yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] Chainfire:
AROMA test

Attached version is supposed to make the often used AROMA Installer work across devices.

Please test !

I would much appreciate you guys giving it a shot, by finding a ZIP that uses AROMA (custom kernels often do, as do a number of custom firmwares, but far from all) and is meant for your device, and seeing if you get the graphical installer on-screen. Note that you do not actually need to install anything - if the installer appears, tapping on the three vertical dots in the middle of the bottom of the screen, will give you the option to quit the installer.

If you don't get the graphical installer, do not touch the screen, but hold the power button to turn off / reboot your device.

Let me know if this works for your device (and which device you have). If you know if AROMA worked for you on previous FlashFire versions, that would also be helpful to know. Please also not the AROMA Installer version, it should be listed on-screen during flash, and otherwise it is noted in the /sdcard/FlashFire/lastlog file, which you may also attach if it doesn't work for you.

Thanks!

The tech

For those technically inclined and interested in the method used, here's the how.

AROMA is of course open source, but unfortunately the source for the last version was never released, and the author has more or less dropped out of the community. This is very unfortunate, as many projects on XDA (and other parts of the Android community) use it. So while it was always an option to patch the source, and override the version included in various ZIP files, this might introduce all sorts of problems to the v2.70 sources that had already been fixed in v3.00. Furthermore, the authors of the kernels/firmwares have tested with the specific version they included, who knows what might break if you replace it with another version.

So instead of this, FlashFire is pretending to be a debugger (PTRACE), and dynamically replaces the system calls AROMA makes, to make it think the Linux standard framebuffer driver is present and operational (specifically, FBIO_FSCREENINFO and FBIO_VSCREENINFO). Using a bind mount, it then tricks AROMA to render its screen into a different memory mapped file than the normal driver file, which the FlashFire user-interface component then converts into a GL texture and renders on-screen.

That could have been done in a more complete manner (so potential but currently non-existent competitors to AROMA may also work) and without a bind mount, but I chose to make the least invasive changes possible to make it work, for the time being.

I thought it was an interesting hack, and certainly not something I had personally done before.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] corkiejp:
Tested on a Nexus 9 with flashing ElementalX 4.09

AROMA Installer 2.70RC2

Have not tested earlier version of Flashfire with it.

I uninstall this test version and try again.

The non test version could not load AROMA.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] Ganuke2kx:
Hello

Hoping my questions can be answered. I did 1st try the search function in this thread and could find no post that clearly provided the answers i am seeking.

Background Info :

I have a Verizon branded Samsung Galaxy S4. The current specs on it are bootloader is at NK4 ...... all else is at OC1. I recently flashed onto my S4 the Stang5litre Rom. Then I installed Xposed onto my S4.

Besides SuperSu Pro, FlashFire 2.9, Xposed and the stock apps / etc. from the Stang5litre Rom...... my S4 has nothing else installed on it. My first attempt at getting Stang5litre Rom on my S4 had it become stuck at the black background Samsung logo screen. I had to Odin a stock tar onto my S4 from my laptop, root it again, install SuperSU, install FlashFire, and again try to flash Stang5litre Rom on my S4 through FlashFire. The second time it worked.

This leads me to my main question(s). I have used Flashfire to flash various files to my S4. I have seen the ID, Normal, Full, Raw Backup options in FlashFire.

My Question(s) :

I am wondering if any / all of these backup options in FlashFire create a tar that can later be used in Odin ( from my laptop ) to restore my phone to the exact current state it is in right now ? ...... Or can the backups created from any of the FlashFire backup options be converted to a format that can then later be used in Odin to fully restore my S4 to it's current state ?

I am just hoping this can be done through FlashFire backup...... in case my S4 ever again gets permanently stuck while booting up...... or goes into a constant bootloop. In such scenarios restoring from the FlashFire app would not be possible on the phone. I would need to restore my S4 through Odin on my laptop...... and am looking for the best way to create that complete backup of the current state of my S4 right now.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] toastido:
This is genius. Evil, evil genius. [emoji3]
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] Rakuu:
Test aroma version working on g900a, didn't test if anything would actually flashed but the installer opened.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] Chainfire:
Right now, there is not a way to create an ODIN flashable backup with FlashFire, or convert an existing backup to ODIN format. What FlashFire does do is place a TWRP ZIP in the backup folders so various backups may be restored via TWRP if the worst happens. With a locked bootloader like yours, that isn't very helpful, though.

I am looking into creating ODIN and/or Fastboot flashable backups (these would be an additional option), but for compatibility reasons they would include only boot/recovery/system/data/cache, not things like modems and bootloaders. There are some snags to overcome before this is done, though. Still, stay tuned, and keep a close watch on the changelogs whenever a new version is released.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] xXx:
thanks for the new 0.29 test build. I tested it with my v2.70 Aroma based Barebone Cleaner on a S5 G900F. https://www.androidfilehost.com/?w=files&flid=27003

The Cleaner script is packed with more than 1000 lines of script code and provides a long list of options to select. Everything I tested worked without any errors. Yes, the screen operation is quite slow, but hey, who is complaining when everything works as intended at the end. The only thing is that users have to deselect the reboot option in the script otherwise the battery have to be pulled at the end of the flash process but you mentioned that already.

I almost thought this feature will not come anymore. Therefore thanks again for your hard work to make this happen. :good::good::good:
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] KaMyKaSii:
How to disable the generation of md5? The backup takes a long time with this active, I know it's for security, but still prefer to disable

About the new test version, i used the demo zip Aroma Installer and executed perfectly
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] Rakuu:
More than security, if something screws up with your SD card it's there to verify, it's worth the little extra time to make sure you don't screw yourself.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] Chainfire:
If there's no way to turn it off, how do you know it takes longer with this active? :)

In reality, it's not going to make a difference. Unlike TWRP and some other solutions, the MD5 is generated while the backup is being written to disk (rather than first writing the backup, then reading it again to calculate the MD5). The performance penalty should be insignificant.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] daibaron:
With my Galaxy S7 SM-G935F

Apparently, i can't flash Xposed (By Wanam) or zip file from Flash Fire

I can't flash a rom

I can't make back up.

anyway FF looks amazingly promising, i can't wait to see more.

Ty
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] corkiejp:
Try placing your zips in internal storage.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] KaMyKaSii:
First, this answer it hurt. And second, yes I used the TWRP as the basis. With the md5 disabled, the backup took 10min and with size of approximately 3gb (compression active). With the generation of md5, the backup takes around 16min, near the time of the backup in FlashFire. And two questions about future resources: since the backup FlashFire works in TWRP, you can also make the opposite? And you can create a zip that can be flash on TWRP and so call the FlashFire? I know if you have the TWRP and the Android does not start, it is better do the repair by him, but I really enjoyed interface FlashFire, the possibility to make a list to flash stock system, install the ota update, do root, that all without restart your smartphone
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] daibaron:
Doh, 0.29 is released... will try this asap.

backup seems to launch...

will have to try xposed zip by Wanam and see if it installs this correctly.

TWRP is a great recovery tool (who am I to say that) but after a major rom update it needs to wipe the memory.

FF may solve the problem
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] corkiejp:
Plus Chainfire has posted test versions in this thread, if you encounter problems with the app, try the test versions.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] Chainfire:
Note that I haven't done any testing on the S7 family yet.

FlashFire does not use TWRP. It doesn't use any of the same code. There are possibly some optimizations that can still be done on FlashFire performance, but just because times are similar, doesn't mean MD5 is the issue here.

FlashFire backups *partially* work in TWRP. Only a subset of partitions are supported. While at some point FlashFire may be able to restore TWRP backups as well, it is certainly *not a priority* to make this happen.

There is absolutely *no* chance of a ZIP that you can use in TWRP that will launch FlashFire. That would be completely incompatible.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] jaladhjin:
So the message about LG devices being untested is clear.. I've seen that..

What I'm wondering is I've got an LG G4 H810 & version .24 is becoming the generally accepted working version.. & I can confirm that myself..

Tried newer versions & the device ends up rebooting with 0 changes made..

What's going on with versions newer than .24 that makes them not work ?
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] daibaron:
Update from 0.26 -> 0.29 with SM-G935F (Galaxy S7 Edge) ROM rev: G935FXXU1APAW

Rooted with CF-Root for FF to gain root access

- Was able to flash Xposed by Wanam from "Ext-SD"

- Was able to fully back-up with no error in the log on "Ext-SD"
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] Ghost Dragon:
Here's the test version chainfire posted awhile ago it worked for my LG g4 h810

Note uncheck the mount system option before you flash xposed

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-k10MX8t9TXNE0zbm5fUDlCMGc/view?usp=docslist_api
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] jaladhjin:
I appreciate it.

My question was why older versions when but the newer do not.

Since the message in ff says LG untested hoping I can provide some feedback
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] Chainfire:
Well it would be useful to know if the latest test version works for you or still doesn't.

As explained several times before, versions beyond v0.24 implement a lot more safety checks before writing to your device, to prevent file corruption. Various devices (including the LG) didn't make it past those checks, and thus reboot instead of doing whatever you wanted it to do.

Several impatient users would have me disable those checks again. Personally, I much rather find the issue and fix it, rather than risk data corruption.

The latest test version is here: http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=66083388&postcount=2805
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] jaladhjin:
Understood in not complaining just was thinking I have an LG device & willing to help if I can testing logs & what not since .24 worked great.

