[Q] Get photos onto phone with correct MTIME? - Nexus 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hey guys,
I am trying to get my photos from my s3 onto my Nexus 4, while keeping the modify time correct, so the Gallery displays them in the correct order. All methods I've tried so far result in the modify time being set to the create time.
I pulled them from the s3 with adb, corrected the MTIME using jhead (linux), and tar'd them up with the MTIME preserved.
I've yet to find a way I can extract this tar onto the phone without it losing the MTIME. I've tried many different apps that can deal with archives, none have the option to keep it. Trying to extract the tar on the command line results in an archive magic error, or similar (not at my phone now).
With the s3 this was easy due to the external SD card, but I can't for the life of me find a way to do this here. I tried QuickPic's fix dates feature but it doesn't correct the dates
Anyone have any ideas?

Related

[Q] Nexus writes every file twice

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

[Q] Weird PC/MAC file sync/transfer issue

First, LOVE the "similar thread" search results, pure awesomeness. Sadly, they didn't have the answer or question related to the problem I'm seeing.
Regardless of whether I'm on my PC laptop or MacBook, the files I see in windows explorer/android file transfer aren't the same as what's on the device.
For example, I wiped my titanium backup folder to create fresh backups. After deleting all the files I used Root Explorer to go in and verify that the TitaniumBackup folder in "/sdcard/" was empty, and it was.
Plug my phone into both the PC/Mac, it's still showing files in that folder from before I deleted them. Same with my text/sms backup, I use rerwares mybackuppro and it saves everything as zip files. Saved everything, went into the folder in we/aft, didn't show the zip I just created, showed zips from the previous days.
Now, if I wait like a day or so, and then go back into the phone, it's like it finds them then, like what I'm seeing on the phone isn't up to date or something with what I see on computers (this makes me miss external SD cards, very very badly).
Anyone else notice this? Happening with both N4's I have right now (one's a replacement, going back). Very frustrating in trying to transfer all of my info over but can't because it's not finding my backups that I just created.
Thanks for your time.
Jason

Help creating a costum flashable file for Odin (tar/tar.md5)

Hi everyone,
I'm hoping someone here can help me out with this little problem I'm facing at work.
Basically, at work we want to use cellphones for a specific task, and we need many of them. The problem is that we need to root them, and remove bloatware as they tend to interfere with our app that uses a lot of processing power. This takes time, and if possible we would very much like to be able to create our own "image" to just flash through Odin to the device as a one-time set up . Basically, the phones shouldn't be exact copies as such with IMEI and all network protocols, but the set up of accounts, apps, data, etc. should be copies of the "master phone" we first set up before deploying it.
Is there anyone that knows how to do this in an efficient way, or can help me and my company make this possible :fingers-crossed:? Any help would be greatly appreciated, as I have already tried numerous guides and steps to get this working. I will now list the steps/guides I have tried unsuccessfully :crying::
1) Extracting images with busybox and ADB (the image type is not compatible to make a Odin .tar flashable file)
2) Using ROM creators of various sorts (as they only do design of background, and overlays. We are not that interested in fancy overlays, we just need the settings data, app data, stuff like that to be replicated)
3) Using various tools to create .tar images from backup files of TWRP recovery (We get to the point where we have the images, extracted, renames, put into the correct folder structure, tar'ed, and made into .tar.md5. Odin verifies the file, but crashes as it tries to flash to the phones). The images are created by taking a stock firmware flash file, and swapping out the system.img with one from the TWRP backup. The stock firmware was first flashed to the phone before set up, so all build numbers should match, etc.
4) Using TWRP recovery to back up the phone (completely, all boxes ticked), and putting the external SD card into another phone to "restore" it. However, each TWRP puts a unique ID number to it, preventing another phone from using that back up file.
So we are kind of stuck, and have no clue how to move on from here . As said before, any help would be greatly appreciated .
Thank you! Have a nice day

Unbricked devices split screen (potential) fix - Fixed QDCM Calibration XML Files

