Develop Bugs

Removal of bloatare

10 charsssss

usually, if you're trying to remove bloatware, i would suggest downloading and installing a different rom. since its the stock rom, you're going to have a helluva time rm'ing the programs that came with it since its all built in. if you wanted to, you could download one of the nonsense roms or wes's rom that dont have the bloatwares in them to try out

yes i also wld like to know how to do this

Since everyone else is posting like a bunch of morons I guess I will have to continue calling you all out!
THERE IS A Q & A SECTION ... POST IN THERE!

Well I have to call you out this is the q&a section everyone needs to stop being an ass.
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using XDA App

DroidHead said:
Since everyone else is posting like a bunch of morons I guess I will have to continue calling you all out!
THERE IS A Q & A SECTION ... POST IN THERE!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, nice job, ****. We have mods for a reason, because they know what they're doing, unlike you. You're just going from topic to topic making a complete ass of yourself. Why?
To follow along the lines of some of your other posts:
POST FAILED.
GTFO.

Wow, that will teach me to switch to XDA. I knew there were some dickheads in this forum which made me hesitant to sign up, but really? That was quick. Thanks for "calling me out." I feel that it was an excellent use of your spare time. Now looking next to your name I don't see Forum Mod spelled anywhere. I think that means you should get the hell out of this thread if you have nothing constructive to say.
Anyway, thank you kingofyo1 for your suggestion and insight. I'm still looking into this issue.

Don't leave just cause of him, if you look through his posts, this is all he's been doing lately. Just trying to get his post count up, and this thread proves it.
We aren't all like that.

Thank you
I have no intention of leaving just yet, as pathetic morons are to be expected in forums.

Adb has an uninstall command. Have you tried this instead of rm?
I would just make sure I was in recovery and mounted before I tried. Good luck and let us know if you get it done
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using XDA App

mmmark111 said:
I wasn't sure if it would be appropriate to post this question here but I have seen more asinine threads posted so why not.
I come from a rooted Behold 2. With that phone I could navigate to the /system/app and delete and replace .apks as I saw fit. Now with the MTS it seems I can't remove anything that came preinstalled.
So far I have tried removing some .apks from CMD as well as through clockwork recovery with no luck.
One of the steps I have taken
C:\Android\Tools\adb shell
#mount -o rw,remount /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
mount -o rw,remount /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
#rm /system/app/stock.apk
rm failed for /system/app/stock.apk, Directory not empty
#
Any help would be appreciated.
And yes, I have searched and still have not found a working method.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can not write to system while booted normally, the SPL security on this phone does not allow it. You need to have flashed the engineering ROM, then boot in to clockwork mod, mount /system, then enter your shell and delete the apps.

falken98 said:
You can not write to system while booted normally, the SPL security on this phone does not allow it. You need to have flashed the engineering ROM, then boot in to clockwork mod, mount /system, then enter your shell and delete the apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately I have tried this as well as the previous suggestion. Have you done so successfully?

mmmark111 said:
I wasn't sure if it would be appropriate to post this question here but I have seen more asinine threads posted so why not.
I come from a rooted Behold 2. With that phone I could navigate to the /system/app and delete and replace .apks as I saw fit. Now with the MTS it seems I can't remove anything that came preinstalled.
So far I have tried removing some .apks from CMD as well as through clockwork recovery with no luck.
One of the steps I have taken
C:\Android\Tools\adb shell
#mount -o rw,remount /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
mount -o rw,remount /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
#rm /system/app/stock.apk
rm failed for /system/app/stock.apk, Directory not empty
#
Any help would be appreciated.
And yes, I have searched and still have not found a working method.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried everything it didn't work flash new roms

Can you just do a nandroid of stock then pull them from the nandroid and reflash it ?
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using XDA App

mmmark111 said:
Unfortunately I have tried this as well as the previous suggestion. Have you done so successfully?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have flashed the engineering rom at some point in time, booted in to clockwork recovery, mounted /system, entered the shell(while still in clockwork) and then tried to remove files from /system/app/ and it didn't work?
It works fine as long as all those steps all followed. Did you get any errors?

there is an option in clockwork called partition menu, you must mount system using the partition menu as the other way does not work for some reason, after that you can adb shell and rm the apps you do not want, or if you like i can send you my ROM with the bloat removed

