Develop Bugs

[Q] Cannot delete old backups?!

I changed from cwm to amon_RA and now I cannot delete my previous backups? Not through root explorer... Straight of SD or change owner / permissions... I'm s-off and tried mounting rw but nothing makes a difference.. any tips??
I tried
rm -rf /etc etc etc
in adb but still nothing? No idea why I cannot delete these files / folders .... nothing will let me

You can delete the files with your computer. Just go to your sd-card \clockworkmod\backup and delete the folders. That should work
Edit:
Get access with windows:
1. Open Windows Explorer, and then locate the file or folder you want to take ownership of.
2. Right-click the file or folder, click Properties, and then click the Security tab.
3. Click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.
4. In the Change owner to box, click the new owner
5.(Optional) To change the owner of all subcontainers and objects within the tree, select the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects check box.
No access with windows: You can boot a linux system (bootable cd,...) go to the terminal and change the owner with chown or chmod. Just use google to get more information about it.

PC wont let me that's why I posted... Can't edit anything - owners / permissions ... Ill try booting Linux or if not reformat my SD...
Thanks

can delete file/ folder in sd card!

Its really bothering me. When flashing a Rom in the aroma I choose this red theme I never used. Well in the vrtheme folder on my SD card (internal storage) there is a bunch of. PNG files that show up in my gallery. If I try to delete from gallery they just come back. And if try to delete from file explorer with root permissions. It says file can not be deleted. This doesn't make sense or am I missing something?
Help would be appreciated.
Thank you

Give this a shot (assuming you are rooted)
find the folder they are in (for arguments' sake let's say they are in /storage/sdcard0/vrtheme/
download terminal emulator app
open it and type the following commands without quotes...
"su"
"rm /storage/sdcard0/vrtheme/*.png"
see if they are gone now.

Admiral Sir Manley Power said:
Give this a shot (assuming you are rooted)
find the folder they are in (for arguments' sake let's say they are in /storage/sdcard0/vrtheme/
download terminal emulator app
open it and type the following commands without quotes...
"su"
"rm /storage/sdcard0/vrtheme/*.png"
see if they are gone now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank for trying to help. But if I go to directory all the way down to the PNG file I would have to repeat like 150 times
But anyways when I tried it. I was granted rights for su. Then received the # in terminal.
Then I did rm followed by file path.
It said permissions denied :/

Just wanted to report my findings. If you do a search for aroma file manager on xda. With that you can delete anyfile on SD card if given operation denied with any normal file explorer with root access.

FYI - sdcard0 is not really your SD Card at all. sdcard0 is the internal storage memory. extSdCard is your actual SD Card. And UsbDriveA, UsbDriveB, etc.. are your external drives like USB thumb drive, USB external drive, etc.
If you deleted file/s and then later came back that is because the file/s are being put back with the related app/s that the file/s are related too. Deal with the related app/s in order to stop the deleted file/s from reappearing.
If you can't delete the file/s at all then change the permissions of the file/s you want to delete and/or change the permissions with the folder that holds the file/s to be deleted. Then you can delete the file/s. You can change permissions with a file manager like Root Explorer, though you need to be rooted to change some permissions. Be careful. Deleting the wrong file/s can make your device bricked.
---------- Post added at 01:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:34 PM ----------
trevor7428 said:
Thank for trying to help. But if I go to directory all the way down to the PNG file I would have to repeat like 150 times
But anyways when I tried it. I was granted rights for su. Then received the # in terminal.
Then I did rm followed by file path.
It said permissions denied :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You wouldn't have to delete each .png file separately. Just type exactly what Admiral Sir Manley Power typed. The line command he wrote uses the wild card ( * ) so the command would delete all .png files within that folder at the same time.
Change the permissions of the folder that holds the files. Then try it. Make sure the app related to the files are not still caching the files. Caching the files would make the files to be currently in use. That would make the files not available to be deleted. You can also use another theme app, force kill the app related to the .png files, then delete the files. Then go back to that theme app.

JaguarXT said:
FYI - sdcard0 is not really your SD Card at all. sdcard0 is the internal storage memory. extSdCard is your actual SD Card. And UsbDriveA, UsbDriveB, etc.. are your external drives like USB thumb drive, USB external drive, etc.
If you deleted file/s and then later came back that is because the file/s are being put back with the related app/s that the file/s are related too. Deal with the related app/s in order to stop the deleted file/s from reappearing.
If you can't delete the file/s at all then change the permissions of the file/s you want to delete and/or change the permissions with the folder that holds the file/s to be deleted. Then you can delete the file/s. You can change permissions with a file manager like Root Explorer, though you need to be rooted to change some permissions. Be careful. Deleting the wrong file/s can make your device bricked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I no SD card should be external. But on our note 2 the directory for internal is labeled SD card. Then vrtheme was in a folder named. " 0" I tried to change permissions and even the owner of file and folder, but it wouldn't let me with root permissions. That's why I was so stumped I had to post on xda.
And its not that the file would get deleted then put back it was I couldn't delete at all. There was no app to my knowledge for vrtheme.

