Related
I noticed that a lot of builds are lost in the chaos of topics here in development, I was wondering if there being a separate child board solely for builds would be a good idea...I'm not sure who runs that, but I think it would help with the clutter.
Delete this topic if it is too off-topic...
how about making it a read only for non devs? in my head im seeing a change log like thread for each build. where the devs can comment, and post common fixes and such on each others build, im not sure how easy of a feat this would be, but the mods are all mighty and I believe they can do this.
I'll third that motion
It can be difficult to find builds sometimes if I can't remember the devs name (which often isn't even a real word.)
The only problem I forsee is who decides what is and isn't a build. If I package JF1.51 with a few custom wallpapers and new ringtones who decides whether or not I'm a dev? Where do you draw the line as to what is development and what is just end user customization?
I figures that would be an issue.
Maybe established builds like the thedudes and cyanogen. Twistedumbrella has done some serious work in android as well. They have my vote as being in the build section
I really don't want this to come across wrong, but I just have to say it.
Developers, I appreciate all your hard work. I understand this is all beta/test/etc. I understand it is free of cost, even to those who did donate to one dev or another. You do it because you want to, not because you have to.
But please, for the love of all that's good - keep an updated list of Known Issues!
It sucks having to read 50 pages of posts to try to figure out if a particular release is reliable or not, to find out if there's a key feature broken or buggy. What makes it worse is you can't tell when reading these threads which users are on which release, because many still post issues after they've been resolved. Others post things that aren't really "issues" but user error.
You know what your issues are, you read the threads and you fix the issues. But trying to find a decent rom to flash is very, very difficult when your OP says "No known problems" and the thread that follows show that to be very untrue. It generates a lot of extra posts with people posting things you already know about, and it generates a lot of bad will when someone flashes something only to find that there are a number of game breaking issues.
All it takes is to update a post, say #2, in your thread, with KNOWN ISSUES. Once you confirm a bug, whether you intend to fix it on your next release or not, add it to that thread. It helps you, as a dev keep track of the bug, and it helps potential downloaders know what bugs have been confirmed and make an educated decision as to whether they want to install your release.
Hiding known issues is something I don't think anyone does intentionally, but it feels that way sometimes. It feels like devs are in a popularity contest, and any admission of flaws in their particular ROM is a weakness. Well, to tell the truth, I and many others are sick of installing something that was CLAIMED to be working perfectly, only to have glaring problems that have been there for many versions.
For a civil and productive development community. Please. Be honest with your known issues. It will go a long way in building trust with the people who you're providing ROMs to, and will mean fewer posts for YOU to wade through of users reporting known issues, without having read 500 posts first.
I have a hard time believing that most devs actively hide them. Most of the time it's probably just a bit of laziness. But, yes, it would be helpful when comparing roms if the descriptions had a well-maintained list of active bugs.
Since the developers here are NOT getting paid (NO your $20 donation is not sh*t for the time it takes to make one of these roms), yes WE will have to bear the brunt of testing these roms out and letting them know what bugs if any are in them
The other issue is the people flashing these roms, coming from Eugene's to Whiskey to the ASOP roms may generate some ghosts in the software that the developers cannot duplicate themselves. I know that when I went with the TW 2.2 roms I had plenty of issues, more issues than I have had even when I was stock. Odining back to stock and reflashing the 4.2 TW fixed ALL my problems. Dont know what caused it but since I have flashed a couple of roms prior to that (no problems), I will assume there were some ghosts in my system. This is an example that unless a TW team member is holding MY phone and working on it, they may not be able to duplicate
They don't care to list them. It's beneath some of them.
Maybe AirBus should list "midair exploding engines" as a known issue too...
kponti said:
Since the developers here are NOT getting paid (NO your $20 donation is not sh*t for the time it takes to make one of these roms), yes WE will have to bear the brunt of testing these roms out and letting them know what bugs if any are in them
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+1. Hell, at work I run a $100,000.00+ software suite and even that company won't do what the OP suggests!
If you have a problem with them stop using their roms go back to stock and see how much better theirs is even with a few bugs, not one of you has any right to complain. They do damn good work for free with some donations that do not come close to what they should be paid for it but they do not whine at all.
The problem I find is the "spammy" and useless comments average and pretentious users make which is both hard for the developer and the end user to read the threads. A dev releases a ROM and there is a guaranteed "Oh I can't wait to flash this" comment that will pop up. And there are some issues that are minor and are sometimes not related to the release that are posted and some pretentious loser who extends his ego by trying to make simple matters complicated. This forum didn't much of this problem before and I could quickly flash ROMs easily since I could clearly grasp the status on the ROM project.