If I use that test version will play store updates overwrite it right away?
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] Chainfire:
It has the same version code as on Play, so Play should leave it alone. When I update the Play version it should automatically overwrite this one, though. I'd still keep an eye on this thread to make sure the latter is the case, though.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] jaladhjin:
Any plans to have maybe an LG beta group?

Or is the idea to squash incompatibility soon so such things aren't necessary?
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] Chainfire:
To the best of my knowledge, the issue has already been fixed in the linked version... So unless you have a report otherwise...
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] jaladhjin:
Truth be told I went the .24 route before posting here so it did what I needed it to.

Nothing to test atm.

Suppose I could try xposed
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] daibaron:
I also was able to restore "normal' the backup

I have not tried the firmware flash (which did not work with 0.26)

a great addition could be a log where i can read the task went well or not.

or an option to automatically / manually reboot after the task is done.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] Ch3vr0n:
[MENTION=631273]Chainfire[/MENTION] i know you dont like pm's much but i've sent one that may be important. Possible unauthorized flashfire distribution through some shady site!

Verstuurd vanaf mijn Nexus 7 met Tapatalk
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] blinkin:
Does it mean that we can restore in TWRP a FlashFire "normal" backup or am I misinterpreting it?
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] Chainfire:
It is well known - unfortunately there is absolutely nothing I can do about it, as ultimately they link to the Play store.

They're just making ad money off my back. What else is new? It has happened to a bunch of my apps - and it's not like XDA is ad-free :)

From TWRP, you can "install" (rather than "restore") the TWRP.ZIP file present in every backup folder created by FlashFire. This isn't a complete restore as FlashFire would do, but at least it restores /system and /data. This is meant as emergency recovery, it's not a replacement for actually using FlashFire's restore function.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] Ch3vr0n:
Actually they're distributing the apk directly too. Verified this myself. But as a domain registrar myself I can guarantee you you can do something about it and get that domain taken down.

Verstuurd vanaf mijn Nexus 7 met Tapatalk
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] Chainfire:
Oh I just checked - that's new. They used to link only to the Play Store. So, any advice to take this down other than DMCA'ing the APK links?
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] Ch3vr0n:
Let's continue that discussion via PM shall we? Don't think that discussion and technical stuff is fit for this topic. Don't want to 'pollute' it with 'irrelevant' data. I'll look into things and get back to you via that same earlier PM!

Verstuurd vanaf mijn Nexus 7 met Tapatalk
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] blinkin:
Thanks a lot. I'm really impressed with that app, something I was waiting for! Just bought the pro version ☺️
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] gkillershots:
Sorry for the delay on the answer

the version

FlashFire-v0.29-20160324195913-TEST-1

works and is incredibly faster then v0.24

tested with supersu beta zip (for know that the zip wouldnt be the problem)

and now my supersu is version 2.71 beta

huge thanks for the attention chainfire :)
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] Chainfire:
v0.30 released

v0.30 released - release notes here: https://plus.google.com/+Chainfire/posts/QKwaPwbdrHd
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] ZVNexus:
On a device with a locked bootloader (ADB just reboots it) can you install TWRP with this?
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] corkiejp:
Thanks for the Update, I see now you support stickmount as a storage option, haven't tested yet.

I used the latest version to flash supersu 2.71 and ElementalX 4.09.

After the Flash, the device would only boot to TWRP.

Solved my boot problem by using TWRP to reflash supersu.

Tried flashfire to flash ElementalX again and encounter the same problem.

Nexus 9

Log attached

Edit: Something wrong with Flashfire's implementation of Aroma installer, was successfully able to use TWRP to install ElementalX

Edit 2: Now backing up my data partition to USB stick. (I know its working because the stick led is flashing)

Edit 3: Also selected to backup internal storage, so now flashfire is also backing up my usbstick to itself. Backing up the already backed up data. Have to force stop it and try backing up again.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] Namelesswonder:
I tried flashing SuperSU 2.71 with FlashFire 0.30 on my SM-N900A on 5.0 and the script would not mount the internal partitions, and would get stuck at that spot. After a force reboot and booting back into Android, SuperSU is still on 2.67 but in a weird limbo of wanting to update the binary but su still works. Android is acting kind of weird right now with constant crashing of apps and all frozen apps are unfrozen.

If it means anything I have a external SD card in my phone. Also, here are the lastlog for FlashFire.

9:58 AM edit: I removed my SD card and tried using FlashFire, still gets stuck on trying to mount the internal partitions. Uploaded the log from that attempt as lastlog2.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] Ch3vr0n:
I see aroma is enabled by default, is that needed on Nexus devices? What exactly is the benefit of aroma offer the 'old' way?

Verstuurd vanaf mijn Nexus 7 met Tapatalk
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] KaMyKaSii:
Backups are divided by parts of 1024MB, it says something about the minimum RAM required to work with FlashFire?

---------- Post added at 02:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:07 PM ----------

FlashFire is not recognizing any partition on a smartphone with MT6592, I believe that it also happens in other mtk arm v7. If possible please add support.

Real path of the partitions: "/dev/block/platform/mtk-msdc.0/by-num/"
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] Namelesswonder:
V0.30 would keep getting hung up on trying to mount the internal partitions while trying to flash SuperSU 2.71. Full post here.

I downgraded to v0.29 and was able to flash SuperSU 2.71 just fine. Here's the lastlog from this successful flashing.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] corkiejp:
[MENTION=631273]Chainfire[/MENTION] could you also exclude the Path to the OTG storage from internal data backup.

My TiBu backups where on the USB and Flashfire was backing them up as well.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] spainter:
Upgraded from SuperSU 2.70 to 2.71 on Nexus 6 and 2013 Nexus 7 via FlashFire no problems at all. Everything working great.

Thank you Chainfire for your outstanding work.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] Chainfire:
Trying to figure out what's happening here.

If it worked without that option, then there is no benefit. But on many devices it doesn't.

These things are unrelated.

FlashFire doesn't support devices that only have /by-num/ partition listings.

Please provide the output of this command, from a rooted shell:

ls -laR /dev/block

This is weird. I just flashed a ROM from approximately the same time (also 5.0) to my S5 (international, G900F) and it worked without a hitch.

Can you provide me the output of the "mount" command, from an adb shell, both when (1) the device is running Android and (2) when FlashFire gets stuck.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] Chainfire:
When using StickMount, I assume? Dumb oversight on my end.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] zagoleg:
I'm trying install xposed, but i have error:

mount: can't find /system in /proc/mounts

You can help me? TY.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] corkiejp:
Two things to try: -

1. People have reported success with having the xposed zip on internal storage.

2. If given the option to mount system r/w, do so because xposed modifies the system.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] Ch3vr0n:
Since you say there is no benefit (because it worked without, I'm using full stock Android on both N5 and N7v2), should I untick it when using FF to flash ota's, su zips,... or can it do no harm to leave it enabled?

Verstuurd vanaf mijn Nexus 5 met Tapatalk
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] Right2Bear:
Just updated the flashfire app in play. When I click open all it does is spin forever trying to get root access. I have a att G900A running 4.4.2. It's rooted since I got it with towelroot and att unlocked it. Looking to update to whatever I can from 4.4.2
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] zagoleg:
1. Don't work

2. Don't work

Installed 0.24v, work fine...
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] SamuriHL:
I've been trying to flash the supersu 2.71 zip with FlashFire 0.30 on both my tablet (note 10.1 2014 5.1.1) and my S4 GPE and both hang at -Creating paths. I had to hard reboot them. Not sure what's up with that.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] mbutandola:
[MENTION=631273]Chainfire[/MENTION] you say that superSu is embedded on the latest version of FlashFire but I can't get to see where I could flash it of needed.

Envoyé de mon Nexus 6P en utilisant Tapatalk
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] corkiejp:
When flashing OTA's or factory images, Flashfire will root your tablet device in the process.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] mbutandola:
Right thank you.

Envoyé de mon Nexus 6P en utilisant Tapatalk
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] Chainfire:
These partitions have no labels accessible, FlashFire will not support these in the short term.

Did you enable the "Auto-mount" and "Mount /system read/write" options when selecting the ZIP ?

It shouldn't do any harm. It'll try to prevent AROMA from rebooting (and instead continue FlashFire) from next version though, which can be helpful.

I'm not seeing anything wrong with this. The app tells you "waiting for internal storage" on screen?

Did you do anything funky like switch internal and external sdcards, or move FlashFire to sdcard, or ...?

A reboot usually helps in that case.

Logs!
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] SamuriHL:
Yea, I was unable to capture logs. I'll try again tomorrow and grab the logs if it fails again.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] Chainfire:
Well, it took most of my evening, but I finally figured this one out. The ElementalX installer create /tmp/init.elementalx.rc for which it doesn't specifically set the permissions. FlashFire has a umask of 077, where TWRP has a umask of 0. This means the permissions of the created files differed (0600 vs 0644). I've adjusted FlashFire's umask to 0 as well, so this shouldn't be a problem from v0.31 onwards, but it would perhaps be a good idea if the EX installer actually chmods the file to the permission it should actually be.

(also [MENTION=4684315]flar2[/MENTION] )
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] Right2Bear:
Tried rebooting a few times no luck
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] sthetix:
Confirmed works perfectly on Samsung Galaxy A8 (SM-A800F) to install Xposed. Thx!
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] ertas71:
LG H815TR

Confirmed works perfectly on LG H815TR(LG G4-TURKEY) Thank you :good: :D :laugh: