Run TcpDump from Android application and read output

Few month ago I start to write an Android application for an academic project, the aim is to build a network management tool for Android.


The first step to build this application is to intercept packets. To achieve that we use TcpDump. Run TcpDump seems easy at first, but actualy it's not. I will demonstrate in this post how we achieve that.

Test root apps on Android Emulator

The Android Emulator provide a powerful way to test Android applications. But it not allow you to test root apps because you can't get root privileges via su on the Emulator, although it's possible via adb shell.
So if you want to test root apps you have to get a rooted emulator. It's mean a su binary and optionally the superuser app which allow you to manage root apps.



Here is the list of commands you have to run while the emulator is running : 

 adb shell mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock03 /system  
 adb push su /system/xbin/su  
 adb shell chmod 06755 /system  
 adb shell chmod 06755 /system/xbin/su