Database Info

G1 Shell Commands Documentation

Greetings, as some of you may have noticed the commands from the shell on the G1 do not match up perfectly with the Linux command line. I've decided that we need some documentation on the shell commands on the G1 so that skilled and unskilled command line people can use their G1 like a pro.
I've set up a wiki that will serve this exact purpose at http://android.syntaxdeath.com/
Right now its mostly just a list of commands since I havn't had time to test them all out yet (and well half the commands just crash my phone anyway) but its a good start!
Finally, if you would like to contribute to the wiki, please follow the template that I posted at the bottom for standardization purposes (its loosely based off Man pages)
update: Running total of commands: 302

I would imagine what commands are available depends to some degree on what OS distribution you're using? Differentiating between internal (busybox) and external commands would also be useful.
/Mats

very cool..
Only trick I've found (as I haven't gotten to mess with it much), is that radiooptions 8 [somenumber] will dial [somenumber]

Craftkiller said:
Greetings, as some of you may have noticed the commands from the shell on the G1 do not match up perfectly with the Linux command line. I've decided that we need some documentation on the shell commands on the G1 so that skilled and unskilled command line people can use their G1 like a pro.
I've set up a wiki that will serve this exact purpose at http://android.syntaxdeath.com/
Right now its mostly just a list of commands since I havn't had time to test them all out yet (and well half the commands just crash my phone anyway) but its a good start!
Finally, if you would like to contribute to the wiki, please follow the template that I posted at the bottom for standardization purposes (its loosely based off Man pages)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
would it be easier to setup the wiki info right here on XDA?
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=HTC_Dream
just might help keep the information together in one place?

I would imagine what commands are available depends to some degree on what OS distribution you're using? Differentiating between internal (busybox) and external commands would also be useful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is true, right now I am running the most recent version of JF so I based it off that... as for separating them, its a good idea, but I'd like to hold off till I finish documenting more commands b4 I try to do that stuff.
very cool..
Only trick I've found (as I haven't gotten to mess with it much), is that radiooptions 8 [somenumber] will dial [somenumber]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome, I'll document radiooptions next
would it be easier to setup the wiki info right here on XDA?
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index...name=HTC_Dream
just might help keep the information together in one place?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That could work also. I'm just a newbie to this whole site so I figured I shouldn't start touching whats already great here. I imagine it would be extremely easy to copy this stuff over to that wiki or we could just provide a link... either way, I'll let the forum demigods decide since right now it might appear as spam since so few commands are documented.

this is a great thread, i had planned on doing this but never got around to it, if i can find my printout i have many of the commands already documented. never got radio options to work, but i ran it through the adb shell, will give the onboard terminal a run through later. as most of you know the commands available can be found by typing
ls /system/bin /system/xbin /system/xbin/bb
that will tell you what commands you can use. i'll have more later when i get to my comp.
HAPPY ST. PAT'S

tubaking182 said:
this is a great thread, i had planned on doing this but never got around to it, if i can find my printout i have many of the commands already documented. never got radio options to work, but i ran it through the adb shell, will give the onboard terminal a run through later. as most of you know the commands available can be found by typing
ls /system/bin /system/xbin /system/xbin/bb
that will tell you what commands you can use. i'll have more later when i get to my comp.
HAPPY ST. PAT'S
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh wow, I didn't even bother to check xbin and xbin/bb.... I'll add these commands to the list!
btw on JF using terminal emulator I was able to use radiooptions to start a call
Ok, I've added the new commands to the list bringing the total to 302 commands.... and i've only got like 6 documented so far... =(

sounds good, i am on my way over to your page to see what i can help with
edit: added several commands to the page, will add more in an hour or so

haha thank you! I was about to install ubuntu so I could do a nandroid backup on my phone b4 testing out wipe but it seems you've already done the dangerous part first! much appreciated =)

you can do a nandroid backup and flash in windows, someone here had the correct sutup for windows somewhere, but i don't know where it's at since i use ubuntu. the only reason i even tried the command was so that i could document a few things for myself, i had a piece of paper somewhere that i can't find now where i had written out all the commands and highlighted them according to danger for n00bs and also had what they did, or at least a good portion of them. wipe is dangerous for n00bs and so i will only suggest it in the most DIRE emergency cases, i had to do it cause my phone died and i was a n00b on this phone and decided that it would be easier to wipe it than try to find the correct stuff to get it back to factory settings. i discovered it works well for those having issues booting or other such. and that command is one of the many reasons to keep a copy of the latest JF rom on your SD card. going back to add a few more now

perhaps it would be a good idea to sort the commands by the directory theyre in on the wiki page.

that was actually already on my list of things to do, i will probably get it tomorrow sometime unless someone beats me to it

the $PATH var should help with catching some of the more obscure ones...
$ echo $PATH
/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/sbin:/system/sbin:/system/bin:/system/xbin:/system/xbin/bb:/data/local/bin

