Hi all, I'm just starting getting into App development and I want to attach the Android source code into Eclipse so that I can reference it locally. Is there anyone here who has experience doing this on Windows who is willing to walk me through it?
Alternatively, I'll go it on my own if someone could help me get past this one roadblock. Thus far I've installed Python and msysGit (and updated my PATH variable accordingly) so that I can use git and repo. Something isn't working however and repo runs into an error that I can't seem to figure out. I'm contemplating uninstalling all that and starting from scratch with Cygwin.
Here's a tutorial on setting up Eclipse on windows (albeit over a year old so no guarantees) link
personally I would dual boot linux... it was a breeze setting it up and there's plenty of tutorials for that.
You could install ubuntu (i think) side by side with win7 using wubi, as if it were a program or something. That way you're not messing with partitions.
I already have Eclipse set up. This is not the problem. I'm having trouble downloading the Android source code - NOT the SDK - on my Windows PC. Specifically, I always run into errors when I try to use "repo init -u blah blah" as instructed on the android source page. If someone has successfully done this on Windows, I'd like someone to give me some guidance, because either I'm doing something wrong or my setup is not correct.
Right now I'm trying to use Cygwin (basically creates a linux environment inside Windows). The last time I tried using repo, I got this:
EDIT: Code removed. I found a solution, outlined below, for anyone else who wants to get the Android source into Eclipse.
Okay, I got the source code, it was actually pretty easy to do, and I didn't even need repo to do it . For those who may find this useful, here's how.
0. It is assumed you have already installed both Eclipse and the Android SDK. If you don't have those yet, download them and set those up. If you aren't on Windows but still want to know how to get the source and import it into Eclipse, you can skip step 1.
1. Install Cygwin on your computer. During the installation, you will be presented with a package explorer and you can choose specific packages to install. Choose whatever you like, but make sure to include automake, bison, curl, flex, gcc, git, gnupg, python, zip, and an editor of your choice, like nano or vim (you can use the search field at the top to find these quickly).
This will basically give you a Linux shell on Windows whose root directory is something you've designated, like C:\cygwin.
2. A few more things to set up. Fire up Cygwin and make a bin folder in your home directory. Add this directory to your PATH variable, then cd into it.
Code:
mkdir ~/bin
PATH=~/bin:$PATH
cd bin
This blog post has code for a python script that will be used later. Make a new file using an editor of your choice. Copy the code and save the file as anything you want (I named it "pack.py"). When you're done, cd back to your home directory.
3. Downloading source. From your home directory (or a subdirectory if you wish), use git to clone the platform frameworks base into a new directory (here I've called it "android").
Code:
git clone http://android.git.kernel.org/platform/frameworks/base.git android
cd into that directory and examine the git tags.
Code:
cd android
git tag
You'll get a list of tags. Choose the one that matches the API level you want to build your project(s) in. I'm using API level 10, so I chose android-2.3.3_r1. That's what you're going to check out.
Code:
git checkout android-2.3.3_r1
4. Reorganizing the source code. You need to locate all the java source files and restructure everything into a directory structure that matches the package naming. Fortunately, that script from earlier does exactly this and then zips it up into a nice little package for you called "sources.zip".
Code:
python ~/bin/pack.py
5. Move this zip file to the proper SDK platform folder. Since I downloaded sources for API level 10, I want to move this zip file to
Code:
C:\android-sdk-windows\platforms\android-[B]10[/B]
You can do this with your regular old file explorer on Windows. Extract the contents into a subfolder named "sources".
6. Get Eclipse to recognize them. Open up a project (or start a new one) whose target is the API level you just did all that stuff for. In the package explorer, right-click the project root and click "Refresh". Now when you browse the class files under project-root/android 2.3.3/android.jar/whatever, you'll see actual source code instead of that nasty "Source not found" page.
Enjoy ^_^
The following contains binaries, and instructions for use of an experimental newer toolchain than those included in the android pre-built package.
