How do I get the logfile from an Android device? - android

I would like to pull the log file from a device to my PC. How can I do that?

Logcollector is a good option but you need to install it first.
When I want to get the logfile to send by mail, I usually do the following:
connect the device to the pc.
Check that I already setup my os for that particular device.
Open a terminal
Run adb shell logcat > log.txt

I hope this code will help someone. It took me 2 days to figure out how to log from device, and then filter it:
public File extractLogToFileAndWeb(){
//set a file
Date datum = new Date();
SimpleDateFormat df = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd", Locale.ITALY);
String fullName = df.format(datum)+"appLog.log";
File file = new File (Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory(), fullName);
//clears a file
if(file.exists()){
file.delete();
}
//write log to file
int pid = android.os.Process.myPid();
try {
String command = String.format("logcat -d -v threadtime *:*");
Process process = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(command);
BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(process.getInputStream()));
StringBuilder result = new StringBuilder();
String currentLine = null;
while ((currentLine = reader.readLine()) != null) {
if (currentLine != null && currentLine.contains(String.valueOf(pid))) {
result.append(currentLine);
result.append("\n");
}
}
FileWriter out = new FileWriter(file);
out.write(result.toString());
out.close();
//Runtime.getRuntime().exec("logcat -d -v time -f "+file.getAbsolutePath());
} catch (IOException e) {
Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), e.toString(), Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}
//clear the log
try {
Runtime.getRuntime().exec("logcat -c");
} catch (IOException e) {
Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), e.toString(), Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}
return file;
}
as pointed by #mehdok
add the permission to the manifest for reading logs
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_LOGS" />

I would use something of this sort :
$adb logcat -d > logcat.txt
The -d option dumps the entire circular buffer into the text file and if you are looking for a particular action/intent try
$adb logcat -d | grep 'com.whatever.you.are.looking.for' -B 100 -A 100 > shorterlog.txt
Hope this helps :)

For those not interested in USB debugging or using adb there is an easier solution. In Android 6 (Not sure about prior version) there is an option under developer tools: Take Bug Report
Clicking this option will prepare a bug report and prompt you to save it to drive or have it sent in email.
I found this to be the easiest way to get logs. I don't like to turn on USB debugging.

EDIT:
The internal log is a circular buffer in memory. There are actually a few such circular buffers for each of: radio, events, main. The default is main.
To obtain a copy of a buffer, one technique involves executing a command on the device and obtaining the output as a string variable.
SendLog is an open source App which does just this: http://www.l6n.org/android/sendlog.shtml
The key is to run logcat on the device in the embedded OS. It's not as hard as it sounds, just check out the open source app in the link.

Often I get the error "logcat read: Invalid argument". I had to clear the log, before reading from the log.
I do like this:
prompt> cd ~/Desktop
prompt> adb logcat -c
prompt> adb logcat | tee log.txt

I know it's an old question, but I believe still valid even in 2018.
There is an option to Take a bug report hidden in Developer options in every android device.
NOTE: This would dump whole system log
How to enable developer options? see: https://developer.android.com/studio/debug/dev-options
What works for me:
Restart your device (in order to create minimum garbage logs for developer to analyze)
Reproduce your bug
Go to Settings -> Developer options -> Take a bug report
Wait for Android system to collect the logs (watch the progressbar in notification)
Once it completes, tap the notification to share it (you can use gmail or whetever else)
how to read this?
open bugreport-1960-01-01-hh-mm-ss.txt
you probably want to look for something like this:
------ SYSTEM LOG (logcat -v threadtime -v printable -d *:v) ------
--------- beginning of crash
06-13 14:37:36.542 19294 19294 E AndroidRuntime: FATAL EXCEPTION: main
or:
------ SYSTEM LOG (logcat -v threadtime -v printable -d *:v) ------
--------- beginning of main

A simple way is to make your own log collector methods or even just an existing log collector app from the market.
For my apps I made a report functionality which sends the logs to my email (or even to another place - once you get the log you can do whether you want with it).
Here is a simple example about how to get the log file from a device:
http://code.google.com/p/android-log-collector/