I wish they would start a new thread with new releases. It's a pain to try to read through a 500 page thread, and you comments about this or that, and you have no idea which version the person is talking about. I gave up on custom roms and just using the leaked tmo 2.2, thanks for that Eugene
kponti said:
Since the developers here are NOT getting paid (NO your $20 donation is not sh*t for the time it takes to make one of these roms), yes WE will have to bear the brunt of testing these roms out and letting them know what bugs if any are in them
The other issue is the people flashing these roms, coming from Eugene's to Whiskey to the ASOP roms may generate some ghosts in the software that the developers cannot duplicate themselves. I know that when I went with the TW 2.2 roms I had plenty of issues, more issues than I have had even when I was stock. Odining back to stock and reflashing the 4.2 TW fixed ALL my problems. Dont know what caused it but since I have flashed a couple of roms prior to that (no problems), I will assume there were some ghosts in my system. This is an example that unless a TW team member is holding MY phone and working on it, they may not be able to duplicate
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A $20 donation is not worth the risk of bricking a $550 phone just because they got "lazy" and didn't notify donators/downloaders of [a] potentially show-stopping issue.
Posted a new Thread in Dev section for the purpose of reporting issues. So if you have an issue please shoot it to me and I will post it in that thread.
Update: Here is the link for the WIKI page.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=Samsung_Galaxy_S_SGH-T959#ROMs
swehes said:
Posted a new Thread in Dev section for the purpose of reporting issues. So if you have an issue please shoot it to me and I will post it in that thread.
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You are in a heap of trouble, a lot of people don't read, and you are gonna get 1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 repeats of the same issue.
"OMG! MY SD CAR DONES"T MOUNT< HELP ME!11!!111"
chui101 said:
I have a hard time believing that most devs actively hide them. Most of the time it's probably just a bit of laziness. But, yes, it would be helpful when comparing roms if the descriptions had a well-maintained list of active bugs.
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The issue here is really that a forum is not the ideal place to manage software releases. A list of bugs emerges from community testing, but there's nowhere to "post" that list of issues, or attach it to a specific release. Since there's no way for the community to add such documentation, it falls on the ROM builder, who probably has other priorities.
This kind of project could be well served by using a real software project management software solution, such as say google code, which has an issue tracker and other useful features. But XDA does already give us a better tool than the forum - the XDA wiki!
I wish people would use the XDA wiki more extensively. This would be a good place to keep updated documentation such as this, without requiring the OP to keep a forum post updated with the latest findings. All the OP needs to do is link to the wiki page, and other people can help maintain it.
OK. Looking into Google Code.
(Update) So looking into the Google Code. What Licensing agreement are the ROMs under? Is it GPL v2 or v3 or another license?
swehes said:
OK. Looking into Google Code.
(Update) So looking into the Google Code. What Licensing agreement are the ROMs under? Is it GPL v2 or v3 or another license?
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Depends on the project. The Linux kernel is GPLv2, so any kernels fall under that license. AOSP as a whole uses both GPL and apache code.
The issue with ROMs is that unless they're AOSP derived (like cyanogenmod) they often include binaries for which the license situation is murky at best, so google code isn't really an ideal fit for a "ROM" that's only ever released as a binary.
Really I was throwing google code out there as a well known example, there are tons of other ways to track issues. There are dedicated issue tracking systems such as trac, bugzilla, etc, but they require hosting. Most of the freely available hosted services require that you're running an open source project, which isn't necessarily true for the ROMs here.
IMO a serious project could very well benefit from such tools, but just using an XDA wiki page which community members can freely update is a great first step.
So looked into the Wiki for the Vibrant and have updated some information. Let me know what you guys think. Is this the way to go?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=Samsung_Galaxy_S_SGH-T959#ROMs
swehes said:
So looked into the Wiki for the Vibrant and have updated some information. Let me know what you guys think. Is this the way to go?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=Samsung_Galaxy_S_SGH-T959#ROMs
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Not to be the "Spelling Nazi", and I am not even sure if you can change it, but it is "Kernel" not "Kernal". Also, the Dev on Team Whiskey is Sombionix, not Symbionix.
Otherwise, that looks like a great idea, and possible way of tracking things!
EDIT - I guess I could go ahead and make those tweaks, with it being a wiki and all couldn't I....
EDIT EDIT - Fixed it.
Stargazer3777 said:
Not to be the "Spelling Nazi", and I am not even sure if you can change it, but it is "Kernel" not "Kernal". Also, the Dev on Team Whiskey is Sombionix, not Symbionix.
Otherwise, that looks like a great idea, and possible way of tracking things!
EDIT - I guess I could go ahead and make those tweaks, with it being a wiki and all couldn't I....
EDIT EDIT - Fixed it.
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Thanks. On both accounts.
Maybe this should be a post to Microsoft
To quote "there are known, unknowns and unknown, knowns and and even sometimes unknown,unknowns............but.........
Developers ----develop they do not become a bookkeeper of their development.........that is coordinating work...........good luck getting any developer in ANY Specialty to do that............. reporting bugs........
---Maybe this should be a post to Microsoft---
N8ter said:
A $20 donation is not worth the risk of bricking a $550 phone just because they got "lazy" and didn't notify donators/downloaders of [a] potentially show-stopping issue.
