In particular, I want to port Omnirom 4.4 to a device which has sources for that particular device available from it's manufacturer's website. Note: the documentation available from the github repo is very sparse and underwritten, particularly in the area of porting and building that port.
4.4 dates back to when I was still active (FYI I have not been active in the development community for 3+ years, kind if just popped in to check things out)
In general, a branch THAT old will not have any support and you likely won't find anyone bothering to code review any submissions. I'm not sure what the current state of the instructions for building for supported devices is.
No project has EVER had significant documentation on porting, because every device is different and the barriers you run into are different every time... It's something that is incredibly time consuming and you learn by doing. It requires general analysis and diagnostics/troubleshooting/problem solving skills. If there were a way to write a step-by-step porting guide - you would see far more devices supported at far higher levels of quality than what you actually see.
What device is this? I'm really surprised that you've found complete AOSP sources from the manufacturer. That's basically unheard of for anything other than Google devices and Sony's AOSP project. If you've merely found a kernel source code drop - congratulations, you've got around 1% of what you need.
Related
Is it possible to download the complete source code that Sony used when they compiled the ROM for Xperia V. I know where to find the kernel source and of course Android is very easy to get but what about everything else. I'm especially interested in knowing if they made any changes to Android or if they only cluttered the phone with add-ons.
Since Sony did abuse the phone and broke it to badly to make a reinstall possible I'm mainly just interested in getting the sources for my own education and understanding of the system. Perhaps even to try some simple reverse engineering to fix some really absurd settings like NFC not working in lock screen and such before I sell the phone and never ever talk about or to Sony again.
please use search and/or google
http://developer.sonymobile.com/downloads/xperia-open-source-archives/
good luck in your development of this
gregbradley said:
please use search and/or google
...
good luck in your development of this
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Thank you for at least answering me however, I have goggled a lot about this and the link you posted to the best of my knowledge contains only the kernel source plus a few other system programs that are used on the host side when compiling. I'm honestly quite surprised that the answer to this is not well known. I have also since yesterday tried to find out what branch of android is used but that too seem to be obscured in darkness.
AlgoJerViA said:
Thank you for at least answering me however, I have goggled a lot about this and the link you posted to the best of my knowledge contains only the kernel source plus a few other system programs that are used on the host side when compiling. I'm honestly quite surprised that the answer to this is not well known. I have also since yesterday tried to find out what branch of android is used but that too seem to be obscured in darkness.
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from what I am aware of those are the full sources used to compile the ROM, not just the kernel.
what do you mean by "What branch of android is used"
gregbradley said:
from what I am aware of those are the full sources used to compile the ROM, not just the kernel.
what do you mean by "What branch of android is used"
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Click to collapse
Well, look at the size. It is about 250MB, about the size of the kernel. The Android source is in the gigabyte range, I also have downloaded and compiled the kernel and the file you download contains a kernel folder and a external folder with the helper programs I mentioned.
Well I can't links since I'm to new here but if you do a search for "Codenames, Tags, and Build Numbers" on Google you will see that there are several branches for each version of Android. But now when I looked closer at that list it just so happens that 4.1.2 only has one branch so you can ignore that question, i was tired yesterday and was looking for 4.1.1 that has more like six branches. Still seems hard to find out what would be the right one in that case.
OK, I see what you want.
I am not sure where to find that info, but there will be some on here that will know.
try PMing championshipswimmer or DooMLoRD
They are busy people, but they may be able to point you in the right direction.
This guide tries to explain very briefly the different types of CyanogenMod builds, particularly for the Sony Xperia devices, and what usage each type may be suitable for. The guide is oriented towards newcomers, who often find themselves wondering what are the differences between these various builds (don't worry, I used to be perplexed myself) and which one would serve them better. Anyone seeking further information is well advised to check the CyanogenMod wiki or search around the forums here.
The nightlies are regular automatic builds* of the CM source. Because changes get constantly pushed to the CM source from various developers, these builds reflect a more or less random state of the code, and because there's no human intervention in deciding whether to build or not, the nightlies can contain random bugs. Actually, the larger and most severe bugs are typically filtered out by the preliminary testing and review process before they even get committed, but it's impossible to catch everything that way. Indeed, the nightlies' primary purpose is just to make sure that the code still builds correctly. Nevertheless, they are also a rather useful tool for large-scale testing -- and that's how these not-so-huge bugs get caught as well.
The more substantial changes or the ones that could possibly break a lot of things (or few things really bad) get tested separately, with the experimental builds, before they are committed to the CM source.
The stable builds are based on a snapshot of the source code that is deemed suitable enough for everyday use. They are expected to be free of any serious bugs. By the way, a "snapshot" is just what it sounds like: a momentary picture of the code at some specific point of time, as decided by of the developer(s) who oversee the project development. In technical terms, the snapshot is a Git tag.
