Copy Files programmatically from SDCard to /System help? - Java for Android App Development

OK, So I'm developing this app Specifically for CyanogenMod that Copies a few apps and Sound Libraries to a few Different folders in /System. After the Files download into a folder in the Internal Storage of the Device (An LG L90 running CyanogenMod 13), /SDCard/CmSoundMod, it extracts all the zip files into /SDCard/CmSoundMod/unzipped/*Library Name Goes Here*/ with a separate folder for each Library. I'm trying to copy an example file from /SDCard/CmSoundMod/unzipped/SystemFiles/sample.txt to /System to test it out but All the Methods I know are not working! Ive tried using
Code:
Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("su", "cp -r sdcard/CmSoundMod/unzipped/SystemFiles/sample text /System");
(I mounted System RW, and Remounted RO when finished this is just the main code used for copying)
Can some one point me to a piece of code that works for them? (Java)
Thanks!

try with this:
Code:
Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("su", "cp -r sdcard/CmSoundMod/unzipped/SystemFiles/sample[color=red]\[/color] text /System");
the android terminal is based on the Unix terminal. and in a Unix terminal the space in the name of file or folders is not recognized, you need to replace it with "\ ".

sorry I made a mistake:
Java does not recognize the back Slash then you replace '\' by:
Code:
\\
I try on my device me it works!
Code:
Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("su", "cp -r sdcard/CmSoundMod/unzipped/SystemFiles/sample[color=red][b]\\[/b][/color] text/System");

