7/16/2015

Android:HowtoUnpack/PackFactoryImages

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Android:HowtoUnpack/PackFactory

Images
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Thisentrywaspostedin Android

Tech andtagged andriod onSeptember24,2014byRex

TableofContents
boot.imgandrecovery.img
Unpack
Pack
system.img,userdata.img,cache.img,etc.
Unpack
Pack
AtypicalAndroidfactorypackagecontainsseveralimagefiles,suchassystem.img,cache.img,
userdata.img,boot.img,recovery.img,etc.Althoughallthesefilescontainstheimgintheirnames,they
arenotallofthesameformat.
Accordingtomyexperience,therearetwofileformatforthesefiles.

boot.imgandrecovery.img
Unpack
ThesefilesarepackedtoaAndroidbootimageformat,ifyouusefilecommandtoseetheirtype,the
commandwilltellyouthatitisadatafile.

fileboot.img
#boot.img:data

ifyouuseinspectintothefilescontent,youwillseeANDROIDintheverybeginning.

headn1recovery.img
#ANDROID!H=aY(6GGBXH=KERNEL
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Howtounpackthesefiles?IfyouareusingUbuntu(orotherLinuxdistributions,Ibelieve),thereisahandy
tool:abootimg,itcancreateorextractsuchkindofimagesforyou.Simplytypethefollowingcommandto
install:

sudoaptgetinstallabootimg

Nowyouhaveabootimginstalledinyoursystem,youcaneasilyextractboot.img:

mkdirboot
cdboot
abootimgx../boot.img
#afterthesuccessfulexecutionofthelastcommand,wewillhaveinitrd.img,zImage,
etc.
#insidethebootfolder.

Sometimesweneedtochangetheinitramfs(packedininitrd.img),thenweneedtounpacktheinitrd.img.
Firstofall,weneedtomakesuretheinitrd.img(somevendormightaddawrapperheadertotheoriginal
image):
fileinitrd.img
BeautyofLife,BeautyofCS

#theoutputshouldbesimilartothefollowingline:
#initrd.img:gzipcompresseddata,fromUnix

Nowweknowtheinitrd.imgisagzipfile,wecanunpackitusegunzip(gzipd)combinedwithcpio:

mkdirramdisk
cdramdisk
#"gunzipc../initrd.img"meansunpacktostandardoutput
gunzipc../initrd.img|cpioi

Thatall,youcandigintotheramdiskfoldernow^_^.
Oh,forgottotellyou,theabootimgunpackinitrdalongwithabootimgpackagedothesamethingforyou
andcansaveyoufromtypingalotofcommand^)^.

abootimgunpackinitrdinitrd.img
#thiscommandwillcreatearamdiskfolderautomaticallyand
#unpacktheimagetotheramdiskfolder

Pack
initrd.img
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Toreversetheunpackaction,abootimgpackageprovidesanothercommandnamedabootimgpack
initrd,hereisitsusage:
abootimgpackinitrd[f][initrdimg_path][ramdisk_folder_path]
#f:forcewrite.ifyouwouldliketousethisflag,makesuretoplaceitasth
efirstargument
#initrdig_path:thepathofthetargetinitrd.imgfile
#ramdisk_folder_path:theramdiskfolderpath

boot.img/recovery.img
Togenerateaboot.imgorrecovery.img,again,weneedtheabootimgtool.
#tocreateanimage:
abootimgcreate<bootimg>[c"param=value"][f<bootimg.cfg>]k<kernel>r
<ramdisk>[s<secondstage>]
#toupdateanexistingimage:

abootimgu<bootimg>[c"param=value"][f<bootimg.cfg>][k<kernel>][r<ram
disk>][s<secondstage>]
#Note:theoption"r<ramdisk>",whereramdiskisinitrd.img,nottheramdiskfo
lder.

system.img,userdata.img,cache.img,etc.
Unpack
Distinguishfrombootimage,imagessuchassystem.imgiscalleduserimageinAndroid.Earlyversionof
Android(previoustoAndroid2.3Gingerbread)useyaffs2asitsfilesystem,anduseext4asitfilesystem
fromGingerbread(readthisposttogetsomedetailabouttheswitch:Ext4filesystemhitsAndroid,noneed
tofeardataloss).
Todecidewhatformatisyourimage,wecanmakeuseofthefilecommand:

filesystem.img
#iftheiamgeisayaffs2image,theoutputmightlooklike:
#system.img:VMSAlphaExectutable
#iftheimageisaext4image,theoutputmightbe:
#system.img:data

