How about a ROM DUMP?

Valicore · Oct 12, 2008

OK here's the deal. I have enough command line knowledge to get around a command prompt in Windows and a terminal in Linux. I've been playing with the adb and nothing I do on the phone or in the system (that I know how to do) will make adb list it as a device I can issue shell commands to. There is a brightspot - I can open a terminal on the G1 itself and issue commands on it directly. There is however no cp command. dd and mv are there however. Is there anyway to use dd or mv to do the equivalent of copying?

beartard · Oct 12, 2008

Valicore said:
OK here's the deal. I have enough command line knowledge to get around a command prompt in Windows and a terminal in Linux. I've been playing with the adb and nothing I do on the phone or in the system (that I know how to do) will make adb list it as a device I can issue shell commands to. There is a brightspot - I can open a terminal on the G1 itself and issue commands on it directly. There is however no cp command. dd and mv are there however. Is there anyway to use dd or mv to do the equivalent of copying?

dd is a copy command on a very low level. It would make a raw image of the disk you're copying. It usually just takes the simple:

Code:

dd if=<disk to copy> of=<image name>

where "if" is "input file" (usually a device node like "/dev/sda1") and "of" is "output file" (like "android.img").

dzo · Oct 13, 2008

Hi,

I would be keen to have a look at the .apk packages in /system/app, you could copy them to an sdcard by doing this:

Code:

cd /system/app
for i in *.apk; do dd if=$i of=/sdcard/$i; done

pm me if you want any more info.

syrusfrost · Oct 13, 2008

Valicore said:
OK here's the deal. I have enough command line knowledge to get around a command prompt in Windows and a terminal in Linux. I've been playing with the adb and nothing I do on the phone or in the system (that I know how to do) will make adb list it as a device I can issue shell commands to. There is a brightspot - I can open a terminal on the G1 itself and issue commands on it directly. There is however no cp command. dd and mv are there however. Is there anyway to use dd or mv to do the equivalent of copying?

YES yes! Alright you're about 2 commands away from dumping our first rom... Hopefully.

In the terminal you open on the phone type:

Code:

~# mount

This will return a listing of all of the mount points on the device. It shows the device that each filesystem is mounted FROM. The root filesystem will be something like /dev/hda or /dev/sda or /dev/***. I haven't had the pleasure so I don't know what you're gonna have there.

I would suggest dumping them all, but hey... do whatever. For each /dev/*** that you want to dump, issue the following command:

Code:

~ # dd if=/dev/*** of=/sdcard/***.g1.dump

At this point you will have some interesting filesystem dumps.

On a normal linux driven system the output of mount might look like:

Code:

~ # mount
/dev/hda3 on / type ext3 (rw,noatime)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec)
/dev/sdcard on /sdcard type fat (rw,noatime)

If I saw that on my android phone I would then run...

Code:

~ # dd if=/dev/hda3 of=/sdcard/hda3.g1.dump

Now you can transfer this over...

Want to tool around with it a bit prior to uploading it to us?

Fire up any livecd, and transfer the file somewhere into the filesystem... run:

Code:

~ # mkdir /mnt/g1
~ # mount -t [type] /.../hda3.g1.dump /mnt/g1

The [type] will be whatever filesystem type was listed for the g1 when you ran mount on the g1. In my example it was ext3, but I don't know what they're using. The /.../ is where ever you ended up putting the rom.

Ha, and what if they're using a proprietary filesystem? Next we ask you to strip a module from the kernel! Hope that doesn't have to happen.

dzo · Oct 13, 2008

Ha, and what if they're using a proprietary filesystem? Next we ask you to strip a module from the kernel! Hope that doesn't have to happen.

It will use yaffs2 so won't mount with most distros, you should be able to mount it in the emulator though.

raymondf13 · Oct 13, 2008

Thanks! I will try this right now!

raymondf13 · Oct 13, 2008

syrusfrost said:
YES yes! Alright you're about 2 commands away from dumping our first rom... Hopefully.

In the terminal you open on the phone type:

Code:

~# mount

This will return a listing of all of the mount points on the device. It shows the device that each filesystem is mounted FROM. The root filesystem will be something like /dev/hda or /dev/sda or /dev/***. I haven't had the pleasure so I don't know what you're gonna have there.