Related

Rosie no boot Black screen only fix

I am by no means good at this. I installed Hero v.4 and it was working ok. I wanted Haykuro's Rosie UI build, but could never get past the waving little android HTC screen. It would sit at black screen. I finally got it fixed and here, exactly, is how I did it and what the problem was:
1. The SD card was appropriately formated into Fat32 and Ext-2 formats per this thread-http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=512873
2.I knew Rosie should run since Hero v.4 ran. The only difference, really, was the app2sd requirement. Following Haykuro's directions in this thread, the developer clearly states
"for those of you that don't know how to place app_s into sd card do this:
Code:
adb push app_s /system/sd/app_s
3. well, I did that just fine but Rosie would never boot. I got to looking at the ADB for dummies page found here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=502010 and found out I could view the contents of my Ext partition with ADB. I used ADB shell command>> adb shell then #ls.
4. It showed me that the ADB push command (adb push app_s /system/sd/app_s) did indeed put the files inside the sd directory, but within another app_s folder. my structure looked like this (using exactly Haykuro's instructions).
adb shell
system/sd/apps_s/app_s =>then all the .apk files.
For those of you having the black screen issue, you might want to take a look
at your directory structure as described above.
To fix it, I followed Haykuro's directions exactly, but omitted the last parameter (which was app_s). Typed this
adb push app_s /system/sd
It deposited all the .apk files directly inside a app_s folder in the sd directory. I didn't know how to get rid of the extra folder called app_s, so I left it there.
Rosie booted fine......
i had the same problem. i formatted my sd card tho, repartitioned and fixed the extra folder problem. wish i had your guide back then it woulda saved me so much time
I get this code whenever I try to adb push
Code:
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6001]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
C:\Users\Alex P>cd C:\android-sdk-windows-1.5_r2\tools
C:\android-sdk-windows-1.5_r2\tools>adb remount
remount succeeded
C:\android-sdk-windows-1.5_r2\tools>adb push app_s /system/sd
cannot stat 'app_s': No such file or directory
C:\android-sdk-windows-1.5_r2\tools>adb shell
# cp app_s /system/sd
cp app_s /system/sd
cp: cannot stat 'app_s': No such file or directory
# exit
exit
C:\android-sdk-windows-1.5_r2\tools>ls /system/sd
'ls' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
C:\android-sdk-windows-1.5_r2\tools>adb push app_s /system/sd
cannot stat 'app_s': No such file or directory
C:\android-sdk-windows-1.5_r2\tools>
Keep getting that cannot stat.
it looks like you mounted your phone (remount command). I am by no means an expert at this stuff, but it was my understanding that your phone is supposed to be unmounted to use any adb commands. could be wrong though.
apfroggy0408 said:
I get this code whenever I try to adb push
Code:
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6001]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
C:\Users\Alex P>cd C:\android-sdk-windows-1.5_r2\tools
C:\android-sdk-windows-1.5_r2\tools>adb remount
remount succeeded
C:\android-sdk-windows-1.5_r2\tools>adb push app_s /system/sd
cannot stat 'app_s': No such file or directory
C:\android-sdk-windows-1.5_r2\tools>adb shell
# cp app_s /system/sd
cp app_s /system/sd
cp: cannot stat 'app_s': No such file or directory
# exit
exit
C:\android-sdk-windows-1.5_r2\tools>ls /system/sd
'ls' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
C:\android-sdk-windows-1.5_r2\tools>adb push app_s /system/sd
cannot stat 'app_s': No such file or directory
C:\android-sdk-windows-1.5_r2\tools>
Keep getting that cannot stat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Make sure you "cd" to the correct forlder that your "app_s" is in. So for example if you have the app_s folder in c:\android (thats where i always work from) type cd c:\android then adb push app_s.......
If I cd to c:\android won't it take me out of adb?
nope.
adb simply tells the computer you are commanding the phone.
so cd to where the folder is, then run adb push
I keep getting this message
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6001]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
C:\Users\Main> cd c:\android-sdk-windows-1.1_r1\tools
c:\android-sdk-windows-1.1_r1\tools>adb remount
remount succeeded
c:\android-sdk-windows-1.1_r1\tools>adb shell
# cd c:\arnold adb push app_s /system/sd
cd c:\arnold adb push app_s /system/sd
cd: bad substitution
# cp C:\arnold app_s /system/sd
cp C:\arnold app_s /system/sd
cp: cannot stat 'C:arnold': No such file or directory
cp: cannot stat 'app_s': No such file or directory
#
what im I doing wrong? plz help thanks. Im stuck at the boot loop screen.
pinetreehater said:
it looks like you mounted your phone (remount command). I am by no means an expert at this stuff, but it was my understanding that your phone is supposed to be unmounted to use any adb commands. could be wrong though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems I couldn't run adb without mounting.
Edit: Finally got it working.
What I ended up just doing was using ubuntu and creating the app_s folder in the ex2 manually and to me seems like the easiest way to do it. Luckily I have my eee running crunchbang.

need write to /system or something EXEC path

I was the first person I know on the internet to compile nmap for android and this guy ( http://wjholden.com/nmap/ ) took it to the next level got a new phone ( CM6 with OC ) nbow it does not work
* can't write to /system even with rw remount
* if I boot recovery I can' write to /systm but its just a temp fs so failsause ...
* can't ADB shell (read below ) to find out where system is really mounted OR mount the real /system my self ..
* remouted / but anything I add gets wipped on reboot ...
* onlything that works is remount / , copy nmap and then add PATH hackery to EXEC nmap ... on EVERY reboot ...
NOTES BELOW:
Code:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=701589&page=4
I think its because /system is protected in CM5+ ? even with remount
command... ?
let me know what I need to copy where in recovery mode to /system to
get yours to run properly :/
you could also have your installer check for this and have notes etc ..
# uname -a
Linux localhost 2.6.29.6-cyanogenmod #1 PREEMPT Fri Sep 17 16:05:39
PDT 2010 arm v6l GNU/Linux
# ls
ls
NMAP FOR ANDROID CROSS COMPILE ARM.html
NMAP.zip
nmap
nmap-4.01-1.spec
nmap-mac-prefixes
nmap-os-fingerprints
nmap-protocols
nmap-rpc
nmap-service-probes
nmap-services
# cp * /system/bin
cp * /system/bin
cp: can't create '/system/bin/NMAP FOR ANDROID CROSS COMPILE ARM.html': Out of m
emory
cp: can't create '/system/bin/NMAP.zip': Out of memory
cp: can't create '/system/bin/nmap': Out of memory
cp: can't create '/system/bin/nmap-4.01-1.spec': Out of memory
cp: can't create '/system/bin/nmap-mac-prefixes': Out of memory
cp: can't create '/system/bin/nmap-os-fingerprints': Out of memory
cp: can't create '/system/bin/nmap-protocols': Out of memory
cp: can't create '/system/bin/nmap-rpc': Out of memory
cp: can't create '/system/bin/nmap-service-probes': Out of memory
cp: can't create '/system/bin/nmap-services': Out of memory
# df /system
df /system
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/block/mtdblock3 245760 240824 4936 98% /system
# mount
mount
...
/dev/block/mtdblock3 on /system type yaffs2 (rw)
Code:
mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /
rm -Rf /nmap
mkdir /nmap
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/nmap' > path
cd /nmap
wget http://rmccurdy.com/stuff/G1/BINS/NMAP/NMAP.zip
unzip NMAP.zip
chmod 777 /nmap/*
export PATH=$PATH:/nmap
echo run /nmap/path before you start nmap
nmap -vvv 127.0.0.1
rmccurdy.com/nmap.sh (tested on CM6 / mytouch slide )
in normal mode ..
Code:
bash
localhost / # mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /system
mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /system
localhost / # cd /system
cd /system
localhost system # for i in `ls` ;do mkdir $i\\nmap ;done
for i in `ls` ;do mkdir $i\\nmap ;done
mkdir: can't create directory 'app\nmap': Out of memory
mkdir: can't create directory 'bin\nmap': Out of memory
mkdir: can't create directory 'build.prop\nmap': Out of memory
mkdir: can't create directory 'etc\nmap': Out of memory
mkdir: can't create directory 'fonts\nmap': Out of memory
mkdir: can't create directory 'framework\nmap': Out of memory
mkdir: can't create directory 'lib\nmap': Out of memory
mkdir: can't create directory 'lost+found\nmap': Out of memory
mkdir: can't create directory 'media\nmap': Out of memory
mkdir: can't create directory 'usr\nmap': Out of memory
mkdir: can't create directory 'xbin\nmap': Out of memory
in "Android system recovery (2e)" :
( note: /system is also a vfs I think .. I adb push to it and reboot and the file is gone ... )
Code:
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\nmap>adb shell
- exec '/system/bin/sh' failed: No such file or directory (2) -
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\nmap>
You can't write in /system in normal boot mode as security is on (s-on), remounting rw does you no good.
In recovery you will need to mount /system from clockwork before you can do anything.
I do have Clockwork Recovery 2.5.0.1 but I am not sure how to get to a shell and or find /system mount path as I can't adb shell ( read above ) so I can't remount or mount /system
rmccurdy.com/nmap.sh * this is what I am using for nmap as of now ..
Usage:
bash -x /sdcard/nmap.sh localhost
etc ...
There's an option in clockwork under partitions to allow you to mount the system. I'm not sure why but a lot of people have an issue getting into su with adb when they are in recovery, the constant /system/bin/sh error is annoying. Also, if I remember right, yaffs2 is not what you use to mount the system when using that command. It's mtdblock3 or something like that if I'm thinking along the correct lines here.
Maybe you should try putting it in a zip file as a script and running it that way since you use a different command (and much easier) to mount the system and write to it. Then again, I'm not sure what you're trying to so so I could just be talking out of my a$$
I can't do anything usefull in recovery ... reboot and apply update.zip but I dont how how nor do I really want to make a .zip / script to mount system etc .. do you know a zip I can work from as an example
rmccurdy said:
I can't do anything usefull in recovery ... reboot and apply update.zip but I dont how how nor do I really want to make a .zip / script to mount system etc .. do you know a zip I can work from as an example
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The slide doesn't have S-Off, most HTC phones have them now...So you have to wait for Alpharev 2.0 to be released.
Ace42 said:
The slide doesn't have S-Off, most HTC phones have them now...So you have to wait for Alpharev 2.0 to be released.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, but in recovery we can mount the system and write to it. Phones with s-off can do that while booted normally because the NAND is unlocked and the system is no longer protected.
You can do it one of two ways. This one is easiest if you know linux commands but are unfamiliar with update-script format. Make an update script and put this in there:
Code:
show_progress 0.5 0
run_program PACKAGE:example.sh
show_progress 0.5 10
You don't have to use the show_progress line, it's just for aesthetics.
Make a .sh script, name it whatever you want and put the linux commands you want to execute in the script. For example:
Code:
#!/sbin/sh
#
##############################################
mount /system;
rm -rf /nmap
mkdir /nmap
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/nmap' > path
cd /nmap
wget http://rmccurdy.com/stuff/G1/BINS/NMAP/NMAP.zip
unzip NMAP.zip
chmod 777 /nmap/*
export PATH=$PATH:/nmap
echo run /nmap/path before you start nmap
nmap -vvv 127.0.0.1
exit 0;
Or what ever you're trying to get done. I'll upload an example file of all this since hands on is always better. Looking at this though, you may want to have the files in the zip (in the directories they will be installed to) because wget probably wont work since the radio is off while in recovery.
interesting thanks ! ... do you have to resign it and all or can you just edit and rezip it ?
rmccurdy said:
interesting thanks ! ... do you have to resign it and all or can you just edit and rezip it ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As long as you're using clockwork you just edit and zip. Might be easier to use an archive explorer to open (without uzipping it) then drag and drop, but do what's easiest for you.