Ifyourimageisayaffs2image,youcanusetheyaffs2utilstoolstounpackorpacktheimage.Iwontdig
intothedetailofyaffs2imagebecauseIhaveverylimitedexperienceonit.
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Nowyouhaveasystem.imgthatitstypeisdata,howcanyouknowwhetheritisaext4image?Android
provideatoolnamedsimg2img(whichmeans:sparseimagetoimage)todothejob.Wecangetthesource
codeofsimg2imgintheAOSP(AndroidOpenSourceProject),insidethesystem/extras/ext4_utils/folder.
ReadthisforaninstructiontocompileitwithoutcompilingthewholeAOSP:Howtopackandunpack
system.imganduserdata.imgfromanAndroidfactoryimage.
Onceyouhavesimg2imginstalled,youcansimplytypethiscommandintheterminal:

simg2imgsystem.imgsystem.ext4.img

Ifthecommanddidntyieldanyerror,congratulation!Doublecheckwiththefilecommand:

filesystem.ext4.img
#shouldoutputsomethinglike:
#system.ext4.img:Linuxrev1.0ext4filesystemdata,UUID=57f8f4bcabf40000675f946
fc0f9f25b(extents)(largefiles)

Mounttheimageusingthis:

sudomounttext4oloopsystem.ext4.img/mnt
#makesureyouhavetheprivilege(sudoorroot)tomounttheimage

Dowhateveryouwanttothefilesunder/mnt(themountpoint),andallyourmodificationwillbesavedwhen
youumounttheimage.

Pack
Whenwedonewiththemodifications,wemaywanttorepackthesystemimage(noteIwonttouchthetopic
thathowtocreateayaffs2imagehere).Inthatcase,weneedanothertools:make_ext4fsand
mkuserimg.sh,thesourcecodeofthesetoolsalsoinsystem/extra/ext4_utils/,youcanfollowthe
instructionsinHowtopackandunpacksystem.imganduserdata.imgfromanAndroidfactoryimageto
compilethemake_ext4fs.Themkuserimg.shisawrapperprogramthatitwillcallmake_ext4fseventually.

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mkuserimg.sh
#Usage:
#mkuserimg.sh[s]SRC_DIROUTPUT_FILEEXT_VARIANTMOUNT_POINTSIZE
#Example:
sudomkuserimg.shssystem/system.imgext4/system500m
#ths"s"flagindicatesthatwewanttogenerateasparseimage,otherwiseitwillge
ngerate
#amimagethatwecanmountitdirectlywithoutusingsimg2img.
#thefirst"system/"isthesystemfolder(forexample,themountpointofthesystem.e
xt4.img)
#thesecond"/system"specifythemountpointinsideAndriodsystem.
#thelastargument(500m)specifytheimagesize.whenmountedinthetargetAndroidsy
stem,the
#actualpartitionsizewouldbe10m(approximately)lessthanthissize.theimagesize
must
#conformtothepartitionsizedefinedinMBRorEBR,orsomeimagedatamightbeover
ridedby
#subsequentimage.
Author:RexShen
Created:20140924Wed14:06
Emacs24.3.1(Orgmode8.2.7c)
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4thoughtsonAndroid:HowtoUnpack/Pack
FactoryImages
Viranjan

Reply

April1,2015at10:19pm

Nicearticletounderstandaboutboot.img,system.imgetc.
Canyoupleaseaddsomeknowledgeaboutvendor.imgandcache.imgaswell.
Thereisjustamentionofit.
Thanks.

Rex

Postauthor

Reply

April8,2015at6:44am

Viranjan,
vendorspecificfilesusuallyresidein/system/vendor,ratherthanastandalone
partition.Anyway,ifthereisavendor.img,thefilestructureinsidethepartitionmaybesimilarto
system.img.
cache.imgusuallyanemptyimage(withonlyfilesystemdata).Androidusesuchemptyimagesto
initialisethepartitions,soAndroiddonottocallmkfs.ext4toformatsuchpartitions.Someusage
ofthe/cachepartitionare:
1)whenwedownloadfromGooglePlay,thefilesarestoredin/cachetemporarily
2)thedownloadedotapackage(update.zip)issavedin/cache
3)whendoinganotaupdate,thelogfilesthataregeneratedbyrecoveryaresavedin
/cache/recovery
4)storesomebackupdata

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Aamir

Reply

July9,2015at7:48pm

howdoiunmountthatmntfolderaftermodificatoin.plzhelp
andotherproblemisthatmysystemsaysaboutmkuserimg.shthatcommandnot
found.helpplzimwaiting

Rex

Reply

Postauthor

July11,2015at9:22am

Aamir,
1)tounmount,youcansimplyrunthiscommand:sudoumount/mnt.note
thatthecommandisumountratherthanunmount
2)youcangetacopyofmkuserimg.shfromtheAndroidssourcecode:system/extra/ext4_utils/

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