Android from source in command-line

Dobrica Pavlinušić
http://blog.rot13.org/
@dpavlin

TOC

Compile Android from source code

Command-line usage

/system/bin

Do we need FLOSS app market?

Compile Android from source

Why is source important?

Lookup how is something implemented - and find out why usb networking doesn't work for Google apps

Lastest Android released on abandoned hardware (Froyo on G1)

Ability to install your own ROM

severly udermined by attempts to provide full signature security from hardware to userspace

SPL > recovery > system

Porting to other devices

Compile Android from source

CyanogenMod

  • only for rooted phones (targets developers)
  • binary blobs from phone using adb pull
  • compile for your phone
    • dpavlin@android:/srv/cyanogen$ . build/envsetup.sh
dpavlin@android:/srv/cyanogen$ lunch
dpavlin@android:/srv/cyanogen$ make -j8
  • fastboot or sdcard update.zip flashing
  • additional features on top of Google release

Compile Android from source

Android-x86

  • Latest release Donut 1.6r2 works on EeePC 701, VrtualBox and kvm
  • compile source
  • Froyo (2.2) and Eclair (2.1) in various stages of working
  • networking in kvm: boot in debug mode and in first prompt load network module: 
    # modprobe 8139cp
  • add vga=788 to kernel line in grub to make kvm happy
  • generally all drivers must be loaded before Android starts!

adb

shell

dpavlin@x200:/virtual/android$ adb shell
# uname -a
Linux localhost 2.6.35.4-cyanogenmod #57 PREEMPT Fri Sep 10 00:11:46 UTC 2010 armv6l GNU/Linux

logcat

Everything your Android is storing into log, multiple buffers!

dpavlin@x200:/virtual/android$ adb logcat -b events

multiple devices

dpavlin@x200:~$ export ANDROID_SERIAL=127.0.0.1:5555

Android userland

/system/bin

http://github.com/dpavlin/android-command-line

Dump debugging informations

dumpstate

Big and verbose state of your device

dpavlin@x200:~$ adb shell dumpstate > dumpstate.txt

dumpsys

Who is listening to those intents?

dpavlin@x200:~$ adb shell dumpsys > dumpsys.txt

service

Make phone calls from command line

# service call phone 2 s16 "+31611530555"

Where did 2 came from? com.android.internal.telephony.ITelephony.Stub

Rotate screen in emulator

$ service call window 18 i32 1 # landscape
$ service call window 18 i32 0 # portrait

am

Browser

# am start -a android.intent.action.MAIN -n com.android.browser/.BrowserActivity

Settings

# am start -a android.intent.action.MAIN -n com.android.settings/.Settings

Send intent broadcasts

From manifest <receiver> ... <intent-filter> tags

# am broadcast –a NotifyServiceStart
# am broadcast –a NotifyServiceStop

pm

Install application from phone to other device 

dpavlin@x200:~$ adb shell pm list packages | grep replica
package:com.replica.replicaisland
dpavlin@x200:~$ adb shell pm path com.replica.replicaisland
package:/mnt/asec/com.replica.replicaisland-1/pkg.apk
dpavlin@x200:~$ adb pull /mnt/asec/com.replica.replicaisland-1/pkg.apk
1373 KB/s (5144485 bytes in 3.658s)
dpavlin@x200:~$ ANDROID_SERIAL=192.168.1.32:5555 adb install pkg.apk
779 KB/s (5144485 bytes in 6.446s)
        pkg: /data/local/tmp/pkg.apk
Success

procrank

show memory usage

# procrank
  PID      Vss      Rss      Pss      Uss  cmdline
  142   37328K   27332K   16926K   15472K  system_server
  218   17568K   17564K    7469K    6228K  com.android.phone
  220   16040K   16040K    5694K    4380K  org.zeam.core
 1783   18276K   15880K    5308K    3836K  com.android.term
  298   15172K   15164K    4905K    3636K  com.android.mms
 1693   14860K   14860K    4200K    2724K  com.android.music
  441   13260K   13260K    3752K    2616K  com.als.usagetimelines
  209   13052K   13052K    3329K    2188K  com.access_company.graffiti
 1700   13300K   13300K    3242K    1904K  android.process.media
  107   11860K   11860K    2118K     900K  zygote
  108     768K     768K     342K     300K  /system/bin/mediaserver
 1826     488K     484K     296K     280K  procrank

So, is Android command-line useful?

  • get insight into your phone
  • automate operations
  • testing, QA
  • real man don't click!

Do we need FLOSS app market?

Jonathan Corbet of LWM fame think we do and I agree.

Working idea

  • FLOSS licence
  • source code repository (git)
  • all source searchable (gitweb?)
  • automatic builds (x86 NDK?)
  • download links from web!
  • backup apps to cloud (CouchDB?)

Anybody interested in something like that?

The Difference Between Android And iPhone

This Pretty Much Sums It Up

Android

iPhone

Questions? Comments?

More information

this presentation: http://dpavlin.github.com/android-command-line/

repository: http://github.com/dpavlin/android-command-line/

my blog: http://blog.rot13.org

podcast: http://podcast.linux.hr

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