[CAF CM14.1 base] [V4A Enforcing] Alexandroid 0.1 - Nexus 5 Android Development

Hello everyone!
I finally got a build environment working. Originally this started out with wanting to have CAF CM for my phone and to start building myself because I've heard that CAF can allegedly be better than pure AOSP (although granted the effect may be purely homeopathic, but while I'm at carving my own customisations, may as well take something extravagant), so I started these builds as practice for future projects and am sharing the results with you. The main goal is to stick as close to the original builds as possible, but introduce minor tweaks and changes that may improve the user experience indirectly from various sources (while hopefully maintaining the ability to flash back and forth between my builds and official. No guarentees)
I will aim for a monthly build cycle (or when I feel like building) rather than building nightlies, since I don't have a build bot nor the time to do builds that frequently.
Expect to see builds in a two-weeks interval at the very least, monthly at the very most. I'll keep these builds up as long as I see any usefulness in having this particular constellation since I've started it pretty much only because I wanted to fill in a gap and to also have the freedom of even more control over my phone.
Disclaimer:
I DO NOT GUARENTEE A CONTINUOUS BUILD CYCLE. YOU MAY HAVE TO FLASH BACK TO CM OFFICIAL IN ORDER TO GET UPDATES IF I HAVE TO RETIRE THESE BUILDS. I CANNOT ASSIST YOU WITH BUGS OR CRASHES AS I HAVEN'T CODED ANYTHING IN THIS BUILD. THIS IS SIMPLY A SHARE. THESE BUILDS ARE PROVIDED AS-IS WITHOUT ANY GUARANTEE THAT THEY WORK. THEY ARE TESTED AND USED AS DAILY DRIVERS, HOWEVER I WILL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR DEVICE IN ANY MANNER. WHAT YOU DO WITH YOUR PHONE IS YOUR THING. IF YOU B*LLOCK IT UP THEN THAT'S YOUR PROBLEM.
CM14 Info:
Even against my predictions, there is even a CAF version again, so I'm sticking to that like on CM13. The edits made to the ROM will be the same as the CM13 CAF version. As of 23/11 I've become inspired to experiment with a few cherry-picks of features I find useful or have been requested. What you get in the package is:
Minimal cherry-picks without a bloat of features that noone uses cluttering up the settings (list coming up once the experiments are done, current version is still pure CM14.1, scroll down to the more recent pages of the thread to see what I'm planning)
Mods under the hood preinstalled that came to be included through my laziness while updating my phone, for now just SELinux V4A support and stereo audio output (suggestions welcome)
A better kernel than CM stock if I happen to stumble over one. This one is more a "could be".
An actual OTA mechanism through a modded CMUpdater if enough people end up using the ROM and start donating to me (I can't afford a server).
The petty cosmetic change that is having it say "Nexus 5" in the "About Phone" section instead of "Nexus 5 CAF". Was just a finger exercise in the beginning of my work.
Some more Info:
I am not an actual developer yet and just getting familiar with building from source, over cherrypicking to eventually creating my own ROM from scratch. Therefore I cannot squash any bugs yet, even though I would love to. Yes, I'm a noob. If a bug disappears then that's purely because the guys whose open source code I'm using fixed it brilliantly. I do not take any credit for fixed bugs since I know as much about programming Android as a politician knows about keeping their promises: I know it could be possible, but it's not happening (yet).
Please do not clutter this thread with any bugreports. That don't seem related to my changes (i.e. random reboots when a new kernel is being tested). If you spot a bug then tell the actual developers. However if you stumble upon something that would benefit this ROM that isn't a feature (like an even better kernel or some other cool thing) then please do tell me (PM preferred) or if any mod I introduced is giving you trouble, sound off here in this thread.
I've already mentioned it, but I like to stress it again: There is no guarantee that builds work. I'm playing around with things and at some point things may go "BOOM" and be broken until I fix it. So far the builds have all booted up and operated just fine under a daily driver condition, but this may change for one or the other new build that I'm putting out. It's a risk I can't eliminate. We're working on the cutting edge here, you see. Either be in for the adventure or play it safe and decide that my ROM isn't for you. Nightly stays Nightly for a reason.
The V4A stuff is a pretty dirty hack that removes a whole bunch of neverallow policies in order to have the mediaserver policy that V4A requires in order to work. That means a huge sacrifice in security. But:
Your phone is already rooted to the teeth when you have installed CM basically, which when we get real makes it pretty easy for rogue apps to go wild if you grant root access to the wrong apps. SELinux enforcing wouldn't make much of a difference. One command and SELinux is in permissive mode allowing all naughty stuff.
I can't tell if you will have to wipe your device when updating to the cherry-picked builds once they are out or when flashing back to official CM14.1. You'll just have to make a backup and try.
Downloads:
Last legacy CM13 build: 28/09/16 codename "Debuggering"
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0Bw-aZKY98vPCcG5wRmE3UWlaYVU&usp=sharing
CM14.1 20/11/2016 codename "Renaissance":
https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=385035244224399989
Alexandroid0.1 codename "HelloWorld" (EXPERIMENTAL!):
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=69960899&postcount=203
Requirements:
Radio / Baseband: M897A-2.0.50.2.30
Bootloader: HHZ20h
Screenshots
https://imgur.com/a/I0FB8
Installation:
CM14.1 Installation:
Install TWRP hammerheadcaf
Wipe /data (without internal storage if you like), /cache & /system if coming from an incompatible ROM
Flash zip
Flash Gapps from opengapps.org
Perform a rain dance
Profit
CM14.1 BUGS:
Lol which bugs?
Sources and Credits / Special Thanks:
CyanogenMod (ROM source):
http://github.com/CyanogenMod
http://github.com/CyanogenMod/android_device_lge_hammerheadcaf
http://github.com/CyanogenMod/android_device_lge_hammerhead
http://github.com/CyanogenMod/android_device_qcom_common
http://github.com/CyanogenMod/android_kernel_lge_hammerhead
https://github.com/Alexandroid99/android_device_lge_hammerheadcaf​TheMuppets (vendor blobs): http://github.com/TheMuppets/proprietary_vendor_lge​

