[GUIDE][COMPLETE] All in one Android Development [NOOB FRIENDLY]

Anik_khan · Aug 9, 2015

Hi All,

I and @akhilnarang decided to post this guide to help anyone wanting to learn building of Roms and kernels. We will be using Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr here.
You can find instructions to install it elsewhere, just remember rom building needs 64bit OS, minimum 4GB RAM, and 100GB space on HDD. Kernel can be built on less hardware, but will take long
Make sure you have fast net, as you have to download at least 16GB of ROM sources, or more kernel, only 1GB of sources max.
Be prepared to spend a lot of time downloading, learning, and fixing bugs

More RAM, or faster CPU, or SSD will speed up the process.
From our personal experiences we have found that this is the best, stable, up-to-date version of Ubuntu yet. This has come from my trial and errors, searching all over the web, and bits I picked up from here and there.

We will move Rom building part when we completed this step properly. Step by step we will learn compiling kernel, using Github, Gerrit, Cherry-picking.
At the end of the post I have linked a script by @akhilnarang which if run will automatically install all these programs for lazy people like us haha [emoji14]
If you not interested to do all procedure from below just use the script. Simply it will automatically configure the build environment.

NOTE-------- some of these packages may already be on your machine. Obviously, if you complete a step and you have one of these installed, the machine simply will not do anything. So...it will not hurt anything. Some of the packages are different from Ubuntu 12.04 and 13.04 (use these packages for Ubuntu 14.04 as many of the old ones have obsoleted - these are new replacements).

So if you set up your pc with Ubuntu we are good to go.
All code will be in code boxes like this:

Code:

means you have to run that command in the terminal (don't type the $).
All commands with sudo, gksudo, or gksu means it requires root permission.
It will ask for password.
Once you type, then in that terminal session it will not ask you for a few minutes again.
Any time you make changes to .bashrc or .profile file, make sure to run

Code:

$ source ~/.bashrc
$ source ~/.profile

Or exit and open new terminal else the changes will not take place

Setting up build environment:

Installing Java JDK

Note: You need JDK 7 when you willing to compile Lollipop. If you wanna compile KitKat or lower you need JDK 6.
Open terminal (CTRL + ALT + T)
Then execute the following commands in terminal one by one:

Download & install java

Code:

 $ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install openjdk-7-jdk openjdk-7-jre

CHECK if java properly installed or not

Code:

$ java -version

If you get output like

Code:

java version "1.7.0_79"

on the first line then all is good

Now JDK is configured!

Note: Only for Ubuntu 14.04 or higher

Installing Required Packages

Open Terminal
Now execute this command:
Note: This will take some time, has to download about 500MB or so of packages

Code:

$ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install git-core python gnupg flex bison gperf libsdl1.2-dev libesd0-dev libwxgtk2.8-dev squashfs-tools build-essential zip curl libncurses5-dev zlib1g-dev  openjdk-7-jdk pngcrush schedtool \
 libxml2 libxml2-utils xsltproc lzop libc6-dev schedtool g++-multilib lib32z1-dev lib32ncurses5-dev lib32readline-gplv2-dev gcc-multilib liblz4-* android-tools-adb android-tools-fastboot ccache

Configuring USB Access

Now we need to set permissions so that our USB ports can detect our android devices [emoji14]
Type in the following commands, it will download a file with the permissions, give it permission to execute, and restart the service.

Code:

$ sudo curl --create-dirs -L -o /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules -O -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/snowdream/51-android/master/51-android.rules
$ sudo chmod 644   /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules
$ sudo chown root. /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules
$ sudo service udev restart
$ sudo killall adb

ADB & Fastboot are configured

Installing Repo Package

Open terminal and type:

Code:

$ mkdir ~/bin
$ PATH=~/bin:$PATH
$ curl http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/git-repo-downloads/repo > ~/bin/repo
$ chmod a+x ~/bin/repo

Configure Git

Open terminal and type:

Code:

$ git config --global user.email ""
$ git config --global user.name ""

Git is configured.

Configure ccache

Open terminal and type:

Code:

$ gksu gedit ~/.bashrc

Enter these lines

Code:

export USE_CCACHE=1
export CCACHE_DIR=~/.ccache

Save & close

Open terminal & execute:

Code:

$ source .bashrc
$ ccache -M 50G

I usually use 50 gigs. You can use more if you have more space, or build for many devices

Make a GitHub account using the same email address you used for configuring git
Then follow these

So if you not interested in doing above all steps then simply use this script by my friend @akhilnarang
Open terminal and type:

Code:

$ sudo apt-get install git-core

then do

Code:

$ git clone https://github.com/akhilnarang/scripts.git
$ cd scripts
$ . build-environment-setup.sh

This script will install all required packages

Congrats

YOUR BUILD ENVIROMENT IS NOW SETUP

Now move onto #2nd post for Git and repo tutorial

To be continued

akhilnarang · Aug 9, 2015

How To Use Git!
Now, to explain about git
Its a version control system, for code, like mercurial or subversion
Most android source code is either at AOSP
Most custom ROMs like CyanogenMod,Radium, host their code over at GitHub
So to start off, make a GitHub Account!