Velocity Cruz Tablet Bloatware Removal (ADB Method)

How to Remove Bloatware from the Velocity Cruz Tablet
Downloads and Setup
Unfortunately, I can't post links in the forum (yet!). For the links to these sources, check out my post with the same title on the Slatedroid Forum...If someone with link posting privileges would be willing to add the links below, I would greatly appreciate it.
1] Download and install the ADB drivers on your device from the Velocity Micro support site. Detailed instructions are available on their site.
2] Download and install the Android SDK on your computer.
3] Connect your Tablet to your computer via the USB cable and mount the device
4] Open your SDK directory on your desktop computer and navigate to the tools directory
5] Write down or copy the directory path to this tools directory (you will use it again below!)
Remove the Bloat
6] For Windows users, select Run from your Start menu
7] Type cmd.exe in the text field and click ok
8] At the command line, use the following series of commands:
cd C:\xxx\android-sdk-windows\tools (where the xxx is the path to your SDK directory)
adb shell (you should see a # sign after this)
cd /system/app (this changes your directory to the app directory on the Tablet where the apk's are located)
ls (optional: will allow you to view all of the apk's that are installed so that you know what to remove)
mount -o remount,rw /system (provide yourself with write permission on the system directory to remove files)
Then for each of the apk files that you want to remove, type:
rm /system/app/filename.apk (replace filename with the actual name of the file)
You can change the system directory permission back to read only with the following command if you would like:
mount -o remount,r /system
Copy and Paste
>cd C:\xxx\android-sdk-windows\tools
>adb shell
# cd /system/app
#ls
#mount -o remount,rw /system
#rm /system/app/filename.apk
#mount -o remount,r /system

