[ROM][James][Nora] Unofficial Lineage OS 15.1 for Moto E5 Play (beta v1.01)

[Fersho]

LineageOS 15.1 (Beta v1.01) originally for Moto E5 Play (james) working on Moto E5 (Nora)

Very Important!!!!

I've just found the way to boot sucessfully LOS 15.1 on nora_row, the ROM was originally made by @MotoJunkie01, so I'm not taking this ROM as mine, I've mentioned that I'm not a dev, I just love to share what I found, I hope this won't cause any problem and it will be useful for you guys.

Previously I've shared how to root Moto E5 (Nora) because there wasn't any specific info for that variant, TWRP and Root Guide was only for Play/Plus, and then after some attemps, I finally found a way to use TWRP and how to flash LOS 15.1

Disclaimer

I'm not responsible for any dead SD cards/phones
If your phone turns into a nuclear bomb
If your dog/cat complain about you

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The ROM is working almost fine but "Keep in mind that I have XT1944-2" also it is a beta ROM and if my previous guide of root didn't work properly, you shouldn't try to install it, because it may result on a brick or something else, as always is mentioned, try by your own risk.

BUGS

Working:

RIL
Bluetooth
WiFi

Not Working:

Camera

You tell me

Requirements

1. The most important and obviously, unlocked bootloader, a computer, and just basic knowldge

2. Stock ROM zip, in case of something is wrong and because you'll need to extract boot.img, here are the links and a guide to recover your phone in case of brick: https://xdaforums.com/moto-e5/how-to/firmware-moto-e5-xt1944-4-dual-sim-t3820901

3. TWRP recovery. You can get it here: https://xdaforums.com/moto-e5/development/recovery-twrp-moto-e-5-play-james-t3796323

4. You may wonder how to install TWRP, I must admit that it's not possible on Nora (causes brick) but searching here in XDA I've found that you can boot into TWRP without installing and also if you make a backup it will work in case of emergency

5. Platform tools folder that contains fastboot and adb drivers (your boot.img must be extracted here): https://www.dropbox.com/s/c3c8rev5e40gy5b/platform-tools-latest-windows.zip?dl=0

6. Remember to put the ROM and Gapps on your SD:

ROM: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1F2rC7zIZPqod3vMC1t22uhNYMQbf56K6

Gapps: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1rHf5XIs7XK3kWFFLekjrK0ub_bKnSlUI

Instructions

1. First of all boot into bootloader or fastboot (power & volume down) and connect your phone to your PC

2. At this point it is supposed that you have downloaded platform tools folder and all necessary zips (stock ROM, LOS, gapps), then inside the folder press Shift+Right Click, and select "open CMD window here" for Windows 7, on Windows 8 and up just click "Archive", then when CMD it's open, type: fastboot boot twrp_james.img Your phone automatically will reboot into TWRP.

3. The recovery will delay 1 or 2 minutes to start and it will ask us for our key to decrypt data. Just press cancel, because we don't have that key, and that option is not working and swipe to allow modifications. Don't mount anything, what it is already mounted is fine, only you can mount SD Card, in case that is not mounted, if you don't have a SD Card you wouldn't be able to make a backup

4. Go to backup section, and choose SD Card to put your backup there, remember that the Backup couldn't be saved on Internal Storage because the ROM will wipe Internal Storage and System, then if you choose all the partitions nothing wrong would happen, but if you are not pretty sure, just skip data and cache

5. The time that TWRP will took to backup depends on the things that you have on your system (Ignore red letters that show some errors)

6. Then go to Wipe section and swipe to perform a factory data reset. Now, select Wipe and then Format Data, and follow all prompts to commence formatting and then go to reboot section and choose bootloader because remember that TWRP is not installed and we nned to reboot the recovery, then use again CMD to boot into TWRP

7. Then we are again on TWRP, then press Install, select SD Card and look for the ROM zip and Gapps and swipe to flash, it's very fast the installation, wait until it finish and reboot your device into bootloader, It will be with red letters, but don't be affraid.

8. Another important thing, that ROM, contains boot.img from Moto E5 Play, that's what I told you, that you will need to use boot.img from stock ROM, then go to Platform Tools Folder and again open CMD (Shift+Left Click for W7) and type: fastboot flash boot boot.img Wait until it finish and type fastboot reboot

9. And that's all, first boot will delay, be patience. Additionally I couldn't find a way to skip force encrypt, so the phone will be encrypted and it will reboot, sometimes if you reboot the ROM it would reboot again, it's normal, As this ROM it's unnofficial it will show tha your device is uncertified but you can hide that notifications and use your phone normally.

Magisk, Xposed and Substratum work, but choose carefully what are you going to install because some modules will cause problems or a bootloop, if you need some help write your comments and experiences. YouTube for some reason open but didn't shows anything.

THANKS & MENTIONS:
Thanks to @SuperR. for his awesome Windows Kitchen;
Thanks to @CodyF86 for breaking ground and building TWRP for the james;
Thanks and credits to @phhusson for his Phh-Treble Vanilla GSIs;
Thanks to @Deivid_21 for sharing working gapps
Thanks to the entire LineageOS team;

 

[MotoJunkie01]

This is great news. Slowly but surely, development for the entire Moto E5 series is growing. Great work on this OP.

