The CWM for Ouya project

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sonofskywalker3

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Jan 22, 2009
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Well, since i'm not aware of anyone else doing it, and it will be necessary for any real development to occur, I have decided to try porting Clockworkmod Recovery to the Ouya. I am downloading ubuntu right now and I'll start trying to build it from source against our current recovery tonight or tomorrow night depending on how long the setup and prerequisites take.

The reason I'm posting this now, is to solicit help. I've never built CWM before, but XDA has a really great tutorial I'm going to follow, but if anyone here has had experience in the past I'd love some help/tips, and other than that I would like a few brave souls to volunteer and try flashing it on their Ouya when/if I have a build that works on my own.

I'll update this thread with my progress, if I make any, and please let me know if any of you are willing to help in any way.

Update 1:
I have compiled a version of CWM recovery that theoretically should work, but I'm unable to flash it. I have installed flash_image onto the ouya and it works fine, but i normally would have used "flash_image recovery recovery.img" however there is no "recovery" partition on the ouya. This is what I get:

./flash_image recovery recovery.img
error scanning partitions: No such file or directory

Mount reveals the following info:

mount
rootfs / rootfs ro,relatime 0 0
tmpfs /dev tmpfs rw,nosuid,relatime,mode=755 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts rw,relatime,mode=600 0 0
proc /proc proc rw,relatime 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs rw,relatime 0 0
debugfs /sys/kernel/debug debugfs rw,relatime 0 0
none /acct cgroup rw,relatime,cpuacct 0 0
tmpfs /mnt/asec tmpfs rw,relatime,mode=755,gid=1000 0 0
tmpfs /mnt/obb tmpfs rw,relatime,mode=755,gid=1000 0 0
none /dev/cpuctl cgroup rw,relatime,cpu 0 0
/dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/APP /system ext4 ro,relatime,user_xatt
r,acl,barrier=1,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/CAC /cache ext4 rw,nosuid,nodev,noatim
e,errors=panic,user_xattr,acl,barrier=1,journal_async_commit,nodelalloc,data=wri
teback 0 0
/dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/UDA /data ext4 rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime
,errors=panic,user_xattr,acl,barrier=1,journal_async_commit,nodelalloc,data=writ
eback 0 0
/dev/fuse /storage/sdcard0 fuse rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_id=1023,group_id=1
023,default_permissions,allow_other 0 0

This is the script from the OTA update:
#!/system/bin/sh
if ! applypatch -c EMMC:/dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/SOS:5906432:f80238c4f4a53888b547e4463fb4751343f23412; then
log -t recovery "Installing new recovery image"
applypatch EMMC:/dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/LNX:5277696:5d7013bf98f76199ea5b7d7d8baeb07fa3ad26ff EMMC:/dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/SOS f80238c4f4a53888b547e4463fb4751343f23412 5906432 5d7013bf98f76199ea5b7d7d8baeb07fa3ad26ff:/system/recovery-from-boot.p
else
log -t recovery "Recovery image already installed"
fi

but I can't make any sense of it. If anyone can help out i'd much appreciate it...
 
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mybook4

Senior Member
Apr 3, 2011
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but I can't make any sense of it. If anyone can help out i'd much appreciate it...


This seems to be the magic lines in the update script:

if ! applypatch -c EMMC:/dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/SOS:5906432:f80238c4f4a53888b547e4463fb4751343f23412; then
log -t recovery "Installing new recovery image"
applypatch EMMC:/dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/LNX:5277696:5d7013bf98f76199ea5b7d7d8baeb07fa3ad26ff EMMC:/dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/SOS f80238c4f4a53888b547e4463fb4751343f23412 5906432 5d7013bf98f76199ea5b7d7d8baeb07fa3ad26ff:/system/recovery-from-boot.p

I don't know much about the applypatch program. It might just be another script. Since it isn't being called with a "./", I'd imagine it is installed somewhere that the path mentions. Try looking for "applypatch" to see if it is a program or script. In a terminal running on the Ouya, try running "echo $PATH". Hopefully you get a list of directories containing program locations (e.g. /usr/bin/ ...etc). Applypatch might be in one of those directories.


UPDATE 1:
applypatch is a binary, not a script. It is located in /system/bin/
I tried running it without arguments on my Nexus 7 (to see if we would luck out with a nice "usage" message), but for some annoying reason I can't give it execute permissions, even as root. I'll look deeper into the scripts

UPDATE 2:
I need to verify this on my Ouya, but from the updater-script in the latest OTA, the kernel partition is /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/LNX (I'm going out on a limb here boys, but I think LNX stands for Linux, aka, our kernel, lol).

