Develop Bugs

[HELP] Apps force closing like crazy

Today I just tried to install some fonts using Root Explorer and all of a sudden I was stuck in boot loops. So I tried to boot into recovery mode and there was an update.zip on my device (probably from when I was originally rooting) which I think the recovery mode ran. After that, I was in clockwork and I flashed a new font.zip file and that still left me in a boot loop state.
I fixed the boot loop by manually changing permissions on DroidSans.ttf and DroidSans-Bold.ttf to match the other fonts and change owner/group to root:root.
This stopped the boot loop but now every time I boot my phone it force closes all my apps that were previously on sd. I'm not sure why this is happening and it might be other apps that are also not on my sd. It is also not showing all of my installed apps and Launcherpro no longer runs and I am stuck with default htc sense launcher. I would prefer to not wipe the entire phone to fix this.
I have tried a different sd card with the same data and I have also tried formatting the sd card and copying my files back on. Still stuck with force close errors. I am not sure what to do at this point. Any help?

Try fix permissions.

I have tried running the fix_permissions script. Didn't seem to work. Unless there's another method you are referring to. I am unable to launch ROM Manager and it seems like all of my apps are 'new' and never launched before from what they show. Including my alarm settings, those are missing too.

Think I'd restore a backup taken prior to all the font changes. You did make a backup, didn't you?
________________________________
Unrevoked forever
SkyRaider Sense 3.5
Radio 2.15.00.09.01

rigman said:
Think I'd restore a backup taken prior to all the font changes. You did make a backup, didn't you?
________________________________
Unrevoked forever
SkyRaider Sense 3.5
Radio 2.15.00.09.01
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do have a backup but unfortunately its a little bit old and I would rather fix this if possible. It feels like some folder is missing permissions. Because even stock Google talk crashes and market crashes when I try to view an app but I can search around if I want.
Another route I can go is to backup my data for apps and then install a new Rom as I have been wanting to. This would allow me to fix my problems but I need to know what folders I have to manually backup for saves.

Well some good news. After messing around with permissions on some files on the sdcard I was able to restore my notification sound back and also able to make GTalk work properly. So it looks like there is hope yet.
Where do apps store settings such as configuration, db, etc?

It looks as if my data/data partition is wiped? I'm not sure what happened but I guess that means all my app saves are gone.
Am I right to assume that?

I used this application NotEnoughSpace made by a xda member and using it to symlink some of my apps from data partition to a new area on emmc seems to work. However when I try to restore back to my data partition, it doesn't work.
So this leads me to believe that the permissions on my data partition are off and I need to change the permissions, owner, and group for the data partition and all files inside it. The command would be:
Code:
chmod 664 data/*
chown root:root data/*
And run this while outside of the main data folder. As long as the right owner/group is root:root.
Can someone confirm?

