How to enable sparse image in android

1 Kudo

There are two format system image(ext4): raw and sparse. The raw image is larger, you can mount it to ext4 directly(mount -t ext4 system.img system). The sparse image is supported lp5.0, it is a bit smaller. The below part will take IMX7D SDB board as example. You can change the setting according your platform hardware.

1 generate sparse image

In Lollipop 5.0 and 5.1, both raw image and sparse image will be generated by default.

sparse system image is located in: out/target/product/sabresd_7d/system_sparse.img

raw system image is located in:out/target/product/sabresd_7d/system.img

Below are the steps used in android build system to generate system.img

build out sparse image(-s means the building system image is sparse)

make_ext4fs -s -T -1 -S out/target/product/sabresd_7d/root/file_contexts -l 374476800 -a system out/target/product/sabresd_7d/obj/PACKAGING/systemimage_intermediates/system.img out/target/product/sabresd_7d/system

transform sparse image to raw image

simg2img out/target/product/sabresd_7d/system_sparse.img out/target/product/sabresd_7d/system.img

2 burn sparse image to sd/emmc

There are two ways to program the sparse image into android boot storage

Transform the sparse image into raw image in host Linux PC. And use the commands dd commands to program the raw image into the boot storage.
Program the sparse image with MFG Tool in i.MX Android release package.

Steps:

copy system_sparse.img to files/android/sabresd/.
copy simg2img binary (in simg2img.zip) to files/android/.
You also need update mfgtools-without-rootfs.tar\mfgtools\Profiles\Linux\OS Firmware\ucl2.xml

     diff --git a/Profiles/Linux/OS Firmware/ucl2.xml b/Profiles/Linux/OS Firmware/ucl2.xml      index 3b15ddd..3c3d2ae 100755      --- a/Profiles/Linux/OS Firmware/ucl2.xml      +++ b/Profiles/Linux/OS Firmware/ucl2.xml        @@ -621,8 +621,12 @@              <CMD state="Updater" type="push" body="$ mkfs.ext4 /dev/mmcblk%mmc%p6">Formatting cache partition</CMD>                <CMD state="Updater" type="push" body="$ mkfs.ext4 /dev/mmcblk%mmc%p7">Formatting device partition</CMD>      -       <CMD state="Updater" type="push" body="pipe dd of=/dev/mmcblk%mmc%p5 bs=512" file="files/android/sabresd/system.img">Sending and writting system.img</CMD>      -      +       <CMD state="Updater" type="push" body="send" file="files/android/simg2img" ifdev="MX7D">Sending simg2img</CMD>      +       <CMD state="Updater" type="push" body="$ cp $FILE /tmp/simg2img ">cp simg2img</CMD>      +       <CMD state="Updater" type="push" body="$ chmod  777 /tmp/simg2img ">chmod 777</CMD>      +       <CMD state="Updater" type="push" body="$  mount -o remount,size=512M rootfs /">change size of tmpfs</CMD>      +       <CMD state="Updater" type="push" body="send" file="files/android/sabresd/system_sparse.img" ifdev="MX7D">Sending system_sparse.img</CMD>      +       <CMD state="Updater" type="push" body="$ /tmp/simg2img $FILE /dev/mmcblk%mmc%p5">Sending and writting system_sparse.img</CMD>              <!-- Write userdata.img is optional, for some customer this is needed, but it's optional. -->              <!-- Also, userdata.img will have android unit test, you can use this to do some auto test. -->              <!--    <CMD state="Updater" type="push" onError="ignore" body="pipe dd of=/dev/mmcblk0p7" file="file/android/userdate.img"> Sending userdata.

3 Support sparse image in uboot(v2014.04)

Cheery-pick sparse image related patches. Use write_sparse_image to burn sparse system image.

