HTC Incredible S, Android, Linux, and udev(7)

So it all started because I wanted to take screen captures of my HTC Incredible S (I will not explain how to do that here as you'll find plenty of good tutorials on the interwebs).

One of the steps involved the Dalvik Debug Monitor Server (DDMS) which provides all kind of things you could expect from a debugging tool, including a screen capture feature.Unfortunately, I quickly noticed that it wasn't really working as expected with my new HTC Incredible S device on my Linux laptop (running RHEL):

$ pwd

/full/path/to/android-sdk-linux_x86/tools

$ ./ddms

(ddms:15838): Gtk-WARNING **: gtk_widget_size_allocate(): attempt to allocate widget with width -5 and height 16

(ddms:15838): Gtk-WARNING **: gtk_widget_size_allocate(): attempt to allocate widget with width -5 and height 16
09:01:27 E/DDMS: insufficient permissions for device
com.android.ddmlib.AdbCommandRejectedException: insufficient permissions for device
    at com.android.ddmlib.AdbHelper.setDevice(AdbHelper.java:736)
    at com.android.ddmlib.AdbHelper.executeRemoteCommand(AdbHelper.java:373)
    at com.android.ddmlib.Device.executeShellCommand(Device.java:276)
    at com.android.ddmuilib.SysinfoPanel.loadFromDevice(SysinfoPanel.java:159)
    at com.android.ddmuilib.SysinfoPanel.deviceSelected(SysinfoPanel.java:126)
    at com.android.ddmuilib.SelectionDependentPanel.deviceSelected(SelectionDependentPanel.java:52)
    at com.android.ddms.UIThread.selectionChanged(UIThread.java:1684)
    at com.android.ddmuilib.DevicePanel.notifyListeners(DevicePanel.java:752)
    at com.android.ddmuilib.DevicePanel.notifyListeners(DevicePanel.java:740)
    at com.android.ddmuilib.DevicePanel.access$1100(DevicePanel.java:56)
    at com.android.ddmuilib.DevicePanel$1.widgetSelected(DevicePanel.java:357)
    at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.TypedListener.handleEvent(Unknown Source)
    at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.EventTable.sendEvent(Unknown Source)
    at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Widget.sendEvent(Unknown Source)
    at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Display.runDeferredEvents(Unknown Source)
    at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Display.readAndDispatch(Unknown Source)
    at com.android.ddms.UIThread.runUI(UIThread.java:492)
    at com.android.ddms.Main.main(Main.java:103)

09:01:32 W/ddms: Unable to get frame buffer: insufficient permissions for device

Not what I expected, but nothing that cannot be fixed. So after googling/fiddling/ranting a bit, udev(7) came to the rescue. Pretty much, it seems I needed another rule to be added. So here's how I did it:

Look at the information that pertain to my HTC Incredible S:

$ lsusb
Bus 002 Device 006: ID 1267:0210 Logic3 / SpectraVideo plc
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 009: ID 0bb4:0cac High Tech Computer Corp.
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 0a5c:217f Broadcom Corp. Bluetooth Controller
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 17ef:480f Lenovo Integrated Webcam [R5U877]
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub



Create a specific android.rules file in custom rules directory /etc/udev (Note that it is one single line in the .rules file below)

$ id
uid=500(xsa) gid=500(xsa) groups=500(xsa),496(desktop_admin_r)
$ sudo -s

# cat > /etc/udev/android.rules

SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor} =="0bb4", ATTRS{idProduct} =="0cac", MODE="0660", OWNER="root", GROUP="desktop_admin_r"

^D

# ln -s ../android.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/90-android.rules

Reload the udev(7) rules and then launch again DDMS and you should be all set.

# /etc/init.d/udev-post reload

[...]

# exit

$ cd /full/path/to/android-sdk-linux_x86/tools

$ ./ddms