[GUIDE] Make any rom OS2SD - Optimus One, P500, V General

OS2SD for any rom ​
As I see there is many P500 users interested to put their ROM to sd card, so I'm providing this tutorial how to make any rom bootable from sd.
Requirements:
Linux or cygwin for Windows
Boot.img tools
Modified updater-script
Modified fstab
Correctly partitioned sdcard (Guide)
TWRP-OS2SD or TWRP-MULTI
Steps:
Replace updater-script in your's ROM zip with provided. It will probably work with all kitkat based roms. If not the idea is mounting /system on sd card so change all "mount("yaffs2", "MTD", "system", "/system");" lines with "mount("ext4", "EMMC", "/dev/block/mmcblk0p2", "/system");" in original updater-script
Extract bootimg-tools.zip and paste boot.img from your rom in same foder
Open terminal or cygwin, locate folder with boot.img tools and type "./extractboot boot.img"
This will create out folder. Replace fstab.p500 and init.qcom.rc in out/ramdisk with provided (they might need rework on older roms)
In terminal type "./packboot"
Now rename boot_new.img to boot.img and pase it to rom zip
Flash rom zip with one of provided TWRP versions

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should probably work back thru 4.0 but froyo/gingerbread init won't mount any sd partitions before boot is completed.
just curious, why this partition layout?
I used p2 for /data until wiping it by accident several times swapping my sd to a phone with pre-os2sd recovery.
of course, I've modded my own os2sd partition map several times now experimenting, and the order doesn't seem to matter.
and i was wondering, could you post your twrp modifications for internal/os2sd hybrid? i had one kinda working but it was glitchy.

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I used this configuration to keep swap working if enabled, because default is p3. Also p4 for /data because it not used by anything else, so it's safe. I think you are right, order doesn't impact performance. Will send you config of twrp then be on pc.
Sent from my LG-P500 using xda premium

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HardLight said:
I used this configuration to keep swap working if enabled, because default is p3. Also p4 for /data because it not used by anything else, so it's safe. I think you are right, order doesn't impact performance. Will send you config of twrp then be on pc.
Sent from my LG-P500 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not seeing any other ROMs of this style floating around.
The only reason I didn't leave p3 for swap is that it wasn't being used yet when I started with the os2sd stuff. I tried sticking it on p2 (instead of the stubby sd-ext I had there to satisfy the odd this-or-that which demanded sd-ext,) and that worked ok, but I hadn't set sd-swap as a default in any builds.
since you're building similar stuff now, maybe I'll drift mine into your partition map in the interest of some sort of unification. and I'd like to match up the twrps, too.
especially if the sd-swap is working well on the p500.
everybody who's been dealing with my versions for any length of time now since it came out in February, is used to having to upgrade recovery and deal with incompatible backups from earlier releases anyway.
thanks for your contributions.

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Thank You
HardLight said:
OS2SD for any rom ​
As I see there is many P500 users interested to put their ROM to sd card, so I'm providing this tutorial how to make any rom bootable from sd.
Requirements:
Linux or cygwin for Windows
Boot.img tools
Modified updater-script
Modified fstab
Correctly partitioned sdcard (Guide)
TWRP-OS2SD or TWRP-MULTI
Steps:
Replace updater-script in your's ROM zip with provided. It will probably work with all kitkat based roms. If not the idea is mounting /system on sd card so change all "mount("yaffs2", "MTD", "system", "/system");" lines with "mount("ext4", "EMMC", "/dev/block/mmcblk0p2", "/system");" in original updater-script
Extract bootimg-tools.zip and paste boot.img from your rom in same foder
Open terminal or cygwin, locate folder with boot.img tools and type "./extractboot boot.img"
This will create out folder. Replace fstab.p500 and init.qcom.rc in out/ramdisk with provided (they might need rework on older roms)
In terminal type "./packboot"
Now rename boot_new.img to boot.img and pase it to rom zip
Flash rom zip with one of provided TWRP versions
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank You for posting the guide as requested. Awesome, now I will try to make some ROMs bootable in sdcard, and try them in my phone.

