Database Users

ROM XIP porting issues and a proposal for a Wiki tutorial

OK, even mods need guidance on using the search function. Is there a comprehensive ROM porting tutorial out there which uses the latest tools? I've seen some for the Atom as well as the Trinity and Kaiser, but I'm working on porting a ROM for my Wizard, and I'm getting nowhere when it comes to the XIP section. It would take a full day to write down what all I've tried, so I'll try to give the short version and ask for help from there.
Anon. said:
Now, are you looking to port only the core OS? If so, it's fairly easy. The hardest part is the work to the XIP. Porting the XIP will require that you use RomMaster to extract the XIP.bin of the source ROM and the destination ROM, and then use XIPPORT to dump the XIP of both, then click "Write Maps" on both. Use the Make Packages button to separate the XIP into its packages, and in both the Files and Modules of the dump, replace MSXIPKERNEL of the destination with the source. Then use M'Reloc.exe to relocate the modules to the same as the original (if they differ) and also manually make the same changes to imageinfo.txt of each module. Click Undo to take the files out of packages, and Realloc P. If all goes well, there will be no errors. Look in Map.txt and see if there are no !!!!!.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I do this using the CE OS 5.2.308 (Build 15342) as the donor ROM and CE OS 5.2.1413 (Build 17745) as the new ROM, I'm getting !!!!! due to a strange address issue with hd.dll in that m'reloc reports that the physical address is wrong and will not relocate the module. I dumped both xip.bin's using 0x00310000 as the address so this may be wrong but right now I'm pretty lost.
I hope this isn't gibberish. Any help is welcome.

OM
I have been looking for a tutorial on Rom porting..could you please list the Tools required and where is the whole Tutorial

jwzg said:
OK, even mods need guidance on using the search function. Is there a comprehensive ROM porting tutorial out there which uses the latest tools? I've seen some for the Atom as well as the Trinity and Kaiser, but I'm working on porting a ROM for my Wizard, and I'm getting nowhere when it comes to the XIP section. It would take a full day to write down what all I've tried, so I'll try to give the short version and ask for help from there.
When I do this using the CE OS 5.2.308 (Build 15342) as the donor ROM and CE OS 5.2.1413 (Build 17745) as the new ROM, I'm getting !!!!! due to a strange address issue with hd.dll in that m'reloc reports that the physical address is wrong and will not relocate the module. I dumped both xip.bin's using 0x00310000 as the address so this may be wrong but right now I'm pretty lost.
I hope this isn't gibberish. Any help is welcome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you can translate from polish - there are:
http://www.mobione.pl/index.php?page=porting_ROM_porting
http://forum.mobione.pl/index.php/topic,3319.0.html

I don't read Polish. Anyway, my test device was dropped today, and I may have to put my only good one on the line.

Kitchen Repository

Well, I guess I will contribute with something...
There are way too many kitchens out there (all scattered in the different device forums). Now, since this is "Chef Central", I figured that we needed the kitchens for the Chefs to cook. Without further ado, I present you with... the kitchens.
[highlight]PPCKitchen.org:[/highlight]
Easy to use for the beginner...
http://www.ppckitchen.org
[highlight]Ivanmmj SuperJust Kitchen (thanks +QuePPC and kokotas):[/highlight]
Multi-Device Kitchen
http://justkitchen.info/main/index.php
[highlight]osKitchen:[/highlight]
New kitchen based on bepe's work (thanks mwalt2)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=628948
[highlight]Ervius Visual Kitchen (EVK)thanks mwalt2)[/highlight]
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=469420
[highlight]Wallaby (Peter Poelman):[/highlight]
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=219037
[highlight]Blue Angel:[/highlight]
Latest: 28230 by sun_dream
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=428030
Swampy395 Porting Kitchen
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=587446&highlight=porting
[highlight]Himalaya:[/highlight]
Latest: 28230 by sun_dream
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=519129
[highlight]Wizard:[/highlight]
Not really a single kitchen but xda2_haseeb made a nice guide with links to some kitchens for the Wizard.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=501941
[highlight]Universal: (thanks orb3000)[/highlight]
ROM Kitchen v2.0 by Tomal: Next generation Kitchen for Universal
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=476544
[highlight]Raphael:[/highlight]
Resources and kitchens lumped together by hilaireg
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=582134
[highlight]Polaris:[/highlight]
Not really a single kitchen but cruiserrr made a nice guide with links to some kitchens for the Polaris.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=648171
Now, I am not going to scan the whole site for kitchens, so this is where we all have to pitch in. I know I am missing a few of the multi-device kitchens, but if we all contribute with kitchens for different devices, we can have a nice little resource for many new aspiring chefs...
Let's get cookin'!

Opinions
I decided to make post #2 as an Opinions Page. I will link the posts from each and every one of you that talks good or bad about a kitchen over here.
[highlight]Visual Kitchen[/highlight]
player911
[highlight]Polaris Chef Corner[/highlight]
cruiserrr

One more for the road...

NRGZ28 said:
I think we'll need to neatly catergorize these kitchen collections later on. Maybe we'll them all in the first post of this thread, or we can create another one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can update the first post as needed. I actually left two more posts after that just in case I run into space issues. I am thinking, one or two posts for device specific kitchens and one for generic kitchens. What do you think?

dXsL said:
excellent initiative, tnx!
wouldn't mind more pro's/con's per kitchen but also realize that is subject to personal experience and/or (strong) opinion
so perhaps only mention the pro's?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 on this.
PRO's/CON's can be easily worded such that it isn't considered a personal attack.
I would rather know about the CON's and how to work-around them than spend hours in trial-and-error. If a member decides to select a certain kitchen, at least they know what they are "getting into".
M2C's Worth,
* EDIT *
@egzthunder1:
BTW; if you need extra empty posts near the top of your thread, let me or another moderator know and we'll make it happen.

hilaireg said:
+1 on this.
PRO's/CON's can be easily worded such that it isn't considered a personal attack.
I would rather know about the CON's and how to work-around them than spend hours in trial-and-error. If a member decides to select a certain kitchen, at least they know what they are "getting into".
M2C's Worth,
* EDIT *
@egzthunder1:
BTW; if you need extra empty posts near the top of your thread, let me or another moderator know and we'll make it happen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks hilaireg, I might have to bother you regarding the extra posts if this grows as much as I fear it will .
As far as the pro/cons... well, we could do this in such a way that only people who have used the kitchens in question can post them in this thread, so they can give their points of view. I personally have had time to play with 3 of the kitchens that I have posted and used a few tools of another one, but I guess I can add this to the first post and you guys let me know what you think:
"If you are going to post a kitchen in this thread, please be kind enough to give your opinions on it (likes, dislikes, hard to use, buggy, best kitchen ever... well, you know what I mean). This way, new coming chefs will not have to go through the pain of trial and error"

egzthunder1 said:
Thanks hilaireg, I might have to bother you regarding the extra posts if this grows as much as I fear it will .
As far as the pro/cons... well, we could do this in such a way that only people who have used the kitchens in question can post them in this thread, so they can give their points of view. I personally have had time to play with 3 of the kitchens that I have posted and used a few tools of another one, but I guess I can add this to the first post and you guys let me know what you think:
"If you are going to post a kitchen in this thread, please be kind enough to give your opinions on it (likes, dislikes, hard to use, buggy, best kitchen ever... well, you know what I mean). This way, new coming chefs will not have to go through the pain of trial and error"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No worries ... let me know once you decide on the format for this thread. Have a look at this thread; might give you some ideas of what could be done for this:
Sous-Chef's Kitchen Utensils & Appliances Review
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=651026

