[Q&A] [GUIDE] How to build CWM-based Recovery from source in Ubuntu 12.04 with CM-11 - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

[Q&A] [GUIDE] How to build CWM-based Recovery from source in Ubuntu 12.04 with CM-11
Q&A for [GUIDE] How to build CWM-based Recovery from source in Ubuntu 12.04 with CM-11.0
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My phone has 16mb recovery part but the recovery.img I made is 25 mb so I can't flash it In BoardConfig.mk, I can wrote at least 24.936.448 at the line of BOARD_RECOVERYIMAGE_SIZE to compile the recovery image. How can I solve this problem? Can I reduce the size of the .img file to 16 mb?

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denizyildizi345 said:
My phone has 16mb recovery part but the recovery.img I made is 25 mb so I can't flash it In BoardConfig.mk, I can wrote at least 24.936.448 at the line of BOARD_RECOVERYIMAGE_SIZE to compile the recovery image. How can I solve this problem? Can I reduce the size of the .img file to 16 mb?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't understand how you ended up with such a big recovery... The biggest ramdisk I saw (in TWRP) is not more than 4-5 Mb. Do you have a kernel over 20Mb? It can't be, otherwise the stock recovery will be oversized too. Somewhere you made a mistake probably.
And to answer your question, no you can't reduce the size of recovery that big; if you have a kernel compressed in xz, you may try to compress the ramdisk in xz too, and the size will be smaller, but not enough... you need to downsize it with 9Mb, which is not possible.
So check again, to see if there isn't a mistake somewhere.

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carliv said:
I don't understand how you ended up with such a big recovery... The biggest ramdisk I saw (in TWRP) is not more than 4-5 Mb. Do you have a kernel over 20Mb? It can't be, otherwise the stock recovery will be oversized too. Somewhere you made a mistake probably.
And to answer your question, no you can't reduce the size of recovery that big; if you have a kernel compressed in xz, you may try to compress the ramdisk in xz too, and the size will be smaller, but not enough... you need to downsize it with 9Mb, which is not possible.
So check again, to see if there isn't a mistake somewhere.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I took a screenshot of my CM11-0/out/target/product/msm8226/root folder which is 25 mb. There is a boot.img file. I think the problem is that file. I unpacked a few recovery.img files but none of them included that file. If problem is this, how can I remove that file from my ramdisk?
I removed that file and flashed new recovery.img but now my phone isn't booting in recovery mode.

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denizyildizi345 said:
I took a screenshot of my CM11-0/out/target/product/msm8226/root folder which is 25 mb. There is a boot.img file. I think the problem is that file. I unpacked a few recovery.img files but none of them included that file. If problem is this, how can I remove that file from my ramdisk?
I removed that file and flashed new recovery.img but now my phone isn't booting in recovery mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, for checking recovery root you need to look here: CM11-0/out/target/product/msm8226/recovery/root . But anyway that folder looks strange (I see a perl script there)....
Check my screenshot below.
And type a
Code:
make clobber
before stating a new build, or
Code:
make clean
between repetitive builds.

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im getting this error each time i try to compile:
make: *** No rule to make target `/etc/init.rc'
please any suggestions

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george676 said:
im getting this error each time i try to compile:
make: *** No rule to make target `/etc/init.rc'
please any suggestions
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to be more specific: what recovery you try to build, in what environment (if it's not cm-11), and post a link to your device folder tree. That error means that the compiler can't find an init.rc file to add in ramdisk.

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Compiler stops after a few segments
This is shown in my terminal:
Code:
cp: cannot stat ‘/home/paul/cm-10.2/out/target/product/Ultra/root/init.recovery.*.rc’: No such file or directory
make: [/home/paul/cm-10.2/out/target/product/Ultra/recovery/root.ts] Error 1 (ignored)
mkdir -p /home/paul/cm-10.2/out/target/product/Ultra/recovery/root/system/bin
cp -rf device/CherryMobile/Ultra/recovery/root /home/paul/cm-10.2/out/target/product/Ultra/recovery/
cp: omitting directory ‘device/CherryMobile/Ultra’
make: *** [/home/paul/cm-10.2/out/target/product/Ultra/recovery/root.ts] Error 1
[email protected] ~/cm-10.2 $ make clobber
And you wrote about the problem:
During the build process you may encounter some errors or warnings.
*********************
Code:
Code:
cp: cannot stat `/home/carliv/CM11-0/out/target/product/P780/root/init.recovery.*.rc': No such file or directory
make: [/home/carliv/CM11-0/out/target/product/P780/recovery/root.ts] Error 1 (ignored)
This will not stop the build, and it appears if you don't use a init.recovery.{hardware}.rc file. Can be ignored, as the build process does.
Though in my terminal it just stopped at that part so I had to rename mine which was originally init.recovery.qcom.rc to init.recovery.*.rc
--edit--
And yet it still would not continue ... Any ideas on how to fix this?
--edit # 2--
Here's the pastebin link just in case ->biQ7kjV8 add that to pastebin...(I can't post links)
--edit # 3--
I fixed it... Turns out that it was just a BoardConfig.mk parameter that I forgot to complete