[TUT] Linux in chroot on your iconia

So, many of you want to run a full-size linux on your iconia. Unfortunately due to the fact that acer are a bunch of stupid mofos not releasing kernel source code and do not allow to flash unsigned ROMs we'll have to run it in chroot within android.
First thing to do is to get yourself a rootfs of linux. You can use angstrom, ubuntu.. I'm building debian using multistrap, the config is below. You'd better use pre-built ubuntu/backtrack and skip up to somewhere between steps 4 and 5, unless you have experience with dpkg and apt-get.
Code:
[General]
arch=armel
directory=/home/alexander/builds/multistrap
cleanup=false
retainsources=true
allowrecommends=false
noauth=true
unpack=true
aptsources=Grip
debootstrap=Debian
[Debian]
packages=screen openssh-server alsa-utils wireless-tools wpasupplicant nmap netcat
source=http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian
keyring=debian-archive-keyring
suite=sid
[Grip]
packages=locales
keyring=emdebian-archive-keyring
source=http://www.emdebian.org/grip
suite=sid
Now we need to get it to iconia somehow. Running it from microsd would be incredibly slow and internal ssd is formatted to vfat. So let's loop mount it.
1. Create the loopback image
Code:
#700 mb
dd if=/dev/zero of=debian.img bs=10M count=70
mkfs.ext2 -f debian.img
2. Mount it as you always do.. on your desktop yet
Code:
mkdir /mnt/debian
mount -o loop -t ext2 debian.img /mnt/debian
3. Copy the desired files.. As a root user, you can cd to the rootfs (generated by multistrap) and
Code:
tar cvp . | tar xvp -C /mnt/debian
4. unmount the image.. (umount /mnt/debian) and copy to the /sdcard. I copy to the /sdcard/linux/debian.img. Also, I use the /sdcard/linux/uroot directory to mount the image on the tablet.
5. now, you need adb or terminal emulator and superuser permissions ('teh rewt')
Now let's make some script, name it android_sh and put it to /bin in /sdcard/linux/uroot. And make it executable (chmod +x /bin/android_sh)
Code:
#!/bin/bash
export PATH=/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin
export USER=root
export HOME=/root
export TERM=linux
if [ -z "`pidof Xtightvnc`" ] ; then
vncserver -geometry 1280x740 -depth 8
else
kill -9 `pidof Xtightvnc`
rm /tmp/.X11-unix/X*
rm /tmp/.X*lock
fi
/bin/bash -
Ok. now make another script, in /sdcard/linux
Code:
#!/bin/sh
LOOPBASE=/sdcard/linux
LOOPFILE=debian.img
LOOPTARGET=uroot
cd $LOOPBASE
if [ -z "`grep $LOOPBASE/$LOOPTARGET /proc/mounts`" ]; then
echo "mounting $LOOPFILE"
mount -o loop -t ext2 $LOOPBASE/$LOOPFILE $LOOPBASE/$LOOPTARGET
else
echo "$LOOPFILE already mounted"
fi
for i in dev proc sys
do
echo "processing $i"
if [ -z "`grep $LOOPBASE/$LOOPTARGET/$i /proc/mounts`" ]
then
echo "mounting $i"
mount -o bind /$i $LOOPBASE/$LOOPTARGET/$i
else
echo "$i already mounted"
fi
done
if [ -z "`grep $LOOPBASE/$LOOPTARGET/dev/pts /proc/mounts`" ]
then
mount -t tmpfs none $LOOPBASE/$LOOPTARGET/dev/pts
fi
echo "chroot into $LOOPBASE/$LOOPTARGET"
chroot $LOOPBASE/$LOOPTARGET /bin/android_sh
now, execute it (sh /sdcard/linux/chroot.sh). You should be in root shell now. If you're building debian using multistrap, configure the packages (dpkg-configure -a). Remember I told you to keep out of debian? Dash package is somewhat broken so you may need to lurk through mailing lists to make it install.. And you need to manually add your sid/testing mirrors to the aptitude config.
So what now? Install tightvnc server (in debian/ubuntu, use apt-get update; apt-get install tightvncserver), exit the shell and launch chroot.sh again.
If you're building rootfs yourself, don't forget to install some x desktop environment. I use lxde on debian, it is lightweight and starts automatically with tightvnc
Now, you can use the vnc client on android to connect to your X11. When chrooting, tightvnc wil tell you the number of x session, so use it as the last digit of the port (5901, 5902 etc). I welcome suggestions on how to improve the android_sh to cleanly kill all tightvnc servers and remove temporary files so that the port number is always the same
In the end you may or may not get something similiar to this:
http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/9076/img3159qm.jpg
P.S.
