update.zip necessary? - Hero CDMA General

I have seen a lot of posts about changing the rom names to update.zip. Is there any reason to do this? I hardly ever do and I've never ran into any problems.

There is no reason to do that anymore. The only reason I can think of is because the old recovery images used to look for ROM's or files named "update.zip". That has since been deprecated (right word?) and now a ROM or file can be named anything you want.

awesome, that's kinda what I figured, but a little verification is nice. People are still doing it for these roms like crazy so I thought I'd bring it up.

Related

Prepackaged Zips for on the go flashing

As someone who came from a Nexus One, I prefer to flash on the go. I usually take a Zip I have on my phone with ua_redbend in it, edit the update script on the go and drop the appropriate Modem.bin or zImage into it. But for those who haven't done this on the go, all you'll have to do is unpack the tar file most people upload, drop it in the respective ZIP file below using an appropriate program on your phone (unrar, astrozip, astro file manager for a few) and use Clockwork to flash on the go...
Of course, I am not liable for any misflashing that may occur, I just thought that this would help out on the go...
The folder to drop your respective file into will be the kernel_update folder.
Enjoy guys! And flash on the go Go GO!
Edit: Works as well with Infuse. It saved my Bacon when making my 1.0 Infusion so that I could reupload it quickly.
I just download the files to my computer that are flashable with clock and copy them all onto my sd and flash while i drive lol
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
That works too. I just thought that everyone would love to have these.... I love being able to flash anything anytime without sitting down at my computer.
Thanks bedwa, ive been looking for a method like this! All I ever really have to use my ext. Sd for is priority files and a handful of things for post-flash care such as my ever-so-loved launcher 2 apk, setiron's kernel, and a few others so when I help someone flash I put my sd in there phone and install the basics.
So I just drop zimage in w/ no edit?
I appreciate it. Thanks.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Flash a z4 kernel and you are kind of stuffed lol. Well it's more of a nandroid and ROMs on the internal SD on my side of the world.
tiger4j said:
Thanks bedwa, ive been looking for a method like this! All I ever really have to use my ext. Sd for is priority files and a handful of things for post-flash care such as my ever-so-loved launcher 2 apk, setiron's kernel, and a few others so when I help someone flash I put my sd in there phone and install the basics.
So I just drop zimage in w/ no edit?
I appreciate it. Thanks.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Download the respective zip and drop it in the "kernel_update" folder in the zip. No other work needed..... I just wanted to make it quicker for others to do this on the go....
so is there a way for this method to restore my captivate back to JF6? i'm on a mac and don't have access to windows all the time, so one click back to JF6 isn't a common option for me
Thats a bit trickier.... I would assume that you could redbend the whole thing, but you would need ALL the partitions and all the proper locations. Though it may be easier with hiemdal.....
lolgrec said:
so is there a way for this method to restore my captivate back to JF6? i'm on a mac and don't have access to windows all the time, so one click back to JF6 isn't a common option for me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Idk about JF6 but I've been using the stock OTA UCJH7 as my jump-off for flashing ROMs. I always do it through CWR and (as long as I remember to disable lagfixes) I've never had a problem.
Made my phone a damn good brick by forgetting to disable the lagfix and trying to flash back to stock, but as long as you're not as dumb as me you shouldn't have a problem.
When I first got the phone I spent hours trying to get my computer to recognize it in download mode before eventually coming to the conclusion that I was having hardware problems in my USB ports. I've only ever used Odin to go to stock *once* and I did it on a friend's laptop. So, figure that you and I have about the same access to Odin. I feel pretty confident with this on-the-go method of returning to stock and flashing.
Edit:
Also, now that I think about it, you can probably find a stock JF6 update.zip to be used with CWR. You may even find it somewhere linked to that thread that I posted.
This seems very interesting.
I came from the HTC Legend background and i was always flashing on the go then. I bricked the Cappy when i tried flashing on the go (as i was so used to on the legend).
However, looking at your files, i really have NO IDEA how to use this.
Could you post a step by step guide as to how to use this?
Would be great if you could dummy proof this so users like me won't mis-flash.
At the moment, i'm looking at your files, and i have no idea what order of flashing should another custom rom be.
However, i can only assume that these files are flashed BEFORE the custom ROM?
As in -> recovery -> Kernel & modem -> Custom Rom.
In this order?
These aren't flashable update.zips they're just guts to insert into a pre-made update.zip.
As far as on-the-go flashing with a Captivate... it's the only way to fly ;D
Still confused on how to use this
so the kernel is the zimage file in the update folder, is that correct? and the modem is the modem.bin? those are the files I would need to replace
wvumaniac79 said:
Still confused on how to use this
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I've got it. So i drop the zimage inside the kernel_update folder and leave the redband thing?
I would very much like to try this but am a bit confuzzled Can I download and flash or do I have to do some adding and things. I"m under the impression that I have to mod some more after I download these... would be quite nice to have these w/ the stock zimage or whatever already in the zip...that's just me..mostly because I'm at work and would really like to reflash a rom right now.
Someone please post a step-by-step guide to using this please...
Am confused and without help right now...
Thanks
i agree a step by step would be great
+1 for a step by step!!!

