[Q] Build a Custom ROM using only kernel source? - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

The HTC Desire 310 runs on a MediaTek SoC, and HTC only has the source code for the kernel. Is it possible to build a Custom ROM like CM for the device? And what are the drawbacks of doing this?

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Lynuxen said:
The HTC Desire 310 runs on a MediaTek SoC, and HTC only has the source code for the kernel. Is it possible to build a Custom ROM like CM for the device? And what are the drawbacks of doing this?
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Basically all a ROM development takes is a kernel source ,a device tree(how the source has to build your ROM {resolution,kernel source command lines....etc are set here}) , a vendor tree( usually proprietary shared libraries got from stock ROM ). Once you've got all these all you have to so is type make bacon. But since its mediatek its pretty hard to build anything since mediatek ril/libraries are not open source.

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So doing this blindfolded won't work.

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Lynuxen said:
So doing this blindfolded won't work.
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Won't work, unless you set up a device tree for your SoC. MT6589 device tree may work for building only recovery but nothing further.

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Yes, as @MasterAwesome said you need actually 3 components: Vendor tree, kernel source and device tree. Making vendor and device tree from scratch is hard.

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GeekyDroid said:
Yes, as @MasterAwesome said you need actually 3 components: Vendor tree, kernel source and device tree. Making vendor and device tree from scratch is hard.
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Hard, but not impossible? I really want to invest my time in something like this. Pretty long shot, will something like a method for reversed engineering the vendor and device tree work?

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Lynuxen said:
Hard, but not impossible? I really want to invest my time in something like this. Pretty long shot, will something like a method for reversed engineering the vendor and device tree work?
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Vendor tree is pretty easy to setup. You'd want to start with the CyanogenMod version which is similar your current android version. If your device has kitkat download cm11 sources. Read their docs about setting up a device tree(its not that hard). Vendor tree is basically just your stock ROM use it as a base to get your libs which are required for your ROM to start(logcats are helpful here). Since you have a similar SoC, you can use my device tree as a reference https://github.com/MasterAwesome/a210_device_tree/tree/master/micromax/a210. Initially just build a kernel and check if it works. And I have guides for kernel and ROM building,you could check it out.

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MasterAwesome said:
Vendor tree is pretty easy to setup. You'd want to start with the CyanogenMod version which is similar your current android version. If your device has kitkat download cm11 sources. Read their docs about setting up a device tree(its not that hard). Vendor tree is basically just your stock ROM use it as a base to get your libs which are required for your ROM to start(logcats are helpful here). Since you have a similar SoC, you can use my device tree as a reference https://github.com/MasterAwesome/a210_device_tree/tree/master/micromax/a210. Initially just build a kernel and check if it works. And I have guides for kernel and ROM building,you could check it out.
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Massive thanks MasterAwesome. :highfive: