System apps can be disabled by using pm disable [appname] and re-enabled in the same fashion. But is there a way to accomplish the same thing by editing some file(s?) somewhere?
Context: My Android-x86 virtual machine is on boot-loop caused by disabling the Google App. That's the main reason I'm asking this question.
Whether an app is enabled or disabled is stored in a single file /data/system/users/0/package-restrictions.xml.
I took the following steps to re-enable the Google App and solve my bootloop problem:
Boot the Android-x86 virtual machine in debug mode (i.e. append DEBUG=2 to the GRUB entry)
mount the filesystem:
su
cd /dev
# these are necessary to "refresh" the environment
cd ..
# otherwise the following commands wouldn't work
mkdir temp
mount /dev/block/sda1 temp
Edit the package-restrictions.xml file with vi:
vi /temp/android-6.0-rc1/data/system/users/0/package-restrictions.xml
Find the entry containing <pkg name="com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox" enabled="3" enabledCaller="com.android.settings">
Move the cursor to the end of that line (Line 13 in my case) and press a to begin editing (see Basic vi commands)
Remove the enabled and enabledCaller attributes. The resulting line should be <pkg name="com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox">
Press Esc and type :wq and press Enter to save and exit vi
Type exit and hit Enter (twice) to boot to Android normally.
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