[Q] CWM Recovery needs some tweaks?

Hey all, I'm not sure if it belongs in the Dev section, but CWM itself is in here so what the hey.
I was wondering if either there was a better recovery out there, or if some tweaks were being made to CWM.
Couple things I noticed that really bother me: When flashing .zip's from CWM you have to have it in the /Removeable/MicroSD folder. Which would be fine but without tweaking the tablet, nothing just goes and downloads there. On my Evo I use Amon RA (Or something along those lines) that looks just like CWM but when you go to flash from SD, it allows you to go through folders to find out where you want to go.
I would also like to see someone tweak it to allow like my Evo's Recovery, is a file explorer in recovery. So using the home button I believe it is, you can use copy, paste, and delete. This way if you need to move something or delete you don't have to reboot into the tablet.
I think there is a few others, but wondering if there is some future tweaks to it, or if anyone knows of other recovery's that work nicer.
Nesiop said:
Hey all, I'm not sure if it belongs in the Dev section, but CWM itself is in here so what the hey.
I was wondering if either there was a better recovery out there, or if some tweaks were being made to CWM.
Couple things I noticed that really bother me: When flashing .zip's from CWM you have to have it in the /Removeable/MicroSD folder. Which would be fine but without tweaking the tablet, nothing just goes and downloads there. On my Evo I use Amon RA (Or something along those lines) that looks just like CWM but when you go to flash from SD, it allows you to go through folders to find out where you want to go.
I would also like to see someone tweak it to allow like my Evo's Recovery, is a file explorer in recovery. So using the home button I believe it is, you can use copy, paste, and delete. This way if you need to move something or delete you don't have to reboot into the tablet.
I think there is a few others, but wondering if there is some future tweaks to it, or if anyone knows of other recovery's that work nicer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would say this does belong in the dev section, there is a dedicated thread for the TF-optimised CWM recovery in there. Have a look there and see what's what.