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Calculate proper BoardConfig.mk partition sizes
I have this log:
Code:
----- Making recovery image ------
/home/paul/cm-10.2/out/target/product/Ultra/recovery.img maxsize=8380416 blocksize=135168 total=8409088 reserve=270336
error: /home/paul/cm-10.2/out/target/product/Ultra/recovery.img too large (8409088 > [8650752 - 270336])
make: *** [/home/paul/cm-10.2/out/target/product/Ultra/recovery.img] Error 1
make: *** Deleting file `/home/paul/cm-10.2/out/target/product/Ultra/recovery.img'
Meaning I have wrong sizes for the partitions so I need help on it...
When I ran the following:
cat /proc/mtd
cat /proc/emmc
they both return: No such file or directory...
Now If I run the command: cat /proc/partitions
it comes up with this:
As far as I know.... mmcblk1p1 is my external sd card which is about 32 GB...
My system image is about 1 GB and more(confirmed) when I used the dd command(to dump it) and is located at mmcblk0p16
Userdata reaches more than 4 GB as reported by the dd command(file size too large) and is located at mmbblk0p25
here(recovery.fstab):
/boot mtd /dev/block/mmcblk0p10
/cache yaffs2 /dev/block/mmcblk0p18
/data yaffs2 /dev/block/mmcblk0p25
/misc mtd /dev/block/mmcblk0p20
/recovery mtd /dev/block/mmcblk0p19
/system yaffs2 /dev/block/mmcblk0p16
-- edit --
I solved this already

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Help required for compiling CWM for android 4.4.2 version only?
I am on Ubuntu 14.0.4 and I am trying to build a CWM recovery for Celkon Q 5009android 4.4.2, Broadcom processor). I have set up build environment and currently working on syncing repo. I have heard that it takes too much time and disk space to complete this process. I am interested to know in the following particular scenario : want to build only CWM recovery from source for an android running on version 4.4.2. So do I have to download all repositories or is there any shortcut that would enable me to not download all, but a certain part that is required for android 4.4.2? If yes, how to go about it? please help.

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Please help. I do not undertstand why 'repo sync' always fails at a particular stage, though I have 30+ GB of disk space available in my working folder named 'cm12'. Following is the last screen message :
Fetching project platform/external/ant-glob
Fetching projects: 8% (40/495) Receiving objects: 86% (2389/2771), 26.68 MiBerror: RPC failed; result=56, HTTP code = 200iB | 124.00 KiB/s
fatal: The remote end hung up unexpectedly
fatal: early EOF
fatal: index-pack failed
remote: Sending approximately 1.94 GiB ...
remote: Counting objects: 85, done
remote: Finding sources: 100% (85/85)
error: RPC failed; result=56, HTTP code = 200iB | 88.00 KiB/s
fatal: The remote end hung up unexpectedly
Now should I run 'repo sync' again or should I use 'repo sync -j1' ?
fatal: early EOF
fatal: index-pack failed
error: Cannot fetch device/lge/mako-kernel
error: Exited sync due to fetch errors

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Hey,
In which size are the values in BoardConfig.mk at BOARD_BOOTIMAGE_PARTITION_ZISE? bit?
And how I can convert blocks to this size because my lge only print out the partition sizes in blocks.
LG Noel

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Black Manta said:
Hey,
In which size are the values in BoardConfig.mk at BOARD_BOOTIMAGE_PARTITION_ZISE? bit?
And how I can convert blocks to this size because my lge only print out the partition sizes in blocks.
LG Noel
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=60297989&postcount=51
Somewhere around that post you will find your answer.

