Android Manager

[Guest Roman Kapl]

So someone else was talking about ADB frontend for windows. I thought I might take the idea a bit further and make a general purpose manager you could use to mod your rom. You could uninstall and install packages, it would automatically back up files for you, so you can revert at any time.

How it works?

First of all it scans your phone and makes md5 hashes of all files. It can than tell you which packages are installed and which are not(by matching their md5 with installed files). Whenever you install new package, it backs up the old files to your working directory.

Download:

EXPERIMENTAL- NO RESPONSIBILITY TAKEN

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=8KEAGKEM

Example framework package from framework factory. Just copy it to your working directory.

framework_dwill.zip (for Vanilla only!!)

.... So the final question? Is it useful? Should I continue with the development.

Edited June 2, 2010 by Roman Kapl

[Guest eckengucker1]

"unknown device state device" but if you fix that I'll tell you some ideas I've got :(

[Guest Roman Kapl]

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=8KEAGKEM

Hope it's fixed now. Are you using windows?

[Guest eckengucker1]

yep

[Guest eckengucker1]

Thanks its working now.

The first thing I would build in is an autoupdate for the client. Thats always useful cuz there is no need to check this topic every day but an update-notice would be ok for the start.

As a second step a field where you can chose your update files would be useful. For Windows could an .exe-file be useful because sometimes jar-files aren't linked correct to the java-folder (mainly under Windows 7).

Just my 2 cents

Edited June 2, 2010 by eckengucker1

[Guest David Horvath]

Is this working on Linux and MacOS?

[Guest Roman Kapl]

it is a pure java app. it should be. We just need to make packages for it :(

[Guest Speckles]

Sorted then. I'll cancel development on my project. I started writing it in Visual Studio C++ and was only targetting Windows.

[Guest JingleManSweep]

Sorted then. I'll cancel development on my project. I started writing it in Visual Studio C++ and was only targetting Windows.

This is too weird. I was just starting a Python ROM kitchen (RobotKitchen), however, I was thinking of a more extensible system.

Perhaps we should discuss features and ideas!

[Guest Speckles]

Thinking about it, I might actually continue my dev, if only for the fun of it :(

I see the Java app runs the ADB Executable, whereas I talk to the DLL.

You could do your Python-based version and there could a suite of apps :(

I was thinking of a file manager - but one which shows you the partitions on the phone rather than sd card , and a seperate APK un/installer. So you could do wallpapers, ringtones, backup your phone, etc.

Edited June 2, 2010 by Speckles

[Guest JingleManSweep]

You could do your Python-based version and there could a suite of apps :(

Yes, in the tradition of open source, we can share ideas and develop some cool tools. I'm aiming to offer a simple command-line tool (mainly for Linux/MacOSX, but also Windows) that will allow the following:

- Automatic preparation of a ROM working area that will unpack an existing ROM (e.g. update.zip) into a temporary area where apps can be added/removed.

- Quick and easy shortcuts for modifying of "build.props" file (e.g. ROM name, JIT flags, Device fingerprint)

- Helper processes to enable/disable Apps2SD

- Integration with some application package manager (like the one mentioned in this topic)

- Reports (e.g. calculating system/data partition size usage before packaging ROM)

- Automatic packaging, signing and sharing

Having just joined the "Dropbox" area, it might be a good idea if we discuss some kind of central repository all our tools can use (to host apps, scripts, resources and other assets).

If anyone else has suggestions, please let me know.

I've made a start (nothing of any use at the moment), but the source code is here:

http://github.com/jingleman/RobotKitchen

[Guest Roman Kapl]

Ok, as I see lot of people are working on their own kitchens. So i here are my ideas how this project should look in the feature

• Package is the king, everything is packaged
  
• You install barebon non-bootable rom, then additional packages
  
• Some packages are just scripts to run on a phone, that modify behaviour, fix problems or just run one-time actions
  
• Provide some other convinient toools (like the build.prop editor I have)
  
• Might be able to run on the phone(just replace adb push by cp and adb shell by exec in the adb interface layer) and write a new ui
  
• Might be able to run on a rom copy on PC(at least for linux/mac) it could then package the result to update.zip
  
• Will publish source code under liberal licence
  

And why java? It is my language of choice and it is the android language of choice, so why not?

