ANDRIOD BASIC

Custom ROM and Root: The most important terms explained

 The days of custom ROMs being a particular niche for those with the expertise and wherewithal to go ahead and install them are slowly becoming a thing of the past. Whether you want to just be able to root your device to delete preinstalled system apps or whether you want to install a custom ROM, it is getting easier and easier to do. However, getting started sometimes might not be as intuitive as you would hope and many people balk at the many terms that developers use when explaining the process to use their ROM. And so, we’ve put together a glossary of terms for beginners and novices to help make those first few steps a little easier.

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What is a custom ROM?

A custom ROM is basically a different operating system for your smartphone / tablet. Unlike the pre-installed firmware that is provided by the manufacturer, such as Samsung Touchwiz or HTC Sense, custom ROMs provide an almost pure Android experience much like that you’d find on Google’s Nexus devices. Custom ROMS are also enriched with many useful extra features and customization options that affect the behavior of the system. Thus, the user gets more control over their device than it would ever be possible with the standard software from the manufacturer. In addition, custom ROMs are also a good way to install a more recent version of Android on your device.

What is a nightly build?

Nightly build are an automatically created version of the custom ROM that adds the most recent changes into the code base. These fixes, updates, and new features can be accessed and flashed nightly by those who want to test them out. However, since they are created automatically they are not checked for errors or bugs. As such, they are not recommended to be used for daily use but more-so for error checking and debugging.

What is root?

The term “root” comes from the Linux world and describes the lowest level of access of the file system. When we talk about the root process, we’re indicating that a super user privileges have been access and you have full access to the entire file system. This allows you to change absolutely everything that is available on the system. Having this type of access can be dangerous to a novice user as important system files that are required by the OS can be deleted as well as useless ones. This is also one of the reasons that most smart phones are not rooted by default.

CyanogenMod is one of the most popular custom ROMs. / ©Download Hub

What are Gapps?

Gapps are basically all the Google Apps. This includes such Google apps as the Play Store and GMAIL. For legal reasons, these apps are not a standard part of custom ROMS, but must be installed separately at the same time as flashing a ROM.

What is recovery?

The “recovery” process can be started before the actual boot process of the Android operating system by pressing a certain key combination. It contains reset options for the smartphone and also the option to clear the cache, provide a backup, restore, among a bunch of other useful features. With a custom recovery, you can also create or install new version of custom ROMs.

The Custom CWM Recovery. / ©Download Hub

What is a boot loader?

A boot loader is a separate partition on the internal memory of the smartphone / tablet. The boot loader loads the actual Android operating system.]

What is a Nandroid backup?

A Nandroid backup is a complete image of your system. Should you do something, for example delete a necessary system file and softbrick your device, you can return it to the previous state by restoring a backup of your system using this.

What is a cache / Dalvik cache?

The cache is a buffer memory and frequently used files are stored here for faster retrieval. The Dalvik cahce is a directory tree for all programs.

What is fastboot?

Fastboot is a special tool that is used for diagnostic and development purposes. To an Android device that is in fastboot mode and connected to a computer allows you to boot images and other files to your smartphone. As well, other commands can be sent to the device, such as telling it to delete certain partitions or go to the bootloader.

What is ADB and what does it mean?

ADB stands for Android Debug Bridge and is a software interface for the Android operating system. Similar to fastboot and how it interacts via the computer command line terminal with your smartphone or tablet, ADB requires you to be connected to a computer. With ADB, you can download files to your computer from your smartphone and vice versa.

By rooting and installing a custom ROM, you can more access to manipulate your device to your whims./ © Download Hub

What is kernel / custom kernel?

A kernel is the link between the hardare and software on your device. Whenever you interact with your Android smartphone, the kernel sends the requests made by the software to the hardware and makes the appropriate changes and vice versa. If you, for example, change the brightness with the slider on your device, the kernel registers the change and causes the brightness to actually change on the screen. Of course, this is a very simplistic explanation of what goes on behind the scenes, but gives a pretty clear insight into what a kernel does.
A custom kernel can expand the system to include additional functions, such as changing the CPU clock rates or adjusting the battery usage and idle times.

Conclusion

And so, those were a bunch of the most common used terms related to rooting and using a custom ROM and you’ll most likely see them when we and other talk about the process. There, of course, is much more to discover and learn, but for now, it’s a nice introduction into what some of the terms actually mean.