This is provided to allow existing linux kernel developers experiment with the updated version of GCC (besides the complicated building instructions the code just has a small patch for a known issue with android and 4.6.* otherwise is directly from GNU (see build information below)
The packages I'm also providing to help developers current on windows (With cygwin but no other virtual environment) to start exploring android Linux kernel development for their devices. (In addition to a OSX toolchain for more advanced mac users)
due to the slight differences between kernels on different devices this How To is intended to be used for advanced users who can adjust for the differences required for the devices specific kernel.
I may add additional guides to this thread if I find a need for them.
[size=+1]Binary Toolchains[/size]
I have two versions of a GCC-4.6.3 toolchain
1) For x86 linux: toolchain-4.6.3.tar.bz2 (Sha1: c8c57aba6ad92e9acddf29ba8620ba880be09a81)
2) For Cygwin (windows): toolchain-4.6.3.cygwin.tar.bz2 (Sha1: 6947e1c1ba95195019f542eb8ba0708667b63eca)
3) For OSX (mac/darwin): toolchain-4.6.3.darwin.tar.bz2 (Sha1: 9a977f0672863fdd9501383a6ad1e30723281f68)
[size=-1]> The linux version was built via this script: http://pastebin.com/b2dZ8YtG (or in the included toolchain_notes.txt)
> The cygwin/darwin version uses the same source however has a slightly modified script (see the included toolchain_notes.txt for the updated script)[/size]
[size=+1]System Requirements[/size]
Note I have a 64bit debian linux box, and a 64bit version of WIndows7 Pro running cygwin, while I believe these binaries ought to be compatible with all x86 linux and cygwin installs these have not been tested by a wide number of people yet.
> Linux users: If you have a working android build environment likely no additional requirements are needed. In addition you must build any kernel/android utilities from a case sensitive filesystem or disk image.
> OSx users: the cygwin packages will give you an idea of what is required, please also see the README in the tar.bz2 about manually installing elf.h
> Cygwin users: as its unlikely you have compiled a kernel with cygwin up to this point you may wish to ensure the following packages are installed (as well as any cygwin recommends to be used with them):
vim
vim-common
make
cmake
lzop
gcc
gcc-core
gcc-g++
wget
git
git-compleation
libncurses-devel
python
Cygwin users must also set their NTFS file partition to allow case sensitive files:
To do this open regedit and change:
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\kernel\obcaseinsensitive
to 0
after this reboot and the NTFS kernel will allow cygwin to use case sensitive files (ie 'AbC' and 'aBc' as two different files)
[size=+1]Advanced Kernel Building Guide[/size]
Since may devices are slightly different this can only be a high level kernel building guide
Please ask for any specific directions from the current kernel maintainer.
To most people who have built kernels before this will look familiar, the most important part is preparing your local environment to use the new toolchain,
1) If you have not already download the tar.bz2 above, (pick the one for the computer you are preparing to build kernels on)
2) extract the file (for the sake of this guide I will assume it is extracted into a ~/android directory)
ie on cygwin you might:
mkdir -p ~/android
cd ~/android
tar -xjvf toolchain-4.6.3.cygwin.tar.bz2
Note: steps one and two are just properly installing the toolchain, you will not need
to repeat them to build a different kernel.