Here, you will find all the various repositories, full of code

All files are stored in repositories
When browsing a repository, you will see a button called fork
This will make a copy of it in your account, so you can edit it, and even submit changes for approval to the parent account
Now, to download the source of a repository onto your computer, we use git clone command

Code:

$ git clone https://github.com/akhilnarang/scripts

So we download the scripts from my github onto your PC, so we can run them
Now, if you added your ssh key as shown in bottom of post #1, then when cloning a repo from your account, while copying the link from bottom right corner, choose ssh link.
If you, when pushing(uploading)local changes, you will not be prompted for username and password, your ssh key will identify you

.
After cloning, cd to the directory
Run

Code:

git remote -v

This will show a list of remotes
Default is origin, i.e. the link you have cloned from
Now once we make our changes locally

Code:

$ git add -A

This stages all modified/added/deleted files to be committed

Code:

$ git commit

This opens a text editor for you to write a commit message for your commit
Just give me brief description of your changes or something :v.
Then

Code:

$ git push <remote-name> HEAD:<branch>

If you have cloned, then remote will be origin
Branch can be checked by

Code:

git branch

, and also online from where you cloned
If you used https:// URL then you will be prompted for username and password to authenticate yourself
If git:// URL you can't push, you will need to use a https:// or ssh link
Another way to push can be

Code:

$ git push <link> HEAD:<branch>

Now say you want to make your own git repository of your files
Click on the new repository button on GitHub, give a name
You can do initial commit online, or locally
Follow the instructions it gives you
i.e. if you have all files ready (in a folder)

Code:

$ git init
$ git add -A
$ git commit
$ git push <link> HEAD:<branch>

A VERY important thing to be noted while using version control systems like git, is to preserve authorship of a commit
If someone else has made some changes to a file, and we want them, we should not copy the changes and commit, but should give them authorship either by cherry-picking(will be explained)
Or using this syntax

Code:

$ git commit --author="Author Name <authoremail@blah.com>"

Through this git will know the correct authors
Not giving proper authorship is known as kanging, not appreciated here on XDA,(or anywhere else for that matter), and can cause you to be banned :3
Anyway, on to cherry-picking
Go to your repository

Code:

$ git remote add blahblah link-to-url-you-want-commit-from
$ git fetch blahblah branch-commit-is-on
$ git cherry-pick Commit-sha1-hash

If you see a commit on GitHub, or GitLab, or BitBucket, there is a unique(to that repo) SHA for every commit to identify it
Fetch the correct repo as shown above, and paste the commit id
That will fetch the changes
However, if your local source is quite different from the source you cherry-picked from, it will conflict
If so your terminal will display it
then run

Code:

$ git status

Files shown in red color have conflicts
Open them with a text editor like Atom(my favorite), nano, gedit, vim, etc
Look for <<<<<<<
From there, the content till ======
is the original content
=======
till >>>>>>> *insert commit message here* is the new stuff
So check the commit, figure out what's wrong, fix it, save.
Then

Code:

$ git add -A
$ git commit

If no conflicts it will commit on its own and you just need to

Code:

$ git push

as explained earlier :v

Running

Code:

$ git log

will show you a list of commits

, authors, and SHA
If for some reason you wanna remove some commit, use

Code:

$ git revert commit-SHA

Just like cherry-picks, it may have conflicts

Anyway, this is just a small guide to get started off
You can easily found out more by searching, and experimenting
I will add more stuff here soon
Enjoy with this much till then

Anik_khan · Aug 9, 2015

Building CyanogenMod for those device which officially supported

If our build environment setted up successfully and after we learnt some Git and repo thing now we will concentrete on rom building

Now we have to Initialize Repo. We will try to build CyanogenMod.

Initialize the repo:

Code:

Code:

$ mkdir cm
$ cd cm
$ repo init -u git://github.com/CyanogenMod/android.git -b cm-13.0
$ repo sync -f --no-clone-bundle

For people who have already done a repo init:

Code:

$ cd cm
$ repo sync -f --no-clone-bundle

When prompted, enter your real name and email address.

