Develop Bugs

Downloads and Stuff

I know, I know, I know. I'm not paying, so I shouldn't complain.
However, I think we can agree that rapidshare is the opposite of efficient for ROM distribution.
Since I'm no coder myself, just an end user (with an engineering degree in telecoms), for me to set up a good solution myself doesn't exactly strike home eighter.
However, we have some VERY capable coders here. And we have a lot of end users with some bandwidth to share. Is there a chance we can set up an rss-based downloader (using bittorrent to distribute roms), and then simply tell regular downloaders to get the torrent file? (And thus save this site bandwidth and storage, and end users gray hairs over downloads that are SLOOOOOW). Setting up a Diamond "rom-farm" spread over the internet would solve a lot of problems. I know _I_ can prolly share half of my 8mbit (on average), and I think there are others out there who can share aswell, giving this group a good potential (and if we can get other groups to cooperate we can prolly increase bandwidth and spread over the internet).
Bittorrent is ideally suited to this work, especially if we have a few "always on" seeding-servers.
//Svein

This is a very good idea.
I'm on a 100MBit, so that won't be a problem.
I also have a spare dual opteron server lying around.
I've seen that tom (who has a Latvian hosting) also has some good bandwidth.

adwinp said:
This is a very good idea.
I'm on a 100MBit, so that won't be a problem.
I also have a spare dualopteron server lying around.
I've seen that tom (who has a Latvian hosting) also has some good bandwidth.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
unlimited

What we basically need:
1. Someone with a *nix box on a low-latency (bandwidth isn't an issue, latency is) link, willing to run "our" tracker, and set up the needed accounts for uploads, and set up the tracker to rss-feed the seeder servers.
2. Several people willing to run seeder servers. These need bandwidth. The seeder servers should run in rss-fed full automatic mode.
From what I've seen (between the lines) in the posts on this forum, getting people willing to give bandwidth shouldn't be a problem. What we need is a decent tracker software (I'm open to any suggestions), and some template for setting up the seeder servers.
Am I missing anything? Who volunteers to make the tracker? (I can volunteer to run it, and to make sure latency is ... acceptable on the link. I'm a pedantic millisecond-centric ex netadmin. Ex because of health.)
//Svein

this is a great idea. If i can help in any way I will.

The dual opteron box I was talking about is running gentoo linux.
I will have to reconfig it though.
I can take care of most of the setup during the week-end (if I stay home don't go on the potential trip I planned).
Let's take care of all the suggestions via this thread / pm.

What a great idea

sskogen said:
What we basically need:
Am I missing anything? Who volunteers to make the tracker? (I can volunteer to run it, and to make sure latency is ... acceptable on the link. I'm a pedantic millisecond-centric ex netadmin. Ex because of health.)
//Svein
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was a net admin for 4 years so I know how you feel.
^.^
Try testing adwinp.org and see if the latency suits your needs (it should; we are on a 10GBit backbone).
^.^

Well this seems promising! While this whole thing gets in place, as a sort of alpha tryout, how about using public trackers such as thepiratebay for example? And have a wiki page with up to date torrent links.

wow great idea =)
only suggestion here is maybe change the title of this thread xD

I uploaded torrents for the radios and Elite ROMs.
Links are available on the Diamond Radio wiki: http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=Diamond_ExtractedRadioRoms
and the Diamond Elite ROMs wiki: http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=Diamond_Elite_ROMs
It should work.. normally... and be faster than rapidshare once we get seeders.
Time to flash Elite 3.0 now
If you already have the files, don't download them again! Just copy them to the torrent download directory, like that your torrent will be 100% complete and you will be able to seed and help others download faster.

Have added the 5 torrents to my local box.
//Svein

Torrent sharing is great. I'll help!

