin/arc-setup binary instead, making an overview of the setup somewhat opaque to the casual observer.
I was kind of hoping to implement a kind of hybrid systemless root style setup myself, but unfortunately I haven't really managed to find the time to sit down and fully figure out a few parts of the puzzle, in particular relating to minijail and working with namespaces. So, I'm still using the method mentioned in posts above for my rooting needs at the moment, the only significant changes being that at the moment I'm replacing /opt/google/containers.android.system.raw.img with a symlink to my writeable rooted rootfs img, and also that in recent CrOS versions the mount-as-read only and debuggable flags can be found in /etc/init/arc-setup-env ("Environment variables for /usr/sbin/arc-setup").
In general though, one can kind of get an idea of what's going on in the default setup by reading through the various /etc/init/arc-* Chrome OS upstart jobs (and their logs in /var/log). Though, like I say, things keep changing around somewhat with every CrOS update, as the implementation 'improves'. As time goes by, and the subsystem matures, it'll certainly be interesting to see what other approaches are possible relating to customizing Android on Chrome OS.
There should definitely be a write protect screw somewhere on the motherboard for the Samsungs, but so far I haven't come across any pics showing exactly which screw it is. So far, no-one seems to have been brave/foolhardy enough to fully tear down their own machine and locate the screw!
Regarding adb, on my device I found the following in arc-setup-env:
# The IPV4 address of the container.
export ARC_CONTAINER_IPV4_ADDRESS=100.115.92.2/30
adb 100.115.92.2 (in Chrome OS's shell) works fine for me, the authorisation checkbox pops up and then good to go. su works fine through adb as expected. There's also a useful little nsenter script in Chrome OS to get into the android shell; /usr/sbin/android-sh, which I've been using in my script to help patch SE linux.
I actually just updated my rooting scripts recently to support 7.1.1, though I've only tested on my own Armv7 device (Flip C100).
I'll attach them to this post in case anyone wants to take a look. There's a readme in the zip, some more details can also be found here and below
EDIT: Fixed the SE Linux issue occurring with the previous version I uploaded (it was launching daemonsu from u:r:init:s0 instead of u:r:supersu:s0).
Anyone considering giving them a spin should bear in mind that the method does involve creating a fairly large file on the device as a rooted copy of the android rootfs. (1GB for arm, 1.4GB for Intel). There's a readme in the zip but the other couple of important points are that:
a) The SuperSU 2.82 SR1 zip also needs to be downloaded and extracted to ~/Downloads on the Chromebook.
b) Rootfs verification needs to be off. The command to force this is:
Code:
sudo /usr/share/vboot/bin/make_dev_ssd.sh --remove_rootfs_verification --force --partitions $(( $(rootdev -s | sed -r 's/.*(.)$/\1/') - 1))
or the regular command to do it is:
Code:
sudo /usr/share/vboot/bin/make_dev_ssd.sh --remove_rootfs_verification
c) If, subsequent to running the scripts, there's a problem loading Android apps (e.g. after a powerwash or failed install), the command to restore the original rootfs image is:
Code:
sudo mv /opt/google/containers/android/system.raw.img.bk /opt/google/containers/android/system.raw.img
Hey this is a great response.. thanks!
Nolirum said:
Hey,
There's no real documentation AFAIK, the thing is that ARC++ is a bit of a moving target, as it's so actively being developed/reworked. For instance, with the method described earlier in the thread - it started off being possible to just swap out a file location in arc-ureadahead.conf, then they changed it to arc-setup-conf, and now, since a few CrOS versions ago, the rootfs squashfs image is mounted in a loop fashion via the /usr/sbin/arc-setup binary instead, making an overview of the setup somewhat opaque to the casual observer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
verity
Yeah playing with it now, I'm looking at these /etc/init/arc-*-conf files... I see that the /dev/loop# files are being set up... (more below)
Nolirum said:
I was kind of hoping to implement a kind of hybrid systemless root style setup myself, but unfortunately I haven't really managed to find the time to sit down and fully figure out a few parts of the puzzle, in particular relating to minijail and working with namespaces. So, I'm still using the method mentioned in posts above for my rooting needs at the moment, the only significant changes being that at the moment I'm replacing /opt/google/containers.android.system.raw.img with a symlink to my writeable rooted rootfs img, and also that in recent CrOS versions the mount-as-read only and debuggable flags can be found in /etc/init/arc-setup-env ("Environment variables for /usr/sbin/arc-setup").