When a stable release is planned, the commits are gradually restricted to only the ones that fix things; the ones that "merely" introduce new functionality (which potentially means new bugs) are postponed until after the release (in developer terms, the code is "frozen"). In this process, the code gets several preliminary snapshots, namely, the release candidates (or RC), which reflect the advancements in the code stabilization and bug fixing. In other words, each new RC should have more and more of the identified issues ironed out, until all of them eventually get fixed, at which point the stable version is finally released (hence why an RC is just a "candidate").
The FXP builds are manual builds of the CM code with patches by the FreeXperia project. FreeXperia is the core group of developers who, with the help from other skilled developers from XDA and CM, maintain the Sony Xperia line of devices for CyanogenMod. This means that (an often asked question) most of these patches get promptly committed to the general CM source. The only exception might be changes that turned out to behave badly. In other words, any fixes or new features in the FXP builds very soon get included in the CM nightlies as well. Unlike the CM nightlies, however, the FXP builds are manual, so they are expected to be more stable: whether because the current code has been confirmed as stable enough, or because particularly problematic one has been patched. Thus, they might be considered the equivalent of the CM milestone (or M) releases.
IMPORTANT: Whichever type of build you choose, always keep current enough backups, preferably of different types (e.g. a nandroid/CWM/TWRP and a Titanium/etc. one) and in different physical locations (in particular, keeping your backups only on your SD card is asking for trouble). Keeping several chronological versions is a wise practice as well (you might, for instance, find your last and only backup to be corrupt). Remember that you can never have too many backups!
Which version should I use if I...
TBA
This guide started as a post in another thread, and I'd like to thank @tilal6991 for confirming what had been only assumptions then. All your recommendations, whether to fix mistakes or to enhance the guide, or even just comments, will of course be very welcome.
----
*) The current list of the automatically built targets, together with the frequency of the builds, is here.
Changelog
----------------
12 Sep 2013 - Initial version.
Note to the mods: I'm afraid I couldn't think of better forum for this short guide. It is relevant to more than just the Xperia T, yet perhaps not that helpful beyond the Sony devices, as the major source of confusion seems to be the FXP builds (and these, of course, are Sony specific). If you do have a better idea, please don't hesitate to move the thread -- and thanks a lot in advance.
Note about "Which version should I use if I...": I'll try to fill that one in as soon as possible, but I got some serious problems at home, so it may actually take a while. Sorry about that.
Guide moved to general...
Nice guide Btw
Sent from mALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD!!
Sony Mobile is committed to supporting the open developer community, and one way to show this is by publishing parts of our code as well as selected tools developed by our internal developers.
For some of the Xperia™ devices, we provide Android™ Open Source Project (AOSP) device configurations on GitHub. This means that the software will be open for you as a developer to use and contribute to. This is a way for us to support the open Android community, and it is also a tool for us to facilitate and verify contributions to AOSP.
If you want to build AOSP for your unlocked Xperia device, you find all the resources you need in the sections below.
https://developer.sony.com/develop/open-devices/
Unified 4.4 kernel sources
https://github.com/sonyxperiadev/kernel
Project git
https://github.com/sonyxperiadev/
Bug tracker
https://github.com/sonyxperiadev/bug_tracker/issues
Now you can build the latest Android with the latest 4.4 kernel
Vendor v11 is out
https://developer.sony.com/develop/open-devices/latest-updates
For user security dm-verity and File Based Encryption are enabled by default
Please disable them only if you are developing new features
Regards
J
Why do you deny us full functionality on AOSP?
You claim to support the development of AOSP and Androids ecosystems, but deny us full functionality of our hardware if we switch from Sony stock rooms ?, photos get crazy, lowlight even worse, the volume of sound is completely erased and all post-processing disabled got my XZ as a replacement phone when my newly purchased 9 died, and I have never seen such an openly "supported" project, which has been so denied by developers. There is no person who thinks "it'll will be really fun to develop on this phone, they will take away 90% of their PR sales points just if i unlock it, god what challenge this will be" ... Never happened .. Stop locking features behind DRM and / or make it irrelevant to AOSP ... Snälla... Låt oss välja själva, voiding warranty for UB'ing is enough. Don't remove points that made the phone sell if you really want us to be intrigued to develop, it's too late for XZ now, but for your future flagship, this is IMO a must
And gpu performance on AOSP is a letdown, even with latest v11 vendor files
All build guides are updated with the Security updates
https://developer.sony.com/develop/open-devices/guides/aosp-build-instructions/
Here is the list of all known bugs. If you find bugs you can always open a ticket in the bug tracker and we will check it ASAP.
https://github.com/sonyxperiadev/bug_tracker/issues
I need to get a new phone, but I don't have a lot of money, so I'm looking for something cheep (under $150) but that should support last a while (so should have a decent developer community around it).
