[DEV][TOOL] kernel.sin unpacker {UPDATED for Z1 and above!}

weaponXandroid · Nov 28, 2011

OK so figured out how to use perl, but getting an error, in cmd which is:-

removed old directory kernel.sin-ramdisk
Can't spawn "cmd.exe": No such file or directory at unpack-kernelsin.pl line 84.

extracted ramdisk contents to directory kernel.sin-ramdisk/

But there is nothing in kernel.sin-ramdisk folder, "empty"
And I got two files, kernel.sin-header, kernel.sin-kernel.

Is this the out put expected?

Sorry if i m irritating u

DooMLoRD · Nov 28, 2011

weaponXandroid said:
OK so figured out how to use perl, but getting an error, in cmd which is:-

removed old directory kernel.sin-ramdisk
Can't spawn "cmd.exe": No such file or directory at unpack-kernelsin.pl line 84.

extracted ramdisk contents to directory kernel.sin-ramdisk/

But there is nothing in kernel.sin-ramdisk folder, "empty"
And I got two files, kernel.sin-header, kernel.sin-kernel.

Is this the out put expected?

Sorry if i m irritating u

there are many dependencies for unpacking the ramdisk (gunzip, cpio binary)... thats why i told u to use linux... i am sure if u search u can find windows versions of those files... but symlinks are NOT preserved by windows thats why use linux...

CosmicDan · Nov 29, 2011

DooMLoRD said:
there are many dependencies for unpacking the ramdisk (gunzip, cpio binary)... thats why i told u to use linux... i am sure if u search u can find windows versions of those files... but symlinks are NOT preserved by windows thats why use linux...

Well Cygwin knows how to use NTFS symlinks and junctions and does it well, just that the pure-win32 ports of the GNU toolchains don't have that capability. Those of us who can't/won't install Linux are best off trying Cygwin.

Thanks a lot for this, much appreciated. Now I can get to work on testing out custom MTD layouts for FXP.

EDIT: About repacking.... I assume we have to join kernel.sin-header to the beginning of kernel.sin-kernel in order to get the raw zImage right...? Then we convert that with bin2elf and etc. Will try it and test a flash and confirm that a repacked RAMDisk works under Cygwin, otherwise I'll start downloading Ubuntu.

EDIT2: Nope, no need to append the loader. Anyway, those of us on Windows who want to repack it, use this batch file:

Code:

:: the_laser's sinTools example with updates/comments
:: updates and comments by jonusc
@echo off
:BEGIN
:: Repack the kernal image
bin2Elf.exe 2 0x20008000 kernel.sin-kernel 0x20008000 0x0 kernel.sin-ramdisk.cpio.gz 0x24000000 0x80000000
:: Convert to SIN and define linux partition map
bin2sin.exe result.elf 03000000220000007502000062000000
:: Cleanup
del result.elf
ren result.elf.sin kernel.sin
:: Move repacked kernel to template folder overwriting the old kernel
::   (i) Optional. Repack yourself if missing, choose kernel the repack is based on
move /Y kernel.sin .\template-fxp047
cd template-fxp047
:: Pack it to an FTF (zip) with 7-Zip commandline version.
::   (i) Optional. Repack yourself using whatever ZIP program and rename to FTF.
..\7z a -tzip -r ..\X10_CUSTOM_REPACK.FTF *
cd..

:END

...you cannot edit the ramdisk cpio in Windows however. Apparently the Cpio port for Win32 supports cross-platform symbolic link handling but I am yet to investigate and test it. Cygwin's "port" doesn't appear to support it either.

DooMLoRD · Nov 29, 2011

jonusc said:
Well Cygwin knows how to use NTFS symlinks and junctions and does it well, just that the pure-win32 ports of the GNU toolchains don't have that capability. Those of us who can't/won't install Linux are best off trying Cygwin.

Thanks a lot for this, much appreciated. Now I can get to work on testing out custom MTD layouts for FXP.

EDIT: About repacking.... I assume we have to join kernel.sin-header to the beginning of kernel.sin-kernel in order to get the raw zImage right...? Then we convert that with bin2elf and etc. Will try it and test a flash and confirm that a repacked RAMDisk works under Cygwin, otherwise I'll start downloading Ubuntu.

