VoLTE Implementation For Google Pixel 3a/3a XL

Eric H

For information, documentation has been updated.
The "install“ page can be found at
https://docs.ubports.com/en/latest/porting/build_and_boot/standalone_kernel_install.html

mr_growl

@Eric-H Thank you for the detailed instructions. I very much appreciate it.

Here's what I did:

boot into android recovery and do factory reset (to remove encryption)
boot into twrp (fastboot boot twrp.img) and go into terminal
unmount /data (/dev/block/mmcblk0p72)
format /data as ext4 (mk2sfs -t ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p72)
remount /data (mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p72 /data)
confirm it is now mounted at ext4 (mount)
push renammed rootfs.img to /data (adb push ubuntu.img /data/)
reboot into bootloader from twrp
boot into fastbootd (fastboot reboot fastboot)
flash boot (fastboot flash boot boot.img)
reboot... this takes me straight to the boot loader
flash dtbo (fastboot flash dtbo dtbo.img)
reboot... still goes back to boot loader

I'm doing the formatting to ext4 bit as I read somewhere that it is required (please let me know if this was a mistake)

I'm pushing ubuntu.img before flashing boot.img because flashing boot.img gets rid of recovery and fastbootd.

I'm still feeling like there's a problem with my boot.img, as if I flash the boot.img from my halium build, it actually boots to recovery and fastbootd.

Eric H

@mr_growl
userdata
yes formating /data to ext4 is required at first installation
Just in case maybe retry with fastboot

fastboot format:ext4 userdata

you can wipe cache partition too

fastboot format cache

What does dmesg -w return on your host computer ?

https://docs.ubports.com/en/latest/porting/build_and_boot/Boot_debug.html

When your device boots it will likely stay at the bootloader screen.
[...]
To confirm that your device has booted correctly, on your host computer, run dmesg -w and watch for “GNU/Linux device” in the output. This confirms that you can establish an ssh connection to the device (see below). If you instead get something similar to “Halium initrd Failed to boot”, skip to telnet connection.

mr_growl

@Eric-H Thank you again!

Here's what dmesg has to say after my last flash attempt:

[ 9780.171034] usb 1-2: new high-speed USB device number 40 using xhci_hcd
[ 9781.164612] usb 1-2: New USB device found, idVendor=18d1, idProduct=4ee0, bcdDevice= 1.00
[ 9781.164633] usb 1-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 9781.164641] usb 1-2: Product: Pixel 3a XL
[ 9781.164648] usb 1-2: Manufacturer: Google
[ 9781.164654] usb 1-2: SerialNumber: XXXXXXXXX

I'll wipe it again and try again with your last message in mind later. I completely forgot to check to boot debug documentation, so I'll have a read through that again as well.

Eric H

@mr_growl
Which kernel do you use ?
in device info,on one of your gitlab repositories, I see
deviceinfo_kernel_source="https://github.com/mr-growl/android_kernel_google_msm-4.9.git"

mr_growl

@Eric-H That is a fork of https://github.com/LineageOS/android_kernel_google_msm-4.9 which was what I got when setting up the manifests for the halium build. It came with a bonito_defconfig which I modified according to the stand alone kernel instructions and put in a branch called halium-12.0 . I verified after doing my stand along kernel build that it had indeed checked out that branch.

Eric H

@mr_growl
If I had a pixel 3a, I'll try very quickly to flash/push Alfred's artifacts, and see the dmesg output.

mr_growl

@Eric-H I just happen to know someone wiht a pixel 3a

I tried flashing those artifacts just now and same result.

Eric H

@mr_growl
Don't you see messages about console ?
For example opening console: no such device

mr_growl

@Eric-H I do not. It just sits at the bootloader.

I see the porting documentation has been updated. I might just start again armed with some new insight after playing with other methods.

Eric H

@mr_growl said in VoLTE Implementation For Google Pixel 3a/3a XL:

I do not. It just sits at the bootloader.

It s expected. Doc says When your device boots it will likely stay at the bootloader screen.

mr_growl

@Eric-H True... I just don't see any connections appearing (no new network adapters showing up, nothing ususual in dmesg). It's highly possible that my deviceinfo is wrong/out of date. After reading the droidian porting stuff and then reading the updated ubports stuff I can see a few things that I can do differently.

Eric H

@mr_growl said in VoLTE Implementation For Google Pixel 3a/3a XL:

nothing ususual in dmesg

pstore (console + ram) and last_kmsg should be enabled in your kernel config, then you will be able after a boot attempt, to get logs from either console-ramoops or last_kmsg in recovery mode.

mr_growl

@Eric-H The recovery doesn't work after flashing. That's one of the things that concerns me about this build. With the old style halium build the boot.img contains the ubports recovery, so there is a recovery to retrieve logs from. The boot loader shows the reason for being in bootloader mode as "error boot prepare" which I was led to believe indicates a problem with recovery (it couldn't get in to recovery so just settled for bootloader).

pstore is enabled in that kernel.

@atarilinux if you're still keen to do some research, one thing that would be handy to know is if anyone has actually successfully made a halium port for any device for ubports or halium... I see lots of attempts but not sure if any of them actually were successful.

I got a successful build of droidian using their build process and the result was the same as with the new style ubports build.

I'm going back to the idea that I should try building a halium 9 build... if I can't make that work then I don't see how I could make a halium 12 build work.

Eric H

@mr_growl said in VoLTE Implementation For Google Pixel 3a/3a XL:

The recovery doesn't work after flashing.

To make sure to understand

is there a recovery partition on the android 12 pixel 3a ?
or can't you boot in recovery mode with something like that : fastboot boot recovery.img

(building ubports recovery.img has to be enabled in device info)

Eric H

If there is no recovery partition on your phone, you probably need a recovery ramdisk.
See ramdisk-overlay directory on Volla X23 for example:
https://gitlab.com/ubports/porting/reference-device-ports/halium12/volla-x23/volla-vidofnir/-/tree/main

mr_growl

@Eric-H Thanks! I'll check that tomorrow. It seems to me with stock android I can't boot into a build in recovery but that fastbootd does most of what's needed. So I have been using "fastboot boot twrp.img" if I need features that twrp offers.

Flashing twrp.img directly on to the pixel 3a doesn't work. To get it to install I usually do "fastboot boot twrp.img" and then go to "Advanced" and then "flash currently twrp".

Eric H

@mr_growl
Iirc, an android 12 phone must have a recovery partition unless it is a slot A/B device.

for example on my device

to check recovery partition

$ fastboot getvar all |& grep -i recovery
(bootloader) partition-type:recovery:raw
(bootloader) partition-size:recovery: 0x8000000

to flash recovery partition
```
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
```

to check slots, in fastbootD mode

$ fastboot getvar slot-count
slot-count: 0

atarilinux

@mr_growl

I'll see what I can find out!

atarilinux

@Eric-H

Thanks! I will check this out too!