trevor7428 said:
Thank for trying to help. But if I go to directory all the way down to the PNG file I would have to repeat like 150 times
But anyways when I tried it. I was granted rights for su. Then received the # in terminal.
Then I did rm followed by file path.
It said permissions denied :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try this instead...
rm -f /storage/sdcard0/vrtheme/*.png"
if that doesn't work... try this....
chmod 777 /storage0/vrtheme
chmod 777 /storage0/vrtheme/*.png
rm -rf /storage/storage0/vrtheme

Admiral Sir Manley Power said:
try this instead...
rm -f /storage/sdcard0/vrtheme/*.png"
if that doesn't work... try this....
chmod 777 /storage0/vrtheme
chmod 777 /storage0/vrtheme/*.png
rm -rf /storage/storage0/vrtheme
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thanked everyone who replied, but I actually got it figured out. I flashed this zip file in recovery called aroma file manager. While let me delete whole folder from recovery. I appreciate all who helped.

[Q] cannot copy whatsapp database

I am facing a strange problem. I am trying to copy the whatsapp databases from the Galaxy Nexus to my new phone.
I cannot find any files inside the databases folder if I open it from any file manager in the phone.
I connected the phone to the computer and I can see multiple files in the databases folder including the last backup "msgstore.db.crypt".
I cannot copy this file to anywhere or even rename it. Right click copy and then paste simply does nothing.
Even with adb pull command. 0 files found.
So the only way that I see the db files is through PC connection.
When I even tried to install whatapp again on the same phone. It simply does not see any file in that folder.
Any suggestions.

If your phone is rooted, try copying /data/data/com.whatsapp/databases/msgstore.db to your sdcard (/storage/sdcard0/) via terminal emulator after gaining root privilegs (type "su").
To be clear:
-open Android Terminal Emulator on your phone
-type "su"
-type "cp /data/data/com.whatsapp/databases/msgstore.db /storage/sdcard0/msgstore.db"
On your new / other phone, copy this file to it's internal memory / sdcard and do the same vice versa:
-open Android Terminal Emulator on your phone
-type "su"
-(eventually delete /data/data/com.whatsapp/databases/msgstore.db via "rm /data/data/com.whatsapp/databases/msgstore.db")
-type "cp /storage/sdcard0/msgstore.db /data/data/com.whatsapp/databases/msgstore.db"

It is advisable to do the same thing that suggests zwiebelchen with the file wa.db. Messages.db guards the messages. Wa.db guards the contacts data.
Regards.

[Q] .thumbdata3 file permanent removal?

Hey guys.
There has been something really annoying me lately. It's the .thumbdata3 file in /storage/emulated/0/DCIM/.thumbnail. Its always like a 200 mb + file and it just takes up wayy too much space on my internal storage. So is there anyway to permanently remove this file for good? Like somehow prevent it from forming again? By the way, i already have the latest albums app so that didn't fix the problem.
Sent from my C2004 using XDA Free mobile app

The only way I know about is deleting the folder .thumbnail and then creating an empty file named .thumbnail (this will prevent the folder being created again). However, be adivised that Album app may get laggy since it'll regenerate the thumbnails every time you open the app or use the photo widget. If you have a lot of them, your phone also may get hot and the battery will go quickly if you keep opening album app various times...
Furthermore, it's hard to know the real size of that file. Yes, it holds some space in internal memory, but it's definitely not the size shown. In my phone, for example, this file show as 870 MB, but once I delete it I get only 50-60MB of space back...

mbc07 said:
The only way I know about is deleting the folder .thumbnail and then creating an empty file named .thumbnail (this will prevent the folder being created again). However, be adivised that Album app may get laggy since it'll regenerate the thumbnails every time you open the app or use the photo widget. If you have a lot of them, your phone also may get hot and the battery will go quickly if you keep opening album app various times...
Furthermore, it's hard to know the real size of that file. Yes, it holds some space in internal memory, but it's definitely not the size shown. In my phone, for example, this file show as 870 MB, but once I delete it I get only 50-60MB of space back...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That worked for like an hour. Afterwards when i checked again, i actually found two .thumbnail3 files instead of one. They were both the same size. Any idea why?
Sent from my C2004 using XDA Free mobile app