I recommend you to install Hacker's Keyboard which will give you the tab key, esc and arrows simultaneously and allow to use cool software like vim and emacs without pain
https://market.android.com/details?id=app-org.pocketworkstation.pckeyboard
U.B.D.Man...
Cool...But I got stucked at the first step. Where can I get debian.img?
you create a new file named debian.img using dd, then you format it to ext2 using mkfs.. well. you can just take backtrack image from xoom. essentially it's just ubuntu with some software added
I'm just curious why you chose ext2 as opposed to ext4? Given that the filesystem is actually a file on a filesystem, I sort of understand ext2, especially considering you can mount it with the ext4 driver now.
This probably sounds like a stupid question, but for some reason I cannot use bash?
It may be that my paths are not configured properly, but i dont have a bin at the "/" level. I have looked in /system/bin and /system/xbin, but have not found bash there either.
I installed busybox and have been able to perform root tasks, so I am not sure what I missed.
because.. you don't have bash.. you should have it in your chroot. if you need it in android, just install it (like http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=537827)
I installed bash according to the link you posted, but I still don't have a /bin outside of /system. I did change the above scripts to reflect this by saying:
#!/system/bin (but then I get the error 'event not found')
My prompt reads: "sh-3.2#" after reboot, which I understand is bash replacing the stock terminal.
I tried creating the /bin directory in the root, but even with root terminal, it said it was read only. Do I have to remount the root and then create a /bin directory?
When I rooted, I don't remember their being a lengthy discussion about bash installation, or the creation of a /bin directory.
I welcome all suggestions, as I am trying to learn more about the inner workings of the tablet, but still have little experience.
you need bash only in the linux in chroot and therefore do not need to modify scripts.
anyway,
mount -o remount,rw /system
cp bash /system/bin
chmod 755 /system/bin/bash
mount -o remount,ro /system
then you can start bash by typing 'bash' in shell
Hello,
I have tried and I still can't get it run. I am not used to Linux stuffs and scared that I may screwed up my tab. Can you please pack the required files and upload it so that we can follow easier? something like this http://www.secmaniac.com/may-2011/backtrack-5-on-motorola-xoom-in-10-minutes-or-less/ would be great.
Thank you.
PS: I sincerely want to get BackTrack on my tab so that I can run R on this
moved to http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1094237
sp3dev said:
because.. you don't have bash.. you should have it in your chroot. if you need it in android, just install it (like http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=537827)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I ended up installing bash, but I still had problems with chroot and getting the scripts to run, so I decided to reverse what I was doing. In the process of trying to remove the bash shell and replace with the stock sh, I must have messed something up.
I tried a factory reset, and when I loaded back up again, I can't get wifi to connect. My suspicion is that there is at least two separate things wrong:
-My shell is somewhere in permission limbo or non-existant
I try running >adb shell and I get:
"- exec '/system/bin/sh' failed: No such file or directory (2) -"​
-The permissions on my wpa_supplicant are probably messed up, hence I can't connect to wifi
Any suggestions?
Well I tried a few more things:
-Tried copying over bash to /system/bin, got an error that it is a read-only file system. Funny, because I need shell (chmod?) in order to repair the shell, those bastards.
-Tried installing apk using adb, got same message about 'sh' missing. I think I will have to reflash a system.img, but I can't seem to find the Wifi-US with a working link.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Hey guys, could you upload and send me the link of a video of this working? Cause I love the idea of it but I'm not sure if its really practical
Sent from my A500 using XDA Premium App

