# Xiaomi Mi Box S (MIBOX4), second unit A second Mi Box S, done with `PROMPT.md` and `examples/xiaomi-mi-box-s/debloat.txt` on 2026-10-21. Same build as the first unit: `Xiaomi/oneday/oneday:9/PI/3933:user/release-keys`, security patch 2021-07-05, SDK 28, 2 GB RAM, 1920x1080, `ro.adb.secure=1`. Done with `tools/tv.py` (no adb binary) and the `.ps1` scripts. ## What matched the list Every package in the list was on this unit and could be disabled with `pm disable-user --user 0`. Disabled in three batches with screenshots in between (telemetry; PatchWall, rows and updater; casting and preloads), then the launcher, then Backdrop after `screensaver_components` was set to `ClockDream`. Nothing broke between batches. - Home: `com.google.android.tvlauncher` before, as on the first unit. The only other HOME claimant was `com.android.tv.settings/.system.FallbackHome`; no setupwraith claim. - `launcher/build-and-install.ps1` worked first time: `set-home-activity` with the component, the stock launcher disabled, `mResumedActivity` on `com.gathin.tvhome/.MainActivity`. - After a reboot the same 25 packages were disabled: nothing is re-enabled at boot. Home and Wi-Fi came back by themselves. `MemAvailable` was 1.08 GB before (box running for a while) and 1.23 GB right after the reboot. - The Wi-Fi pill says only "Wifi": Location is off, as the list header says. - USB debugging alone opened port 5555 (`service.adb.tcp.port=5555`, `sys.usb.config=adb`). ## Where this unit differed - **Nothing was disabled before we started** (`pm list packages -d` was empty). The five apps the list keeps commented out as "already disabled on this unit" (Prime Video, YouTube Music, Play Movies, Play Games, Camera) were all enabled here; they were disabled by choice. - **Google Play Music** (`com.google.android.music`) was installed and enabled. The service closed in 2020; disabled with no side effects. - **The saved Wi-Fi did not belong to setupwraith**: `dumpsys wifi | grep -o 'cname=[^ ]*'` showed `android.uid.system:1000` and `com.google.uid.shared:10011` only. setupwraith was not needed for the takeover on this Android TV 9 build and was left alone. - **The remote's Apps button can be made useful.** It sends scancode 580 (`KEY_APPSELECT`), which `Vendor_2717_Product_32b9.kl` maps to `ALL_APPS`. Android sends that to `com.android.tv.settings`, which does nothing with it (the first unit saw the same, also on the stock launcher). The launcher's `HomeKeyService` catches `KEYCODE_ALL_APPS`, so enabling it (`-HomeKeyService` on `launcher/build-and-install.ps1`) turns the Apps button into a second Home button. Checked with the real remote from inside VLC: the press started `com.gathin.tvhome/.MainActivity`. - **The remote's Live button opens Google Play if not overridden.** On remotes with a dedicated "Live" button (MDZ-22-AB remote revisions), it sends scancode 399 (mapped to `BUTTON_4` in `Vendor_2717_Product_32b9.kl`). Once `com.google.android.tv` (Live Channels) is disabled, pressing it causes `com.xiaomi.android.tvsetup.partnercustomizer/.GlobalKeyReceiver` to fire a Play Store lookup for the missing package ("Item not found"). Map it with `app_keys`: `"scan:399:"` (e.g. `"scan:399:org.smarttube.stable"`) and install with `INPUT_KEY_SERVICE=1` (`-InputKeyService` on Windows) so `InputKeyService` consumes the scancode before `partnercustomizer` sees it. **Do not map it as keycode 191 (`KEYCODE_BUTTON_4`):** that keycode may be shared with other buttons on some remotes/key layouts. The scancode form `scan:399` targets specifically the physical Live button. - The other buttons, checked with the real remote and `getevent -lt`: Home (`KEY_HOMEPAGE`), Back, voice (`KEY_VOICECOMMAND`, Assistant kept) and Netflix (`KEY_VIDEO`, scancode 393 is `NETFLIX` in the same `.kl`) all work with the stock launcher disabled. An empty `live_tv_package` (no tuner) can be pushed as a theme `config.json` with `tools/theme.ps1`, so `config.xml` stays at its defaults. ## Fourth unit (2026-10-24) A fourth Mi Box S, done on