Database Users

preserving market "my downloads" list between wipes/rom installs

I've wiped and installed a lot of roms lately, and generally when I go to 'my downloads' in the market, only my paid apps are there. So, I have to go though the process of searching the installing each app again. It's just easier when they are all in a list.
I figured it would be a good idea to backup all my apps and then reinstall them afterward with adb in linux as such:
for a in `ls *.apk`; do adb install $a; done
this works, but of course they don't show up under 'my downloads' and I don't get update notifications.
Is there a way around this?

gsgleason said:
I've wiped and installed a lot of roms lately, and generally when I go to 'my downloads' in the market, only my paid apps are there. So, I have to go though the process of searching the installing each app again. It's just easier when they are all in a list.
I figured it would be a good idea to backup all my apps and then reinstall them afterward with adb in linux as such:
for a in `ls *.apk`; do adb install $a; done
this works, but of course they don't show up under 'my downloads' and I don't get update notifications.
Is there a way around this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to backup and restore the database file located in the market folder....it should be here...
Code:
/data/data/com.android.vending/databases
I'm assuming since you can backup and restore your apps thru adb then you can figure out how to pull and push this to your phone

I assume you would want to do this to get update notifications. If so you can grab "aTrackDog" from the market. It will list all you apps and when you refresh it will tell you when updates are available and give you a link to get the update from the market.

AdrianK said:
I assume you would want to do this to get update notifications. If so you can grab "aTrackDog" from the market. It will list all you apps and when you refresh it will tell you when updates are available and give you a link to get the update from the market.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
will it only work for software installed through the market or will manually installed software show up as well?

DirectMatrix said:
You need to backup and restore the database file located in the market folder....it should be here...
Code:
/data/data/com.android.vending/databases
I'm assuming since you can backup and restore your apps thru adb then you can figure out how to pull and push this to your phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome. I'll do this next time I wipe and reflash with the latest coolest rom. =)

gsgleason said:
will it only work for software installed through the market or will manually installed software show up as well?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nope, works for the apps on my ext3 even after switching builds several times, works great.

DirectMatrix said:
You need to backup and restore the database file located in the market folder....it should be here...
Code:
/data/data/com.android.vending/databases
I'm assuming since you can backup and restore your apps thru adb then you can figure out how to pull and push this to your phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For those of us who are not that familiar with adb, can you give a short tutorial on how to pull and then push that database folder?

well i just wiped and installed the latest cyanogen mod and when i went to the "my downloads" section of the store all the apps i had downloaded before were all there (paid and free)
I also thought it didnt do that, apperently it does

Gilliland12 said:
For those of us who are not that familiar with adb, can you give a short tutorial on how to pull and then push that database folder?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't need ADB, you can use the terminal emulator from the market or the recovery console.
To pull the database, open terminal or recovery and type:
Code:
su
cd /data/data/com.android.vending/
cp databases /sdcard
that will copy that database file to the root of your sdcard.
When pushing it back it is probably best to do it while the phone isn't running, so only use the recovery console:
Code:
cd sdcard
cp databases /data/data/com.android.vending/
reboot
I haven't tested this, but it will have the same results as the ADB method.

AdrianK said:
You don't need ADB, you can use the terminal emulator from the market or the recovery console.
To pull the database, open terminal or recovery and type:
Code:
su
cd /data/data/com.android.vending/
cp databases /sdcard
that will copy that database file to the root of your sdcard.
When pushing it back it is probably best to do it while the phone isn't running, so only use the recovery console:
Code:
cd sdcard
cp databases /data/data/com.android.vending/
reboot
I haven't tested this, but it will have the same results as the ADB method.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Many thanks.

Backup for Root works perfectly for me

if you got a paid app through adb and got a refund, can you still get updates for that app if you have it installed?

opasha said:
if you got a paid app through adb and got a refund, can you still get updates for that app if you have it installed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, you will not get updates without re-purchasing the app. And talking about ripping off app developers on this forum is frowned up so please stop discussing it.

opasha said:
if you got a paid app through adb and got a refund, can you still get updates for that app if you have it installed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you got a refund, then you shouldn't have the app. That's stealing and it's not nice. Most apps are cheap (a couple of bucks at most), stop being a cheapskate.