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I have yet to see a REAL (completely dead) "bricked" vibrant from flashing a released Rom alone. I have seen a lot of user error cause boot loops or "soft-bricks" & HWL phones become unflashable because the end user didn't take the time to research though. As far as devs being "lazy" I dont really see that when the developer is coming here for us to tell him what else we find wrong. They are coding, you flash, you report back with a logcat. This is how development is made to my understanding. If ppl are to lazy to JUST do this then why shouldn't the developer discount long winded post or something they are not experiencing? If they know there is a bug its in the OP.
If you guys can change the interwebz & how 500 post per update are made completely useless please feel free to do so....
swehes said:
So looked into the Wiki for the Vibrant and have updated some information. Let me know what you guys think. Is this the way to go?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=Samsung_Galaxy_S_SGH-T959#ROMs
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I think it's a pretty awesome start for sure
As a matter of personal taste, I think having an individual wiki page per ROM (with the known issues and other detailed info) might be nice, although I'm not sure what the policy on new pages is with the XDA wiki.
Speaking from professional experience, the most challenging aspect of any documentation system is always convincing people to use it. It's great to compile the information, but unless ROM builders and devs post a link to the wiki in the forum threads nobody will ever see it. Having good, community based documentation is a benefit to everybody though, so hopefully people will recognize the utility of it and encourage its growth!
Android Beta -> Astro (1.0) -> Bender (1.1) -> Cupcake (1.5) -> Donut (1.6) -> Eclair (2.0/2.1) -> Froyo (2.2/2.2.1) -> Gingerbread (2.3.x) -> Honeycomb (3.x) -> IceCream Sandwich (4.0.x) -> JellyBean (4.1.x) -> Key Lime Pie (5.0?) (see here for more detailed descriptions)
Since the Vibrant is near the run of its contract users life and many are about to move on to other new devices, there will be more of the phones on Ebay, Amazon, Craig's List,... This means that there will be a flood (or at least a small trickle) of new users coming to our forum. The below is a guide that we have put together in the Recognized Contributor's Forum to help facilitate this. It is a WIP and always will be for the mere fact that this is XDA, Android and Open Source. Things change and so will this, you and your device.
Good Luck and if you have any questions, thoughts, additions...please let me know and I will check it out.
To all new users, XDA is a great place where you can learn a lot about how to make your phone better, have fun talking to other smart people about your phone and the Android OS, and maybe be recognized for your efforts. But first there are few things you need to know about XDA to be a good netizen. I suggest bookmarking any of the links below which might seem helpful since chances are in the future it will be helpful to you or to someone else and you will have it bookmarked.
The Difference Between and N00B and a NEWB
TheDeadCPU said:
A "noob" is a person who is new or inexperienced in a subject, usually an online game. Noobs are usually annoying and excessively stupid. Do not confuse noobs with newbs, who are inexperienced players that tend to be more mature and strive to become better.
Source
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The best way to start is not by posting, it is by reading. Read, search, read, search. If you read an answer that looks helpful or answers a question you might have, bookmark it, and when you see someone else ask that question you will have the answer for them plus a supporting link.
Getting Started
First, please start here by registering. This enables you to post questions and helpful replies to other people's questions and get thanks.
The Rules
Like anything in life, there are rules here. There are also moderators (mods) who enforce the rules when necessary.
Here is the short version. Please:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Here is the longer version. XDA Rules
Sharing
Sharing, XDA, and You! New Addition to Sharing Policy on XDA-Developers
Banning Policy Revealed
Source: Banning Policy Revealed
In our continuing efforts to improve the experience of our Forum Members, we are reaffirming our belief in being firm, fair, and open regarding our moderation of the forums. We’re going public with our revised and simplified policy on banning those who repeatedly breach our rules. For some time now our dedicated Members have been asking us to be clear about our efforts to remove troublesome users who seem to plague our forums. We agree with a firm approach, and acknowledge your right to see clean forums fit for decent, contributing members who respect the site and its purposes.
With immediate effect, Administrators and Moderators of XDA-Developers will operate a new simplified moderation policy on banning—but rest assured this will be firm and fair, as we see banning as our last resort after warnings and infractions have been given. In fact, we hope that being open about the way bans are applied will lead to better understanding among Members, and will therefore act as a deterrent to bad behavior.
Feedback from Members has informed us that one of the biggest problems with our forums is the increasing number of users who repeatedly spoil the forums with often low level, but extremely annoying and poor behavior. To protect the vast majority of Members from those who appear with self-entitled attitudes, disruptive behavior, and disregard for the rules; we will follow simple stages in applying successive bans. Users who breach our rules should be very clear that it will no longer matter whether breaches of the rules are “serious” or “minor.” Repeatedly breaking ANY of the rules will ultimately result in a permanent ban.
For regular Members the following simple model will be followed if after initial warnings and infractions have been given, the user continues to breach the rules:
Initial ban: 1 to 3 days
A subsequent rule breach: 1 to 3 weeks
A further breach of the rules: Permanent
This new and simplified policy is geared at those repeated poor behavior, ignoring warnings, and failure to read our rules.
Clear and obvious spammers and very extreme or highly destructive behavior will continue to warrant instant bans.
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Searching
When you have a question you don't know the answer to, don't post a new thread when you could post a question in a relevant open thread, and don't post a question when a few minutes reading and searching will not only give you an answer, but a feeling of accomplishment that you were able to find it yourself, and the confidence to remember and repeat the answer with the link to the thread or post with that answer when you see someone else post that question.
Consider the question you are going to post, pick out the keywords and type them into the search box. Try a few different searches with slightly different words.
New Members Guide-Get the most out of XDA!!
Search guide video
Terms and Acronyms
What does AOSP, ROM or FOTA mean?
Libs, WIP, SDK, what the heck are these?
For a more extensive list please see this thread by Recognized Contributor Diablo67:
Android Terms,Slang & Definitions.
Posts 1,2 and 5 have everything you need to know.
Check this Excellent term definition Glossary by benjamingwynn.
* - anything and everything possible. A good example would be "All my friends live at 10* Croxley Street." This is saying that they are all live at 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108 and 109.
Dev - See developer.
Developer - A man or woman who has created (developed) software.
ROM - 1. A modified version of the Android operating system operating system. 2. Read Only Memory, a place where information is stored and can not be destroyed, modified or written to.
AOSP - "Android open source project" a project by Google Inc. to give android to developers and manufactures for free (see open-source)
Open-source - (not to be confussed with free) A peice of software that is free to edit, use, distribute and share with no charge.
CM - See cyanogenmod
Cyanogenmod - A free open-source project based on the AOSP. It is a modded (see modded) version of the Android firmware
Firmware - see ROM (1)
Stock - An unchanged version of something. Example: I just flashed stock sense
OTA - "Over the air" a term used to indicate software that was sent to phones directly through the internet to their phones.
FOTA - "Firmware over the air" this normally refers to ROM's but can refer to radio firmware (see OTA)
Firmware - a piece of software to make hardware function correctly. This can refer to Radio Firmware, but is normally used as another name for ROM (1)
Radio - (not to be confused with Radio Firmware) A piece of hardware that allows communication. There are 3 main radios in your phone. Bluetooth, WiFi and GSM/CDMA.
Radio Firmware - (see firmware) a type of software that allows correct communication with the radio and the operating system. A newer firmware would normally improve battery life and call quality. The radio firmware only applies to the CDMA/GSM radio.
CDMA/GSM - A type of network communication between phones and carriers. GSM phones normally are included with SIM Cards that authorize them onto the network. CDMA have this authorization built in and do not need a sim card.
Kernel - An important part of all operating systems that handles the CPU and other vital components. A modded kernel may be used for overclocking.
Overclock - (not to be confused with underclock) to exced the default maximum CPU speed. This could make a phone more powerful but may cause damage. Although no damaged has been reported so far it could still drain battery life.
Underclock - to change your phones maximum frequency to LOWER than the default to attempt to extend the phones lifespan and battery.
Mod - A modification to a part of the phones software. It is also POSSIBLE to mod the phones hardware but is not recommended.
Modding - To perform a mod
Modded - to have included mods
Modification - see mod
Governor - a system embedded into the kernel to automatically change the current working CPU frequency depending on the workload. It would only go up to what it is overclocked (or underclocked) to, this is called the maximum frequency. It would not drop bellow the (just as eaisly configurable) minimum frequency.
Library's/Libs - a set of instructions for applications to use to function. A functioning camera lib would allow the camera to be used.
WFS - "Wildfire S" an armv6 device made by HTC in 2011.
Logcat - A logging system built into the ADB
ADB - "Android Debug Bridge" a system that can be accessed using a computer where you can manage the device from. You need the Android SDK to use it.
SDK - "Software Development Kit" a set of tools used for software development.
WIP - "Work In Progress"
JDK - "Java Development Kit" an SDK for the java platform. It is needed to run the Android SDK.
JRE - "Java Runtime Environment" a collection of binarys and files to allow java software to execute.
Execute - To "run" or "start" a binary
Binarys - (sometimes called bin's) a group of executable files.
RAM - Could be one of three meanings: 1. Memory for the CPU to process processes. 2. Random Access Memory, a place where information can be used, executed from, modified, or deleted. 3. A type of sheep.
SD - Short term for MicroSD
Marvel - A gsm version of the phone
Marvelc - The cdma version of the phone
Marvelct - A rare Easten CDMA version of the phone.
Marvel* - all versions of the HTC Wildfire S (see *)
GB - Could mean one of two things. 1. Gingerbread or 2. Great Britain
Gingerbread - Android 2.3
Froyo - Android 2.2
Honeycomb - Android 3.x. it was never released or ported to the wildfire s because it was built for tablets.