[HOWTO] Loop mount

OK, I spent a couple of hours figuring out how loop mounting works. The problem is that the mount command in both toolbox and busybox supports only one loop device. I modified the toolbox version to allow the specification of a new loop device.
Here is how to make a 500mb loop-mounted ext2 system at /mnt/myloop , with the system being stored in /storage/sdcard/myext2system.img
Step 1. Make sure you have root. Download bettermount*.zip to your PC from here. Copy the "bettermount" file from the zip file to /data/local/ (or some other location). One way of doing that is with:
Code:
adb push bettermount /data/local
on the PC. Or you can mount your device to USB, copy bettermount to storage, and then in a root shell copy it to /data/local. Or if you have RW root, you can install bettermount in /bin or some other convenient location.
Start a shell on the device, either via adb or an on-device terminal (not recommended unless you have an external keyboard). Switch to root:
Code:
su
Then make bettermount executable:
Code:
chmod 755 /data/local/bettermount
The following steps assume you're still in your root shell.
Step 2. Create ext2 file system in a file. (Skip this if you already have one.)
Code:
dd if=/dev/zero of=/storage/sdcard/myext2system.img bs=1M count=500
mke2fs /storage/sdcard/myext2system.img
mke2fs will give you a warning that this isn't a block special device, but just press "y" and "enter".
Step 3. Create a loop device node for the ext2 file system. The problem here is that the OS uses loop device nodes for apps moved to external storage and one for the system squashfs, and it only has enough loop device nodes for those purposes--any loop device nodes in /dev/block are already in use. On the assumption that you aren't going to have more than 253 apps moved to storage, we're going to create a loop device node numbered 255. If you like, you can check that there isn't already one with that number with
Code:
ls /dev/block/loop*
So, let's create the loop device node:
Code:
mknod -m640 /dev/block/loop255 b 7 255
Step 4. Create a mount point:
Code:
mkdir /mnt/myloop
Step 5. Mount myext2filesystem.img:
Code:
/data/local/bettermount -t ext2 -orw,exec,noatime,nodiratime,sync,loop=/dev/block/loop255 /storage/sdcard/myext2system.img /mnt/myloop
Enjoy your new file system at /mnt/myloop !
You will have to repeat Steps 3-5 after every boot, or else you can make a script that runs every time you boot. You could simply put the commands for 3-5 into a Script Manager script set to run on boot, or there may be some better, more unixy way (but I haven't had any luck editing startup scripts).
What to do with your shiny new filesystem? Well, you could move not just apps but also their libraries to external storage (you can also do that by remounting your external storage in exec mode).
arpruss said:
OK, I spent a couple of hours figuring out how loop mounting works. The problem is that the mount command in both toolbox and busybox supports only one loop device. I modified the toolbox version to allow the specification of a new loop device.
Here is how to make a 500mb loop-mounted ext2 system at /mnt/myloop , with the system being stored in /storage/sdcard/myext2system.img
Step 1. Make sure you have root. Download bettermount*.zip to your PC from here. Copy the "bettermount" file from the zip file to /data/local/ (or some other location). One way of doing that is with:
Code:
adb push bettermount /data/local
on the PC. Or you can mount your device to USB, copy bettermount to storage, and then in a root shell copy it to /data/local. Or if you have RW root, you can install bettermount in /bin or some other convenient location.
Start a shell on the device, either via adb or an on-device terminal (not recommended unless you have an external keyboard). Switch to root:
Code:
su
Then make bettermount executable:
Code:
chmod 755 /data/local/bettermount
The following steps assume you're still in your root shell.
Step 2. Create ext2 file system in a file. (Skip this if you already have one.)
Code:
dd if=/dev/zero of=/storage/sdcard/myext2system.img bs=1M count=500
mke2fs /storage/sdcard/myext2system.img
mke2fs will give you a warning that this isn't a block special device, but just press "y" and "enter".
Step 3. Create a loop device node for the ext2 file system. The problem here is that the OS uses loop device nodes for apps moved to external storage and one for the system squashfs, and it only has enough loop device nodes for those purposes--any loop device nodes in /dev/block are already in use. On the assumption that you aren't going to have more than 253 apps moved to storage, we're going to create a loop device node numbered 255. If you like, you can check that there isn't already one with that number with
