Re: PSA: How to archive your EXACT homescreen(s) apps to Windows for perfect cross-platform backup/restore sans the net

Maria Sophia wrote:
> 1. I can disassemble the nova backup file using unzip/sql editors
> 2. I can assemble a hierarchical database file using adb & file editors

Another way to get the backup file is to use adb backup on the desktop.

 C:\> adb backup -f novadata.ab -noapk com.teslacoilsw.launcher
      WARNING: adb backup is deprecated and may be removed in a future release
      Now unlock your device and confirm the backup operation...
 On the Android, it asks 
      Full backup
      A full backup of all data to a connected
      desktop computer has been requested. Do
      you want to allow this to happen?
      If you did not request the backup yourself, do
      not allow the operation to proceed.
      If you wish to encrypt the full backup data,
      enter a password below.
      [Do not back up][Back up my data]     
 Your data has been backed up to: 
      08/19/2026  11:09 AM        13,684,072 novadata.ab

The typical FOSS tool to inspect Android backup files is apparently ABE
 Android Backup Extractor
 <https://github.com/nelenkov/android-backup-extractor>
 "Utility to extract and repack Android backups created
  with adb backup (ICS+). 
  Largely based on BackupManagerService.java from AOSP."
  <https://github.com/nelenkov/android-backup-extractor/releases/tag/latest>
  <https://github.com/nelenkov/android-backup-extractor/releases/download/latest/abe-38fd634.jar>
  Name: abe-38fd634.jar
  Size: 4184406 bytes (4086 KiB)
  SHA256: ABCC1D6E8614CC3CD975F5626537492F87460C0658980A3DEB29ECB393F83F8A

 C:\> java -jar abe-38fd634.jar unpack novadata.ab backup.tar [passwd]
      0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 7% 8% 9% 10% 11% 12% 13% 14% 15% 16% 17%
      18% 19% 20% 21% 22% 23% 24% 25% 26% 27% 28% 29% 30% 31% 32% 
      33% 34% 35% 36% 37% 38% 39% 40% 41% 42% 43% 44% 45% 46% 47% 
      48% 49% 50% 51% 52% 53% 54% 55% 56% 57% 58% 59% 60% 61% 62% 
      63% 64% 65% 66% 67% 68% 69% 70% 71% 72% 73% 74% 75% 76% 77% 
      78% 79% 80% 81% 82% 83% 84% 85% 86% 87% 88% 89% 90% 91% 92% 
      93% 94% 95% 96% 97% 98% 99% 100%
      16173056 bytes written to backup.tar.
      08/19/2026  11:26 AM        16,173,056 backup.tar

Using 7-zip on Windows to exract the tarball, we get:
 .\apps\com.teslacoilsw.launcher\{db,f,sp,_manifest}

In "db" is
 07/31/2026  07:48 PM                 0 widgetpreviews.db-journal
 08/08/2026  05:29 AM           274,432 widgetpreviews.db
 08/01/2026  09:48 PM                 0 app_icons.db-journal
 08/19/2026  06:22 AM         8,441,856 app_icons.db
 08/19/2026  10:31 AM                 0 nova.db-journal
 08/19/2026  10:31 AM         7,430,144 nova.db

In "f" is
 08/19/2026  10:31 AM             2,517 stats.log
 08/16/2026  11:40 AM               389 downgrade_schema.json
 07/31/2026  04:02 AM                45 device-id
 08/16/2026  11:40 AM               175 rList
 08/16/2026  11:40 AM               824 wo

In "sp" is
 08/19/2026  10:30 AM             1,054 preferences.SettingsActivity.xml
 07/31/2026  04:02 AM               240 com.android.launcher3.device.prefs.xml
 07/31/2026  12:46 AM               512 org.matomo.sdk_C4CA4238A0B923820DCC509A6F75849B.xml
 07/31/2026  07:48 PM               188 com.android.launcher3.prefs.xml
 08/08/2026  08:25 AM             6,815 nova.xml

Given all we need is the "nova.db" SQL file, I don't see that this
is any better than just copying the nova backup and unzipping it.

Here's (an insecure) description of the Nova Launcher backup file contents:
 <http://justsolve.archiveteam.org/wiki/Nova_Launcher_Backup#>