Simple just run the following command to get the output to your terminal:
adb shell logcat

Two steps:
Generate the log
Load Gmail to send the log
.
Generate the log
File generateLog() {
File logFolder = new File(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory(), "MyFolder");
if (!logFolder.exists()) {
logFolder.mkdir();
}
String filename = "myapp_log_" + new Date().getTime() + ".log";
File logFile = new File(logFolder, filename);
try {
String[] cmd = new String[] { "logcat", "-f", logFile.getAbsolutePath(), "-v", "time", "ActivityManager:W", "myapp:D" };
Runtime.getRuntime().exec(cmd);
Toaster.shortDebug("Log generated to: " + filename);
return logFile;
}
catch (IOException ioEx) {
ioEx.printStackTrace();
}
return null;
}
Load Gmail to send the log
File logFile = generateLog();
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_SEND);
intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
intent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_STREAM, Uri.fromFile(logFile));
intent.setType("multipart/");
startActivity(intent);
References for #1
https://stackoverflow.com/a/34883741/2162226
https://stackoverflow.com/a/3359857/2162226
~~
For #2 - there are many different answers out there for how to load the log file to view and send. Finally, the solution here actually worked to both:
load Gmail as an option
attaches the file successfully
Big thanks to https://stackoverflow.com/a/22367055/2162226 for the correctly working answer

Thanks to user1354692 I could made it more easy, with only one line! the one he has commented:
try {
File file = new File(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory(), String.valueOf(System.currentTimeMillis()));
Runtime.getRuntime().exec("logcat -d -v time -f " + file.getAbsolutePath());}catch (IOException e){}

I have created a small library (.aar) to retrieve the logs by email. You can use it with Gmail accounts. It is pretty simple but works. You can get a copy from here
The site is in Spanish, but there is a PDF with an english version of the product description.
I hope it can help.

First make sure adb command is executable by setting PATH to android sdk platform-tools:
export PATH=/Users/espireinfolabs/Desktop/soft/android-sdk-mac_x86/platform-tools:$PATH
then run:
adb shell logcat > log.txt
OR first move to adb platform-tools:
cd /Users/user/Android/Tools/android-sdk-macosx/platform-tools
then run
./adb shell logcat > log.txt

I would use something like:
$ adb logcat --pid=$(adb shell pidof com.example.yourpackage)
which you can then redirect to a file
$ adb logcat --pid=$(adb shell pidof com.example.yourpackage) > log.txt
or if you also want to see it at stdout as well:
$ adb logcat --pid=$(adb shell pidof com.example.yourpackage) | tee log.txt

Related

how can I get adb permission on android 7.1?

my environment:
cpu:rk3288
os:android7.1
transfer method:sftp
I wrote android code to do these things below:
get the logcat with code "adb logcat -d -v time -f /mnt/sdcard/logcat.txt"
pull the file logcat.tx to the server with sftp
in 1st step I coding some java language with android studio like below, if anyone can help me, thanks!
Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("adb logcat -d -v time -f /mnt/sdcard/logcat.txt");
error massage:
java.io.IOException: Cannot run program "adb": error=13, Permission denied
You can't use adb commands from inside the device, even if you somehow have it in the device you would need root permissions. The adb is the bridge between the PC and the device. Take a look here: https://developer.android.com/studio/command-line/adb
Although you probably can just remove the adb and use logcat directly, like:
Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("logcat -d -v time -f /mnt/sdcard/logcat.txt");
Here you can see some more options about using the logcat command: Read logcat programmatically within application, including Reetpreet Brar's answer, that I think will be better for you:
Process pq=Runtime.getRuntime().exec("logcat v main"); //adapt the command for yourself
BufferedReader brq = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(pq.getInputStream()));
String sq="";
while ((sq = brq.readLine()) != null)
{
//here you can do what you want with the log, like writing in a file to
//send to the server later.
}
Here you can choose methods to write your file: How to Read/Write String from a File in Android
Then, just send the file to the server.