UPDATE 3:
Seems like the recovery partition is /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/SOS
I don't know much about the details of "applypatch", but the recovery script you posted above seems to first check to see if the recovery partition hashes to f80238c4f4a53888b547e4463fb4751343f23412 (the hash of the latest and greatest recovery). If it doesn't, then we flash the latest recovery, which from the looks of it consists of the kernel (in LNX) with a patch applied to it from recovery-from-boot.p (another mess of binary). In other words, it looks like they build a recovery from the existing kernel, as the name "recovery-from-boot" implies (the kernel is packaged in a file called boot.img).

Long story short, it looks like you can write to the block device /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/SOS to write a new recovery. Aka, in a hacked version of the OTA script, include the line

package_extract_file("recovery.img", "/dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/SOS");

where recovery.img is the name of your new recovery. They did something very similar to the kernel (LNX). I'm pretty sure that the correct way to do something like this is to use "dd" after verifying the image is correct (by running a hash against the image). I'm not sure why the Ouya team is using package_extract_file() instead of dd. I'm not in front of my Ouya though, LNX and SOS could be folders rather than block devices (although /dev/block seems to imply otherwise).

You can remove most of the other lines in the script that install the actual OTA update files. If you need help, let me know. I can make a custom update-script for you.


WARNING!!!!!!!! The above is just my take on things from looking at the scripts for 20 minutes. This could total brick your device if your recovery isn't of the right format or is not correctly built. Don't say I didn't warn ya.

You might want to read off the contents of the SOS to compare in a hex editor to your recovery. We might find out some things that would prevent a brick.




Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
 
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sonofskywalker3

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Jan 22, 2009
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Thank you for all your detailed information. I assumed that if my cwm recovery build failed I could just flash the boot.img from the ota and restore it, but it sounds like that might not be correct if the update is dependent on a hashed, preexisting recovery/kernel. I used the boot.img from the ota to build the recovery at http://builder.clockworkmod.com/ and it showed successful and gave me these four files:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7653846/Archive.zip

So to test, should I be able to flash_image /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/SOS recovery.img?
my concern is that particular block doesn't show up on a mount command...
 

mybook4

Senior Member
Apr 3, 2011
445
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Thank you for all your detailed information. I assumed that if my cwm recovery build failed I could just flash the boot.img from the ota and restore it, but it sounds like that might not be correct if the update is dependent on a hashed, preexisting recovery/kernel. I used the boot.img from the ota to build the recovery at http://builder.clockworkmod.com/ and it showed successful and gave me these four files:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7653846/Archive.zip

So to test, should I be able to flash_image /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/SOS recovery.img?
my concern is that particular block doesn't show up on a mount command...

I'm putting together an zip to flash in the stock recovery. This way we mimic what the stock updates do to flash over partitions.

I'm reading http://forums.ouya.tv/discussion/1380/recovery-mode right now in order to figure out how to get into the stock recovery.

One thing that I noticed is that I think your recovery is slightly larger than the stock one. I'm not sure how large SOS is, but I wouldn't want to flash over adjacent blocks (i.e. write out of bounds).
 
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sonofskywalker3

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Jan 22, 2009
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Makes sense. You must know something I don't if you can get it to flash in stock recovery... I tried simply adding files to the ota zip and flashing it and it failed.
 

mybook4

Senior Member
Apr 3, 2011
445
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Makes sense. You must know something I don't if you can get it to flash in stock recovery... I tried simply adding files to the ota zip and flashing it and it failed.

It probably doesn't work because the update.zip we're using is signed.

Just a thought, but an easier way to go, albeit dangerous, is to do the following. You need root access over adb to do this. Using dd is VERY dangerous. THIS MIGHT NOT WORK. We need to make sure that what we are writing to (/dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/SOS) is truly the block device containing the recovery partition or else this might brick the Ouya. In the past, I've seen recovery written to /dev/block/mmcblk0pX, where X is the recovery partition for the particular device. I'm not much of a tegra guy. I know more about Samsung's stuff.