2.b) OSX Only: check elf.h
open ~/android/toolchain-4.6.3/README in a text editor and check if elf.h is installed, otherwise manually install it as per the readme
3) fetch your kernel source into the ~/android directory and change into the
source codes root directory
(this can be via a git repo or tarball)
example if you wanted my ACER a100/a500 source you might run:
git clone git://github.com/ezterry/AcerTabKernel.git
cd AcerTabKernel
change this to match the source you are fetching
4) In the root directory of the kernel source (~/android/AcerTabKernel in the about a100/a500 example) update the environment for the cross compiler
add the toolchain to your path:
export PATH=$HOME/android/toolchain-4.6.3/bin:$PATH
set the cross compile:
export ARCH=arm
export CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-androideabi-
export KERNEL_DIR=`pwd`
(this will need to be done once for each terminal you use to run any of the following make commands)
5) Grab your configuration
From the device:
adb pull /proc/config.gz
gzip -dc config.gz > .config
or from a prepared configuration if it's included in your code base by running
make _defconfig
example for the a100/a500 code base is 'make vangogh_defconfig' for the a100 and 'make picasso_defconfig' for the a500
6) Customize configuration
just run menuconfig and use the UI to update settings
make menuconfig
7) building the kernel (zImage)
This is normal at this point with 'make -j'
so for a quad core CPU you can run
make -j5
(note: the wrong number in the -j argument will not harm the build but may slow down the building process by either using too few threads or needing to keep track of too many)
8) If it worked you will now have the kernel in arch/arm/boot/zImage
this can be injected into the boot.img (as the kernel, using an existing ramdisk) as is
If it failed for your kernel your kernel source may need one of the common patches
9) Building modules
the following will prepare the modules in subdirectory mod:
make modules
rm -rf mod
mkdir mod
cp `find ./ | grep .ko$` modules.order mod/
After these commands [if no errors] you can simply copy the contents of mod/ to /system/lib/modules on your device, note it is recommended usually to remove the existing contents of /system/lib/modules unless there is a closed source module required from the previous build despite the new kernel.
[size=+1]Common Patches Required[/size]
If your kernel has not been built for the new toolchain or on cygwin before you may require some of these common patchs: (I've thus far only tested this on my Acer A100/A500 source)
wireless/bcm4329 for GCC-4.6.3:
https://github.com/ezterry/AcerTabKernel/commit/123f32e27e2c74f1c1789ae5d6d5a1c04e1e264c
linux kernel module patch for cygwin (broken elf.h):
https://github.com/ezterry/AcerTabKernel/commit/220db49593cf6b9f3b556e2f4b75b2f6d3ff556c
Error compiling security/smc/bridge_pub2sec.S (I required the cygwin elf patch and this patch to build the Franco galaxy nexus kernel)
0001-Fix-build-error-with-4.6.3-toolchain-smc-0.patch
(use 'git am 0001-Fix-build-error-with-4.6.3-toolchain-smc-0.patch' to apply)
OSX stat patches (fixes errors between GNU and BSD stat):
https://github.com/ezterry/AcerTabKernel/commit/0c49df3cc1a05a0ccd98201511cdc0534aaeb35a
Errors loading newly built modules (modules appear to build cleanly but wont install):
simply add -fno-pic to CFLAGS_MODULE
https://github.com/ezterry/AcerTabKernel/commit/c5ed0fcb014d36936a86ad253f15af43de2f644a
(I can add others here if highlighted to me, and as I find them)
[size=+1]Other Toolchain uses[/size]
The linux toolchain can be used to build android components, however this requires various manipulation to the android /build git repository as currently various other toolchains have hard coded paths into the prebuilt repo. If you intend to incorporate this into your build it may be best to inject the toolchain into your prebuilt repo rather than expect your users to download the links above, ensure to keep the compile notes as it explains how to get the source code to the toolchains)
On cygwin/osx it may also be possible to build android applications however I've not yet tested this as the scripts to make a proper build are complex when attempted outside the android build tree.
Excellent!!! thanks Man!!! Has been looking for one of these
Added in the OSX version of the toolchain (and some related patches)
Also if you are having problems with your modules built with this toolchain a CFLAG fixes it. (see note in common patches)
FINALLY!!! Great Instructions followed them to the T and BAM got my kernel compiled!!!
wow your toolchain is so small, many thanks, just compiled a kernel for my LG P500 gonna test it, thanks again
Bookmarked for testing when I wake up...
I can almost put: "Building under Windows is not currently supported." (quote from google), unofficially at least, out of my mind...
I have been spoiled by Windows for far too long I fear, my attempt for this last week at getting Linux setup and building CM9 has been nothing but a complete FAILURE, too many single line entrys for different distributions/package combo's, commands I dont know and cant find because of wildcard portions of them and lack of understanding, and not enough scripts like the wonderful Compile CM9 script someone put up (cant run it because all the pre-req's arent setup).
