BetterKnownInstalled v1.5.0 is out

Just pushed a new release with some important behavioral fixes:

- No longer wipes
packages-warnings.xml (that was only causing repeated warning dialogs and has nothing to do with DroidGuard/Play Integrity)
- System packages (system="true") are now properly skipped instead of being marked as Play Store installs
- packageSource="2" is now added when missing (not just replaced)
- Also handles isOrphaned="1" and installInitiatorUninstalled="1" in addition to "true"

Under the hood: safer line-by-line processing (slower) + updated abx2xml/xml2abx binaries (now with riscv64 support).

This still needs proper testing — I’ll be glad for any reviews or feedback if you try it.

Pixel Props — New OTA Available !

Tag: build-20260821
Modules: 4

Devices:
- Pixel 11: Cubs_CD1A.260714.001.A9.zip
- Pixel 11 Pro: Grizzly_CD1A.260714.001.A9.zip
- Pixel 11 Pro XL: Kodiak_CD1A.260714.001.A9.zip
- Pixel 11 Pro Fold: Yogi_CD1A.260714.001.A9.zip

build.prop update

Full pipeline overhaul is live.

Changelog:

- Complete CI rewrite with matrix builds
- Weekly automatic OTA dumps (every Sunday)
- Manual trigger support for specific devices or all
- Android 17 support
- Proper EROFS + sparse + boot/init_boot handling
- Lower memory extraction
- Duplicate detection (skips already released modules)
- Telegram now only posts download links (no more zip spam)

Modules stay on GitHub Releases from now on.

Latest builds:
https://github.com/Pixel-Props/build.prop/releases

BetterKnownInstalled v1.5.1 is out

Quick follow-up release with some important fixes:

- Fixed vending UID extraction — more robust grep + fallback, no more resolving to 0 or wrong UID
- Fixed system apps being incorrectly patched — now also skips by codePath (/system, /vendor, /product, /odm, /oem, /apex)
- Fixed single-line packages.xml corruption (normalized during processing then collapsed back)
- Reverted to the proven sed engine from v1.4.0 + DRY system-app skip guards
- Added sanity check that aborts if vending_uid resolves to 0

Should be more reliable than 1.5.0. Feedback welcome as always.

Pixel Watch 5 [CD5A.260611.008] (Aug 2026)

Pixel Props — New OTA Available !

Tag: build-20260901
Modules: 11

Devices:
- Pixel 8a: Akita_CP2A.260805.005.zip
- Pixel 6a: Bluejay_CP2A.260705.006.zip
- Pixel 7a: Lynx_CP2A.260705.006.zip
- Pixel 6: Oriole_CP2A.260705.006.zip
- Pixel 7: Panther_CP2A.260705.006.zip
- Pixel 10 Pro Fold: Rango_CP2A.260805.005.zip
- Pixel 6 Pro: Raven_CP2A.260705.006.zip
- Pixel 8: Shiba_CP2A.260805.005.zip
- Pixel 10a: Stallion_CP2A.260805.005.zip
- Pixel 9a: Tegu_CP2A.260805.005.zip
- Pixel 9: Tokay_CP2A.260805.005.zip

Build Matrix Update

CI now covers Pixel 6 through 11 only.

Older devices (Pixel 1–5a) were skipped because their OTAs lack the modern partition layout (product, system_ext, init_boot, etc.) that our extraction pipeline expects — the script simply fails on them.

Plus, Google stopped shipping updates for those years ago, so their build.prop values are already final. Weekly rebuilds would just produce the same props over and over.

Previous releases for older devices are still up if you need them.

BetterKnownInstalled v1.5.2 is out

Refinement release over 1.5.1:

- Whitelist approach: only touches apps with codePath="/data/app/" — no more maintaining a blacklist of /system, /vendor, /product, /odm, /oem, /apex. Everything outside /data/app/ is automatically skipped, plus the usual system="true"/"1" guard
- packageSource="2" is now added when missing, not just replaced if wrong. Sideloaded apps get patched correctly too
- isOrphaned and installInitiatorUninstalled are now stripped for both "true" and "1" values
- Cleaner SYS_SKIP — 4 lines instead of 8, easier to maintain

If v1.5.1 was working for you, this just makes the scope more correct. If you had edge cases with system apps still getting touched, this should close the gap.

Update and reboot. Feedback welcome as always.

BetterKnownInstalled v1.6.0 is out

This is the stateful backup release. No more blind patching every boot.

