LineageOS Wiki
Build for pollux
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
What you’ll need
Build LineageOS
Install the platform-tools
Install the build packages
Java
Create the directories
Install the repo command
Put the ~/bin directory in your path of execution
Configure git
Turn on caching to speed up build
Configure jack
Initialize the LineageOS source repository
Download the source code
Prepare the device-specific code
Extract proprietary blobs
Start the build
Install the build
Success! So… what’s next?
To get assistance
info_outline NOTE: This page is auto-generated for the Sony Xperia Tablet Z LTE, based on the device’s information, located here. You can find similar
instructions for every officially-supported device on this wiki.
Introduction
These instructions will hopefully assist you to start with a stock Sony Xperia Tablet Z LTE, unlock the bootloader (if necessary), and then
download the required tools as well as the very latest source code for LineageOS (based on Google’s Android operating system) for your
device. Using these, you can build both a LineageOS installation zip and a LineageOS Recovery image and install them on your device.
It is difficult to say how much experience is necessary to follow these instructions. While this guide is certainly not for the extremely
uninitiated, these steps shouldn’t require a PhD in software development either. Some readers will have no difficulty and breeze through
the steps easily. Others may struggle over the most basic operation. Because people’s experiences, backgrounds, and intuitions differ, it
may be a good idea to read through just to ascertain whether you feel comfortable or are getting over your head.
Remember, you assume all risk of trying this, but you will reap the rewards! It’s pretty satisfying to boot into a fresh operating system you
baked at home :). And once you’re an Android-building ninja, there will be no more need to wait for “nightly” builds from anyone. You will
have at your fingertips the skills to build a full operating system from code and install it to a running device, whenever you want. Where you
go from there– maybe you’ll add a feature, fix a bug, add a translation, or use what you’ve learned to build a new app or port to a new
device– or maybe you’ll never build again– it’s all really up to you.
What you’ll need
A Sony Xperia Tablet Z LTE.
A relatively recent 64-bit computer (Linux, macOS, or Windows) with a reasonable amount of RAM and about 200 GB of free storage
(more if you enable ccache or build for multiple devices). The less RAM you have, the longer the build will take. Aim for 16 GB RAM or
more, enabling ZRAM can be helpful. Using SSDs results in considerably faster build times than traditional hard drives.
A decent internet connection and reliable electricity. :)
Some familiarity with basic Android operation and terminology. It may be useful to know some basic command line concepts such
as cd, which stands for “change directory”, the concept of directory hierarchies, and that in Linux they are separated by /, etc.
check TIP: If you are not accustomed to using Linux, this is an excellent chance to learn. It’s free – just download and run a virtual machine (VM) such as
VirtualBox, then install a Linux distribution such as Ubuntu (AOSP vets Ubuntu as well). Any recent 64-bit version should work great, but the latest
Long Term Support (LTS) version is recommended. There are plenty of instructions on setting up VirtualBox to run Ubuntu, so we’ll leave that to
LineageOS Wiki it is worth noting, if you already use either a Linux distro or macOS, you can just proceed.
you. Though
Let’s begin!
Build LineageOS
info_outline NOTE: You only need to do these steps once. If you have already prepared your build environment and downloaded the source code, skip to Prepare
the device-specific code
Install the platform-tools
If you haven’t previously installed adb and fastboot, you can download them from Google. Extract it running:
unzip platform-tools-latest-linux.zip -d ~
check TIP: The file may not be named identically to what stands in this command, so adjust accordingly.
Now you have to add adb and fastboot to your PATH. Open ~/.profile and add the following:
# add Android SDK platform tools to path
if [ -d "$HOME/platform-tools" ] ; then
PATH="$HOME/platform-tools:$PATH"
fi
Then, run source ~/.profile to update your environment.
Install the build packages
Several packages are needed to build LineageOS. You can install these using your distribution’s package manager.
check TIP: A package manager in Linux is a system used to install or remove software (usually originating from the Internet) on your computer. With
Ubuntu, you can use the Ubuntu Software Center. Even better, you may also use the apt-get install command directly in the Terminal.
To build LineageOS, you’ll need:
bc bison build-essential ccache curl flex g++-multilib gcc-multilib git gnupg gperf imagemagick lib32ncurses5-dev
lib32readline-dev lib32z1-dev liblz4-tool libncurses5 libncurses5-dev libsdl1.2-dev libssl-dev libxml2 libxml2-utils
lzop pngcrush rsync schedtool squashfs-tools xsltproc zip zlib1g-dev
For Ubuntu versions older than 20.04 (focal), install also:
libwxgtk3.0-dev
While for Ubuntu versions older than 16.04 (xenial), install:
libwxgtk2.8-dev
Java
Different versions of LineageOS require different JDK (Java Development Kit) versions.
LineageOS 18.1: OpenJDK 11 (included in source download)
LineageOS 16.0-17.1: OpenJDK 1.9 (included in source download)
LineageOS 14.1-15.1: OpenJDK 1.8 (install openjdk-8-jdk)
LineageOS 11.0-13.0: OpenJDK 1.7 (install openjdk-7-jdk)*
* Ubuntu 16.04 and newer do not have OpenJDK 1.7 in the standard package repositories. See the Ask Ubuntu question “How do I install
openjdk 7 on Ubuntu 16.04 or higher?”. Note that the suggestion to use PPA openjdk-r is outdated (the PPA has never updated their
offering of openjdk-7-jdk, so it lacks security fixes); skip that answer even if it is the most upvoted.
Create the directories
You’ll need to set up some directories in your build environment.