[DOC][DEV] More free space on /data for the Hero

Hey Devs,
As you may have noticed, I recently released a ROM with 276 MB free space on /data.
I accomplished this by using the MTD hack discovered by firerat and lbcoder.
It changes the kernel cmdline and includes addresses where the partitions are located.
This way, we are able to change the sizes.
That's exactly what I did.
The bad thing is that you need a recovery with a cmdline, which matches the ROM's boot.img's one!
So, a user needs to flash a recovery first and can then flash the ROM after a reboot into the new recovery.
Now, if the user wants to change his ROM to something else, he will need to revert the recovery.
It would be a lot easier if some other developers here would be interested in the MTD hack, so there is no need to revert.
I hope that some other developers will jump on the bandwagon now.
Here is the command I use for creating boot.img's, with modified partition sizes:
Code:
mkbootimg --kernel kernel --ramdisk ramdisk --cmdline 'mtdparts=msm_nand:[email protected](misc),[email protected](recovery),[email protected](boot),[email protected](system),[email protected](cache),[email protected](userdata)' -o boot.img --base 0x19200000
This reduces the /cache partition to 4 MB and makes /data as big as possible (the space which is left).
Now, the Market would normally fail to download huge APKs, because /cache is so small.
The problem can be easily solved by symlinking /cache to /data/cache and mounting the native cache partition on /dev/cache.
This can be done even without modifying the ramdisk, just do it in a script which runs before the Android frameworks start, like a2sd scripts.
Here are the necessary commands:
Code:
mount -o rw,remount /
umount /cache
rm -rf /cache
mkdir /data/cache
ln -s /data/cache /cache
mkdir /dev/cache
mount /dev/block/mtdblock4 /dev/cache
chmod 777 /data/cache
mount -o ro,remount /
Regarding the recovery:
Klothius from the Sapphire section created an update.zip which automatically patches the current recovery to use the provided cmdline.
You can find it here and include it in your instructions:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=FY6CBAEE
I hope this little documentation will help you and will make you interested in doing this for your ROM.

Nice work. We'll look at implementing this into the next FroydVillain release. My only reservation would be keeping a wee bit more space on /cache than 4MB since our OTA app uses it. We could always hack it to use a dir on /data I suppose.

Hacre said:
Nice work. We'll look at implementing this into the next FroydVillain release. My only reservation would be keeping a wee bit more space on /cache than 4MB since our OTA app uses it. We could always hack it to use a dir on /data I suppose.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, that would be better.. The whole purpose of this thread is to make things more compatible, means same cmdline Also you wll need to write the instructions for the recovery to /dev/cache then, keep that in mind
I will also add the RecoveryMod and an explanation in the documentation now.

I think the limitation of needing to switch recovery when changing ROMs is quite bothersome. Is there anyway we can get a recovery which supports both modes?

erasmux said:
I think the limitation of needing to switch recovery when changing ROMs is quite bothersome. Is there anyway we can get a recovery which supports both modes?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure, it can be done, but that would take a looot of work!

maxisma said:
Sure, it can be done, but that would take a looot of work!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
More than I think it would be worth, to be honest. It'd make more sense for all the ROM developers to pull together on this and just make it a fact that we're giving more space to data, since it also eliminates the need to create fancy hacks moving dalvik to cache or to sdcard or splitting it between 2-3 file systems to cater for people who like to have the entire Android Market on their phone.
This has my/Villain's full support Maxisma, it makes perfect sense. Might I suggest you PM the other ROM developers here, or at least the popular ones like Fusion etc, and refer them to this thread so we can all work together on it.
Now that it's safe to assume that HTC have pretty much ditched the Hero, it makes sense for us to fix/improve -everything- including partition layout. There is a lot of wasted space in /cache that only gets used if a ROM developer starts fudging about with where dalvik lives, but /cache isn't quite big enough to completely migrate dalvik cache to for people who like to have a lot of apps.

Is there any more work on this? :d

shinyfong said:
Is there any more work on this? :d
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe maxisma stopped work on it due to it breaking something or causing something not to work. I think he mentioned it in his Rom thread...

pulser_g2 said:
I believe maxisma stopped work on it due to it breaking something or causing something not to work. I think he mentioned it in his Rom thread...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was me who broke it ;-) I accdidentally booted with a different mtd layout and thus killed all my data.
This method is perfectly fine though.
But I switched to a Nexus and I don't have a Hero anymore.