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry not sure what you mean by "hybrid systemless root style setup"? I take it you're modifying the startup script and replaced the squashfs file in /opt... my concern about doing it was whether they were implementing some kind of dm-verity equivalent to the squashfs file to make sure it hasn't been tampered with (say, by adding /sbin/su or whatever) or whether it's safe to replace that file.. Sounds like you're saying it is? (update: I guess that's what rootfs verification does, and we can turn it off....)
Also you mean arc-setup.conf:
env ANDROID_DEBUGGABLE = 0
right?
Nolirum said:
In general though, one can kind of get an idea of what's going on in the default setup by reading through the various /etc/init/arc-* Chrome OS upstart jobs (and their logs in /var/log). Though, like I say, things keep changing around somewhat with every CrOS update, as the implementation 'improves'. As time goes by, and the subsystem matures, it'll certainly be interesting to see what other approaches are possible relating to customizing Android on Chrome OS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hadn't realized the boot was still in flux-- I'd have figured they'd worked that out by now...
Nolirum said:
There should definitely be a write protect screw somewhere on the motherboard for the Samsungs, but so far I haven't come across any pics showing exactly which screw it is. So far, no-one seems to have been brave/foolhardy enough to fully tear down their own machine and locate the screw!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Heh.. not gonna be me..
Nolirum said:
Regarding adb, on my device I found the following in arc-setup-env:
# The IPV4 address of the container.
export ARC_CONTAINER_IPV4_ADDRESS=100.115.92.2/30
adb 100.115.92.2 (in Chrome OS's shell) works fine for me, the authorisation checkbox pops up and then good to go. su works fine through adb as expected. There's also a useful little nsenter script in Chrome OS to get into the android shell; /usr/sbin/android-sh, which I've been using in my script to help patch SE linux.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool-- adb connect 100.115.92.2 does indeed work I was gonna use netcat to open port 5555 in chromeos and pipe it through, but looks like nc isn't here and I'm not yet ready to start changing the FS..though probably will be soon... btw any idea which partitions get overwritten when chrome it does it's updates? Will /root and /etc get overwritten, for example... would a "powerwash" overwrite it or can you get easily get into an unbootable state on these things?
It's also kind of strange that adb is listening to port 30 at that (internal?) bridge address by default witho no UI to turn it off.. and it's inaccessible from outside.. i wonder if there's an easy way to change the bridge to share the same IP as the actual interface...
Final thought-- I'd love to build that system image myself soup-to-nuts, but I can't find any "caroline" device tree set up... do you or anyone else happen to know if there's a standalone AOSP device tree for the chromebooks? It would be cool to have a mashup AOSP/lineageos if such a think could be possible-- I'm guessing chromiumos is just taking the android tree, building it and then adding it into their build... I Haven't build chromiumos for many years now so I can't even begin to imagine how this android build integrates with the whole emerge thing they had going.. but I bet it takes a while
Nolirum said:
I actually just updated my rooting scripts recently to support 7.1.1, though I've only tested on my own Armv7 device (Flip C100).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool I'll take a look at these scripts.
