Develop Bugs

Wall of Questions

1) What is: Nandroid, Titanium Backup, Rom Manager, Estrong Manager, AmonRa
to be specific - do I need all of them or just 1-2 of them?
2) What is the difference?
I read some perfer Clockwork Recover while other says there has been issues with it but AmonRa hasnt.
3)Answered
4) Do I really have to WIPE every time I switch (Flash) Rom?
I have read few posts that mention they don't do it and never had an issue.
What is the purpose of Wiping?
5) AOSP?? huh new jargon (working on it)
6) Answered
7) Confirm if im doing this right:
Download (new-rom.zip) - move to sd card - do one of the following: (nandroid, titanium or both?) - turn off phone, turn on to recovery mode, wipe (optional?), factory reset (optional?), wipe cache/delv (optional?), install zip, yada yada yada...?
8) What happens if I get (insert ROM) and open it's zip, remove the stuff I want out than rezip and load? good idea or bad idea?
9) What is a Launcher? how many types of Launcher are there? Adw, Pro, X, Y, Z?
I'll think of more later on. Sorry for the massive noob question. Im constantly reading the dev section forums and seeing several jargons im not fully understanding and alot of apps that some uses over the other.

dude, these are beyond noob questions.
every question in your post can easily be answered with a few minutes of searching.
I'm almost tempted to answer your questions but you need to learn this stuff, and not by having it spoon-fed to you, not to mention the subject matters you ask about would take a great deal of my precious time to explain. You read enough to get your phone rooted without bricking it, keep up the reading.
We all learned a ton of new stuff when we first got into android phones. Those with LINUX experience had a shorter learning curve, I for one had zero experience with LINUX. And most of us learned it by SEARCHING and READING. The more of this stuff you learn by your own research the better, you will have an actual understanding of how these things work.
If you want I will answer ONE of the above questions, in depth. Your choice..

Im constantly reading and I getting alot of contradiction answers. Thus im trying to break each one apart on pro/con. I guess my main concern that a search won't find an answer would be:
6) How do I get access into the Internal Memory?
caused I have searched using (internal storage, internal memory) and been unable to find an answer to it.

grrgrrgrr said:
Im constantly reading and I getting alot of contradiction answers. Thus im trying to break each one apart on pro/con. I guess my main concern that a search won't find an answer would be:
6) How do I get access into the Internal Memory?
caused I have searched using (internal storage, internal memory) and been unable to find an answer to it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get a file explorer. They work very similarly to explorer windows in Windows. You'll be able to see the file structure, remove files you don't want, add ones you want, move stuff around (which is especially useful for managing your sdcard)
I prefer Root Explorer, but it's a paid app. If you want a free option just to get your feet wet then get Astro File Manager from the market and start poking around just DO NOT DELETE ANYTHING unless you KNOW what it is and KNOW you don't want it anymore.
One tip regarding removing apps.. if you're not sure what the outcome will be you can add something like ".bak" to the end of the filename which essentially makes the file invisible to the system without removing it yet.
Although if it's a system critical apk then you might get a boot loop, in which case you will need a nandroid backup ready to restore.

what im currently doing now is constantly flashing 2.2 stock
I read titanium removes apps and I learned Sprint Zone = promotional.apk that is required to stay on to use *2 *3 dial...
But the .bak thing is nice, basically if I can't remove it, I still be able not to see it.
now as far as the .bak is concern - where do I rename it from? from the root explorer app? just long press it & rename the .xxx to .bak? or .xxx.bak?

you do not need sprint zone for anything
rename or remove files using a file explorer, and I don't know what you mean by "if I can't remove it".. you can remove any file using a file explorer
I usually just add .bak to whatever extension is already there. So if you're using LauncherPro and want to see if removing rosie.apk causes any problems (it wont, you can do without it just fine as long as you have another launcher installed) rename it to rosie.apk.bak and reboot

alright, btw I tried astro and it only shows me the folders/app of my SD card.
Im not looking to mess with those.
I want to view the Internal phone memory and possibly the Bios.
Second, with Astrofile - Let's say Amazonmp3 - im able to find that but within the stock2.2 rom.zip - removing from that zip wont change anything though unless I re-flash it, correct?
I am under the impression, once I flash a rom.zip, I can remove that rom.zip out of the sd card. the info is stored internally or in the bios. That is where I want to get acess to.
I know through titanium - if I find amazonmp3 and un-install from there, it removes from my phone.

