Notes:
Thanks to
@Stamgastje for the first cut of these notes.
History and older builds (LineageOS)
The
Lineage OS project -- a.k.a. Lineage Android Distribution (LAD) -- is a continuation of the CyanogenMod project, which
was discontinued in December 2016. Before maintaining Lineage OS 14.1 ROM for this phone,
@xamio maintained CyanogenMod ROMs (CM13, CM14.1). You can still find these builds via the link to his site (ionkiwi.nl) above. The original (and oldest) CyanogenMod builds for this phone were created by
@sktjdgns1189. His original builds are still available here:
http://fsrv1.sayanogen.com/KCCAT6-13/, and
this was the original thread on this forum.
Installation
Below some hints that may help you to install these ROMs on your phone.
Clean install, or dirty flashing?
What is the difference?
The difference is whether you clean (format) the entire /data partition (which contains your apps and user data, as well as the dalvik cache), or not, before flashing the new ROM image:
- A clean install means: clean the /system, /data (incl. dalvik cache) and /cache partitions, and then install the ROM
- Dirty flashing means: clean the /system and /cache partitions, as well as the dalvik cache, but not the entire /data partition, before installing the ROM
With a clean install, you need to manually restore your apps and user data after flashing the new ROM image. With a dirty flash, there is no need to do this -- so this is the faster, but riskier solution. Therefore, it is
always recommended to make a backup of your apps (e.g. with Titanium Backup) and user data (internal storage) before flashing any ROM image.
When could you consider a dirty flash?
It is, generally speaking, possible to perform a dirty flash:
- When upgrading a ROM to an newer build of the same ROM (but be careful when upgrading between major versions, e.g. from CM13 to CM14.1)
- When upgrading from CyanogenMod 14.1 to Lineage OS 14.1 (as Lineage OS is the continuation of CyanogenMod, based on the same sources)
When should you perform a clean install?
In all other cases, so e.g.:
- When downgrading a ROM to an older build of the same ROM
- When switching between ROMS, e.g. from CyanogenMod to Resurrection Remix (or vice versa). Reason: different ROMs use different code bases that are usually not 100% compatible (exception is upgrading from CyanogenMod 14.1 to Lineage OS 14.1, see above)
(Note: in case you choose to perform a dirty flash over your existing ROM, don't forget to re-flash the GApps package immediately afterwards!)
How to dirty flash an official weekly over an unofficial build (and vice versa)?
When trying to update an unofficial build to an official weekly build, I get an error message in TWRP saying
"Can't install this package on top of incompatible data. Please try another package or run a factory reset". How do I fix that?
At the start of an installation the installer checks the build keys. They differ between unoffical and official builds, and the installer refuses to overwrite builds with different keys. To fix this you have to install the official keys before trying to install the official build:
- Run this script called lineage-migration-signed.zip in TWRP.
- Then install the official ROM zip.
You only have to do this for the first switch from unoffical to offical build.
There may be reason to dirty flash an unofficial build over an official build, for instance, if you're developing or testing new stuff. The problem is the same, just in the other direction: You have to install the unofficial build keys:
- Run this script called lineage-migration-unsigned.zip in TWRP.
- Then install the unofficial ROM zip.
Modem and bootloader
Which version do I need?
Builds from Sept. 19 (cm-13.0-20160919-UNOFFICIAL-kccat6xx.zip) and later should use a Marshmallow modem & bootloader (starting with 'C', so e.g. CPE1, CPH3, CPJ1). Older builds require a Lollipop modem & bootloader (starting with 'B', so e.g. BOH4, BOK2).
Generally, it is recommended to use the latest modem that is compatible for your device.
How do I get these images?
The original ROM files containing the modem and bootloader files are available from the
Sammobile site. You have to extract bootloader and modem files and flash them to your device using Odin (Windows) or Heimdall (Linux, MacOS, Windows).
- Download the firmware file from Sammobile's firmware page for the G901F, G906S, G906K or G906L, depending on your device. The last ones available are CQJ1/CQJ2 for G901F, CPL2 for G906S/K/L. Assuming you download the CQJ1 version for G-901F, the resulting file will be called G901FXXU1CQJ1_G901FDTM1CQJ1_DTM.zip.
