Related
I recently started using the new Mobile Defense app (mobiledefense.com) and I'm trying to make it survive a wipe. I moved it to /system/app and the APK stays after a wipe, but it is not recognized as an installed program. Can anybody give me some direction as to how to fix this?
Thanks,
Chris
Anyone? Maybe better in the dev. forum?
grokdesigns said:
Anyone? Maybe better in the dev. forum?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
can you not cook it into the ROM, i think if you open up the flash and put the APK file into the framework-res.apk in the framework/apps folder
then sign the update.zip and flash it
and with any luck the app should now be integrated into the OS.
EDIT: Ignore this post and read my second one below Daveid's this explains what I meant better than this post does.
I think you were on the right path trying to place the file into the /system/app directory, however.. I believe you want to do it a little differently. I think the command you want to use is:
adb install xxx.apk /system/app
I think that installs it into the specified directory, instead of just copying it there. I could be wrong, but I think that may do it. If not, it may need to be signed with the test-keys in order to be installed in /system.
I am not sure what you tried to copy it (I am assuming you did "adb push xxx.apk /system/app"), but I would try my method out. Don't listen to warrmr, judging by what they wrote, I doubt they really know what they are talking about. The framework-res.apk file is an application in and of itself, that is mainly responsible for the layout and design of the operating system. and there is no framework/apps folder, nor do you put any apks into the framework-res-apk file. So his entire post is pretty bad advice (no offense intended, just if you don't know what you are talking about, maybe you should tell people that to start off with).
EDIT - I guess you can't specify the target using adb install. Let me try to figure this one out real quick.
In fact, I believe I will attempt to install an app using the adb install command listed above, and post back in a few moments to see if it works out ok.
Alright, so I pushed an APK into the /system/app directory, and it worked just fine for me. Showing in the list and all, one thought. Is the program you are trying to do this with a copy-protected program? If so, you may need to be a little underhanded in your actions. Let me try moving one real quick from /data/app and /data/app-private over to /system/app and see what happens, though I doubt it will work.
Nah, doesn't work like that, if this is indeed a copy-protected app, I don't think there is much you can do about it. Sorry.
I am able to copy to /system/app and run it with no problems. The problem is after wiping, the APK is still in the directory, but doesn't show up in my applications.
daveid said:
I think you were on the right path trying to place the file into the /system/app directory, however.. I believe you want to do it a little differently. I think the command you want to use is:
adb install xxx.apk /system/app
I think that installs it into the specified directory, instead of just copying it there. I could be wrong, but I think that may do it. If not, it may need to be signed with the test-keys in order to be installed in /system.
I am not sure what you tried to copy it (I am assuming you did "adb push xxx.apk /system/app"), but I would try my method out. Don't listen to warrmr, judging by what they wrote, I doubt they really know what they are talking about. The framework-res.apk file is an application in and of itself, that is mainly responsible for the layout and design of the operating system. and there is no framework/apps folder, nor do you put any apks into the framework-res-apk file. So his entire post is pretty bad advice (no offense intended, just if you don't know what you are talking about, maybe you should tell people that to start off with).
EDIT - I guess you can't specify the target using adb install. Let me try to figure this one out real quick.
In fact, I believe I will attempt to install an app using the adb install command listed above, and post back in a few moments to see if it works out ok.
Alright, so I pushed an APK into the /system/app directory, and it worked just fine for me. Showing in the list and all, one thought. Is the program you are trying to do this with a copy-protected program? If so, you may need to be a little underhanded in your actions. Let me try moving one real quick from /data/app and /data/app-private over to /system/app and see what happens, though I doubt it will work.
Nah, doesn't work like that, if this is indeed a copy-protected app, I don't think there is much you can do about it. Sorry.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was a suggestion, and as nobody had replied to the thread i thought i would give it a bash with my limited knowlage.
Mabe i should explain what i meant a bit better than i did in my last post and then you can tell me of im talking utter balls so to speak.
Ignore what i said about the framework-res.apk I was being slightly stupid. I was getting confused with where the App folder in the flash.
If you take the update.zip and look in system/app you will see lots of the "core" APK files along with any other ones that the "chef" has decided to cook into it.