[Idea] Rom deployment / setup scripts for ROM developers

I'm thinking about creating an application ( based on GScript ) that allows Rom developers to add the ability for rom developers to run shell scripts after the actual rom is flashed and to allow the user to run some rom-specific scripts.
I don't know if there is any need for this by any of the devs, but i have seen TwistedUmbrella used GScript Lite to add some scripts to his build, so that people don't have to ask the same question on how-to run the scripts ( and commands ) over and over.
Although GScript can be easily used for it I think that a special project could offer much more then this and the actual output can be a lot user friendly when its less generic ( i have done the same for the LucidREM script application which can be found in the market ).
And maybe the ability to run some scripts when the actual rom is started the first time after flashing etc.
If you think this could be useful in rom deployment or you have ideas/feature requests etc please drop a post so i know if its worth the work.

like UC
Kinda like UC for windows mobile (I said kinda)? I suppose it could have its uses. First thing that comes to mind is automatic restoration of sms, wep settings, etc.. after a wipe. One thing I like about the g1 is it so easy to build and customize your own builds in comparison to winmo (from a development standpoint). Well, depending on how you look at it I guess.
Curiously, If a function or program like this existed already, what uses would you get from it.
Edit)
I suppose it could be useful afterall. I drew a blank when I initially read your post because everything I run from a script or terminal for that matter is because I'm not behind a computer. If I'm gonna modify something it can be implemented in the update.zip before flash ect.. but if I'm flashing a new rom and I want the dalvikvm updated, louder sound mod, Odex optimized, etc to be done from the first boot I guess it'd be cool. But usuall i'd implement it in an update.zip. I donno I don't think I'm thinkin creatively enough about its uses.

We could create an easy way to backup/restore sms mms bookmarks etc, which can be started before updating and which will run to restore when the image is flashed.
Automatically create the apps2sd settings etc after a flash.
Or even create "smaller"-distributions which asks if the user wants to download extra applications after reflashing...
We could even incorporate google source projects so that users can look for and report issues from within the app for the given distribution.
An easy way to bring out small updates without users having to reflash or have to do manual stuff
Just shooting out some ideas....

I love this idea, I'm a huge supporter for GScript so this only seems natural. Since I use gscript after wipes/loading custom roms ANYWAY it'd be awesome if the process was automated. Chances are people are going to want to restore previous settings and info when they load new roms. I hope more Rom devs see this. So mildly bumping for notice.

Eventually user support will be deciding for developers to use it or not...
I will have a test application finished in a few days.
I will post the first screenshots tomorrow if i will find some time...