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Fix for repacking CM14 ZIPs to flash in MultiROM DIY
1) Extract the zip
2) Navigate to META-INF/com/google/android/
3) Open updater-script in a good text editor (No, notepad.exe is not a good text editor)
4) Clear the file completely and copy&paste this:
Code:
ui_print("ALEXANDROID CM14 MULTIROM REPACK!");
ui_print("NOW INSTALLING, YOU MAY SUCK YOUR THUMBS MEANWHILE");
package_extract_dir("install", "/tmp/install");
set_metadata_recursive("/tmp/install", "uid", 0, "gid", 0, "dmode", 0755, "fmode", 0644);
set_metadata_recursive("/tmp/install/bin", "uid", 0, "gid", 0, "dmode", 0755, "fmode", 0755);
mount("ext4", "EMMC", "/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/system", "/system", "");
run_program("/tmp/install/bin/backuptool.sh", "backup");
unmount("/system");
mount("ext4", "EMMC", "/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/userdata", "/data", "");
package_extract_file("META-INF/org/cyanogenmod/releasekey", "/tmp/releasekey");
unmount("/data");
show_progress(0.750000, 0);
ui_print("Patching system image unconditionally...");
block_image_update("/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/system", package_extract_file("system.transfer.list"), "system.new.dat", "system.patch.dat");
show_progress(0.020000, 10);
mount("ext4", "EMMC", "/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/system", "/system", "");
run_program("/tmp/install/bin/backuptool.sh", "restore");
unmount("/system");
show_progress(0.050000, 5);
package_extract_file("boot.img", "/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/boot");
ui_print("DISPENSING CAKE IN THREE TWO NONE");
show_progress(0.200000, 10);
ui_print("YES I KNOW THAT MEME IS WAY TOO OLD");
set_progress(1.000000);
5) Pack everything you extracted back into a ZIP.
6) Flash and profit!