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bigsupersquid said:
should probably work back thru 4.0 but froyo/gingerbread init won't mount any sd partitions before boot is completed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i think that you are wrong
i have a gingerbread installed on SD (and kitkat CM11 by mukulsoni on internal)
i used Multirom manager 5.1 by arnab321 based on work by Tassadar
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1828151
HardLight: can you make this procedure work like the one in Multirom ?
it allows me to have GB and KitKat installed at the same time, both are bootebel using the same recovery and im only a boot away from moving from one to the oder

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danielboro said:
i think that you are wrong
i have a gingerbread installed on SD (and kitkat CM11 by mukulsoni on internal)
i used Multirom manager 5.1 by arnab321 based on work by Tassadar
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1828151
HardLight: can you make this procedure work like the one in Multirom ?
it allows me to have GB and KitKat installed at the same time, both are bootebel using the same recovery and im only a boot away from moving from one to the oder
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
multirom has preinit of its own, runs before GB init, and uses busybox to mount sd folders. It also mods init.rc to not mount the MTD partitions.
it would have to be recoded because, among other things, init.rc doesn't mount the filesystems anymore, it's moved to init.qcom.rc or init.device.rc (init.p500.rc or init.thunderc.rc in the current OS2SD versions.)
to use OS2SD like multirom, it would have to bind-mount folders or filesystem images from the card instead of mounting partitions directly, unless android can 'see' more than 4 card partitions now. It used to be limited to 4 back in GB.
Plus unless kexec is working every OS installed has to work with the kernel in the boot.img for tasssadar's original code (the app you're using is reflashing a new boot.img every time you change OS's, which will eventually trash your boot NAND memory,)

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bigsupersquid said:
multirom has preinit of its own, runs before GB init, and uses busybox to mount sd folders. It also mods init.rc to not mount the MTD partitions.
it would have to be recoded because, among other things, init.rc doesn't mount the filesystems anymore, it's moved to init.qcom.rc or init.device.rc (init.p500.rc or init.thunderc.rc in the current OS2SD versions.)
to use OS2SD like multirom, it would have to bind-mount folders or filesystem images from the card instead of mounting partitions directly, unless android can 'see' more than 4 card partitions now. It used to be limited to 4 back in GB.
Plus unless kexec is working every OS installed has to work with the kernel in the boot.img for tasssadar's original code (the app you're using is reflashing a new boot.img every time you change OS's, which will eventually trash your boot NAND memory,)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ill start at the end
flashing boot is no worse then flashing a new rom but its less work and less time
i like GB for the speed and batt use but from time to time i need to run ting that wont work on GB(at list not on the 1 i chose after trying ~12 rom`s)
having kitkat installed and using multirom to change is faster
so, any chance of implementing the bind-mount option?
prite please
:fingers-crossed:

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danielboro said:
ill start at the end
flashing boot is no worse then flashing a new rom but its less work and less time
i like GB for the speed and batt use but from time to time i need to run ting that wont work on GB(at list not on the 1 i chose after trying ~12 rom`s)
having kitkat installed and using multirom to change is faster
so, any chance of implementing the bind-mount option?
prite please
:fingers-crossed:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just install your GB rom to internal memory and cm11 OS2SD to sd card, then make two flashable zips (or backups) of both roms boot.img and flash them respectively to rom you want to boot. Just keep in mind that GB won't be able to use sd-ext, because it's os2sd system partition.
Sent from my LG-P500 using xda premium

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HardLight said:
Just keep in mind that GB won't be able to use sd-ext,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this is way i was hoping for the mount-bind
at the moment GB is on P2, swap on P3 and kitkat uses P4 as /sd-ext
i have some limited knowledge, ill try to see if i can do something wen ill have the time
any pointer on how i can use mount-bind ?
all the work on developing the p500 helps extend it life
thanks
p.s.
what is the MULTI in TWRP-MULTI?

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danielboro said:
this is way i was hoping for the mount-bind
at the moment GB is on P2, swap on P3 and kitkat uses P4 as /sd-ext
i have some limited knowledge, ill try to see if i can do something wen ill have the time
any pointer on how i can use mount-bind ?
all the work on developing the p500 helps extend it life
thanks
p.s.
what is the MULTI in TWRP-MULTI?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the multi can flash os2sd & normal rom, so you have not to change between recoveries

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ThAnKs
Thanks alot for this guide.....

