Is it possible to flash ubuntu touch without an installer?

doniks · 20 Oct 2017, 19:23

@wdehoog said in Is it possible to flash ubuntu touch without an installer?:

Fun indeed.

I just noticed the jenkins server builds rootfs archives and a device_bacon_devel.tar.xz which contains the boot, recovery and system images and other files. Do you now anything about these?

uhhhhm. could you give some more context? what is jenkins? bacon? can you provide links?

What I am hoping for is this: I recently received a hybris-boot.img + system.img for halium/plasmamobile. I could not use the halium-installer since I get 'adb unauthorized' while in recovery so I messed around and ended up with a zip that installed all on my phone. It even worked. Now I hope to do the same trick with ubuntu-touch.

Thing is I have no clue what was in the halium files nor what is in the ubuntu ones.
Could this actually work?

Again, ... I'm a bit lost without context .... "a zip that installed all on my phone" ???

wdehoog · 20 Oct 2017, 19:33

I meant this server: http://ci.ubports.com/job/daily-bacon/
bacon is the code name for oneplus one

I have TWRP recovery with multi-rom on my phone. I created a zip file that TWRP can 'install'. It extracts the files and executes a script. The script puts rootfs.img and system.img in /data and flashes hybris-boot.img into the boot partition.

I found an old ubuntu touch install script (rootstock-installer) and unfortunately it seems to be more complex then this. Maybe I better wait until someone explains how ubuntu-touch can be installed on halium (screenshots on haliums twitter show it can).

doniks · 20 Oct 2017, 20:43

@wdehoog how complicated is rootstock?

wdehoog · 20 Oct 2017, 21:00

See https://pastebin.com/2BTrDBpM
It seems to create one file: system.img
I am trying to see if I can create it

doniks · 20 Oct 2017, 22:29

@wdehoog said in Is it possible to flash ubuntu touch without an installer?:

See https://pastebin.com/2BTrDBpM
It seems to create one file: system.img
I am trying to see if I can create it

Yeah ok. I guess this is basically the rootfs right? so maybe making an fs image and unpacking the ubports-asdf....xz file into it is enough?!

doniks · 21 Oct 2017, 06:39

@doniks I'm wondering why not just use this rootstock script. But I guess I'm still not really getting it. You can't adb into your recovery, right? No adb shell, no adb push. How do you then get that magical zip file onto the device? What does that zip install script look like? Who runs it? What can it do?

wdehoog · 21 Oct 2017, 07:34

When in recovery adb lists the device as 'unauthorized' so no adb shell for me, so no installer script.

The zip I create can be transfered when booted in android or sailfish.

The script in the zip is simple: extract system.img to /data and flash boot.img into the boot partition. It is the updater-script run by the updater-binary.

I have the kernel booting (no errors in /last/kernel_msg) but no UI or anything else.

doniks · 21 Oct 2017, 08:08

@wdehoog said in Is it possible to flash ubuntu touch without an installer?:

When in recovery adb lists the device as 'unauthorized' so no adb shell for me, so no installer script.

The zip I create can be transfered when booted in android or sailfish.

ah ok. clear. are you using multirom or something similar?

The script in the zip is simple: extract system.img to /data and flash boot.img into the boot partition. It is the updater-script run by the updater-binary.

uuuhhhu, ok, now you come forward with some terms that are actually suitable at least for an internet research ....
are we talking about something like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSCseBYVc3Y

I have the kernel booting (no errors in /last/kernel_msg) but no UI or anything else.

ok. and now? maybe you want to, i don't know, share some details like the updater-script that you wrote and what exactly you put where exactly into the zip file. you don't make it easy to help you ...

wdehoog · 21 Oct 2017, 09:12

@doniks said in Is it possible to flash ubuntu touch without an installer?:

ah ok. clear. are you using multirom or something similar?
yes TWRP+multirom

uuuhhhu, ok, now you come forward with some terms that are actually suitable at least for an internet research ....
are we talking about something like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSCseBYVc3Y
I have no idea what you try to explain with this video. The updater-script is explained a bit here https://www.droidgyan.com/updater-script/

I have the kernel booting (no errors in /last/kernel_msg) but no UI or anything else.

ok. and now?
Yep that is the question. How can I get logs of what is going wrong in user space.

maybe you want to, i don't know, share some details like the updater-script that you
wrote and what exactly you put where exactly into the zip file. you don't make it easy to > help you ...
What script do you mean? The updater-script: https://pastebin.com/mYaHFSz9
or the one making the system.img: https://pastebin.com/hE5qD52q

I am a bit surprised that none of the ubports developers joins in. They know exactly how it works and where I should look.

malditobastardo · 21 Oct 2017, 09:50

@wdehoog You can try to reach them in the Telegram supergroup. They are busy and small Team so is kinda understandable. Also in the group there are a lot of people with huge knowledge who can help you guys

wdehoog · 6 Apr 2020, 19:53

@malditobastardo said in Is it possible to flash ubuntu touch without an installer?:

@wdehoog You can try to reach them in the Telegram supergroup. They are busy and small Team so is kinda understandable. Also in the group there are a lot of people with huge knowledge who can help you guys

Thanks.

You see I think that is mistake they make. They created this forum so they at least should use it. The messages on the forum are stored and can be searched through. Very convenient. Telegram/irc or whatever messaging platform usually is not.

wdehoog · 21 Oct 2017, 10:41

Well I now have adb access to ubuntu-touch. Some errors in dmesg:

[ 3.285119] initrd: mounting system.img (image developer mode)
[ 3.301791] initrd: mounting device image as ro
[ 3.309947] EXT4-fs (loop1): couldn't mount as ext3 due to feature incompatibilities
[ 3.334772] initrd: device is bacon

and

[ 3.624120] initrd: mounting /root/var/lib/lxc/android/system.img as /root/android/system
[ 3.910165] init: ureadahead-touch main process (497) terminated with status 5
[ 4.469967] init: /init.environ.rc: 13: export requires 2 arguments

wdehoog · 21 Oct 2017, 13:00

Ok. It works now. Got ubports on my phone. Extracting the archives was wrong so some dirs ended up in the wrong place. Here is the script I used https://pastebin.com/DgUu2PuJ

suoko · 6 Apr 2020, 19:53

@wdehoog did you find a way to create flashable zips of ut?

Lakotaubp · 4 Jun 2020, 20:32

@suoko This thread is two years old. Your much better off asking a fresh question in the appropriate section of the forum. However UT is not a zip and has never been one.
I'm going to lock this thread now, but you can refer back to it in any new question using the weblink e.g https://forums.ubports.com/topic/669/is-it-possible-to-flash-ubuntu-touch-without-an-installer/21
Thanks