EDIT2: Nope, no need to append the loader. Anyway, those of us on Windows who want to repack it, use this batch file:

Code:

:: the_laser's sinTools example with updates/comments :: updates and comments by jonusc @echo off :BEGIN :: Repack the kernal image bin2Elf.exe 2 0x20008000 kernel.sin-kernel 0x20008000 0x0 kernel.sin-ramdisk.cpio.gz 0x24000000 0x80000000 :: Convert to SIN and define linux partition map bin2sin.exe result.elf 03000000220000007502000062000000 :: Cleanup del result.elf ren result.elf.sin kernel.sin :: Move repacked kernel to template folder overwriting the old kernel :: (i) Optional. Repack yourself if missing, choose kernel the repack is based on move /Y kernel.sin .\template-fxp047 cd template-fxp047 :: Pack it to an FTF (zip) with 7-Zip commandline version. :: (i) Optional. Repack yourself using whatever ZIP program and rename to FTF. ..\7z a -tzip -r ..\X10_CUSTOM_REPACK.FTF * cd.. :END

...you cannot edit the ramdisk cpio in Windows however. Apparently the Cpio port for Win32 supports cross-platform symbolic link handling but I am yet to investigate and test it. Cygwin's "port" doesn't appear to support it either.

as i said before windows doesnt correctly handle the symlinks and the symlinks in the ramdisk get broken causing the device to not boot... this is because the /sbin/ueventd is symlinked to /init and if u have ramdisk with integrated recovery then ALL busybox (recovery) applets are symlinks to /sbin/recovery...

no u dont need to join kernel.sin-header

kernel.sin-kernel is the actual zImage

also u need the modified loader.sin to be packed with FTF... i am not sure if FlashTool will accept that kind of FTF (7zip packed)

CosmicDan · Nov 29, 2011

DooMLoRD said:
as i said before windows doesnt correctly handle the symlinks and the symlinks in the ramdisk get broken causing the device to not boot... this is because the /sbin/ueventd is symlinked to /init and if u have ramdisk with integrated recovery then ALL busybox (recovery) applets are symlinks to /sbin/recovery...

no u dont need to join kernel.sin-header

kernel.sin-kernel is the actual zImage

also u need the modified loader.sin to be packed with FTF... i am not sure if FlashTool will accept that kind of FTF (7zip packed)

Yeah all the busybox commands are symlinked and it seems cygwin's cpio doesn't handle them at all whereas apparently the native win32 port of cpio can, but I will try "porting" your pearl script to win32 another time if I feel the need.

With the -tzip parameter it's just packing to a ZIP file, the loader.sin is included in the template folder - that's the original FTF file extracted ready for replacing+repacking. I've tested rebuilding DoomKernel and FXP kernel with this batch file and they flash fine, though of course I couldn't repack the RAMDisk to a gzipped cpio under Windows so it's nothing special yet.

Idea Generator · Apr 14, 2012

DooMLoRD said:
THIS IS FOR ADVANCED/EXPERIENCED USERS ONLY

[ info ]

hello devs/users this should be a useful tool (its just a small perl script) for u guys... i have modified the popular unpack-bootimg.pl script to support the (new) kernel.sin files... so it will basically unpack kernel.sin to zImage and ramdisk, ramdisk will also be extracted...

[ requirements ]

linux machine

perl

[ supported devices ]

Xperia X10 (GB update, custom kernels for unlocked bootloaders)

Xperia 2011 devices (Arc, Arc S, Neo, Play, Mini, Mini Pro, Ray, Pro, Active, Live Walkman)

[ download link ]

unpack-kernelsin

[ usage ]

Code:

./unpack-kernelsin.pl kernel.sin

Enjoy!

I'm getting permission denied error. Can some one help me ?

championswimmer · Apr 15, 2012

it works perfectly fine with me for cygwin

you need to set up cygwin the way it has been suggested for setting up cyanogenmod build enviromment (that way, all dependent packages automatically get installed)

and cygwin should be installed after java is installed on a compter installing java after cygwin causes unknown bad problems

seljachina · Apr 19, 2012

Idea Generator said:
I'm getting permission denied error. Can some one help me ?

if you are on windows, you need to install perl to cygwin folder
http://www.activestate.com/activeperl/downloads
when finish there should be "perl.exe" in "\cygwin\bin" folder.

CosmicDan · Apr 20, 2012

Maybe off topic I don't know, but I wonder if any of the top X10 devs are any closer to creating custom partition layouts? Particularly taking some of that massive wasted space from /system and giving it to /data. I tried doing it but was too scared to brick my X10

championswimmer · Apr 20, 2012

CosmicDan said:
Maybe off topic I don't know, but I wonder if any of the top X10 devs are any closer to creating custom partition layouts? Particularly taking some of that massive wasted space from /system and giving it to /data. I tried doing it but was too scared to brick my X10

we do not really have an official unlocked bootloader....what we really have is bypass which neglects checking the kernel headers(yes the-laser's method is also essentially a bypass ... only the OEM can actually unlock bootloader and Sony has NOT done so for x10)... thus accessing partitions is still not possible.

