Making your own rom

[eightieskhild]

How would I go about making my own rom? i know what features i'd want to incorporate, and and remove, I suppose i just need to learn how, can someone point me in the right direction?

 

[LeslieAnn]

Research, research, research.

Couple things...
Is this a personal rom? If so, just modify one already made by opening the zip file. You will need to disable signature check to flash it back onto your phone, but this is an easy method.

If you expect to distribute it, you need to learn to sign the zip. Also, you will need something that differentiates your rom from others. Adding or removing apps will NOT do it. Can you program? Can you theme? An interesting theme can make it work, but the roms that seem to stick around are those that fill a specific niche.

Finding your own niche will be a bit difficult considering how many roms we have already. I know from the outside it looks like we only have a few, but they cover A LOT of ground. I'm not saying that to disuade anyone from making a rom, it's just that we don't need 5000 roms all of the same thing. If you can't do something original, I'm not saying don't make it, but I am saying don't distribute it or expect a following.



Another thing about roms...
VERY few of us make roms and that is the end of it. I made my first about 6 weeks ago, since then I have probably uploaded over a dozen roms and updates, all built from one rom. This doesn't count the different options, and it certainly doesn't include the many I built that didn't pass quality testing.

All of that takes time, I spend A LOT of time on Harmonia, just as I did with Aphrodite. If you go look at the Harmonia thread, the first few pages show the frantic first few days where we had an issue because we omitted one single line. Almost any rom pushing limits will have problems, are you prepared to fix them? If you publish it, people expect you to deal with the problems. It becomes your child. You can't just make it, release it and expect to be done.

Honestly,
Releasing a rom shouldn't be taken lightly. I know a few rom builders who make one then walk away, but if the builder walks, so will the users.


Ask yourself why you really want to do this.
Is it for yourself, modify a current one. Is it for bragging rights and fame, when the rom fades, so will you. Money? As far as I know, Mmmmark111 has yet to make enough to replace his botched phone and he had several people pushing donations his way.

Which brings up another point...
Are you prepared to kill your phone for this? Mmmark111 killed his. I almost have a few times.


Harmonia is where it is because of the dozens of hours I invest in it. I started making a rom for myself and decided to share it, not knowing the monster I would create, and believe me, it is a monster. Would I do it even if I wasn't releasing it? sure. I built it for myself and I run it on my phone, but I'm also a geek who absolutely loves to tinker with technology. It's fun, but it involves a lot of work, time and effort.

 

[hyruu]

In all honesty I perfectly happy installing other peoples ROMs.
If Leslie looked at my phone she wouldn't recognize her ROM.