 

[Fersho]

This is great news. Slowly but surely, development for the entire Moto E5 series is growing. Great work on this OP.

Yeah thank you, but I was unable to find a no verity kernel for E5, Play and Plus have got it, but this one not, then thanks for sharing a LOS 15.1 it's cool just the only bug was the camera but because of that encryption the ROM became laggy, I wish I could have a good computer to compile but well it seems to hard, anyway i hope more coming ROMS because it's sad that LOS 16 it's already released and we hardly have got just one but it's appreciated the time and effort for this one

 

[MotoJunkie01]

Yeah thank you, but I was unable to find a no verity kernel for E5, Play and Plus have got it, but this one not, then thanks for sharing a LOS 15.1 it's cool just the only bug was the camera but because of that encryption the ROM became laggy, I wish I could have a good computer to compile but well it seems to hard, anyway i hope more coming ROMS because it's sad that LOS 16 it's already released and we hardly have got just one but it's appreciated the time and effort for this one

Yeah that's my dilemma as well. I have neither the time nor regular access to a high quality machine to compile. I have a port for Lineage 16.0 for the E5 Play which boots and functions somewhat. When I can smooth some things out and get it a bit more stable, I'll post it as well.
You should post a no-verity kernel for the E5 for others to use. It would be appreciated I'm sure.

 

[Fersho]

Yeah that's my dilemma as well. I have neither the time nor regular access to a high quality machine to compile. I have a port for Lineage 16.0 for the E5 Play which boots and functions somewhat. When I can smooth some things out and get it a bit more stable, I'll post it as well.
You should post a no-verity kernel for the E5 for others to use. It would be appreciated I'm sure.

For real? I would really love to test Pie, pls upload it, then I'm trying to post a no-verity kernel but then how am I going to extract the necessary things? I had seen a tutorial to unpack boot.img but then I don't know how to disable dm vrity or where are the files located on Moto E5 Play/Plus kernel

 

[MotoJunkie01]

For real? I would really love to test Pie, pls upload it, then I'm trying to post a no-verity kernel but then how am I going to extract the necessary things? I had seen a tutorial to unpack boot.img but then I don't know how to disable dm vrity or where are the files located on Moto E5 Play/Plus kernel

Here is an easier method -- install the stock boot image on your device using either fastboot or TWRP. Then, in TWRP, install this boot image patch script -- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oLrNL3OYhwlCCLOtLdQEQM4tGsIucsPQ/view?usp=drivesdk
It will unpack, patch, repack and flash the modified boot image back to your boot partition, disabling dm-verity. Then use TWRP to make a backup of your /boot partition. Using a file manager, rename the backup from boot.emmc.win to boot.img and you're done. You'll then have a no-verity kernel in boot.img format. The file can then be installed by other members using fastboot or TWRP.
Once you're done, you can simply use TWRP to reinstall or restore your previous ROM configuration.

 

[Fersho]

Here is an easier method -- install the stock boot image on your device using either fastboot or TWRP. Then, in TWRP, install this boot image patch script -- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oLrNL3OYhwlCCLOtLdQEQM4tGsIucsPQ/view?usp=drivesdk
It will unpack, patch, repack and flash the modified boot image back to your boot partition, disabling dm-verity. Then use TWRP to make a backup of your /boot partition. Using a file manager, rename the backup from boot.emmc.win to boot.img and you're done. You'll then have a no-verity kernel in boot.img format. The file can then be installed by other members using fastboot or TWRP.
Once you're done, you can simply use TWRP to reinstall or restore your previous ROM configuration.

It doesn't works, also using zip on LOS/Stock it doesn't boot

 

[MotoJunkie01]

It doesn't works, also using zip on LOS/Stock it doesn't boot

I will patch a boot image to disabled dm-verity for the Moto E5. I'll post soon as I get some free time.

 

[Fersho]

I will patch a boot image to disabled dm-verity for the Moto E5. I'll post soon as I get some free time.

Thanks, but finally I removed encryption, but men, it was very hard for me and it took me like 3 or 4 hours, but well the procedure is a llitle bit confusing, and I couldn't create a boot.img just ported the ones already shared for Play/Plus and seemed to work "fine", If I got some time I would make another tutorial but I guess that it will be long

 

[MotoJunkie01]

Here is a no-verity kernel for the xt1944-2 Moto E5
From Build No. OPP27.91-25

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NcyuFRgvvRiS5MT5Jxl3uS3XHCnULBMc/view?usp=drivesdk

In case anybody needs it.

 

[Fersho]

Here is a no-verity kernel for the xt1944-2 Moto E5
From Build No. OPP27.91-25

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NcyuFRgvvRiS5MT5Jxl3uS3XHCnULBMc/view?usp=drivesdk

In case anybody needs it.

Thank You, Do you believe that I don't have XT1944-2 I have XT1944-4 I notice that when I've seen something in settings, then It's only flash the kernel and that's all?