Yeah, and you may check the framework file to see the package structure(but it is going to change one more time).

Edited June 3, 2010 by Roman Kapl

[Guest Roman Kapl]

Double post sorry

Edited June 3, 2010 by Roman Kapl

[Guest alpha232]

seperate APK un/installer.

If you can make a mass apk installer i'll be a happy bunny :(

[Guest JingleManSweep]

Okay...

Couldn't we use (Apache) Ant to create a set of Ant Tasks that can grep/add/modify build.props and other configuration files? It seems Ant seems like the logical choice for this kind of stuff - e.g. cross platform, ability to handle properties files etc.

Thoughts?

[Guest JingleManSweep]

Here is a start for my Ant ROM assistant (AntDroid)...

http://github.com/jingleman/AntDroid

[Guest ZsZso]

Here is a start for my Ant ROM assistant (AntDroid)...

http://github.com/jingleman/AntDroid

OMG. I have never ever seen ANT working like a "standalone application". Really uncomfortable for my eyes, I can tell you :(. (I'm not in the "scripting" business, haha) Nice work, anyway!

Roman Kapl:

Maybe I missed something but I couldn't find any SVN/CVS link to your project. Could you give one? Unfortunatelly I don't have any free time to write a whole app, but I'm really interested in your project.

Edited June 3, 2010 by ZsZso

[Guest JingleManSweep]

OMG. I have never ever seen ANT working like a "standalone application". Really uncomfortable for my eyes, I can tell you :(. (I'm not in the "scripting" business, haha) Nice work, anyway!

Cheers. I'm just adding some quick targets to enable/disable JIT plus some other common options. My colleague here said to switch to GAnt (Groovy Ant), as Groovy is much more expressive (e.g. closures over XML). But, I'll keep working on the traditional Ant version, and port it later.

[Guest Roman Kapl]

I'll upload the manager to google code tommorow including the source code and i'll also post some more example packages(bootanimation and various 'fixes'). I just have to change the package format a bit and document it, supported actions are going to be: install file, run shell script and modify build.prop.

And about that AntBuild - it is solving a bit different problem, building a ROM from scratch on your PC. This manager is trying to simplify modding your rom on the phone.

[Guest Speckles]

It'll probably be a long time before I finish mine. I've not even started yet. Damn work deadlines.

I'll definitely not be using Java however, as I don't even know the language.

[Guest JingleManSweep]

And about that AntBuild - it is solving a bit different problem, building a ROM from scratch on your PC. This manager is trying to simplify modding your rom on the phone.

Hi Roman,

That's good news. I don't want to tread on anyones toes with my work. Yes, AntDroid is designed to unpack an existing ROM onto your computer, and then you can modify it as neccesary (enable/disable JIT and other build.props modifications).

I'm thinking about making some profiles (which are basically XML files) that tell AntDroid what build.prop modifications to do, which apps to include/exclude, and do all the packaging stuff. This way, assuming we can get a single hosted area for applications, wallpapers and boot animations, people can simply create a profile of their choice and use a single tool to build all the ROMs.

I'm going to base it on the Barebones Minimal ROM that is being made at the moment.

[Guest david_dawkins]

It'll probably be a long time before I finish mine. I've not even started yet. Damn work deadlines.

I'll definitely not be using Java however, as I don't even know the language.

Mate, if you're happy with C++, then you already "know" Java, and it will be like taking a holiday. I agree that getting to know the class libraries is a whole different thing, but it's worth updating your CV for :-)

[Guest Speckles]

Cool. The only problem I see is that I'll only be using it for a single project, so by the time I get asked questions about it (due to having it on my CV), I'll probably forget all about it!

(Plus, I don't see myself leaving my current job any time soon. Other than the deadlines, it's a real cushy number)

[Guest Roman Kapl]

Heck, it seems I am not going to be here for a week :(.