there is no bios on android
astro's default view is the sdcard, you can go up one level and see all the system folders
yes, once you flash the rom you can remove the rom's zip from your sdcard but you might as well leave it in case you need to reflash it

[Q] Any uses for /system folder? (Rooted Phone)

I've a strange question that might or might belong in the development thread, but figured since it's a question, I'll try here first.
I'm using a Stock DeOxed Rooted Rom on my EVO.
I recently installed a few more apps and saw this pesky little warning about low on space.
When I went into my "SystemPanel" app to see how much space was left exactly and noticed that my /data folder only had around 30megs out of it's 428M available.
Ok.. time to delete some apps I thought, but then I noticed that my /system folder (Where I presume pre-installed apps live) had almost 1/3 of it's space still available (115 out of 350megs available).
So I'm wondering.....
Is there some method that I can use to install Apps directly to this folder instead of the standard /data that apps appear to go to when installed?
Is it as simple as moving the APK file with Root Explorer, or are there some under the hood items in apps that prevent this sort of thing?
I've a few rather large apps that I cannot move to the SD card due to widget problems and the like but would be perfect for the system folder if I can find a way to move them there easily.
Thoughts?

DroidGnome said:
I've a strange question that might or might belong in the development thread, but figured since it's a question, I'll try here first.
I'm using a Stock DeOxed Rooted Rom on my EVO.
I recently installed a few more apps and saw this pesky little warning about low on space.
When I went into my "SystemPanel" app to see how much space was left exactly and noticed that my /data folder only had around 30megs out of it's 428M available.
Ok.. time to delete some apps I thought, but then I noticed that my /system folder (Where I presume pre-installed apps live) had almost 1/3 of it's space still available (115 out of 350megs available).
So I'm wondering.....
Is there some method that I can use to install Apps directly to this folder instead of the standard /data that apps appear to go to when installed?
Is it as simple as moving the APK file with Root Explorer, or are there some under the hood items in apps that prevent this sort of thing?
I've a few rather large apps that I cannot move to the SD card due to widget problems and the like but would be perfect for the system folder if I can find a way to move them there easily.
Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
/system/app is where system apps are kept. If I remember correctly, any app can be installed into there, but you have to do through flashing an update.zip if I'm remembering properly. You may be able to take the apk that's in /data/app for the app you want to move and move it to /system/app, but I'm not sure if that will work properly or not. Someone who cooks ROMs might know more.
Also, you can partition your sd card and use true apps2sd with most ROMs. Its a little bit of work and will shorten the life of your card, but that gives you a lot more room if you need it.

I don't know that there's a way to move user apps to system. It's very possible there is a way, I've just never seen any posts about it. Apps 2 SD is usually the way to go.
ps. 30 megs?!?! Geez, how many apps do you have?
Sent from my SUPERSONIC

Easy peasy
First, use a true apk backup tool to backup e apk files you want to move. Titanium backup will NOT work because it compresses and distorts, and we need true apk files. I recommend file manager by adao team. Just go to applications, check what you want, and hit backup. Next, get the apk files on your computer by mounting sd and copying files from backups folder. You will lose all app data, but what can you do? Next, adb push the files to system app folder while in recovery mode (just say so if you don't know how to do this and i will tell you) and reboot. Done. Tell me if it works well.
By the way, 30 megs???

Doesn't froyo install to the sdcard if you tell it to?
I thought a2sd was obsolete

You can put apps there after changing the folder's permissions but I wouldn't recommend it. Just not a good idea to put regular apps there.
Just install them to your SD card instead
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

go into the android app manager and go through all your programs and click on move to sd card...
they will all still occupy some space on your nand, but not nearly as much.

Thanks for the advice, I thought it might not be as easy as moving them, oh well, just seems a shame for there to be over 100 megs I cannot do anything with.
I already had moved all I could to the SD card prior to posting this, but thanks for that advice as well, I'm sure others forget they can do that with Froyo.
As for the 30 megs I had left.. we'll it's back up to about 70 free which should be plenty for a while. (Remember we only have about 420 to start with).
Some of the big ones which could not be moved to the SD card are:
Swype (Deleted, took over 17megs)
TouchDown (12 megs.. must keep for tasks sync sadly)
Google Maps update (7.6 megs)
Documents to go (8megs)
A few various games that cannot yet be moved to the SD card at around 5megs each..
The rest are just lots of little apps.. I'm sort of an app junkie You should have seen my old Palm Centro... it was amazing!
According to Titanium, I currently have 194 'User apps', though I think a few are simply widgets, icon packs and the like.