For detail information, Please check the attached file(uboot(v2014.04)which support sparseimage.zip )

The step of apply these patches:

cd myandroid/bootable/bootloader/uboot-imx/
copy uboot(v2014.04) which support sparseimage.zip to myandroid/bootable/bootloader/uboot-imx/

unzip uboot(v2014.04) which support sparseimage.zip

git am 0001-add-header-for-Android-sparse-image-format.patch

git am 0002-add-code-to-handle-Android-sparse-image-format.patch

git am 0003-update-code-which-handles-Android-sparse-image-forma.patch

git am 0004-cleanup-code-which-handles-the-Android-sparse-image-.patch

git am 0005-implement-the-Android-sparse-image-format.patch

git am 0006-aboot-fix-block-addressing-for-don-t-care-chunk-type.patch

git am 0007-MA-6732-Add-sparse-image-flash-support-for-uboot-s-f.patch

The page will keep updating.

Reference：

How to enable userdata.img and cache.img in lollipop

kishorepoojari · ‎12-09-2015

Hello Sanshan Zhang,

When I building android(Lollipop 5.0.0.1) for imx6slevk board , system.img is not able to generate from system_sparse.img.

Following error is obtained:

Install system fs image: out/target/product/evk_6sl/system_sparse.img

out/target/product/evk_6sl/system_sparse.img+out/target/product/evk_6sl/obj/PACKAGING/recovery_patch_intermediates/recovery_from_boot.p maxsize=481738752 blocksize=4224 total=403801046 reserve=4866048

if [ true = true ]; then \

simg2img out/target/product/evk_6sl/system_sparse.img out/target/product/evk_6sl/system.img; \

fi

/bin/bash: line 1: simg2img: command not found

make: *** [out/target/product/evk_6sl/system_sparse.img] Error 127

make: *** Deleting file `out/target/product/evk_6sl/system_sparse.img'

Is their any patches to apply which Support sparse image in android..

please help me sort out this issue...

Regards,

Kishore P

sanshanzhang · ‎12-09-2015

Hi kishore,

Does you have check whether /out/host/linux-x86/bin/simg2img exist?

If it exists, you can check if the /out/host/linux-x86/bin/ is export to PATH.

kishorepoojari · ‎12-09-2015

Hello Sanshan Zhang,

Thanks for reply, simg2img is exit in /out/host/linux-x86/bin path and it is exported to PATH also.

Any think we have to enable in the kernel extra other than default option given by freescale...?

>$PATH

bash: /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk-amd64/bin:/home/test/Android_Source/out/host/linux-x86/bin:/home/test/Android_Source/prebuilts/gcc/linux-x86/arm/arm-linux-androideabi-4.8/bin:/home/test/Android_Source/prebuilts/gcc/linux-x86/:/home/test/Android_Source/prebuilts/gcc/linux-x86/arm/arm-eabi-4.8/bin:/home/test/Android_Source/development/scripts:/home/test/Android_Source/prebuilts/devtools/tools:/home/test/Android_Source/prebuilts/android-emulator/linux-x86_64:/home/test/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games: No such file or directory

Regards,

Kishore P

sanshanzhang · ‎12-09-2015

If it exist and export it's path, i think you can try "simg2img -h". See what's the log.

kishorepoojari · ‎12-10-2015

Hello Sanshan,

I replaced "simg2img" with "simg2img -h" , but results is same ,

out/target/product/evk_6sl/system_sparse.img+out/target/product/evk_6sl/obj/PACKAGING/recovery_patch_intermediates/recovery_from_boot.p maxsize=481738752 blocksize=4224 total=403801046 reserve=4866048

if [ true = true ]; then \

simg2img -h out/target/product/evk_6sl/system_sparse.img out/target/product/evk_6sl/system.img; \

fi

/bin/bash: line 1: simg2img: command not found

make: *** [out/target/product/evk_6sl/system_sparse.img] Error 127

make: *** Deleting file `out/target/product/evk_6sl/system_sparse.img'

Regards,

Kishore P

kishorepoojari · ‎12-10-2015

Hello Sanshan,

If we go for --help following output is showed

...:~/Android_Source$ simg2img --help

Usage: simg2img <sparse_image_files> <raw_image_file>

But still /bin/bash: line 1: simg2img: command not found

error is got.

Regards,

Kishore P