[Q] way to make update.zip recognized by stock recovery system

Hi,
Is there way to make update.zip file which can be recognized by stock recovery system? For example, if I look at "nook_1_1_update.zip" by Barnes&Nobles, the zip file has same structure as the zip files for CWM.
So, I took my CWM-working update.zip, and renamed it xxxx_update.zip and pasted into the Nook folder. It seems nooktouch recognize it but it says "book file is not recognized" or something like that. Then if I check the Nook folder, the file is gone.
I think it might be a compression issue (I used 7zip on win7). or some necessary files in update.zip? I will appreciate any of your inputs. Thanks.
My guess is that B&N actually checks the file signature
I might be wrong tho..
Custom Update
If you ever make this work you could use it to make your own custom updates!
Torimu.Joji said:
If you ever make this work you could use it to make your own custom updates!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't understand what it means. If I make a working one, someone else can use it, right? My ultimate goal is to add Korean support to the stock reader (Korean fonts and Korean keyboard) with the simplest possible way and help Korean people to use it. I made a CWM-update.zip which replaces existing fonts with Korean supporting fonts, and it works (Thanks mali100 for his suggestion). But in order to do that, people have to write CWM on SD card and copy the update.zip. But some people even feel scared to write images to SD card. Also it is inconvenient to clear SD card which already stores a lot of books. I am just poking around if there's better way to do that. Thanks.
herofmm said:
I don't understand what it means. If I make a working one, someone else can use it, right? My ultimate goal is to add Korean support to the stock reader (Korean fonts and Korean keyboard) with the simplest possible way and help Korean people to use it. I made a CWM-update.zip which replaces existing fonts with Korean supporting fonts, and it works (Thanks mali100 for his suggestion). But in order to do that, people have to write CWM on SD card and copy the update.zip. But some people even feel scared to write images to SD card. Also it is inconvenient to clear SD card which already stores a lot of books. I am just poking around if there's better way to do that. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What I meant was, that someday someone might be able to use that to make it easier to root the NST.
Torimu.Joji said:
What I meant was, that someday someone might be able to use that to make it easier to root the NST.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My apology. I thought it was sort of sarcasm. Yeah, it will be ideal to do that. However, I start to think that what ros83 was saying is right. It might need a special code to generate the working one.
Anyway dreaming of someday when we have Eink-optimized ICS on Nook Touch. Thanks all for reply.

[Q] Nexus writes every file twice

So, I noticed that apparently I was running low on space on my 16GB model and was wondering what the reason for that might be since I haven't put that many files on my phone.
Found out that my Nexus writes every file i put on it twice, one in /storage/emulated/0 and one in /storage/emulated/legacy.
After a little google searchI found out that this seems to be caused by the multiple user feature of 4.2 and apparently the old clockworkmod recovery that I was running.
Question is: how do I get it back to write in only one directory (I suppose /0 is supposed to be the main one?)
Running latest TWRP now, btw...
Apfelschale said:
So, I noticed that apparently I was running low on space on my 16GB model and was wondering what the reason for that might be since I haven't put that many files on my phone.
Found out that my Nexus writes every file i put on it twice, one in /storage/emulated/0 and one in /storage/emulated/legacy.
After a little google searchI found out that this seems to be caused by the multiple user feature of 4.2 and apparently the old clockworkmod recovery that I was running.
Question is: how do I get it back to write in only one directory (I suppose /0 is supposed to be the main one?)
Running latest TWRP now, btw...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe those 2 paths that you mentioned point to a single physical location. I don't remember which one but one of them is just a virtual path. So your files are not written twice.
To find out what's using up your space, use an app like DiskUsage. More often than not, it's files in your Download folder, your Nandroid backups, and/or other recovery flashable zips.
Ah, I see. You're right, the clockwork backups took all the space. Thanks

Can't Modify SecContacts_M_OSup_Note_Legacy_USA.apk

Background: Really not loving the default New Contact icons and the random colors. Should be easy enough to change. What I tried (and failed miserably...)
MODest ROM 11 (Twiz/stock 6.01-based)
Flashpoint 5 Kernel
Copied SecContacts_M_OSup_Note_Legacy_USA.apk from
/system/priv-app/SecContacts_M_OSup_Note_Legacy_USA/
to my Win7 PC.
Used 7-Zip to unpack the file to a temporary folder.
Found the .qmg files I didn't like.
Found a .qmg that would be a passable replacement for the ones I didn't dig.
Made 11 copies of that image in a working folder.
Renamed each copy to the exact name of each of the 11 files I wanted to replace.
Dragged those 11 files back into the open .apk in 7-Zip
On the Phone, in Root Explorer:
Made a copy of SecContacts_M_OSup_Note_Legacy_USA.apk in the same folder:
/system/priv-app/SecContacts_M_OSup_Note_Legacy_USA/
deleted the original
Copied my mod'd apk back into this folder and set the perms.
Rebooted.
No Phone or Contacts on home screen or in Apps
Tried to 'install' the apk from Root Explorer.
Wouldn't install
Tried to delete cache & Dalvik from TWRP.
No Joy.
Tried to do a partial Nandroid restore of Contacts and sec.phone from Titanium (nothing there called /systempriv-app/SecContacts_M_OSup_Note_Legacy_USA)
No Joy.
Nandroid restore from TWRP.
Back to normal.
Okay, what did I do wrong, and how can I change the icons?
Should I have used APKTook instead of 7-Zip, created a new signature, etc?
Should my mod'd apk somehow be flashed from recovery rather than copied to a system folder?
Is this some perverted Samsung-ism that would have worked fine on any other phone on the planet?
Thanks for reading.
ForestCat said:
Background: Really not loving the default New Contact icons and the random colors. Should be easy enough to change. What I tried (and failed miserably...)
MODest ROM 11 (Twiz/stock 6.01-based)
Flashpoint 5 Kernel
Copied SecContacts_M_OSup_Note_Legacy_USA.apk from
/system/priv-app/SecContacts_M_OSup_Note_Legacy_USA/
to my Win7 PC.
Used 7-Zip to unpack the file to a temporary folder.
Found the .qmg files I didn't like.
Found a .qmg that would be a passable replacement for the ones I didn't dig.
Made 11 copies of that image in a working folder.
Renamed each copy to the exact name of each of the 11 files I wanted to replace.
Dragged those 11 files back into the open .apk in 7-Zip
On the Phone, in Root Explorer:
Made a copy of SecContacts_M_OSup_Note_Legacy_USA.apk in the same folder:
/system/priv-app/SecContacts_M_OSup_Note_Legacy_USA/
deleted the original
Copied my mod'd apk back into this folder and set the perms.
Rebooted.
No Phone or Contacts on home screen or in Apps
Tried to 'install' the apk from Root Explorer.
Wouldn't install
Tried to delete cache & Dalvik from TWRP.
No Joy.
Tried to do a partial Nandroid restore of Contacts and sec.phone from Titanium (nothing there called /systempriv-app/SecContacts_M_OSup_Note_Legacy_USA)
No Joy.
Nandroid restore from TWRP.
Back to normal.
Okay, what did I do wrong, and how can I change the icons?
Should I have used APKTook instead of 7-Zip, created a new signature, etc?
Should my mod'd apk somehow be flashed from recovery rather than copied to a system folder?
Is this some perverted Samsung-ism that would have worked fine on any other phone on the planet?
Thanks for reading.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That apk took me a long time to figure out too. It's one of the apps you I had to modify for multi dpi. The only way I know of is to change the compression when you're putting the app back together and even then it took a couple tries. There's probably a better way but the compression change seems to work well enough.
I don't know if 7-zip has this option, but with winrar you can change the compression to "store". You should know right away whether or not it worked. You'll see the little phone icon in the bottom left of the lock screen. You may still have to do a factory reset to see your changes (probably not though) but the app should work without it.
By the way, you can swap those image files for .png files if you'd like. Just delete the corresponding .qmg or .pio file.
I saw your post in the rom thread about theming TouchWiz. You should check out @supergrobi94's theming threads. He's put together an impressive collection of options for 6.0.1 and 5.1.1 and there's also a [how to] section that uses the vrtheme zip that will modify the res folder of a specific app without having to break it down. I'm not sure how active he is these days but he's always been very helpful with requests and questions in the past if you need it.
Supergrobi94's theming threads:
This one has all the themes
This is the [how to] thread
kevintm78 said:
That apk took me a long time to figure out too. It's one of the apps you I had to modify for multi dpi. The only way I know of is to change the compression when you're putting the app back together and even then it took a couple tries. There's probably a better way but the compression change seems to work well enough.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, that makes perfect sense. But I'd never have figured it out myself, lol.
I'll dig into those theming threads, thanks.
kevintm78 said:
☆☆Edge Panel for ModestRom v11☆☆
DOWNLOAD-This will change your Contacts app to the S6 version and the IncallUI app to the Note 7 version because the people stripe will not work with the N4 contacts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, this is from the MODest ROM thread, but I think it's germain here.
SO.....
If I want to 'try out' that Edge Panel, is there a way to revert back to the stock apps in question other than restoring a nandroid backup or re-flashing the ROM?
I ask because I'm thinking that, at least in the case of the Note 4 and its well known memory problems, 'bulk' memory writes like ROMs, nandroid retores, etc., stress the device, so I'm trying not to do it more than I have to.
During my last episode(see above) putting the stock apk back in its original folder didn't work.
Is there a standard procedure for either android generically, or touchwiz specifically, for safely reverting back to the stock system apps after experimenting w/ custom stuff?
EDIT: Just tried something. In Root Explorer, went into:
/system/priv-app/SecContacts_M_OSup_Note_Legacy_USA/
and simply renamed the .apk to .foo
Rebooted.
No Contacts, as expected, but no Phone either??? Not sure why.
Anyway, back into Root Explorer.
Rename .foo back to .apk
Reboot.
Still no Contacts or Phone, so something bigger at work here.
Before I have to restore Nandroid anyway (unless there's a better way???),
I flashed your EdgePanel.zip in TWRP to see if it would restore the Phone/Contacts apps.
Wiped the cache. Reboot.
Edge Panel is now there, but still no Phone or Contacts. WTF???
Last resort-TWRP- Factory Reset.
Now the Contacts/Phone are back (and all my other stuff is gone, lol)
So is whacking the Data a necessity here?
If so, it makes trying out things related to the phone/contacts a LOT more tedious...
Any workaround???
Thanks again.
ForestCat said:
OK, this is from the MODest ROM thread, but I think it's germain here.
SO.....
If I want to 'try out' that Edge Panel, is there a way to revert back to the stock apps in question other than restoring a nandroid backup or re-flashing the ROM?
I ask because I'm thinking that, at least in the case of the Note 4 and its well known memory problems, 'bulk' memory writes like ROMs, nandroid retores, etc., stress the device, so I'm trying not to do it more than I have to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it doesn't look like I ever made an easy way to go back. I had thought I did but I'm either overlooking it or it's not there. Feel free to rifle through my androidfilehost folders if you want to double check. All of my stuff is very organized so it could be buried in there somewhere.
If you still need a recovery zip let me know and I'll get one together. I'm actually going to make one anyway but if you need it right away I can get on it. I didn't realize that there wasn't a way back to stock.
ForestCat said:
During my last episode(see above) putting the stock apk back in its original folder didn't work.
Is there a standard procedure for either android generically, or touchwiz specifically, for safely reverting back to the stock system apps after experimenting w/ custom stuff?
EDIT: Just tried something. In Root Explorer, went into:
/system/priv-app/SecContacts_M_OSup_Note_Legacy_USA/
and simply renamed the .apk to .foo
Rebooted.
No Contacts, as expected, but no Phone either??? Not sure why.
Anyway, back into Root Explorer.
Rename .foo back to .apk
Reboot.
Still no Contacts or Phone, so something bigger at work here.
Before I have to restore Nandroid anyway (unless there's a better way???),
I flashed your EdgePanel.zip in TWRP to see if it would restore the Phone/Contacts apps.
Wiped the cache. Reboot.
Edge Panel is now there, but still no Phone or Contacts. WTF???
Last resort-TWRP- Factory Reset.
Now the Contacts/Phone are back (and all my other stuff is gone, lol)
So is whacking the Data a necessity here?
If so, it makes trying out things related to the phone/contacts a LOT more tedious...
Any workaround???
Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is strange that they are not coming back. You may just want to double check your permissions and that there isn't two of the same apps in your folder. At the time of making that Edge zip I was still using other programs to make zips for me and the major downside to that is having to name the new apps the exact same as the old so it would get overwritten so if it doesn't match you'll end up with two active apps in one folder.
Now I think the best way to do that is to use a binary script (osm0sis has great tutorials for this) to change the app getting replaced to a .bak file and then just copy the new app to the system, set perms, and reboot (dalvik cache/ cache needs to be wiped if it's a framework .jar file). But to each their own. If you can get the job done a better way then I would use what you're comfortable with.
My system to test apps isn't much difference than yours. I think the only thing I do differently is change the app to be replaced to .bak instead of .foo although I can't imagine there's much difference. There's been a few apps like the Contacts app that gave me a bunch of trouble when modifying them but I can't remember ever having trouble bringing back the stock app. I wish I had more insight on that situation for you. If push comes to shove I would reflash the rom zip over factory reset only because the factory reset won't correct the system partition problem, if that's what's going on in this case.