Wow.

Hi all,
I have been a winmob user for over 5 years and i know pretty much everything about them. (see join date) Though 3 days ago i got a a8183 desire.
My god i have a lot to learn about Android. Winmob seemed so much simplier to pick apart with registry and custom roms.
Anyways i have been reading thread after thread for days yet i still have a couple of questions that i cannot get clear answers for.
I have a a8183 telstra desire running on optus. I have updated to the latest offical 2.2 ROM. (Everyone mentions OTA (over the air) though i downloaded it and installed thru windows).
So i would appreciate if someone could help me out with my questions/assumptions.
1. From what i have read you cannot r00t a froyo OS. Is that right? Though i have found an app z4root that will do it temporarily until reboot. Unrevoked doesnt seem to work.
2. To change system files you need not only root though you need the clockworkmod recovery part of the bootloader. (eg. to replace HOST file for adblocking).
3. You need permanent r00t to install the clockworkmod (so i cannot do this).
4. You cannot remove default ROM apps from your phone without the clockworkmod.
5. You need clockworkmod to install custom ROMs.
So from what i gather.. r00t is good. though really only cause it gets you the clockworkmod recovery which is where you can really hack it.
And to get this i need to downgrade to 2.1, r00t, clockwork then use a hacked rom for 2.2?
Your help is greatly appreciated.

hi sage, i too came from windows mobile so i know how you feel, lucky for me i jumped on the android bandwagon earlier with the htc hero, after i got bored with my HD1, anyway your wrong on quite a few points, so i'll point you in the right direction.
1) the latest version of unrevoked (www.unrevoked.com/recovery) is more than able to root the froyo roms, its a one click app and can root your device in minutes
2) to easly modify system files you need s-off (this is equivalent to HSPL on wm devices) after you have rooted, you need to search for alpharev, this is a linux live cd, you just burn it and boot it and it will security unlock your device.
3) when you download and run unrevoked, it will not only root your device but insatall the latest version of clockworkmod recovery. (just hold vol down and power when your device is off to access hboot, and choose recovery from the list) so unrevoked kills 2 birds with one stone
4) to remove the apps in the /system/ partition there are 2 ways, from recovery using adb, or if you flash the s-off mod, you can remove them directly from your device using a file manager.
5) yes you need clockworkmod or another custom recovery to install custom roms, but now you know how to do it, thats not a problem

Hi Sage,
If you're looking for an easier way to get rid of all the Telstra apps (more like a blob of links really ) on your phone you may want to try one of the stock HTC WWE ROMs. It's clean and you can flash it via exe, just like in WM. The latest RUU I believe is the 2.29.405.2. Also, be aware of the risks of rooting your phone.

thanks for your response guys
Ok so i am now r00ted and running Leedroid's WWE ROM! (thank you!) it was actually pretty easy.
I think unrevoked was failing cause i was using a USB HUB.
OK so now i just want to remove some more of the default apps that come with it.
So i will try alpharev to security unlock my device. (is this permanent or if i reflash my rom it will come back?)
once i have done this i can then delete anything i like thru r00t explorer?
At this stage i am trying to just make some more room for apps. As a number of them wont move to SD Card.
A couple of last questions if i may. I have an new SD Card on order. Am i able to simply copy everything from my existing SD to my new and then swap it over in my phone and it will all be ok? Or do i need 'clone' it with some tool?
Where in the system paths do i remove 'shortcuts' within all apps? (or even simply rename them.)
Much appreciate your help. Android is growing on me. I especially love adb logcat!

ok.. i am now security off'd alpharev worked a treat.
i am now using r00t explorer to try and delete items from /system/app though they come up read-only so i cannot delete them
i take when i get to remove these the phone will have more stoage space for apps yeah?
i also still cannot find where the all apps shortcuts sit! (so i can rename/remove).
and lastly now i have the alpharev bootloader so gonna google how to change that
i did use the Leedroid apps2sd ROM. though most of my apps are still going to phone memory and i cant move them across.
Is there a fix for this? i guess once i work out how to delete these read-only files ill be ok anyway.

Unfortunately removing system apps wont give you more space to install apps, they are stored under a different partition, /system and /data are not on the same disk so you can save as much space on /system as you want but it won't affect /data at all.
With running out of space you have a few choices:
Go to settings..applications..then manage and move as many apps to SD as you can. This is fro-yo apps2sd, not all data is moved and not all apps can be moved, so you will probably run out of space again anyway.
Or
Reboot into recovery and partition your sdcard to create an ext partition, when you boot your rom ALL apps will be moved to the ext partition leaving lots of free space. Backup your sdcard before you partition it, you will lose all data.