If you were to take your APK file and inject it into the update.zip and then sign it, put the update.zip on your phone and then flash that zip file you will have the app pre-installed thus if you do a factory wipe then it will still be there.
It was badly explained and there was no real need to just brush my post off and say it was a useless waste of time. Isnt the ethos of this forum for learning and development, If I was talking utter balls then fine. I also should have bothered to check the content of an update.zip file rather than just relying that i saw the folder somewhere.
warrmr said:
It was a suggestion, and as nobody had replied to the thread i thought i would give it a bash with my limited knowlage.
Mabe i should explain what i meant a bit better than i did in my last post and then you can tell me of im talking utter balls so to speak.
Ignore what i said about the framework-res.apk I was being slightly stupid. I was getting confused with where the App folder in the flash.
If you take the update.zip and look in system/app you will see lots of the "core" APK files along with any other ones that the "chef" has decided to cook into it.
If you were to take your APK file and inject it into the update.zip and then sign it, put the update.zip on your phone and then flash that zip file you will have the app pre-installed thus if you do a factory wipe then it will still be there.
It was badly explained and there was no real need to just brush my post off and say it was a useless waste of time. Isnt the ethos of this forum for learning and development, If I was talking utter balls then fine. I also should have bothered to check the content of an update.zip file rather than just relying that i saw the folder somewhere.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I personally understood what you meant the first time and agree. For example, having SuperUser permissions, Spare Parts, and Term emulator "cooked" into JesusFreke's build. Should be able to simply decompile an update.zip, plug in those programs, and resign.
Hi guys,
I have just been playing around with the idea of hosting a webserver on my machine that my phone could connect to to download apk files after performing a wipe.
Iv been thinking about this as everytime i wipe my phone i connect back to the market and download appmanager to install apps direct from sd. So instead of having to do that im looking at having them all in a directory on my PC/Flashdrive (as this will be portable) using XAMPP.
Before any gets any wrong ideas this is not intended for any illegal doings. Its just to make my life easier. I thought i would share what i have started to see if this will help out anyone else.
So far i have it working (very rough). But i dont know any coding so this is a bit of a hack job.
I am using XAMPP as stated aswell as a PHP script that will automaticly populate the page will all files within a particular folder.
I have attached the index file i am using.
if you wish to use this please make sure you do a few things.
Install XAMPP
From where you installed XAMPP. In the HTDOCS folder create a "APK" Folder
Place the index.php in the HTDOCS folder
Edit the index.php file to change the path of the APK folder (currently set to D:\\Dream\\xampp\\htdocs\\APK) keep the double slashes "\\"
Start the Apache webserver from the XAMPP control panel
Now connect to Localhost, any files you place in that folder should now appear
Anyone wishing to use this, edit this, whatever you feel like. Go ahead
If you would like to help and change the look and feel of the page it would be greatly appreciated. If you do post the files back up here for all to use
Hope you guys like
Can I ask why you wouldn't just backup your apps to your sdcard (use something like MyBackup) and be done with it?
You can always copy them from your sdcard to your flash drive (and back from flash drive to sdcard temporarily if you need to re-install).
I'm all for experimenting, learning and even playing around a lot. But this seems like overkill. First off, your apps will surely get outdated quickly, and you'll end up upgrading lots of apps. You'll end up spending an enormous amount of time managing your own local library.
Personally, I think you're wasting your time unless your trying to learn how to do something in the process. Maybe you are, and in that case, go for it. Otherwise, enjoy your phone and let the Market do the management for you.
Or you can just have all your .apk's in a folder and use adb to install all of em at once. But like the above post you might have to get updates for alot of em.
Description:
The AndroidLib Expansion Project was created to bring support of more Android devices to my AndroidLib.dll project I'm working on. This project is a Windows executable (compiled batch script) that you will run on your computer with your Android device connected. This will NOT run automatically; it will give you a prompt to run after opening.
The main purpose of this project is to collect data about new phones for AndroidLib.dll, not about your specific phone, but about how it transfers specific data through it's shell and through the Android Debug Bridge (ADB), and more importantly, how that output is formatted.
This information will not be shared with anyone other than myself, and will only be used for further developing AndroidLib.dll to support many more Android devices than it currently does.
