I want to convert a plaintext AndroidManifest.xml file into the binary format Android uses to package it inside the final APK.
I want to do this in Java, since I need to do it on the android device itself (which is why this question is NOT a duplicate of: How to convert XML to Android Binary XML. I know you can use AAPT, but I need a java method)
There's plenty of tools around to decode the binary xml into a readable file, but nothing on how to do the opposite, which is what I want.
Any info or hint on how this could be achieved is appreciated.
2 Answers
Answers 1
You may find a lot of command-line tools that can be used to compile and decompile the xml files for Android. Those tools are combined of several build tools including aapt (Android Asset Packaging Tools) to view, create, and update Zip-compatible archives (zip, jar, apk). Since This tool is a part of the Android SDK, There's no native implementation of it in Java.
Fortunately, self-compile-Android repository has all the necessary files in Java Native Interface (JNI). They are ready to be used from inside an Android App and capable of self-compilation, mutation, and viral spreading.
Here a list of available native modules in the app:
aapt -> Platform_Framework_Base\tools\aapt aidl -> Platform_Framework_Base\tools\aidl androidfw -> Platform_Framework_Base\include\androidfw zipalign -> Platform_Build\tools\zipalign host -> Platform_Build\lib\host libpng -> Platform_External_Libpng expat -> Platform_External_Expat zlib -> Platform_External_Zlib libcutils -> Platform_System_Core\libcutils cutils -> Platform_System_Core\include\cutils liblog -> Platform_System_Core\liblog log -> Platform_System_Core\include\log libutils -> Platform_System_Core\libutils utils -> Platform_System_Core\include\utils log.h -> Platform_System_Core\include\android asset_manager.h -> Platform_Framework_Native\include\android looper.h -> Platform_Framework_Native\include\android zopfli -> zopfli\src ld -> Tool_Chain_Utils\binutils-2.25\ld If you look closely at the source you'll find the app executing aapt commands using the native jni files:
private void runAapt() throws Exception { Util.deleteRecursive(new File(S.dirRes, "drawable-xxhdpi")); Aapt aapt = new Aapt(); int exitCode = aapt.fnExecute("aapt p -f -v -M " + S.xmlMan.getPath() + " -F " + S.ap_Resources.getPath() + " -I " + S.jarAndroid.getPath() + " -A " + S.dirAssets.getPath() + " -S " + S.dirRes.getPath() + " -J " + S.dirGen.getPath()); if (exitCode != 0) { throw new Exception("AAPT exit(" + exitCode + ")"); } } Now, go through the sample code to see how the functionalities are implemented. For example to change a value in manifest file,
private void modifyManifest() throws Exception { Document dom = Util.readXml(S.xmlMan); dom.getDocumentElement().getAttributes().getNamedItem("package").setNodeValue(userInput.appPackage); Transformer t = tf.newTransformer(); t.setOutputProperty("{http://xml.apache.org/xslt}indent-amount", "4"); t.setOutputProperty(OutputKeys.INDENT, "yes"); t.setOutputProperty(OutputKeys.METHOD, "xml"); t.setOutputProperty(OutputKeys.VERSION, "1.0"); t.setOutputProperty(OutputKeys.ENCODING, "UTF-8"); t.transform(new DOMSource(dom), new StreamResult(new FileOutputStream(xmlFile))); } Answers 2
Your problem boils down to how can you run aapt on the Android device itself.
Since aapt is open source, the best solution is just build it yourself!
Plenty of people have already done that - and indeed there are examples in the Play Store. See http://talc1.loria.fr/users/cerisara/posts/buildandroid/ for instructions on how to use aapt obtained from the AIDE app. A search on the Play Store turns up plenty of other Android IDEs which also offer aapt functionaility.
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