Windows with Claude and a plain-language version of `PROMPT.md`, no terminal for the owner. Same build as the first three: `Xiaomi/oneday/oneday:9/PI/3933:user/release-keys`, SDK 28, 2 GB RAM, 1920x1080 at 320 dpi, 5 GB `/data`. The launcher is 2.6.0 (`0bb7f7ed`); nothing in `launcher/` was changed. The theme is [`examples/xiaomi-mi-box-s/theme/`](../../examples/xiaomi-mi-box-s/theme/README.md). The result, photographed from the TV itself. LumiFlow rotates the owner's own photos, shuffled, one a minute: | ![LumiFlow with a cloudy sky: glass dock, stats line under the clock](xiaomi-mi-box-s-lumiflow.jpg) | ![LumiFlow with a monastery photo](xiaomi-mi-box-s-lumiflow-monastery.jpg) | ![LumiFlow with a rider on a lake road](xiaomi-mi-box-s-lumiflow-rider.jpg) | |---|---|---| | *LumiFlow: glass dock, stats line, a darkened photo* | *The next photo in the rotation* | *And the next (greeting name differs: shot before it was renamed)* | | ![The same Home with no wallpaper](xiaomi-mi-box-s-plain-home.jpg) | ![The launcher's Clock screensaver](xiaomi-mi-box-s-clock-screensaver.jpg) | |---|---| | *The same Home with no wallpaper* | *Clock screensaver (time and date, no pictures)* | The Wi-Fi network name is blurred in the screenshots. The photos are the owner's own and are not part of the theme. What differed from the other units: - **Already half done.** 15 packages were disabled before we started: the whole PatchWall, analytics, Alphonso, auto-install and update-service group, plus Live Channels, TalkBack, the print spooler and Play Games. We added YouTube Music, Play Movies & TV and Camera (`com.android.camera2`). Prime Video stayed, because the owner uses it. - **Casting and voice kept.** `com.google.android.apps.mediashell`, `com.google.android.katniss`, `com.google.android.speech.pumpkin`, `com.google.android.tv.remote.service`, `com.mitv.milinkservice` and `com.mitv.videoplayer` stay enabled. After a reboot `mediashell` was installed and enabled and `logcat` had no "No private key"; the owner confirmed casting from a phone. - **setupwraith not needed.** `dumpsys wifi | grep -o 'cname=[^ ]*'` showed only `android.uid.system:1000` and `com.google.uid.shared:10004`, so the setup wizard stayed enabled, as on the second unit. - **Apps button.** Turned into a second Home button without the script switch: with `enabled_accessibility_services` unset (`null`), `settings put secure enabled_accessibility_services com.gathin.tvhome/.HomeKeyService` and `settings put secure accessibility_enabled 1` (the owner confirmed the button opens Home). `theme.ps1` keeps the service across its Home restart. The `AUTO_START` appop line in `build-and-install.ps1` prints `Unknown operation string` here; harmless. - **Screensaver.** `screensaver_components` was `com.google.android.backdrop/...Backdrop`. Switched to `com.gathin.tvhome/.ClockDream` first, then disabled Backdrop. `service call dreams 1` is refused to the shell (`WRITE_DREAM_STATE`); `am start -n com.android.systemui/.Somnambulator` starts the chosen screensaver instead, and `dumpsys dreams` showed `mCurrentDreamName=...ClockDream`. - **Private DNS** was unset (`null`/`null`). `private_dns_specifier dns.adguard-dns.com` and `private_dns_mode hostname` worked: sites loaded, and `doubleclick.net` answered from the local host (about 0.2 ms), i.e. blocked. To undo, delete both keys rather than writing a default. - **Play Store automatic updates** are off from Play Store, profile picture, Settings, "Auto-update apps", "Don't auto-update apps". `uiautomator dump` returns `null root node` on the Play Store, so the steps were key presses with a screenshot after each. Four updates were waiting; Xstream Play and Prime Video were updated by hand. "TV Setup" and "Android TV Remote Service" were left alone on purpose: they are system parts that touch Home and pairing. - **Storage.** `/data` was 68% full (1.6 GB free) with 656 MB of app caches, mostly Hotstar, Zee5 and Xstream. `pm trim-caches 4G` took it to 2.3 GB free (53% used) with no sign-ins lost. - **USB debugging off.