[GUIDE] Deodex your stock ROM {THEMING YOUR ROM}

IT is the first step towards Theming your stock rom...

DEODEX => A way of accessing the system files to allow use of custom themes, icons,   buttons, menus,phone dialpads, and more..

i.e.

                      In Android file system, applications come in packages with the extension .apk. These application packages, or APKs contain certain .odex files whose supposed function is to save space. These ‘odex’ files are actually collections of parts of an application that are optimized before booting. Doing so speeds up the boot process, as it preloads part of an application. On the other hand, it also makes hacking those applications difficult because a part of the coding has already been extracted to another location before execution.

             Deodexing is basically repackaging of these APKs in a certain way, such that they are reassembled into classes.dex files. By doing that, all pieces of an application package are put together back in one place, thus eliminating the worry of a modified APK conflicting with some separate odexed parts.

So, Deodexed ROMs (or APKs) have all their application packages put back together in one place, allowing for easy modification such as theming. Since no pieces of code are coming from any external location, custom ROMs or APKs are always deodexed to ensure integrity.

WHAT U WILL NEED :-

• ROOTED android device
• BUSYBOX INSTALLER (from market)     /*skip if already have*/
• XULTIMATE
• Android SDK toolkit

STEPS TO DEODEX YOUR ROM :-

1. Unzip xUltimate v2.2. Launch “Main.exe”.
2. Now xUltimate should recognize the phone and make a connection. You will now see a list of options.
3. Run option 1. After option 1 is done, run option 2.6. This may take a while, so be patient.
4. Now run option 3
5. After you have run option 3, you MUST navigate to the xUltimate folder and find “origi_frame” folder, and delete “guava.odex“. This file interferes with deodexing process.
6. Note: If there is no guava.odex, then simply continue to next step !
7. Now run option 4, and wait.
8. Exit xUltimate, and put the phone in USB mass storage then copy “done_frame”, and “done_app” to the root of the sdcard then put the phone in PC mode.
9. Open a command prompt, and do the following:

NOTE:- Goto folder where android sdk installed. Then goto platform-tools folder in it. Right click on free space in folder while pressing shift key.Select open command prompt here.
Now enter commands.

if you are using adb shell in su for the first time, keep phone screen on. After entering "su" code, super user request prompt in phone. Press allow

  

adb shell
su
stop
mount -o rw,remount -t ext3 /dev/block/mmcblk1p21 /system
busybox cp /sdcard/done_app/* /system/app/
busybox cp /sdcard/done_frame/* /system/framework/
rm /system/app/*.odex
rm /system/framework/*.odex
mount -o ro,remount -t ext3 /dev/block/mmcblk1p21 /system
reboot

After the boot, reboot again in CWM and Wipe Dalvik Cache, reboot and ENJOY !!!

Notice : First boot will take a little bit longer than normal

NOW YOUR ROM IS READY FOR THEMES OF UR CHOICES.... !!!!!

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Common terms used for android development..

There are particular terms which is needed to be known in order to DO IT YOURSELF any developing in android...

So Here are some commonly used terms :-

ROOTING - Android rooting is the process of allowing users of smartphones, tablets, and other       devices running the Android mobile operating system to attain privileged control (known as "root access") within Android's subsystem....

that is : Rooting is often performed with the goal of overcoming limitations that carriers and hardware manufacturers put on some devices, resulting in the ability to alter or replace system applications and settings, run specialized apps that require administrator-level permissions, or perform other operations that are otherwise inaccessible to a normal Android user.

CUSTOM ROMS    - A custom ROM is a fully standalone version of the OS, including the kernel (which makes everything run), apps, services, etc - everything you need to operate the device, except it's customized by someone in some way.

HERE "customized" part mean? Since Android is open source, developers are free to take stock ROMs, modify them, strip them of garbage, optimize them, add things, and pretty much do whatever their imagination and skills allow.

PARTITION OF SD_ CARD - All medium-low android phones have the limited internal storage. If you will install many apllications on your android phones, your internal storage maybe will decrease and affected the phone performace. So, you need to install your applications on your external storage/SD Card. That's why there is a partition of the SD Card. This method allows you to sacrifice a part of the memory of the SD card to install applications on the partition created, and save internal memory

BRICK - "This is the most dangerous term used for android devices"

                           In one common sense of the term, "bricking" suggests that the damage, often a misconfiguration of essential on-board software, is so serious as to have rendered the device permanently unusable.

However, another use of the term "bricked" is understood to describe a situation where a device is unable to function even when the device does have potential to be recovered later to a working state. In this sense, the damage may be reversible; it is only during the period that it's unable to function that the device is deemed "bricked". This is often referred to as a "soft brick" whereas an unrecoverable device is a "hard brick".

Although the risk of bricking your device is less until you take full precautions during your development!!

IF u have any question related to any other term used in development of android os...

U can post comments about ur queries!!!

I will be starting the development of android devices from next post...
keep in touch... subscribe!!!

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