Continue onto adding a device

~How To Add A Device To The List~

Find the github for your device you wish to add. (We will give Android One Devices(sprout4&sprout8) as an example

Navigate back to your home directory for building:

Code:

$ cd ~/cm
$ source build/envsetup.sh
Or
$ . build/envsetup.sh

That sets up your environment for building

Get your list of devices:

Code:

$ brunch

Choose your device from the list, till will fetch tree and dependencies if needed, sometimes vendor tree will need to be added manually (In case of CyanogenMod, rest all ROMs keep in dependencies)
Build will start,enjoy!

For users who like understanding>

If successful, you will get a zip in out/target/product/device
If not, check post #6
Most likely, you will find a solution there.
If not, please ask us in the thread, we would be happy to assist you

To be continued

akhilnarang · Aug 9, 2015

Kernel Compilation
As many of you'll already know, kernel of an operating system
Android devices use a modified version of the linux kernel
Firstly, most important thing to note, in that the Linux Kernel is licensed under the GNU GPL (General Public License), which can be found here
Basically, you must always keep your work on the kernel open-source, and display the link to it when publishing your work on XDA Threads, etc
In order to do this, make sure you fork, or push the kernel source you're working on to your GitHub account so that you can push the changes you're making
Make sure you give proper authorship, as explained in post #2
If unable to, give credits to author in commit message, but don't kang please [emoji14]

Please try to have at least a basic knowledge of C, so that you can fix errors
Else, use Google before asking in thread, there's a huge chance someone has already gotten and solved it :v
So now, getting to work
I will give an example using Android One Device (sprout4&&sprout8)
The kernel source be found here(branch android-mediatek-lollipop-mr1 for 5.1,or something, not sure, check), and also here, branch cm-12.1 for 5.1 ROMs
So fork it to your GitHub account, or clone from AOSP and push to your git
I'd recommend the one from CM git, as it usually has small bugs fixed compared to stock
In my device's case, a whole lotta broken stuff is fixed, so I would take from cm
So start off, by installing all dependencies as shown in 1st post

Code:

$ git clone https://github.com/akhilnarang/android_kernel_mediatek_sprout -b cm-12.1 sprout-kernel

Replace the link with your own, ssh if you wish, as explained in #2
You must specify -b cm-12.1,as the default is cm-11.0, and you will end up will KitKat source!
The last parameter is optional, it saves it in that directory, in this case sprout-kernel
Now, all kernel source's have a file called a defconfig, or default configuration, that is device-specific
You will find it in arch/*your devices architecture*/configs
Your device may be arm, arm64, x86
Make sure you remember the name of the defconfig, you can rename it too [emoji14]
If you would like to give your kernel a name, simplest way would be to look for the CONFIG_LOCALVERSION in the defconfig
Make it something like

Code:

CONFIG_LOCALVERSION="-Your-Kernel-Name"

Anyway, so now you need a toolchain
For starting off, we will use GCC 4.8 from Google
For ARM devices

Code:

$ git clone https://android.googlesource.com/platform/prebuilts/gcc/linux-x86/arm/arm-eabi-4.8/

For aarch64/arm64

Code:

$ git clone https://android.googlesource.com/platform/prebuilts/gcc/linux-x86/aarch64/aarch64-linux-android-4.8/

For x86 I'm not sure, go have a look here
Now remember where you saved it
Now open the file called "Makefile" in the root of kernel source
Look for a line that has ARCH?=
that dosen't start with a # (lines starting with # are comments)
And make it

Code:

ARCH ?= arm

or

Code:

ARCH ?= arm64

And look for CROSS_COMPILE ?=
make it

Code:

CROSS_COMPILE ?= path/to/downloaded/toolchain/bin/arm-eabi-

for arm devices

Code:

CROSS_COMPILE ?= path/to/downloaded/toolchain/bin/aarch64-android-linux-

for arm64 devices

This may differ on Custom toolchains, etc, you can find out about that by viewing the commits of different kernels, and going through various threads
I'm only gonna explain how to compile the kernel, not how to add stuff (at least for now)

If you wish now, you can refer to #2, and commit and push these changes [emoji14]

Now run

Code:

$ make cyanogenmod_sprout_defconfig

That's what my defconfig is called, yours maybe called something else [emoji14]
And now finally to start the build
First, check how many cores/threads your CPU has
A quad core Intel, an octa core AMD, will have 8
So if you have one, run

Code:

$ make -j8

This will compile the code on all 8 threads parallely
However this makes debugging errors harder
If you have an error, just run

Code:

