Help work out bugs in CM9/10/sense4/aokp- smali/baksmali and more to come.. - HTC Amaze 4G

How can I contribute to development?
Post #1 is a tutorial for how to decompile/recompile jar files to help with the project.
Post #2 will have information on how to pull a proper logcat and how to post your logcat
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I'll write up a quick little guide for smali/baksmali that can be used with the previous resource I posted.
First, windows will work just fine. You will have to install the java JDK(not sdk, you can have both however), this is straightforward, just google and follow directions.
Next, download http://smali.googlecode.com/files/smali-1.3.2.jar and http://smali.googlecode.com/files/baksmali-1.3.2.jar (both are also attached)
If you can already type "adb" in the command prompt of windows, then the path was set for the tool.. find where you have ADB at, and paste those files into the same directory. If not follow the directions in the following quote, except you will be putting the above downloaded files in the directory you chose.
There's two simple ways to get there:
1 way = click Start > Control Panel > System icon.
2nd way = click the Start button, right-click “My Computer”(Computer for Vista/7) and select “Properties”.
If your using XP, your there. If your using Vista/7, click on Advanced system settings on the left side.
You should now be in the System Properties window.
Click on the Advanced tab.
Click on the Evironment Variables... button
In the System variables(lower box), scroll through the list until you see Path under the Variable column.
Click on it to highlite it, click on the Edit... button.
We are going to add our path to adb, where we installed the SDK, in the Variable value: box.
Make sure your cursor is at the end of the last entry, and type this:
;C:\android\tools\
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Press the windows button or click start button, type cmd and press enter(to open command prompt), and type "java -jar baksmali-1.3.2.jar -o out/rogers/dexout/rogers-classes.dex" and see if the error it gives you shows you that there is no "rogers-classes.dex" file, if so then you've done everything right thus far.
Now you should look at the resource I had posted before, so you don't have to search, here it is again http://rootzwiki.com/topic/19262-protip-getting-data-working-on-that-epic-port-you-just-did/
For this example, look under where it says "Data:", I am going to do what it says for the framework.jar file. Jar files are basically zip files, rename framework.jar to framework.zip, then unzip it with whatever program you use, making sure you know where it is located. Do this for BOTH the cm9 rom, and also with the stock rom(we should be able to use any rom we currently have, ARHD, energy, speedrom, etc). I would name the stock rom zip folder "base" and the cm9 zip folder "port", so you can keep track easily.
If you have followed along this far, you will have a file called classes.dex, this will be what we are decompiling for both cm9 and stock, then we will copy files as needed, and recompile just the cm9 classes.dex, so again, pay attention to which is which, and what the path is. Ignore the other file that was unzipped for now, just know when you rezip it, you have to replace the original classes.dex file and zip it up with the other file that it was unzipped with.
So lets say this is the result, I have a folder c:\android\porting\base folder that contains a classes.dex file, and a c:\android\porting\base(I renamed the unzipped folder after I unzipped each) that also contains a classes.dex file.
Here is a post that explains what we are about to do if you need a reference. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=4152564&postcount=2
To decompile(if you correctly installed the java jdk and set the path correctly for baksmali/smali) you would type this in:
Code:
java -jar baksmali-1.3.2.jar -o out/base locationOFyour/classes.dex
the "out/base" is where it will put the output files, in a directory called OUT in your USER folder. Quick protip if you are unsure how to type in the location of the classes.dex file, just type in "java -jar baksmali-1.3.2.jar -o out/base" and then DRAG the classes.dex file from your file explorer to the command prompt window, and IT will put the correct path(it should be something like ~/android/porting/base if I remember correctly). I am working on OSX, so you may have to do this if the example isn't helpful enough. Protip #2: Write all this $h*t down! Create a text document with every step you do, then you can just copy/paste the line above, and modify it as needed- this also helps keep track of what you are doing- aka a changelog.
If you followed protip #2 above, copy the same command you just typed in, but change where it says "base" in the path, to "port". If you have two folders in your OUT folder, one called base, and one called port, you have done everything correctly thus far.
Since this is an example, this is what the resource I posted above on rootzwiki says to do with the result output files:
android/net - the ConnectivityManager classes and interfaces as well as all the NetworkStateTrackers.
android/telephony
com/android/internal/telephony
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So basically I am just copying everything from the above folders from my BASE, to the PORT, overwriting each file in the port. Once done, you will type this:
Code:
java -Xmx512M -jar smali-1.3.2.jar out/port -o new-classes.dex
This is because we are recompiling the files in our PORT, and it will create a file in the root of your USER folder called new-classes.dex. Rename the file classes.dex, unzip the CM9 framework.jar and replace the original classes.dex, rezip it, then rename framework.zip to framework.jar.
This concludes the tutorial. Once you have everything setup, if you follow protip #2, the matter of baksmali/smali is a quick copy/paste into command prompt, so modifying a jar file will take less than 5 minutes. Push the resulting jar file into the appropriate folder on your phone, reboot your phone, run a logcat(I have a good guide linked in the BIBLE in my signature how to logcat like a pro), and see if data(for this example, you could be working on GPS or whatever) is working any better.
Protip #3: You've just learned quite a bit, the same can be done to most apk's- rename whatever.apk to whatever.zip, unzip it, then baksmali the resulting classes.dex file- this is how many programs are backported to older versions of android, hacked, etc. If you want to see the simple edit that was made to the ext.jar using this same process that got data working, you can see it here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=25786037&postcount=13
If anyone wants to try to push the file I just created and attached, feel free.. if you have major issues, create a logcat, if not, post your result. My changelog:
In android/net I copied over ConnectivityManager.smali and each file beginning with "NetworkState"
In android/telephony I copied over all the files
There was no com/android/internal/telephony directory, so it was skipped
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is all I have time for at the moment, I have to go to work soon so I cannot test the file.. this tutorial took a bit to do, so I am hoping someone at least gives it a try to make it worth my time. I can give some assistance, but would prefer that if it is something you can figure out on your own with some basic googling, please do so.