[Release] RT Jailbreak Tool

RT Jailbreak Tool
By Netham45, Version 1.20
An all-in-one program to jailbreak Windows RT tablets using the method recently released by clrokr​
Usage
Boot your RT device and log in, allow it to sit on the desktop for about a minute.
Extract all files out of the latest version of the .ZIP attached to this post. To do this on Windows RT, right-click on the .zip, choose 'Extract all', and select the destination folder.
Run runExploit.bat. It'll prompt you to either install the jailbreak to run on login, uninstall it not to, or run the jailbreak once.
Choose an option and follow all subsequent prompts. They're all quite easy and self-explanatory.
FAQ
Q) What does this do, in layman's terms?
A) It allows non-Microsoft ARM-compiled .exes to run on the desktop. That is it.
Update (03/01/2013): The jailbreak now allows unsigned drivers to load.
Q) Can I use this to run Photoshop, Steam, AutoCAD, <Insert commercial product here>?
A) While it is -technically- possible for the companies to port their stuff over to Windows RT using the hack it is extremely unlikely. As a rule of thumb, if it's a commercial piece of software it won't run on the ARM.
Q) Can I use this to run PuTTY, VNC, X-Chat, <Insert open-source product here>?
A) Yes! Open-source programs are ones that you, having the source code, can recompile to work on the ARM. If it's not already available (A small but growing number of programs are) it's easy to get started. There are some useful threads in the Windows 8 Development and Hacking board on XDA-Developers.
Please note that not all programs can reasonably be ported over to ARM, due to either program complexity, overuse of inline assembly, or the current lack of a GNU Compiler
Q) Can I use this to run any random x86 app I find on the internet?
A) No. Apps must be recompiled for ARM. Stop asking why Chrome doesn't run.
Q) Can I use this to hack my Android tablet?
A) Not really. Most Android hacks require custom kernel-mode drivers (APX, Odin, ADB all require drivers that are unavailable), and this hack only allows us to run unsigned User-mode code.
If you don't know the difference between User-mode and Kernel-mode, I'm sure Wikipedia has a good article on the subject.
Q) Will Chrome/Firefox be ported over?
A) I don't see any major technical hurdles for those, but I probably won't be the one to do it.
Q) Are there any precompiled apps for this available?
A) Check out THIS THREAD for a list of all currently known compiled apps.
Q) I ran the jailbreak, now where can I download pirated apps from?
A) Nowhere. This jailbreak does not allow for pirated apps, and it is a long ways off from actually supporting pirated apps. If you manage to get pirated apps to run on Windows RT you will be doing the entire community a large disservice, along with ruining what credibility this hack may have in Microsoft's eyes.
Q) I don't know how to recompile code, can I get someone else to do it?
A) If it's a simple project you can likely find someone who will be more than happy to recompile it for you. If it's a large project with numerous dependencies, or a commercial project, I will be willing to take a look at it and quote a price to do it. (On that note, please realize that I am not affiliated with XDA-Developers at all.)
Q) I keep BSoD'ing! What's up?
A) I haven't managed to track down the cause of the BSoDs, except that they seem to happen when the exploit is ran within the first minute or so of the tablet booting and logging in. If you're getting BSoDs, boot your tablet to the desktop and wait 2 or 3 minutes before trying the exploit. Also, make sure that you're up to date with Windows Updates, as of 2/26/2013.
Q) I ran the .bat and it told me it couldn't find it's bin folder. What's wrong?
A) Extract the ZIP in entirety. Don't just open the ZIP and double-click on the runExploit.bat.
Q) It's not working! What do?
A) Post in this thread describing what you're doing and the issue you're having, do not PM me, even if you don't have the number of posts to post in the developer sections. I'll consider it spam and disregard it. Don't message me on Twitter either, the only place that I will provide support for this tool is in this thread.
Q) Is this persistent across reboots?
A) No, it resets every time the device reboots.
Q) Is this a tethered exploit?
A) No. Tethering is connecting the device to a computer, or other device to jailbreak it. This is done entirely on the device. It just has to be redone at reboot.
Q) Will this work with all the latest updates, as of 02/26/2013?
A) There was an updated .zip posted for the latest update (Patch Tuesday, Feburary 2013.) It should work.
Q) How do I compile apps for the Surface RT? It says I'm missing a bunch of .libs!
A) Visual Studio 2012 does not come with all the required ARM .libs for compiling most desktop apps. Please see THIS post by _peterdn for a useful utility for generating .libs and .exps from the .dlls on the tablet.
Q) Why would you want desktop apps? They suck for touch.
A) Mainly for the library of easily ported software, along with the things that metro apps just can't do. I agree, they're more inconvenient to use with touch, but that's the tradeoff for having a huge library of software. You also don't have to use desktop mode, the tablet still is quite good without it (Except the mail client). I also believe that since it's my device I should be able to do whatever I want with it, regardless of what MS says. Traditionally MS has leaned the same way with Windows, which makes it rather disappointing they chose to lock this platform down.
Q) Will this void my warranty?
A) Since it doesn't persist across reboots chances are the support center will never know, though it may be against the terms of your devices warranty.
Q) Is there any warranty for this program?
A) No express or implied warranty exists.
Q) Your hack caused the paint to chip off my tablet, the felt to peel off my type keyboard, the kickstand to fall off, and my tablet to display nothing but satanic messages while it's on! I want you to buy me a new one!
A) No it didn't, and see my warranty policy.
Q) Can Microsoft patch this?
A) Yes and no. They can patch it through Windows Update, but since we have the ability to reinstall from recovery partitions we can revert any Windows Updates they release.
Q) Will this allow people to run viruses on my tablet?
A) Yes and no, if something malicious is compiled and ran while jailbroken it could act like a virus, yes. Once you reset, though, it'll be gone.
Q) I came across a malicious RT application! Who do I tell?
A) If it's a jailbroken application then the most you can do is make a post informing about it. That's one downside to having unsigned code, there's no one regulating body who can decide what is and isn't available, and manage safety. If it's a store application then I suggest you contact Microsoft. If it's a Modern UI app that requires the jailbreak to run you still may have luck contacting Microsoft, as they can blacklist the developer's certificate.
Q) Can any random Store app do this?
A) No, this requires tools and privileges that Windows Store apps can't possess. The appcontainer model that MS uses is very strict and good at preventing things like this from happening. There's a number of things that flat-out aren't possible to do from a Store app that this uses, not to mention that it would get rejected by MS.
Q) Will I (The user) get my developer license banned?
A) It's possible, though I doubt that MS will do that.
Update: With the new payload (as of 1/18/2013) users no longer need to get their own developer certificate.
Q) Won't you (Netham45) get your developer license banned?
A) Time will tell, I knew the risk when I posted this. I suspect that their banning system is more geared towards piracy, though, which this doesn't really enable.
Update: With the new payload (as of 1/18/2013) my developer certificate is no longer required.
Q) I've got this great feature/idea for the jailbreak! Where can I tell you at?
A) Post it in this thread. Note that the area where we can script and such before the exploit is limited and restricted to pretty much batch scripts, and that I am under no obligation to implement a feature if you suggest it. And, seriously, do not PM me about it. If you don't have the prerequisite number of posts to post in the developer section then go get them.
Q) Can I throw money at you for writing the tool to automate this?
A) There's a donate link on the side of this post. (I'd love to get a Surface Pro. )
Q) Can I throw money at clrokr for documenting the exploit?
A) You'll have to talk to him about that.Here's his profile.
FAQ last updated 2/26/2013 10:17 PM MST
Thanks to clrokr for documenting the usage of the exploit, and to the numerous people who contributed positively in the [Q] Hacking Windows RT to Run Desktop Apps thread
Download is attached to this post.
Update log
Update 1.01(1/10/2013): Uncommented pause in the PS script to install the ModernUI app -- It was causing it not to prompt to install a developer license/my cert for some reason.
Update 1.02(1/10/2013): Fixed issue on non-English devices.
Update 1.03(1/11/2013): Fixed issue with usernames with spaces in them, fixed issue where the user running the jailbreak isn't the first user logged in
Update 1.1(1/18/2013): Redid functionality; it now gets the kernel base inside the payload, instead of requiring a Metro application. Added a startup folder that gets ran after jailbreak. Cleaned up output. Click for more info
Update 1.11(1/18/2013): Added commandline options, added a simple interface to handle creating scheduled tasks to run, added a powershell script to keep it from running if the system hasn't been up for two minutes, added missing startup folder, added sanity check so it doesn't freak out if the startup folder isn't there
Update 1.12(2/12/2013): Fixed the scheduled task to not require AC power to run, tweaked script to not crash on latest patches, Fixed startup folder not getting executed properly
Update 1.12a(2/12/2013): Fixed it to actually work on the latest updates. Oops.
Update 1.13(2/14/2013): Added the ability to dynamically get the signing level. It now requires internet on the first launch, and after an update changes ntoskrnl.exe. This version is slightly experimental, so if it doesn't work use one of the older versions.
Update 1.13a(2/15/2013): Tweaked the script to return from the hook in a way that seems more robust. If 1.12a or 1.13 work for you there's no need for an update.
Update 1.20(3/01/2013): Made the bat use registry keys instead of files in system32, added registry-based startup folder, altered payload to support unlocking kernel-mode code
Click here to download the latest version​
Older versions may be downloaded here
(Note: If you wish to mirror this post please retain a link to it at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2092158 so users can always get the latest version.)

Nice job! Good to have an all-in-one. Is this tool using the decrement by 0x80000 or trying the option of a slightly lesser decrement?
Also, it would be good to have a unified selection of RT-compiled desktop apps. I'm working on porting Pidgin (the Windows Store IM clients kind of suck...) but it's not easy; the "build under Windows" instructions boil down to "make your Windows system as Unix-y as possible, then build it there". There may be a way to target RT from GCC, but I am not aware of it.
EDIT: What I meant to say is, perhaps a thread linking all the various apps that people have built (preferably with links to their source, for those of us mildly paranoid types who like to see what other peoples' code is doing on our systems) would be a good idea.

GoodDayToDie said:
Nice job! Good to have an all-in-one. Is this tool using the decrement by 0x80000 or trying the option of a slightly lesser decrement?
Also, it would be good to have a unified selection of RT-compiled desktop apps. I'm working on porting Pidgin (the Windows Store IM clients kind of suck...) but it's not easy; the "build under Windows" instructions boil down to "make your Windows system as Unix-y as possible, then build it there". There may be a way to target RT from GCC, but I am not aware of it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm decrementing by 0x7EFF0, it seems to not get the 0x18 bugcheck at all with that number. The one it gets if you run it too soon is a different bugcheck.

Install Fails
Brilliant!
I tried running it but it keeps going in an endless cycle because the Metro app fails to install.
Using a Surface with the latest patches from Microsoft.

merill said:
Brilliant!
I tried running it but it keeps going in an endless cycle because the Metro app fails to install.
Using a Surface with the latest patches from Microsoft.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does it give you any error messages when it fails to install?

netham45 said:
Does it give you any error messages when it fails to install?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When installing the metro app, the installation fails because the certificate isn't added to the cert-store by default and the batch just tries again.
I uncommented the #Pause in PrintMessageAndExit to read the error message and that made it possible to choose to install the certificate, the powershell just closed otherwise.
After that the metro app installs fine, and tries to start it. I can see the app start, though the cmd still doesn't recognize it and tries to install it again...
I wrote my own metro app for that today and installed it instead of yours and it worked fine with mine.
My App is just this:
protected override void OnFileActivated(FileActivatedEventArgs args) {
WriteAddress((StorageFile)args.Files[0]);
}
private async void WriteAddress(StorageFile file) {
using (Stream s = await file.OpenStreamForWriteAsync()) {
using (StreamWriter wrt = new StreamWriter(s)) {
uint adr = GetKernelAddress.Address.Get() + 0x19FFBC;
await wrt.WriteAsync((adr & 255).ToString("X2") + " " + ((adr >> 8) & 255).ToString("X2") + " " + ((adr >> 16) & 255).ToString("X2") + " " + ((adr >> 24) & 255).ToString("X2"));
}
}
App.Current.Exit();
}
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

sebmaster16 said:
When installing the metro app, the installation fails because the certificate isn't added to the cert-store by default and the batch just tries again.
I uncommented the #Pause in PrintMessageAndExit to read the error message and that made it possible to choose to install the certificate, the powershell just closed otherwise.
After that the metro app installs fine, and tries to start it. I can see the app start, though the cmd still doesn't recognize it and tries to install it again...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Having the same issue, uncommenting the pause seems to fix it all for me. I'll update the zip in the top in just a second.
Edit: New zip with that uncommented uploaded.