Ice cream sandwich/ICS - Android 4.0. The latest version of Android.
CM9 - Cyanogenmod 9. A modified version of ICS. (see cm)
RUU - "ROM Update Utility" An automatic installer for Radio Firmware, ROM and HBOOT
HBOOT - The bootloader for all modern HTC Android phones.
Custom recovery - A o version of the stock HTC recovery to install unoffical ROMs.
AFAIK - "As far as I know"
KANG - The process of creating a code based of someone else's code.
Zipalligned - This is something that makes a ROM faster. If you can improve this please contact me!
Deodexed - Where ODEX files are moved into the actual applications
APK - "Android Package" an Android application
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Giving Thanks
Giving thanks is important. It lets people know that their work or answer is appreciated. It is a faster method of feedback than posting a reply like "Thanks for your answer!" You must have one post to give thanks, so here is a good place you can do that without running afoul of the mods for posting no content posts.
The "Say Hi" thread.
You get 8 thanks per day, and they renew after 24 hours or so. Each thanks is independent of the others, so if you give someone a thanks at 3, and then another at 4, those will renew at 3 and 4 the next day. If you run out of thanks, then bookmark that page or open it in a new tab and give thanks later when you have one available.
If you use them all every day you are doing it correctly.
Getting Thanks
You will see that everyone here has a Thanks Meter above their avatar. Here are the thanks counts needed to get to the next bar.
1st bar - 26
2nd bar - 51
3rd bar - 101
4th bar - 201
bug here, never gets to 5 bars, probably 501 if fixed.
6th bar - 1001
7th bar - 2001
8th bar - 5001
9th bar - 8001
Maxed! - 10000
Not that thanks are an indication of a user's status or stature on XDA. Some of the most important people here have a lot fewer thanks than you might guess. You can put some stock into "Thanks" because, theoretically, the more thanks a person has, the more they have helped, which in turn means the more of a knowledge base they might have.
***In the real world, THANKS are about as important as QUADRANT scores. They don't always seem to be what they appear to be.***
User Titles
As you go around XDA and encounter people, you may notice that they have different titles under their avatar. Speaking of which, click here to upload a picture.
Here are the user titles explained by one of our mods.
0 to 29 posts - Junior Member
30 to 99 posts - Member
100 + posts - Senior Member
Originally Posted by juzz86
I'll sum it up for you (or try, anyway!)
There are Junior Members, Members, Senior Members first. These make up the vast majority of XDAs userbase.
Recognized Contributors are nominated by other users and/or Mods/Developers. They are recognized for their contributions which are not specifically Development, such as detailed guides, one-click utilities and other tools/mods.
Recognized Themers are also nominated by users/Mods/Developers, for their work theming custom ROMs and providing standalone themes for flashing.
Recognized Developers are nominated and approved by the Developer Committee, for their work in Development whether it be ROMs, Root methods, bootloader unlocks etc.
Elite Recognized Developers are again assessed by the Developer Committee, and are deemed to have gone above-and-beyond in providing knowledge/hacks/tools/apps/ROMs for the XDA community.
Forum Moderators are appointed by the Moderator Committee, after submitting an application (see the 'sticky' at the top of this forum - currently applications are not open). They are the first-line of keeping the forums tidy, friendly and orderly.
Senior Moderators are the next step up the ladder, providing site-wide support for Forum Mods and looking after the nitty-gritty issues, as well as areas of XDA not policed by FSMs, such as the Marketplace.
Administrators are next. There are several Admins - each look after a specific part of XDA such as the Portal, the Members and the User Experience of XDA as a whole.
At the top is Mike Channon, who is overall Forum Administrator.
Other titles you may come across:
Moderator Committee - sits on the Mod Committee
Developer Committee - as above, but for Developer Committee
XDA Newswriter - publishes articles for the Portal (front page)
Retired xxxx - have since officially 'left' their XDA position
Hopefully that clears most of them up for you
Contrary to what a lot of people expect, the thanks-meter does not figure at all in determining a users tag.
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Posting
Posting is something you may do a lot of here, but it is always important to remember to make your posts good ones. Don't post just to drive up your count, there is no special reward for the poster with the highest total and you won't catch the long timers here anyways.
You will find that there are some restrictions on your posting ability when you first start here. For starters, for your first 5 posts, there is a captcha prompt and a time limit in between posts. While this may seem burdensome, it does an excellent job of keeping spammers from posting garbage throughout every thread. There is a 2 minute limit between posting and editing your posts. This stops at 30 posts when you go from Junior Member to Member.
Don't Panic!
Please post ALL relevant information. What ROM/Kernel, What you were doing when the problem surfaced, What is the actual problem (not my phone won't boot, help!!), Were the planets aligned,...
Simple information can go along way to diagnose the problem/issue and it also prevents the reciprocal post of "Need more info".