1) place the recovery.img on your ouya (let's say in /sdcard/recovery.img)
2) open a terminal running on your Ouya (over adb would probably be best, e.g. "adb shell")
3) enter a root shell, type "su"
4) make a backup of your existing recovery partition with "dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p1 of=/sdcard/origRecovery.img"
5) write the new recovery to the recovery partition with "dd if=/sdcard/recovery.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p1"

6) perform the following from user mbm in the Ouya forums to get into recovery (thread http://forums.ouya.tv/discussion/1380/recovery-mode)

This is a hack, an unintended sequence of events that results in recovery mode; what you need to do is crash the startup using sysrq.

For this you'll need a usb keyboard with the sysrq key, this is usually the printscreen button if your keyboard isn't labeled. As the OUYA starts to boot, hold down the alt-sysrq keys and press i, wait a few seconds and then repeat. This key combination is kill-all-tasks; thanks to whoever left this enabled in the kernel. Each time you kill the tasks the init process will restart them, after about 5 or 6 times init will print a warning on the console that one of the processes marked critical has been restarted too many times -- this then triggers an automatic reboot into recovery mode.

Unfortunately it's not always obvious when the ouya is in recovery mode. You might get screen with the ouya logo and a large red exclamation mark, or the screen might be entirely black; usually I got a black screen. Press the home button on the keyboard to bring up the recovery menu; it's actually a toggle so feel free to press the home button repeatedly until you see the menu since the timing isn't otherwise obvious.

There are two big unknowns here:

1) We don't know for sure that the new recovery (CWM) will actually work
2) We don't know for sure that /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/SOS is the correct place to be writing a recovery


I'll see what I can dig up regarding /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/SOS

---------- Post added at 02:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:30 PM ----------

/dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/SOS is a link to /dev/block/mmcblk0p1


So far, it appears that the layout is the following:

Kernel (boot.img) is mmcblk0p2
Recovery is mmcblk0p1
System is mmcblk0p3


Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium

---------- Post added at 02:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:53 PM ----------

I would imagine that if the recovery partition really is SOS, then the above steps would work if you could run them as root.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
 
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rayman

Senior Recognized Developer
May 1, 2008
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Some definite info:
  • SOS is recovery
  • OUYA firmware updates patches the boot partition on the fly (binary patching) - silly and error prone, but *shrug*. Don't need apply patch at all. dd is fine
  • It's much safer to use 'fastboot boot recovery.img' while in fastboot mode. This allows loading recovery or boot.img's into ram and execute them from there. Once that works 100%, you can flash it to SOS.
  • As most people already know, it's not possible to force the device into recovery. It has to be done with something like 'adb reboot recovery'.
 

rayman

Senior Recognized Developer
May 1, 2008
278
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I'm putting together an zip to flash in the stock recovery. This way we mimic what the stock updates do to flash over partitions.

I'm reading http://forums.ouya.tv/discussion/1380/recovery-mode right now in order to figure out how to get into the stock recovery.

One thing that I noticed is that I think your recovery is slightly larger than the stock one. I'm not sure how large SOS is, but I wouldn't want to flash over adjacent blocks (i.e. write out of bounds).

It's 8MB. If you dd to the block device (e.g. mmcblk0p1), you can't write out of bounds. The linux kernel knows the size and refuses it.
 
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mybook4

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Some definite info:
  • SOS is recovery
  • OUYA firmware updates patches the boot partition on the fly (binary patching) - silly and error prone, but *shrug*. Don't need apply patch at all. dd is fine
  • It's much safer to use 'fastboot boot recovery.img' while in fastboot mode. This allows loading recovery or boot.img's into ram and execute them from there. Once that works 100%, you can flash it to SOS.
  • As most people already know, it's not possible to force the device into recovery. It has to be done with something like 'adb reboot recovery'.


I did the following with skywalker's recovery.

1) Attached a usb keyboard to the Ouya's full size usb port
2) Attached my computer to the Ouya's micr usb port
3) Ran "adb reboot bootloader" (the Ouya rebooted to a blank screen)
4) Waited 30 seconds and ran "fastboot boot recovery.img" (skywalker's recovery file)

The Ouya rebooted into CWM Recovery v6.0.3.2!
Error messages were encountered on the recovery screen (image attached)

5) Navigated around CWM with the arrow keys and the enter key
6) Rebooted with "reboot system now". Ouya booted right up.


When we flash the recovery to mmcblk0p1, we should rename /system/etc/install-recovery.sh (and maybe /system/recovery-from-boot.p) to prevent the recovery partition from being overwritten.

Looks like we need to adjust the recovery so it properly mounts the partitions. Hopefully after that we are good to go.
 