So I haven't yet run the scripts-- just looking through them-- I noticed the section starting:
if [ -e /etc/init/arc-setup-env ]; then
echo "Copying /etc/init/arc-setup-env to /usr/local/Backup"
This doesn't exist on the x86 CB Pro. There's an arc-setup.conf that sets up the environment variables though. It sets WRITABLE_MOUNT to 0, but then so does arc-system-mount.conf
Not sure if these are different between x86 and ARM or if it's just in the latest update.. but figured I'd let you know. Wanna throw thse scripts up on github somewhere? (Or I can do it) and we can maybe look at keeping them up to date and/or standardizing them? It wouldn't be hard to determine if it's running on ARM or x86_64 (uname -i for example)..
fattire said:
So I haven't yet run the scripts-- just looking through them-- I noticed the section starting:
if [ -e /etc/init/arc-setup-env ]; then
echo "Copying /etc/init/arc-setup-env to /usr/local/Backup"
This doesn't exist on the x86 CB Pro. There's an arc-setup.conf that sets up the environment variables though. It sets WRITABLE_MOUNT to 0, but then so does arc-system-mount.conf
Not sure if these are different between x86 and ARM or if it's just in the latest update.. but figured I'd let you know. Wanna throw thse scripts up on github somewhere? (Or I can do it) and we can maybe look at keeping them up to date and/or standardizing them? It wouldn't be hard to determine if it's running on ARM or x86_64 (uname -i for example)..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, the arc-setup-env thing is intentional. There does appear to be another issue with the x86 version though. I've written up a detailed response to your previous post; it's in a text file at the moment so I'll copy it over and format it for posting here with quotes etc now - should only take a few minutes. Yeah, sticking them on github might be a good idea; I've been meaning to create an account over there anyway.
Yeah, so... Regarding the scripts, since I've put them up here for people to download - I should mention that the first person to test them (aside from me) has reported that something's not working right (I'm waiting for confirmation but I think he tried out the x86 version). It's likely either an error on my part when copying across from my Arm version, or perhaps something not working right with conditionals, meant to deal with the various OS versions ('if; then' statements, I mean). Once I find out more, I'll edit my earlier post...
fattire said:
Sorry not sure what you mean by "hybrid systemless root style setup"? I take it you're modifying the startup script and replaced the squashfs file in /opt... my concern about doing it was whether they were implementing some kind of dm-verity equivalent to the squashfs file to make sure it hasn't been tampered with (say, by adding /sbin/su or whatever) or whether it's safe to replace that file.. Sounds like you're saying it is?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, sorry for being a bit vague - I just mean perhaps implementing a kind of systemless root à la Magisk/SuperSU (from what I understand of how these work) - avoiding the need to actually replace files in /system. Since I'm mainly just using su for the privileges rather than actually wanting to write to /system, I had the idea that perhaps a sort of overlay on e.g. xbin and a few other locations, rather than actually rebuilding the whole of /system, might be an interesting approach....
Yep, I've been replacing /opt/google/containers/android/system.raw.img with a symlink to my modified image lately. Works fine... I think they've been focused on just getting the apps working properly, maybe something like dm-verity is still to come.
Although, one of the cool things with Chromebooks IMO is that once the Developer Mode (virtual) switch has been flipped, the system's pretty open to being hacked around with. I think a large part of the much-trumpeted "security" of the system is thanks to the regular mode/Dev mode feature, once in Dev Mode with verified boot disabled on the rootfs, we can pretty much do what we want (I like the message that comes up in the shell when entering the first command I posted under the spoiler - it literally says "YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN!").
So yeah, with Dev Mode switched off, verified boot switched on, we can't even get into the shell (just the walled-off 'crosh' prompt), making the system indeed rather secure (but, for some of us, rather limited).
fattire said:
Also you mean arc-setup.conf:
env ANDROID_DEBUGGABLE = 0
right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I mean by a moving target, lol. On my device the Canary channel is at Chrome OS version 61; I think they started to move out some ARC++ (the acronym stands for Android Runtime on Chrome, version 2, if anyone's wondering, btw) environment variables to a separate file in version 60, or maybe 61. Problems with being on the more 'bleeding edge' channels include:
#Sometimes stuff gets broken as they commit experimental changes.
#Any updates sometimes overwrite rootfs customizations; the higher the channel - the more frequent the updates occur.
#Some of the stuff that gets updated, may later get reverted.