Metro app failed to run. Trying to (re)install the metro app...
Found certificate: C:\Users\Merill\Downloads\RT_Jailbreak\bin\ModernUI_App\Get Kernel Base_1.0.
Before installing this package, you need to do the following:
- Install the signing certificate
Cannot invoke method. Method invocation is supported only on core types in this language mode.
At C:\Users\Merill\Downloads\RT_Jailbreak\bin\ModernUI_App\Add-AppDevPackage.ps1:497 char:9
+ $IsAlreadyElevated = ([Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity]::GetCurrent() ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: ) [], ParentContainsErrorRecordException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : MethodInvocationNotSupportedInConstrainedLanguage

merill said:
Metro app failed to run. Trying to (re)install the metro app...
Found certificate: C:\Users\Merill\Downloads\RT_Jailbreak\bin\ModernUI_App\Get Kernel Base_1.0.
Before installing this package, you need to do the following:
- Install the signing certificate
Cannot invoke method. Method invocation is supported only on core types in this language mode.
At C:\Users\Merill\Downloads\RT_Jailbreak\bin\ModernUI_App\Add-AppDevPackage.ps1:497 char:9
+ $IsAlreadyElevated = ([Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity]::GetCurrent() ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: ) [], ParentContainsErrorRecordException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : MethodInvocationNotSupportedInConstrainedLanguage
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try the new zip I just uploaded, I believe I fixed that.
Edit: I see what happened. The file that MS distributes has a signature at the bottom which allows it to make unrestricted system calls and when I commented out the pause I broke that.

Very Nice job! Thank you again!

Yahoo!!! Works. Have PuTTY running. Now to get all ARM compatible apps in one place!

merill said:
Yahoo!!! Works. Have PuTTY running. Now to get all ARM compatible apps in one place!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to hear it's working.
Now, 6 AM, time to go to bed.

merill said:
Yahoo!!! Works. Have PuTTY running. Now to get all ARM compatible apps in one place!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree! If anyone gets Utorrent working ill be eternally greatful
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

vincepg13 said:
I agree! If anyone gets Utorrent working ill be eternally greatful
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With 7Zip, Putty and an .Net 4.0 FTP Uploader app... all I need now is a Transmission console and I no longer really need my laptop.
Would be great to associate .torrent with Transmission on the Surface.
What other "needed" apps that are projects (like SourceForge) that people can think of?
MediaInfo would be handy... wonder if it could also integrate with explorer...
Perhaps this discussion needs its own thread

I'm actually starting a thread for this topic... but since we're here, one thing that would be awesome (instantly add support for a ton of software) would be a Java runtime. Unfortunately, they're huge and complex beasts, and tend to either require assembly or be buildable only on Linux (sometimes both...).

in asus vivo tab rt , I can not go where I say,
please press the volume down now

Silverlight ideally. But it sounds like thats a no go.
Also Chrome or Firefox would be good!
Filezilla would also be nice.
Nice work guys.

It works, but I still get the SmartScreen filter when I try to run apps from Explorer. When I run them from command line, it works fine.
I believe there's a registry entry that needs to be changed, but I don't remember what it is.

randomned said:
It works, but I still get the SmartScreen filter when I try to run apps from Explorer. When I run them from command line, it works fine.
I believe there's a registry entry that needs to be changed, but I don't remember what it is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
in the pop up, click more info then click 'run anyway' - itll never bother you again for that app.

will this work with the latest updates installed

A ton of difficult questions about Android

They are all about Android 4.3 and upper.
A pair of questions about unrooting/locking/unlocking/booting.
1) What are the benefits of rooting other than being able to a) set custom cpufrequency policies, b) being able to update your phone (to custom new ROMs like cyanogenmod) when your OEM has decided to stop supporting it, c) full filesystem access, d) tuning sysctl parameters?
I don't like the fact the rooting totally breaks Android's security model.
2) Do I understand correctly that a locked phone is the phone in which you cannot overwrite/replace/customize vmlinuz? or there are even stricter limitations?
3) Do I understand correctly that in order to change e.g. /etc files you don't really need a custom ROM, you can boot into TWRP and replace/edit/remove the needed files?
4) Why does unlock wipe all your data?
5) If the phone is locked, how bootloader/firmware understands that our bootloader is untempered? Does the bootloader have a digital signature? I have this question because let's imagine that I 1) unlock 2) change vmlinuz (allow superuser) 3) lock?
6) How does "oem lock" verifies that system data is genuine? Or it simply wipes everything clean? Does Android has some (RO) partition which always contains a genuine virgin ROM you cannot meddle with?
7) If I do "unlock" on my Nexus device, without changing anything or installing any 3d party bootloader (like TWRP), will I be able to update to new official ROMs via OTA updates?
8) Why every "lock" manual says that I need to upload a genuine official ROM - what if I've changed it and made it "rooted"?
Storage.
Why does Android has so many partitions?
What method is used to break the internal storage into partitions? Is it some kind of partition table (MS-DOS, GPT) or it's hardware based?