 $ make

to reduce output and identify error
Anyway, the process generate a zImage in arch/arm/boot/zImage
or arch/arm64/boot/zImage
This is a binary file
If you check the zip of your favorite custom kernel, you will find one too
In most cases, you can simply replace it with this, update the updater-script, and flash

Most of these zips use anykernel format, meaning it utilizes ramdisk from existing kernel, so if you find such a zip for your device, you're good to go
Else unpack your boot.img and add this add the file boot.img-zImage, repack, flash
If you don't understand any of these terms [emoji14], please google about them first, and then if you are unable to find out ask here please

Enjoy

More stuff will be added soon

Anik_khan · Aug 9, 2015

Uses of Local_manifests

Now we will learn what is Manifest. Its used for syncing source from Github,Bitbucket. Its driven via XML. Basically XML is a markup language. We can modify Rom's default.xml but it can cause of conflicts next time. So never think of editing default.xml
Now you can say how we sync our desired repo without modifying default manifest? There is a option called local manifests. By local manifests we can sync our desired repository. You can add,remove any project from default manifest without modifying default.xml
So now we will learn using local manifests-----

Open terminal and type

Code:

cd your source directory name/.repo
e.g: cd cm/.repo

Now create a new directory called local_manifests

Then type

Code:

cd local_manifests

Now type

Code:

nano localmanifest.xml

Now add whatever you want and save it via "ctrl+X"

Adding or Removing repo

Open localmanifest.xml then

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<manifest>

  <remove-project name="CyanogenMod/android_frameworks_base" />

  <project path="frameworks/base" name="Anik1199/android_frameworks_base" remote="github" revision="cm-13.0"/>

This will remove project from CyanogenMod and sync from Anik1199's git.
When adding a new project that replaces an existing project, you should always remove that project before defining the replacement.
You can simply add a new project to the source code, such as when you want to add your own app to the build.

Note that when adding new projects, there are at least three parts defined:
• remote -- the name of the remote. this can be one that was defined in either the default manifest or local_manifest.xml.
• name -- the name of the git project-- for github it has the format account_name/project_name.
• path -- where the git repository should go in your local copy of the source code.
• revision -- (optional) which branch or tag to use in the repository. If this attribute is omitted, repo sync will use the revision specified by the <default ... /> tag in the default manifest.

After creating .repo/local_manifests.xml, you should be able to repo sync and the source code will be updated accordingly

In many Manifest.xml you ll find many stuff not needed by our device. Also there are files needed and that is not present in the default.xml.

Adding Projects to local_manifest.xml

So, to add projects to your local_manifest.xml for your device refer the following format that explains the same.

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<manifest>

<project path=" directory in work tree" name="name of the repository in remote" remote="name of remote defined earlier" revision="branch of the repository" />

</manifest>

If you have any doubt? See my localmanifest.xml

Device Example Used Here : Android One (Sprout)

Code:

<manifest>
  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<manifest>
<!--Devices-->
  <project path="device/google/sprout4" name="CyanogenMod/android_device_google_sprout4" remote="github" revision="cm-13.0" />
<!--Devices commons-->
  <project path="device/google/sprout-common" name="CyanogenMod/android_device_google_sprout-common" remote="github" revision="cm-13.0" />
<!--Kernels-->
  <project path="kernel/mediatek/sprout" name="CyanogenMod/android_kernel_mediatek_sprout" remote="github" revision="cm-13.0" />
<!--Vendors-->
  <project path="vendor/google" name="TheMuppets/proprietary_vendor_google" remote="github" revision="cm-13.0" />
</manifest>

This will download your device Identity needed for Rom Building

Making CM Device Tree Compatible With Your Rom For Compiling

We learnt how to initialize build environment,learnt some git,how to use local_manifest and learnt how to build CyanogenMod. Now we will learn how to compatiable CyanogenMod device tree for other Rom. We used Android One aka sprout as a reference. Now we will try to build another CyanogenMod based Rom for sprout.
I am using Team-Radium Rom as reference. So we can start......

There are 3 files in CM Tree Which Should Be Modified.
They are,

1) cm.mk

2) cm.dependencies

3) vendorsetup.sh

We have to edit this 3 files for building Team-Radium

1) Rename cm.mk to radium.mk

As You can see That WE HAVE JUST REPLACED CM WITH Radium

Now you all must be thinking why did we rename cm.mk to radium.mk

A Simple Answer is we go to the vendor folder and check the name and replace it.

So now you must be wondering about the product name ...as in the above image only the "cm" changes to "Radium" with the same logic of the vendor name

In this case we see that Radium is the vendor ...so we rename the cm.mk to radium.mk

this same rule applies to the content inside the radium.mk too ... we first make sure that the files are available in that location .