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I will update on different methods to pull a proper logcat in the near future, for right now please post what rom you are on, and what you expect the log to contain such as "I was enabling data"..

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Also reserved just in case

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As posted in the previous thread, there are probably 250+ more constants in the base rom than there is the in the cm9 RILConstants.smali file. Are these the kinds of glaring differences we need to look for, or is this just the difference between sense/aosp...
I'm pushing your framework.jar and seeing how it works out. I'll get back to you in a moment.
Just boot loops...

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Hey, just wanted to throw this out there. I found an amazing studio that makes digging around in apk and jar files incredibly easy to do.
You can check it out here - http://www.virtuousrom.com/p/ten-studio.html
I haven't tried any jar files with it but it says they are supported. Might be worth checking out.

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Ok I just tried switching it our with your framework.jar and it got to upgrading the 82 apps now it's stuck in a bootloop after that

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Sure wish we could get some if those Kats over here. The virtuous team always had something cool for the g2
Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using xda app-developers app

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craigtut said:
Hey, just wanted to throw this out there. I found an amazing studio that makes digging around in apk and jar files incredibly easy to do.
You can check it out here - http://www.virtuousrom.com/p/ten-studio.html
I haven't tried any jar files with it but it says they are supported. Might be worth checking out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, I saw that and saved it to my read it later account.. but I never even boot into windows anymore, lol. If someone wants to try it out, if it streamlines things.. would definitely be pretty awesome. I didn't know it did jars, I thought it just did apks.
Learning how to do it still has its own value I think tho Thanks for sharing craig
bos2333 said:
Ok I just tried switching it our with your framework.jar and it got to upgrading the 82 apps now it's stuck in a bootloop after that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I noticed afterwards that I included a few too many files, I should have done just the one file rather than 3.. I think we will have much more success by making single changes, seeing if it improves things, or at LEAST continues to boot, rather than making broad sweeping changes.
Even if it gets stuck in a bootloop, see if it will post a logcat, the errors it puts out will help figure out what was too much.
Also, I think the mentioned guide would be MUCH more direct for porting sense4- as both have all proprietary htc files, and therefor the different flags in the smali file will help a ton.. as far as porting cm9, we will likely have to be much more concise about the changes- it likely won't take much, just a few changes here and there.

