[DualBoot] Special update.zip to get ext2 images mounted in Recovery

FOR ADVANCED USERS ONLY

{ HIGHLY EXPERIMENTAL }


THANK YOU anantshri for helping out


hey guys i have made an interesting update.zip which can be flashed (using xrec-v0.0.3) to mount the ext2 images at /system & /data RIGHT IN RECOVERY!!!

basically this allows u to gain a "recovery" type access to the ext2 images, so u can flash any update.zips including any roms update.zip RIGHT INTO THE EXT2 image

the only issue is that u need to remove "format SYSTEM:" / "format DATA:" / "format CACHE:" statements from update-script



before running my special mounting script:

after running the script:


i have tested this by flashing a 2.1 modded rom (rdannar's ECLAIR flavor) [by modded i mean format commands removed from update-script]




[ WHAT IT DOES? ]

• basically this is a normal update.zip which can be flashed via recovery
• BUT during flashing it will run a special script which will do the following:
  1. mount /data /system /cache
  2. capture mount points/MTDs
  3. unmount /system & /data
  4. create temporary mount points for mtdsystem and mtddata in /mnt/t_system & /mnt/t_data
  5. mount MTDs in the temporary location
  6. start loopmounting:
  7. mount /mnt/t_system/dualboot/system.ext2 to /system
  8. mount /mnt/t_data/dualboot/data.ext2 to /data

interested people can check the special_mounter.sh in the update.zip package



[ REQUIREMENT ]

so the obvious requirement is that u need to have the ext2 images placed in the right folders

• /system/dualboot/system.ext2
• /data/dualboot/data.ext2

[ IMPORTANT ]

• as always take backups of ur current system & be ready to use flashtool to go back to stock FW if things screw up
• this will work for any rom 2.1/2.2/2.3 the ONLY ISSUE IS that we currently have modded dualboot ramdisk (custom kernel provided by zdzihu) ONLY FOR 2.1 ROM...
• so u cant really boot into the embedded 2.2/2.3 rom cause the dualboot custom kernel ramdisk needs to be modded to support those...
• i am trying to get that working and have contacted zdzihu... lets hope we can run ANY ROM inside these ext2 images soon
• i havent tested if this can allow us to take backup/restore of the ext2 images... but if u do want to do so u can just copy the ext2 files manually to sdcard right!
• i havent tested the provided update.zip (or the script) on FreeXperia recovery OR xRecovery v1.0.0...
• u can keep checking the output of the commands: adb shell df
  before/during & after flashing any roms update.zip to check if the free space is filling up or not

[ DOWNLOAD ]

(amend syntax)
DUALBOOT_mount_in_recovery_v2.zip



P.S.:
i dont want this thread to be filled with questions from noobs
follow the above ONLY IF U KNOW WHT U ARE DOING and how to get back to original system



Cheers!

DooMLoRD

seems most ppl either didnt realize the power of this special update.zip OR they are not sure how to use it!

in anycase i am providing two example files which will make it a bit more clear on how this special update.zip can be integrted into existing ROM installer update.zips and smaller update.zip for patches..


Examples of existing update.zip which are conveted into an update.zip (which has the special code) to flash it directly inside DualBoot ext2 files using recovery of MAIN OS

1. modded ROM installer
   
   ROM used : X10x EWJet xKernel X.ex based on SE stock FW 2.1.B.0.1
   
   Download : X10x.2.1.B.0.1.EWJET.XKernel.Xex_DB.zip
   
   
2. modded PATCH installer
   
   PATCH used : ewX.tweaks.xkernel.X7
   
   Download : ewX.tweaks_DB.zip
   
   

P.S.: these files are Amend syntax files to be flashed by xRecovery v0.0.3 OR FreeXperia Recovery


I highly recommend that u check the update-script of each update.zip which i have linked to!



Few considerations (FOR modded DUALBOOTING ROM's update.zip):

1. remove chargemon & recovery files from the update.zip of the ROM installers cause they will affect the booting of the embedded DUALBOOT rom
2. replace the chargemon with original SE chargemon (some roms keep it at /system/bin/charger)... just rename /system/bin/charger to /system/bin/chargemon
3. remove custom kernel folder (/system/kernel/) from ROM's update.zip cause anyways anything within it will never be used

Where can this be used?:

1. obviously this can be used to flash ROMs into the embedded dualboot ext2 files
2. the existing patches (baseband patches) can be modified to include these changes so that u can change basebands of the embedded dualboot OS

WARNING!

when u make ur own update.zips based on this BE VERY CAREFUL that REMOVE ALL FORMAT LINES from update-script AND THE mounter script get executed before the rom specific files start getting copied ELSE u will flash the ROM onto ur MAIN ROM and may need to relash to stock se FW using flashtool!!!