BuildDSM

---

Name: BuildDSM
Version: 1.5

Author: nandlal_mk
Link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=312985
Cost: Free

Reviewed By: Sous-Chef


Summary/Review:

In early kitchen and ROM cooking, chefs used to delete Device Side Manifest (.DSM) files from OEM packages that resided in the .\PACKAGES and/or .\EXT folder. Other chefs would delete the .DSM file and create an empty version of a .DSM file as a placeholder. As we learned more about the Windows Mobile, we discovered that .DSM files contained pertinent information that was used during the compilation of a ROM and should be properly managed. BuildDSM is a utility to create an initial .DSM file or update an existing .DSM file..

A Device Side Manifest file (.DSM) describes the contents of a package and has the name <GUID>.DSM. Each package has its own .DSM file. The .DSM file is a binary file and the format may change at any time. The .DSM file is created by parsing a package definition file, package shadow file, and a build manifest file. Each item specified within a build manifest file is used to determine the item's file type.

The .DSM file contains the following information:

• Public key certificate data used for signature validation.
• Version information which includes the previous version of a package so as to create a delta package between an older or baseline package and a new package.
• Package GUID
• Dependency GUID information
• File names and file information in the form of raw file size and original VBase for MODULES so they can be re-based and differentiated during an update.

Tips:

• Renaming an empty .TXT file to .DSM will allow the tool to update the file with the known .DSM file information.
• Drag-and-drop a package folder that contains a .DSM file onto BUILDSM.EXE.

Gotcha's:

• The .DSM created may not contain all of the information required as the tool is outdated.
• Requires an existing .DSM file in the directory - empty or other.
• Requires Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86).

Reference Links:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=520009

Compare It

---

Name: Compare It
Version: 4.1

Author: Grig Software
Link: http://www.grigsoft.com
Cost: Trialware, Purchase

Reviewed By: Laurentius26


Summary/Review:

Compare It! is a full-featured visual file comparison and merging tool that allows you to compare and work with different versions of the same text file. A color-coded side-by-side comparison makes it easy to understand the differences between two files at a glance. Compare It! features include: an overview bar that helps you see an overall picture of changes, differences shown within lines, full-featured editor has wordwrap, syntax highlighting, undo, search & replace, and bookmark functionality, windows/DOS, UNIX, and Mac text files are supported, Unicode support of national fonts, customize colors, fonts, file and line compare options, and even filters for the Open File dialog box.

Additionally, Compare It! integrates with file manager, navigation and merging are difference-based, you can use your mouse or keyboard for actions, multiple users are supported, print comparison results and generate HTML and text reports with various options converters support helps you to compare non-text files, and Zip archives support lets you compare a file with its archived copy.

Here are some examples of how comparison can be used:

• Compare one .\SYS folder version (ex: 23541) against an updated .\SYS folder version (ex: 23549) so as to determine what changes have occurred in registry files.
• Compare one version of a ROM package (ex: Manila_2.1) against a newer version of the package (ex: Manila_2.1.1).
• Compare a device ROM (ex: Mega_HTC_Europe_1.28.401.4) against another ROM (ex: Mega_TMO_UK_1.33.110.2) of the device to see what the HTC changed.
• Compare specific files such as .XML, .PROVXML, etc.

Tips:

• You can copy the installation folder from your system to an external drive. You can then launch the .EXE from the external drive on another system - no need for installation.

Gotcha's:

• None discovered.

Reference Links:

None.

ROM Squeezer

---

Name: ROM Squeezer
Version: 2007-05-27

Author: edhaas
Link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/show...38#post1283338
Cost: Freeware

Reviewed By: ai6908


Summary/Review:

ROM Squeezer was originally included with the edhaas Wizard Rom-Packer kitchen. The technology is applicable to most programs installed in the Wizard and most other devices - either storage memory or SD card. This program uses the open source program UPX to compress .EXE files. The compression is quite remarkable and typically, the files end up less than half their original size.