Originally Posted by AdrianK View Post
You don't need ADB, you can use the terminal emulator from the market or the recovery console.
To pull the database, open terminal or recovery and type:
Code:
su
cd /data/data/com.android.vending/
cp databases /sdcard
that will copy that database file to the root of your sdcard.
When pushing it back it is probably best to do it while the phone isn't running, so only use the recovery console:
Code:
cd sdcard
cp databases /data/data/com.android.vending/
reboot
I haven't tested this, but it will have the same results as the ADB method.
i tried this but it dodnt work.
when I did the first command it said ommiting databases. so I thought it worked.
flashed to the new cyanogen 4.0 rom (which is amazing btw!) did the second command and it said cannot stat file "databases" no such file or folder.
what gives??

Id say the databases were open and couldnt be backed up.
You should try to copy them from the recovery.
Also, after copying why didnt you check if the database files were in your sdcard (or the path you specified for the copy) before wiping? If the file is not there its obvious that it cant be restored after the wipe..

thought it might have been hidden or on my ext2 partition! never mind i got atrackdog!

addiosamigo said:
thought it might have been hidden or on my ext2 partition! never mind i got atrackdog!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems you can only copy each of the four db files individually... but copying the entire folder doesn't work.

All that is needed is assets.db
Open the terminal and enter
$ su
# cp /data/data/com.android.vending/databases/assets.db /sdcard
Wipe, flash, reboot.
YOU MUST OPEN THE MARKET AND AGREE TO THE TOS BEFORE RESTORING!!!!
Open the market, agree to the TOS, and close the market. Open the terminal and enter
$ su
# cp /sdcard/assets.db /data/data/com.android.vending/databases/assets.db
# reboot

copy files to computer

I am rooted but just on the Stock ROM. How can I copy a file in the data\app-private dir to my PC. I have paid for apps but cannot get them from the market. I want to have a backup of this is case I have to reset the phone again.
I tried the cp command but it did not work. I am also not using APP2SD.

I have had good luck using app "Root Explorer"... seems to do the job of moving and copying that folder.
(I am on Modco using App2sd)

You can run a command on your PC while your phone is connected
Code:
C:\>adb pull {location on the phone} {location on your pc}

dailypush said:
I have had good luck using app "Root Explorer"... seems to do the job of moving and copying that folder.
(I am on Modco using App2sd)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This worked great to copy them to my sd card, can you also use this to add apps back like Sprint and HTC apps and widgets.

dagnasty said:
You can run a command on your PC while your phone is connected
Code:
C:\>adb pull {location on the phone} {location on your pc}
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried this from the C:\> and got adb was not recognized
I tried from the android/tools and got the same error and tried from insdie the phone. No luck moving files from the CMD prompts. I am not sure where to go from here.

My bad, I added the path to the SDK to my 'path' system variables. It should work if you are in the tools directory of the sdk.

It says pull is not recognized as an internal or external command is what it says when I do pull in the Android/tools dir
Here is what I typed
pull /system/app/Stock.apk C:\
or
pull /system/app/Stock.apk/ C:\
neither work

Back up applications on non-apps2sd phone?

I've chosen not to use app2sd on my phone for various reasons and although I'm satisfied with my decision, flashing new roms has become quite a chore given the fact that I can't wipe without destroying all of my applications as well.
I've taken to using programs, but even using programs is a pain due to the long installation process. I'm currently using TI Package Installer.
Is there any way to backup and restore all applications (protected included) via adb shell or something in the recovery console?
I'm sorry if this has been asked and answered before, but I did a search and could not find anything specifically answering my question.
I'm running a Mytouch3g without a2sd with the newest AmonRa recovery.

I found this info on the following link:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=601567
So kudos to swissp:
backing up normal (public) apps:
adb shell cp -r -f /data/app/*.* /sdcard/backups/apps
private apps:
adb shell cp -r -f /data/app-private/*.* /sdcard/backups/apps

DullTree said:
I found this info on the following link:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=601567
So kudos to swissp:
backing up normal (public) apps:
adb shell cp -r -f /data/app/*.* /sdcard/backups/apps
private apps:
adb shell cp -r -f /data/app-private/*.* /sdcard/backups/apps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Going to make a nandroid backup and try this out. Thanks! Hoping it takes when I send them back.
Edit: Seems to have worked perfectly. For some reason i figured something that simple wouldn't work or it'd be included in Amon RA. Thanks!

My pleasure

If you then want to reinstall all the apps at once :
1. Mount the SD Card on the PC
2. Open a cmd window in the Android SDK\Tools folder and launch this
for %I in ("I:\backups\apps\*.apk") do adb install "%I"
(Replace I: with your mounted SD card's drive letter)
Quite useful

swissp said:
If you then want to reinstall all the apps at once :
1. Mount the SD Card on the PC
2. Open a cmd window in the Android SDK\Tools folder and launch this
for %I in ("I:\backups\apps\*.apk") do adb install "%I"
(Replace I: with your mounted SD card's drive letter)
Quite useful
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Excellent. Thanks!