ThemesDroid - Website Progress Updates, Dream Theme Warehouse

i would love to see a website specifically for g1 themes. with images of all themes, all linking back to the developer. as well as all themes and other downloads being hosted on local server, instead of having to use FTP services like megashares etc.
if anyone with web development/programming experience would be interested in assisting me it would be appreciated, and i think a site of this nature would benefit the android global community as a whole.
may i also state that i have a server with enough bandwidth and server space to handle the high traffic volume that follows a site like this.
i see some great possibilities with this, but in order to get it off the ground i will need some help.

I would love to say yes but my web dev skills have never been used in a real environment.
I would like to see something like this get off the ground. Its such a great idea.

although i do not have a crazy lot of time i do have an extra website that i currently do not use. Its good for a little less than a year and i "could" use iWeb or something to put a site together since it would take crazy less time. Its unlimited everything so i could host the .zip files right on it and just have people download from there. If enough people would use it though. I would def have to have everyone's permission though as i am not getting in trouble with people over something like this. if its something some of these Theme devs would enjoy i could use my current site on DreamHost and allow the download straight from the site with Pictures. Could have a page for each one of them too. Let me know as i would be willing to do this so it would be 100% easier to find things.
Email me at [email protected]
I would be willing to put the time in too since i could add an Ad at the top for some income towards the renew cost if necessary. And i do know what i am doing but it would def have to be a use site not just something 10 people use. www.edgewoodcma.org is my newest site i got up and running for a church.

thats pretty much the idea, it doenst really matter which server is used, however i do have a little over 2 years on mine, but it is unlimited just as yours is. however i do not think a page made in iWeb or something will work quite as nicely as something designed for dynamic updating by many devs.
im looking into a PHP CMS engine that will allow devs to name their .zip files and upload with a thumbnail of the theme. and have the site automatically post the new theme with the naming convention used in the .zip and show the thumbnail as a link to the direct download from the server.
i wanted to try and stay away from another forum site, as well. this is the forum site for android pretty much, we may have a discussion area in the theme site, however the downloads and updates will be on another portion of the page as to eliminate the need to sift through threads to find the themes you want.

The reason i posted that i would be willing to make and update the site is so that useless things will be kept out. I would be willing to accept all photos and .zip files in my email then post onto the site so that duplicates and useless things are kept to a minimum. I would also make multiple sections showing what update you are running (i.e. RC33, ADP 1.5, Dude, ect) and a complete breakdown so that it is as easily as possible to do things. The reason i would use iWeb is because of its simplicity. You could update a site within 2minutes for whatever is needed. I could update anywhere in a matter of minutes which would mean more thing up and running. Just an idea though as i too am wishing it was far easier to locate things instead of sifting through hundreds of posts to find the one decent theme out off 100.

that sounds great, will iWeb allow you to create dynamic websites for the dev to upload his work? or will you manage the whole thing as a static database (updated when devs send you their work)?
if you wish to create this, then please do. i shall continue to look for a permanent, maintenance free*, catalogue of themes. but until an engine is created for that purpose your offer sounds perfect. the android community desperately needs someplace organized to find these themes.
thank you for your offer, if you would like any sort of graphic help just let me know and ill do my best.

Dynamic sounds best, you could accept members (ie theme creators) and only have have control over posting themes and updates to their own themes?

We are actually working on this right now. Just purchased themesdroid.com a couple days ago.

We have a dedicated server we are going to be running it on. We are actively developing the site now. Perhaps we should combine our efforts.

awesome, let me know if you need any help, or any server space etc.
id love to help in any way i can.
--peace

It does seem like a good idea, although I have read in the past something about "why have many resources in many places"...one central location for it all is great, so it would have to have many advantages for it to work. I know instant thumbnails would be 1 (forums it doesnt work like that). Local files is another. Purchasable is probably something considerable.
Ive built for big corps before, and know a lot about that stuff. If you guys need help with doing anything I know almost any solution. Something like "if you donate you get extras" or something, and only those that did donate can get certain things. Helps the developers for their time and effort (like the apps, makes sense).