[CWM Scripts] Relatively painless backup/mod/restore scripts

Ok, these are specifically for MIUI, but they can easily be adapted to any other rom by editing the shell scripts. I'll explain how they work and it should be fairly apparent how one would need to modify for their particular rom/needs. Don't know if anyone will actually use these, but I thought I'd share. I also think it's a really good example of how CWM can be used for more than just flashing stuff.
So I've been running MIUI for a while now and I'm really happy. One little issue that popped up was every Friday when the rom was updated, the OTA update app icon gained a little "1" badge, indicating an update was available. While it's nice to be notified of the update, I occasionally didn't have the time or interest in updating so the little badge remained. I put that app in a folder, but then the folder had the little 1 badge. After a while, I started deleting the update app after install since I could always download and install updates through ROM Manager just as easily. Then I started deleting the update app from the downloaded ROM zip, along with several other apps I didn't want (Facebook, Twitter, the MIUI FileExplorer, etc) before flashing it. But this entailed downloading the Friday update on my phone, transferring it to my desktop, opening the zip in 7 Zip, deleting the unwanted files, uploading it back to my phone and then flashing. Quite a PITA.
Another issue I ran into was that the built-in MIUI backup app failed to backup my SMS/MMS messages. Actually, I don't know if it was failing to back them up, or failing to properly restore them, but at the end of the day, it wouldn't keep my text messages. I know I could avoid this by just installing each update over the current ROM, but I've always believed cleanly installing an OS helps avoid issues. I prefer to wipe everything, install clean and then restore my data.
So, the solution(s) I came up with was to mod the downloaded ROM zip file right on the phone, and manually backup and restore my data. While it took a little while to get set up, I find it actually works considerably faster and smoother than using MIUI's backup/restore app. I now have 3 simple shell scripts that are run through Clockwork Recovery just like installing any zip - one to mod the ROM after downloading, and two to backup and restore my data. Here they are:
MIUI-Mod.zip
This contains a shell script and a zip binary to handle the adding and deleting of files to/from the downloaded rom zip. When run through CWM, it copies zip and the script to /tmp and runs the script. Because the ROM zip is named differently every Friday, I figured the easiest solution was just to rename it manually. So, this script assumes the ROM zip is named "miui.zip" and is located in the root of the SD card. It's a simply matter to download the ROM on Friday, move it to /sdcard and rename it miui.zip. Here's what the script does in 2 commands:
/tmp/zip -d /sdcard/miui.zip /data/app/Twitter.apk /data/app/Facebook.apk /system/app/Email.apk /system/app/FileExplorer.apk /system/app/Gmail.apk /system/app/MIUI.us_Forums_1.1.2_AdSupported.apk /system/app/Superuser.apk /system/app/Updater.apk /system/app/MIUIStats.apk /system/media/lockscreen/* /system/media/wallpaper/*
/tmp/zip /sdcard/miui.zip /system/app/Gmail.apk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The first line simply opens the zip and deletes the listed files: Twitter, Facebook, Email, etc. It also removes all the wallpapers for the lock and main screens (I don't use them, so I didn't want them, but it's a good example of the use of wildcards like *).
The second line adds in the Gmail.apk from my current ROM. The latest versions of the Gmail app included in MIUI lock the mail database, which conflicts with a widget I use, so I just replace it with an older version. Every time I run the script, it removes the included Gmail app and adds in my current one. If you didn't want to add anything to the ROM, you could just delete this line entirely.
Data-Backup.zip
This just runs a shell script that creates a tar file in the root of your sdcard containing the listed files and directories. Tar files retain file permissions and owner information, so everything can be restored seamlessly. Here's how it works, it's pretty simple:
tar -c -f sdcard/backup.tar data/app/com.adobe.flashplayer-1.apk data/data/com.adobe.flashplayer data/app/com.speedsoftware.rootexplorer-1.apk data/data/com.speedsoftware.rootexplorer data/app/com.touchtype.swiftkey-1.apk data/data/com.touchtype.swiftkey data/data/com.android.browser data/data/com.android.deskclock data/data/com.android.launcher data/data/com.android.mms data/data/com.android.phone data/data/com.android.providers.contacts data/data/com.android.providers.settings data/data/com.android.providers.telephony data/data/com.android.providers.userdictionary data/data/com.android.thememanager data/data/com.android.vending data/data/com.google.android.gsf data/data/com.miui.camera data/data/com.miui.notes data/data/com.noshufou.android.su data/system data/misc/wifi
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This creates the tar file and includes Adobe's Flash player and it's data, Root Explorer and it's data, and SwiftKey and it's data (I paired it down to just these three for this example). After that, it backs up a bunch of other data directories which include the current Browser settings, alarms, launcher settings and home screen layouts including widgets, phone logs, the current theme settings, any MIUI notes, current Wifi connections and, yes, SMS and MMS messages.
Obviously, you'd want to add in your specific apps and data directories. Sure, it takes a little work to set this up, but as I said, backing up is very quick and easy afterwards.
Data-Restore.zip
This just runs a shell script that restores all the files from the backup.tar on your SD card:
tar -xf /sdcard/backup.tar
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doesn't need much explanation.
So, the process is:
1-Download the Friday update through ROM Manager, move it to the root of my SD card and rename it to miui.zip
2-Reboot into CWM and run Backup-Data.zip to back up my apps and data
3-Run MIUI-Mod.zip to modify the downloaded MIUI rom
4-Wipe everything (cache/data/system)
5-Install the modded MIUI rom
6-Run Data-Restore to restore apps/data
7-Reboot
It's literally about 5 minutes after downloading the ROM and I'm updated and rebooted with a CLEAN os install and all my apps, data and settings intact, my home screen layouts, keyboard, wallpapers, wifi settings and everything retained.
Some notes:
1-Before running these in CWM, you have to make sure you have system, data and sdcard mounted since the scripts will be reading and/or writing to all of these. When you first reboot to CWM, just go to mounts and manually mount each one. The scripts could certainly be set up to mount them automatically, but mount points vary from phone to phone, and it's not difficult to mount through CWM. Also, after flashing a ROM, the ROM install script may unmount some of these, so before you restore your data, you might have to manually remount.
2-If you're adding anything from your current ROM to the zip (like how I add in my current Gmail.apk), make sure you wipe everything *after* running the mod script, otherwise you're deleting everything and then trying to copy file(s) that were just deleted.
3-I would highly recommend using Notepad++ to edit scripts, since it properly saves Unix line breaks.
4-as always, use at your own risk and a full CWM backup is highly recommended before messing with these.
That's pretty much it. Again, it does take a little while to get set up, but once it is, it's really simple. If you install a new app between updates, you just have to edit the backup script, or you can just keep the scripts maintaining a base setup and reinstall various apps through the market each time. This specific process is probably most useful for ROMs that are updated regularly - nightly or weekly, although I'm sure people can find other uses for running scripts through CWM.
Hope someone might find these useful.