 

[MotoJunkie01]

Thank You, Do you believe that I don't have XT1944-2 I have XT1944-4 I notice that when I've seen something in settings, then It's only flash the kernel and that's all?

I'll do a no-verity for xt1944-1 also. In fact, I'll try and cover all variants for which I have firmware access. You can try to boot the kernel for xt1944-2 prior to flashing it, by using:

fastboot boot no-verity_xt1944-2.boot.img

If it boots, you should be safe in flashing it to your /boot partition. In any event, I'll post some no-verity kernels for the Moto E5 variants.

 

[SeerePetrova]

so if i have the xt1944-3 can I use this tutorial? and what twrp recovery should I use..? or should i just wait

 

[Fersho]

so if i have the xt1944-3 can I use this tutorial? and what twrp recovery should I use..? or should i just wait

Well I've only tested on XT1944-2/4 you should try by your own risk, then for TWRP use the one that is made for Moto E5 Play, then boot into TWRP using fastboot boot "twrp-james.img" don't try to install because it wont work

 

[weakNPCdotCom]

Any plans to get the remaining hardware working? I tried flashing factory Vendor image from the XT1921-1 retail firmware for the hell of it to see if that might change anything with the camera and flash, but it didn't. LOS logs a crash.

01-04 06:43:08.824 F/libc (622): CANNOT LINK EXECUTABLE "/vendor/bin/hw/motorola.hardware.camera.imgtuner@1.0-service": library "motorola.hardware.camera.imgtuner@1.0.so" not found

01-04 06:43:08.825 F/libc (622): Fatal signal 6 (SIGABRT), code -6 in tid 622 (motorola.hardwa), pid 622 (motorola.hardwa)

01-04 06:43:09.162 F/DEBUG (712): pid: 622, tid: 622, name: motorola.hardwa >>> /vendor/bin/hw/motorola.hardware.camera.imgtuner@1.0-service <<<

01-04 06:43:09.162 F/DEBUG (712): signal 6 (SIGABRT), code -6 (SI_TKILL), fault addr --------

01-04 06:43:09.180 F/DEBUG (712): Abort message: 'CANNOT LINK EXECUTABLE "/vendor/bin/hw/motorola.hardware.camera.imgtuner@1.0-service": library "motorola.hardware.camera.imgtuner@1.0.so" not found'

I might not have been looking in the right place but the imgtuner file name in /vendor/lib/hw is: motorola.hardware.camera.imgtuner@1.0-impl.so

If I had any idea how to fix this I would try.

 

[MotoJunkie01]

Any plans to get the remaining hardware working? I tried flashing factory Vendor image from the XT1921-1 retail firmware for the hell of it to see if that might change anything with the camera and flash, but it didn't. LOS logs a crash.



I might not have been looking in the right place but the imgtuner file name in /vendor/lib/hw is: motorola.hardware.camera.imgtuner@1.0-impl.so

If I had any idea how to fix this I would try.

I was hoping the camera commits had been added to the GitHub repositories by now, but they have not as of this date. A manual fix can likely be accomplished by replacing the camlibs in the Lineage build with the camlibs from the stock build. Unfortunately, due to my work schedule, I don't get a lot of spare time for development, but if anybody wants to try, simply copying/replacing the camlibs from stock to Lineage should fix the camera.

 

[weakNPCdotCom]

I was hoping the camera commits had been added to the GitHub repositories by now, but they have not as of this date. A manual fix can likely be accomplished by replacing the camlibs in the Lineage build with the camlibs from the stock build. Unfortunately, due to my work schedule, I don't get a lot of spare time for development, but if anybody wants to try, simply copying/replacing the camlibs from stock to Lineage should fix the camera.

Im new to the android rom/firmware file structure. just want to make sure I understand. are you referring to the .so camera libraries in vendor/lib? or do you mean the actual /core/java/android/hardware framework files in the source?

 

[tbirdguy]

Res Remix system-180818-arm-aonly-gapps.img
camera works good... flash too
apparently i still have force encrypt though and the phone can definitely get laggy

 

[Fersho]

Res Remix system-180818-arm-aonly-gapps.img
camera works good... flash too
apparently i still have force encrypt though and the phone can definitely get laggy

That's right, camera and flashlight are working on RR OS GSI Official, but that lag is horrible, well it's only while scrolling and system ui, but the rest of the apps are working fine, to disable encryption you must flash no verity kernel that it's attached on previous commentaries and also to edit fstab.qcom then you'll skip encryption, but it doesn't affect on performance because even you skipped encryption the device still laggy, also on Pie is the same, but some extra bugs like graphic glitches, anyway I couldn't find a way to fix that lag, even using apps like L Speed

 

[weakNPCdotCom]

That's right, camera and flashlight are working on RR OS GSI Official, but that lag is horrible, well it's only while scrolling and system ui, but the rest of the apps are working fine, to disable encryption you must flash no verity kernel that it's attached on previous commentaries and also to edit fstab.qcom then you'll skip encryption, but it doesn't affect on performance because even you skipped encryption the device still laggy, also on Pie is the same, but some extra bugs like graphic glitches

Just FYI the no verity kernel results in a bootloop on the TMO XT1921-3