We are currently investigating a couple options for ThemesDroid.com. We have started working on a download site from the ground up, but we are also looking for possible alternatives. Does anyone know of any decent open source CMS/DMS systems? We have not seen anything that was worth a darn, but if anyone knows of a good one then there is no sense in reinventing the wheel.

kronarq said:
We are currently investigating a couple options for ThemesDroid.com. We have started working on a download site from the ground up, but we are also looking for possible alternatives. Does anyone know of any decent open source CMS/DMS systems? We have not seen anything that was worth a darn, but if anyone knows of a good one then there is no sense in reinventing the wheel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What are you looking for in this CMS/DMS system?

well php-fusion is always a safe choice, there was something new... what was it.. http://expressionengine.com/

Ive always found Joomla to be the most flexible system to date, complicated but it will do 'everything' your looking it to do. It has great theme support as well (great flexibility for customizablity). Very secure too.
@malaeus, sorry to say but php-anything is almost always a bad choice, they have many loops/hackable holes.
Xoops is good too. Drupal is good. Or if you have a M$ server (asp), dot net nuke is good, has many add-ons for great flexibility.
Just some suggestions for you guys (btw, all those are free [opensource like android ]

I've been building Drupal sites for years now... if you guys need help, let me know.

http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/6613/demo1z.png
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/3173/demo2.jpg
Started it 3 hours ago, thats how quick and easy it is. Its just a demo to show you what you can do with it. If you like cool, if not I at least recommend you check out joomla, thats what I created that with (there is no "starting from ground up" with it, its just there to "put the stuff in"). That template is free too (there are plenty out there, I also make my own which takes time). Just threw it together because I had the last three hours off from work and wanted to play with it again.
Drupals good, but I just dont think it has the best of plugins, they are ....awkward or something I dont know.

@kdf2883: Something geared towards downloads. Something preferably lightweight compared to Joomla/Drupal etc
@theslam08: I currently have a test of Joomla + DocMan I have been playing with, but Joomla seems like overkill for what we are doing. It doesn't all our needs so we would still have to modify it yet it does a bunch of junk we don't need. Then there's the usual update every week or get hacked bit...
We are leaning towards just doing everything from scratch. I could have a Joomla site up in a day or two or we can give it a couple weeks to build our own system from the ground up. What do you guys think?

for something like this, we may want to try something as simple as wordpress. each post would be a new theme, images and text would include server direct download link. its at least one of the most compatible backbones i can think of.
i have little to no experience in drupal and joomla etc. however when it comes to the design aspect of the website, thats closing in on my specialty.
@slam nice job on that layout btw. especially considering time spent.

Look at the Lock 2.0 themes site. They use WordPress and in my opinion it's a mess.

XDA-Wiki concern.

alright, im a regular of the xda-devs irc. there have been more people the last 2 weeks that have come in there with questions that couldve been solved by a 2 minute read on the wiki.
i've read the annoucement, however i do not..understand what the issue was.
XDA's old wiki software was hacked and represented a security threat to the entire site.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i'd like to ask would it not be more timely to fix the hack. i'm unsure as to what they did, however from the sound of it they got database access.
in which case, move the tables from mainserver to another and make them readonly. i cannot grasp why shutting down the wiki for weeks on end is a better idea than a few file adjustments as a stopgap.
somebody willing to put out more information on the matter?

cheapusenet said:
alright, im a regular of the xda-devs irc. there have been more people the last 2 weeks that have come in there with questions that couldve been solved by a 2 minute read on the wiki.
i've read the annoucement, however i do not..understand what the issue was.
i'd like to ask would it not be more timely to fix the hack. i'm unsure as to what they did, however from the sound of it they got database access.
in which case, move the tables from mainserver to another and make them readonly. i cannot grasp why shutting down the wiki for weeks on end is a better idea than a few file adjustments as a stopgap.
somebody willing to put out more information on the matter?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The wiki software is old, and probably has a few vulnerabilities. I'm guessing it's more than just the wiki's database been hacked that is the securing concern. Most of the db tables will probably be written to, so read-only might not be a viable option. Remember the old wiki has integrated login with vB.
The admins have setup a new MediaWiki wiki and people are currently helping migrate the content over. I'm not sure of the "Go Live" for it, but it's starting to shape up.
Dave

i just now found it, its looking..pretty good. still seems to me an hours work on the old one could fix it enough to suffice until the new ones all ready to go.