So I'm thinking of either getting a athene or something from xiaomi, or waiting a bit until most phones come out with android > 8 and then get something cheep with Treble.
Now it's true that there are no guarantees when it comes to ROMs. A maintainer could get bored and move on, leaving an immensely popular device dry while a small niche device can have a dedicated maintainer for years. But my question is that since I'm not really a ROM dev (I know Java, C, and general Linux but don't know the inner bowels of Android) I don't know how difficult will it be to port future Android versions to current phones.
For example, according to the rumor mill, other ROMs are finding it extremely hard to port Oreo to klte or to s4 due to camera HAL issues. So based on the above, what would be the most reasonable way to proceed?
iamfoolish said:
I need to get a new phone, but I don't have a lot of money, so I'm looking for something cheep (under $150) but that should support last a while (so should have a decent developer community around it).
So I'm thinking of either getting a athene or something from xiaomi, or waiting a bit until most phones come out with android > 8 and then get something cheep with Treble.
Now it's true that there are no guarantees when it comes to ROMs. A maintainer could get bored and move on, leaving an immensely popular device dry while a small niche device can have a dedicated maintainer for years. But my question is that since I'm not really a ROM dev (I know Java, C, and general Linux but don't know the inner bowels of Android) I don't know how difficult will it be to port future Android versions to current phones.
For example, according to the rumor mill, other ROMs are finding it extremely hard to port Oreo to klte or to s4 due to camera HAL issues. So based on the above, what would be the most reasonable way to proceed?
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Athene ftw
Hey I just got this phone a couple of weeks back and while its been awhile I used to be a recognized developer on XDA years ago and was wondering if there are any active developers (still) for this device as I notice the list of active development is basically 0. I am planning on building for the device but would like to know who if anyone is developing currently and what the goals are as it seems without anything outside of stock deodexed and (really the biggest one being the kernel with twrp) we have nothing for this phone even now. This makes it seem like either the proprietary information is extremely difficult (although I see the tree is working for the most part) or we just lack developers. Which is it? Thank you and I apologize if this is in the wrong place. I'd like to see what is the current state of things and see if any developers want to work together on this and at least get a clean aosp build or lineage os build. Stepping stones. Certainly with the Note being as similar as it is this shouldn't be lacking to the state it is today.
Hello jcole20
That would be awesome if some devs started doing something with the RP2! If I had the knowledge, I would!! I've had the RP2 since June of this year. I had some issues with it at first but they have been worked out. I really like the phone and it would be cool to see some devs show the RP2 some love lol. Hopefully you can get something started! Take care!
Dennis
jcole20 said:
Hey I just got this phone a couple of weeks back and while its been awhile I used to be a recognized developer on XDA years ago and was wondering if there are any active developers (still) for this device as I notice the list of active development is basically 0. I am planning on building for the device but would like to know who if anyone is developing currently and what the goals are as it seems without anything outside of stock deodexed and (really the biggest one being the kernel with twrp) we have nothing for this phone even now. This makes it seem like either the proprietary information is extremely difficult (although I see the tree is working for the most part) or we just lack developers. Which is it? Thank you and I apologize if this is in the wrong place. I'd like to see what is the current state of things and see if any developers want to work together on this and at least get a clean aosp build or lineage os build. Stepping stones. Certainly with the Note being as similar as it is this shouldn't be lacking to the state it is today.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am sure people would love to see some device specific development. I have read that since the release of project treble most people just flash the system image from other roms. I specifically would love to see a stockish rom so I don't loose chroma but still get updated security patches.
I ordered this phone from amazon to try out. I am checking out the community and stuff in the 10 day trial period they give you. I really like the phone... i just hate the software side of things. I feel like its super premium hardware with outdated software... that probably isnt even going to get security patches. Anyway... off to see whats available.
Krazy_Calvin said:
I ordered this phone from amazon to try out. I am checking out the community and stuff in the 10 day trial period they give you. I really like the phone... i just hate the software side of things. I feel like its super premium hardware with outdated software... that probably isnt even going to get security patches. Anyway... off to see whats available.
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Click to collapse
Most functionalities work on Pie GSIs out-of-box (you need to manually install ims.apk in order to receive SMS while on LTE, see relevant threads here, or look for it on some GSI threads such as Havoc 2.9). exFAT also works on supported GSI (with arter97's kernel), while it's not supported on stock. The only problems I have so far are bluetooth-related, and also the inability to set SELinux to permissive (not sure which might be the real cause as arter97 stated the SELinux could be permissive).