I would suggest dumping them all, but hey... do whatever. For each /dev/*** that you want to dump, issue the following command:

Code:

~ # dd if=/dev/*** of=/sdcard/***.g1.dump

At this point you will have some interesting filesystem dumps.

On a normal linux driven system the output of mount might look like:

Code:

~ # mount /dev/hda3 on / type ext3 (rw,noatime) proc on /proc type proc (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec) sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec) /dev/sdcard on /sdcard type fat (rw,noatime)

If I saw that on my android phone I would then run...

Code:

~ # dd if=/dev/hda3 of=/sdcard/hda3.g1.dump

Now you can transfer this over...

Want to tool around with it a bit prior to uploading it to us?

Fire up any livecd, and transfer the file somewhere into the filesystem... run:

Code:

~ # mkdir /mnt/g1 ~ # mount -t [type] /.../hda3.g1.dump /mnt/g1

The [type] will be whatever filesystem type was listed for the g1 when you ran mount on the g1. In my example it was ext3, but I don't know what they're using. The /.../ is where ever you ended up putting the rom.

Ha, and what if they're using a proprietary filesystem? Next we ask you to strip a module from the kernel! Hope that doesn't have to happen.

how do i get to the terminal on the phone??

raymondf13 · Oct 13, 2008

I cant mount the shell because adp cant find my device. I need debug drivers for my G1!!

Valicore · Oct 13, 2008

I tried this last night - I have permission errors

I will continue to work on it tho.

dzo · Oct 14, 2008

Valicore said:
I tried this last night - I have permission errors I will continue to work on it tho.

There's a simple file manager here:

http://cs-alb-pc3.massey.ac.nz/vogue/Glance.apk

Can you see if you can use it to copy anything from /system to /sdcard. To copy a file press and hold the name and select copy then press and hold on the destination directory and select paste.

Thanks

piethein · Oct 14, 2008

dzo said:
There's a simple file manager here:

http://cs-alb-pc3.massey.ac.nz/vogue/Glance.apk

Can you see if you can use it to copy anything from /system to /sdcard. To copy a file press and hold the name and select copy then press and hold on the destination directory and select paste.

Thanks

Today I installed the Android Emulator on my laptop to see how we can solve this problem.

Using the Emulator it's quite easy. Just download the busybox binary to your local machine and upload it to the emulator using the adb commando. The busybox file contains a set of usefull tools which will help us to copy the file system.

To extract the file system from the emulator you need to do this:

download this file http://benno.id.au/android/busybox

Download the SDK and unzip it (download from http://code.google.com/android/download.html )
All the tools you need are located under tools
Create a sdcard rom file using this command (under tools) mksdcard 1024M sdcard1.is
Run the Emulator using this command: emulator.exe -datadir C:\android-sdk\tools\lib\images -sdcard C:\android-sdk\tools\sdcard1.iso

Open a second command prompt and type:
adb.exe shell
# mkdir /data/busybox
# exit

Copy the busybox utility to the android device
adb.exe push c:\android-sdk\downloads\busybox /sdcard/

Install and run the busybox utility
adb.exe shell
# cd /data/busybox
# ./busybox --install
# export PATH=/data/busybox:$PATH

Backup the system directory to the sdcard
# cd /sdcard
# tar -c -f system.tar /system

If you do this you should be able to package the system directory to a tar file.

The only problem is that we need to have shell access on the HTC G1 to do this.

raymondf13,
What will happen if you connect the HTC G1 device with your computer and you fire up the adb command. Is the device listed?

C:\android-sdk\tools>adb.exe devices

List of devices attached
emulator-5554 device

C:\android-sdk\tools>

dagentooboy · Oct 14, 2008

If someone finds the drivers and we can connect to the G1 through USB then I think a hacked tether solution is about 2 days from release...

keerttttt · Oct 15, 2008

Ok, this is really interesting, anyone got a rom dump yet? It's time to port this baby!

raymondf13 · Oct 15, 2008

piethein said:
raymondf13,
What will happen if you connect the HTC G1 device with your computer and you fire up the adb command. Is the device listed?