*edit* deleted thread. Unfortunately this doesn't fix it. QFIL then flashing EUI ROM 14s and then upgrading to a newer EUI ROM or device firmware update then custom ROM is the only true fix.
Sadly, it doesn´t work for mine, maybe you can help me?
Greetings.
Iceee44 said:
Sadly, it doesn´t work for mine, maybe you can help me?
Greetings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Heyyo, hmm darn that's unfortunate... Well, I have a test build of LineageOS 15.1 for the Le Max 2 with the calibration fixes in place and same with the upcoming official weekly build of LineageOS 14.1 for the X2 this Saturday. It's up to you which you would want to try. Hopefully one of them will work for you.
If not? I'm unsure what else could be causing the issue then hmm...
Hey thanks for reply!
I don't why, but something worked!
I got the splitscreen bug, then I flashed the recovery to the newest twrp (the blue one, don't know which version, but I will look it up). Then I wiped everything and install your fix. Result = bricked. Another try with one flash 2.0 and no error from flash. Fastboot recovery flash and everything was perfect.
I think it was luck, but my leeco le max 2 is repaired :victory:
Wow that's lucky! Congrats on fixing it!
May I please ask what happened to cause the brick? I've heard of device bricking but haven't seen an exact answer as to what unfortunately caused it.
It was totally my fault... I Format my data...and no image on storage... And one flash did the screen problem, maybe the program doesn't decompress a file finally... I decompressed the qfil data two times... The first time I got an error, after full decompressed everything...
Ah if you format data without any ROM on the device you can always use a PC and USB cable to do this...
adb push NameOfROM.zip /sdcard
Which will copy the zip file to the root of your data storage. Same can be repeated for Gapps or Magisk, etc.
I tried to push a 1,8GB file...
But after 2 hours it wasn't transferred, so I found the software and this is much easier.
Could you explain what exactly the "Unbricked devices split screen" bug is?
So from understanding the changes, does this mean that the 4 profiles in the Display -> Colour mode menu won't actually activate for people with the issue? (So if they do change then you don't have the bug?)
I'm guessing that editing those xml files could help with this problem? https://forum.xda-developers.com/le-max-2/how-to/le-max-2-black-crush-survey-t3744594
Or are there other places where those parameters are set?
ThE_MarD said:
Heyyo, this is a TWRP flashable zip file to replace the broken formatting on the qdcm calibration xml files for the display panels used in the LeEco Le Max 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which bug your fix is intended to fix? Do you mean this: https://youtu.be/3yXnrkfsJMI - I have never seen it on my device.
Or you mean color calibration, which is currently terrible by default (too much yellowish)
oneNight1 said:
Could you explain what exactly the "Unbricked devices split screen" bug is?
So from understanding the changes, does this mean that the 4 profiles in the Display -> Colour mode menu won't actually activate for people with the issue? (So if they do change then you don't have the bug?)
I'm guessing that editing those xml files could help with this problem? https://forum.xda-developers.com/le-max-2/how-to/le-max-2-black-crush-survey-t3744594
Or are there other places where those parameters are set?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For both of these questions the hopes is that the main issue with most people who unbrick their devices having screen issues is due to calibration settings being lost which this in theory should restore as it would have XML files with proper formatting unlike before where stock EUI ROM for the Le Max 2 had broken calibration XML files.
In theory if the black crush issue is also a calibration issue there's a chance this could also fix it... But still, I haven't really looked into that as I was mainly looking for a better solution for those unfortunate people suffering from unbrick device woes. If it fixes it? Cool... If not? Then I'm not too sure. Calibration files could potentially be modified to fix black crush if the issue is in there that LeEco never addressed.
giaur said:
Which bug your fix is intended to fix? Do you mean this:
- I have never seen it on my device.
Or you mean color calibration, which is currently terrible by default (too much yellowish)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do i view the config files and transfer them to my computer to compare them to yours? I enabled usb debugging, thinking that would let me see everything but when i connect to my computer with MTP mode i can only see standard files, not all the linux config files etc.
(edit: I tried using adb shell and i could view the root directory but it wouldn't let me access the config folder - permission denied. Do i need root access? If so, how do i get it temporarily and then remove it once i have transferred the files? I can't just run adb as root because you need root on the phone apparently).
Also i did a search of the available EUI x829 source (http://opensource.le.com/ or http://opensource.le.com/ or https://forum.xda-developers.com/le-max-2/how-to/source-code-available-t3482334 )and i couldn't find those xml files. Are they generated by the OS or something?
To me it seems like the files are probably already formatted correctly on my particular phone as changing the colour mode does appear to function. However they obviously seem to be not calibrated properly (or intentionally calibrated very badly).