** `settings put global adb_enabled 0` closed port 5555 at once (checked from the PC); 8008 stays open because casting uses it. Turn debugging on again to change anything. Numbers (the "before" box had been on 26 minutes, the "after" 3 minutes after a reboot, so some of the gain is the reboot): `MemAvailable` 908 MB, then 1,028 MB; memory in use 1,079 MB, then 959 MB; swap 14 MB, then 12 MB. The stock home held 74 MB, the new one 22 MB; Backdrop held about 63 MB when it ran. Two things worth knowing: - Wallpaper rotation is in whole minutes (`integer(..., 0, 1440)` in `Config.java`), so `0.25` becomes `0` and the rotation stops. One minute is the fastest the 2.6.0 launcher can do. - The launcher's Clock screensaver shows time and date only, never pictures. ## Fifth unit (2026-10-25) A fifth Mi Box S, done on Windows with `tools/tv.py` and the `.ps1` scripts. Same build: `Xiaomi/oneday/oneday:9/PI/3933:user/release-keys`, SDK 28, `ro.adb.secure=1`, on Wi-Fi. Nothing in `launcher/` was changed apart from the dock and `columns` in `config.xml`. - **The Apps button costs the volume ramp.** With `com.gathin.tvhome/.HomeKeyService` bound (`dumpsys accessibility` lists `Service[label=Home button, ..., capabilities=8]`), the Apps button opened Home, but a held Volume up moved one step per press. With `enabled_accessibility_services` set to `''` and `accessibility_enabled 0`, the same held button ramped again. Both checked by the owner on the real remote. This is the trade in [the key-repeat note](tcl-55p71b-g09-key-repeat.md), here on Android TV 9. The second unit enabled the helper for the Apps button and did not check a held volume key. This owner kept the ramp, so the Apps button does nothing, as on the stock launcher. - **Projectivy Launcher was Home**, holding the Home key through its own accessibility service (`ProjectivyAccessibilityService`, also a key filter). `resolve-activity` still named `com.google.android.tvlauncher`, so `build-and-install.ps1` took that as the stock launcher. Projectivy was disabled afterwards, in a later batch, once `mResumedActivity` showed the new launcher after Home. - **Two Play auto-install configs:** besides the list's `android.autoinstalls.config.xioami.mibox3` in `/system/app`, an update in `/data/app` had installed `android.autoinstalls.config.xiaomi.mibox3`, spelled correctly. Both were disabled with no side effects. - **Live Channels kept by the script:** the handler check in the disable script skipped Live Channels (`com.google.android.tv`) because it answers VIEW on a channel item. That was left alone, so it is still enabled. - The saved Wi-Fi belonged to `android.uid.system`, not setupwraith, as on the second and fourth units. After a reboot all 20 disabled packages stayed disabled, and five minutes later neither PatchWall nor the updater was enabled. ## Building on Windows without Android Studio `launcher/build-and-install.ps1` looks for a JDK only in `JAVA_HOME` or Android Studio's `jbr`. A Temurin JDK 17 zip plus the Android command-line tools (`sdkmanager "platforms;android-34" "build-tools;34.0.0"`, SDK in `%LOCALAPPDATA%\Android\Sdk`) worked with `JAVA_HOME` set to the JDK. On the fourth unit Android Studio's `jbr` was found by the script, but the Gradle wrapper failed with `Downloading ... gradle-8.9-bin.zip failed: timeout (10000ms)` on a slow line (twice, also at 120 s). `curl -L -C - --retry 20 --retry-all-errors` fetched the zip in about 8 minutes; its SHA-256 matched `distributionSha256Sum` in `launcher/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties`. Pointing `distributionUrl` at the local file (`file:///C:/.../gradle-8.9-bin.zip`) for that one build let it finish, and the properties file was put back with `git checkout` afterwards. `tools/venv` is also needed before the script runs (`python -m venv tools\venv` then `tools\venv\Scripts\python.exe -m pip install -r tools\requirements.txt`). Lived with: one day so far on the fourth unit; still to soak for a few days as CONTRIBUTING.md asks.