And we have all been there in Panic Mode where you freak out and just want to get some help. Noobs don't look at these devices as phones or tablets, but rather as investment because well that is what they are are $500-$800 a throw. I respect my device but that is because I know how to use and recovery it. Noobs don't. They see a bootloop and it is strikingly similar to the toilet swirling their money down the drain. That is when Panic Mode sets in.
Don't Panic. Don't be a noob. Be a New User who is smart and reads a lot and knows where things are and how to find useful and timely information.
Why can't I post in the Dev thread I want to?
It seems like everyone wants to be able to post in the Dev threads since it is the cool place to hang out or more likely, just because the message comes up and says you can't post here. However, those forums are locked down and new users who joined after Mar 11, 2012 with less than 10 posts will not be able to post there. If you see someone with less than 10 posts in a dev thread, look at their join date and you will see why they were able to post.
This restriction is not meant to be cruel or mean to you, but to prevent inexperienced people from posting in forums which are meant for Development work. Posting "Thanks for a great ROM" might make you feel good, but consider what it adds to the conversation from a Development perspective. If the answer is Nothing, then please don't post it in a Dev thread. If it adds another post to an already long thread with zero value, please don't post it on a Dev thread or anywhere on XDA for that matter.
Also keep in mind that the mods are out there reading your posts, and if they believe you are posting simply to get to 10 posts to post some non-dev comment in a dev thread, you could find all your posts missing and your account temporarily disabled. <----This personally drives me bonkers. DON"T SPAM THE BOARDS TO GET YOUR POST COUNT UP. It doesn't take too much thought to come up with 10 relevant questions.
****READ THIS. If you Spam you WILL get called out and possibly reported****
Please feel free to thank the dev several times instead of posting "Thanks for a great ROM". Rate the dev's thread with 5 stars using the rate dropdown button at the top of every page of the thread. If you feel that is not sufficient, most devs have a donate button with Paypal. I promise you that they will remember you and appreciate you far more for donating even a couple of dollars versus some post, however gushingly approving, on their dev thread.
Please do not send private messages to the devs saying "Thanks for a great ROM" instead of posting "Thanks for a great ROM". See above.
The best way to start is not by posting, it is by reading. Read, search, read, search. If you read an answer that looks helpful or answers a question you might have, bookmark it, and when you see someone else ask that question you will have the answer for them plus a supporting link.
You might be thinking, is there a place for new users? The answer is no, because the only non-noob areas are the Dev subforums. You can post into your devices General, Q&A, Accessories, and Themes and Apps subforums.
10 post count rule for Dev threads
Posting Questions
OK, you got through all that and you have a question that you need that answer to. You have searched, and searched again, and searched again with different keywords, but you can't find the answer. The question is, where do you post it? The first and best place is to check your device's Q&A subforum for a thread posted there, either a general question thread, or a thread already posted there with a similar question. When you post into a thread, that thread is then listed at the top of the subforum it is in and the title turns Bolded for everyone else. Someone else may see that thread and know the answer and post it.
Remember, give it some time before reposting. XDA members live around the world and are not going to be on your time zone and schedule. Wait a day and see if you get a response. If you want a notification of someone else posting into that thread, click on the Thread Tools button at the top of the thread and choose Subscribe.
Getting Flamed
At some point, you are going to get "flamed" by someone who feels that your post is stupid, off-topic, irrelevant, noobish, whatever, and they are going to post something like "You are an XXXXX who doesn't know something simple like YYYYY. Don't post here anymore." It is going to happen at some time here, but the important part is not to respond in kind. It will not help the situation, or make your e-peen any bigger, or make you any tougher. It might make you feel better temporarily, but what invariably happens is that the forum mod (or a senior mod) will come in and delete those comments and you might end up on the infraction list, or temporarily disabled, or banned. Just don't reply to it.
*First, consider the question or post you wrote from a different angle. There is no excuse for flaming someone, but in a multi-cultural environment things may be perceived very differently than what you intended.
*Second, if the flame is really over the line, click on the little triangle in the upper right hand corner of the post and type in a short explanation and let the mods handle it. This is what they are here for. To MODerate and enforce the rules. They are not here to babysit you, so if you get in a flame war and in turn become too hostile in your own defense, YOU could get an infraction.
Signature
Making a signature is a very important thing to do since it can help to describe your phone, it's current software, and any modifications you have installed.
A signature should inform others about your phone when you post a question.
A good signature will include information helpful to others beyond the direct target of the question/reply.
A great signature will inform the community with important information and potentially answer questions which have not been asked yet, avoiding repetitive posts.
Please click here to make a signature (5-8 posts minimum) It's cool and you will get more help and respect from us.
Donations
Making a donation is neither expected or required, but are always gratefully received and appreciated.
There are "Donate to me" icons above people's avatar, or in their signatures.
You can also donate to XDA by clicking HERE.
When you donate 10 EUROS to XDA,you get rewarded with a STAR
,which is displayed a little below your avatar.
If you buy 10 STARS ,you will be rewarded with a
.
