diff --git a/util/com/android/launcher3/DecoderRing.java b/util/com/android/launcher3/DecoderRing.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cde845e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/util/com/android/launcher3/DecoderRing.java
@@ -0,0 +1,196 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2013 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package com.android.launcher3;
+
+import com.android.launcher3.backup.BackupProtos.CheckedMessage;
+import com.android.launcher3.backup.BackupProtos.Favorite;
+import com.android.launcher3.backup.BackupProtos.Key;
+import com.android.launcher3.backup.BackupProtos.Resource;
+import com.android.launcher3.backup.BackupProtos.Screen;
+import com.android.launcher3.backup.BackupProtos.Widget;
+
+import com.google.protobuf.nano.InvalidProtocolBufferNanoException;
+import com.google.protobuf.nano.MessageNano;
+
+import java.io.BufferedInputStream;
+import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileInputStream;
+import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
+import java.io.FileOutputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.lang.System;
+import java.util.zip.CRC32;
+
+/**
+ * Commandline utility for decoding protos written to the android logs during debugging.
+ *
+ * base64 -D icon.log > icon.bin
+ * java -classpath $ANDROID_HOST_OUT/framework/protoutil.jar:$ANDROID_HOST_OUT/../common/obj/JAVA_LIBRARIES/host-libprotobuf-java-2.3.0-nano_intermediates/javalib.jar \
+ *   com.android.launcher3.DecoderRing -i icon.bin
+ *
+ * TODO: write a wrapper to setup the classpath
+ */
+class DecoderRing {
+    public static void main(String[ ] args)
+            throws Exception {
+        File source = null;
+        Class type = Key.class;
+        for (int i = 0; i < args.length; i++) {
+            if ("-k".equals(args[i])) {
+                type = Key.class;
+            } else if ("-f".equals(args[i])) {
+                type = Favorite.class;
+            } else if ("-i".equals(args[i])) {
+                type = Resource.class;
+            } else if ("-s".equals(args[i])) {
+                type = Screen.class;
+            } else if ("-w".equals(args[i])) {
+                type = Widget.class;
+            } else if (args[i] != null && !args[i].startsWith("-")) {
+                source = new File(args[i]);
+            } else {
+                System.err.println("Unsupported flag: " + args[i]);
+                usage(args);
+            }
+        }
+
+
+        // read in the bytes
+        ByteArrayOutputStream byteStream = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+        BufferedInputStream input = null;
+        if (source == null) {
+            input = new BufferedInputStream(System.in);
+        } else {
+            try {
+                input = new BufferedInputStream(new FileInputStream(source));
+            } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
+                System.err.println("failed to open file: " + source + ", " + e);
+                System.exit(1);
+            }
+        }
+        byte[] buffer = new byte[1024];
+        try {
+            while (input.available() > 0) {
+                int n = input.read(buffer);
+                if (n > 0) {
+                    byteStream.write(buffer, 0, n);
+                }
+            }
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            System.err.println("failed to read input: " + e);
+            System.exit(1);
+        }
+        System.err.println("read this many bytes: " + byteStream.size());
+
+        MessageNano proto = null;
+        if (type == Key.class) {
+            Key key = new Key();
+            try {
+                MessageNano.mergeFrom(key, byteStream.toByteArray());
+            } catch (InvalidProtocolBufferNanoException e) {
+                System.err.println("failed to parse proto: " + e);
+                System.exit(1);
+            }
+            // keys are self-checked
+            if (key.checksum != checkKey(key)) {
+                System.err.println("key ckecksum failed");
+                System.exit(1);
+            }
+            proto = key;
+        } else {
+            // other types are wrapped in a checksum message
+            CheckedMessage wrapper = new CheckedMessage();
+            try {
+                MessageNano.mergeFrom(wrapper, byteStream.toByteArray());
+            } catch (InvalidProtocolBufferNanoException e) {
+                System.err.println("failed to parse wrapper: " + e);
+                System.exit(1);
+            }
+            CRC32 checksum = new CRC32();
+            checksum.update(wrapper.payload);
+            if (wrapper.checksum != checksum.getValue()) {
+                System.err.println("wrapper ckecksum failed");
+                System.exit(1);
+            }
+            // decode the actual message
+            proto = (MessageNano) type.newInstance();
+            try {
+                MessageNano.mergeFrom(proto, wrapper.payload);
+            } catch (InvalidProtocolBufferNanoException e) {
+                System.err.println("failed to parse proto: " + e);
+                System.exit(1);
+            }
+        }
+
+        // Generic string output
+        System.out.println(proto.toString());
+
+        // save off the icon bits in a file for inspection
+        if (proto instanceof Resource) {
+            Resource icon = (Resource) proto;
+            final String path = "icon.webp";
+            FileOutputStream iconFile = new FileOutputStream(path);
+            iconFile.write(icon.data);
+            iconFile.close();
+            System.err.println("wrote " + path);
+        }
+
+        // save off the widget icon and preview bits in files for inspection
+        if (proto instanceof Widget) {
+            Widget widget = (Widget) proto;
+            if (widget.icon != null) {
+                final String path = "widget_icon.webp";
+                FileOutputStream iconFile = new FileOutputStream(path);
+                iconFile.write(widget.icon.data);
+                iconFile.close();
+                System.err.println("wrote " + path);
+            }
+            if (widget.preview != null) {
+                final String path = "widget_preview.webp";
+                FileOutputStream iconFile = new FileOutputStream(path);
+                iconFile.write(widget.preview.data);
+                iconFile.close();
+                System.err.println("wrote " + path);
+            }
+        }
+
+        // success
+        System.exit(0);
+    }
+
+    private static long checkKey(Key key) {
+        CRC32 checksum = new CRC32();
+        checksum.update(key.type);
+        checksum.update((int) (key.id & 0xffff));
+        checksum.update((int) ((key.id >> 32) & 0xffff));
+        if (key.name != null && key.name.length() > 0) {
+            checksum.update(key.name.getBytes());
+        }
+        return checksum.getValue();
+    }
+
+    private static void usage(String[] args) {
+        System.err.println("DecoderRing type [input]");
+        System.err.println("\t-k\tdecode a key");
+        System.err.println("\t-f\tdecode a favorite");
+        System.err.println("\t-i\tdecode a icon");
+        System.err.println("\t-s\tdecode a screen");
+        System.err.println("\t-w\tdecode a widget");
+        System.err.println("\tfilename\tread from filename, not stdin");
+        System.exit(1);
+    }
+}
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