Sage said:
ok.. i am now security off'd alpharev worked a treat.
1) i am now using r00t explorer to try and delete items from /system/app though they come up read-only so i cannot delete them
2) i take when i get to remove these the phone will have more stoage space for apps yeah?
3) i also still cannot find where the all apps shortcuts sit! (so i can rename/remove).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) Press on Remount as R/O, this should allow you to delete/replace system stuff & ringtones, fonts...etc.
2)No, because apps install to data/apps & not system/apps.
3)You mean like the applicatiuon menu when we used to delete shortcuts or rename them? Hahaha man that was sooooooooooooo long time ago for me. Anyway, the applications installed are displayer & you can't hide them or rearrange them like Winmo. You might want to try Launcher Pro to hide apps in the apps drawer.
If you need more info, ask freely because 2 years ago I went through the same

mr.r9 said:
1) Press on Remount as R/O, this should allow you to delete/replace system stuff & ringtones, fonts...etc. Typo..You meant R/W
2)No, because apps install to data/apps & not system/apps.
3)You mean like the applicatiuon menu when we used to delete shortcuts or rename them? Hahaha man that was sooooooooooooo long time ago for me. Anyway, the applications installed are displayer & you can't hide them or rearrange them like Winmo. You might want to try Launcher Pro to hide apps in the apps drawer.
If you need more info, ask freely because 2 years ago I went through the same
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm..actually the new MTD partition table hack should be able to free space on the /system, adjusting partitions with less for /system and /cache and more for /data/app should give enough space..Though I'm not sure if he wants to try this right now, since it's considered an advanced task and maybe he'd like to get more accustomed to Android before attempting it? His wish though..
And well, there's yet another method to remove system apps, other than the other two methods. This is to modify the zip file of the custom rom to remove the actual apks from /system and reflashing it on top of the actual flash..

droidzone said:
And well, there's yet another method to remove system apps, other than the other two methods. This is to modify the zip file of the custom rom to remove the actual apks from /system and reflashing it on top of the actual flash..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ohh yes indeed. OP, you can edit the zip before installing it to your device. You can remove/replace application in system/data and fonts...etc. Just remember to change signature verification to off in your recovery.

my god. i have spent days on this baby and im only barely scratching the surface
much appreciate all your help guys!
ok.. so its time to use app2sd i hear that app2sd+ is better though? (it moves more data to SD yeah? appcache?)
i only have 2Gb microsd right now so i might wait until i my 8GB arrives before i flash a new ROM and start again (again!)
i also noticed these online kitchens. http://cookmyrom.co.cc
which look great! tho they are still a version behind the leedroid i am using tho its a good way to get rid of some default apps.
i certainly like the idea of reparitioning the default disk though not quite ready for that yet especially when app2sd+ sounds much more straight forward.
i am dumbfounded that you cant remove 'shortcuts' from the All Apps! or even rename them!! my god. i would think that was first thing available on such an open source OS.
So i have now created a folder called "Folder" to reduce the clutter.. and now i guess i cant even rename it!?? and if i create another one its called "Folder" too!
lol.. this OS is so advanced yet some basic stuff seems to be overlooked.
I did try launcher pro though it removed my HTC Sense (which i like). So i might need to keep looking for an app to help organise my All Apps and my desktop (is desktop what its called?)
And just how do i add ringtones?
love your work guys thanks again.

Create a folder called Ringtones on the root of your SD to have...ringtones.
When you open a folder, long press on the header to rename it.
As for organizing, I stopped caring & started to use search, but maybe if you want you can try an app called folder organizer.

mr.r9 said:
Create a folder called Ringtones on the root of your SD to have...ringtones.
When you open a folder, long press on the header to rename it.
As for organizing, I stopped caring & started to use search, but maybe if you want you can try an app called folder organizer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nice one thank you!

Sage said:
...So i have now created a folder called "Folder" to reduce the clutter.. and now i guess i cant even rename it!??...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Open the folder then hold where it says folder to change its name.