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sonofskywalker3

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Wow, that's awesome progress! So I'll try the same steps when I get home tonight and then try building another recovery with proper mount points.
 

mybook4

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Apr 3, 2011
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Wow, that's awesome progress! So I'll try the same steps when I get home tonight and then try building another recovery with proper mount points.

I think it should be a matter of placing the proper partitions in the fstab prior to creating the recovery image. From the error messages it looks like /cache and /data are the culprits.

If you get a chance to, please post the fstab you use so we can double check everything (want to avoid the potential for bricks).

Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
 

sonofskywalker3

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Jan 22, 2009
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I did the build without a custom fstab first to see if it would work. I'll make one tonight, or if anyone here has done it before feel free to make sure it's done right, this will be my first try at it.

Update:
Started making the fstab and got rid of the errors on my second build, seems it still can't mount some. making progress though.

Update2:

I have compiled a new recovery using the following recovery.fstab:

/cache ext4 /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/CAC
/system ext4 /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/APP
/data ext4 /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/UDA
/sdcard fuse /dev/fuse

this is based on information gathered from the mount command in an adb shell. it no longer gives the long string of errors, or complains that it can't mount any partitions except i get the following errors now:

can't mount /cache/recovery/command
can't mount /cache/recovery/last_log
can't open /cache/recovery/last_log

and a few others. not sure how to proceed at this point. I'm searching Google, but has anyone run into this before?
 
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mybook4

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I did the build without a custom fstab first to see if it would work. I'll make one tonight, or if anyone here has done it before feel free to make sure it's done right, this will be my first try at it.

Update:
Started making the fstab and got rid of the errors on my second build, seems it still can't mount some. making progress though.

Update2:

I have compiled a new recovery using the following recovery.fstab:

/cache ext4 /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/CAC
/system ext4 /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/APP
/data ext4 /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/UDA
/sdcard fuse /dev/fuse

this is based on information gathered from the mount command in an adb shell. it no longer gives the long string of errors, or complains that it can't mount any partitions except i get the following errors now:

can't mount /cache/recovery/command
can't mount /cache/recovery/last_log
can't open /cache/recovery/last_log

and a few others. not sure how to proceed at this point. I'm searching Google, but has anyone run into this before?

I'm still new at making a recovery.fstab, but I noticed the following:

From running "ls -l /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/"
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-05-25 02:23 APP -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p3
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-05-25 02:23 CAC -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p4
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-05-25 02:23 LNX -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p2
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-05-25 02:23 MDA -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p8
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-05-25 02:23 MSC -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p6
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-05-25 02:23 SOS -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p1
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-05-25 02:23 UDA -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p9
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-05-25 02:23 UPP -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p5
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-05-25 02:23 USP -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p7

Since the APP, CAC, LNX files are links to mmcblk0pX devices, maybe we should be using the mmcblk0pX names?

We should look at more examples to see what the recovery.fstab for other devices looks like. From what I've seen of other devices, mmcblk0pX devices are listed in recovery.fstab.


P.S. So far, I think we are fairly certain that
APP is the system partition
CAC is the cache partition
LNX is kernel boot.img
SOS is the recovery partition

I'm not sure what the rest are (data, etc). Is there a definitive list somewhere?
 
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sonofskywalker3

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Here's what I was able to find based on your suggestion, it's the recovery.fstab from the nexus 7:

/system ext4 /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/APP
/cache ext4 /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/CAC
/data ext4 /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/UDA length=-32768
/misc emmc /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/MSC
/boot emmc /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/LNX
/recovery emmc /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/SOS
/staging emmc /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/USP

Obviously this isn't exactly right, but it's a start until we can find more about the mounts.

I tried making the recovery.fstab using the mmcblk numbers but that made no difference... Cache always mounts empty. I'm going to try one more thing, then I'll post my final results and go to bed.

Update:
Well still no love, and no noticeable progress between recovery 2 and 7, but I feel like we're chipping away in the right direction. I'll seek some help from some more experienced recovery people tomorrow.
 
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mybook4

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Here's what I was able to find based on your suggestion, it's the recovery.fstab from the nexus 7:

/systemext4/dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/APP
/cacheext4/dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/CAC
/dataext4/dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/UDAlength=-32768
/misc emmc /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/MSC
/bootemmc/dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/LNX
/recoveryemmc/dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/SOS
/staging emmc /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/USP

Obviously this isn't exactly right, but it's a start until we can find more about the mounts.