Source Code is available under "Download Info"
What it does:
Starts an Adb server
Checks Device List
Checks Device Type
Checks Device Serial (only for unique .zip filename)
Checks For SU
Checks UID
Checks BusyBox
Checks File System
Checks Battery Statistics
Checks Running Processes
Checks /data/system/packages.xml for existance
Checks Build Properties
Checks Shell Environment
Creates Zip of Data Above
Opens Upload Form in Browser After Exiting
NOTE: Does NOT Upload Automatically
Usage:
Download the Windows Executable below and run from any directory on your computer with your Android device connected.
Requirements:
Windows Computer
Android device to test
Download Latest Release
AndroidLibExpansion.exe
Download Info
AndroidLibExpansion.exe MD5: 3a8971f452ab7e3da63e375a859033d4
VirusTotal Report
Source Code
No zip file on my desktop to send...
drcell said:
No zip file on my desktop to send...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check the Desktop folder in %USERPROFILE%\Desktop as well instead of just the graphical desktop. I have tested it working on 5 different computers here...
Can you upload to another site
Like http://www.mediafire.com/
TarekNajem04 said:
Can you upload to another site
Like http://www.mediafire.com/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, you can, if you send me the link to it.. but I just wrote that upload script so it would just go straight to my server.. Upload it to mediafire if you would like.
I realize now that this exe may not have worked correctly. I've had 3 reports now of no zip being created on the desktop. I am working to solve this issue, as you see in the source.. it really has no reason not to be creating on the desktop.
I'll be glad to help, if only it created a zip file for me to upload.
EDIT: I checked the %USERPROFILE%/Desktop as well as running a search for anything containing "androidlib" in C:\Users... nothing.
2 things.
1st, it won't make a zip file for anyone that doesn't have 7zip or the required folder structure (there is no standard environment variable of %myfiles% - just use %temp% instead), and it's assuming subfolders exist for output of the adb commands.
2nd, why is it an exe file when it's a batch file? Please link the bat file instead of an exe. I'm running the bat file I copied and pasted from the source and it runs just fine.
Archer said:
2 things.
1st, it won't make a zip file for anyone that doesn't have 7zip or the required folder structure (there is no standard environment variable of %myfiles% - just use %temp% instead), and it's assuming subfolders exist for output of the adb commands.
2nd, why is it an exe file when it's a batch file? Please link the bat file instead of an exe. I'm running the bat file I copied and pasted from the source and it runs just fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, if you knew who I was or looked at anything else I have written, you'd realize that I know what I'm doing, and that I would not assume everyone has the standard environment variable %MYFILES% or have 7zip installed. I am assuming in this program, actually, that the end user does NOT have the android sdk set up (or in their path) and does NOT have any 7 zip binaries. I created a self extracting exe out of my batch file that includes adb.exe, the 2 required adb dlls, and the 7 zip binary, all in the global variable %MYFILES% (aTemp folder in %temp%). It works fine. Just need to figure out why it creates a zip on all of my computers, and not any of yours. I appreciate the feedback though.
FredFS456 said:
I'll be glad to help, if only it created a zip file for me to upload.
EDIT: I checked the %USERPROFILE%/Desktop as well as running a search for anything containing "androidlib" in C:\Users... nothing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for letting me know you ran a full search and nothing came up still, that actually does help me out, telling me it didn't write to anywhere else. I'll have a working version for you guys in a little bit.
Ok guys, fixed the problem. Works great now. Check the source code and VirusTotal report in the first post if you need to. Thanks again for everyone helping with this! And special thanks to nebenezer for testing the new builds!
regaw_leinad said:
Well, if you knew who I was or looked at anything else I have written, you'd realize that I know what I'm doing, and that I would not assume everyone has the standard environment variable %MYFILES% or have 7zip installed. I am assuming in this program, actually, that the end user does NOT have the android sdk set up (or in their path) and does NOT have any 7 zip binaries. I created a self extracting exe out of my batch file that includes adb.exe, the 2 required adb dlls, and the 7 zip binary, all in the global variable %MYFILES% (aTemp folder in %temp%). It works fine. Just need to figure out why it creates a zip on all of my computers, and not any of yours. I appreciate the feedback though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol - calm down mate. I wasn't criticising - I was trying to help. I get why it's an exe now you've explained and that makes sense. Glad you got it working anyway. I'll upload a couple of files for you later.