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bos2333 said:
Ok I just tried switching it our with your framework.jar and it got to upgrading the 82 apps now it's stuck in a bootloop after that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's the logcat from replacing framework.jar with the one you supplied...I had to zip it though because it's too big apparently

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Silentbtdeadly said:
Yep, I saw that and saved it to my read it later account.. but I never even boot into windows anymore, lol. If someone wants to try it out, if it streamlines things.. would definitely be pretty awesome. I didn't know it did jars, I thought it just did apks.
Learning how to do it still has its own value I think tho Thanks for sharing craig
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i guess ill give it a go

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ill mess with it too once i get my straight talk plan. (cause right now i dont have a plan so i cant check data )

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you can use Winrar to extract .jar files so you don`t have to rename to .zip http://www.rarlab.com/download.htm download it here

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Ok, so again, very new to this...I just merged the 4 MobileDataStateTracker files from Android/net from speedrom 5.1 to the cm9...same thing, boot loops.

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bos2333 said:
Ok, so again, very new to this...I just merged the 4 MobileDataStateTracker files from Android/net from speedrom 5.1 to the cm9...same thing, boot loops.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then you likely have the cause of the original boot loop. Two things you can do, check the logcat - it may tell you something useful.. another thing to do is get software to compare the files, I think for windows there's a free one called winmerge... The output files are usually text, and you may see some specific lines that would help us from the stock file and change those(things relating to data), leaving everything else alone.
Someone recently posted how to do a log for data errors, but I have a really good tutorial in the bible in my signature, logcat like a pro.
Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using xda app-developers app

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i'm trying to learn my ways around the android ecosystem... please correct me if I have any incorrect info below
bascially, what you're doing for this tutorial is trying to decompile and debug problems, only going up to the assembly level (smali)
jar/apk = container like a zip... contains resources like compiled binaries and images etc
dex = compiled binary for the android system
you first disassemble the dex files to smali ("assembly") files
-> a developer here would make changes to the smali... lets say you don't make any
you reassemble back to dex, gather it into a jar/apk file to put on the phone
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for porting a phone to use CM9/10/aokp, you basically use the base CM9/10/aokp system, copy over relevant jar/apk, and debug to fix any problems (like function calls, data etc)?
using logcat, you can see where function calls fail (or when you have a exception), and then try to fix it?
how good is debugging? basically you can see most of the source code?
would it be also possible to go dex->smali->java? like this post, though it says its not ideal either http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5582824/decompile-smali-files-on-an-apk

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Silentbtdeadly said:
Then you likely have the cause of the original boot loop. Two things you can do, check the logcat - it may tell you something useful.. another thing to do is get software to compare the files, I think for windows there's a free one called winmerge... The output files are usually text, and you may see some specific lines that would help us from the stock file and change those(things relating to data), leaving everything else alone.
Someone recently posted how to do a log for data errors, but I have a really good tutorial in the bible in my signature, logcat like a pro.
Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I attached a logcat last page and looked at it, saw the errors. I'll do some searching tomorrow to see if I can work my way through some of them.
Sent from my HTC Ruby using xda app-developers app