I tried making the recovery.fstab using the mmcblk numbers but that made no difference... Cache always mounts empty. I'm going to try one more thing, then I'll post my final results and go to bed.

Good stuff.

Not sure how we are going to get the field length= . I noticed the same field being used in the US Galaxy S III recovery https://raw.github.com/CyanogenMod/android_device_samsung_d2-common/cm-10.1/recovery.fstab

length= field is probably not needed, as the stock recovery doesn't list it.


Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
 
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mybook4

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Here's the recovery.fstab from my Ouya's recovery partition.

# mount point fstype device

/recovery emmc /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/SOS
/boot emmc /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/LNX
/system ext4 /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/APP
/cache ext4 /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/CAC
/misc emmc /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/MSC
/staging emmc /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/USP
/metadata emmc /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/MDA
/data ext4 /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/UDA
/sdcard vfat /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.0/by-num/p1

I tried doing CWM build with this recovery.fstab. /system, /data, and /cache all mounted.
Couldn't mount /sdcard automatically (trying to choose zip from sdcard) or manually (in mounts and storage, mount /sdcard).


I tweaked the recovery.fstab to the following:

/recovery emmc /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/SOS
/boot emmc /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/LNX
/system ext4 /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/APP
/cache ext4 /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/CAC
/misc emmc /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/MSC
/staging emmc /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/USP
/metadata emmc /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/MDA
/data ext4 /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/UDA
/sdcard datamedia /dev/null

This one mounted /sdcard correctly. I can "choose a zip from sdcard". I didn't actually choose a zip yet. I didn't format any of the partitions. I suppose we could try making a quick cwm zip to write something to the sdcard to test it out.


I've attached the stock Ouya recovery.img (from SOS partition). THIS IS NOT A CWM FLASHABLE ZIP, it only contains a zipped up version of the stock recovery.img. The md5 hash of the unzipped recovery.img is a6c1a6962984e9080ed8821628c4cc3f.


I've attached the CWM recovery.img that worked for me. THIS IS NOT A CWM FLASHABLE ZIP, it only contains a zipped up version of a newly built CWM recovery.img. The md5 hash of the unzipped recovery.img is c6b37906f280b16cd200503c3cde6dfb.
 

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sonofskywalker3

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Jan 22, 2009
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well, when I build using your suggested recovery.fstab i'm still getting the same error about the cache, but i booted the cwm you built and saw what you meant. can you post your actual recovery.fstab file so I can try to build with it? where did you get the boot.img you are using?

Update!

It worked!! I booted to your attached cwm and I'm running a nandroid backup right now. I'll try a restore next. In the meantime I'm putting together a Playmusic.zip flashable zip with the files necessary to get play music up and running and I'll try flashing it. Awesome work tracking down those partitions!
 
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mybook4

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Apr 3, 2011
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well, when I build using your suggested recovery.fstab i'm still getting the same error about the cache, but i booted the cwm you built and saw what you meant. can you post your actual recovery.fstab file so I can try to build with it? where did you get the boot.img you are using?

I edited the comment right above yours.

Recovery Builder wants the stock recovery.img, so I used adb to copy my Ouya's recovery partition to the sdcard, then I used adb pull to copy the recovery partition to my computer.

1) adb shell
2) su
3) cd /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name
4) dd if=SOS of=/sdcard/stockRecovery.img
5) exit
6) adb pull /sdcard/stockRecovery.img .


I used the recovery.fstab attached to this post. I obtained the stock Ouya recovery.fstab by doing the following:
I used split_bootimg.pl to split up the recovery.img into kernel and ramdisk (see Alternate Method in http://android-dls.com/wiki/index.php?title=HOWTO:_Unpack,_Edit,_and_Re-Pack_Boot_Images). I used gzip to unzip the ramdisk and saw the stock recovery.fstab in /etc.

Here's what I did step by step:
1) split_bootimg.pl stockRecovery.img
2) mkdir ramdisk
3) cd ramdisk
4) gzip -dc ../stockRecovery.img-ramdisk.gz | cpio -i

in the ramdisk directory is etc/recovery.fstab

I then copied this file and edited the last line (/sdcard stuff). I used the new recovery.fstab with the Recovery Builder.
 