Archer said:
Lol - calm down mate. I wasn't criticising - I was trying to help. I get why it's an exe now you've explained and that makes sense. Glad you got it working anyway. I'll upload a couple of files for you later.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok thanks for clarifying. The way you presented your self in your post sounded like somewhat of "this n00b doesn't know what he's doing, and I'm gonna let him know that" lol I'm a pretty chill guy, I just don't appreciate when people do that.
And thank you for doing some uploads later! I appreciate it!
This is my upload link because i couldn't upload with your page. It says "The file you are trying to upload is not a .zip file. Please try again."
http://db.tt/0HoRAK11
It works and I have uploaded the zip
Burned from my laser torch using pencil cells
Uploaded .zip file.
regaw_leinad said:
Ok thanks for clarifying. The way you presented your self in your post sounded like somewhat of "this n00b doesn't know what he's doing, and I'm gonna let him know that" lol I'm a pretty chill guy, I just don't appreciate when people do that.
And thank you for doing some uploads later! I appreciate it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apologies if that's how I came across - it wasn't intended. I've just uploaded a couple of zip files for you.
Thank you to everyone who has uploaded a zip so far! This is really helping development on AndroidLib. I am still accepting more uploads, so if you feel like helping develpment of AndroidLib, feel free to download and run the exe! I'm needing a few more Samsung devices in particular, those seem to vary in output between themselves.
Have you got an upload from an Motor ATRIX 4g yet? If not ill see if I can sort it for you.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA
The-Milkybar-Kid said:
Have you got an upload from an Motor ATRIX 4g yet? If not ill see if I can sort it for you.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope haven't got one yet, that'd be awesome! Thanks!
Here is a method for editing xml files directly on from your phone (as well as a fully functional Eclipse compatible IDE). I'm going to sleep so I'll post a reply I made in another thread first, and clean up in the morning. Have fun..G'night!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quote:
Originally Posted by Toni5830
You can extract xml but you can't see them (only strange symbols) and you can't edit them from phone.. you must use PC and decompile them.. no other possibility
Inviato con Tapatalk 2 dal telefono di casa
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No, you can edit them on your phone. Axel is one of the apps to use. The second is an IDE called AIDE which is compatible with Eclipse. You can develop, program and publish complete apps from your phone. I figured out how to edit compiled xml the other day. Ninjamorph is also useful because it unpacks the archives into a project which happens to be near where your AIDE projects are.
Begin by opening ninjamorph and choosing the apk to work on and create a project (can do this manually but keep a back up of the apk). Next, open AIDE and create a new project. As an example I'll be editing the lg_allapps_button_text.xml file in LGHome.apk (LG's launcher on G2, so files may differ for you). Choose the HelloWorld setup as that's the less,cluttered one. After creating the project, open up a file manager (you can do this from within AIDE as well) and create the same directory structure for your xml file (probably doesn't matter if a ../res/color xml file is in ../main..but it's good practice. The xml I'm editing is in /res/color, so I'll go into the project directory and create a ../res/color folder.
Now open Axel up and find the xml in the ninjamorph project that you are editing. Again in my case it'll be in /res/color. Go ahead and open it with Axel. Don't bother editing it here, we're going to just go into settings and "save as" (into our AIDE project directory) ../res/color/lg_allapps_button_text.xml. This adds it into our AIDE project and we can now go back into AIDE. In the oberflow action, choose "Goto Files" or whatever it's named (also an icon at the top for this action). It'll open a pane at the bottom with your project files. At this time you'll probably notice AIDE throwing a lot of errors (errors in your code, not app errors lol).
We have to fix every one of them before finish, so might as well start now before editing. Conversely, you could do this in Axel first once you know what kind of errors to expect and fix. In my case, I see two errors because the file is really small. Once clicking on the xml I want to edit in the files pane, I can see that it's telling me string values aren't allowed in the "color' attribute. The color is black but when Axel decompiled it, it changed it from it's ARGB form. I see this -
Code:
#xml namespace blah blah...
.....
