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make_ext4
=========

How to create a flashable EXT4 img

First we will clone the files needed from this git repository, from a terminal in linux, type:
	git clone https://github.com/EpicAOSP/make_ext4 -b master
then switch to the directory where the files are stored, type:
	cd make_ext4
	
Now, let's get the needed files from your phone. You can do this from an adb shell, or using a terminal app.
To make it on the internal sd on Touchwiz or external on CM9 type:
	dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p9 of=/sdcard/factoryfs_orig.img bs=4096

For external on Touchwiz, it would be:
	dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p9 of=/sdcard/external_sd/factoryfs_orig.img bs=4096

For internal on CM9/AOSP it would be:
	dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p9 of=/emmc/factoryfs_orig.img bs=4096

Now we need to copy that file to the pc, to do that, there are a couple of options.. one of course,
is to take out your SD Card and put it in your PC and transfer the file. That's a hassle, so I'll cover
the adb way here. Be sure to replace the path to factoryfs.img with wherever you actually
put it in the last step. Connect your phone to the PC with USB Debugging on. And from the make_ext4 directory
in a linux terminal, type:
	adb pull /sdcard/factoryfs_orig.img

Now lets mount that img to our system directory.. 
First we need to assign our img to a loop device, the loop number doesn't matter, only that it't available, most dual
boot machines already use loop0, so if its in use, try loop1.. in your linux terminal, from the make_ext4 directory type..
	sudo losetup /dev/loop0 ./factoryfs_orig.img
Now let's mount our loop device as ext4 in the system folder..
	sudo mount -t ext4 /dev/loop0 ./system

Now before we make our image, we need to fill the image to the end with something, to replace the junk padding it currently
has from the way it was pulled. We will do that by creating an image, and wiping it. From your linux terminal in the system
directory under make_ext4, type:
	sudo ./bin/mkuserimg.sh -w system factoryfs.img ext4 system 503mb

Now that we have mounted the files into the system folder, and prepared them, we are going to run a script, that makes a
sparse ext4 image of exactly 503mb named factoryfs.img, thats to be mounted on /system. Sparse is important, because what that
does, is makes a 503mb img much smaller, because the empty space used to make the img 503mb isnt filled with padding. 
Tech info:
	"a sparse file is a type of computer file that attempts to use file system space more
	 efficiently when blocks allocated to the file are mostly empty. This is achieved by
	 writing brief information (metadata) representing the empty blocks to disk instead
	 of the actual "empty" space which makes up the block, using less disk space. The full
	 block size is written to disk as the actual size only when the block contains "real"
	 (non-empty) data."
From your linux terminal, in the make_ext4 directory, type:
	sudo ./bin/mkuserimg.sh -s system factoryfs.img ext4 system 503mb
	
After that you will have a flashable, sparse ext4 image in your directory named factoryfs.img.

Now should you, in the future, want to edit this img instead of creating a new one, I'll go over the steps with you.
Place the factoryfs.img that you want to edit back into the make_ext4 directory. Then we will need to un-sparsify
(is that really a word?) it by typing:
	./bin/simg2img factoryfs.img temp.img
At this point, you don't need the factoryfs.img anymore, so you can delete it by typing: 
	rm factoryfs.img		(optional, but you atleast need to rename or move it)
Now we will assign that img to a loop device on the system, in this example I use loop0, but on most dualboot systems
loop0 is used, you can use any loop# that is available to you, it doesnt matter. From your linux terminal, in the make_ext4
directory type:
	sudo losetup /dev/loop0 temp.img
Now we need to mount that device we just assigned the img to. We should run it as superuser (sudo), mount it as ext4 (-t ext4),
and we want to mount it to the system directory inside our current directory (./system). type: 	
	sudo mount -t ext4 /dev/loop0 ./system

You've gotten this far.. you're almost done.. you should now have your system files in make_ext4/system.
Go ahead and make any changes you need to make, be careful about permissions.. remember android is linux based and relies
heavily on permissions.
When you are done, we need to turn that system directory back into a sparse ext4 img.. in a linux terminal, from the make_ext4
directory, type:
	sudo ./bin/mkuserimg.sh -s system factoryfs.img ext4 system 503mb
You can go ahead and unmount the files now.
	sudo umount ./system
And detach the image from that loop device..
	sudo losetup -d /dev/loop0
And, delete the unsparse ext4 image... or you can save that if you would like, as it does have your changes, but remember
its not flashable, but saving it will mean you only have to bind it to a loop device and mount it, then make it sparse
each time you want to make changes..
	rm temp.img
	
Now at this point, you are either extremely bored.. or you have a flashable ext4 image.. hopefully the latter..


PROTIP:
You can add the -J option to mkuserimg.sh to disable journaling on your ext4 image..
ALternatively, you can use the -z option to gzip the image...