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Thank you so much!! Just showed my gf, who's a biiig Portal fan. Guess her reaction!
I'll quote...:" darlin' , get me that freakin AWESOME cR on my nexus or I swear I'm gonna get you baked"
Hehe don't even know what that means xD

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it is quite stable enough for daily ? thanks

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Junnie said:
it is quite stable enough for daily ? thanks
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I am using this as a daily driver coming from AOSP CM13 and it's actually more stable than the official variant so far. Before I had multiple systemui restarts on a daily basis with random freezes and soft reboots (some of which resulted in a bootlooping until I forced a full reboot). Battery life has been quite OK, my current usage has gotten me through my entire workday of about 4 hours without having to recharge, even though it was running a VPN to my home network so I could SSH into my PC for kicking off another build. Give it a shot if you like, but do make a backup of /system /boot and /data before you upgrade from CM13.

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Doctor w said:
Thank you so much!! Just showed my gf, who's a biiig Portal fan. Guess her reaction!
I'll quote...:" darlin' , get me that freakin AWESOME cR on my nexus or I swear I'm gonna get you baked"
Hehe don't even know what that means xD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, the hostname of my PC is GLaDOS on my network. Maybe for the lolz I will create a user just for building named "CJOHNSON". Enjoy the build. New one with updated kernel coming soon.

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Alexandroid99 said:
I am using this as a daily driver coming from AOSP CM13 and it's actually more stable than the official variant so far. Before I had multiple systemui restarts on a daily basis with random freezes and soft reboots (some of which resulted in a bootlooping until I forced a full reboot). Battery life has been quite OK, my current usage has gotten me through my entire workday of about 4 hours without having to recharge, even though it was running a VPN to my home network so I could SSH into my PC for kicking off another build. Give it a shot if you like, but do make a backup of /system /boot and /data before you upgrade from CM13.
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thanks for your kindly feedback devs im using your build right now , so far its quite good and stable... and also its battery lol..
my phone keeps cool at itself not doing overheat :good: can i make one request devs if you dont mind ??
can you add DT2W to your kernel ?? thanks .. add more goovernor also hehehe... keep up the good work , i like PURE AOSP CAF like this..

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Junnie said:
thanks for your kindly feedback devs im using your build right now , so far its quite good and stable... and also its battery lol..
my phone keeps cool at itself not doing overheat :good: can i make one request devs if you dont mind ??
can you add DT2W to your kernel ?? thanks .. add more goovernor also hehehe... keep up the good work , i like PURE AOSP CAF like this..
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Click to collapse
Thanks. Well, dt2w would be included in the version with RACER kernel instead of pure myfluxi CAF, unless I decide to fork the kernel itself and add the appropriate cherry picks. Though since there is already all this good work out there, I'd rather rely on RACER and add patches and cherry picks to it if anything I like is missing. You can already try out this build with RACER kernel, either the version that is based on the official CM CAF or the myfluxi CAF version (I would stick with the myfluxi version, since he appears to be very good at creating things for hammerhead).

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New build is up. Don't forget to backup all important partitions before you flash, in case something failed to compile properly rendering the new build broken.

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Alexandroid99 said:
New build is up. Don't forget to backup all important partitions before you flash, in case something failed to compile properly rendering the new build broken.
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Thanks Devs for maintaining CAF on our nexus 5 :highfive: keep up the good work , and dont forget to pay attention on your real life :good:

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Junnie said:
Thanks Devs for maintaining CAF on our nexus 5 :highfive: keep up the good work , and dont forget to pay attention on your real life :good:
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Click to collapse
Pff I already said in the disclaimer; I don't code anything of this. I just build it. Only takes a bit of fixing a few errors and then waiting 3 hours for the compilation to complete. Lol
If you want to thank the developers, speak to @myfluxi or the responsible maintainers of CyanogenMod.