At the moment, there's only a handful of folks working on porting (migrating) the information over.
We could use (and appreciate) any and all help on this effort. If you or others members are wish to assist, please contact svetius via PM.
Cheers,

so its still dead for the foreseable future. why is it we don't give my plan some thought. it cannot hurt. it'd be alot faster and alot better than waiting for every page to be moved over by a handful of people, and at the rate its going it's not exactly speedy.

cheapusenet said:
so its still dead for the foreseable future. why is it we don't give my plan some thought. it cannot hurt. it'd be alot faster and alot better than waiting for every page to be moved over by a handful of people, and at the rate its going it's not exactly speedy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Every visit to a page writes to the database, so read-only's not an option.
To use it, it still needs read access to the vB user login database, so we cannot secure XDA's vB database from it, meaning if there are SQL IV vulnerabilities someone could access parts of our vB database.
Dave

o use it, it still needs read access to the vB user login database,
^
bingo, why. why does it HAVE to access login data?
as for writing to the database stripping that code out couldnt be that hard,.

cheapusenet said:
o use it, it still needs read access to the vB user login database,
^
bingo, why. why does it HAVE to access login data?
as for writing to the database stripping that code out couldnt be that hard,.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It will have access to the login data so that we only need one login for the wiki and for vB.
I've seen the code for it from when it was on Source Forge, it's a mess - if we miss something that could be a problem.
Also if we were still getting SQL IV attack's against read-only databases, I'd still be worried .
Dave

I've started a thread for discussion on the wiki migration:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=729576

daveshaw, you're missing my point completely. the data in the wiki is in no way dependant on userlogins. it could be moved to a completely different server if needbe, mysqlhaxing across into another db onto another server .. over xda, would be a pretty darn extravagant feat id say.

cheapusenet said:
alright, im a regular of the xda-devs irc. there have been more people the last 2 weeks that have come in there with questions that couldve been solved by a 2 minute read on the wiki.
i've read the annoucement, however i do not..understand what the issue was.
i'd like to ask would it not be more timely to fix the hack. i'm unsure as to what they did, however from the sound of it they got database access.
in which case, move the tables from mainserver to another and make them readonly. i cannot grasp why shutting down the wiki for weeks on end is a better idea than a few file adjustments as a stopgap.
somebody willing to put out more information on the matter?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As Dave mentioned, the old wiki software has inherent vulnerabilities, and because it is no longer supported, we don't get periodic updates from the creator. MediaWiki is much better supported, so that over time we can continually update the software to keep it secure, etc.

in no way am i objecting to using mediawiki. moving it all over to mediawiki is a great idea, i agree.
however restricting access to the current one for weeks just because somebody doesnt want to edit some files, jerry-rig it a bit, is a bit of a..pain for everyone. alot of data is stored in that wiki.

cheapusenet said:
in no way am i objecting to using mediawiki. moving it all over to mediawiki is a great idea, i agree.
however restricting access to the current one for weeks just because somebody doesnt want to edit some files, jerry-rig it a bit, is a bit of a..pain for everyone. alot of data is stored in that wiki.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We're just trying to migrate it as fast as possible.

are permsissions too obtuse for the average user?

i think guy brings up a good point and perhaps a decent solution. why not allow/encourage the dev's to explain a bit more. I'm a fairly adept nerd but when i'm installing an app sometimes i'm just not sure why in the world this app needs that permission...how is my mom or sister or anyone that i advocate Android to going to figure it out? why does this app need my coarse or fine location or full network access or access to the contact list etc...
and please do not say 'if you don't like what's listed, don't install the app'. that is exactly the point of this thread. the line items in the Review Permissions window don't always make sense. how can the average end user make a educated guess with the current system...they don't, they just start doing the same thing they do on their Windows Desktops...just click right on thru it. then what happens? some jerk writes a piece of malware. user has an issue. now its all androids fault. and viola, proof that linux based devices are still too geeky for avg use.
http://tech.shantanugoel.com/2010/08/14/android-permissions-malware.html