And so on...
fattire said:
I hadn't realized the boot was still in flux-- I'd have figured they'd worked that out by now...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah you'd think so. Honestly, the more I use CrOS the more it seems like a (very polished) work-in-progress to me. Though, I guess most modern OSs are also works-in-progress though. (I don't mean the former statement in a critical way; I'm very happy that new features keep getting added to the OS - Android app support being a perfect case in point, that was a lovely surprise, greatly extending the functionality of my Chromebook).
fattire said:
Cool-- adb connect 100.115.92.2 does indeed work I was gonna use netcat to open port 5555 in chromeos and pipe it through, but looks like nc isn't here and I'm not yet ready to start changing the FS..though probably will be soon...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Netcat's not there but socat, which I haven't any experience with but have seen described as a "more advanced version of netcat", is listed in /etc/portage/make.profile/package.installable, meaning that adding it to CrOS is supported, and as simple as:
Code:
sudo su -
dev_install #(sets up portage in /usr/local)
emerge socat
I tried socat out and it seems to work, might be interesting to play around with.
fattire said:
btw any idea which partitions get overwritten when chrome it does it's updates? Will /root and /etc get overwritten, for example...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Theres a question. I forget some of the exact details now (gleaned from browsing the developer mailing lists and the documentation on chromium.org), but from what I do remember and my experiences tinkering, I can say:
The auto-update model uses kernel/rootfs pairs, e.g. at the moment my device is booting from partition 2 (KERN-A) with the rootfs being partition 3 (ROOTFS-B). My understanding is that with the next OS update pushed to my device, CrOS will download the deltas of the files to be changed, and apply the changes to partitions 4 and 5 (KERN-B and ROOTS-B), setting new kernel GPT flags (priority=, tries=, successful=), which will, post-reboot, let the BIOS know that 4 and 5 will form the new working kernel/rootfs pair. Then the following update will do the same, but with partitions 2 and 3, and so on and so forth, alternating pairs each time. It's a pretty nifty system, and I think something similar might be happening with new Android devices from version O onward (?).
So partitions 2,3,4,5 are fair game for being overwritten (from the perspective of the CrOS updater program). Partition 1, the 'stateful partition') is a bit special, in addition to a big old encrypted file containing all of the userdata (/home/chronos/ dir?), it also has some extra dirs which get overlaid on the rootfs at boot. If you have a look in /mnt/stateful/, there should also be a dir called 'dev_image', which (on a device in Dev mode) gets mounted up over /usr/local/ at boot. As I mentioned above, if you do
Code:
sudo su -
dev_install
you can then emerge anything listed in /etc/portage/make.profile/package.installable (not a great deal of stuff admittedly, compared to Gentoo), which gets installed to subdirs in /usr/local/. So I think stuff in partition 1; /mnt/stateful/, should be safe from being overwritten with an OS update. I think crouton chroots get put there by default.
Most of the other partitions don't really get used, and shouldn't get touched by the updater, here's a design doc on the disk format, and here's a Reddit post (from a Google/Chromium employee) mentioning dual booting from partitions 6 and 7.
fattire said:
would a "powerwash" overwrite it or can you get easily get into an unbootable state on these things?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not too hard to mess up the system and get it into an unbootable state, lol. The "powerwash" just seems to remove user data, mainly. If you change up (the contents of) some files in /etc, or /opt, for example, then powerwash, normally they won't get restored to their original state (unless you also change release channel).
But, as long as the write-protect screw's not been removed and the original BIOS overwritten, it's always possible to make a recovery USB in Chrome's Recovery Utility on another device, and then restore the entire disk image fresh (this does overwrite all partitions). Another thing that I did was make a usb to boot into Kali; I was experimenting with the cgpt flags on my internal drive and got it into an unbootable state, but was still able to boot into Kali with Ctrl+U, and restore the flags manually from there. (To successfully boot from USB, it was essential to have previously run the enable_dev_usb_boot or crossystem dev_boot_usb=1 command in CrOS). I understand also that the BIOS type varies with device release date and CPU architecture, and that Intel devices may have some extra potential BIOS options ('legacy boot').