Apps2SD on HTC Hero with default 2.1 ROM

Hi all, i've bought an HTC Hero with HTC's 2.1 ROM, and since it's still in warranty i don't want to flash it with a custom ROM now
I can't find a way to install apps on the SD, because all i find are cusom roms which already have apps2sd enabled...
What can i do if i want to keep my warranty?

Cero92 said:
Hi all, i've bought an HTC Hero with HTC's 2.1 ROM, and since it's still in warranty i don't want to flash it with a custom ROM now
I can't find a way to install apps on the SD, because all i find are cusom roms which already have apps2sd enabled...
What can i do if i want to keep my warranty?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no. you need root. If you like your warranty, and your phone gets broken in some way while rooting, you can just run the official RUU and return it back to stock state, and your provider will never know.

Cero92 said:
Hi all, i've bought an HTC Hero with HTC's 2.1 ROM, and since it's still in warranty i don't want to flash it with a custom ROM now
I can't find a way to install apps on the SD, because all i find are cusom roms which already have apps2sd enabled...
What can i do if i want to keep my warranty?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can't enable app2sd without root, and if I am not mistaken, it's the rooting the will void your warranty....
I don't think you can mess with anything at the system level without voiding your warranty, which makes sense.
But, Andyt95 is right, if you mess something up, the RRU should restore it to the unrooted state.

I rooted it using this guide: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=645253
I followed the first part up to the fourth point (i think recovery img is needed to flash, not to root, am i wrong?)
But, now?

ya recovery image needs when you want to flash something in your mobile . But to root your phone it don't need recovery
there are many apps out there which can give you root & most of them are compatible for Hero

Yes i rooted it
But what to do next to install apps on sd?
I can't find a tutorial, my mistake?

Cero92 said:
Yes i rooted it
But what to do next to install apps on sd?
I can't find a tutorial, my mistake?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to partition your card with a EXT 2 partition. Then install any custom ROM. Most support app2SD

nirmalv said:
You need to partition your card with a EXT 2 partition. Then install any custom ROM. Most support app2SD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, but i'd like to jeep the default ROM for a while
Sent from my HTC Hero using XDA App

Cero92 said:
Yes, but i'd like to jeep the default ROM for a while
Sent from my HTC Hero using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem is, its not a simple update, it needs support in the kernel ramdisk, busybox installed and some scripts.
Usually I don't like to recommend the Darktremor app2sd, because its a bit too bloated in my eyes, and I don't like things which are so complicated I can't understand them (and I have tried, but he has so much script for a relatively simple task...).
Anyway in this case, I think its your only bet.
DO A NANDROID BACKUP BEFORE YOU TRY ANYTHING - ESPECIALLY THIS!
EDIT: Taking another look, even it (the Darktremor app2sd) does not seem to fix the kernel's ramdisk. You might want to test it after a nandroid backup on the odd chance I am wrong (i.e. if your original ROM does run the init.d scripts - mine did not). I am afraid if I am right, the only way you can keep the original ROM and enable app2sd, is if you unpack the kernel ramdisk and edit the init.rc to run the init.d scripts - which is a bit more complicated than it sounds, but not that hard if you have the proper background....

erasmux said:
The problem is, its not a simple update, it needs support in the kernel ramdisk, busybox installed and some scripts.
Usually I don't like to recommend the Darktremor app2sd, because its a bit too bloated in my eyes, and I don't like things which are so complicated I can't understand them (and I have tried, but he has so much script for a relatively simple task...).
Anyway in this case, I think its your only bet.
DO A NANDROID BACKUP BEFORE YOU TRY ANYTHING - ESPECIALLY THIS!
EDIT: Taking another look, even it (the Darktremor app2sd) does not seem to fix the kernel's ramdisk. You might want to test it after a nandroid backup on the odd chance I am wrong (i.e. if your original ROM does run the init.d scripts - mine did not). I am afraid if I am right, the only way you can keep the original ROM and enable app2sd, is if you unpack the kernel ramdisk and edit the init.rc to run the init.d scripts - which is a bit more complicated than it sounds, but not that hard if you have the proper background....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm down to give this a try, my girl wants the stock rom and a2sd. Dam cake eaters! but is there a process to follow with this? I'm good enough to follow a process but not create it for a2sd. Any links to reference??

