Develop Reference

Starting adb logs on internal storage without going into the shell

I am trying to start internal logs within my android devices without having to go directly into the adb shell. I have to script this process so I can run it from a program.
I am aware that you can take the following steps to start internal logs on an android device:
Open a cmd prompt
enter 'adb shell'
enter 'logcat -v time -f /sdcard/LogFile.txt&'
The above will start a logcat process within the actual device. I can now unplug my phone from the computer and move around then come back and collect the logs once my test is complete. It's crucial that I am able to start this process and be able to unplug my device with the logs still running.
To my knowledge running 'adb shell' in front of any command would run as if it were in the shell. Therefore by this logic I tried running:
Method 1:
'adb shell logcat -v time -f /sdcard/LogFile.txt&'
This command did properly start the log on the device which is great. However, once I unplug from my computer the logcat process stops.
Method 2:
'adb shell "logcat -v time -f /sdcard/LogFile.txt&" '
This didn't seem to do anything at all on the phone and I don't know why.
Method 3
I have tried the scripting method as well where I run a Batch file that contains only:
'adb shell < Commands.txt'
Where commands has the single line:
'logcat -v time -f /sdcard/LogFile.txt&'
This doesn't appear to do anything. It appears to send the command once the window comes up but doesn't actually perform the action.
Any help on this topic would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

you can use this code in application class. so when app will launch this code will start executing. and it will create new log file according to current time.
Thread t = new Thread(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
while (collectLog == true) {
try {
Thread.sleep(1000 * 60 * 6);
StringBuilder log = null;
Date now = new Date();
String fileName = formatter.format(now);
File file = new File(dir, fileName + "_logcat2.txt");
try {
Process process = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("logcat -d");// d will dump logs
//Process process = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("logcat -c"); c will clear logs
// process = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("logcat -f " + file);
BufferedReader bufferedReader = new BufferedReader(
new InputStreamReader(process.getInputStream()));
log = new StringBuilder();
String line;
while ((line = bufferedReader.readLine()) != null) {
log.append(line);
log.append("\n");
}
} catch (IOException e) {
}
try {
//to write logcat in text file
FileOutputStream fOut = new FileOutputStream(file);
OutputStreamWriter osw = new OutputStreamWriter(fOut)
// Write the string to the file
osw.append(log.toString());
osw.flush();
osw.close();
} catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
});
t.start();

Android: Android kill tcpdump process

First sorry for my bad English.
I have developed an app in Android Studio. It call tcpdump (Process process = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("su -c tcpdump -s 0 -v -w /sdcard/capture.pcap");). Initially it works correctly. However, tcpdump process is killed abruptly. Would anyone tell me why?
Thank you

It might tell you why on standard error:
final Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(tcpdumpCommand);
final BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(
new InputStreamReader(p.getErrorStream()));
(new Thread() {
public void run() {
while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null) {
Log.d("tcpdump", "stderr: " + line);
}
Log.d("tcpdump", "end of stderr");
}
}).start();
...and then look in logcat. Or try the same with getOutputStream() (for stdout) instead of getErrorStream().
Also if tcpdump was successfully capturing traffic and then abruptly stopped, one possible reason is you've filled the SD card.

getRuntime Android show process

I'm doing a simple app that show the currently process in android, like a shell.
My app execute ls, cd, makedir and other commands, but top or htop command doesnt. (htop doesn't recognize, and top, the app freeze). I need root to this? I've downloaded the terminal app in unrooted android and top command works.
my app has 2 class. a principal and a shell
principal class
public void onClick(View arg0) {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
ShellExecuter exe = new ShellExecuter();
command = input.getText().toString();
String outp = exe.Executer(command);
out.setText(outp);
Log.d("Output", outp);
}
shell class
public String Executer(String command) {
StringBuffer output = new StringBuffer();
Process p;
try {
p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(command);
p.waitFor();
BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(p.getInputStream()));
String line = "";
while ((line = reader.readLine())!= null) {
output.append(line + "\n");
}
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
String response = output.toString();
return response;
}
Why some commands the app works and top for example doesn't??

If you have your Device connected, go to the shell to see what commands you have available using the following command in your computer's command line:
adb shell
At first glance you will be able to tell that "top" is a job that "displays and update sorted information about processes" and it blocks the shell commands line, hence, in your application is locking the thread that executed that command.
Hope it Helps!
Regards!

thanks. adb shell with top command show the process
but
p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("top");
doesn't maybe works??
I don't understante cause my app freeze
or a top -n 1 not fixed?