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Hi. Your guide is the most useful I found on the net. Much more than the official cyanogenmod wiki's porting one. Thanks a lot.
I'm trying to use it to build a cm 12.1 (lollipop) cwm on a mediatek device.
1) My stock rom (also Android 5.1) already ships a fstab.mt6795 file into the ramdisk. I moved it inside /recovery/root, and copied its content in /recovery/recovery.fstab
This is its content, should I make any change inside it?
Code:
# Android fstab file.
#<src> <mnt_point> <type> <mnt_flags and options> <fs_mgr_flags>
# The filesystem that contains the filesystem checker binary (typically /system) cannot
# specify MF_CHECK, and must come before any filesystems that do specify MF_CHECK
/dev/block/platform/mtk-msdc.0/by-name/system /system ext4 ro wait
/dev/block/platform/mtk-msdc.0/by-name/userdata /data ext4 noatime,nosuid,nodev,noauto_da_alloc,discard wait,check,resize,encryptable=footer
/dev/block/platform/mtk-msdc.0/by-name/cache /cache ext4 noatime,nosuid,nodev,noauto_da_alloc,discard wait,check
/dev/block/platform/mtk-msdc.0/by-name/protect1 /protect_f ext4 noatime,nosuid,nodev,noauto_da_alloc,commit=1,nodelalloc wait,check,autoformat
/dev/block/platform/mtk-msdc.0/by-name/protect2 /protect_s ext4 noatime,nosuid,nodev,noauto_da_alloc,commit=1,nodelalloc wait,check,autoformat
#please add cip or persist on project fstab
#/dev/block/platform/mtk-msdc.0/by-name/persist /persist ext4 noatime,nosuid,nodev,noauto_da_alloc,commit=1,nodelalloc wait,check,autoformat
#/dev/block/platform/mtk-msdc.0/by-name/custom /custom ext4 ro wait
/devices/mtk-msdc.0/11230000.MSDC0 auto vfat defaults voldmanaged=sdcard0:[email protected],noemulatedsd
/devices/mtk-msdc.0/11240000.MSDC1 auto vfat defaults voldmanaged=sdcard1:auto
/devices/bus.2/11270000.USB3_XHCI auto vfat defaults voldmanaged=usbotg:auto
/dev/block/platform/mtk-msdc.0/by-name/frp /persistent emmc defaults
2) How can I find out which of the .rc files available in stock ramdisk include in my recovery, besides the renamed init.rc copied from /bootable/recovery/etc ?
3) My stock rom obviously already ships a init.mt6795.rc. Should I merge any of its lines to the one I copied from /bootable/recovery/etc in my /recovery folder?
Thanks in advance for your time and your efforts.

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4javier said:
Hi. Your guide is the most useful I found on the net. Much more than the official cyanogenmod wiki's porting one. Thanks a lot.
I'm trying to use it to build a cm 12.1 (lollipop) cwm on a mediatek device.
1) My stock rom (also Android 5.1) already ships a fstab.mt6795 file into the ramdisk. I moved it inside /recovery/root, and copied its content in /recovery/recovery.fstab
This is its content, should I make any change inside it?
Code:
# Android fstab file.
#<src> <mnt_point> <type> <mnt_flags and options> <fs_mgr_flags>
# The filesystem that contains the filesystem checker binary (typically /system) cannot
# specify MF_CHECK, and must come before any filesystems that do specify MF_CHECK
/dev/block/platform/mtk-msdc.0/by-name/system /system ext4 ro wait
/dev/block/platform/mtk-msdc.0/by-name/userdata /data ext4 noatime,nosuid,nodev,noauto_da_alloc,discard wait,check,resize,encryptable=footer
/dev/block/platform/mtk-msdc.0/by-name/cache /cache ext4 noatime,nosuid,nodev,noauto_da_alloc,discard wait,check
/dev/block/platform/mtk-msdc.0/by-name/protect1 /protect_f ext4 noatime,nosuid,nodev,noauto_da_alloc,commit=1,nodelalloc wait,check,autoformat
/dev/block/platform/mtk-msdc.0/by-name/protect2 /protect_s ext4 noatime,nosuid,nodev,noauto_da_alloc,commit=1,nodelalloc wait,check,autoformat
#please add cip or persist on project fstab
#/dev/block/platform/mtk-msdc.0/by-name/persist /persist ext4 noatime,nosuid,nodev,noauto_da_alloc,commit=1,nodelalloc wait,check,autoformat
#/dev/block/platform/mtk-msdc.0/by-name/custom /custom ext4 ro wait
/devices/mtk-msdc.0/11230000.MSDC0 auto vfat defaults voldmanaged=sdcard0:[email protected],noemulatedsd
/devices/mtk-msdc.0/11240000.MSDC1 auto vfat defaults voldmanaged=sdcard1:auto
/devices/bus.2/11270000.USB3_XHCI auto vfat defaults voldmanaged=usbotg:auto
/dev/block/platform/mtk-msdc.0/by-name/frp /persistent emmc defaults
2) How can I find out which of the .rc files available in stock ramdisk include in my recovery, besides the renamed init.rc copied from /bootable/recovery/etc ?
3) My stock rom obviously already ships a init.mt6795.rc. Should I merge any of its lines to the one I copied from /bootable/recovery/etc in my /recovery folder?
Thanks in advance for your time and your efforts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First let me ask you where did you find a cwm for lollipop to build it? I'm interested to see that.
Second in recovery fstab you may want to add emmc partitions like boot, recovery... Check my github and look at elephone p6000 device folder (it's close enough to understand). If internal sdcard is on data/media you don't have to add it at all in fstab (at least that was the rule for kitkat... again I need to see the source for that lollipop cwm to tell you exactly). In elephone device recovery fstab you can see that usb and external sdcard are defined as auto for type not vfat because it is better to let minivold manage that.
Normaly for cm12.1 ther is no need to copy any rc file in root, only the fstab. {hardware}, which you said you did.
Again I can tell more if I will see the source code for the recovery, and last thing my guide is quite old now but I'm glad you found it useful.