The loading speed of the programs is actually improved considering storage memory is so much slower than RAM memory; the increase in performance transferring smaller amounts of data from the storage memory to RAM when you run the program is more than enough to make up for the time spent uncompressing in RAM. Additionally, larger applications such as Office seem to load significantly faster. Although .DLL files haven't been extensively tested, most .DLL seem to work fine. A few programs will not work well in this mode, or refuse to load, so keep the original copies as backups. You will also find that a few programs such as Adobe Reader and PocketXpdf are already compressed with this technology!


Tips:

• Copy your .EXE's that you want to compress to the squeezer folder and run BAT file.

Gotcha's:

• .NET (NetCF) cannot be compressed.

Reference Links:

http://upx.sourceforge.net

Cab2OEM

---

Name: Cab2OEM
Version: 0.9

Author: evalu8t0r
Link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=422942
Cost: Freeware

Reviewed By: Sous-Chef


Summary/Review:

Cab2OEM is handy tool to convert .CAB installer files to OEM package format. The tool produces an OEM package file that is compatible with Ervius PkgToolBuildOS (legacy) kitchen. Cab2OEM includes parameters to extract the contents of one or multiple .CAB files to a specific folder as well as parameters to pre-configure the settings in the OPTION.XML file.

For example, enter the following syntax at a Command (CMD) Prompt to extract the contents of a .CAB file:

cab2oem -f <application>.cab -d "c:\xda\targetfolder"


To convert the folder to Ervius Visual Kitchen format, perform the following steps:

1. Create a sub-folder entitled: Files (ex: c:\xda\targetfolder\Files).
2. Delete OPTION.XML.
3. Move all the files to this folder; do not move: *.DSM, *.RGU, INITFLASHFILES.TXT.
4. Rename INITFLASHFILES.TXT to APP.DAT.
5. Make a copy of the .RGU file.
6. Rename the copy of the .RGU file to APP.REG.

Tips:

• Use quotes around the folder path.
• Omitting the folder parameter will instruct Cab2OEM to create a folder that is the same name as the .CAB file.

Gotcha's:

• .CAB file must contain a _setup.xml file.

Reference Links:

None.

File Suite Editor

---

Name: File Suite Editor
Version: 2008-10-01

Author: schreda
Link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=432041
Cost: Freeware

Reviewed By: ai6908


Summary/Review:

File Editor Suite is compilation of tools required to sign/unsign .EXE, .DLL, .MUI, and other such files. The File Editor Suite includes an unsigner, signer, reshacker, and certificates. The process of editing and signing a file with a different (newer) certificate is simple:

1. Unsign the file to edit using the unsigner tool.
2. Edit the file with the reshacker tool.
3. Sign the file with the signer tool using one of the certificates included.

Tips:

• Useful for modifying taskbar icons resource (.DLL) files.
• Any resource editor tool similar to reshacker can be used.
• Only required for ROM's where certificate checking is enabled.

Gotcha's:

• Certificates included in the package are expired; newer versions are obtainable from the reference links below.

Reference Links:

http://windowsteamblog.com/cfs-file..../WM65Certs.zip
http://htcpedia.com/news/new-certifi...evelopers.html

CAB to OEM to EXT GUI Suite

---

Name: CAB to OEM to EXT GUI Suite
Version: 0.0.1

Author: |Jason8|
Link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=525302
Cost: Freeware

Reviewed By: + Que PPC


Summary/Review:

CAB to OEM to EXT GUI Suite is GUI made that utilizes existing command line tools to allow a user to freely convert .CAB's to OEM and EXT files. Drag .CAB's into the listbox and they will be automatically added. Select the .CAB's to convert by clicking on them. There is a library file that is needed in order to run it called COMDLG32.OCX; this is installed when the self-extracting archive is finished.

The process of is simple:

1. Run the Cab Converter executable
2. Add the .CAB's
3. Click the OEM or EXT button

Tips:

• Useful for batch conversion of .CAB's.

Gotcha's:

• There are no checks to see if the conversions have been successful, so that will still need to be done manually by the user.
• Can only be installed to Local disk; do not try installing anywhere except the default location.
• Can only perform .CAB > OEM and .CAB > EXT.
• Converting multiple .CAB's may take a while; wait before clicking OK in the message box if you have 100+ .CAB files.
• There are still some cab files that will not convert because they do not have a _setup.xml file (CAB2OEM issue).