Unfortunately, there's no denying the cold, hard facts - ignorance is not bliss. Everything has a learning curve. Time and effort must be spent to educate users as to why <this> is happening and what it is doing for them. It's sad but true. Besides, if everything that required higher learning could be easily figured out I'm sure humanity would be freed from the shackles of poverty, war and hunger by now. So, yes, permissions are too obtuse for the average user. Unless they want to educate themselves on more generalized computing skills they'll never get it.
That's just my two cents. Sorry I couldn't be of better assistance

ok. so i wish to educate myself. please provide a full and detailed example listing why which permissions may be needed/used so that i will be able to make an educated choice. where is that link again?
i'm bringing up an issue...not asking for others to chime in and tell me how stoopid the end user base is. i'm an admin for over 10yrs. trust me ... i know. in this case i am also confused as are a large numer of folks. i understand the huge development curve android has experienced over the last 18mths. my concern is that if this issue is not addressed, even the folks that would take the time to read the Review Permissions page will give up. i know i have on more than one occasion. that's a bad trend.

Wow. You bring up a good point. Didn't mean to offend you or anything. I still don't have a good answer for you but I will let you know that I only install apps that I can trust usually after researching them via Google searches and talking about them with people here. I too am an admin (been a long, long 15 years now) and if there's 2 things I learned about recommending custom Android setups they are:
- If you think the user is going to use you as Wikipedia it's probably best to leave them at stock
and
- Only recommend this kind of stuff to users who are willing to accept responsibility for their actions otherwise you'll be the fall guy every time something goes wrong.
Again, I'm sure you know this and I didn't mean to offend you so..... bye.

Users can be pretty obtuse, and I think you're completely correct about the current permission system. However, I don't think it could be made much clearer without multiplying the number of permissions. Malware can exist because users consider certain permissions to be common. Conversely, apps with a good reputation can include permissions that make them wonder, "why would they need that?" Look at keyboards and how many people freak out when they go to enable them.
One thing that would be nice for users is if you could tap on a permission and the phone would display a short explanation of that permission. They probably aren't self explanatory for everyone.

beatblaster said:
- If you think the user is going to use you as Wikipedia it's probably best to leave them at stock
and
- Only recommend this kind of stuff to users who are willing to accept responsibility for their actions otherwise you'll be the fall guy every time something goes wrong.
Again, I'm sure you know this and I didn't mean to offend you so..... bye.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no offense. i do understand. there was a point in time where i used to openly provide paid tech support to home systems of my coworkers....it was a short point in time. lol. but i digress ... i may have come off too strong in my reply, i was just trying to prevent the thread from wandering off.
I've tried to post on this topic in the past but have not nothing useful. in and of itself, i find that kinda sad. I've even seen some folks suggest that people "take a trusting stance because most developers do not intend harm". i wish i could. but i'm out of college.
it would be wonderful if someone (ie: a google dev or just someone with knowledge of these things) were able to create a page that could give real world examples and general rules of thumb. currently i have only found a couple pages that cover a couple settings. not nearly enough to be of much use.

Saturn2K said:
One thing that would be nice for users is if you could tap on a permission and the phone would display a short explanation of that permission. They probably aren't self explanatory for everyone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I concur.....I look at the permissions that apps ask for all the time. However, if I see a battery management app is asking me for full internet access and access to my contacts, I just pass on it. A lot of times you can figure out if an app is requesting bogus permissions just by using common sense.

rugedraw said:
I concur.....I look at the permissions that apps ask for all the time. However, if I see a battery management app is asking me for full internet access and access to my contacts, I just pass on it. A lot of times you can figure out if an app is requesting bogus permissions just by using common sense.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if your app is paid for by advertisements then it will need Internet Access so it can retrieve ads...thus paying the developer. often that's where i see 'coarse location' used as well...for regional specific ads. so in those cases, not nefarious use but a perfect example of what I'm talking about. thank you.