To create them:
LineageOS Wiki
mkdir -p ~/bin
mkdir -p ~/android/lineage
The ~/bin directory will contain the git-repo tool (commonly named “repo”) and the ~/android/lineage directory will contain the source
code of LineageOS.
Install the repo command
Enter the following to download the repo binary and make it executable (runnable):
curl https://storage.googleapis.com/git-repo-downloads/repo > ~/bin/repo
chmod a+x ~/bin/repo
Put the ~/bin directory in your path of execution
In recent versions of Ubuntu, ~/bin should already be in your PATH. You can check this by opening ~/.profile with a text editor and
verifying the following code exists (add it if it is missing):
# set PATH so it includes user's private bin if it exists
if [ -d "$HOME/bin" ] ; then
PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"
fi
Then, run source ~/.profile to update your environment.
Configure git
Given that repo requires you to identify yourself to sync Android, run the following commands to configure your git identity:
git config --global user.name "Your Name"
Turn on caching to speed up build
Make use of ccache if you want to speed up subsequent builds by running:
export USE_CCACHE=1
export CCACHE_EXEC=/usr/bin/ccache
and adding that line to your ~/.bashrc file. Then, specify the maximum amount of disk space you want ccache to use by typing this:
ccache -M 50G
where 50G corresponds to 50GB of cache. This needs to be run once. Anywhere from 25GB-100GB will result in very noticeably increased
build speeds (for instance, a typical 1hr build time can be reduced to 20min). If you’re only building for one device, 25GB-50GB is fine. If
you plan to build for several devices that do not share the same kernel source, aim for 75GB-100GB. This space will be permanently
occupied on your drive, so take this into consideration.
You can also enable the optional ccache compression. While this may involve a slight performance slowdown, it increases the number of
files that fit in the cache. To enable it, run:
ccache -o compression=true
info_outline NOTE: If compression is enabled, the ccache size can be lower (aim for approximately 20GB for one device).
Configure jack
Jack is the currently used Java toolchain for building LineageOS 14.1 and 15.1. It is known to run out of memory often if not configured
correctly - a simple fix is to run this command:
LineageOS Wiki
export ANDROID_JACK_VM_ARGS="-Dfile.encoding=UTF-8 -XX:+TieredCompilation -Xmx4G"
Adding that command to your ~/.bashrc file will automatically configure Jack to allocate a sufficient amount of memory (in this case,
4GB).
Initialize the LineageOS source repository
The following branches can be used to build for the Sony Xperia Tablet Z LTE:
cm-14.1
lineage-15.1
Enter the following to initialize the repository:
info_outline NOTE: Make sure the branch you enter here is the one you wish to build!
cd ~/android/lineage
repo init -u https://github.com/LineageOS/android.git -b lineage-15.1
Download the source code
To start the download of the source code to your computer, type the following:
repo sync
The LineageOS manifests include a sensible default configuration for repo, which we strongly suggest you use (i.e. don’t add any options
to sync). For reference, our default values are -j 4 and -c. The -j 4 part implies be four simultaneous threads/connections. If you
experience problems syncing, you can lower this to -j 3 or -j 2. On the other hand, -c makes repo to pull in only the current branch
instead of all branches that are available on GitHub.
info_outline NOTE: This may take a while, depending on your internet speed. Go and have a beer/coffee/tea/nap in the meantime!
check TIP: The repo sync command is used to update the latest source code from LineageOS and Google. Remember it, as you may want to do it every
few days to keep your code base fresh and up-to-date. But note, if you make any changes, running repo sync may wipe them away!
Prepare the device-specific code
After the source downloads, ensure you’re in the root of the source code (cd ~/android/lineage), then type:
source build/envsetup.sh
breakfast pollux
This will download your device’s device specific configuration and kernel.
warning IMPORTANT: Some devices require a vendor directory to be populated before breakfast will succeed. If you receive an error here about vendor
makefiles, jump down to Extract proprietary blobs. The first portion of breakfast should have succeeded, and after completing you can rerun
breakfast
Extract proprietary blobs
info_outline NOTE: This step requires to have a device already running the latest LineageOS, based on the branch you wish to build for. If you don’t have access
to such device, refer to Extracting proprietary blobs from installable zip.
Now ensure your Sony Xperia Tablet Z LTE is connected to your computer via the USB cable, with ADB and root enabled, and that you are
in the ~/android/lineage/device/sony/pollux folder. Then run the extract-files.sh script:
./extract-files.sh
The blobs should be pulled into the ~/android/lineage/vendor/sony folder. If you see “command not found” errors, adb may need to be
LineageOS Wiki
placed in ~/bin.
Start the build
Time to start building! Now, type:
croot
brunch pollux
The build should begin.
check TIP: Want to learn how to sign your own builds? Take a look at Signing builds.
Install the build
Assuming the build completed without errors (it will be obvious when it finishes), type the following in the terminal window the build ran in:
cd $OUT
There you’ll find all the files that were created. The two files of more interest are:
1. recovery.img, which is the LineageOS recovery image.
2. lineage-15.1-20211027-UNOFFICIAL-pollux.zip, which is the LineageOS installer package.
Success! So… what’s next?
You’ve done it! Welcome to the elite club of self-builders. You’ve built your operating system from scratch, from the ground up. You are the
master/mistress of your domain… and hopefully you’ve learned a bit on the way and had some fun too.
To get assistance
#LineageOS-dev - A helpful, real-time chat room (or “channel”), on the Libera.Chat IRC network.
Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Site last generated: Oct 27, 2021
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