- Unpack that file. On Windows, right click on the file and choose "Extract all...". On Linux/Mac, simply use the command line:
Code:
$ unzip G901FXXU1CQJ1_G901FDTM1CQJ1_DTM.zip
After unpacking you get a new file G901FXXU1CQJ1_G901FDTM1CQJ1_G901FXXU1CQC1_HOME.tar.md5. This is a standard tar archive and can be opened with any archiver capable of handling the tar format (especially with tar itself). The attached .md5 suffix indicates, that a md5 checksum has been attached to the file.
- Extract the file. On Windows you can do this by installing the swiss-army knife of archivers, 7zip. It installs an entry for the right-click context menu. Use it to extract G901FXXU1CQJ1_G901FDTM1CQJ1_G901FXXU1CQC1_HOME.tar.md5. On Linux/Mac, simply use the command line:
Code:
$ tar xf G901FXXU1CQJ1_G901FDTM1CQJ1_G901FXXU1CQC1_HOME.tar.md5
Apart from the different download page and the different file names, the procedure is the same on the G906 variants.
Either way, this extracts the following list of files:
Code:
NON-HLOS.bin cache.img.ext4 recovery.img sdi.mbn
aboot.mbn hidden.img.ext4 rpm.mbn system.img.ext4
boot.img modem.bin sbl1.mbn tz.mbn
The files with suffix .img and .img.ext are the actual system files. You don't want them, unless you want to reinstall stock Samsung Android.
The files NON-HLOS.bin and modem.bin constitute the baseband, all other files with .mbn suffix constitute the bootloader.
How do I flash these images on Windows with Odin?
This is only marginally more complex than by using Heimdall (see below). The difference is that Heimdall can immediately flash the extracted
.bin and
.mbn files, while Odin needs them packed into a
tar file. Fortunately you already have 7zip!
- Select all of the aforementioned .bin and .mbn files. Right click to open the context menu. Select 7zip and choose Add to archive... from the sub menu
This opens 7zip's archive dialog. As Archive format choose tar. Append .md5 to the archive filename and press the OK button
Congratulations, you're now the happy owner of an Odin file with only bootloader and baseband images.
- Sidenote: You could also create a tar.md5 file, you just have to append the md5 sum to the just created tar file. It's not really tricky, but you'd need an additional md5sum tool which is not available on Windows by default, so we just skip this here.
- If you haven't already, download and install Odin.
- Boot the phone into download mode: Power off the phone, then press and hold Volume Down + Home + Power buttons. You'll see a severe warning message. Ignore it by pressing Volume-Up. You're now in download mode.
- Connect your device to your PC's USB port.
- Start Odin.
- Select the .tar file you just created.
- Enable (only) these options: 'Auto Reboot' and 'F. Reset Time'.
- Flash the images.
How do I flash these images on Linux/MacOS/Windows with Heimdall?
- If you haven't already, download and install Heimdall. If you have trouble with the most recent version of Heimdall (the official version 1.4.1 has a few annoying bugs) you have to rebuild heimdall from source by yourself. Instructions for rebuilding can be found here and here.
- Boot the phone into download mode: Power off the phone, then press and hold Volume Down + Home + Power buttons. You'll see a severe warning message. Ignore it by pressing Volume-Up. You're now in download mode.
- Connect your device to your PC's USB port.
- Check if Heimdall recognizes your device:
If it doesn't, you have to do some digging:
- On Windows you might have to install Samsung device drivers.
- On Linux you might have to create a udev entry for your device. As root, open or create the file /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules and add a line
Code:
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="04e8", MODE="0660", USER="[insert your non-root username here]"
, then reboot the machine.
- On Mac... sorry, I have no idea what to do on a Mac in this case.
- Flash the bootloader and baseband images:
Code:
$ heimdall flash --APNHLOS NON-HLOS.bin \
--MODEM modem.bin --SBL1 sbl1.mbn --DBI sdi.mbn \
--ABOOT aboot.mbn --RPM rpm.mbn --TZ tz.mbn
This may take a minute or two and then reboot your device automatically. It might reboot into your recovery. That's nothing to worry about. Just reboot from there into system.