I use Visual Kitchen
I chose visual kitchen because that was what Da_G used and started me out on. Here are my thoughts:
_________PRO_________
- GUI interface to visually select/deselect packages
- Expandable with Programmable Extra Buttons to ease sorting and cooking stuff
- Allows users to select multiple builds, Lanuages, packages, etc using drop down boxes
- Save/Load configurations and settings
- Robust, Organized and Complete
_________CON_________
- File structure has to be intact or it will fail
- Have to know the building procedure to make sure custom files aren't overwritten
- Packages are in folders, so finding a specific file can be tedious
- Can be overwhelming and confusing to get it setup initially from scratch
I would recommend using this kitchen as it pretty nice. Now of course I say that without using any other kitchen to compare it to... but it does everything I need thus no need to look elsewhere.
_________TIPS_________
EXT folder = Packages (Games/HTC Apps/HTC Dialer/Etc). Additional apps outside of stock MS stuff
OEM folder = Phone specific stuff, OEM customizations, tweaks (usually left alone)
ROM folder = Basic building blocks for WM builds. Has basic device and WM drivers (MSXipKernel updated when SYS gets updated)
SYS folder = WM Build. Contains all the stuff that is stock MS products (updated to change to newer builds)
- Starting out as a new chef... I would suggest that you find a Fully working kitchen designed for your device that is fairly new and updated. Once you can create a working rom, you can then slowly start to expand it by adding more packages and features.
- Don't add too much at once. If you do, and it fails... you'll have to troubleshoot what you added and that can be tedious. It helps to add new packages in groups of 5... so you can test specific parts of the rom before continuing. You'll be surprised that 1 screwed up file can keep your kitchen from completing the building process. Keep that in mind.
- The "EXT" folder is optional and gets updated the most. OEM, ROM, and SYS folders are the only folders really required. Knowing this can allow you to build a very very basic stock Windows build designed for your device. If you have any problems building or flashing, try disabling all of the packages in the EXT folder. If your very very very basic rom still doesn't work... then your "base" kitchen is screwed up. This can be harder to fix.
- Make frequent backups of your "Base" kitchen in the event you screwed something up. I usually will remove the EXT folder and ZIP up the rest in an archive on a memory stick. I update my backup archives after a successful upgrade/edit/tweak of the "base".

player911 said:
I use Visual Kitchen
I chose visual kitchen because that was what Da_G used and started me out on. Here are my thoughts:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Updated post #2. Thanks player911!

Hi man!
I think you could add vistang's multidevice kitchen too :
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=573778
I'm not the right person for a review, but I'm sure one of the guys who used it will be up to the task
Best Regards!

Hi, if you check the link in my signature (Polaris chef corner) you will find quite a few polaris specific kitchens

cruiserrr said:
Hi, if you check the link in my signature (Polaris chef corner) you will find quite a few polaris specific kitchens
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks cruiserrr for the links. I updated the first post.
Can you give us some insights (in the format in the first page) of pros/cons for some of these kitchens? I don't have a Polaris, so I cannot write any comments about them. Thanks.

i dont have the link but there is a Superjust kitchen for sooo much devices in the net...

+ Que PPC said:
i dont have the link but there is a Superjust kitchen for sooo much devices in the net...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is that the name of the kitchen?

egzthunder1 said:
Is that the name of the kitchen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is the link : ivanmmj's SuperJustKitchen
(Supported devices : Artemis , Elfin , Herald , Hermes , Opal)
Regards!

kokotas said:
Here is the link : ivanmmj's SuperJustKitchen
(Supported devices : Artemis , Elfin , Herald , Hermes , Opal)
Regards!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the link. I will update the first post. Any pros/cons opinions about this?

egzthunder1 said:
Thanks for the link. I will update the first post. Any pros/cons opinions about this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well it is a kitchen based on OsKitchen by OndraSter&airxtreme!
ps:check post #10 too

egzthunder1 said:
Thanks cruiserrr for the links. I updated the first post.
Can you give us some insights (in the format in the first page) of pros/cons for some of these kitchens? I don't have a Polaris, so I cannot write any comments about them. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I am not a seasoned cooker but I have updated the polaris chef corner 1st post with my view of each kitchen. Please feel free to take the text if you find it interesting. Most of polaris kitchen's are 26016 EVK kitchens with old kernel, I guess based on gullum's kitchen the first one the share the polaris kitchen for wm6.5. Most of them are based on mega packages. There is one from amenatis based on leo packages but is not 100% completed in english since it is a french kitchen (however, is the one I used as the basis).
For the rest, there are a few other kitchens like vistangs but it seems ondraster kitchen is growing each day. The best one for me is TomAngel's Ondraster kitchen: like any Ondraster's kitchen it has an easy set up of splashscreen and this kinds of things and allows you to cook in several languages at a time. It also has a nice documentation of packages. Additionally TomAngel included a 6.5 native kernel that we are currently testing a few cookers in Polaris but that seems to work and my end with our recmodding hobby.
I personally like better EVK UI but I must say ondraster is also a good solution (and I have "stolen" the kernel from there). I would be glad to share my kitchen I use my own method of cooking shortcuts and tweaks with cmd and mortscript scripts both in the ppc and the pc, so my packages have no app.dat and no png and very few reg files.

