Android debug tips(shell)

Here's a set of a few Android debugging tips. I've found them quite helpful.

 

1. You've installed an APK and want to know its package name, i.e. mapping APK to the package name.

    $ adb shell

    # pm list packages -f

 

2. Try to mount rw the data/system partition of a dev phone.

    $ adb remount

3. Sync the device after any pull/push operation.

    $ adb shell sync

 

4. Manually start an activity.

    $ adb shell

    # am -D <intent>

 

5. Manually start an activity with package and activity name.

    $ adb shell

    # am start -a <action> -n <package name>/<activity name>

 

6. Manually send a broadcast.   

    $ adb shell

    # am broadcast <intent> 

 

7. View/Change Kernel params of an android phone.

    $ adb shell

    # getprop

    # setprop <key> <value>

 

8. Search a package on the Android Market,

    market://search?q=pname:<package_name>

    http://market.android.com/search?q=pname:<package_name>

 

9. View an APK's content:

    $ aapt l <apk>

 

10. View an APK's Manifest file:

       

    Get Manifest main info.

    $ aapt d badging <APK>

11. dexdump - Dissembling the classes.dex.

    Extract the APK or if its installed find it from here and do adb pull for classes.dex,

    $ adb shell
    # cd /data/dalvik-cache
    # ls

-rw-rw-rw- root root 73852 2007-11-27 05:16 system@app@Contacts.apk@classes.dex
-rw-rw-rw- app_0 app_0 64172 2007-11-27 05:17 system@app@ContactsProvider.apk@classes.dex

 

    $ dexdump classes.dex -d -f -h [-l xml/plain] >> classes.dexdump

Here's an example of xml dexdump.

<class name="MyClass"extends="com.abc.xyz.Parent"abstract="false"static="false"final="false"visibility="public"><constructor name="MyClass"type="com.abc.xyz.MyClass"static="false"final="false"visibility="public"></constructor><method name="invalidateView"return="void"abstract="false"native="false"synchronized="false"static="false"final="false"visibility="public">