Is it possible to execute adb commands through my android app?

Can anyone say, whether adb commands can be executed through my android application. If it is possible to execute, how it can be implemented?
You can do it with this:
Process process = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("your command");
BufferedReader bufferedReader = new BufferedReader(
new InputStreamReader(process.getInputStream()));
Don't forget to surround it with a try and catch statement.
Edit:
#Phix is right, ProcessBuilder would be better to use.
Normal Android apps have different privileges to processes started via adb, e.g., processes started via adb are allowed to the capture the screen whereas normal apps aren't. So, you can execute commands from your app via Runtime.getRuntime().exec(), but they won't have the same privileges as if you had executed from an adb shell.
i came across this post looking for a different query, but i have worked specifically with input on android before, so I'd just like to put some clarity on the matter.
The reason why
Runtime.getRuntime().exec("adb shell input keyevent 120");
Is not working, is because you are not removing
adb shell
The ADB part is only for use on your computer, if you have incorrectly installed ADB, the command would actually be a path to the adb.exe file on your computer, like this
C:\XXXX\ADB Files\adb.exe shell
or
C:\XXXX\ADB Files\adb shell
The shell part tells the ADB program on your computer to access the devices shell, so your device will not know what shell is either...
Using sh /path/to/commandList.sh will execute the commads listed in commandList.sh as it is a shell script (a .batch file on windows is similar )
The command you want to use is
Runtime.getRuntime().exec("input keyevent 120");
However this will cause Environment null and working directory null, you can bypass this by writing the commands to a shell script ( .sh file ) and then running the script with
Runtime.getRuntime().exec("sh path/to/shellScript.sh");
Sometimes the sh is not needed, but i use it just incase.
I hope this clears at least something up :)
adb shell invoked in Runtime.getRuntime().exec is not running under shell user. It provide shell but with same process owner user (like u0_a44). That's the reason all command did not work.
This is what I do in Kotlin, I also get command responses too
fun runShellCommand(command: String) {
// Run the command
val process = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(command)
val bufferedReader = BufferedReader(
InputStreamReader(process.inputStream)
)
// Grab the results
val log = StringBuilder()
var line: String?
line = bufferedReader.readLine()
while (line != null) {
log.append(line + "\n")
line = bufferedReader.readLine()
}
val Reader = BufferedReader(
InputStreamReader(process.errorStream)
)
// if we had an error during ex we get here
val error_log = StringBuilder()
var error_line: String?
error_line = Reader.readLine()
while (error_line != null) {
error_log.append(error_line + "\n")
error_line = Reader.readLine()
}
if (error_log.toString() != "")
Log.info("ADB_COMMAND", "command : $command $log error $error_log")
else
Log.info("ADB_COMMAND", "command : $command $log")
}
Executing
Runtime.getRuntime().exec("adb shell input keyevent 120");
I got the following error:
java.io.IOException: Cannot run program "adb": error=13, Permission denied.
Executing
Runtime.getRuntime().exec("adb shell input keyevent 120");
There is no error but at the same time, my request is not processed to take the screenshot.
I found out this was working in earlier versions of android but later it was removed. Though I'm not able to provide the source here why it is not working.
Hope this helps someone like me who is trying to use this approach to take the screenshot when the app is not in the foreground.
Process process = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("su");
DataOutputStream os = new DataOutputStream(process.getOutputStream());
string cmd = "/system/bin/input keyevent 23\n";
os.writeBytes(cmd);
the phone must be rooted. here I have executed adb command "input keyevent 23".
remember when you execute adb command through su you does not need to add "adb shell input keyevent 23"

How can I run Linux commands on an Android device?