Good god Ill be jumping for joy if this works tomorrow on WinBlows!
EDIT: never mind, problem solved, what I need to know now won't be solved here
I wish i knew how to go about doing this..
Thanks
Thanks For ........... i Really need It .........
Hammerfest said:
Bookmarked for testing when I wake up...
I can almost put: "Building under Windows is not currently supported." (quote from google), unofficially at least, out of my mind...
I have been spoiled by Windows for far too long I fear, my attempt for this last week at getting Linux setup and building CM9 has been nothing but a complete FAILURE, too many single line entrys for different distributions/package combo's, commands I dont know and cant find because of wildcard portions of them and lack of understanding, and not enough scripts like the wonderful Compile CM9 script someone put up (cant run it because all the pre-req's arent setup).
Good god Ill be jumping for joy if this works tomorrow on WinBlows!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you succeed tell me how to do it in a more familiar way
I get errors regading the processor not being supported?
brfield said:
I get errors regading the processor not being supported?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry I can't support devs that have not learned cut copy and paste.
You probably forgot to export some of the environment variables or are just trying to run a arm binary on your PC and or a x86 binary on your arm device.
But why am I guessing? Why don't we know what you tried to run and what the actual text of the error was.. what type of kernel you tried to build, what you are running?
These packages are for developers if you feel like using them its time to learn to how to trouble shoot a problem and write a ticket to explain said problem clearly to others with at least some information to give us a chance to understand.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Great guide. Have the bcm4329 wireless module, so followed the tips and everything compiled and works!
Thanks!
one question,how to compiled android kernel with -O3 optimization?
jxxhwy said:
one question,how to compiled android kernel with -O3 optimization?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Um, in general its recommended you don't:
-O3 is not recommended for the kernel as many low level parts require the assembly code generated to remain as is and not be optimized as will be by some of the options -O3 enables thus likely reducing the stability of your kernel.
---
That said the menuconfig has an option to optimize for size (-Os) if enabled else -O2
For other optimization (including tuning for your cpu) you can add them to the CFLAGS_KERNEL/CFLAGS_MODULE in the make file.)
For -O3 like functionality you could add the increment to the line:
-finline-functions, -funswitch-loops, -fpredictive-commoning, -fgcse-after-reload, -ftreel-vectorize, -ftree-partial-pre and -fipa-cp-clone
-Ofast is -O3 with -ffast-math as well
If you do build with all the -O3 or-Ofast options ensure you test the kernel for stability and run some benchmarks. (as it may not actually be faster depending on the cache misses)
The first option I'd start pruning was the one mentioned in my reference below -fgcse-after-reload.
If you really insist on -O3 rather than just adding the optimization you want that are not in O2,it can be added also in the Makefile where the configure flag is checked and its added to KBUILD_CFLAGS
Obviously all and any of this is at your own risk, anything that breaks you have to find a way to fix it.
Reference:
Gcc optimize options:
http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Optimize-Options.html
Talk of O3 and the kernel (not android specific)
http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/1597/compiling-gnu-linux-with-o3-optimization
ezterry,thank you very much!
I want to build cm9 kernel using toolchain 4.6.3.
How to replace the default GCC 4.4.3 to 4.6.3 version?
BTW,I use the way -- make bootimage
jxxhwy said:
ezterry,thank you very much!
I want to build cm9 kernel using toolchain 4.6.3.
How to replace the default GCC 4.4.3 to 4.6.3 version?
BTW,I use the way -- make bootimage
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are asking in a cm9 build tree.. its a pain, best is to update the cm kernel makefile to point the build chain temporarily.
If you mean just to compile by hand as described in the op
Once the kernel is compiled find an anykernel update.zip or manually use mkbootimg or fastboot to merge it with the ram disk. Cm9 targets mkbootimg and unpackbootimg (if I'm not mistaken) will build the applications to unpack your current (or the default cm9) boot image and re-create them with your custom kernel built from hand.
