Introduction to Modding: Rooting and Custom ROMs

Introduction to Modding: Rooting and Custom ROMs
credits to The_ERROR of xda for compiling this

1. Basics of Unix-like system

* su, root, rooting - what is it, why we need it
* sh, bash, busybox - what BusyBox is, basic list of commands from BusyBox, bash, sh
su
Also referred to as substitute user - a command for changing the account in the current terminal (usually black screen with blinking cursor). Default account is root account. So if you insert into terminal 'su' and hit enter, you will become root user.root
Root alias superuser or poweruser is special user account for system administration. Similar to windows having its administrator account, unix-like systems have a root account. With this, you can do anything and if you run a command to delete the whole system, unix will just do it! No asking, no confirming. So, watch your steps!rooting
Rooting is just enabling power of root for applications and other purposes.Superuser app
After rooting is done, you will see a new app called superuser in app drawer. This app can delegate applications to use su (root) feature. When an app asks this from first use, a popup window will appear asking if the application should be allowed to use root permission.sh, bash
is a command-line interpreter or shell that provides a traditional user interface for the Unix operating system and for Unix-like systems. So simply, it is some interface, which can execute command(s), which you have entered. Many shells exist, but in scope of android you can (as far as I know) use only sh (standard - Bourne-shell) or bash (compiled in BusyBox or separately on XDA). Both are basically same, but bash has much more features and it is more comfortable.user/root shell
How do I know if I'm root or normal user? It's simple. Root's shell is ended with # (usually it's shell looks like "bash-3.2# _") and user's ends with $ (usually bash-3.2$ _). In terminal emulator you also can have only [path]($|#) (for root for example "/etc # _")BusyBox
also called "The Swiss Army Knife of Embedded Linux" is a tool which brings into Android basic tools known from unix system, but is much more smaller than standard tools is. But this "packing" has limited functions in comparison to standard tools in unix-system (missing special modes of tool, color output and so on). Many application use this. For example busybox grep (filtering of text) is needed for application called Market enabler.BusyBox commands
list of commands is really wide, so it's not possible explain all, so I pickup only top few. (hint: if you want what some command do, just search on google for "man <command_name>" 


for example man mv or enter command here

1.cd - change directory - same like in windows. You can switch directory. example: cd /sdcard
2.ls - list of files in actual directory (have few switches like for example: ls -l /sdcard/*.png (detailed listing)
3.cat - print file into standard output (like more in windows) Example: cat /sdcard/data.txt
4.vi - editing of file. But on limited phone keyboard (no keyboard) it is little harder Read more about vi
5.cp - copy of one or more file. Example: cp /sdcard/bike.jpg /sdcard/media/bike-wallpaper.jpg
6.mv - moving/rename files, Example: mv /sdcard/bike.jpg /sdcard/media/renamed-moved-bike.jpg
7.rm - delete file (rm -R for recursive, or for delete whole folder), Example: rm -R /sdcard/wallpaper-bad/*
8.find - search for files, Example find / -name "best-chopper-ever.avi"
9.mkdir - make directory - creates directory, Example: mkdir mynewdir
10.chmod - changes access of files
11.less - similar like cat, but you can scroll in it and it doesn't produce any output. Example: less /sdcard/funnytext.txt
Please, take due note that main pages are documentation of unix tools. For BusyBox's tool help, just enter BusyBox <command_name> -h.

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