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mybook4

Senior Member
Apr 3, 2011
445
267
It worked!! I booted to your attached cwm and I'm running a nandroid backup right now. I'll try a restore next. In the meantime I'm putting together a Playmusic.zip flashable zip with the files necessary to get play music up and running and I'll try flashing it. Awesome work tracking down those partitions!

Awesome! Let us know how the backup/restore and zip flashing goes.

Once we verify that this CWM works correctly, people should be able write the new recovery by doing the following (NOTE this wasn't tested yet. I need to test it out first):

1) adb reboot bootloader
2) wait 30 seconds (blank screen is normal)
3) fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
4) fastboot reboot recovery (need a usb keyboard to navigate CWM)
5) flash a CWM zip to prevent stock recovery overwrite (we need to make this. The zip file should mount /system, rename recovery-from-boot.p to recovery-from-boot.bak, and unmount /system)
6) profit

Most of this could potentially be automated into a root/install CWM script.
 
Last edited:

sonofskywalker3

Senior Member
Jan 22, 2009
812
460
Backup worked fine, flash worked and I'm booting now to make sure it put the files where it was supposed to and see if they work. Then i'll reboot and restore and make sure those files go away.One thing to note is that when i choose reboot system now it asked me to disable recovery flash,so I took the plunge and said yes, we'll see if it goes back to stock or not...

Update:
The .zip I built said it flashed correctly (unless i'm reading wrong the parts i could see with the overscan problems i'm having) but the files did not go to /system/app. I have attached the .zip file to see if I did something wrong with it, I just grabbed a sample from online and changed the files, haven't checked updater-script yet. I am restoring now, will post update on if that works.

It rebooted to stock recovery, as I expected, so still haven't flashed it just yet.

Well my oversensitive keyboard just hit enter twice so I'm actually backing up again, but I have to leave and take my daughter to a muesuem now, so I won't be able to continue until later. Good luck, i'll be keeping up with this thread on my phone.

Edit: removed non working zip
 

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  • 11
    Well, since i'm not aware of anyone else doing it, and it will be necessary for any real development to occur, I have decided to try porting Clockworkmod Recovery to the Ouya. I am downloading ubuntu right now and I'll start trying to build it from source against our current recovery tonight or tomorrow night depending on how long the setup and prerequisites take.

    The reason I'm posting this now, is to solicit help. I've never built CWM before, but XDA has a really great tutorial I'm going to follow, but if anyone here has had experience in the past I'd love some help/tips, and other than that I would like a few brave souls to volunteer and try flashing it on their Ouya when/if I have a build that works on my own.

    I'll update this thread with my progress, if I make any, and please let me know if any of you are willing to help in any way.

    Update 1:
    I have compiled a version of CWM recovery that theoretically should work, but I'm unable to flash it. I have installed flash_image onto the ouya and it works fine, but i normally would have used "flash_image recovery recovery.img" however there is no "recovery" partition on the ouya. This is what I get:

    ./flash_image recovery recovery.img
    error scanning partitions: No such file or directory

    Mount reveals the following info:

    mount
    rootfs / rootfs ro,relatime 0 0
    tmpfs /dev tmpfs rw,nosuid,relatime,mode=755 0 0
    devpts /dev/pts devpts rw,relatime,mode=600 0 0
    proc /proc proc rw,relatime 0 0
    sysfs /sys sysfs rw,relatime 0 0
    debugfs /sys/kernel/debug debugfs rw,relatime 0 0
    none /acct cgroup rw,relatime,cpuacct 0 0
    tmpfs /mnt/asec tmpfs rw,relatime,mode=755,gid=1000 0 0
    tmpfs /mnt/obb tmpfs rw,relatime,mode=755,gid=1000 0 0
    none /dev/cpuctl cgroup rw,relatime,cpu 0 0
    /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/APP /system ext4 ro,relatime,user_xatt
    r,acl,barrier=1,data=ordered 0 0
    /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/CAC /cache ext4 rw,nosuid,nodev,noatim
    e,errors=panic,user_xattr,acl,barrier=1,journal_async_commit,nodelalloc,data=wri
    teback 0 0
    /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/UDA /data ext4 rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime
    ,errors=panic,user_xattr,acl,barrier=1,journal_async_commit,nodelalloc,data=writ
    eback 0 0
    /dev/fuse /storage/sdcard0 fuse rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_id=1023,group_id=1
    023,default_permissions,allow_other 0 0

