How to Create Android Update Zip Package?

There are several ways to install applications or  library files to an Android Phone. You can use Marketapplication to find and install or adb command line tool to install or push the files to Android file system. These are all easy to implement for  single  file but if you have several applications or library files to install at once, it might be better to use update zip file. The update zip file is Android advanced system to install applications or lib files to Android file system using recovery tool. This method is commonly used by rom or theme developers to distribute their package.

Creating an update zip file is quite easy, all you have to do is put the files in corresponding directory in Android file system and an update-script file to copy the files. For example, to install Calculator.apkinto system/app and copy libsec-ril.so file into system/lib :

• Create an empty folder (eg. C:\myupdate)
• Create C:\myupdate\system\app folder for Calculator.apk and  C:\myupdate\system\lib folder for libsec-ril.so
• Create C:\myupdate\META-INF\com\google\android folder for update-script file.
• Create the update-script file with the following syntax:

      show_progress 0.1 0

      copy_dir PACKAGE:system SYSTEM:

      show_progress 0.1 10

Line 1&5 : show progress bar
Line 3: copy system folder from update package to Android’s /system

Note: you should add one extra  line at the end of the file (Line 6)

Compress the entire contents of C:\myupdate folder to zip (not the myupdate folder itself)
Sign the myupdate.zip file
java -jar signapk.jar certificate.pem key.pk8 myupdate.zip update.zip

Note: you can find tutorial on how to sign the update.zip file here

Copy the update.zip file to sdcard and apply it from recovery console


update-script syntax reference (definitions from recovery.c android source code):

copy_dir
Syntax: copy_dir <src-dir> <dst-dir> [<timestamp>]
Copy the contents of <src-dir> to  <dst-dir>. The original contents of <dst-dir> are preserved unless something in <src-dir> overwrote them.
Ex: copy_dir PACKAGE:system SYSTEM:

format
Syntax: format <root>
Format a partiti0n
Ex: format SYSTEM:, will format entire /system . Note: formatting erases data irreversibly.

delete
Syntax: delete <file1> [... <fileN>]
Delete  file.
EX: delete SYSTEM:app/Calculator.apk, will delete Calculator.apk from system/app directory.

delete_recursive
Syntax: delete_recursive <file-or-dir1> [... <file-or-dirN>]
Delete a file or directory with all of it’s contents recursively
Ex: delete_recursive DATA:dalvik-cache, will delete /data/dalvik-cache directory with all of it’s contents

run_program
Syntax: run_program <program-file> [<args> ...]
Run an external program included in the update package.
Ex: run_program PACKAGE:install_busybox.sh, will run install_busybox.sh script (shell command) included in the update package.

set_perm
Syntax: set_perm <uid> <gid> <mode> <path> [... <pathN>]
Set ownership and permission of single file or entire directory trees, like ‘chmod’, ‘chown’, and ‘chgrp’ all in one
Ex: set_perm 0 2000 0550 SYSTEM:etc/init.goldfish.sh

set_perm_recursive
Syntax: set_perm_recursive <uid> <gid> <dir-mode> <file-moe> <path> [... <pathN>]
Set ownership and permission of a directory with all of it’s contents recursively

Ex: set_perm_recursive 0 0 0755 0644 SYSTEM:app

show_progress
Syntax: show_progress <fraction> <duration>
Use of the on-screen progress meter for the next operation, automatically advancing the meter over <duration> seconds (or more rapidly if the actual rate of progress can be determined).
Ex: show_progress 0.1 0

symlink
Syntax: symlink <link-target> <link-path>

Create a symlink (like ‘ln-s’). The <link-path> is in root:path format, but <link-target> is
for the target filesystem (and may be relative)

Definition of roots and partitions (from root.c android source code)

ROOT:


    (Linux block device) /mountpoint/ fs, size

Description.
  BOOT:     (/dev/mtdblock[?]) / (RAM)  Raw
    Kernel, ramdisk and  boot config.
  DATA:     (/dev/mtdblock5)   /data/   yaffs2, 91904kb
    User, system config,  app config, and apps (without  a2sd)
  CACHE:    (/dev/mtdblock4)   /cache/  yaffs2, 30720kb
    OTA cache,  Recovery/update config and temp
  MISC:     (/dev/mtdblock[?]) N/A     Raw
    [TODO: Get info on MISC:]
  PACKAGE:  (Relative to package file) N/A
    Pseudo-filesystem for update  package.
  RECOVERY: (/dev/mtdblock[?]) / (RAM) Raw,     [?]kb
    The recovery  and update environment's kernel and ramdisk.
    Similar to BOOT:.
  SDCARD:   (/dev/mmcblk0(p1)) /sdcard/ fat32,  32MB-32GB
    The microSD card. Update zip is usually here.
  SYSTEM:   (/dev/mtdblock3)   /system/ yaffs2, 92160kb
    The OS partition,    static and read-only.
  TMP:                         /tmp/    in RAM
    Standard Linux temporary directory.
    Cleared on poweroff/reboot.