This trick works only for folders (e.g. if you created empty .thumbdata3 file inside /DCIM/.thumbnails/ it won't work, that file will be replaced next time you open Album app). You need to remove the entire .thumbnails folder from DCIM and then create an empty .thumbnails file in DCIM. Next time it'll try to create the folder again to store the thumbdata3 files but it'll fail because a file with the same name already exist, doing nothing then...
Another way is opening a terminal (or adb shell) and running these two lines of code as root:
Code:
chown 0:0 /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
chmod 0440 /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
That way this folder will be accessible only if Album app run with root access (which never occur)

mbc07 said:
This trick works only for folders (e.g. if you created empty .thumbdata3 file inside /DCIM/.thumbnails/ it won't work, that file will be replaced next time you open Album app). You need to remove the entire .thumbnails folder from DCIM and then create an empty .thumbnails file in DCIM. Next time it'll try to create the folder again to store the thumbdata3 files but it'll fail because a file with the same name already exist, doing nothing then...
Another way is opening a terminal (or adb shell) and running these two lines of code as root:
Code:
chown 0:0 /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
chmod 0440 /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
That way this folder will be accessible only if Album app run with root access (which never occur)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually did both of the things you said above. And so far so good. Well done bro, you're amazing
Sent from my C2004 using XDA Free mobile app

mbc07 said:
This trick works only for folders (e.g. if you created empty .thumbdata3 file inside /DCIM/.thumbnails/ it won't work, that file will be replaced next time you open Album app). You need to remove the entire .thumbnails folder from DCIM and then create an empty .thumbnails file in DCIM. Next time it'll try to create the folder again to store the thumbdata3 files but it'll fail because a file with the same name already exist, doing nothing then...
Another way is opening a terminal (or adb shell) and running these two lines of code as root:
Code:
chown 0:0 /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
chmod 0440 /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
That way this folder will be accessible only if Album app run with root access (which never occur)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you please write full adb procedure for noobs please
I think this might be a very helpfull, since that problem exists in virtually all android 4.0+ devices and it is annoying as hell

It's simple. The first option is chown/chmod the .thumbnails folder but it may not work in all phones (however, it works fine in Xperia M). You have two ways to do that:
Using a computer:
1) Enable USB Debugging
2) Plug your USB cable (make sure you're in MTP mode)
3) Open adb shell from Terminal/Command Prompt and run the following commands:
Bash:
su
rm -r /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
mkdir /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
chown 0:0 /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
chmod 0440 /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
Using only your phone:
1) Install Terminal Emulator app if you don't have it
2) Run the same commands:
Bash:
su
rm -r /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
mkdir /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
chown 0:0 /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
chmod 0440 /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
If you get errors when running any of these commands, you should install busybox in your device and then try again. Also, as I said before, it may not work in all phones, and if that method failed, you can try the empty file method. In your phone, using a file manager of your preference, go inside DCIM folder and delete the entire .thumbnails folder. Then, create an empty file named .thumbnails and you're done. If this method also fails, your phone have a different filesystem layout (eg. doesn't have an emulated SD Card) and I don't know any method of archiving that in these devices.
Furthermore, be adivised that your gallery may get laggy since it'll regenerate the thumbnails every time you open the app or use a photo widget because you disabled thumbnail cache. If you have a lot of pictures, your phone also may get hot and the battery will drain faster, especially if you open your gallery frequently...

[lineageos] /sdcard no write permissions after cloning phones

Hello,
I tried to copy all data from an old phone to a new phone by using TWRP -> backup "/system" and "/data" partitions, then restore them in TWRP on a new phone, and then I found out that only applications were copied, but not my personal files (contents from folders "DCIM", "Documents", "Downloads", etc).
So then I did a "adb pull /sdcard/" from an old phone and uploaded it "adb push /sdcard/" to a new phone. But now most applications do not have write permissions over these folders, e.g. document viewer ("org.sufficientlysecure.viewer") and file manager ("org.joa.zipperplus7") could not delete files and folders, and even system application (LineageOS Updater) could not export update file. They have only read permissions (can open documents, etc). However some applications have write permissions - e.g. "Gallery" could delete old photos from "DCIM" directory.
I have checked simple Linux permissions and for /sdcard/* on both phones and they are same: 771 (drwxrwx--x) root:sdcard_rw for directories and 660 (-rw-rw----) root:sdcard for files. lsattr shows same attributes too. But apps on old phone have write permissions to /sdcard and apps on new phone have no permissions. Am I missing something?
Any ideas on how to fix this?

help
I checked 'ps' and saw that F-Droid app is running under user "u0_a75". I have verified the chmod of the path to cache, and all dirs from /sdcard/Android/data/org.fdroid.fdroid to /sdcard/Android/data/org.fdroid.fdroid/cache/apks/f-droid.org--1/ belong to "u0_a75" and have chmod drwxrwx--x u0_a75:sdcard_rw. But F-Droid could not download any app into that directory - it reports "permission denied". I have tried to chmod 777 for the whole path above but it did not help.
Then I thought it may be a SELinux problem, so I disabled it with "setenforce 0". Still no luck - most apps could not write to their storage.
What's going on?
P.S. I found out that Camera app writes files as a root user!

well, I gave up and reinstalled everything from scratch, wiping all partitions in advance.