Ok. Now have app2sd working!
thanks to all of you. Beginning to love this android phone now. I feel sorry for all the people who use them as they come from the factory! Thank god for all the xda people who rip them to shreds and make them better

If i can have one last question. Any way to remap hardware buttons to start an app?
Like when you hold down the search button it launches Google Voice. I want it to launch a different app..
I did a search and found the hardware button remapper though it only does hardware to hardware.. not hardware to app

For Folders(Assuming you're using full HTC Sense), just open it and hold the title bar. Took me some time to figure out. You cannot easily rename the apps in "All apps", but you can remove them(Which is essentially uninstalling them) from Settings > Applications > Manage, unless they are system apps which need to be manually deleted either via S-OFF + Root explorer(OR something similar) or ADB + Custom recovery(Clockworkmod or Amon Ra).
For setting a custom ringtone, open the music app, select the music > Menu > Set as ringtone.

so no love on the hardware remap for apps?
Oh well i have done a lot of googling and it seems it cant be done (well at least not easily).
My last question is when you launch an app from a folder the folder stays open.. any way to force close or change its behaviour?

for those following this. I found the Tasker app remaps hardware buttons amongst doing amazing other things.
Still no love on closing folders though.

i ended up using tasker to create app widgets to replace the folders...

If you want app widgets, there's also "Desktop Visualizer".
In terms of killing of an app, have you tried "Settings -> apps settings -> development" then there's an option there for "stop apps via long press"?

[Q] System maintainance, SD card decluttering.

From what I've read Android pretty much looks after itself but just wondering if there's any system maintainance that should be done from time to time? (i.e is defraging the SD card OK? Any other things worth doing?)
I've stuck with the stock 2.21 ROM but after installing JIT/Deodexed, debloating, overclocking, and scaleing the phone is running along sweetly. Thing is, about 2 1/2gigs of my 16G card is taken up with various System Recovery backups and I've got .apk files in various places. Can the .apks all be put into the same directory and if so where? I've backed the goaprev folder up to my PC and was going to delete all but the last backup from the phone. Basically, I don't want to do anything stupid now the phones nicely sorted out! Thanks in advance.

Since the seeking time on flash memory is so close to instant that fragmentation does not cause any noticable delays, I see no reason to defragment internal memory or my microSD card.
Furthermore, defragmenting a flash disk/drive, a device with a limited amount of writes, may actually shorten its life-span. In that sense, it may actually be a bad idea.
Backing up is always a good recommendation, when working with any electronic system

Thanks. Any idea if it's ok to move the .apk files? (Could be my OCD but I like things tidy!!) Also, wondering what the situation with ota system updates now I've hacked the phone?...leave well alone or okay? Cheers.

Move apk files - from where to where? Out of /system/app? You could move apks you are certain of you will never need, but the only thing you will gain is - at most - a few megabytes of free space. There's no real performance gain to be had, that I've experienced, just the possibility of losing hair if you remove/rename something you need.
As for OTA updates, you can rename FOTA.apk - that's the package that takes care of those updates.

Got several .apks in the root of my sd card- quite happy to leave them there, I guess and I should avoid ota updates...also is it worth clearing out caches once in a while? Just looking to keep my phone as streamlined and snappy as pos without screwing anything up! I'm new to android so still learning the ropes ! Thanks again

Ah yes, apk files are just installation files. You can move them where-ever you wish, though I would not move them to internal storage.
I do not clear out cache, as I prefer features I use regularly, to be cached already, instead of having to load them from scratch. I have not noticed any performance degradation because of it.
And since I do not share my phone with others, there is no privacy issue to speak of. I do not mind sharing my browsing/twitter/market/auto-complete behaviour with myself.

App data moved off root of SD?

Is there a way to make app data saved to a folder in SDcard instead of the root? That way it can organize between all the junk I put on there and what is really app data...
Is this achieved by partitioning? or app2sd? never tried either one.

Apps create folders on SD as repositories for additional elements needed to make the app function, or for storage in general.
Don't recommend relocating (or removing) app-created folders unless you have uninstalled the app.
Stray stuff you may have placed on SD can be organized in a folder(s), but I wouldn't mess with anything an app created unless I were (or had) deleted the app.
Don't have to partition the SD to create your own folder.

Okay, I feel really stupid. I was messing with a new ROM and it didnt seem to work out so I went back to my old ROM (qhaung81 AOKP). When I went back to reload all my apps and stuff, it ended up in a whole nother folder!! In order to find it now Ive got to go to SD/SD0 and everything I have is in there! How do I get it out of that folder and back to my regular root? I dont want any of this mess!!
Hope someone can help!!
Ridge