Reference Links:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=422942
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?p=3147148

SYS Porting Tool For Ervius Kitchen

---

Name: SYS Porting Tool For Ervius Kitchen
Version: 2009-10-24

Author: SHAYDER
Link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=575897
Cost: Freeware

Reviewed By: + Que PPC


Summary/Review:

The SYS Porting Tool for Ervius Kitchen is handy utility to extract specific device resolutions, DPI, and languages from a master SYS package and copy them to the Ervius Visual Kitchen. For example, to extract a 240x320, 96 DPI, RESH 240, 0409:

1. Create a porting folder (ex: C:\PortBuild)
2. Copy the PACKER.JAR to the porting folder (ex: C:\PortBuild)
3. Extract the SYS folder from the master SYS package using an archive tool (ex: WinRAR)
4. Copy the extracted SYS folder to the porting folder (ex: C:\PortBuild\SYS)
5. Launch PACKER.JAR
6. Enter 0409 in the LANG box
7. Enter 96 in the DPI box
8. Enter 240 in RESH box
9. Enter 320 in the RESV box
10. Copy the final results to the Ervius Kitchen

Tips:

• The PACKER.JAR can be launched via command line (ex: java -jar 0409 96 240 320)

Gotcha's:

• Requires JAVA Runtime Edition.

Reference Links:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?p=3147148

GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP)

---

Name: GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP)
Version: 2.6

Author: The GIMP Team
Link: http://www.gimp.org
Cost: Free

Reviewed By: chrisjaffe


Summary/Review:

GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed program for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. It has many capabilities. It can be used as a simple paint program, an expert quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing system, a mass production image renderer, an image format converter, etc. You can create and edit almost any image file including: jpg, png, gif, animated gif's, ico, psd, raw, tif, xcf and more.

GIMP is expandable and extensible. It is designed to be augmented with plug-ins and extensions to do just about anything. The advanced scripting interface allows everything from the simplest task to the most complex image manipulation procedures to be easily scripted.


Tips:

• Make sure to use the latest version. Some older versions are harder to use because of the modular style of the program.

Gotcha's:

• The tool palettes are separate windows. The developers have moved to make a more unified experience but there is still room to improve.

Reference Links:

None.

Name: Beyond Compare
Version: 3.1.10

Just a note on beyond compare. I was recently contacted by the developers of this fantastic program wanting to reproduce and fix the issue with intflashfiles.dat.

With the newest build and windows 7 I cannot reproduce the issue. Previously i was using a older build and xp. If anyone can reproduce any issues comparing initflashfiles.dat let me know or pass it on to their support department

Package Creator

---

Name: Package Creator
Version: 2.7

Author: Ervius
Link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=388883
Cost: Freeware

Reviewed By: miniterror


Summary/Review:

Package Creator is handy tool to convert .CAB installer files to OEM package format. The tool produces an OEM package file that is compatible with Ervius PkgToolBuildOS (legacy) kitchen. Package Creator includes parameters to extract the contents of a .CAB file to a folder and pre-configures the settings in the OPTION.XML file. Additionally, Package Creator can convert *.EXE, *.DLL, and *.MUI to module format.

For example, click the Open CAB File button to select a .CAB file - Package Creator extracts the contents of the .CAB file automatically. To remodule the *.EXE, *.DLL, and *.MUI files, perform the following steps:

1. Click the Open Package button.
2. Select the desired kitchen package.
3. Select the Remodule All EXE-DLL-MUI Files Into Created Package checkbox.
4. Click the Initfiles.txt tab.
5. Click Button3.

To convert the folder to Ervius Visual Kitchen format, perform the following steps:

1. Create a sub-folder entitled: Files (ex: c:\xda\targetfolder\Files).
2. Delete OPTION.XML.
3. Move all the files to this folder; do not move: *.DSM, *.RGU, INITFLASHFILES.TXT.
4. Rename INITFLASHFILES.TXT to APP.DAT.
5. Make a copy of the .RGU file.
6. Rename the copy of the .RGU file to APP.REG.

Tips:

• Microsoft .NET required.

Gotcha's:

• Designed for Ervius PkgToolBuildOS (legacy) kitchen.

Reference Links:

None.