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Thanks for your quick reply.
I think I've not been so clear explaining what I'm doing: when I talk about "Lollipo CWM" I just mean that I'm working on 12.1 branch of cyanogenmod source tree, that as you know is based on the same sources of Lollipop, instead of the one the guide was originally aimed to.
1) I feel really dumb at this moment. I don't know exactly how many time I read that fstab file, and I never noticed that it lacks entries for partitions not managed by stock recovery. Sorry if I wasted your time with a stupid question.
2)For sdcards, then it's better to leave untouched the voldmanaged options, but change the filesystem type to auto?
3) I don't need to copy any other .rc file (init.mt6795.usb.rc, init.xlog.rc, etc...), nor to merge anything from init.mt6795.rc of the stock rom. Right?
Thanks again.

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4javier said:
Thanks for your quick reply.
I think I've not been so clear explaining what I'm doing: when I talk about "Lollipo CWM" I just mean that I'm working on 12.1 branch of cyanogenmod source tree, that as you know is based on the same sources of Lollipop, instead of the one the guide was originally aimed to.
1) I feel really dumb at this moment. I don't know exactly how many time I read that fstab file, and I never noticed that it lacks entries for partitions not managed by stock recovery. Sorry if I wasted your time with a stupid question.
2)For sdcards, then it's better to leave untouched the voldmanaged options, but change the filesystem type to auto?
3) I don't need to copy any other .rc file (init.mt6795.usb.rc, init.xlog.rc, etc...), nor to merge anything from init.mt6795.rc of the stock rom. Right?
Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did understand it's cm12.1, but that was my question since there is no cwm for cm12.1 only cyanogenmod recovery which is different. At the moment I only recommend twrp for cm12.1+ and for that you have to use a different fstab, easy to find on github or here on xda in twrp threads.

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Then, if I'm not too much confused:
- since CM12, Clockworkmod isn't anymore included in its source tree
- if I don't set any RECOVERY_VARIANT it defaults to CyanogenMod Recovery, not CWM anymore
- the recovery.img I built is, at its best, a Cyanogenmod recovery
- the recovery.fstab I used (the one i posted before, but now with /boot, /recovery and /nvram entries added) is in version 2 format, that twrp doesn't understand. So I have to find out how to convert in the old fstab format.
Am I right?
Another question: I used the last version of your CarlivKitchen. That doesn't offer anymore the choice to re/pack for standard android or for mtk images, because it automatically detect the format. But when it repacks, it adds the mtk header if the original image had it? Or am I forced to use a custom boot image maker?

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4javier said:
Then, if I'm not too much confused:
- since CM12, Clockworkmod isn't anymore included in its source tree
- if I don't set any RECOVERY_VARIANT it defaults to CyanogenMod Recovery, not CWM anymore
- the recovery.img I built is, at its best, a Cyanogenmod recovery
- the recovery.fstab I used (the one i posted before, but now with /boot, /recovery and /nvram entries added) is in version 2 format, that twrp doesn't understand. So I have to find out how to convert in the old fstab format.
Am I right?
Another question: I used the last version of your CarlivKitchen. That doesn't offer anymore the choice to re/pack for standard android or for mtk images, because it automatically detect the format. But when it repacks, it adds the mtk header if the original image had it? Or am I forced to use a custom boot image maker?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes for all and for twrp fstab I think you can study device folders from twrp github (few are mediatek).
My kitchen now detects if image has mtk header and will repack it the same way (it stores a variable in unpacked folder which will tell that it must add a mtk header).

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I decided to follow this guide to integrate the changes needed to build twrp instead of cwm: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1943625
It doesn't cover all the preparation steps like yours do. Do you think there are changes to be made to make your guide suitable for cm12 and twrp, or I can follow it until the " Build a CWM-based Recovery " paragraph?