cruiserrr said:
Well, I am not a seasoned cooker but I have updated the polaris chef corner 1st post with my view of each kitchen. Please feel free to take the text if you find it interesting. Most of polaris kitchen's are 26016 EVK kitchens with old kernel, I guess based on gullum's kitchen the first one the share the polaris kitchen for wm6.5. Most of them are based on mega packages. There is one from amenatis based on leo packages but is not 100% completed in english since it is a french kitchen (however, is the one I used as the basis).
For the rest, there are a few other kitchens like vistangs but it seems ondraster kitchen is growing each day. The best one for me is TomAngel's Ondraster kitchen: like any Ondraster's kitchen it has an easy set up of splashscreen and this kinds of things and allows you to cook in several languages at a time. It also has a nice documentation of packages. Additionally TomAngel included a 6.5 native kernel that we are currently testing a few cookers in Polaris but that seems to work and my end with our recmodding hobby.
I personally like better EVK UI but I must say ondraster is also a good solution (and I have "stolen" the kernel from there). I would be glad to share my kitchen I use my own method of cooking shortcuts and tweaks with cmd and mortscript scripts both in the ppc and the pc, so my packages have no app.dat and no png and very few reg files.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am putting your review with the others (not that it follows the format that I want, but it is good enough for me )

egzthunder1 said:
I am putting your review with the others (not that it follows the format that I want, but it is good enough for me )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, I think it is interesting to share: I can confirm that cooking for Polaris with the kernel shared by TomAngel requires not any recmodding at all !!!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=6135182&postcount=27
Do not know if it works for other devices with old kernel, To try import in your kitchen and tell the machine is true kernel

[SOLVED] Dumping CDMA ROM?

I'm curious as to why the tools we use to dump ROMs cannot dump CDMA roms (at least for Diamond/Touch Pro) the same way it dumps GSM ROMs. When you dump a CDMA ROM, nothing gets sorted into EXT packages and it all stays in OEM/. Is there a way to make the available tools dump a CDMA ROM like they do GSM ROMs? These are all shipped roms in question.
Mod Edit: change name to solved

mwalt2 said:
I'm curious as to why the tools we use to dump ROMs cannot dump CDMA roms (at least for Diamond/Touch Pro) the same way it dumps GSM ROMs. When you dump a CDMA ROM, nothing gets sorted into EXT packages and it all stays in OEM/. Is there a way to make the available tools dump a CDMA ROM like they do GSM ROMs? These are all shipped roms in question.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, old Touch Pro and Diamond ROMs have all files in OEM*** directories, there are no PACKAGE_*** directories. It's designed to be like this. And you can only sort them manually, no matter what tool you are using.

cnzqy1 said:
Well, old Touch Pro and Diamond ROMs have all files in OEM*** directories, there are no PACKAGE_*** directories. It's designed to be like this. And you can only sort them manually, no matter what tool you are using.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, thanks. I guess HTC was being lazy or something. At least dumpsorter/prekitchen helps some.

it doesnt matters you can transform them into ext with the new Airxtreme tool the unbelievable super duper amazing extraordinary dump sorter or something like that check it is a new thread here
change to solved

Because most older shipped CDMA TouchPro and Diamond roms did not have the dsm or rgu files. No dsm = no PACKAGE_ folder. Basically they were "protected" roms.

+ Que PPC said:
it doesnt matters you can transform them into ext with the new Airxtreme tool the unbelievable super duper amazing extraordinary dump sorter or something like that check it is a new thread here
change to solved
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How would the tool break up all the files from OEMApps (as they are in the roms mentioned by the OP) to separate EXT packages without .dsm and .rgu files?

You must to know things that experienced chef do cause you are ... i mean converting mannually OEM PKGS to EXT but please... OEMAPPS? come on... leave it as is why you want them as an EXT, many things from it are duplicated in XT pkgs like camera files and soem other **** like MMS files... the fact we need to do with our "PRINCIPAL OEM FOLDERS" is... clean them.
Regards

+ Que PPC said:
You must to know things that experienced chef do cause you are ... i mean converting mannually OEM PKGS to EXT but please... OEMAPPS? come on... leave it as is why you want them as an EXT, many things from it are duplicated in XT pkgs like camera files and soem other **** like MMS files... the fact we need to do with our "PRINCIPAL OEM FOLDERS" is... clean them.
Regards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What he is saying is that the files normally segregated into packages (manila, etc.) are just dumped in OEMAPPS, etc. I basically solved it by just dumping a GSM Diamond ROM and using DumpSorter to build packages (well, minus any app.reg/.dat's) from my dump CDMA Victor ROM. I was still left with all of the carrier customized stuff, but that was easier to sort out manually once the main packages were sorted.

