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The current CM10 + GApps experience on Motorola Xoom is plagued by the size of the CM10 ROM -- there isn't enough space left after flashing the CM10 zip to fully flash the GApps zip. This results in gtalk force-closing while trying to video chat and some other issues.

I've been following a discussion about this on the XDA development forum for Xoom. Here's someone mentioning that he 'removed' some files from the CM10 ROM zip file to reduce it's size: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=34462283#post34462283

Could someone guide me how to do this?
Is it simply unzipping the file, deleting certain files and re-zipping?
or is there more ? (like signing the file)
To remove apps from the ROM, should the .apk file simply be removed or do apps also have associated files that need to be removed as well?

In the same discussion some people talk about moving certain files from the system partition to the data partition? How could this symlinks information be stored in the ROM zip file? or are they talking about creating the symlinks after flashing the zip?

Thanks

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  • Just curious: How much storage do you need to free? GApps for CM10 are around 90MB or so, so that's the upper bound. Actually you could use TitaniumBackup to uninstall system apps (like Calc and such) or remove them manually using the usual steps (remount /system rw, then use any file explorer app do delete stuff). Be careful though.
    – ce4
    Commented Nov 23, 2012 at 12:19
  • @Puneet: Your link is broken.
    – Izzy
    Commented Nov 23, 2012 at 13:20
  • @Izzy: sorry about the broken link, fixed it now.
    – 0cd
    Commented Nov 23, 2012 at 19:49
  • Yepp, works now :)
    – Izzy
    Commented Nov 23, 2012 at 20:05

2 Answers 2

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There are multiple solutions available:

Re-Zip the Image

Advantage: You do it once, and can use the resulting image for multiple devices. That's what I did with CM7.2 for my Milestone 2. Easy enough to do:

  1. create a temporary (empty) folder
  2. unzip the zip file to it
  3. remove unwanted *.apk files from /system/apps (be careful of what you remove, of course)
  4. zip up the directory contents again

Using a graphical ZIP manager (like WinZip or the like), steps would be even easier:

  1. open the zip file with the archive manager
  2. remove the unwanted .apk files
  3. if the ZIP manager requires it, save the manipulated zip

Manually cleanup after flashing, using the shell

This is what ce4 recommended in the comments. It requires you using a terminal emulator on your device:

  1. Flash the image as-is
  2. remove superfluous stuff from the system partition by hand (like rm /system/big/junk/example.mp4)

Manually cleanup after flashing, using other tools

Almost the same as the previous method, but a bit more user-friendly. Disadvantage: this won't do for superflous ringtones and the like:

  1. Flash the image as-is
  2. Use a tool like Titanium Backup or Root Uninstaller to remove unwanted system apps
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  • Thanks. Do apps consist of only the .apk file or could they have other supporting files as well?
    – 0cd
    Commented Nov 23, 2012 at 19:50
  • I don't know for sure, but IMHO usually not. In my case it was enough to remove the *.apk files.
    – Izzy
    Commented Nov 23, 2012 at 20:03
  • Most apps only consist of .apk files (some also have .so files, like the camera app). Plus: Some .apk files are needed by others, so if you delete them you might encounter problems just like you had with talk). Stick to removing wallpapers, video samples, ringtones and visible apps you don't need (like Calc, the clock, video studio and such). But: You cannot do much harm; you just might have to re-flash if you mess something up.
    – ce4
    Commented Nov 23, 2012 at 20:12
  • @Izzy: You can also do the removal "on-the-fly" in the CWM recovery. Remove just enough stuff so that the GApps fit in place (using standard rm tool) and try flashing GApps. Might be even quicker.
    – ce4
    Commented Nov 23, 2012 at 20:21
  • @ce4 Sure (hm, never tried that: Does that happen before the real flash, as selecting the zip and mark what to remove?). You could even remove them afterwards with e.g. Titanium Backup. I just described how to do it beforehand, so it surely fits in itself :)
    – Izzy
    Commented Nov 23, 2012 at 23:20
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I'm using a custom rom and I wanted to delete the AOSP browser. I simply unzipped the custom rom zip, deleted the browser apk. Then I re-zipped the rom image and flashed it as usual on TWRP.

WAY TO GO :D WORKS JUST FINE!!

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