Now,I runing script file:
#Let's make sure the environment is clean and ready to compile the kernel
echo "Cleaning house!!"
make mrproper
echo "House cleaned, lets build a kernel!!!"
#
# Lets set the kernel defconfig
echo "defconfig = cyanogenmod_iprj_defconfig"
make ARCH=arm cyanogenmod_iprj_defconfig
#
# Let's build a kernel
echo "Now compiling kernel, go get a soda! "
ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=~/Android/sourcecm9/cm9/toolchain-4.6.3/bin/arm-linux-androideabi- make zImage -j4
#
if [ -f arch/arm/boot/zImage ]; then
echo "Plague has been compiled!!! You can find it in arch/arm/boot/zImage"
else
echo "Kernel did not compile, please check for errors!!"
fi
but,I got some error output:
/home/xxx/cm9/toolchain-4.6.3/bin/arm-linux-androideabi-ld: cannot find usr/initramfs_data.o: No such file or directory
thanks again!!!
I think that means there is an issue with your config..
Most android kernels require initramfs, but don't specify a file, as its provided by the bootloader.. However in your case it is trying to embed it into the kernel.
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk 2
ezterry said:
I think that means there is an issue with your config..
Most android kernels require initramfs, but don't specify a file, as its provided by the bootloader.. However in your case it is trying to embed it into the kernel.
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
issue has been resolved by myslef.Thanks for your time.
Ok, so I believe I downloaded the correct kernel source (if I even downloaded the source that is) for this device.
My question now is, how do I edit the source files (where are they) and how do I build them?
I used the command:
Code:
git clone https://android.googlesource.com/kernel/tegra.git
to download the source, however all I have is a .git folder - where is the source?
Thanks to anyone that can help me
Try this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1748297
Hi, I'm trying to compile the Nexus 4 kernel from the sources following the android.developers tutorial:
http://source.android.com/source/building-kernels.html
And also this guides:
[Tutorial] Building Your First Kernel: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1748297
Getting Started: Building a Kernel from source: http://xda-university.com/as-a-developer/getting-started-building-a-kernel-from-source
My goal is to learn to compile from AOSP, but I'm failing hard. After doing this step:
Code:
$ git clone https://android.googlesource.com/device/lge/mako-kernel
And after downloading the sources:
Code:
$ git clone https://android.googlesource.com/kernel/msm.git
All I get is a "kernel" file (without extension) and a folder .git folder. Inside that folder there aren't the files I assume I need, because I can't do "make mako_defconfig" as there isn't such file.
I don't know what I'm doing wrong as I'm not getting the files I need, althought download was nearly 1GB (I think they should be like this android tree):
https://android.googlesource.com/kernel/msm.git/+/android-msm-mako-3.4-jb-mr1.1
I'll appreciate your help, and sorry if this is the wrong section. Thanks in advance.
PS: I forgot, I already have the toolchain 4.6 and know how to call it, I tried it after clonning the trinity kernel git, I just wonder why I don't get similar files when clonning mako kernel from google source.
I solved it. I had to add the desired branch to the end of the command:
$ git clone https://android.googlesource.com/kernel/msm.git -b "brand"
Doubt is solved, thread can be closed.
Some OEMs violating GPL licenses and won't publish linux kernel sources for their Android devices.
On this post I’ll explain how to port kernel source to any android device.
Maybe you can port kernel sources to other SoCs with similiar ways but I've explained qcom way.
What do we need ?
A Computer which has Linux or Mac installation.
Device to test.
Let’s Start, Shall we ?
First of all we need to take dmesg of stock kernel using adb shell dmesg > dmesg.txt command. (I recommend you to take it while device is booting)
You got dmesg ? Nice. Open it with any text editor and search for “hardware” or “machine” and note the result to somewhere. By doing this we’ll get the name of device-tree-blobs.
Download android image kitchen and extract it to somewhere.
