Is this possible in ROM Kitchen?

[vboyz103]

Heh? man Bushrod you shattered my dream!! ehhehe

If it does take up space then I'll limit apps to copy then.

[luv2chill]

Well what really sucks about that then is that even subfolders of \Windows will cause files to take up your storage memory. So like for our devices they are set to look for ringtones in the \Windows\Rings folder. So if you try to incorporate ring tones and move them into the \Windows\Rings folder via initflashfiles.txt, they will end up using your storage memory anyway--completely negating the purpose of including them in ROM in the first place.

Ridiculous!

[saridnour]

Ok so you can copy the files and merge the reg entries, now what about the setup.dll that is packed in some cabs. From what it looks like (vc16 and pie+) the setup.dll is doing some reg work or other tasks to get the data installed. How can we see what the dll is doing and get the bits in the ROM image rather than having to install them after the fact? I know of a few hacks to get it to go but want to do this correctly. I was going to post this in a new thread but this topic was along the right line so though to try it here first.

-saridnour

[luv2chill]

Well the only way we know of now is to take a reg export on a clean device (try to have as little running as possible--apps, today applets, etc.). Then install the cab and immediately take another reg export. Then do a diff (using windiff other such app) on your PC. That will include some superfluous stuff (like the uninstaller reg entries) but at least that will have all reg entries in it (including those from self-registering dlls). Colonel and I were working on this earlier with the markallasread cab (which is just one self-registering dll). He used this method and got all the needed reg entries.

I have tried using Windows NT-based tools (one is called RegSpy) to examine the registry section of some Windows CE dlls but it doesn't work. There must be enough difference between the two that specialized tools are needed.

That is the biggest obstacle to making these OEM packages.

[reese719]

Before I go installing the best user made ROM's left and right...which I will probably do... theorectically speaking, IF I had the threaded SMS,will it work with 3.3?

[schettj]

Setup.dll is part of the cab installer, not the app - you can extract all the app files (dlls and exes) and the install script, and the registry entries the CAB would make. Once you have those you are good to go.

And to the poster above, when you "copy" a file in initflashfiles.txt, it makes multiple copies IN ROM, not in internal storage memory. Wastes ROM space (which is icky) but not any internal storage space - so no worries unless you run out of ROM space.

[Bushrod]

If that's true, then please explain to me how we are able to delete file that are copied with initflashfiles.dat? Do we have magic roms? Read Only Memory, but only sometime?

[saridnour]

schettj: that is not always true. For instance with PIE+ there are no reg entries and no exe. There are a few dll's as part of the install, but the setup.dll in the cab is used to register the installed bits and or make other reg entries. It can also do EULA and prior install detection logic (which we would not care about in this instance but if that is all it does for a cab your method would work).

luv2chill: I did try a reg export earlier but VC1.6 is insane as to the entries it makes and "beyond comare" went nuts with the dif. I did find a few other entires and I can get vc1.6 to link and activate, but it seems to not recognize speach. For now I just have the bits in the rom and made a copy of the cab that had the bits stripped and the install path pointing to the windows dir. That way it does the reg and what not but does not copy any files so the space is still spared. But I hate that it is a hack! BTW the cab file stripped havk would not work with PIE+ so I am back to comparing entries.

-saridnour

[luv2chill]

Originally Posted by Bushrod

If that's true, then please explain to me how we are able to delete file that are copied with initflashfiles.dat? Do we have magic roms? Read Only Memory, but only sometime?

Yep, Bushrod is correct. I just deleted mfc80u.dll from the \Windows\oem folder and gained about 700k in storage memory. So the files copied by initflashrom take up storage memory.

Thank you for bringing that to light, Bushrod... it is good to know because people need to be aware of that fact when building OEM packages. I hereby propose a rule (or guideline ). Unless an app absolutely demands to be somewhere else, files are to be kept in
\Windows (their default location) and registry entries, shortcuts, etc must be altered to look for the app in \Windows. Initflashfiles.txt should only be used to place shortcuts or other very small files on other parts of the device. This will best preserve people's precious storage memory.

Unfortunately, this is quite a limitation of the rom cooking process, but it can be worked around fine. It's just not ideal. Symbolic links would have been so much better.

Ah well, onward and upward.

[colonel]

Yes it works.

Luv2Chill, check your PMs. I figured out the ringer issue. It is actually a registry edit to get ringers in the \Windows folder to show up in Sounds & Notifications.