1. The purpose of rooting is to give you an access level equal to the product's development team. Rooting is basically an unofficial way of doing exactly what the developers are doing on a daily basis. You can either consider that people are going to root and that the community adds value and bug fixes to your product by independent development (Android); or you can actively take measures to lock down root access and maintain a a gateway to development in the belief that this doctrine maintains a unified experience, protects security of intellectual material, and provides better overall security (Apple).
There's pros and cons to each side. With the Android thought, you are offloading a lot of your development burden onto the community and getting R&D, patches, and extending product life in return - for free. You take the risk of lowered security, but usually make it back because the community is a larger workforce with greater man hours and a vested interest in the product. They provide you with answers to problems you don't even know about as long as you listen.
With the Apple thought, you maintain a strong control on making the product do exactly what you want. This makes the product work exactly as expected, which can be easier for the user. However, your design has to be VERY good for the community to accept it. You also suffer in that you lock the community out from enhancing your product, so you HAVE to be the one coming up with all the ideas. Also, if the community finds a breach in your security, it can be devastating. Look at how much energy and money Apple pours into preventing jailbreaks.
I wouldn't be too worried about the 'break in security model' as you say, unless the Android platform becomes fraught with virii. After all, consider that unix on your PC is essentially the same thing, and you request root access on it to install certain things.
2. I'll let someone else chime in with a better answer
3. with root access you don't need a custom ROM, you just need the ability to access root permission and a file browser that will get you to protected areas.
4. I'm not sure I'm thinking about the same stuff as you here. Rooting doesn't wipe anything from what I remember. Replacing the ROM does, but that's because the ROM 'installer' doesn't have anything to preserve user settings. I don't consider this weird since Windows didn't have a really decent migration package built into the installer until windows 8.
5. There's a counter that iterates. Research trianglemod for an example of this topic.
6. It's hard to say what the OEM has for tools without them releasing the tools to the public. They, of course, are going to have better tools than us. No, there is no read only partition that I'm aware of that contains a full ROM that you can dump back in place. I've gone so far as to fully wipe my Galaxy S3 to the point where it only had clockworkmod and a boot screen that never went away. If I went much further, I could probably brick the phone, requiring an external programming program. A full brick would remove interface to your PC, which I believe is a possibility.
7. A new OEM ROM update will do one of three things:
a. update the phone to the new ROM and most likely break all the apps
b. update the phone and wipe everything
c. partially update the phone to a state where it won't boot due to a corruption (I've been here, lol)
8. not sure what we are talking about here
9. Android is based on linux. Linux is designed with specific partitions to handle different tasks for storage, memory access, stuff like that. If you aren't happy with the design, you are free to do something else - you don't have to use Android on an Android phone, you can probably put FreeBSD or Slackware or something, or write your own kernel.

Wayland server for Android

ABANDONED
Hi! Does anyone here use Linux desktop distributions in chroot environment on Android device?
I am developing wayland protocol server for Android devices. If anyone is interested in checking my project, latest version of apk is always available here:
ftp://ftp.drivehq.com/mogryph/sparkle/
Currently I am only focused on running Xwayland as client. Also apk supports audio output.
Simplest instruction:
1. Android 6 or newer required, busybox required, root required
2. Prepare linux distribution in directory, image or on partition. Make sure you have Xwayland installed in it. Make sure you specify which DE to run (or at least xterm) in ~/.xinitrc
3. Install and start sparkle.apk
4. Press "edit user.sh", uncomment (remove #) line starting with start_generic_container. Change rest of this line to match your device:
first arg - image or partition where distribution is installed. If distribution is installed in directory and mouting is not needed, leave this arg unchanged.
second arg - mount point or directory with distribution. If you use mounting (first arg), this arg can be left unchanged.
third arg - name of the user which will be used to start Xwayland and DE. Its better to specify non-root. Also this is the user who must have .xinitrc in his home dir (see step 2).
5. Save user.sh and click "Start".
6. Any problems and crashes will be reflected in the log.
If you want audio output:
1. Compile and install driver from pcm_sparkle.tar.gz in your distribtion
2. cp 1.asoundrc ~/.asoundrc
If you have blinking problem, change upload_mode from 1 to 2 in settings. If you have bad performance, setting no_damage to true may help, but in most cases no_damage=false is better. Fastest upload mode is 0 (if it works).
If you don't trust me and don't want to give sparkle root permissions (I perfectly understand this) you don't have to. Also you can do without busybox.
But in this case, you need to understand and do a lot of things. Check sparkle's user.sh to get idea about what needs to be done. Basically:
1. You need to make /data/data/com.sion.sparkle/files accessible from inside chroot container. You can use bind bound.
2. Make sure you have tmpfs mounted over /tmp in container.
3. You may need to change selinux context on /tmp to match sparkle's context or disable SELinux.
4. You need to create new directory in /tmp, symlink sparkle's wayland socket from /data/data/com.sion.sparkle/files/wayland-0 to this dir. And export XDG_RUNTIME_DIR to point to this dir. Dir must be (ch)owned by user who will be running Xwayland and DE.
5. After all this, you can try to start Xwayland and your DE.

