Leagoo Lead3 kitkat not working with link2sd

[germank]

Sorry for the ignorance, but do you think there is any chance of working around this problem by installing a custom ROM?

Thanks

[mirandam]

I doubt it. As far as I know the lead3 has only been delivered with kitkat so the possibility of finding a custom rom based on jb is highly unlikely. I won't go as far as to say it is impossible because I know it is since i own a mediabox with kitkat that does work with link2sd, most probably because they used a release where the fuse and "protection" measures where not yet implemented, but I do think this would require extensive and invasive work on the rom internals and thus not likely to happen.
Link2sd won't be likely changed to work with kitkat as these problems are not easily circumvented unless someone finds a loophole which would serve the purpose.

[germank]

I've just found this post (in japanese): [Only registered and activated users can see links Click here to register]

having this apparently relevant section (translation by Google Translate):

Once after it turned into root, and were subjected to the following treatment. · /system/etc/permissions/platform.xml By modifying the, to allow free to write to the SD card

I'll look into this later. Perhaps this is what we need?

[mirandam]

This is the hack which is known as the sd-write fix for kitkat, however this has no implication as to the function of link2sd, it strictly limited to the fat32 partition of the external sd-card.

[davidg]

I am having exactly the same problem on my Mijue m680 (kitkat 4.4.2).

It took me ages to root it (which I now have), and now I find I can't use Link2SD with exactly the same problems as the OP describes.

Any luck... anyone?

[mirandam]

Just a few days ago Link2SD came out with a new version which claims to have lolipop support. I don't know lolipop yet, and doubt if I ever will, but as I blieve it is supposed to work similar to kitkat I can assure that this lolipop support does not change a darn thing with regards to the here (op) described problem. Even though link2sd does what it is supposed to do, make a link in /data/app to the moved apk in /data/sdext2, kitkat still does not recognize the link as a valid app, and as such doesn't show the app. And just for the record, this is with no app security permisions applied, while file permissions and owner are correctly set.

@davidg thank you for your answer, I'm glad to hear others are experiencing the same problem.

[davidg]

@"mirandam" I wish I wasn't having the same problems!

The curious thing for me is the drive mounting. What you describe is exactly what I have (external is sdcard0, but does actually show properly as external storage, and internal as sdcard1). This is causing me a problem with Foldermount (I started a separate thread on that - no replies), which is expecting the opposite - causing it to not work either. Did you ever try that?

But I have not found anyone having the same problem!

This makes me suspicious that this may also be the cause of the issue with Link2SD, but I just don't understand why as its creating the link where it should and putting the apk where it should - as you say!

[mirandam]

No, that is not the issue because link2sd has no need for the fat partition of the external sd, which can be mounted either on sdcard0 or sdcard1, link2sd doesn't care about it as long as you don't use the native app to sd move option.
The problem is that kitkat just does not allow to use a link to an app. It just doesn't follow the linux rule about links (in this case softlinks because hardlinks don't work across different devices). Somehow it seems google made a change to enforce "security" not to follow a link for execution. This would make sense on a link to a fat filesystem which has no user permissions, but not on a link to an ext2-4 filesystem.
I found this out by making a link in /data/app to /system/app, thus not even using the external sdcard, and it just doesn't work. This is of course totally ridiculous as I'm not even leaving the phone's own filesystem.
I also did some tests making a link in /system/app (where the system apps reside) or /vendor/app but the result is always the same.

[germank]

Yeah, I'm also having the same problem here.

I can also confirm that the problem comes from the system not following symbolic links to the apk even within the same filesystem.

However, I'm reluctant to believe that this is a general KitKat problem. Otherwise, we should be seeing many more threads like this one on the Internet, and that doesn't seem to be the case. Moreover, the author claims KitKat compatibility so I guess it has been tested.

Therefore, I guess it has to do with something within our own systems, although I have no idea what could it be. Does anybody know how does the apk loading process works? Maybe we can find some hint there.

I have one more question, though. Normally, when Link2sd does work, after you move an app to the sd card and you try to launch it afterwards without any reboot, does it open? Now, for me, it doesn't. That's also the case when I move the apk somewhere else (within the same file system) and link it back to the original location. I wonder if that's a symptom of the same underlying cause (not following the symlinks).

[mirandam]

...
Therefore, I guess it has to do with something within our own systems, although I have no idea what could it be. Does anybody know how does the apk loading process works? Maybe we can find some hint there.

I have one more question, though. Normally, when Link2sd does work, after you move an app to the sd card and you try to launch it afterwards without any reboot, does it open? Now, for me, it doesn't. That's also the case when I move the apk somewhere else (within the same file system) and link it back to the original location. I wonder if that's a symptom of the same underlying cause (not following the symlinks).

You can look inside the apk file when you rename it to zip as it is in fact a normal zip file. In the case of link2sd you won't find much there as it contains a number of compiled ELF binary files (apart from some xml's used for menus and the likes).

On JB when you link an app in link2sd it moves the apk (+libs and data) and creates the corresponding link in /data/app without the need for a reboot, after leaving link2sd you can simply execute the app and it runs.
On kitkat when you link the app a messages appears saying you need to reboot the device, much like when you convert an app to a system app.

As far as I can remember, I've never seen a version of link2sd which claims to be kitkat compatible, the latest only stating lolipop compatibility. But then again, what is compatibility? Is any software producer capable of claiming 100% compatibility whithout being able to test each and every combination of os/rom ?