Background ：google android SDK platform provide emulator & ADB utility tools,it's very useful to
decompile the apk file to dump byte readable file.
Summary:
if you are ready for it, the sequences as following,
- create/launch emulator from command line
- launch the ADB utility tool from command line
- install apk file from local directory from command line
- list all system application apk file from command line
- dexdump selected .dex file from emulator
- pull dump file to local directory
Detail Section:
step 1: create your own emulator if you still not create one and then launch the emulator
launch the windows command line console, then chnage root directory to your android
SDK Platform/tools directory, for me
C:/>cd /d D:/android-sdk-windows/tools
D:/android-sdk-windows/tools>android create -avd -n my_android1.5 -t 2
D:/android-sdk-windows/tools>emulator -avd my_android1.5
step 2: after emulator launched, go to windowns console to start ADB Shell utility tool
make sure your emulator is running before you start ADB. if it's successful
D:/android-sdk-windows/tools>adb shell
# cd /system/app
cd /system/app
# ls
ls
Mms.apk
ApplicationsProvider.apk
GlobalSearch.apk
Calculator.apk
SpareParts.apk
GestureBuilder.apk
Music.apk
SdkSetup.apk
PackageInstaller.apk
Fallback.apk
SettingsProvider.apk
DrmProvider.apk
Development.apk
TelephonyProvider.apk
PinyinIME.apk
HTMLViewer.apk
Settings.apk
NetSpeed.apk
if you want to see how many user applications have been installed on your emulator, just
cd /data/app,and then ls
step 3: install your apk file using adb shell commands, if you still not install your application
on emulator
D:/android-sdk-windows/tools>adb install D:/android-sdk-windows/tools/a.apk
after install successfully, you will see your apk file using above command line
step 4: get the cached dex file from your emulator, we have to enter dalvik VM cache using command
# cd /data/dalvik-cache
# ls
..........
step 5: use dexdump file to generate the dump file then use pull command to copy to local directory
#dexdump -d -f -h data@app@a.apk@classes.dex >> a.apk.dump
finally you will get a bit-readable dump file, based on dalvik class format knowledge, the more you dig
the more you get. normally *.apk file is a .zip file, could be open by any winzip tool.
Reference: SDK platform documentation