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In test two days, it is working very well and no reboot :good:

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Thank you for building this great Rom! But i have one question, does this Rom/Kernel support f2fs out of the box?

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hello all i just want to ask one question , everyone facing problem on data network ?? this happening on every CAF ROM for nexus 5 i've tried...everytime i reboot my phone data network wont active automatically , i must put into airplane mode , enable and renable data network till it active...any tweaks or init.d or something ??? when i tried non caf rom its not happening,thanks.

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I just bought a Nexus 5 (it's not even here yet), but could someone point me as to what the benefits are to flashing CM 13.0 versus the stock 6.0.1 update? The main reasons I use CM on my current phone is that I want the new software, better security, and de-bloated. I understand that Nexus devices do all that the way they come. Are there like added features with each ROM? I do like CM themes, but they aren't THAT important to me. Thanks.

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ocarinaz64 said:
I just bought a Nexus 5 (it's not even here yet), but could someone point me as to what the benefits are to flashing CM 13.0 versus the stock 6.0.1 update? The main reasons I use CM on my current phone is that I want the new software, better security, and de-bloated. I understand that Nexus devices do all that the way they come. Are there like added features with each ROM? I do like CM themes, but they aren't THAT important to me. Thanks.
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Of course there are! Ranging from small ones that you will grow used to very quickly and forget about they don't exist in mainstream Android to the big ones, like the theme engine. But really, you could have used google or the Q/A section for that. Please keep this thread clean.

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Hi there, good to hear that CAF-Builds will continue. Thanks for that!!!
I really prefer CAF over the AOSP CM13 Builds for daily driving.
I hope there will be again an official maintainer for CAF-Builds soon at cyanogenmod!
Just two Questions:
- Do you have plans to integrate a custom or modified updater for your builds? <--That would be really cool for updating the builds!
- What is the difference between your build an this one from user "phoval". <-- Maybe you can work together and share the work!?!

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Is the low recording volume in WhatsApp and other apps still an issue? Sound playback is awesome on CAF, recording not so much...

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Moscha said:
Hi there, good to hear that CAF-Builds will continue. Thanks for that!!!
I really prefer CAF over the AOSP CM13 Builds for daily driving.
I hope there will be again an official maintainer for CAF-Builds soon at cyanogenmod!
Just two Questions:
- Do you have plans to integrate a custom or modified updater for your builds? <--That would be really cool for updating the builds!
- What is the difference between your build an this one from user "phoval". <-- Maybe you can work together and share the work!?!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very good and productive questions there, thanks for that. Well, I am planning on modifying the CM Updater so it checks my own webserver for updates. However this will require me to reverse-engineer it first in order to understand how it works. If I can't manage to do that, maybe I will create one from scratch (I should start developing apps for Android anyway). I'll put this point on the upcoming list because I've been considering it. Again, thank you.
As for your second question, the difference is that my builds include a kernel compiled straight from @myfluxi 's github repos as opposed to the mainstream CM13caf github version. I've heard that myfluxi is very skilled at working with hammerhead (I think he was an official maintainer at some point?), so I opted for that instead. Even the custom kernel RACER offers a CAF version that is based on myfluxi's repository. So basically it already includes in some way a custom kernel that is optimised for this device (and very pleasantly stable so far, I am using my own builds myself and it's been just wonderfully reliable for me).
There will also be another change, which is already in the upcoming list: custom toolchain UBERTC. I won't get into detail on that, as I've already explained that one in the head post in a bit and a Google search will give you the answers within less that five minutes anyway.

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Junnie said:
hello all i just want to ask one question , everyone facing problem on data network ?? this happening on every CAF ROM for nexus 5 i've tried...everytime i reboot my phone data network wont active automatically , i must put into airplane mode , enable and renable data network till it active...any tweaks or init.d or something ??? when i tried non caf rom its not happening,thanks.
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Click to collapse
anyone ? please ?