    This is the script from the OTA update:
    #!/system/bin/sh
    if ! applypatch -c EMMC:/dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/SOS:5906432:f80238c4f4a53888b547e4463fb4751343f23412; then
    log -t recovery "Installing new recovery image"
    applypatch EMMC:/dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/LNX:5277696:5d7013bf98f76199ea5b7d7d8baeb07fa3ad26ff EMMC:/dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/SOS f80238c4f4a53888b547e4463fb4751343f23412 5906432 5d7013bf98f76199ea5b7d7d8baeb07fa3ad26ff:/system/recovery-from-boot.p
    else
    log -t recovery "Recovery image already installed"
    fi

    but I can't make any sense of it. If anyone can help out i'd much appreciate it...
    4
    Some definite info:
    • SOS is recovery
    • OUYA firmware updates patches the boot partition on the fly (binary patching) - silly and error prone, but *shrug*. Don't need apply patch at all. dd is fine
    • It's much safer to use 'fastboot boot recovery.img' while in fastboot mode. This allows loading recovery or boot.img's into ram and execute them from there. Once that works 100%, you can flash it to SOS.
    • As most people already know, it's not possible to force the device into recovery. It has to be done with something like 'adb reboot recovery'.


    I did the following with skywalker's recovery.

    1) Attached a usb keyboard to the Ouya's full size usb port
    2) Attached my computer to the Ouya's micr usb port
    3) Ran "adb reboot bootloader" (the Ouya rebooted to a blank screen)
    4) Waited 30 seconds and ran "fastboot boot recovery.img" (skywalker's recovery file)

    The Ouya rebooted into CWM Recovery v6.0.3.2!
    Error messages were encountered on the recovery screen (image attached)

    5) Navigated around CWM with the arrow keys and the enter key
    6) Rebooted with "reboot system now". Ouya booted right up.


    When we flash the recovery to mmcblk0p1, we should rename /system/etc/install-recovery.sh (and maybe /system/recovery-from-boot.p) to prevent the recovery partition from being overwritten.

    Looks like we need to adjust the recovery so it properly mounts the partitions. Hopefully after that we are good to go.
    3
    Some definite info:
    • SOS is recovery
    • OUYA firmware updates patches the boot partition on the fly (binary patching) - silly and error prone, but *shrug*. Don't need apply patch at all. dd is fine
    • It's much safer to use 'fastboot boot recovery.img' while in fastboot mode. This allows loading recovery or boot.img's into ram and execute them from there. Once that works 100%, you can flash it to SOS.
    • As most people already know, it's not possible to force the device into recovery. It has to be done with something like 'adb reboot recovery'.
    2
    Here's the recovery.fstab from my Ouya's recovery partition.

    # mount point fstype device

    /recovery emmc /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/SOS
    /boot emmc /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/LNX
    /system ext4 /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/APP
    /cache ext4 /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/CAC
    /misc emmc /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/MSC
    /staging emmc /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/USP
    /metadata emmc /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/MDA
    /data ext4 /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/UDA
    /sdcard vfat /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.0/by-num/p1

    I tried doing CWM build with this recovery.fstab. /system, /data, and /cache all mounted.
    Couldn't mount /sdcard automatically (trying to choose zip from sdcard) or manually (in mounts and storage, mount /sdcard).


    I tweaked the recovery.fstab to the following:

    /recovery emmc /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/SOS
    /boot emmc /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/LNX
    /system ext4 /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/APP
    /cache ext4 /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/CAC
    /misc emmc /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/MSC
    /staging emmc /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/USP
    /metadata emmc /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/MDA
    /data ext4 /dev/block/platform/sdhci-tegra.3/by-name/UDA
    /sdcard datamedia /dev/null

    This one mounted /sdcard correctly. I can "choose a zip from sdcard". I didn't actually choose a zip yet. I didn't format any of the partitions. I suppose we could try making a quick cwm zip to write something to the sdcard to test it out.


    I've attached the stock Ouya recovery.img (from SOS partition). THIS IS NOT A CWM FLASHABLE ZIP, it only contains a zipped up version of the stock recovery.img. The md5 hash of the unzipped recovery.img is a6c1a6962984e9080ed8821628c4cc3f.


    I've attached the CWM recovery.img that worked for me. THIS IS NOT A CWM FLASHABLE ZIP, it only contains a zipped up version of a newly built CWM recovery.img. The md5 hash of the unzipped recovery.img is c6b37906f280b16cd200503c3cde6dfb.
    1
    New thread created with working CWM recovery. See http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=41835959