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have anyone tried it on an ICS rom ?

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getting this error using cygwin
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
maybe it doesnt work with cygwin , i am trying to make genetICS 9.1.6 OS2SD compatible ..

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nomancoolboy said:
getting this error using cygwin
maybe it doesnt work with cygwin , i am trying to make genetICS 9.1.6 OS2SD compatible ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For starters , you need Perl installed for that script.
Second, ics don't use fstab, you'll have to change init.rc
And maybe even recompile init with a delay inside, like on GB.
otherwise init may not mount the card partitions.
The easy way to run ICS from card is tasssadar's multirom. You can find the thread buried in this forum.

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I'm using HardLight's GenetICS 9.1.7 with the OS2SD mod. It's the most stable and smoothest with long battery life and 1.5GB in the data partition for my apps. Also successfully made it with Hephappy's ICS Plus simply modifying the updater-script inside the zip and search the mounting points in the 'init.rc' and 'init.qcom.rc', then just have to modify the lines following the first post.
Greetings from Costa Rica!
Enviado desde mi LG-P500 usando Tapatalk

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@HardLight
This is twrp-multi, renamed to boot.img. I have previously extracted recovery images this way using apktool.
[email protected]:~/bootimg-tools$ ./extractboot boot.img
Page size: 2048 (0x00000800)
Kernel size: 2803424 (0x002ac6e0)
Ramdisk size: 2294087 (0x00230147)
Second size: 0 (0x00000000)
Board name:
Command line: mem=471M console=ttyMSM2,115200n8 androidboot.hardware=p500 no_console_suspend
Writing boot.img-kernel ... complete.
Writing boot.img-ramdisk.gz ... complete.
gzip: ../../boot.img-ramdisk.gz: not in gzip format
cpio: premature end of archive
Any other tools needed to make this work? (ubuntu 14.04)

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manu3193 said:
I'm using HardLight's GenetICS 9.1.7 with the OS2SD mod. It's the most stable and smoothest with long battery life and 1.5GB in the data partition for my apps. Also successfully made it with Hephappy's ICS Plus simply modifying the updater-script inside the zip and search the mounting points in the 'init.rc' and 'init.qcom.rc', then just have to modify the lines following the first post.
Greetings from Costa Rica!
Enviado desde mi LG-P500 usando Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you share the modified files to be replaced in the rom.

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hi all - thanks for these instructions. I tried to apply these to cm-9.1.5-GenetICS-Final-P500+gapps.zip and cm-9.1.7-GenetICS-HardLight-p500.zip.
In those roms I had to update the updater-script (I had to remove the format command otherwise the install would fail - but i figured that should be ok since the ext4 partition can be formatted externally - if i remember to do it).
I also updated the init.rc in the (mount mtd partitions section), but no updates to the init.qcom.rc
Each time I try to install a ROM, the device gets stuck at the LG boot logo.
I get the same problem with those zip's installing from TWRP MULTI's "Internal" mode. So I suspect something else is wrong...
interestingly, the only zip I can install successfully is the cm11.0.0-20160101-os2sd-ext4-p500.zip. Works like a charm, just dies in a matter of hours with Wifi on.

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eldamobo said:
hi all - thanks for these instructions. I tried to apply these to cm-9.1.5-GenetICS-Final-P500+gapps.zip and cm-9.1.7-GenetICS-HardLight-p500.zip.
In those roms I had to update the updater-script (I had to remove the format command otherwise the install would fail - but i figured that should be ok since the ext4 partition can be formatted externally - if i remember to do it).
I also updated the init.rc in the (mount mtd partitions section), but no updates to the init.qcom.rc
Each time I try to install a ROM, the device gets stuck at the LG boot logo.
I get the same problem with those zip's installing from TWRP MULTI's "Internal" mode. So I suspect something else is wrong...
interestingly, the only zip I can install successfully is the cm11.0.0-20160101-os2sd-ext4-p500.zip. Works like a charm, just dies in a matter of hours with Wifi on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
roms not built for kernel swapped system/userdata (kitkat only built this way, and not older kitkat versions) will flash to the wrong partition and won't boot.
change your updater-script to switch system and userdata for older roms to flash correctly with the twrp-multi in internal mode.