What files have been accessed by an APK?

Does anyone know what local files is an APK accessing, or at least what url it is accessing from internet when downloading files?
I have an APK that is downloading files from internet, but is doesn't give me opportunity to move the files to SD Card. It is pretty annoying, as my system/internal memory is not infinite !
As an example, there is this "Process Monitor" from sysinternals.com
that shows accessed files by a program on PC for local files.
Maybe there is such a logger for Android too?

hmmm....
anyone alive?

since i don't really know what you are trying to do some suggestions
maybe logcat is what are you looking for
search for "logcat" at the market - there are a lot of apps
or titanium backup to move apps to sd
or do you mean the working memory ?
it's an other design as at other operating systems
android loads/unloads apps as needed
there are tools as setcpu to change when android begins to unload/close apps

thanks for answering!
suppose I am downloading a book with aldiko.
how can I know the URL it is downloading from, or the file where it saved it?
I tried moving the APK with Titanium already, but seems like the books are still there, and they are taking a lot of internal memory
I also tried already "alogcat", but it's not showing me what files an APK acesses from local nor the URLs
At least on PC such logger exists but maybe there is such a logger that show this info on Android too?

For the URL I'd use a packet sniffer, either on the device or on the network. Keep in mind, there's no guarantee that the downloads happen over HTTP at all...
As for the files, the data folder for any android application is referenced from /data/system/packages.list, and is almost always "/data/data/package_name". You could probably move the larger files/folders elsewhere and create a symlink to the new location, but on a fat32 partition for /mnt/sdcard you may run into permission (or case sensitivity) problems.

rorogio said:
I also tried already "alogcat", but it's not showing me what files an APK acesses from local nor the URLs
At least on PC such logger exists but maybe there is such a logger that show this info on Android too?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can use the terminal app oder adb shell and run the following command
Code:
lsof | grep aldiko
to see the files aldiko has currently open. For the URL it's more complicated, the netstat (on terminal) command gives you only the connected IP's. If you want the exact URL (if it even is something like a HTTP URL) use a network sniffer or a Proxy.

nind said:
You can use the terminal app oder adb shell and run the following command
Code:
lsof | grep aldiko
to see the files aldiko has currently open. For the URL it's more complicated, the netstat (on terminal) command gives you only the connected IP's. If you want the exact URL (if it even is something like a HTTP URL) use a network sniffer or a Proxy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried this with adb from command prompt, but this is the result:
Code:
"'lsof' is not recognized as an ...operable program or batch file."
Did you mean an android terminal app?

You can use the terminal app oder adb shell and run the following command
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you have to issue the command in the adb shell

b63 said:
you have to issue the command in the adb shell
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I put this one, but it says now that grep is not a known command
(I used this formula:
Code:
adb shell lsof | grep aldiko
)
Now I have another idea --
Because I know the extension of books loaded by aldiko - .epub,
I backed up the internal memory with TWRP to look for these files on the backup file on the PC.
But I have no idea how to open on PC these files. They have a .win extension.
Is this even possible?

did following:
adb shell
# lsof | grep maps
lsof | grep maps
com.googl 2046 ??? 32 ??? ??? ??? ??
? /data/app/com.google.android.apps.maps-2.apk
com.googl 2046 ??? 33 ??? ??? ??? ??
? /data/app/com.google.android.apps.maps-2.apk
com.googl 2046 ??? 36 ??? ??? ??? ??
? /data/app/com.google.android.apps.maps-2.apk
com.googl 2046 ??? 37 ??? ??? ??? ??
? /data/data/com.google.android.apps.maps/databases/LayerInfo
#
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
used maps cause i don't have aldiko on mine
don't know something to open .win at pc

[Q] have root need to copy file without cp command

Hello
I developed an app that uses root and can read db files from other apps using SQLiteDatabase
inorder to read other apps db i copy them to the sd card using the terminal cp command
now i see that on some devices like galaxy I9300 with android 4.1.2 the cp command is missing, /system/bin dont have the file
my current options are
1) To install busy box but that will cause problems to some users so i prefer not to do it
2) Use mv command that is present, move the db to sd. copy the file on the sd, and then mv the file back, i hate that sulution and it will cause bugs for sure
Is there a 3rd option that can help me?
Thank you

ended up using
cat infile > outfile
thanks to stackoverflow ht tp://stackoverflow.com/questions/23501326/copy-system-file-without-shell-cp-command