This is really cool. I run Miui and would really like to be able to do a fresh install each week, but hate the hassle of resetting up my phone, even using Titanium backup, it's still a time consuming process. So needless to say, I flash the new rom over top of the old version without wiping just to save time.
So, basically I can open up the data restore zip in 7 zip, add in a few of my apps/data such as Tasker and so forth, close it and flash? If so, that will be great.
Thanks for sharing this!!!

You don't need to touch the Data-Restore.zip, all that does is extract the backup.tar file created with the backup script. What you'd do is open the Data-Backup.zip and edit the backup file (it's just a text file). Add in any of your apps and their corresponding data directories and when you flash the Data-Backup.zip in CWM, it'll back up those files/folders.
To find the files you want to backup, use something like Root Explorer and look in /data/app. There you'll find all the 3rd party apps you've installed. Add each one to the tar command in the backup file just like the ones I included. Then go into /data/data and find each app you want to back up's corresponding data folder. Add them to the tar command too.
Save the file, re-zip it and when you flash it through CWM, it'll back up the new files.

Just what i wanted
I also always install everything from clean system so setting up everything is a pain.
Would this work for Internal storage? I have a Motorola RAZR XT910 and running JBX roms.
Google does install all the apps when i sign in into the new rom but then i always had to move each folder to the correct destination manually using some file explorer. was thinking of making something like this but didnt know how to start. Thanks, I will now try and mod these to suit my phone :good:

[Q] Removing HTC Sense From A stock Rom

I would like to remove the sense from my rom and replace it with either adw launcher or launcher pro.
Could any one give me tut on how to do this or point me in the right direction.
Danke In Advance.

try this
written for desire, but the principles should be virtually the same. requires adb and command lines.
sense launcher is normally called rosie.apk. you can delete all other sense widgets too and any other system apps you don't want, just be careful not to delete any system critical stuff.
make sure you have the other launcher already installed (i prefer go launcher personally)
always have a nandroid just in case
you won't get any more internal memory by doing this, just more unused space on system partition, but at least it won't be cluttered with stuff you don't use
(i assume you're not s-off, otherwise you could just delete the stuff directly using something like root explorer)

I am s-off i might need to go into more detail .. basically i'm trying to create my own rom but i'm having difficulty removing htc sense and adding my own custom launcher (adw) i've tried it twice but all that happens is i get a black screen after boot with the notification bar and thats it the rom works but with no gui

lynuxlover said:
I am s-off i might need to go into more detail .. basically i'm trying to create my own rom but i'm having difficulty removing htc sense and adding my own custom launcher (adw) i've tried it twice but all that happens is i get a black screen after boot with the notification bar and thats it the rom works but with no gui
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well if you're s-off much easier, no command lines at all, you can pretty much ignore that guide lol
- nandroid backup
- download and install adw as you would normally, set it to default launcher.
- use root explorer or similar to delete rosie.apk + sense widgets + any apps you don't use
- reboot into recovery, wipe dalvik and cache
- reboot will take a while as it's rebuilding dalvik.
should work fine, did this before on all desire sense roms i used before. the principle for this phone should be the same in theory
if it works, you can then move adw to system/app with titanium backup (pro?), or 'SystemCleanup' (free). the launcher should run better from system/app

I will give this ago and tell you how it got on but I should say before I start i won't be doing any of this on my actual device I will be modifying a stock rom using the android kitchen

lynuxlover said:
I will give this ago and tell you how it got on but I should say before I start i won't be doing any of this on my actual device I will be modifying a stock rom using the android kitchen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol you really need to give more details in the first post, not as you go along...
i've not used the kitchen, guess it doesn't give the option to have adw as well as rosie?
if you modify a cooked rom from the kitchen use 7zip.
- (make a copy of the rom.zip)
- double click the rom.zip opens it (but doesn't extract it).
- delete rosie.apk etc from system/app
- drag the adw apk into the same folder.
- close 7zip to update it
- nandroid backup, full wipe and flash (you may need to turn off signature verification in recovery)
if this doesn't work then try to do as above, but don't delete anything before flashing. set it up, then delete stuff after as described originally