+ Que PPC said:
You must to know things that experienced chef do cause you are ... i mean converting mannually OEM PKGS to EXT but please... OEMAPPS? come on... leave it as is why you want them as an EXT, many things from it are duplicated in XT pkgs like camera files and soem other **** like MMS files... the fact we need to do with our "PRINCIPAL OEM FOLDERS" is... clean them.
Regards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You obviously don't understand the issue here. The OP is trying to dump an older CDMA ROM, which doesn't have packages like most newer CDMA and virtually all GSM ROMs. The OP was asking why they wern't dumped into packages, and as cnzqy1 pointed out, they were never built with individual packages. All the application files, including ezInput, Manila, Opera, Album, etc are in OEMApps. However, you've stated that it doesn't matter, because of some super duper tool that will sort the packages for you. Unfortunately your theory is flawed, as there are not the appropriate .dsm files to go along with the ezInput, Manila, Opera, and Album files to properly package them, no matter what tool you use. The only real possible option would be to import all the .dsm and .rgu files from a gsm dump into the cdma dump, and then use some type of dump sorter, and hope that the .rgu were close enough to work. The simple fact however, is in this case, it really won't work as you've suggested. Take it from someone who has built many custom roms in days past from just this type of dump.

Oh I understand now what you all saying thanks for clarify the point

Please help me start out - Rhodium Rom

Ok, I came to the point where I would like to see if it's possible to cook my own rom. There is, however, so much (cluttered) information around the forum and I just have no idea where to start. I did figure some stuff out, but with everything I find out I also get more questions. I hope I'm allowed to ask these here.
Windows Mobile / Sense:
I am planning to begin flashing a rom only for my phone: Rhodium / Touch Pro 2. I just don't realy get how I can get the latest version of windows mobile (the on with the start menu at the top left) and sense (2.5.2015 ?). The stock roms I can find for Rhodium contain older versions.
Kitchens:
There are quite some kitchens out there, even those that do a lot of work for you. To understand everything, however, I would rather get a kitchen with only the essential tools. This way I am hoping to understand what steps are needed for the cooking. What kitchen would be recommended for this?
Terms
There are lots of terms around, but for some of them I can't figure out what exactly they are.
- XIP
- SYS
- OEM
Thanks!
~Sph

For WM, you should find the newest version of COM2 build, which is Build 21905 at this moment. It seems that not mentioned in XDA, but you could Google for that.
I think you should be able to use these essential tools, often refer as "old style" kitchen
ImgfsFromDump
xidump (ImgfsToDump) and DMP2PKG
osnbtool
BuildOS
EXTReloc
XIPPort
maybe there are more tools when you need to repack back to nbh format
For Terms, you should read Da_G's post here
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=544445

I will tell you this....
read the tutorials... check the main stickie
read eve you dont understand nothing... then when you want to start trying things, you can ask.. with some knowledge.. the lates kitchen to date is Oskitchen by airxtreme and osbuilder.. i guess

Not to be mean but like +Que PPC said READ FIRST you should have look for information first and found this answers by your self ... Now about the systems and xip ext, sys, modules, cabs and all other stuff like that you will learn them when you start working on a kitchen.
About the kitchens there are various kitchens it just deppends which one you want to choose, all the kitchens will help you create your rom and customise it, and also one recomendation and requirement that you should have in order to create your own rom and that is patience and time, because you will need to look for alot of info and also looking for fixes and customisation and all of that.
Here is another kitchen that I recomended thanks to +Que PPC with the tutorial with videos in english made by me.
HTML:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=669535
PS. Search & read first

XIP = eXicuteInPlace -- it's the core of the entire OS. Without it you got nothing.
XIP is made up of 2 main parts:
oemxipkernel - device specific
msxipkernel - build specific to SYS version
SYS is basically all the microsoft files
OEM is basically all the device specific files, and nonMS applications
If you have a CDMA Touch Pro 2, I have a kitchen here all set up for you:
http://www.mobileunderground.info/showthread.php?t=12797
If you have GSM, you will need to change out some components of the kitchen, specifically xip and oemdrivers, plus a few other things.