On some Android devices, in the ADB shell, I can only run echo, cd, ls. When I run:
tar -cvf //mnt/sdcard/BackUp1669/apk/test.tar /mnt/sdcard/test.apk
Or the command cp, it returns:
sh: tar: not found
Why can I not run these commands? Some devices support these commands. My end goal is to copy a file from the /data/data folder to SD card. I got su and I got the following code:
int timeout = 1000;
String command = "tar -cvf /" + Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory() + "/cp/"
+ packageName + ".tar" + " " + path;
DataOutputStream os = new DataOutputStream(process.getOutputStream());
BufferedReader is = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(new DataInputStream(
process.getInputStream())), 64);
String inLine;
try {
StringBuilder sbCommand = new StringBuilder();
sbCommand.append(command).append(" ");
sbCommand.append("\n");
os.writeBytes(command.toString());
if (is != null) {
for (int i = 0; i < timeout; i++) {
if (is.ready())
break;
try {
Thread.sleep(5);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
if (is.ready()) {
inLine = is.readLine();
} else {
}
}
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
It always stops in is.ready(), and when I changed it to process.waitfor() it also stopped. Why?
As far as i know, the only way to run shell commands is:
Process proc = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("your command");
You can run Linux commands on Android. But there are usually just very few pre-installed.
If you want to add more commands you might want to root your device and install busybox on it.
This is not for productive use within an application but can help you to work with your device.
If you have the binaries for your system, you can run anything on your system.
Saying that you have to understand that you have to find the binaries for tar.
Look here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=872438
And possibly other places..
You can probably get this done by using a Terminal Emulator app. As you wrote above, I don't know how well DOS commands will work. But, a Terminal Emulator works without root.
You can install Termux app on your android device and run Linux command by using that app
Install busybox, then type the command in the following format:
busybox [linux command]
You cannot use all the linux commands without busybox, because Android doesn't have all the binaries that are available in a standard linux operating system.
FYI, a binary is just a file that contains compiled code. A lot of the default binaries are stored in /system/bin/sh directory. All these commands like 'cp' 'ls' 'get' etc, are actually binaries. You can view them through:
ls -a /system/bin/sh
Hope this helps.
In reply to Igor Ganapolsky, You would have to have a database set up for locate.
Probably find would be adequate for your needs.
example:
find -name *.apk

why does CAT command is not working in android device?

I am working in android application. I want to copy data from 1 file to other file.I have executed below command for it, but not able to copy data from file1 -> file 2.
// Executes the command.
String CAT_COMMAND = "cat /sdcard/file1 > /sdcard/file2";
Process process = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(CAT_COMMAND);
I have used ADB SHELL command at DOS , executed CAT command which works fine.
But code execution is not working into the real devices.
please help me out why does it is not copying data from file1->file2.??
provide resolution for writing/copying data using CAT command.
Thanks
can you try with the complete path /mnt/sdcard .(or) Try to get the right path by Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory()

Android Log vs Titanium INFO

while programming android with eclipse, no matter if you're using the emulator or a device connected in debug mode you can easily check the Log for looking at the custom messages that you wrote.
e.g.: Log.i("foo: " + foo);
With the method:
Titanium.API.info("foo: " + foo);
if i'm using the emulator it all works fine, but if i'm deploying on the device is there a way of looking at the INFO?? with TiStudio or even TiDev
Thanks
You can use adb from the android SDK tools directory to see your Titanium Titanium.API.info calls:
tools/adb logcat | grep "TiAPI"
This will filter the adb log, giving you a cleaner view of only your log messages.
You can see logcat from the current device. Enable debug mode on the device, and connect it to the computer.
Then, if using eclipse, on the DDMS view on Devices select the device you want and the LogCat will show logs from it.
You can also see with this app the logs:
https://market.android.com/details?id=org.jtb.alogcat
Or save them to file:
try {
File filename = new File(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory()
+ "/logfile.txt");
filename.createNewFile();
String[] cmd = new String[] { "logcat", "-v", "time", "-c", "-f",
filename.getAbsolutePath() };
Runtime.getRuntime().exec(cmd);
} catch (IOException e) {
Log.d("mCare", "Unable to log...", e);
e.printStackTrace();
}
You can read more here: How to redirect my log output from logcat to the SD-Card on an android device?
Have you tried Ti.API.log?

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