....... android:color="1F000008/0xFF000000"
Of course there is more, I just highlighted the attribute I need to fix. You're going to need to learn how attributes need to be formatted or learn and keep a reference handy. Google has nice guides online for building android apps. In this case we change it to:
Code:
...
.... android:color="#FF000000"
Technically yes it's still a string, and yes the wrong format was hexadecimal (sort of), but now we have one less error. On large xmls, this gets annoying but you'll get fast at it. So, I've fixed,myerrors, so now for simplicity I'll just change the color on one of the attributes..to red ("#FFFF0000"). Now that edits are done and errors done, go back in the ooverflow action and scro,down and either click "Run" or "More" and then "Rebuild Project". We aren't worried about any other file, we just want our xml recompiled. Once it's done, if you want you can install your fancy Hello World app (or Tetris game app), lol but it's just as well if you choose not to.
Next, go back into your file manager and find your way back into your AIDE project directory. Locate the bin folder (where your compiled project will be) and navigate to your xml. Again, in my case, I'll be going to /res/color. Make sure you find the compiled version (the binary one with all the cool symbols). Copy this back into the same structure inside the ninjamorph project folder. If you aren't using ninjamorph and manually doing this then make sure you have a backup apk handy and akip the ninjamorph stuff.
Opem Ninjamorph back up and choose to complete your project. Once it's done repackaging it'll ask you if you want to resign the apk
Follow Steven's directions and dont sign it if its a system apk. Next he'll ask about zipaligning (i think?). I don't choose this option at all. If my mods work, then I'll redo the project and choose that option. Problem is, sometimes it can cause issues and you don't want to add more variables in until you know that all,is working or you'll be asking yourself "wonder if my edits were bad,or the zipalignment".
Ninjamorph will create a backup of the apk for you, and now you'll be given the option of installing the apk. You should know what you're doing already but...if using TWRP you can go ahead and replace the modded apk and reboot. Worst that'll happen is boot loops or force closes and you can manually go into recovery and use TWRP's file manager to copy your backup back (may need to mount /system first, and may need to chmod as well. Then try again. If you boot up and all is well, congrats! If using CWM, make sure you have a recovery plan before making the switch.
I have no clue if,there's any easier way. I'm still working on it. Granted, kf you're just going to edit a color like in my example it'd be MUCH easier just using a hex editor. AIDE is a pretty damn slick app as it also supports native mode C/C++ for developing codecs, drivers,,etc. For $8 you can purchase full version with support for larger projects and github and a few other things.
This method should work on any device that can run all those apps. I'm using a LG G2. I'm not the,developer of any of tbose apps so don't come to me if they aren't working: )
Reserved
MidnightHarvester said:
Reserved
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks sir really appreciated your work
Also please continue to post apk editing posts
Saw a method a while ago for creating a portable android dev environment, however, i decided that i would post my method which i have used. So far, it seems to work rather well. I have not fully tested it though, and i will post any problems i find with it.
1. Create a directory for all files and folders (for instance, "Android_Dev")
2. Inside of that folder. Create a 2 more directories, one should be called "CommonFiles", and the other something sensible like "AndroidSDK"
3. First things first, download jPortable from here and install it to your "Android_Dev\CommonFiles" location
4. Now, Download Eclipse Portable from here and simply set it to install to "Android_Dev"
5. Finally. Head over to the google dev page right here and download the latest ADT bundle. DO NOT EXTRACT IT YET
6. Once you have downloaded the bundle, open up the .zip file, and copy the contents of the "sdk" folder to your "Android_Dev/AndroidSDK" folder
7. Now everything should be configured. Just open up the eclipse installation (Android_Dev\EclipsePortable\EclipsePortable.exe) and let Eclipse load
8. If it doesnt ask you to point to an Android SDK, just go to Window>Preferences>Android and point to the AndroidDev\AndroidSDK folder
9. You should now be able to access the Eclipse SDK manager and download the rest of the resources you will need through that!
DISCLAIMER: I have not extensively tested this, I simply installed it into my laptop (needed the software, didnt have admin rights). It may or may not work for you, if it works, drop a thanks! If it doesn't, reply below with the problem, or any fixes if you find one!
Issues
Doesn't use the latest Eclipse version