I wonder if it only reads these files on boot? Otherwise i guess an application could be made to interactively adjust them.
I wonder if KCAL uses these files.
However from looking at how large the data is and also the mention of LUTs (lookup tables), it would seem that this is actually more advanced than kcal? And could potentially give proper screen calibration if using a colourimeter etc?
Of course, more than one profile would be necessary for different brightness levels though.
But anything is better than nothing.
It is definitely to do with the eui colour mode settings because if you go to google translate and translate the names in for each profile, they match up with colour mode options.
These are part of EUI ROM as I did mention the XML formatting is broken on all the EUI ROM versions I looked at.
You can use an Android ROM extractor like this to open up EUI ROM and see the files yourself if you'd like.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/help/extract-dat-marshmallow-lollipop-easily-t3334117
I found this https://usermanual.wiki/Pdf/KBA160907024936QDCMPCToolDebugGuide.968066270 which implies that the xml file is used directly.
Have you considered that <Calib_Data /> just means that the Calib_Data section is empty deliberately and that the colour profile and LUT sections were never intended to be within the calibration data tag?
We do not have the specification of the QDCM xml file that the tool generates.
It would be beneficial if the QDCM tool could be somehow leaked or obtained, then the end user could calibrate their phones. Or at least a specification of the file format of the QDCM xml files so correct data could be generated.
I suggest this should be brought up to the wider android community as it applies to all recent qualcomm phones.
Then we can compare with the QDCM xml files distributed with their handsets. Maybe some handsets even contain the same panels and therefore maybe we could attempt to use their profile / calibration settings. Of course it won't give perfect results because screens should be calibrated on an individual basis but it might be a lot better than the awfullness i currently have.
I wonder, do Le Eco calibrate each handset individually because if they do and then CFW overwrites the calibration with a "random" one then i can understand how that would cause issues. However my display has been bad before i loaded CFW... (unless the seller tampered with the FW but i don't know how you are meant to tell that).
I am not saying you are wrong but you have not given sources for your findings and to me, the individual colour profiles are working it's just that the overall calibration (or all of the profiles themselves) is extremely awful with huge black crush.
That tools seems to be for looking at backup images? But i want to view what is on my phone currently. Do you have to root your phone to do so? If so how can i root and then unroot it after i'm done?
Thanks
oneNight1 said:
I found this https://usermanual.wiki/Pdf/KBA160907024936QDCMPCToolDebugGuide.968066270 which implies that the xml file is used directly.
Have you considered that <Calib_Data /> just means that the Calib_Data section is empty deliberately and that the colour profile and LUT sections were never intended to be within the calibration data tag?
We do not have the specification of the QDCM xml file that the tool generates.
The way the XML formatting is? Calib_Data is supposed to house the entire XML file to let QDCM know where the calibration data starts and ends... So on the broken EUI ROM XML files it only has an end and never loads the calibration data.
It would be beneficial if the QDCM tool could be somehow leaked or obtained, then the end user could calibrate their phones. Or at least a specification of the file format of the QDCM xml files so correct data could be generated.
I suggest this should be brought up to the wider android community as it applies to all recent qualcomm phones.
Then we can compare with the QDCM xml files distributed with their handsets. Maybe some handsets even contain the same panels and therefore maybe we could attempt to use their profile / calibration settings. Of course it won't give perfect results because screens should be calibrated on an individual basis but it might be a lot better than the awfullness i currently have.
I wonder, do Le Eco calibrate each handset individually because if they do and then CFW overwrites the calibration with a "random" one then i can understand how that would cause issues. However my display has been bad before i loaded CFW... (unless the seller tampered with the FW but i don't know how you are meant to tell that).
I am not saying you are wrong but you have not given sources for your findings and to me, the individual colour profiles are working it's just that the overall calibration (or all of the profiles themselves) is extremely awful with huge black crush.
That tools seems to be for looking at backup images? But i want to view what is on my phone currently. Do you have to root your phone to do so? If so how can i root and then unroot it after i'm done?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Heyyo, it's definitely a formatting error. XML standard has open and close brackets.
For example, the OnePlus 5T
https://github.com/TheMuppets/propr...b_data_samsung_s6e3fc1_cmd_mode_dsi_panel.xml
Or the Xiaomi Mi5 (Gemini)
https://github.com/TheMuppets/propr...calib_data_sharp_fhd_cmd_incell_dsi_panel.xml
As for viewing the files on your phone? Yes you would need root and a root file explorer.
Magisk, SuperSU, KingRoot or such all work for root but some versions of EUI ROM have issues.
For root enabled file browser? Amaze works... Amazing. Just get it from the Play store and then in settings enable root explorer.