da-pharoah said:
I'm down to give this a try, my girl wants the stock rom and a2sd. Dam cake eaters! but is there a process to follow with this? I'm good enough to follow a process but not create it for a2sd. Any links to reference??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
why stock though? have you considered that villainrom 13 is just like stock but better and has apps2sd? it's a full HTC sense 2.1 rom but rooted with apps2sd and a few small additions to ensure it runs as fast as possible and gives as much room as possible and runs a custom kernel ***
and you can revert by flashing an RUU which is super easy to do (I've done it before for warranty reasons) and the RUU (stock rom) works exactly the same, in fact IS exactly the same except for the features you're asking for.
***(which is pretty much required for apps2sd unless you want to hack it for a while and know how to do it yourself (it's a lot to ask the devs here to tell you everything you need to do if you're not a kernel developer already imho and even then there isn't a guarantee you wont' mess up your phone's stock rom).

dkelley said:
why stock though? have you considered that villainrom 13 is just like stock but better and has apps2sd? it's a full HTC sense 2.1 rom but rooted with apps2sd and a few small additions to ensure it runs as fast as possible and gives as much room as possible and runs a custom kernel ***
and you can revert by flashing an RUU which is super easy to do (I've done it before for warranty reasons) and the RUU (stock rom) works exactly the same, in fact IS exactly the same except for the features you're asking for.
***(which is pretty much required for apps2sd unless you want to hack it for a while and know how to do it yourself (it's a lot to ask the devs here to tell you everything you need to do if you're not a kernel developer already imho and even then there isn't a guarantee you wont' mess up your phone's stock rom).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi I am trying to find the step by step guide about how to setup Apps2SD working. But having tough time. I have done this with my HD2 but cant find much help for Hero.
I have Recovery image flashed with 8GB (class 6) SD Card.
Next I am looking to partition the card from recovery, but what should be the swap size?
Once partitioned I will try flashing Villainrom 13 ROM.
Thanks

nbhor said:
Hi I am trying to find the step by step guide about how to setup Apps2SD working. But having tough time. I have done this with my HD2 but cant find much help for Hero.
I have Recovery image flashed with 8GB (class 6) SD Card.
Next I am looking to partition the card from recovery, but what should be the swap size?
Once partitioned I will try flashing Villainrom 13 ROM.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Swap does not seem to work well for the hero, therefore most ROMs will not enable it and I use 0 for the swap size when partitioning. If you still prefer to reserve room for it use something like 32 or 64.

dkelley said:
why stock though? have you considered that villainrom 13 is just like stock but better and has apps2sd? it's a full HTC sense 2.1 rom but rooted with apps2sd and a few small additions to ensure it runs as fast as possible and gives as much room as possible and runs a custom kernel ***
and you can revert by flashing an RUU which is super easy to do (I've done it before for warranty reasons) and the RUU (stock rom) works exactly the same, in fact IS exactly the same except for the features you're asking for.
***(which is pretty much required for apps2sd unless you want to hack it for a while and know how to do it yourself (it's a lot to ask the devs here to tell you everything you need to do if you're not a kernel developer already imho and even then there isn't a guarantee you wont' mess up your phone's stock rom).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the reply! but to answer your in short, My girl doesnt speak geek and gets pissed right away when the ROM she uses acts up. So in short stock roms is whats she likes. I have been trying to convince her to do another ROM but she is hard headed. I think i'll just flash the villainrom 13 and tell her its stock lol. Thanks again i'll check it out!

Tried multiple attempts from scratch every time.
Attempt 1 - Failed
Partitioned my SD Card for EXT 2 (512MB).
Tried flashing of Villainrom 13 ROM along with Dalvik2SD patch.
Installed bunch of apps. Checked size of EXT2 partition. Nothing changed. Its still same size as it was before installing apps. System memory reduced from its original value.
Attempt 2 - Failed
Partitioned my SD Card for EXT 3 (512MB).
Tried flashing of Villainrom 13 ROM along with Dalvik2SD patch.
Installed bunch of apps. Checked size of EXT3 partition. Nothing changed. Its still same size as it was before installing apps. System memory reduced from its original value.
Any suggestions?

nbhor said:
Tried multiple attempts from scratch every time.
Attempt 1 - Failed
Partitioned my SD Card for EXT 2 (512MB).
Tried flashing of Villainrom 13 ROM along with Dalvik2SD patch.
Installed bunch of apps. Checked size of EXT2 partition. Nothing changed. Its still same size as it was before installing apps. System memory reduced from its original value.
Attempt 2 - Failed
Partitioned my SD Card for EXT 3 (512MB).
Tried flashing of Villainrom 13 ROM along with Dalvik2SD patch.
Installed bunch of apps. Checked size of EXT3 partition. Nothing changed. Its still same size as it was before installing apps. System memory reduced from its original value.
Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
System memory is still reduced with app2sd, since the /data/data folder is not moved to the SD.
Assuming you have adb working, check these two commands:
Code:
adb shell df -h
adb shell ls -ld /data/app
If you think you still have a problem please post the result of these two commands.

erasmux said:
System memory is still reduced with app2sd, since the /data/data folder is not moved to the SD.
Assuming you have adb working, check these two commands:
Code:
adb shell df -h
adb shell ls -ld /data/app
If you think you still have a problem please post the result of these two commands.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do I run this command in terminal emulator on droid or use droid explorer > Terminal Command?
Can Root Explorer help? I am getting adb permission denied from terminal emulator.

nbhor said:
Do I run this command in terminal emulator on droid or use droid explorer > Terminal Command?
Can Root Explorer help? I am getting adb permission denied from terminal emulator.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well, I actually meant connecting the device w/ a USB cable to your computer and then from a command prompt (i.e. start -> run -> "cmd") using the "adb.exe" utility that comes with the android SDK (under the tools folder)....
You can run the same commands in a terminal windows just without the "adb shell":
Code:
df -h
ls -ld /data/app
Only problem is that then it you can't copy paste your result here.
for the "df -h" command take note of the mount of your sdcard which should start like this line:
Code:
/dev/block/mmcblk0p2 720.9M 506.3M 178.0M 74% /sd-ext
I would assume that for you the mount point (last value) would be /system/sd.
next check the "ls -ld /data/app" and make sure it is linked to the same location, in my case it is:
Code:
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 11 Apr 20 09:59 /data/app -> /sd-ext/app

erasmux said:
well, I actually meant connecting the device w/ a USB cable to your computer and then from a command prompt (i.e. start -> run -> "cmd") using the "adb.exe" utility that comes with the android SDK (under the tools folder)....
You can run the same commands in a terminal windows just without the "adb shell":
Code:
df -h
ls -ld /data/app
Only problem is that then it you can't copy paste your result here.
for the "df -h" command take note of the mount of your sdcard which should start like this line:
Code:
/dev/block/mmcblk0p2 720.9M 506.3M 178.0M 74% /sd-ext
I would assume that for you the mount point (last value) would be /system/sd.
next check the "ls -ld /data/app" and make sure it is linked to the same location, in my case it is:
Code:
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 11 Apr 20 09:59 /data/app -> /sd-ext/app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My results from above 2 commands
C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools>adb shell df -h
Filesystem Size Used Available Use% Mounted on
tmpfs 95.6M 0 95.6M 0% /dev
tmpfs 4.0M 0 4.0M 0% /sqlite_stmt_journals
/dev/block/mtdblock3 170.0M 162.8M 7.2M 96% /system
/dev/block/mtdblock5 165.8M 11.2M 154.5M 7% /data
/dev/block/mtdblock4 130.0M 58.8M 71.2M 45% /cache
/dev/block/mtdblock4 130.0M 58.8M 71.2M 45% /data/dalvik-cache
/dev/block//vold/179:1
6.8G 4.0G 2.8G 59% /sdcard
C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools>adb shell ls -ld /data/app
drwxrwx--x 1 1000 1000 2048 Apr 22 01:34 ?[1;34m/data/app?[0m

nbhor said:
My results from above 2 commands
C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools>adb shell df -h
Filesystem Size Used Available Use% Mounted on
tmpfs 95.6M 0 95.6M 0% /dev
tmpfs 4.0M 0 4.0M 0% /sqlite_stmt_journals
/dev/block/mtdblock3 170.0M 162.8M 7.2M 96% /system
/dev/block/mtdblock5 165.8M 11.2M 154.5M 7% /data
/dev/block/mtdblock4 130.0M 58.8M 71.2M 45% /cache
/dev/block/mtdblock4 130.0M 58.8M 71.2M 45% /data/dalvik-cache
/dev/block//vold/179:1
6.8G 4.0G 2.8G 59% /sdcard
C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools>adb shell ls -ld /data/app
drwxrwx--x 1 1000 1000 2048 Apr 22 01:34 ?[1;34m/data/app?[0m
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, you really do *not* have app2sd enabled (I am sorry for my previous disbelief but I have seen many users in the past which only thought they did not have app2sd enabled).
From your previous posts I understand you are using VR13, so either ask on the VR13 thread how to enable app2sd (you can post the above as proof it is not working for you), or change to a ROM with more "stable" app2sd....

Link to bash

Hey-
I've been playing around with the shell, installed bash 3.2 according to this:
forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=537827
aaaand I was trying to make a link from /system/bin/sh to /sdcard/bash but it didn't take. The reason I want to do that is because I'm experimenting with bash 4.1 and it hasn't quite worked. But when my shell breaks I have to wait for a restore because I can't get write access to the dang /system folder (I guess you need the shell for that).
I know it's not that huge of a deal to have it all in the /system folder once it's how I want it, but I'm going to be playing with other stuff too (bash_profile, etc) and it's a bit of a pain doing the whole trial/error thing. Well, at least with how long it takes. I'm doing trial/error anyway.
So my question is why wouldn't that link work? I know I'd set the link up correctly, tried it several times in case I had a typo. Maybe I just don't understand symlinks like I think I do. I tested also something where I tried to make a link within only the /sdcard folder (always writeable no matter what, thinking that had something to do with it) and just got "operation not permitted". But on my linux box a link between directories is totally cool. Not sure what the difference is. Any help appreciated.

Something else I'm seeing that I really don't understand is that I can create links just not that have to do with my /sdcard partition. I can't even change permissions in /sdcard. From ADB. I run as root:
chmod 0644 filename
and it's as if it accepts the command, but perms stay the same. I did it not as root but it said operation denied. Why if I've got root can't I do some of these operations in /sdcard?

Scooterx3 said:
Hey-
I've been playing around with the shell, installed bash 3.2 according to this:
forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=537827
aaaand I was trying to make a link from /system/bin/sh to /sdcard/bash but it didn't take. The reason I want to do that is because I'm experimenting with bash 4.1 and it hasn't quite worked. But when my shell breaks I have to wait for a restore because I can't get write access to the dang /system folder (I guess you need the shell for that).
I know it's not that huge of a deal to have it all in the /system folder once it's how I want it, but I'm going to be playing with other stuff too (bash_profile, etc) and it's a bit of a pain doing the whole trial/error thing. Well, at least with how long it takes. I'm doing trial/error anyway.
So my question is why wouldn't that link work? I know I'd set the link up correctly, tried it several times in case I had a typo. Maybe I just don't understand symlinks like I think I do. I tested also something where I tried to make a link within only the /sdcard folder (always writeable no matter what, thinking that had something to do with it) and just got "operation not permitted". But on my linux box a link between directories is totally cool. Not sure what the difference is. Any help appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it's about a fat32 part? then will not work
You should post a log

Thanks, I was poking around somewhere and saw that other people have had problems if it's using a windows format. However, I'm burning my brains out trying to figure out how to see what format it uses and how to then change the format. It's the Samsung Galaxy S, and it's an internal memory card. I wouldn't think I could format it from my computer, it's not removable. Or else I'd have found out already using gparted or something (in fact I tried, said 'unallocated' is all). I *perhaps* could use gparted to format it as ext4 or whatever though, but I'm not sure the effect that'll have. I'd have to do some research.
In any case, I'd love to post a log but I'm not sure what log that is that you're referring to, would you mind telling me how to get that?

Scooterx3 said:
Thanks, I was poking around somewhere and saw that other people have had problems if it's using a windows format. However, I'm burning my brains out trying to figure out how to see what format it uses and how to then change the format. It's the Samsung Galaxy S, and it's an internal memory card. I wouldn't think I could format it from my computer, it's not removable. Or else I'd have found out already using gparted or something (in fact I tried, said 'unallocated' is all). I *perhaps* could use gparted to format it as ext4 or whatever though, but I'm not sure the effect that'll have. I'd have to do some research.
In any case, I'd love to post a log but I'm not sure what log that is that you're referring to, would you mind telling me how to get that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you work in adb post console output the same if you made that symlink from phone shell
do not forget to switch to root ("su" command )
by this you get part info
Code:
cat /proc/mtd
or system log here
Code:
adb logcat -d > logcat.txt
- it's saved to adb folder
(do not blame me if you already know these things)
also here is an interesting thread
maybe that part is mounted as read-only ?
make things simple as possible use Root Explorer/ES File Explorer (just tap screen to mount r-w)

Thanks, I liked that article you'd mentioned. Though I also tried the suggestion that was provided when I realized that /sdcard/ is really just /mnt/sdcard/ but still no dice.
I checked those logs, didn't see anything relevant. They're attached so if I just don't know what I'm looking for then someone would see it?
The /sdcard isn't read only, I'm able to write files to it.
I'm thinking really that it's just a windows format, but I still haven't an idea how to actually prove that, nor do I know how to format it for linux. Again- it's not removable. Anyway, if there's something that I need to see in the log, it'd be appreciated if you could point it out to me, thanks.

Scooterx3 said:
I'm thinking really that it's just a windows format, but I still haven't an idea how to actually prove that, nor do I know how to format it for linux. Again- it's not removable. Anyway, if there's something that I need to see in the log, it'd be appreciated if you could point it out to me, thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
-nothing interesting in log file
(a mount/df output is better here)
-also post this problem in Galaxy S I9000 sub-forum
I think your internal sdcard is vfat-type then try to format as ext4-type
here is a good article on this problem

[Guide]Functional ext4 for external microSD with just a few bumps left

Y.G. said:
I formated my sd card to Ext4 and when insert it in to my phone, it says that's it's blank and has unsupported files. Any reasons for that?
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The SPH-L710 Samsung Stock LJ7 TW 4.1.1 Android doesn't understand/support the change to ext4 external SD card (microSD) without a few things being done.
I'm working this out right now. So far I have manually been able to mount the newly created ext4 partition on the microSD card through adb, and after some chown/chmod I was able to go back to "Settings and Storage" and the "Mount SD Card" picked it up, and I was up and running ext4. But this didn't persist after a restart. So I'm looking into: /etc/vold.fstab MODS to keep it after restart right Now !!
If Some one else already has this perfected please chime in. I'm wanting to do most of the devices in the house this way when I get time because better performance, having a file system with a journal, and getting rid of thins like 4 Gig per file limitations is pretty Sweet in my humble opinion *Grin*
0) Assuming you already have your microSD card formatted ext4. I also happened to label mine extSdCard for the volume label within gparted
1) Can mount with:
mount -w -t ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk1p1 /storage/extSdCard/
2) To get the correct owner and permissions run:
chown root:sdcard_rw /storage/extSdCard
chmod 775 /storage/extSdCard
3) Should make the extSdCard owner/permissons match the regular internal sdcard you can verify this like so:
cd /storage/ && ls -l
drwxrwxr-x root sdcard_rw 2013-01-12 18:16 extSdCard
drwxrwxr-x root sdcard_rw 2013-01-12 17:05 sdcard0
4) After that you can go to the "Settings and Storage" to run "Mount SD" and you will have ext4 extSdCard Show up and it bring up the File System Status !! --> Until you reboot and it goes to crap because I don't have the vold.fstab edit/MOD complete _yet_ ... So, for now a boot script has been put in place to bring our external SD card back online during restart, so the system will acknowledges it, making the world a better place.
Example of how things look file system wise: mount | grep extSdCard
/dev/block/mmcblk1p1 /storage/extSdCard ext4 rw,relatime,user_xattr,barrier=1,data=ordered 0 0
5) Have not been able to resolve the vold.fstab to make this ext4 extSdCard matter fully Legit (in my opinion), but I did manage to make it remount the card on boot, so its online when the system comes up instead of having to manually mount it. Did this by -->
Added the following lines to the very bottom of: /etc/init.qcom.post_fs.sh
## sponix MOD to match with ktoonz kernel for better power management
stop mpdecision
## sponix MOD to mount extSdCard prior to GUI work around to make ext4 function
## read and write extSdCard mount
chown root:sdcard_rw /storage/extSdCard
chmod 775 /storage/extSdCard
mount -w -t ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk1p1 /storage/extSdCard
chown root:sdcard_rw /storage/extSdCard
chmod 775 /storage/extSdCard
## if you want read only extSdCard mount
## mount -r -t ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk1p1 /storage/extSdCard
Still attempting to automate the process so the Stock+root LJ7 can pick up the extSdCard _normally_ without having to do the mount command manually, but so far its kicking my butt. Also this is more a "General, or Question and Answer type Topic" the Kernel(s) obviously support ext4 the system fs uses/requires it *Grin*.. So we might get Our Friendly Neighborhood Moderator to Migrate it to the proper place to help others. Just hoping to get the last few bumps smoothed out, or find someone that already documented the process that I've overlooked *Grin*..
Current Known Issues: If you unmount the card through the "Settings | Storage | Umount SD" or by hand with umount, you will either need to reboot for it to reattach through the /etc/init.qcom.post_fs.sh boot script script addition, or will have to mount it manually if you want to keep the system up and running. Guess you could also probably just run the /etc/init.qcom.post_fs.sh as root from a terminal emulator (or adb).
Still searching for vold.fstab bits of wisdom but that will have to continue next weekend -->
Sexy and You Know it,
Keep on Flashing,
sponix2ipfw (sponix
:fingers-crossed:

