why wont apk tool recompile?

if you are getting strange errors related to resources. for example:

W: Could not find sources
I: Checking whether resources has changed...
I: Building resources...
C:\someapp\res\values\public.xml:2395: error: Public entry identifier 0x107001d entry index is larger than available symbols (index 29, total symbols 29).
C:\someapp\res\values\public.xml:2395: error: Public symbol array/carrier_properties declared here is not defined.
Exception in thread "main" brut.androlib.AndrolibException: brut.common.BrutException: could not exec command: [aapt, p, -F, C:\Users\Soontir\AppData\Local\Temp\APKTOOL5080969896487671571.tmp, -x, -S, C:\someapp\res, -M, C:\framework\framework-res1\AndroidManifest.xml]
        at brut.androlib.res.AndrolibResources.aaptPackage(Unknown Source)
        at brut.androlib.Androlib.buildResourcesFull(Unknown Source)
        at brut.androlib.Androlib.buildResources(Unknown Source)
        at brut.androlib.Androlib.build(Unknown Source)
        at brut.androlib.Androlib.build(Unknown Source)
        at brut.apktool.Main.cmdBuild(Unknown Source)
        at brut.apktool.Main.main(Unknown Source)
Caused by: brut.common.BrutException: could not exec command: [aapt, p, -F, C:\Users\Soontir\AppData\Local\Temp\APKTOOL5080969896487671571.tmp, -x, -S, C:\framework\framework-res1\res, -M, C:\someapp\AndroidManifest.xml]
        at brut.util.OS.exec(Unknown Source)
        ... 7 more

the problem could be non-standard resource qualifiers. it affects current versions of apktool (1.3.2), but may be fixed in a later version. the solution is to decomile using --keep-broken-res and fix the xml file manually. for an explanation of how to do this, read this issue by the developer himself: http://code.google.com/p/android-apktool/issues/detail?id=128#c1

unexplainable problems after recompilation with apktool

something i have seen many times is when a program is recompiled it has strange errors. perhaps a progress bar is not showing up correctly, the layout is somehow distorted or there are strange force closes that happen. in my experience the reason for this is almost always apktool's handling of resources.

if you are having trouble, try simply dumping and building without changing anything with apktool. if there is a problem, then apktool is the culprit. i suggest making an issue on apktool's page here: http://code.google.com/p/android-apktool/issues/entry

you don't have to go into detail about what you're using apktool for. there are lots of legitimate reasons such as adding localization. it should suffice to mention in the report that simply dumping/building results in a distorted .apk.

if you are merely modifying smali code and don't need to modify the resources, try using the --no-res option, or you could just use smali/baksmali. if you are trying to modify an .xml resource then you might have to do it manually.

working with smali means working with the classes.dex file in the apk, and not the apk itself. you will also have to handle resigning and zipaligning (optional) yourself