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Smali APK quick manual

This note documents the exact small-app workflow that was verified against the local LineageOS VM over adb.

What was verified

  • Device: 127.0.0.1:5555
  • OS: LineageOS 23.1 / Android 16
  • ABI: arm64-v8a
  • Demo package: com.example.smalihello

Files used

  • project: experiments/smali-hello/
  • manifest: experiments/smali-hello/AndroidManifest.xml
  • Java source: experiments/smali-hello/src/com/example/smalihello/MainActivity.java
  • build script: experiments/smali-hello/build-smali-demo.sh
  • generated smali: experiments/smali-hello/smali-src/smali/...

Required tools

The working setup used these tools:

  • java, javac
  • aapt, d8, zipalign, apksigner
  • apktool
  • adb

Expected SDK paths in this repo's environment:

  • SDK root: /Users/password9090/android-sdk
  • build-tools: 34.0.0
  • platform jar: platforms/android-34/android.jar

1. Build the demo APK

From repo root:

chmod +x experiments/smali-hello/build-smali-demo.sh
./experiments/smali-hello/build-smali-demo.sh

Expected output:

  • final APK: experiments/smali-hello/build/smali-signed.apk

What the script does:

  1. packages resources with aapt
  2. compiles Java with javac
  3. creates classes.dex with d8
  4. adds classes.dex into the base APK
  5. aligns and signs the APK
  6. decompiles it with apktool
  7. rebuilds the APK from the generated smali tree
  8. aligns and signs the smali-rebuilt APK

2. Confirm the APK really came from smali

Check that smali files exist:

find experiments/smali-hello/smali-src -type f -name '*.smali' | head

Key file:

  • experiments/smali-hello/smali-src/smali/com/example/smalihello/MainActivity.smali

Also verify the signed APK contains classes.dex:

unzip -l experiments/smali-hello/build/smali-signed.apk | grep classes.dex

3. Install on the Lineage VM

Make sure the VM is visible first:

adb devices -l
adb connect 127.0.0.1:5555

Install the smali-built APK:

adb -s 127.0.0.1:5555 install -r experiments/smali-hello/build/smali-signed.apk

Verify the package is installed:

adb -s 127.0.0.1:5555 shell pm list packages | grep com.example.smalihello

4. Launch the app

adb -s 127.0.0.1:5555 shell am start -W -n com.example.smalihello/.MainActivity

Optional runtime verification:

adb -s 127.0.0.1:5555 shell dumpsys activity activities \
  | egrep 'mResumedActivity|topResumedActivity|com.example.smalihello'

5. Edit the smali directly

After the first build, edit files under:

  • experiments/smali-hello/smali-src/smali/

Typical target:

  • experiments/smali-hello/smali-src/smali/com/example/smalihello/MainActivity.smali

After editing smali, rebuild/sign/install manually:

apktool b experiments/smali-hello/smali-src -o experiments/smali-hello/build/smali-unsigned.apk
/Users/password9090/android-sdk/build-tools/34.0.0/zipalign -f 4 \
  experiments/smali-hello/build/smali-unsigned.apk \
  experiments/smali-hello/build/smali-aligned.apk
/Users/password9090/android-sdk/build-tools/34.0.0/apksigner sign \
  --ks experiments/smali-hello/build/debug.keystore \
  --ks-key-alias androiddebugkey \
  --ks-pass pass:android \
  --key-pass pass:android \
  --out experiments/smali-hello/build/smali-signed.apk \
  experiments/smali-hello/build/smali-aligned.apk
adb -s 127.0.0.1:5555 install -r experiments/smali-hello/build/smali-signed.apk

6. Uninstall

adb -s 127.0.0.1:5555 uninstall com.example.smalihello

Notes

  • aapt package needed -m, otherwise R.java was not generated.
  • aapt add had to run from the build directory with a relative path, otherwise classes.dex was skipped.
  • d8 was happiest when given explicit .class files plus an existing output directory.
  • The current manifest targets SDK 34, but the VM runs Android 16 / SDK 36 and installed the APK fine.