fattire said:
It's also kind of strange that adb is listening to port 30 at that (internal?) bridge address by default with no UI to turn it off.. and it's inaccessible from outside.. i wonder if there's an easy way to change the bridge to share the same IP as the actual interface...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I saw something related to this on the bug tracker. If I come across any info, I'll let you know...
fattire said:
Final thought-- I'd love to build that system image myself soup-to-nuts, but I can't find any "caroline" device tree set up... do you or anyone else happen to know if there's a standalone AOSP device tree for the chromebooks? It would be cool to have a mashup AOSP/lineageos if such a think could be possible-- I'm guessing chromiumos is just taking the android tree, building it and then adding it into their build... I Haven't build chromiumos for many years now so I can't even begin to imagine how this android build integrates with the whole emerge thing they had going.. but I bet it takes a while
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I haven't built Chromium OS or anything, but apparently, there's an option to create a 'private' overlay for the build, which doesn't get synced with the public stuff.
I think that the higher-ups at Google might be still umming and ahing as to whether or not to make source code available for the Android container, it's certainly not been made public yet. Actually, I remember seeing a Reddit post from a Google/Chromium employee mentioning this.
"That article is a little misleading in terms of open source. While the wayland-server and services that communicate with the ARC++ container are open source, the actual ARC++ container is not."
Perhaps they're waiting to see how similar implementations of Android within a larger Linux setup (e.g. Anbox) fare.
There doesn't seem to be too much that differs from AOSP in the ARC++ container - a few binaries and bits and pieces linking the hardware to the container (e.g. the camera etc), maybe some stuff related to running in a container with the graphics being piped out to Wayland?, and so on.
Oh, I was searching the bug tracker for something else, and just saw this (quoted below). Looks like it might be possible to run AOSP based images on CrOS soon!
arc: Implement android settings link for AOSP image
Reported by [email protected], Today (72 minutes ago)
Status: Started
Pri: 1
Type: Bug
M-60
When ARC started without the Play Store support there is no way for user to activate Android settings. We need implement corresponded section that has
Title: Android settings:
Link: Manage android preferences:
Inner bug: b/62945384
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great response! I read it once and I'll read it again in more detail then will probably have questions For whatever it may be worth, my only experience with chromiumos was building the whole thing maybe 4 years ago for my original 2011 Samsung "snow" Chromebook-- and making a bootable USB (or was it an SDcard?) to run it on (with a modified firmware that did... something I can't remember.. i think it was basically a stripped down uboot and I remember adding a simple menu or something-- I think I was trying to bypass that white startupscreen or something..). However, after doing this a few times to play with it, I realized that Chromiumos without the Chrome goodies kinda sucks and I promptly forgot everything and went back to stock.
I did have it re-partitioned to run linux as a dual boot from the SD slot or something-- I remember using that cgpt thing to select the different boot modes and vaguely recall the way it would A/B the updates (which "O" is now doing)... but anyhoo I was using the armhf ubuntu releases with the native kernel and ran into all kinds of sound issues and framebuffer only was a little crappy so...
I'm gonna re-read in more detail soon and I'm sure I'll have questions-- one of which will be-- assuming that most stuff is the same on x86 vs arm, why are there two scripts? How do they differ?
ol. On my device the Canary channel is at Chrome OS version 61; I think they started to move out some ARC++ (the acronym stands for Android Runtime on Chrome, version 2, if anyone's wondering, btw) environment variables to a separate file in version 60, or maybe 61.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the -env file I'm missing, I presume?
I think that the higher-ups at Google might be still umming and ahing as to whether or not to make source code available for the Android container, it's certainly not been made public yet. Actually, I remember seeing a Reddit post from a Google/Chromium employee mentioning this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It looks from the response that the gapps portion might be what's in question-- just like ChromiumOS vs Chrome has all the proprietary bits taken out?