kevintm78 said:
If you still need a recovery zip let me know and I'll get one together..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First, Merry Christmas!
Thanks very much. No rush on that, I'm OK on the Edge version for the minute.
What would be extremely useful if you have some time/curiousity would be to replicate my steps, ie renaming the untouched apk in a fresh MODest flash (i.e. break the contacts/phone function), and then see if you can get the whole thing working again without a factory reset, or if not, why. I see on xda, you & I are not the first ones to be tripping over this contacts.apk issue.
The other thing that would be telling is after successfully installing the Edge.zip, whether you can modify something (like a picture) within the contacts apk within the zip, reflash the zip and have contacts/phone still working with the change active.
I think there just HAS to be abetter way than Factory Resets.
Thanks so much again for the insights. I really want to become at least minimally competent at hacking my own ROMs together so I don't have to feel like such a noob/mooch on here, but I really do appreciate the help.
What are your weapons/platform of choice, or, if there are better tools for noobs learning the ropes, I'm all ears.
EDIT: Just found this. The last post is interesting...
https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s5/devs-only/recompile-seccontacts-apk-t3377142/page2
ForestCat said:
First, Merry Christmas!
Thanks very much. No rush on that, I'm OK on the Edge version for the minute.
What would be extremely useful if you have some time/curiousity would be to replicate my steps, ie renaming the untouched apk in a fresh MODest flash (i.e. break the contacts/phone function), and then see if you can get the whole thing working again without a factory reset, or if not, why. I see on xda, you & I are not the first ones to be tripping over this contacts.apk issue.
The other thing that would be telling is after successfully installing the Edge.zip, whether you can modify something (like a picture) within the contacts apk within the zip, reflash the zip and have contacts/phone still working with the change active.
I think there just HAS to be abetter way than Factory Resets.
Thanks so much again for the insights. I really want to become at least minimally competent at hacking my own ROMs together so I don't have to feel like such a noob/mooch on here, but I really do appreciate the help.
What are your weapons/platform of choice, or, if there are better tools for noobs learning the ropes, I'm all ears.
EDIT: Just found this. The last post is interesting...
https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s5/devs-only/recompile-seccontacts-apk-t3377142/page2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not exactly sure what's going on with your contacts app not showing back up. Ever since modestrom v8 (I think) I've been doing the multi dpi on SecContacts_M_OSup_Note_Legacy_USA and every time I would test it doing the same as your way. After a reboot if the modified app was no good, then I would just delete that new app and change the name of the old app back to .apk, reboot and it would work again. I can't remember running in to any problems where I would have to factory reset or reflash the rom to get things working again.
There has been a couple times where I've had to factory reset to get a color change to show up or if you're adding toggles to the QS drop down that also (sometimes) requires a factory reset to show up.
As far as the post you linked, that is exactly how I do it except I use winrar to open the newly compiled app and drag the changes to the original. When I drag the changes over I change the compression method from "normal" to "store". If I don't change the compression the app doesn't work for me. The apps that I've ran into where I had to change the compression are: secContacts, secCamera, secSettings, and framework-res.apk. Any other app that I've worked on can be dragged and dropped without compression changes.
Jar files don't need an original signature though (so long as signature verification has been disabled, which it has in modestrom). They can be decompiled, edited, recompiled, and copied to the system. It does require a dalvik cache/cache wipe though on all framework files except for the framework-res.apk and twframework-res.apk
If you get a chance, you should start using apktool to decompile/recompile. It will make things easier for you in the long run and most of the time if you've made any mistakes in your edits apktool will catch it. If you're not familiar with apktool you can try using Tickle My Android or Advanced Apktool. You may also want to get Apktool by itself. I use all three of them. Android can be fickle and sometimes what works with one app won't work with another. What's nice about TMA and Advanced Apktool is that they'll do the drag and drop method for you, but when the compression needs to be changed that's when I use apktool by itself.
Sorry for the word vomit. Hopefully, this all makes sense.

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