Sent from my X10S using xda premium

DooMLoRD · Apr 20, 2012

championswimmer said:
we do not really have an official unlocked bootloader....what we really have is bypass which neglects checking the kernel headers(yes the-laser's method is also essentially a bypass ... only the OEM can actually unlock bootloader and Sony has NOT done so for x10)... thus accessing partitions is still not possible.

Sent from my X10S using xda premium

That's wrong... The signature is still checked by the hacked loader of the_laser...

Sent from my HTC One X using XDA

championswimmer · Apr 20, 2012

DooMLoRD said:
That's wrong... The signature is still checked by the hacked loader of the_laser...

Sent from my HTC One X using XDA

oh... ok...sorry... my ignorance

OFFTOPIC
what are these mtd4 and userdate partitions for.. seem like hidden partitions.... or for baseband usage?

___continuing here and not spamming the thread more ____

yes i was talking of the fourth one

apps log? hmm i didnt know that...other three i knew

thanks

Sent from my X10S using xda premium

DooMLoRD · Apr 20, 2012

championswimmer said:
oh... ok...sorry... my ignorance

OFFTOPIC
what are these mtd4 and userdate partitions for.. seem like hidden partitions.... or for baseband usage?

Sent from my X10S using xda premium

the mtds are for:
/system
/data
/cache

and i think there is one for apps log...

MTD format is usually used for NAND based device..

CosmicDan · Apr 21, 2012

....so I guess that means no

I could have sworn it was possible while building the kernel (in cygwin or preferably linux of course) when I looked at the code a while back, but I gave up because it'd require a custom recovery image. Oh well, I've gotten used to TB-Pro "Integrate System App" filters I use to save space on /data.

brenty108 · May 4, 2012

Medium user

I um...I'm lost I download pearl and the file from this trend but what next? I wanna extra the system.sin from my x10 2.3.3. someone please reply. I'm using Windows Xp.

CosmicDan · May 7, 2012

brenty108 said:
I um...I'm lost I download pearl and the file from this trend but what next? I wanna extra the system.sin from my x10 2.3.3. someone please reply. I'm using Windows Xp.

Completely different. You need to use SIN2BIN tool then extract (or mount) the img with some .img tool that can read yaffs2 filesystems. On Windows it's complicated, you are better off just flashing the stock FTF ROM then doing adb pull /system with USB Debugging.

If you don't know how to do that, you probably shouldn't be doing whatever it is you're trying to do

rocketero · Sep 9, 2012

I have maybe a stupid question, but bear with me..

I have a boot.img is around 10MB in size.

When I use unpack_kernelsin or the method explained by iridaki and after repacking the new-boot.img the total size is only around 5.2MB .. why is that?

also that new-boot.img is not working on my tablet. the --cmdline (in ./repack_bootimg.pl) says it is: ''androidboot.hardware=qcom", that's the only parameter I inpup in --cmdline,

anyways some light on this issue is appreciated.

iridaki · Sep 10, 2012

rocketero said:
I have maybe a stupid question, but bear with me..

I have a boot.img is around 10MB in size.

When I use unpack_kernelsin or the method explained by iridaki and after repacking the new-boot.img the total size is only around 5.2MB .. why is that?

also that new-boot.img is not working on my tablet. the --cmdline (in ./repack_bootimg.pl) says it is: ''androidboot.hardware=qcom", that's the only parameter I inpup in --cmdline,

anyways some light on this issue is appreciated.

This tool you are referring tool is only to be used with Xperia 2011 devices.
It will not work on any other tablet/smartphone model.

rocketero · Sep 10, 2012

iridaki said:
This tool you are referring tool is only to be used with Xperia 2011 devices.
It will not work on any other tablet/smartphone model.

who know, I found this tool: the DsiXDA's Kitchen tool and made a successful newboot.img that I could flash. but still not full support for scripts running at /system/etc/init.d at boot time.

iridaki · Sep 12, 2012

rocketero said:
who know, I found this tool: the DsiXDA's Kitchen tool and made a successful newboot.img that I could flash. but still not full support for scripts running at /system/etc/init.d at boot time.

You need to edit the ramdisk accordingly for that.

[DEV][TOOL] kernel.sin unpacker {UPDATED for Z1 and above!}

Senior Member

Inactive Recognized Developer

Senior Member

Inactive Recognized Developer

Senior Member

Senior Member

Inactive Recognized Developer

Senior Member

Senior Member

Inactive Recognized Developer

Inactive Recognized Developer

Inactive Recognized Developer

Inactive Recognized Developer

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Retired Forum Moderator

Senior Member

Retired Forum Moderator

Similar threads

Top Liked Posts