Here's what I'd ideally like to see:
* Rooted Android, with a toggle switch to hide su in settings a la lineage (requires a kernel patch something like this one) + settings changes from lineageos
* adb access from outside the device-- critical for quickly testing apks from android studio w/o a cable. Basically put the chromebook in a "device mode" where adb is passed through... I'm going to see if I can pipe adb through with socat as you suggest...
* what else... I dunno watch this space.
An update from a couple of guys that have tested out the scripts on Intel: It seems to be that while they are able to launch daemonsu manually (with daemonsu --auto-daemon), it apparently does not seem to be getting launched at boot.
I am waiting for some more information on this. Previously, for Marshmallow, the script was setting up the app_process hijack method in order to to launch daemonsu at boot; to support Nougat I changed it to instead create an .rc file with a service for daemonsu, and add a line to init.rc importing it. This works for me, and from what I can gather, it copied/created all files successfully on the testers devices, too, so I'm not sure at this point what the issue is there.
Edit: Fixed the issue. I updated my previous post with further details.
fattire said:
I realized that Chromiumos without the Chrome goodies kinda sucks and I promptly forgot everything and went back to stock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol yeah. True, that.
fattire said:
...assuming that most stuff is the same on x86 vs arm, why are there two scripts? How do they differ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's literally just two things that differ: the few lines where we copy the su binary over e.g.
/x86/su.pie → /system/xbin/su, daemonsu, sugote
vs
/armv7/su → /system/xbin/su, daemonsu, sugote
...and also the size of the created container. The x86 container is about 30 percent larger than the Arm one.
I had a little look at how to determine the CPU architecture programmatically on Chrome OS a while back, but couldn't seem to find a reliable way of doing this, at least not without maybe getting a bunch of people with different CrOS devices to run something like, as you mentioned, uname -i (which returns 'Rockchip' on my device, uname -m (which returns 'armv7'), or such similar, and collating the results. It was just easier to do separate versions for x86/arm, rather than introduce more conditionals (with potential for errors). I'm certainly not averse to adding a check for $ARCH, and thus standardizing the script, as long as it's reliable.
fattire said:
This is the -env file I'm missing, I presume?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep! It's just the same few envs as in the .confs, moved into a new file. I'm fairly confident that the script's conditionals deals with them OK.
fattire said:
It looks from the response that the gapps portion might be what's in question-- just like ChromiumOS vs Chrome has all the proprietary bits taken out?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, although the respondant there perhaps doesn't seem to realise that he's talking to a Google/Chromium dev, the way he responds. Not that that makes anything he says in his post is necessarily less valid, though.
fattire said:
Here's what I'd ideally like to see:
* Rooted Android, with a toggle switch to hide su in settings a la lineage (requires a kernel patch something like this one) + settings changes from lineageos
* adb access from outside the device-- critical for quickly testing apks from android studio w/o a cable. Basically put the chromebook in a "device mode" where adb is passed through... I'm going to see if I can pipe adb through with socat as you suggest...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting... I agree, those would both be useful additions to the functionality of ARC++...
Quick question-- has Samsung provided the source for the GPL components (including the kernel, obviously)? I looked here but didn't see anything...? Previously the kernel was included along with the chromium source and there was like a kernel and kernel-next repository.. but this was like five years ago. I think the codename for the samsung chromebook pro is called caroline... let me quickly see if I can find a defconfig in the chromium source...
Back.. nothing here in the chromeos-4.4 branch. Nothing here either in the master branch. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong branches-- master is probably mainline kernel. Also the directories.. it took me five minutes to realize it wasn't going to be in arch/arm - force of habit I guess. I'll keep looking unless anyone knows. This "chromium-container-vm-x86" one seems to have dm_verity as an unused option. Ah, this is looking promising.
...and... here!
So it would seem that this would be built as part of the chromiumos build system, which seemed to be half gentoo five years ago building out of a chroot and was kind of a pain to set up... still, I'm guessing that since it's got that weird script to make the defconfig, what you could do is use google's chromiumos build script to make the kernel image (with whatever changes you want), then, assuming that it doesn't care if you replace the kernel, just throw it over the right Kernel A/B partition and see if it boots and starts up chromeos... it's weird cuz the kernel has to do double-duty for chromeos and android.. but I bet you can just replace it and it would work fine...