Check this out!!!
Remember, always be respectful of other members here and considerate. Most people here are doing this for nothing more than the feeling of helping people as we have been helped by other people previously, and sometimes the occasional press of the thanks button. We aren't making money here and this isn't a job, so please don't tell people what to do or demand things of people such as mods or custom ROM configs to suit you and you will do just fine here.
Links You Might Find Interesting
Getting a Moderator's Help
[Tutorial] How To Logcat
[GUIDE] How to give constructive feedback to developers
[ADB/FB/APX Driver] Universal Naked Driver 0.7
Chef Central
[Ultimate Guide]Android App Development - From Scratch
How to Apply for Recognized Developer
XDA Recognized Developer Program Expansion
*********************
Change-log:
Put in Android Terms,Slang & Definitions from Diablo67
Put in New XDA Sharing Policy and Glossary in Terms and Acronyms
Put in all Android OS's names and version numbers
Put in difference between N00B and Newb
Put in Links You Might Find Interesting section
Put in section about Banning Policies
Credits to mf2112 for putting the nuts and bolts together.
Thanks, both of you for this, I'm sure it will be tons of help for the new users.
Thanks, again, for taking the time to do this.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk 2
Awesome thread and a very good idea.
Thank you for taking the time to create such a well informed thread.
I'm sure this will help a lot of new users to the device ^^
...........................
Massive Update(s) including:
*Banning Policy Revealed (which I am sure some will be interested in this more than others)
*New XDA Sharing Policy and
*Glossary in Terms and Acronyms / Android Terms,Slang & Definitions
*Android OS's Names and Version Numbers
*Interesting Links Section
Informative
nice
Hello xda devs.
I'm just wondering that if I want to develop a Cyanogenmod Rom from a restricted country -I'm in Sudan right now-.
What can I do for this problem because I'm so excited to develop a Cyanogenmod Rom.
secondly, if I managed to get the source code of a Rom and started development, how do I get bugs fixed, and where are they located.
for example,
see the picture in the attachment.
From the attachment, where did the highlighted green line addition come from.
That's all.
Thank you.
Welcome to XDA.
You don't need to develop. It's already near completion. Awesome developers have made almost everything functional. Check out the development forums, but refrain from posting anything unrelated to development, and read the XDA rules first. There's a video on youtube that explains the rules in a nutshell. It's not polite, but will save you from being labelled a troll.
I don't understand what you mean by "restricted country".
As far as the changes are concerned(the green lines), they are hand-edited by people who, like you, want to develop a ROM.
Fixing bugs is something different entirely. Good question though, I don't know the answer to that, specifically, but it's basically selecting/building the proper libraries, device configuration(device trees, vendor trees, kernel, etc) and debugging. If you're not aware about the terms, ROM development is probably not where you want to start. Try programming in high level languages. But don't let me discourage you. Give it a try.
Don't forget to press the thanks button throughout the forums, wherever applicable.
Enjoy XDA.
This thread was a mistake and has been marked to be deleted. Please find actual release thread here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/kindle-fire-hd/7-development/rom-bliss-rom-6-4-team-bliss-t3400567
Reserved
This thread was a mistake and has been marked to be deleted. Please find actual release thread here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/kindle-fire-hd/7-development/rom-bliss-rom-6-4-team-bliss-t3400567
Reserved
This thread was a mistake and has been marked to be deleted. Please find actual release thread here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/kindle-fire-hd/7-development/rom-bliss-rom-6-4-team-bliss-t3400567
electrikjesus said:
GUIDE, FAQ and Useful Links
Much of what follows applies to many ROMs. If you have suggestions for things to be added to this guide or find any errors then please let me know.
Purpose and Rules of XDA
XDA is a development site. It is for learning and sharing. It is not here to "provide" apps or support to users. Most of the people that develop or help or support do so in their free time. No one "owes" you anything. You are not "entitled" to anything. Those that help others, are polite and try to help themselves will be more likely receive helpful and polite assistance.
Rule number one of XDA is : Search
Other rules include:
Be respectful
Be tolerant
Be helpful
Don't be an ass
Q&A or Dev Thread?
There is a separate development thread and Q&A/Discussion thread. Right now, I am happy for you to report all issues in the development thread.
But as it is a development thread, you should provide logs where ever possible and only report bugs if you have clean flashed. Telling others there may be an issue if you dirty flash is acceptable but please word it as such not a bug.
A little banter is accepted in the development thread, but please don't turn the thread into a chat room. Let's keep it fun but not so long nobody can be bothered to read, otherwise I'll have to revert to using the Q&A.
The Q&A is still there and available and is more "free".
Flashing
You should clean install for best results. If you "dirty flash" then at least wipe cache and dalvik/ART and you MUST provide logs with any issues.
Clean v Dirty Flash
There are a number of interpretations of clean flash. In recovery you should factory reset or wip everything except internal storage. This will wipe your apps and most app settings.
