How to install LineageOS in TWRP using `adb push`?

Question

Question (TL;DR)

How can one (manually) sideload a LineageOS zip file that is pushed on the phone using TWRP?

Context

while installing this lineage-17.1-20210430-nightly-FP2-signed.zip, with the following command:

adb sideload lineage-17.1-20210430-nightly-FP2-signed.zip

I observed that the lineageOS hangs in the loading screen for several hours. So first I verified that the zip file is correctly downloaded, using the sha256, which it is. Next, I noticed that the cause might be that the zip is streamed directly from the host to phone. So I learned an alternative option might be to use:

adb push lineage-17.1-20210430-nightly-FP2-signed.zip /sdcard/

Followed by a command to sideload the zip from the phone.

adb sideload method

For completeness, the direct adb sideload lineage-17.1-20210430-nightly-FP2-signed.zip was performed using the following steps:First, I wiped the system using Wipe>Advanced Wipe> select: Dalvik, System, Cache, Data, and swiping right, then manually activated sideload mode by pressing (and swiping): Advanced>ADB Sideload>Swipe to Start Sideload which outputted:

Updating partition details...
... done
RescueParty
Full SELinux support is present
MTP Enabled
? Starting ADB sideload feature...

An observation is made here that the loading indicator keeps on loading without any progress. This might also be a reason the sideload does not yield a successful boot up of LineageOS.

Next, I tried I first tried the CLI approach:

adb sideload /sdcard/lineage-17.1-20210430-nightly-FP2-signed.zip

Which outputs:

Installing zip file /sideload/package.zip
Unmounting System
Warning: no file_contexts
Target: Fairphone/FP2/FP2:6.0.1/FP2-gms-18.04.01/FP2-gms-18.04.01:user/release-keys
Patching system image unconditionally
Script succeeded: result was [1.000000]
Formatting Cache using make_ext4fs...
Wiping Cache & Dalvik...
Cleaned: /data/dalvik-cache...
-- Dalvik Cache Directories Wipe Complete!

And I pressed Reboot System. This results in the (seemingly) endless booting of the LineageOS loading screen.

adb push method

Before I tried other builds for the FP2, I was mainly curious to learn how the sideloading would work using adb push. Hence, I tried:

adb push lineage-17.1-20210430-nightly-FP2-signed.zip /sdcard/

And started looking for ways to sideload that zip from the phone. The first thing I tried was, after starting the sideload mode manually and verifying that the TWRP was in sideload mode with command adb devices:

adb sideload /sdcard/lineage-17.1-20210430-nightly-FP2-signed.zip

Which returns:

adb: failed to stat file /sdcard/lineage-17.1-20210430-nightly-FP2-signed.zip: No such file or directory

Next, I tried exploring the TWRP options manually. One of the options could possibly be: Install>browse to /sdcard> and tap the: lineage-17.1-20210430-nightly-FP2-signed.zip. However that yields a warning:

This operation may install incompatible software and render your device unusable

And I think installing might be something else than sideloading, hence I think this might brick the device/not be what I am looking for.

Note

This is not about the xy-problem of making LineageOS boot on the Fairphone, it is about how to load LineageOS using TWRP from the phone instead of from the host.

— a.t. | Sources

Answer

To answer the headline only:

only block partition images can be flashed with adb push

extract zip file

convert sparse file into partition image

brotli --decompress --in system.new.dat.br --out system.new.dat

python sdat2img.py system.transfer.list system.new.dat system.img

flash partition images from adb in TWRP recovery

adb push boot.img /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/boot

adb push system.img /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/system

Don't forget to factory reset / format the whole user data

can be done from adb shell

adb shell

mke2fs -t ext4 /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/cache

mke2fs -t ext4 /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/userdata

For more alternative methods to manually install OTA flashable zip

Is it possible to flash a custom ROM without a custom recovery image

— alecxs | Sources