6 replies to this topic

[larrygeary]

If this is the wrong section, mods please feel free to move it.

We know that many apps depend on other apps or services in order to function. Right now, if I freeze an app I don't use, I have no way of knowing what other apps might break. A weird example is that freezing all the Yahoo apps breaks something totally unrelated. As another example, I use the Jorte calender, but I don't know how many of the native calendar services I can remove because I don't know what is being used by Jorte, if any.

If one were to look inside every app in /system/app, would it be possible to assemble a tree of dependencies that would tell us where to "prune" to get rid of the apps and services we don't want? If the answer is "yes", then how does one look inside an app? I have an eclipse development environment set up, but as of now I'm just reading basic documentation, so I don't even know if it would be useful for doing this. But if it's doable I'd be interested in looking into it, because with so many unwanted "extras" on our phones we need a better approach than trial and error.

Any advice from devs?

[snives]

I've actually been considering looking into doing this myself as one of the many projects I want to do, but don't have the time for. I haven't looked seriously into ROM development/modification yet, so if one of the pro's (DT/Nitro/DHacker/Loveyouallsorryifyouweren'tthefirstthreethatcametomind) offered some direction I might be able to at least assist.

[HOGRIDER]

larry:
Good question! I had asked something similar; but didn't approach it with the same clarity as you....

When looking at Apps/Manage Apps, I can see when "pushing down" on a particular app that there are sometimes other services and/or processes running as a result.

I also wonder if this gives any insight to the "tree" you mention above.............

[snives]

larry:
Good question! I had asked something similar; but didn't approach it with the same clarity as you....

When looking at Apps/Manage Apps, I can see when "pushing down" on a particular app that there are sometimes other services and/or processes running as a result.

I also wonder if this gives any insight to the "tree" you mention above.............

What we would be looking more to do, would be decompile files and inspect them for references, or better yet magically find a list of references in an XML file somewhere =D

What you see from a running device involves additional interactions from the OS and semi-related apps (JuiceDefender adjust data/wifi based on what app is open for example) that would cloud the important data.

[larrygeary]

HOGRIDER, yes you see part of the problem. One questions is, does the app start the background processes, or does one of the background processes start the visible app? Some apps keep reappearing after you kill them (Task Manager, for example), telling me some background service is restarting them. I'm seeking clarity, which we clearly don't have right now.

Snives, each .apk file should include a Manifest in XML format that MAY tell us something, but I haven't had a chance to look. But there are other apps that will try to use a service without declaring it in a manifest, and those would have to be decompiled. I think. (Some dev is reading this and LMAO because he can see I don't know beans.

[HOGRIDER]

larry: I for one are glad to see your interest in this as I totally agree there are apps the keep reappearing plus those that are interdependent. IMO, this is one area that causes the FCs. I've also wondered about all the "com.motorola.*** apps that are shown in TiBu, etc; and what part/effect they have on these other bloat apps! Hope you find time to really investigate/dig into this.

[HOGRIDER]

Even though I know nothing about this "tool", wondering if ApkTool would provide any usefull info......