[Q] Problem: No changes take effect in cooked ROM in EVK!

Hi pals
I Cooked a WM6.1 19971 Official ROM for OPAL in Ervius Visual Kitchen. The cooked ROM seems quite alright except that:
1.The original ROM was about 100MB while despite the fact that I added a lot of packages, the cooked ROM is about 80MB.
2.None of my packages exist in the cooked ROM when I flash it.
Can you tell me what the problem is?

The smaller size is fine.
What do you mean packages not there?
Are the files not in the windows folder or are you just missing shortcuts?

mnvoh said:
2.None of my packages exist in the cooked ROM when I flash it.
Can you tell me what the problem is?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What?!...EVK generates a build_log...look at this, and u'll see, what's in your rom.
Cannot belive that u've applied packages in EVK they wouldn't cook in....strange.

It is happened to me too in the beginning when i was cooking for kaiser and tried to cook inside HTC Mega packages with Manila 2d...i solved it using OsKitchen,lol.

af974 said:
.i solved it using OsKitchen,lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry...but usin' OSKitchen is still hard work in my opinion. Maybe others think similar to me, and please forgive me @airxtreme!
But still the best kitchen in my opinion is EVK....

Its not true,
OsKitchen compared to any other Kitchen is much more easy to use expecially for newbie users.
EVK it is much complete.
Which is the best between one and another its only a personal taste.
icke said:
Sorry...but usin' OSKitchen is still hard work in my opinion. Maybe others think similar to me, and please forgive me @airxtreme!
But still the best kitchen in my opinion is EVK....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Kitchen
I can`t understand that someone say the os kitchen is to difficult
I work with these kitchen hours and days and no problems whatsoever and easys`t do use, if someone got problem to use this kitchen,live the finger from cooking

af974 said:
Which is the best between one and another its only a personal taste.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And that's what i said!
For new's, maybe OSKitchen is easier to use...but still beta.

Speak is free and give opinions too...but please people dont start flaming about kitchens.
I mean about what in red....its not nice.
lumisab said:
I can`t understand that someone say the os kitchen is to difficult
I work with these kitchen hours and days and no problems whatsoever and easys`t do use, if someone got problem to use this kitchen,live the finger from cooking
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

While EVK was building the ROM I checked the log it was generating. I saw all my packages. But when I used osKitchen it had problems with the *.dsm file in the packages and said that it's corrupt. I think it's the problem but I used package-creator-v2.7 to convert *.cab files to a package. So obviously the problem is with the package creator.
But on thing that's for sure is that newbies (like me) should stick to osKitchen.

FYI, Barin's OSBuilder has a .dsm autocorrection option.

Well, OsKitchen has its own package creator so all you need is to import your original rom and convert all your cabs again plus it has an auto mui converter,thats mean if that you have some 0410 mui's and you are cooking for 0409 oskitchen wiil rename all the mui for you.It worth a try.
mnvoh said:
While EVK was building the ROM I checked the log it was generating. I saw all my packages. But when I used osKitchen it had problems with the *.dsm file in the packages and said that it's corrupt. I think it's the problem but I used package-creator-v2.7 to convert *.cab files to a package. So obviously the problem is with the package creator.
But on thing that's for sure is that newbies (like me) should stick to osKitchen.
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Click to collapse

Let's state this once for all: Ervius kitchen is basically a GUI to create _skip files that launches a giant batch file that does all the cooking and that needs to be customized for every device: if you created your own _skip files by hand and used a batch file to cook there would be virtually no difference. OsKitchen has a simple GUI by design but that doesn't mean that it isn't orders of magnitude more complete and advanced than ervius kitchen: it does everything from detecting all device/ROM informations without asking anything (the list of supported devices actually has nothing associated to them but the alternative names: no customized fixed, no customized settings, nothing) to cooking with all sorts of checks to prevent bricking or unbootable ROMs and even parsing all the files in the package: if I had proper relocation code (that I was waiting Da_G to write since he knows that stuff better than everybody else) the kitchen could already natively cook its own ROMs. I'm already using all the code I wrote to replace platformrebuilder to implement all sorts of cool stuff like complete validation of all package files and installing packages directly on the phone trough activesync (to avoid having to reflash any time you want to test something) as you can see on the alphas thread, things that on ervius kitchen, where cooking just means running a giant batch file, you could only dream of.
I hope that finally clears the minds of the people saying that ervius is more advanced or complete: it's not, it's just a simple batch file-based kitchen with an unnecessarily complex GUI. It may have some bundled tools that oskitchen doesn't include (like xipporterex, that while works on some NK.EXE wreaks havoc on unofficial native kernel and latest kernels) but having a dedicated button to launch a tool doesn't make a kitchen "more advanced" or "more complete".