new version
New version
rgho.st/8Fbz64Rxj
Added x86 and x86_64 support. Actually it is rewritten almost from scratch but x86 support is the only thing others can notice...

Hello! This project is interesting. I tried you app and it works on my Xiaomi Redmi Note 4X(chromium and glmark from chrooted environment works very well)! Can you publish source code on Github, because it really interesting project?

Also I'm interested, please post it on github!

Did you put this up on github or move this thread? Looks very interesting.

1
Argh, sorry, I decided to abandon this project. You are free to delete thread. Also no copyleft-licensed components were used so I don't have to bother releasing sources.

Hentacler said:
Argh, sorry, I decided to abandon this project. You are free to delete thread. Also no copyleft-licensed components were used so I don't have to bother releasing sources.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check your PM please!

1
Hello again.
For last two weeks I was rewriting it from scratch (yes. again... yes, third time).
Probably need another week to make it stable.
Currently I am not sure it runs on any device except my own 5-year old phone (LineageOS 14).
I will maintain last version here:
ftp://ftp.drivehq.com/mogryph/sparkle/
There is no English documentation, but you can see script "user.sh" to get idea about how to start xwayland. In most cases it should be enough to edit few lines in that script to make it work on another device. If you execute this script on your device with "install" argument, it is supposed to place itself into sparkle's directory and sparkle is supposed to run it ("start" function) automatically. Sparkle doesn't request root unless script does.
Here is video of sparkle working:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOSFYxCF7Q8
But it seems that KDE + video recording was too much for my old phone
Still, if you going to see video, don't close it until 2:00 where I turned of composition which caused lags.
Also on device everything looks much smoother than on video, even after 2:00.
When I watch fullscreen (1280x720) video on my device, sparkle + xwayland together add just 5% of CPU load (20% load of single core).
Thats it I guess... I tried to to discuss sparkle on 4pda.ru (russian forums), but got very bad reception. "xsdl is perfect, dont reinvent the wheel" they say. So I started to hate humanity and I decided to make sparkle personal project. Also this is last time I am solving reCAPTCHA to leave post on XDA.

Still alive
We are still alive. I've changed first post to reflect actual state. Now sparkle supports audio, auto-mouting containers and is lot more stable.
Yet there are still many things I want to improve in sparkle's core before adding new functions.
Also there are few demo videos on ftp.

Amazing!
Working great on my redmi 6 pro. Stock miui 9.9.3 rom. With linuxdeploy and sparkle from your ftp. No lag on visual and sound. My Linux distribution is alpinelinux arm64 arch.
Since first time I see your posting on 4pda. I'm interested in it. And finally it's on xda.
Thanks dev.
---------- Post added at 02:52 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:44 AM ----------
For anyone interested in the topic. Please follow the instructions in documentation from ftp. And Translate it to eng from rus.

This sounds amazing! Just curious, is it related to https://github.com/twaik/sparkle ?

I now have it working very well on my Samsung Tab S3 using Xwayland and a tiling window manager. Firefox runs amazingly well!
Is it meant to be used only with Xwayland or will it also work with native Wayland applications?
BTW, I think if you open sourced this project and promoted it a bit, it could become quite popular. It's basically the first way to run X11 GUI applications on Android devices at full speed. If you set up a donation link, you could also get compensated for your time and effort. I'll personally contribute $20 if it's open sourced, and I'm sure others will chip in as well.

robsmith11 said:
This sounds amazing! Just curious, is it related to https://github.com/twaik/sparkle ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for feedback. Nice to hear that someone managed to start this thing
Twaik's repository is clone of my very very old version of sparkle. I made that version years ago when I was just starting to learn linux and C++. Sparkle was rewritten from scratch two or three times since that version. And (I believe) current version is much better.
Regarding making it open source... Few months ago I had to find real job. Can't spend much time on personal projects any more. But I have my own strange programming style and my own vision of what sparkle should be. Not sure I want others to paint on my picture. It's probably all because of Twaik! I hate how he used old open source version of sparkle. He did terrible things to it, outraging all my beliefs Sorry!
P.S.: Yesterday I've uploaded another apk to my ftp. The file is called "sparkle-testing.apk". This version is much newer and has many fixes. But I've also changed to many things since tested version including some fundamental changes. No guarantee it will run at all on other devices. Interest is mega low and I get no test reports at all.

Hi Hentacler, I've just found your project - it looks really promising. Unfortunately, the only link currently working on this thread is to github. Is this project still live?
I have a samsung galaxy note 10+, and am using it as a laptop replacement. In addition to the android apps using Samsung Dex (Samsung's desktop solution), I have several linux distributions installed inside a chroot using userLand - so far, its working great. I'd be keen to give you project a try if it's still live, and am happy to help out with testing from my device.
Re open source - while I like your project, I'm not super interested in investing time into something that's not open sourced - I appreciate your concerns about wanting to maintain the direction, but having transparent development is pretty important to me. Is Twaik's fork of your project a better place to go?
Cheers.

tillum said:
Hi Hentacler, I've just found your project - it looks really promising. Unfortunately, the only link currently working on this thread is to github. Is this project still live?
I have a samsung galaxy note 10+, and am using it as a laptop replacement. In addition to the android apps using Samsung Dex (Samsung's desktop solution), I have several linux distributions installed inside a chroot using userLand - so far, its working great. I'd be keen to give you project a try if it's still live, and am happy to help out with testing from my device.
Re open source - while I like your project, I'm not super interested in investing time into something that's not open sourced - I appreciate your concerns about wanting to maintain the direction, but having transparent development is pretty important to me. Is Twaik's fork of your project a better place to go?
Cheers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ftp://ftp.drivehq.com/mogryph/sparkle/
Link to FTP should work and there you can get two versions:
sparkle.apk - old version, but confirmed to work by 3-4 people.
sparkle-testing.apk - latest version, but only briefly tested by me.
I don't ask anyone to invest anything... Sparkle doesn't request root access or any other dangerous permissions (unless you enable automatic container mounting and starting) so it's safe to try for anyone who wants.
Btw, somewhere between these two versions I've replaced BASH container initialization script with LUA version. That was probably a bad idea. LUA script is harder to start directly as root and hacks I used may not work (currently may even cause application freeze if root access is denied). Going to revert to BASH probably. But this only touches people who want sparkle to mount container and launch everything automatically on single button press.
p.s.: Why I need to solve captcha every time I post something?

Thanks for the new release! I've updated and everything seems to be working without any changes on my Samsung Tab S3 with chroot and Arch Arm Linux.
Your changes also solved the flickering for me! The old version would flicker the screen whenever my keyboard's trackpoint activated, but it's not flickering at all any more. Performance seems to be about the same.
I think this could be quite popular, but not many people know about it. Perhaps a post on Hacker News or Reddit would raise awareness.
I understand your position on open source and maintaining control. One idea if you haven't already considered it is releasing the code with a restrictive license that forbids any forks. But either way, I'm enjoying being to properly use X11 on my tablet.
BTW, have you tried any native Wayland compositors? I don't really understand the Wayland ecosystem that well. I gave Sway a brief try, but it didn't seem to work. I've only been using XWayland.

@Hentacler Thanks for your reply! Very keen to get this working, but having a few issues. I'm unsure how to configure the user.lua file - I'm using your latest apk.
I have a non-rooted device, and am running archlinux under termux. Works fine with xsdl. I have installed xorg-server-wayland for X11. I'd appreciate any advice you have.
@robsmith11 Are you able to share how you got this working on Arch? Thanks!!!!

tillum said:
@Hentacler Thanks for your reply! Very keen to get this working, but having a few issues. I'm unsure how to configure the user.lua file - I'm using your latest apk.
I have a non-rooted device, and am running archlinux under termux. Works fine with xsdl. I have installed xorg-server-wayland for X11. I'd appreciate any advice you have.
@robsmith11 Are you able to share how you got this working on Arch? Thanks!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not sure it is possible to use sparkle without root...
Sparkle makes it's directory accessible for everyone (chmod 777). Before Android 8 or 9 this was enough and xwayland from termux was able to connect to sparkle. Here is how people used to start it:
export XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/data/data/com.sion.sparkle/files
Xwayland
But newer versions of Android brought more restrictions and termux can no longer connect to sparkle. These new restrictions are implemented using SELinux if you know what it is. Applications now have different security contexts.
But that is not all. Newest versions of android brought even more terrible meaningless restrictions effectively "killing" applications like termux and many others.
In short, from now one applications are not allowed to execute code (binary) that comes from "untrusted" sources. Termux used to download a lot of such code from it's own repositories. And now it can't. We can't even unpack binaries from assets.
So I can only help with rooted devices.
P.S. Please forgive me, but I am leaving this website. Making people solve recaptcha every time they want to post something is unacceptable level of contempt.
My mail: [email protected]

Thanks for that, will have a play. I could always just root my device. Weird about recaptcha, not having this issue. Currently through termux I have access to the whole sdcard, and am able to download packages (and distros) in it - will have a play and see what else is possible.

@tillum
I basically just followed the instructions on the first post for using Sparkle without busybox. I didn't need to modify the Lua scripts.
I'm guessing SELinux may be a problem without root. I'll try setting it up without root when I have a chance later.