Syntax for shell command in Android app

I am trying to run
String command = "su -c 'busybox ls /data'";
p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(command);
in my app, but it seems like the syntax is somehow wrong. I have no problem running it from the terminal emulator app on the phone, though, so I just can't understand why it is not working when called from within my app.
Any help is deeply appreciated!

SOLUTION FOUND! Thanks to the link suggested by onit here. See the code below: for superuser shell commands to work properly, you first need to create a superuser shell and assign it to a process, then write and read on it's input and output streams respectively.
Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(new String[]{"su", "-c", "system/bin/sh"});
DataOutputStream stdin = new DataOutputStream(p.getOutputStream());
//from here all commands are executed with su permissions
stdin.writeBytes("ls /data\n"); // \n executes the command
InputStream stdout = p.getInputStream();
byte[] buffer = new byte[BUFF_LEN];
int read;
String out = new String();
//read method will wait forever if there is nothing in the stream
//so we need to read it in another way than while((read=stdout.read(buffer))>0)
while(true){
read = stdout.read(buffer);
out += new String(buffer, 0, read);
if(read<BUFF_LEN){
//we have read everything
break;
}
}
//do something with the output

Use the function below:
public void shellCommandRunAsRoot(String Command)
{
try
{
Process RunProcess= Runtime.getRuntime().exec("su");
DataOutputStream os;
os = new DataOutputStream(RunProcess.getOutputStream());
os.writeBytes(cmds+"\n");
os.writeBytes("exit+\n");
os.flush();
}
catch (IOException e)
{
// Handle Exception
}
}
Usage:
shellCommandRunAsRoot("pkill firefox");

Android Not Granting Dump Permission

For the purposes of monitoring Battery usage etc. I have code that executes a few dumpsys calls, reads and parses the output to extract data that I am interested in.
dumpsys battery, dumpsys statusbar, and dumpsys power all give me an error message for output like "Permission Denial: can't dump Battery service from pid..."
Also, when the application is launched there is an item in the log tagged with "PackageManager" statingNot granting permission android.permissionDUMP to package.... (protectionLevel = 3 ...)"
However, dumpsys cpuinfo and dumpsys netstat work and give me the correct output, which seems to be inconsistent.
I am able to generate dumpsys battery and the like from the adb shell, but when I try to call it programmatically it does not work.
I have tried running this on a HTC Nexus One phone as well as the emulator and get the same results for each. The weird thing is that this code worked on my Nexus One a day ago (before I upgraded from 2.2 to 2.3), and now it does not. Is this because of the upgrade?
An example of the code I am trying to run is as follows:
String command = "dumpsys battery";
try {
String s = null;
Process process = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(command);
BufferedReader stdInput = new BufferedReader(new
InputStreamReader(process.getInputStream()));
BufferedReader stdError = new BufferedReader(new
InputStreamReader(process.getErrorStream()));
// read the output from the command
System.out.println("Here is the standard output of the command:\n");
while ((s = stdInput.readLine()) != null) {
System.out.println(s);
}
// read any errors from the attempted command
System.out.println("Here is the standard error of the command (if any):\n");
while ((s = stdError.readLine()) != null) {
System.out.println(s);
}
} catch (IOException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
How do I get the dumpsys to give me the correct output programmatically and how to I get the dump permission to be granted?
*The Nexus One is not rooted and I would like to get this working without having to root it for the purposes of my project
Thank you for your help

Regular applications cannot get the DUMP permission. It is reserved to system applications.

android.permission.Dump is protected by system, signature, and development permission protection levels. Line 1993 of the source shows you this. If your APK is signed with the framework cert, is in the priv-app directory, or debuggable (see below) you can use the pm service to grant the permission, but otherwise the code specifically prevents what you're asking for (line 2624 of source).
Debuggable APKs can be created through setting the debuggable attribute on a buildType via build.gradle. Sample Android DSL:
android {
...
buildTypes {
debug {
debuggable true
...
}
quality_assurance {
debuggable true
}
...
}

If your handset had been rooted, 'dumpsys activity' will work on Android2.3:
private static void dumpIT0(String sCmd) {
try {
String s = null;
String command = "su -c " + sCmd;
Process process = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(command);
BufferedReader stdInput = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(
process.getInputStream()));
BufferedReader stdError = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(
process.getErrorStream()));
// read the output from the command
System.out.println("Here is the standard output of the command:\n");
while ((s = stdInput.readLine()) != null) {
System.out.println(s);
}
// read any errors from the attempted command
System.out.println("Here is the standard error of the command (if any):\n");
while ((s = stdError.readLine()) != null) {
System.out.println(s);
}
} catch (IOException e) {
Log.e(TAG, "IOException: " + e);
}
}
sCmd = "dumpsys activity";