No offence and I do appreciate and use your work, but aren't all kitchens just fancy GUI's around a set of batch files and same old imgfstools and platformrebuilder from yesteryear?

pkoper said:
No offence and I do appreciate and use your work, but aren't all kitchens just fancy GUI's around a set of batch files and same old imgfstools and platformrebuilder from yesteryear?
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Not really, I process all the files before feeding them to platformrebuilder hence the recmod/upx/tweaks/ordering/manila compression/etc without touching any of the original files. I also only use the newest tools available like libnb and osnbtool that the kitchen calls directly and checks the output to warn of any error and to get informations about the ROM format indeed it can import any proper BIN/NB/NBH file and cook it without even knowing what device they come from. The only original imgfstools I keep are nbmerge and nbsplit because I was waiting Da_G to finish his BuildNB function but osnbtool can probably replace both (nbsplit for sure with the -sp parameter).

@OP, it sounds like your package structure is wrong. Are the packages in EXT format (not OEM)? If they're in oem format, none of the files will be included. Just make the packages manually, it's a lot easier.

Can you please post the build log file?

pkoper said:
No offence and I do appreciate and use your work, but aren't all kitchens just fancy GUI's around a set of batch files and same old imgfstools and platformrebuilder from yesteryear?
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My kitchen (OSbuilder) uses it's own engine to process packages, build dsms, rebase modules, merge dsm and build ROM file. The only external tool i use is "TurboImgfs" by airxtreme.

Yes , when i wrote that EVK ,maybe, its more complete then OsKitchen i was referring to this, only some tools.
airxtreme said:
It may have some bundled tools that oskitchen doesn't include
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airxtreme said:
Let's state this once for all: Ervius kitchen is basically a GUI to create _skip files that launches a giant batch file that does all the cooking and that needs to be customized for every device: if you created your own _skip files by hand and used a batch file to cook there would be virtually no difference. OsKitchen has a simple GUI by design but that doesn't mean that it isn't orders of magnitude more complete and advanced than ervius kitchen: it does everything from detecting all device/ROM informations without asking anything (the list of supported devices actually has nothing associated to them but the alternative names: no customized fixed, no customized settings, nothing) to cooking with all sorts of checks to prevent bricking or unbootable ROMs and even parsing all the files in the package: if I had proper relocation code (that I was waiting Da_G to write since he knows that stuff better than everybody else) the kitchen could already natively cook its own ROMs. I'm already using all the code I wrote to replace platformrebuilder to implement all sorts of cool stuff like complete validation of all package files and installing packages directly on the phone trough activesync (to avoid having to reflash any time you want to test something) as you can see on the alphas thread, things that on ervius kitchen, where cooking just means running a giant batch file, you could only dream of.
I hope that finally clears the minds of the people saying that ervius is more advanced or complete: it's not, it's just a simple batch file-based kitchen with an unnecessarily complex GUI. It may have some bundled tools that oskitchen doesn't include (like xipporterex, that while works on some NK.EXE wreaks havoc on unofficial native kernel and latest kernels) but having a dedicated button to launch a tool doesn't make a kitchen "more advanced" or "more complete".
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Don't let them get you down man. Ervius's kitchen is a piece of **** in my opinion. The GUI blows and it crashes on the smallest thing that's not exactly right with a package. Did I mention the GUI is horrible ?
I will say it as well, erv's kitchen is NOTHING but a glorified GUI for platformrebuilder which is the real workhorse.
p.s. I made my own kitchen GUI, based on platformrebuilder as well. Mine's designed to cook for 12 devices at a time though... so I can't exactly share it. PM me if you'd like the details necesssary to make Samsung Omnia 2 ROMs with prb though, it seems nobody else seems to know what the "secret" is... I just think they didn't try hard enough. lol If anything, you can add 4 more devices to your already impressive collection of supported devices