How to SPLIT BOOT.IMG file into kernel and ramdisk.gz (Android)

This article shows how to split a boot.img file into kernel and ramdisk parts.

In Android systems kernel and initial ramdisk filesystem are usually joined into an only file, named boot.img, and flashed into the device.

Recover image files have same structure too.


mkbootimg is the tool which builds a boot.img file from its kernel and ramdisk parts.

Boot.img file could also contain a second filesystem within it.

Split boot.img file using a python script

Copy split_boot_img.py code at the end of this article in a file named split_boot_img.py

Then execute (you need to already have a boot.img file):
$ python split_boot_img.py -i boot.img -o parts # This splits boot.img, create parts directory and stores there zImage (kernel) and ramdisk.gz.

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How to build Android CyanogenMod 7.2.0 for Samsung GT-S5570 tass phone from source code in Debian

This article shows how to build CyanogenMod 7.2.0 (Android fork) from source in Debian Sid (October 2012) for a Samsung GT-S5570 (tass) mobile phone.

7.2.0 is the stable CyanogenMod version for tass device.
http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_Mini

First we create a directory to place everything there:
$ mkdir ~/mydroid
$ cd ~/mydroid

Download Android SDK

The Android SDK will provide us developer tools and libraries necessary to build our Android based system.

http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html

We choose linux platform and download a tar gz file.

Then to install the Android SDK we uncompress it and export the paths of tools and platforms directories.
$ tar xvzf android-sdk_r20.0.3-linux.tgz
$ export PATH=~/mydroid//android-sdk-linux/tools:~/mydroid/android-sdk-linux/platforms:$PATH


DOWNLOAD ADB TOOL

We have downloaded basic SDK. But it lacks some required tools like adb, etc.

To upgrade Android SDK in console:
$ android update sdk --no-ui

or using a graphical interface
$ android update sdk

It fetches some xml files and starts downloading Android SDK Platform-tools and some documentation.

We export the path to recently added SDK platform-tools:
$ export PATH="~/mydroid/android-sdk-linux/platform-tools:$PATH

Now adb tool is in our PATH.

Install required Debian packages

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