It doesn't give you the option to change the launcher whilst modding the rom but i thought you would just be able to remove the rosie.apk and all the other htc crap whilst modding it and give it your own launcher I'm it might have something to do with modding the internal system such as the framework which i will do if needed but *sigh such a balls up on my part just tried what you suggested then booted into recovery wiped everything then tried installing to no luck
"installation aborted"
(bad) <--- what the hell is that supposed to mean lmao !!

not certain this sounds like the zip got corrupted during transfer.
if you modded the zip as described, clockwordmod should at least try to install it and you can see the progress. worst comes to worst the rom just won't boot if you've deleted too much, or just something critical.
to be sure, you're not extracting and rezipping right?
try downloading again, transfer using card reader if possible.
also keep an unmodified rom.zip made using the kitchen, and transfer to sd card using the same method. try installing that for comparison.

[Q] Recovery with Titanium Backup update.zip using TWRP

I see this being discussed in many places but none of the solutions seems to work for me. Here's what I did.
1. Create update.zip (containing installed apps+data) with TB
2. factory wipe and flashed ROM (happens to be Wicked v8)
3. waited 5 minutes then rebooted
4. installed TB and its pro key from from Play Store
5. granted TB SU
6. went to recovery and tried to flash update.zip created in step 1.
7. FAILED!!!
What am I doing wrong here? For some reason, I'm experiencing a lot of problems with TB and TWRP (2.4.4.0). TB can't even extract frrom TWRP's nandroid backups.

When I did it, I did not install TB because it was included in the update.zip itself. I just flashed it directly after the ROM and it was fine. You might have some other problem going on, but perhaps it's that simple.

I found then problem. It's because TWRP's zip routine is compiled with 32bit switches so, any update . zip that's over 2gb will not work.
Sent from my Frosty Jellybean fingers.

my update.zip didn't fail but once cm 12.1 booted i didn't see any traces of it anywhere. any advice?

[Q] Need HELP

Hi,
I am running Carbon Mod Nightly Rom, I was looking at the Volume Blaster Mod (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2563209) to raise the volume up on the external speaker. I edited the file system/etc/snd_soc_msm/snd_soc_msm_2x. Somehow I screwed the file up after editing. After I edited it and rebooted, it gets stuck at the Carbon Logo and doesn't go any further :crying:. I have a nandroid backup, but I didnt backup until after I edited the file (before reboot). So I'm wondering can I or how do I replace the edited file (snd_soc_msm_2x) with the original file. I have the original file on the SD card in the phone. I went into the TWRP Recovery and into file manager, but I could not locate the location of the edited file from within there (system/etc/snd_soc_msm/snd_soc_msm_2x). Can someone please help me restore this one file so that my phone will boot up or tell me how would be the best way of getting my phone up and working again ASAP. Oh, I have tried exploring the backup created with Nandroid Backup Manager, well I found the file thats corrupted and opened it with File manager, select all- then delete, then pasted the contents from the working file, and then try to save, and I get an error "Operation Failed". So any help would be greatly appreciated.!!
Thanks in Advance

If you cant see files in /system, you just need to mount it first. Otherwise, just dirty flash the same rom.

DocHoliday77 said:
If you cant see files in /system, you just need to mount it first. Otherwise, just dirty flash the same rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dirty Flash? I'm new to all this, so I need some help with the slang. I can explore the contents of the Nandroid backup, are there anyway possible to delete a file in the Nandroid backup and replace it with another file?? If I can do that, then I can replace the corrupted file and then restore from backup. I just dont want to reflash the clean ROM and then have to manually restore all my apps, sms and photos...
If I flash the backup Rom that has the corruted file, and before reboot, can I use the file manager to pull the clean file from the external card and replace the one that corrupted in the root folder. If I can do this, then it should boot normally. Otherwise if I boot with the corrupted file it gets hung after it processes all the apps. (Gets hung on Starting Apps).

I figured it out!!! What I did was I went into recovery, and selected the recovery nandroid backup file that was corrupted. Instead of restoring all the available options, I unchecked System. So it restored everything but the system data. The system data already installed was from the newly installed rom that was working, so by leaving the system unchecked it didnt install the corrupted system from backup! I hope I explained this where you can understand it.
Thanks for all the help DocHoliday77!! I'm just glad that worked and I dont have to manually install everything back over!!
:victory: