We have several devices running Android in an industrial environment.
We think about completely setting up one device and then copy the whole /data directory to the other devices. The expected benefit is to configure things like wireless settings and install the required apps and updates only once on one device and somehow bring this onto the other devices.
Is this a good idea?
I am not sure if there is device specific information stored in data such as a device ID or something else that we would mess up with our idea.
Besides this what about 'uid's that are responsible to represent app permissions? Do you expect problems if our apps are not installed onto a device but simply come by a copied /data partition?
Is something specific established on a device after the first boot when /data is created and filled, that should not be replaced with something else?
Would it be better to copy only selected directories or even files? This is much more effort but ok if there is no other way...
I would appreciate any input about what can go wrong and what we should consider.