Code:
ls /dev/block/loop*
So, let's create the loop device node:
Code:
mknod -m640 /dev/block/loop255 b 7 255
Step 4. Create a mount point:
Code:
mkdir /mnt/myloop
Step 5. Mount myext2filesystem.img:
Code:
/data/local/bettermount -t ext2 -orw,exec,noatime,nodiratime,sync,loop=/dev/block/loop255 /storage/sdcard/myext2filesystem.img /mnt/myloop
Enjoy your new file system at /mnt/myloop !
You will have to repeat Steps 3-5 after every boot, or else you can make a script that runs every time you boot. You could simply put the commands for 3-5 into a Script Manager script set to run on boot, or there may be some better, more unixy way (but I haven't had any luck editing startup scripts).
What to do with your shiny new filesystem? Well, you could move not just apps but also their libraries to external storage (you can also do that by remounting your external storage in exec mode).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which version of busybox were you testing with? I haven't had a problem with multiple loop devices...
I've been using the stock busybox: 1.7.2.
Do you use -oloop=/dev/block/loopNN to specify the device?
I just tried 1.16.0 from the Titanium Backup website. No luck. I created /dev/block/loop222. Then:
Code:
# /tmp/busybox mount -t ext2 -oloop=/dev/block/loop222 /storage/10.img /mnt/myloop
mount: can't setup loop device: No such file or directory
# bettermount -t ext2 -oloop=/dev/block/loop222 /storage/10.img /mnt/myloop
# (works!)
I also tried just plain -oloop, without the =/dev/block/loop222, and it didn't work.
arpruss said:
I've been using the stock busybox: 1.7.2.
Do you use -oloop=/dev/block/loopNN to specify the device?
I just tried 1.16.0 from the Titanium Backup website. No luck. I created /dev/block/loop222. Then:
Code:
# /tmp/busybox mount -t ext2 -oloop=/dev/block/loop222 /storage/10.img /mnt/myloop
mount: can't setup loop device: No such file or directory
# bettermount -t ext2 -oloop=/dev/block/loop222 /storage/10.img /mnt/myloop
# (works!)
I also tried just plain -oloop, without the =/dev/block/loop222, and it didn't work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't remember if mount was symlinked to busybox at the time, but I just used the standard "mount -o loop disk1.img /mnt/disk". I may have even been on a custom kernel and had a crosscompiled mount, so good work, this is probably going to be a common problem for people.
The problem with busybox seems to be that it thinks /dev/block/loop0 is free, but it's not. Doing losetup -f returns /dev/block/loop0.
If you could mount the loopdevice in init.rc this would be the easiest way to expand the 300MB /data problem with archos.
Also it might be the best way in CM7 until its stable for the persistent Data between revisions.
fzelle said:
If you could mount the loopdevice in init.rc this would be the easiest way to expand the 300MB /data problem with archos.
Also it might be the best way in CM7 until its stable for the persistent Data between revisions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have had no luck adding anything to init.rc with the rw root.
Moreover, /storage and /storage/sdcard get mounted quite late in the boot process--late enough that I think one can't just move the /data directory there. I suppose one might be able to mount them earlier in the process, but I haven't been able to figure out how to run anything in an init script. If anybody knows how to do it, please speak up!
What one could do, however, is mount the loop from an app's on-boot notification, and then symlink individual app files.
It looks like with a better busybox than the one included with the device, one can also use losetup to specify the loop device--see here.
I built a full 1.18.5 version of Busybox, and it does loop mounting just right. You can replace Step 1 of my HOWTO with fetching my modified busybox and putting it in /data/local, from http://code.google.com/p/busybox-for-android/downloads/list
Then step 3 is not needed.
Step 4 should be replaceable with the very simple:
Code:
/data/local/busybox mount -orw,exec,noatime,nodiratime,sync,loop /storage/sdcard/myext2system.img /mnt/myloop
Or if you're pressed for time, and want to use default mount options:
Code:
/data/local/busybox mount -oloop /storage/sdcard/myext2system.img /mnt/myloop
But if you want to implement this is inside an app, depending on your license needs, you may want to use the longer method, since busybox is GPL while bettermount is Apache 2.

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