Bluetooth media audio doesn't work at all on GSI, partly due to the crippling overlays (which prevents aptX from working, and probably some other limitations). Phone calls work with a bluetooth headset, but for some reasons I couldn't properly route phone calls to my Huawei Watch 2 (which means I always have to take the call from my phone directly).
Given the mostly positive result with numerous GSIs (and that some users are happy with stock ROM, or stock-based ROM modifications), active ROM developments for the device itself doesn't seem to be at a high priority (as some might be able to contribute patches for this device to their favorite GSI instead)...
I'm currently working on my own build of LOS. I haven't seen to much active development either I'm new to rom building but looks like we could use all the help we can get!
I think the only active dev we have for this phone is Arter97's kernel and people tinkering with GSIs to get them working as they should. I wish there was more being done with the stock ROM because I like a lot of it's features, but am having a hard time dealing with it's overall instability. I'd be happy to help develop or test in whatever way I can, though.
jcole20 said:
Hey I just got this phone a couple of weeks back and while its been awhile I used to be a recognized developer on XDA years ago and was wondering if there are any active developers (still) for this device as I notice the list of active development is basically 0. I am planning on building for the device but would like to know who if anyone is developing currently and what the goals are as it seems without anything outside of stock deodexed and (really the biggest one being the kernel with twrp) we have nothing for this phone even now. This makes it seem like either the proprietary information is extremely difficult (although I see the tree is working for the most part) or we just lack developers. Which is it? Thank you and I apologize if this is in the wrong place. I'd like to see what is the current state of things and see if any developers want to work together on this and at least get a clean aosp build or lineage os build. Stepping stones. Certainly with the Note being as similar as it is this shouldn't be lacking to the state it is today.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, it’s definitely just total lack of interest from other devs. We even have a guy with a prototype Razer Phone 2 with an intact DRM partition and unlocked bootloader (Allowing Netflix HD and Vudu HDX) but we couldn’t even pay anyone to try to port it.
I think if we had a fully working AOSP tree that it would possibly bring other devs into the scene. Who knows though, it has never been a popular device despite how great it is.
LSS4181 said:
Most functionalities work on Pie GSIs out-of-box.
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Noob question:
Do we have to wait for a stock Android 10 for the device to be able to flash Android 10 GSIs?
EMJI79 said:
Noob question:
Do we have to wait for a stock Android 10 for the device to be able to flash Android 10 GSIs?
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Click to collapse
A stock Android 10 (which means a stock vendor image for Android 10) is not necessarily required to have a usable Android 10 ROM (though it may speed up the development to some extent, if it does have one), but for GSI, having a stock Android 10 vendor image can be better (currently it's a hit-or-miss on existing Android 10 GSIs).
Another device that I have, Google Pixel C, never had stock Android 9 (so never had stock vendor images for Android 9, only for up to Android 8.1), but custom Android 9 ROMs are already available (thanks to followmsi's efforts) and are working well. For Android 9 ROMs, the build system builds new vendor images along with system image.
It's just whether we're going to see our device's trees being made possible, so we can start from there to develop our own custom ROMs. The existing materials might be a good starting point in making trees.
- Working with proprietary blobs (from Lineage)
- arter97's kernel (can be useful for making a kernel tree, though one can also consider using stock kernel source as a base)
- Razer factory images and kernel sources (for studying stock ROM/kernel details, and extracting necessary system and vendor blobs)
If you can port LineageOS to this device, great!
I don't understand why people aren't flocking to this device. I came from the LG G6 that probably will be stuck on Oreo forever that is way more popular. The RP2 is cheap, has killer specs + a micro SD card slot + a newer version of Android. Should be a developers dream, you would think. *shrug*
Not sure if anyone's active on this device at present. With RP2's 9.0 MR2 available on the official factory images page the latest proprietary blobs (as well as stock kernel source) are now publicly accessible.
Actually arter97 once mentioned that his RP2 kernel is almost inline with his OP6 kernel (which is also sdm845 and shares some similarities), so it's possible that OP6 (enchilada) trees may be a good starting point, but I'm not sure if any configurations are needed to keep 120Hz working as high refresh rate is relatively uncommon.
My time is very limited so I won't be able to dedicate too much time to experiment on this. At present most functionalities work fine with GSI (including Bluetooth, although tricky and aptX still not working).
IDK how relevant this is anymore but as a new razor phone 2 user to be soon I have been keeping up and it seems that @f(x)THaxxorX could be a possible candidate of what you're looking for I've been keeping up with development on the phone seems like he is doing pretty well even if we get patched gsi which properly work is better than nothing.