Ha! Sorry. Deleted: Didn't understand that you had it running on boot (can't read properly )

Great idea
Am I really the only one who also thinks this idea is the nuts?
Am I the only one who longs to transform the mess that passes for a filing system on the internal sd using symbolic links into a beautifully organized, encrypted and cloud synced system on my external sd?
Is it just me and a few others that want to be able to achieve the above so that we can move from one ROM to another or recover from a lost phone with the minimum of fuss?
Are we freaks? :cyclops:
Say it isn't so XDA!! :crying:
I'm gonna try this on my international S3 running Null_ Rom 25 JB 4.1.2
PS do you have any idea how the entire ExtSD or just a folder can be enrypted using Cryptonite and automatically mounted at boot time?

emp111 said:
PS do you have any idea how the entire ExtSD or just a folder can be enrypted using Cryptonite and automatically mounted at boot time?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is this along the lines of what you're looking for?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1141467
Also your idea is pretty insane, but also genius
If you get that to work please do come back and share

Insane ideas are the best lol
CNexus said:
Is this along the lines of what you're looking for?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1141467
Also your idea is pretty insane, but also genius
If you get that to work please do come back and share
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your prompt reply, yes it is asking a lot I know but I think that it can be done.
Now if you really thought that idea was insane......check this out:
Imagine that we asked every Android app developer to submit the various paths used for their config (and config backup) files to a central database and had the ability to add or own custom paths (which could be added to the central database once approved).
We could build an script/app that would retrieve a list of currently installed apps on your phone then automatically build a symbolically linked file system (and/or backup file system) in the location of your choice that you could either encrypt and/or sync using your current tools or even incorporate this functionality into the app itself along with the ability to choose what was encrypted/backed up and how i.e. either synced to the Cloud or (S)FTP or SMB as either a dd copy or even a cwm flashable zip.
Could I dare hope for a Tasker module or the ability to add custom scripts?
I wish I could do this myself but my coding skills are non existent
Anyway the LUKS manager app won't automatically mount a file system, but I really like it anyways, thank you for pointing me to it!
And on the Ext4 front, the mount command (yes the 1st one ) failed, maybe the op could offer a suggestion. :angel:
BTW is there a place for people to suggest ideas for apps here?

Wait really it wont? I couldve sworn I remembering that it did
But dude....
You need to learn yourself some java and start whipping stuff up
Idk about the whole central database thing, but the rest could definitely be done with root access
I think the main problem with that is the proprietary aspects...i mean even here on XDA where binaries released are supposed to be GPL compliant, many of them arent and its sad because it deteriorates the overall quality of work thats released afterward

This whole thing is just hard work!
CNexus said:
Wait really it wont? I couldve sworn I remembering that it did
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doesn't seem to unfortunately
But dude....
You need to learn yourself some java and start whipping stuff up :D :D[/QUOTE said:
You make it sound soooo easy lol, and at another point in my life maybe it would have been but right now I'm operating at a reduced level due to some unforeseen circumstances that have left me lacking focus, motivation etc
You know all the things you need to be creative, learn etc lol
Anyway back to the matter at hand, I have got my ext4 SD card to the stage where I have to manually mount it from within the Settings/Storage as I'm using the international S3 and don't have the init.qcom.post_fs.sh, I think the qcom refers to Qualcomm chipset in US S3's.
As for modifying vold.fstab so we can avoid the above workaround it would seem that maybe thats a dead end as according to a German guy on android-hilfe. de, Vold may have been modified by Samsung to only deadl with exFAT on External SD's.
Looks like I'm not gonna be in Android nirvana for a while :crying:
Unless anyone else on XDA fancies getting in on this !!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Got it working ..... kinda
Got an app called ezymount (by ezynow) that automounts my ext4 64GB microSD at boot time.
I have to wait a few seconds for the boot process to complete but it's automatic, am pretty happy!!
Now gotta get symlinks, encryption and cloud synchronization sorted :/