Whilst there are ways of backing up your settings they are not recommended because they can cause issues when there are changes to the ROM which affect how settings are stored or recorded. Do not restore system data: this often leads to forced closes and constant error messages.
You can use a backup app like Titanium Backup or Parcel. Sometimes restored apps can cause issues, and it is better and cleaner to re-download them, although not everyone has the time or inclination to do this.
If you do not wipe as per above, then you are dirty flashing. This is quicker and often works. But because things are left behind from the previous flash this can result in weird issues. When you dirty flash you really should wipe cache and dalvik/ART, so that there aren't residual
Reporting Issues
Before Reporting Issues
If you have issues with your new flashed system there are a few things to do before you report them.
First, if you have dirty flashed then try a clean flash to see if the issue remains - many issues are cleared this way. Also, it is very difficult to pin-point certain issues after a dirty flash.
Also, if you have Xposed installed then remove that before reporting. This is because Xposed can change things deep within the OS and make things behave differently, which in turn makes it very difficult to troubleshoot and resolve issues. This is Xposed hate - many devs require this and will not offer any support if Xposed is installed.
Reboot. It's surprising how many issues can be resolved by this simple step. Especially if an app is misbehaving or using a lot of battery.
How to Report An Issue
The biggest bugbear of those trying to help with issues is when they are not properly reported and require to have the same questions answered over and over. The circumstances may require different information, but here are a few common items to consider posting:
Version. Often people miss this and are reporting something that was solved days or weeks ago. Others say "latest" when it may not be. Quote the version number and/or build date.
Firmware. Again, quote the date or source.
GApps. The GApps version can affect which version of Google Play Services and PlayStore, amongst others that are used. Whilst often GApps can be "out of date" without any issue, when there is a lot of development by CM this can be very relevant.
Whether you clean or dirty flashed.
A log. Necessary if you dirty flashed, very useful even if you clean flashed. See below for how to do this.
How to replicate the issue. The more specific about how the issue arises and when, the more likely you are to get a quick resolution. If no one can replicate the issue it is unlikely they can resolve the issue.
How to Take a Log
This is an excellent guide.
Some kernels have their own log/bug report option to make things easier.
Useful Links
Google and the XDA search bar are your friends.
Whatever you want to ask or find, it's probaly already there. This is why you often see replies just saying "Search!"
XDA: RULES - MOD HELP - SUMMED UP 1 - SUMMED UP 2 - BEST WAY TO GET A LOG
Frequently Asked Questions
No one answered my question.
Maybe no one has read it yet - you may need to give it time. Maybe no one knows the answer yet. Have you already tried to solve the issue? Were you polite? Did you give enough information? There is no need to keep bumping your post.
Which folder does the OTA file get downloaded to? Is it the full file or just the incremental update? Are there nightlies?
/sdcard/Download and it's the full file. They aren't nightly but they are normally very frequent.
Does BlissPop support Layers / RRO?
No. It has the CM theme engine.
Which kernel is best for....?
Stock is really quite good, so I'm not going to suggest any others, as there aren't many now and are easy to find on XDA. So much depends on you: your setup, apps, usage, signal. The list goes on. The real best way to find out is try them for yourself; give each one a few days to settle and you can observe battery usage, smoothness, speed, tweakability etc. But there is no Holy Grail kernel - one that gives the best of everything for everybody. "Performance" and "battery" aren't mutually exclusive, but most kernels are biased towards one or the other. Kernel governors and hotplugs also have an effect. If you are interested in a kernel, read some of the kernel thread.
One last point. When there are changes from CM the date and commits of a kernel can be important so the kernel and ROM aren't out of sync.
How is Battery Life
This often gets asked, but there is no clear answer that suits everyone. So lets start of by saying the team finds battery life to be very good.
There are however many things affecting battery life. Your apps, settings and signal all have a big effect. As does how often your apps are updating and whether over wifi or mobile data. Additionally, which kernel and it's settings also have an effect. As does screen brightness. Certain social and messaging apps can have a huge drain. How often you flash a new ROM has a big effect too. Ideally, from a battery life perspective, you should allow everything to settle and go through a couple of charge cycles. With the frequency of BlissPop updates I have never achieved this!
So every user will have different battery life and typical screen on time. Make sure when doing comparisons you really do it on a like for like basis.
If you want to investigate battery usage, consider apps like Wakelock Detector (WLD) and Better Battery Stats (BBS) as well as GSAM Battery Monitor. These will often pinpoint where battery is being consumed and what is waking your device. Quite often you will see an app misbehaving which can often be resolved with a simple reboot.
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Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow! It's even official! This thread should be in 7" KINDLE FIRE HD ANDROID DEVELOPMENT section, by the way. Thanks man. I'll try it soon.
alexander_32 said:
Wow! It's even official! This thread should be in 7" KINDLE FIRE HD ANDROID DEVELOPMENT section, by the way. Thanks man. I'll try it soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just moved it there, Thanks!