What's new:

- metadata.db — first boot builds a per-app database of your original installer/uid/initiator values. Subsequent boots only prune dead entries and patch what's new. Boot time drops from ~1s to ~50ms.
- Proper uninstall — uninstall.sh now restores each app's exact original metadata from the DB. Apps no longer stay locked as com.android.vending after you remove the module.
- Atomic writes — everything is staged to .tmp and moved into place. No more half-written packages.xml on crash.
- riscv64 support added.

Gone:
- Rotating XML backups are dead weight. The DB is your backup. One packages.xml.safety copy is kept for crash recovery only.

Upgrade note:
If you're coming from v1.5.x, the DB is built from your already patched packages.xml. Previously patched apps will keep their patched values recorded as "originals" — uninstall won't revert those specific apps to their true pre-BKI state. Anything you install after v1.6.0 is fully tracked and will restore correctly.

Update and reboot. Feedback welcome as always.

BetterKnownInstalled v1.6.1 is out

Engine rewrite release. The 8-pass sed pipeline is dead — one streaming awk pass now edits packages.xml, byte for byte.

What's new:

- Single-pass streaming engine — one walk, one write. Everything outside your user apps is preserved verbatim instead of being reformatted.
- Fixed invalid XML on multi-line packages.xml — wrapped attributes no longer cause duplicate installer attributes. Package Manager rejections from this are gone.
- No more file growth — the old normalization added junk on every boot. v1.6.1 is byte-identical on repeat runs. Flash it, reboot twice, diff is empty.
- Full ABX variant support — installerUid-int, packageSource-int, isOrphaned-bool, installInitiatorUninstalled-bool handled in patch, DB and restore.
- OTA updates — your manager will now notify you when a new BKI build drops.
- New regression harness (tools/bki_debug.sh) — validates the real module code against any packages.xml dump. 24/24 green on a real 868-package file.

Uninstall restore rebuilt on the same engine, DB schema unchanged — safe upgrade from v1.6.0.

Seeing "Abnormal PM" in Native Detector?

That's residue from old BKI versions (pre-1.6.0) — it used to patch system apps too, and those changes stay in packages.xml even after updating. ND sees system apps with store installer metadata and flags it.

Fix:
1. Flash KOW's fork of BKI
2. Reboot — it reverts the system app changes
3. Remove the fork, Install the latest official BKI, reboot

ND goes clean and you keep the UNKNOWN_INSTALLED fix.

Update and reboot. Feedback welcome as always.

Pixel Props — New OTA Available !

Tag: build-20260913
Modules: 4

Devices:
- Pixel 11: Cubs_CD1A.260905.001.B1.zip
- Pixel 11 Pro: Grizzly_CD1A.260905.001.B1.zip
- Pixel 11 Pro XL: Kodiak_CD1A.260905.001.B1.zip
- Pixel 11 Pro Fold: Yogi_CD1A.260905.001.B1.zip

Pixel Props — New OTA Available !

Tag: build-20260920
Modules: 21

Devices:
- Pixel 6: Oriole_CP3A.260905.009.zip
- Pixel 6 Pro: Raven_CP3A.260905.009.zip
- Pixel 6a: Bluejay_CP3A.260905.009.zip
- Pixel 7: Panther_CP3A.260905.009.zip
- Pixel 7 Pro: Cheetah_CP3A.260905.009.zip
- Pixel 7a: Lynx_CP3A.260905.009.zip
- Pixel Fold: Felix_CP3A.260905.009.zip
- Pixel Tablet: Tangorpro_CP3A.260905.009.zip
- Pixel 8: Shiba_CP3A.260905.009.zip
- Pixel 8 Pro: Husky_CP3A.260905.009.zip
- Pixel 8a: Akita_CP3A.260905.009.zip
- Pixel 9: Tokay_CP3A.260905.009.zip
- Pixel 9 Pro: Caiman_CP3A.260905.009.zip
- Pixel 9 Pro XL: Komodo_CP3A.260905.009.zip
- Pixel 9 Pro Fold: Comet_CP3A.260905.009.zip
- Pixel 9a: Tegu_CP3A.260905.009.zip
- Pixel 10: Frankel_CP3A.260905.009.zip
- Pixel 10 Pro: Blazer_CP3A.260905.009.zip
- Pixel 10 Pro XL: Mustang_CP3A.260905.009.zip
- Pixel 10a: Stallion_CP3A.260905.009.zip
- Pixel 10 Pro Fold: Rango_CP3A.260905.009.zip