I had a cursory go at building a couple of kernel modules for my Flip C100 a while back - I didn't get too far though, lol. People do seem to have had success building their own kernels and running them with Chrome OS though, as with most things I suppose it's just how much time/effort you're willing to put in.
I think I used this and maybe this, from the crouton project to guide me.
From what I remember, I just got fed up of all the arcane errors/config choices. I remember that even though I'd imported my current device config from modprobe configs, there were then such an incredibly long string of hoops/config choices to have to go through one by one, to then be confronted with various errors (different every time ISTR) that I think I just thought "screw this". I think there were some other issue with the Ubuntu version I was using at the time as well. I know that sort of stuff's kind of par for the course with kernel compilation, but I was mainly only doing it so I could edit xpad in order to get my joypad working, in the end I found a different solution.
It shouldn't be too much hassle though, in theory I guess.... Oh, also, in order to get a freshly built kernel booting up with the CrOS rootfs, in addition to the gpt flags, I think you might have to sign it, too? (just with the devkeys & vbutil_kernel tool provided on the rootfs), some info here, and here.
From what I remember, the build system would do whatever key signing was necessary.... although I do now remember you're right there was some manual step when I was building the kernel, but I can't remember if that's because of MY changes or that was just part of the build process.
I I just dug out the old VM (Xubuntu) I was using to build and, well, let's just say I'll be doing a LOT of ubuntu updates before I can even realistically look at this. I do kinda recall setting up the environment was a huge pain so I'm going to see if I can just update the 5 year old source, target the pro and just build the kernel image and see what pops out the other end. At least I won't have to deal with the cross compiler, though I think it should hopefully take care of that itself.
Interesting to see that those crouton projects have emerged (no pun intended) so I'll check them out too while ubuntu updates itself
Thanks for the github links.. I'm going to go read that wiki.
Update: Looked at it-- funny they just stripped out the chromeos-specific parts they needed rather than emerge everything which is smart. My only question is now that Android is involved, there's that script I linked to earlier that seems to say "if you want Android support you'll need these bits too"-- wonder if the same config scripts apply, and if there are any other device tree considerations as well...
I may play a bit and see how smoothly it goes.. Unfortunately I don't have unlimited time either :/
Also, please do let me know if you put the scripts on github and I can send you pull requests if I come up with anything.
Update: Finally updated like 3 major versions of ubuntu... the "depot_tools" repo had its last commit in 2013, so I updated that. Wow, this is so much clearer than previous docs... it looks like something called gclient is used now, which I configured with:
gclient config --spec 'solutions = [
{
"url": "https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src.git",
"managed": False,
"name": "src",
"deps_file": ".DEPS.git",
"custom_deps": {},
},
]
'
that let me do gclient sync --nohooks --no-history ...which i think is updating the ancient source. I probably should have just started over, but anyway... we'll see what happens.
Update again: After updating with this new gclinet tool, it appears that the old repo sync method is still required as described here. That hasn't changed after all, so now I'm going to go through this old method, which will probably completely overwhelm my storage as it's downloading with history.. but anyway, in case anyone is trying this-- looks like the whole chroot/repo sync thing may still be how it's done... the /src directory described above may only be for building just the browser, not the whole OS...
...and here it is. I will have zero room to actually build anything tho, but hey.
* [new branch] release-R58-9334.B-caroline-chromeos-3.18 -> cros/release-R58-9334.B-caroline-chromeos-3.18
Note to self: use cros_sdk --enter to actually get in the chroot. Then:
~/trunk/src/scripts $ ./setup_board --board=caroline
to set up the build for caroline. Then to build:
./build_packages --board=caroline --nowithdebug
Useful links:
* Building ChromiumOS
* [URL="http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/how-tos-and-troubleshooting/portage-build-faq"]eBuild FAQ
[/URL]

Categories

Resources