the problem with the current permissions system is twofold;
1) as mentioned, there is no details WHY or WHAT FOR a particular permission is required
2) its all or nothing, ie you can't give permission for network access and restrict access to contact list, etc. You have to accept all the requested permissions or deny and not install the app.

fwiw: There is an app in the market called "permissions" that tells you not only the permissions each app requires but it gets VERY specific. Within each permission category there is a whole list of specifics.
It won't help with apps you haven't installed yet but it's good info on the ones you already have.
*edit- Just revisited this app, it's not as detailed as I remember.

just a lil bump...

bumpity bump ...

nothing? at all?

xdandroid project follower

**updated program link, please uninstall old one and install this one, thanks**
hey guys, due to the events of the last week i havnt been able to do as much and be as far on this project as i would like, but id like to introduce a new project that will hopefully help out the dev team from xdandroid
the main goal of this apk is to follow the events of the porting android to htc winmo devices all wrapped up in an easy little web app, right now it has links to the xdandroid chat logs, the main page, and the downloads sections (downloads pages were used to create an rss feed that should update on its own when new files come out, hopefully in the future we can get a true rss feed for all the downloads to make this easier for me lol)
bear with me, its rough, but hopefully it can be used to assist and (eventually, alerts are a little ways off, but eventually) notify xdandroid users which version of the files in the bundle they are running and when a new download is available
please leave me some feedback, wishlists, etc etc so i can work to make this app better and hopefully someday have it included in the build itself!
please download and try it out http://www.mediafire.com/?l6quw1bj46mkxnm
**i'm not affiliated with the devs at xdandroid, just a broke guy that likes their work and wants to help out, if you like xdandroid too, be sure to donate to them as they do this for basically free and could use either your time or your money**

just because i love open source, heres everything you need to modify this to your hearts desire
main page http://pastebin.com/p7cTvQyv
system button
http://pastebin.com/4xS6fYNe
initrd button
http://pastebin.com/1hB1p8yM
rootfs button
http://pastebin.com/E6hcT2Q6
i used phonegap build, if you havnt heard about it and want a quick and easy way to make cross platform (blackberry, webos, symbian, android, soon to be winmo, and meego) apps give it a try
its amazing what a little tiny bit of javascript can do lol

Never mind, installed fine.
Thank you for this.

hmmm strange, sorry about that
you may know this already, cant hurt to repeat it if you do but also make sure that you have settings>applications>unknown sources turned on too
edit- good glad to hear it worked for you thank you for trying it out ronricoviper, any feedback you may have feel free to let me know

---

hello deafcyclist
yes at the moment (because i havnt had time to really work on this in the past week) it is simply a collection of rss feeds to inform the user of updates to the project, and will most likely stay that way for now, except for the future goal of a way to load the program and have it tell you if your files are out of date(coming later) and maybe an alert system better than just simple rss feeds(also coming later)
as far as the permissions go, its not actually using any resource but your browser, its a simple web based app, so the only thing it should be using is data, its just the way phonegap compiles the application
i like your idea of a log reader/sender, ill look into that when i get a little more spare time as i am bogged down currently with school work and life in general lol, shouldnt be too hard to accomplish
at the moment this is purely a "proof of concept" app, its main use will probably just be so the devs can say "check the app" when people ask them for help (most of the time on the chat logs you see devs spending alot of their time helping people to get the most current files, i figure instead they can point them to my app so they can spend more of their time working on more of the goodies coming our way in the main project)
i very much appreciate your reply and you made me remember about something that was missing from the project
**original post edited to point to the newer file, which includes the rss feeds instead of pointing to the different file download websites upon clicking the buttons (full page websites are not a very easy read on small screens, but the zImage website stays the same until i find some good way to make a feed out of it)