C:\android-sdk\tools>adb.exe devices

List of devices attached
emulator-5554 device

C:\android-sdk\tools>

To use adb, you must enable USB Debugging in Settings>Applications on the G1.

The device wont list because we need a driver for the USB debugging. The drivers for the SD card access and debugging are not the same.

We pretty much hit a dead end until we can get that driver. Perhaps when the phone actually releases.

Im not saying its impossible at this point so im open to all advice. Please PM me or send me an e-mail.
raymondf13@gmail.com

dabs · Oct 15, 2008

There is a serial debug driver (msm_serial_debugger.c) here.

Any use?

piethein · Oct 16, 2008

I'm busy with some code; the plan I have is to collect all files and copy them to a backup directory on the sdcard. The code for the backup program I have till now is:
The only thing it does right now is to create a backup directory on the sdcard and put a file "test.txt" there.

package com.android.backup2sdcard;

import java.io.BufferedOutputStream;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.util.Log;

public class Backup2SDCard extends Activity {
/** Called when the activity is first created. */
@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle icicle) {
super.onCreate(icicle);
setContentView(R.layout.main);

try {
new File("/sdcard/backup");
}catch(Exception e) { Log.e("Directory()...Exception", e.toString()); }

try {
// Write test from root file to SD-Card
String file_path=null;
file_path="/text.txt";

//FileInputStream fIn = openFileInput(file_path);
//InputStreamReader isr = new InputStreamReader(fIn);
//char[] inputBuffer = new char[file_path.length()];
//isr.read(inputBuffer);
//String readString = new String(inputBuffer);
//boolean isTheSame = file_path.equals(readString);
//Log.i("File Reading stuff", "success = " + isTheSame);

String file_path_sd=null;
file_path_sd="/sdcard/backup" + file_path;
BufferedOutputStream stream = new BufferedOutputStream(new FileOutputStream(file_path_sd));
stream.flush();
stream.close();
}catch(Exception e) { Log.e("File()...Exception", e.toString()); }
}
}

All I need to do next is to read all files from the "/" (InputStream) and pass them one by one the to InputStream. If you have some programmings skills and can help please join me!

keerttttt · Oct 16, 2008

piethein said:
I'm busy with some code; the plan I have is to collect all files and copy them to a backup directory on the sdcard. The code for the backup program I have till now is:
The only thing it does right now is to create a backup directory on the sdcard and put a file "test.txt" there.

package com.android.backup2sdcard;
...

All I need to do next is to read all files from the "/" (InputStream) and pass them one by one the to InputStream. If you have some programmings skills and can help please join me!

If i could, i would in a heartbeat... Good luck! I really want my diamond with the Android OS

rtanderson2 · Oct 16, 2008

I've got the Phone in my hands right now as we speak. I'm an employee of T-Mobile and we have been using the G1 for weeks now. I'd be more than happy to provide a ROM dump if someone walks me through how.

notacake · Oct 16, 2008

piethein said:
I'm busy with some code; the plan I have is to collect all files and copy them to a backup directory on the sdcard. The code for the backup program I have till now is:
The only thing it does right now is to create a backup directory on the sdcard and put a file "test.txt" there.

(snip)

All I need to do next is to read all files from the "/" (InputStream) and pass them one by one the to InputStream. If you have some programmings skills and can help please join me!

Made any progress with your code? I'm downloading the Android SDK now, so I'll try and get it working in that. No promises though, my Java is a little rusty

keerttttt · Oct 16, 2008

rtanderson2 said:
I've got the Phone in my hands right now as we speak. I'm an employee of T-Mobile and we have been using the G1 for weeks now. I'd be more than happy to provide a ROM dump if someone walks me through how.

Thanks in advance for your efforts, to get a rom dump we most likely need to make a serial connection from your pc with your phone. Read the pages (there are only 4 pages) in this topic and try to get a connection in order to run commands.

The alternative is the java code ppl are writing right now, hopefully you can put that code on a SD Card and run that to back it up in the near future.

Please follow this thread, testers are always welcome and the faster a rom dump get's available the better!

How about a ROM DUMP?

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