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paperWastage said:
i'm trying to learn my ways around the android ecosystem... please correct me if I have any incorrect info below
bascially, what you're doing for this tutorial is trying to decompile and debug problems, only going up to the assembly level (smali)
jar/apk = container like a zip... contains resources like compiled binaries and images etc
dex = compiled binary for the android system
you first disassemble the dex files to smali ("assembly") files
-> a developer here would make changes to the smali... lets say you don't make any
you reassemble back to dex, gather it into a jar/apk file to put on the phone
-------------
for porting a phone to use CM9/10/aokp, you basically use the base CM9/10/aokp system, copy over relevant jar/apk, and debug to fix any problems (like function calls, data etc)?
using logcat, you can see where function calls fail (or when you have a exception), and then try to fix it?
________________________________________________________________________________________________
how good is debugging? basically you can see most of the source code?
would it be also possible to go dex->smali->java? like this post, though it says its not ideal either http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5582824/decompile-smali-files-on-an-apk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Everything above the line=yes(ish). That is a fair explanation of things. If you mean how good is the debugging on smali'd files.. you should do it to some and find out
I'm not sure I understand what you mean by dex>smali>java.. dex is the compiled, smali is decompiled, it can't be more decompiled than smali to the best I can see. What that link you posted was talking about was different tools to get the job done- some can be helpful, tho many don't work properly with ICS as of yet.
Sorry if my answers are unclear, I wasn't sure of the questions perhaps..

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So there are some smali edits in this miui4 porting guide that can be looked at to help understand how/what files matter.. furthermore, all ril specific edits could be looked at for our phone http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=28885450&postcount=2
Also, the third post has some great info on debugging and reading logs.. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=28885450&postcount=3
That entire guide is extremely comprehesive, and the language isn't more complex than what you are already doing, so you will learn quite a bit. I may pull relevant info from that guide to the second post when I have more time.

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Silentbtdeadly said:
Everything above the line=yes(ish). That is a fair explanation of things. If you mean how good is the debugging on smali'd files.. you should do it to some and find out
I'm not sure I understand what you mean by dex>smali>java.. dex is the compiled, smali is decompiled, it can't be more decompiled than smali to the best I can see. What that link you posted was talking about was different tools to get the job done- some can be helpful, tho many don't work properly with ICS as of yet.
Sorry if my answers are unclear, I wasn't sure of the questions perhaps..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
my question is whether we decompile all the way back to the Java source instead of stopping at the assembly(smali) stage
from doing more searching, it looks like you might be able to get readable Java source code, but you can't recompile them as it'll be incomplete and as you said might not work on ics
I assume one would need to to flash the cm9/10 and then get those logcats

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Silentbtdeadly said:
Then you likely have the cause of the original boot loop. Two things you can do, check the logcat - it may tell you something useful.. another thing to do is get software to compare the files, I think for windows there's a free one called winmerge... The output files are usually text, and you may see some specific lines that would help us from the stock file and change those(things relating to data), leaving everything else alone.
Someone recently posted how to do a log for data errors, but I have a really good tutorial in the bible in my signature, logcat like a pro.
Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, so I tried again this morning by only adding "HtcMobileDataStateReceiver.smali" to the port in the android/net, and I got the boot loops again. Checked the logcat and found this...
I/ServiceManager( 144): service 'media.audio_flinger' died
I/ServiceManager( 144): service 'media.camera' died
I/ServiceManager( 144): service 'media.player' died
I/ServiceManager( 144): service 'media.audio_policy' died
I/Netd ( 496): Netd 1.0 starting
D/AndroidRuntime( 497):
D/AndroidRuntime( 497): >>>>>> AndroidRuntime START com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit <<<<<<
D/AndroidRuntime( 497): CheckJNI is OFF
I/dalvikvm( 497): Zip is good, but no classes.dex inside, and no valid .odex file in the same directory
D/dalvikvm( 497): Unable to process classpath element '/system/framework/framework.jar'
I/ ( 498): ServiceManager: 0x1293958
E/JNIHelp ( 497): Native registration unable to find class 'android/debug/JNITest', aborting
Any ideas? It seems like it's not taking my new classes.dex file for some reason.