For uninstalling root please Google the uninstall method to whichever root method you use as they are all different.
That's not true, XML tags can close themselves. If you don't believe me look here: https://www.w3schools.com/xml/xml_elements.asp (scroll down to empty xml elements)
How they had formatted their tags was valid xml.
Code:
<Calib_Data />
is just an element with nothing in it, the same thing as:
Code:
<Calib_Data> </Calib_Data>
However what you showed me from the other xml files for other phones make it look like it should be the way you have changed it
Okay i will have a look and let you know. I have small eui installed atm. So if you just flash an su to your system and then once you uninstall the app root is completely gone? I never would have thought it would be that simple.
It seems when you have root you can use an adb shell as root so i might try that rather than bothering to install anything on the phone.
Is there a way also to view what it was in the backup of my original fw without restoring it? (i used this guide for backup https://forum.xda-developers.com/le-max-2/how-to/protocol-backup-stock-rom-flash-stock-t3517151 ).
How can i find out which of the 3 display types my device is using? (Preferrably via adb).
I will be really surprised if it's wrong in mine because the colour modes work which will be very weird if that xml file isn't being used - they must do it another way too if that's the case :S
It's also weird how those xml files have been hand tampered with!
Thanks!
oneNight1 said:
That's not true, XML tags can close themselves. If you don't believe me look here: https://www.w3schools.com/xml/xml_elements.asp (scroll down to empty xml elements)
How they had formatted their tags was valid xml.
Code:
<Calib_Data />
is just an element with nothing in it, the same thing as:
Code:
<Calib_Data> </Calib_Data>
However what you showed me from the other xml files for other phones make it look like it should be the way you have changed it
Okay i will have a look and let you know. I have small eui installed atm. So if you just flash an su to your system and then once you uninstall the app root is completely gone? I never would have thought it would be that simple.
It seems when you have root you can use an adb shell as root so i might try that rather than bothering to install anything on the phone.
Is there a way also to view what it was in the backup of my original fw without restoring it? (i used this guide for backup https://forum.xda-developers.com/le-max-2/how-to/protocol-backup-stock-rom-flash-stock-t3517151 ).
How can i find out which of the 3 display types my device is using? (Preferrably via adb).
I will be really surprised if it's wrong in mine because the colour modes work which will be very weird if that xml file isn't being used - they must do it another way too if that's the case :S
It's also weird how those xml files have been hand tampered with!
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Write this in the terminal.
Code:
cat /sys/devices/virtual/graphics/fb0/msm_fb_panel_info | grep panel_name
Thanks Sergio, so my device is running:
Code:
le_x2_mdss_dsi_truly_qhd_dualdsi_cmd_pvt
Hmm it seems that SmallEUI ( https://forum.xda-developers.com/le-max-2/development/rom-small-eui-5-9-aurel-battery-t3524531 ) wiped the configs folder. It looks the same through both ADB --> shell ---> su ---> cd config as it does through the Amaze app on the phone itself - empty.
I am pretty sure that I have root properly, supersu seems to be installed.
For some reason though, if i try and get ADB to get root, it says:
Code:
adbd cannot run as root in production builds
I don't have a folder named configs, only one called "config" and it is completely empty.
Is there any way to view the files that were in my TWRP backup of my stock X829 FW without reflashing it?
I have lots of data.ext4.win000 files etc. Which archive would it be in? System? Data? EFS? Boot? And how do i browse the archives?
Thanks
oneNight1 said:
Thanks Sergio, so my device is running:
Code:
le_x2_mdss_dsi_truly_qhd_dualdsi_cmd_pvt
Hmm it seems that SmallEUI ( https://forum.xda-developers.com/le-max-2/development/rom-small-eui-5-9-aurel-battery-t3524531 ) wiped the configs folder. It looks the same through both ADB --> shell ---> su ---> cd config as it does through the Amaze app on the phone itself - empty.
I am pretty sure that I have root properly, supersu seems to be installed.
For some reason though, if i try and get ADB to get root, it says:
Code:
adbd cannot run as root in production builds
I don't have a folder named configs, only one called "config" and it is completely empty.
Is there any way to view the files that were in my TWRP backup of my stock X829 FW without reflashing it?
I have lots of data.ext4.win000 files etc. Which archive would it be in? System? Data? EFS? Boot? And how do i browse the archives?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should notice this does not work, garbage screen is there even with this fix applied. I have it all the time on latest Lineage 15.1.
Okay I checked in
Code:
system/etc
and I do have the files. They are formatted as
Code:
<Calib_Data />
too.
Why does your github page say that they should be in
Code:
config/qcdm
???
Anyway, I flashed your zip to see if it would make a difference but it didn't help with the black crush sadly.
Although maybe modifying the calibration data would - but of course we would need to understand the format.
I checked my TWRP backup image (you can just browse them with 7zip) and they have the same empty tag too.

Can't Modify SecContacts_M_OSup_Note_Legacy_USA.apk

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

Categories

Resources