2) Now we have to move second file "cm.dependencies"

This file will be simply renamed by Vendor Name ...

In This Case "Radium" ....so we rename it to "radium.dependencies"

3) The Last And The Final Change Required Is In The "vendorsetup.sh"

Open vendorsetup.sh and rename cm as radium and save.

Thats it!! So simple i think

Happy building

Good luck!!! :good:

akhilnarang · Aug 9, 2015

Last one in case

Will soon add some common bugs and their fixes

If repo sync gives error like cannot overwrite work tree
then

Code:

$ repo sync --force-sync

For those with slow net
You can download highly compressed sources by @regalstreak and some others from here!
Unless its a one time build, i'd recommend getting the one with .repo folder, else you won't be able to easily update the source to the latest version!

Thanks guys like @OwnDroid @westcripp @##W4TCH0UT## @varun.chitre15 @CaptivateKing and many others who have inspired me about Android

srisurya95 · Aug 9, 2015

Reserved

ujwal.p · Aug 9, 2015

Anik_khan and akhilnarang ( My Encyclopedia of Development), love u guys. Keep doing awesome work

nitin.chobhe · Aug 9, 2015

This is a nice guide... I think most of the people in India do not have high speed internet or continuous electricity for repo sync

This puts limitations on using own PCs for ROM building. I have seen lots of people who are using rented servers for this purpose. These servers are located somewhere in Europe or USA and one can access them (or VMs on them) remotely. These servers have internet speeds in GBs so the repo sync does not take more than 30 minutes...

I've recently started learning about ROM building and I've started with Google Cloud. Google have 2 months free service (so interested guys can start the ROM building right away without thinking about the time required for downloading 15-20 GBs

)

@Anik_khan may be you can think of adding this as a tip in the OP...

@akhilnarang thanks for helping me and be ready... I'll be coming with lots of questions

DC07 · Aug 9, 2015

Great work guys.
This will help a lot of newbies.

corphish · Aug 9, 2015

Add use of build scripts maybe.

P.S : Sometime I forget actual commands because of too much use of build scripts

akhilnarang · Aug 9, 2015

corphish said:
Add use of build scripts maybe.

P.S : Sometime I forget actual commands because of too much use of build scripts

I was planning too, the guide is gonna be improved over the next few days

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk

slim_guy · Aug 9, 2015

a small correction in installing java procedure, you need jdk 7 to build lollipop, you mentioned as jdk7 and higher but you can't build with jdk8. awesome guide so far, regards from me.

Sent from my XT1033 using Tapatalk

Choritrowhin · Aug 9, 2015

Great Post , Thanks my two most favorite Brother .
I am searching for this awesome post , and you give the way with a easy way .
Awesome written . Really easily to understand.
Thanks man thanks

neonkat · Aug 11, 2015

Thanks guys..finally got a 'noob friendly guide'..

Sent from my HM 1SW using XDA Free mobile app

LordArcadius · Aug 17, 2015

OMG!! It's awesome and damn noob friendly!! It's the best guide I have ever seen!!

Thanks to you @Anik_khan & @akhilnarang

Keep your awesome work guys!!

ujwal.p · Aug 24, 2015

Anik_khan said:
There are 3 files in CM Tree Which Should Be Modified.
They are,

1) cm.mk

2) cm.dependencies

3) vendorsetup.sh

Just add this point as a note :-
Some ROMs extensively need device dependencies in their vendor source, be sure that u add it before building (if necessary)

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk

Frostyagent · Aug 24, 2015

Its really a nice guide, but i need your help as am stuck on how to add a device to aosp/CM source, whenever i tried to add a device, I follows all instructions but it always give me an error

Which would you like? [aosp_arm-eng] 7
build/core/product_config.mk:222: *** Can not locate config makefile for product "ha_i9500". Stop.

** Don't have a product spec for: 'ha_i9500'
** Do you have the right repo manifest?

ujwal.p · Aug 25, 2015

Frostyagent said:
Its really a nice guide, but i need your help as am stuck on how to add a device to aosp/CM source, whenever i tried to add a device, I follows all instructions but it always give me an error

Which would you like? [aosp_arm-eng] 7
build/core/product_config.mk:222: *** Can not locate config makefile for product "ha_i9500". Stop.

** Don't have a product spec for: 'ha_i9500'
** Do you have the right repo manifest?

Rename cm.mk to ha_i9500.mk

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk

Frostyagent · Aug 25, 2015

ujwal.p said:
Rename cm.mk to ha_i9500.mk

I have done it but still no luck and error continues to display, I want to know what am i doing wrong, I was trying all the night but bad luck

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