Now hold and move your device’s stock boot.img to unpackimg.(bat/sh)
Now your stock kernel got extracted to split_img/boot.img-zImage. After this line I will referance this file as “stock kernel”
Fetch split-appended-dtb using git clone https://github.com/MacTavishAO/split-appended-dtb-mac command. We’ll use this tool to extract dtb from stock kernel.
Copy stock kernel to split-appended-dtb-mac folder.
Now we will extract dtb(device-tree-blobs) from stock kernel. If you are on Linux use ./split-appended-dtb boot.img-zImage command for Mac use ./split-appended-dtb-mac boot.img-zImage command.
Now we have bunch of files named dtbdump_xx.dtb. We have to find out which one our device uses. Use grep -r <machine name that we found at step 2> . to find out which dtb our device using. (Write different parts of machine name to find out)
Install dtc using apt install device-tree-compiler command.
Let’s say it turns out dtbdump_21.dtb is the right one. We have to decompile dtb file to dts using dtc -I dtb -O dts -o extracted.dts dtbdump_21.dtb command.
Now we have to extract defconfig from stock kernel.
Use wget https://github.com/torvalds/linux/raw/master/scripts/extract-ikconfig && chmod a+x extract-ikconfig command to download necessary tool.
Use ./extract-ikconfig boot.img-zImage > extracted_defconfig to get defconfig from stock kernel.
Now we got what we need, we need to download kernel source to start porting to our device.
After this point I’ll start to explain as porting to Qualcomm device but almost same on other system-on-chips.
Go to Settings -> About Phone -> and note “Kernel version”
We need to download soc manufacturer’s sources. From here find msm-X.X that matching with your phone and copy link of it.
And from here find tag matching your chipset and write it down somewhere.
Use git clone <sources from 2 steps up> -b <tag>
Now enter to msm-X.X folder.
Copy extracted_defconfig to arch/<your device's architecture>/configs/ folder.
If your device is arm64 copy extracted.dts to arch/arm64/boot/dts/qcom/ if this directory doesn’t exist copy to arch/arm/boot/dts/qcom/ folder. (If you have 3.x qcom device skip the arm64 part and copy it directly into arm)
Open “Makefile” file in arch/arm(64)/boot/dts/qcom/ and add extracted.dts to the line matching with your chipset.
It’s time to import drivers. After this step I cannot help you because every devices’ hardware isn’t same but I can give some tactics.
To get driver names you can read dts file or install any device info app from Google Play Store etc.
Search these names and GitHub you can find files and commits which will help you to add drivers.
You did all of these without my help ? Excellent! Now it’s time to build kernel. I suggest you to use @natchanchance 's kernel compilation guide.
After compiling kernel. Copy compiled kernel to split_img folder which mentioned at early of this tutorial. rename it to boot.img-zImage and double click repackimg.(bat.sh) and you have new file named image-new.img.
Boot it using fastboot boot image-new.img command and if everything is working you can use fastboot flash boot image-new.img to use it permanently.
Leave a comment here about your questions. I'll try to reply all of them.
Planned to make a guide video about it but I don't have much time. Keep checking this thread may I post soon.
Reserved
Reserved.
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Thanks Dude!
This is very useful guide especially fir those who want to port the kernel source.
Thanks man. I am following your guide.
Thanks ?
While looking for matching dtbdump file I got a match in all four files for PMI8996, which file should I use?
"We have to decompile dtb file to dts using dtc" stuck at this step.
Any help on which "App" to use to find driver names..
Thanks
CPUZ / AIDA64
ataberkozen said:
It’s time to import drivers. After this step I cannot help you because every devices’ hardware isn’t same but I can give some tactics.
To get driver names you can read dts file or install any device info app from Google Play Store etc.
Search these names and GitHub you can find files and commits which will help you to add drivers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've found another way to find hardware info using hwinfo tool inside termux. The trick is to use it with root permissions.
Install hwinfo in termux:
Code:
apt-get install hwinfo
Run it with root permission tee into a text file:
Code:
su -c $(which hwinfo) | tee hwinfo.txt