[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] grayfoxmg1:
ApG info you want to know!

EDIT Star Date 2/10/2013 @ 10:49 pm Captain's Log: It appears as if the Symantic council preceding over sector NOR-tan has allowed our vessel name containing the Alliance photon Gun mark 2578 or rather ApG 2.5.7.8 through their quadrant safely. Though this is a momentous occasion, we must be on our guard in the event of future hostilities.

EDIT 1/19/2013 @ 4:43 pm: Okay norton has updated their server to not flag ApG as a threat. Resume your normal downloading activities.

EDIT 1/18/2013 @ 6:11 pm: New update of ApG is flagged by Norton servers, I have already put in a false detection claim and am waiting on them to get back to me. Until then please return to the workaround method that is suppose to be used for the other A/V programs.

EDIT 1/16/2013 @ 11:50pm: Alright we're back in business

EDIT 1/16/2013 @ 6:36pm: Something in the latest edition of ApG causes Norton to flag it as a threat again. I don't know what, it could just be the change in name to reflect the current version. Regardless I have resubmitted a false detection claim to them. Until such time, return to the previous work around to download ApG.

Some helpful information that has been discovered, resolved, and discussed in the long life of Auto_patcher and ApG. Though I am writing this, a lot of this information is thanks to the entire Auto_patcher community. If you are having any issues, and these tips don't help, feel free to post your issue. Another note, during this post I will be mentioning windows directories. Normally it's relation to the desktop. So while YOUR desktop might be located at "C:/Users/John Doe/Desktop" or "C:/Users/Jane Doe/Desktop" to simplify things we are going to use my username as our identity as it is something that is specific enough not to get lost in the text, and should help lessen confusion. So if at any point you see "C:/Users/Grayfoxmg1/Desktop" replace my username with whatever your windows log-on ID on your machine is.

ApG and how your Anti-Virus program effects it:

Before you read: This use to be an issue on Norton/Symantic products as well, but by following the instructions that I linked to in THIS post, we were rewarded with the e-mail I received in THIS post less than 24hrs after I first put up the link and instructions on how to report the false detection. So next time ApG is flagged by your A/V program, report the false detection. If enough of you do it than we can get ApG off of everyone's virus list. I will keep this post updated, and whenever I get new info about ApG and it's relation with current AV programs.

Now onto the tips:

McAfee, Viper, and some other anti-virus programs WILL NOT allow you to download Apg, they quarantine the file because of an WS.Reputation.1 issue. What this means is that only a small percentage(we are talking less than 1%) use our shareware program that has been lovingly crafted and maintained by our fellow XDA member kobik77(big thanks btw love the program)., thus it is seen as an abnormality and treated as a risk. However, this is not true. ApG(and the whole auto_patcher set-up) are 100% save.You can download the file by disabling your anti-virus/firewall program before clicking the download link(addendum: Everyonce in a while my computer still won't download the file so I have to disable everything Norton related and <gag> use Internet Explorer </gag>).

If after running the program you get an error and after closing it see what the error was caused by ApG disappears, your anti-virus tagged the running process and followed it to the program and quarantined/deleted it. Again you must turn of AV and firewall stuff BEFORE running the program. Anytime you preform a virus check, it will tag ApG as malicious software(pfft malicious) and remove it making you re-download it.

NOTES: There are absolutely NO virus, worms, Trojans, Athenians, or Persians in this software(though I think a couple of Spartans might live in it ). Likewise, unless someone has overhauled the entire site(which would be really impressive) There aren't any of the before mentioned items on the file-sharing site we download ApG from. So feel free to disable your AV when downloading or using ApG.

So I've gotten ApG downloaded, but the patching fails:

This can be caused by any number of issues, the most common one is the anti-virus issue we've just discussed. However, there are a few things that can cause this issue that are simple fixes. Another common cause is if you run ApG from the desktop (C:/Users/Grayfoxmg1/Desktop/ApG.exe). For whatever reason ApG will not, let me repeat that, WILL NOT run from the desktop. The easiest fix is to create a new folder on your desktop, name it auto_patcher, and save/run ApG from it. If done, ApG's new location should look something like this; C:/Users/Grayfoxmg1/Desktop/auto_patcher/ApG.exe.

Another thing that causes ApG(and really Auto_patcher as a whole) to have issues is ROM confusion. What does that mean? I am talking about selecting the wrong rom type during the patching process. For example, If your ROM is a Paranoid Android ROM and you select CM as it's rom type, your patch will now fail. Likewise Cyanogenmod will fail if you try and patch it as AOKP. Seems simple right? But what if your ROM pulls information from 2 separate build trees? Say we have ROM X that is created by combining information from both Cyanogenmod and AOKP, what do we patch it as? Simple answer, I have no clue. That's not to say I'm ignorant, but what you patch it as is determined by which tree is the bigger contributor. Sometimes it's easy to figure out, sometimes it's not. Easiest way is to try to patch it as one ROM, and if it fails, try again as the other.

But isn't that dangerous? Couldn't it brick my device? Answer, nope. See Auto_Patcher is a wonderful tool, in that is edits roms at their very base, but holds no danger. If you get a bad patch and it causes issues, simply reflash your ROM without your update.zip. that's it, it will undo anything auto_patcher did to it. I am very confident in stating that, Auto_Patcher will never harm your device. Not only is your device safe, but this thread is full of users of varying devices, ROMs, and technical levels; and we try or very best to get your patch to work.

So now you know, go out download ApG(or Auto_patcher script if you are on Linux or Mac), find a ROM and get patching.

This has been a public service announcement provided brought to you by:

*The Letter 'A' for 'Android'

*Mateorod, Pastime1971, and the rest of the Auto_Patcher team

*The ApG developer and maintainer, Kobik77

*All the Mod developers and maintainers

*And me, Grayfoxmg1, for writing all of this down

Have a good day :D