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Hi all I am putting together an android app that will making the rooting process much easier. This thread is discuss issues and suggestions with this app.
I have the app near done, the biggest problem is that I cannot format the sdcard as fat32. Is formatting to fat32 required. Why do we do this? What is the real need to do this?
I have not tested the app out yet, but so far this is how it has been put together. There is a main activity with textboxes that have the urls of the files needed to root (dreaimg.nbh, recovery.img, hardsplupdate.zip, JF_RC33update.zip) and there are buttons for each step in the process to download these necessary files and extract them if needed and put them on the sdcard and renaming them properly. You can change the urls to something else if needed.
so you click the first button it downloads the .nbh and puts it on the sdcard and then prompts the user to turn off, power+camera on, flash. when phone is on then reinstall this app and go to step 2 (because it would of been lost when flashed)
you click the second button it downloads recovery.img and hardsplupdate.zip. renames the files appropriately and puts them on the sd. it runs a script to do the recovery.img flash. It then prompts you to restart into recovery mode and gives the instructions on flashing the hardspl. and tells you to reopen this app when done
you click the third button it downloads the latest JF firmware (lets just say the RC33 flavor) puts it on the sdcard and renames it as update.zip. it prompts you to restart into recovery mode and do the flash.
Anybody see any possible problems with this logic? Also what do people think about maybe packing some of these files in the app instead of having them be downloaded?
Update: app is working http://allshadow.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=5229
I am still looking for help to make it better.
I need devs to help make it nicer.
I am also looking for someone who's familiar with the update.zip package, to pack the radio, hardspl, and jf_rc33 all in one update file.
If anybody is interested in helping, PM me
I dont think its that big of a deal to format the card yourself, but why not make an app on the desktop that does some of the work for you, like formatting the card, then downloading and renaming the files needed to get started?
Packing the files into the app is going to make the app big. I like this whole idea though.
when you flash the .nbh it does a wipe on its own so one would need to re-download the app after that unless you can get it to stick somehow, i like the idea, is each button of the app just running a script? like to get the dreaimg.nbh have a script that runs:
"$wget [url to the .nbh file]
$echo 'please reboot your phone into SPL by holding the camera and power button'"
or did you have some other idea?
i like the idea but i am just not sure how easy this would be to code as i am just used to writing scripts that do everything for me.
or you could follow Kllian's advice and make a desktop program that does all this. i could easily write a script for linux that would do it, and a .bat file wouldn't be too hard either. you would just need to have adb and you could have the scipt/batch reboot the phone into recovery to do the flashing of each update.zip
pm me if you have an questions or would like me to write a script to do all this
tubaking182 said:
when you flash the .nbh it does a wipe on its own so one would need to re-download the app after that unless you can get it to stick somehow, i like the idea, is each button of the app just running a script?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
tubaking brings up a good point.
I have an idea that possibly could resolve the "wiping" issue. What you do is, the initial app would be placed on the desktop (assume RC30). From here you'd downgrade the firmware to RC29.
The problem is though, the app you are scripting will be wiped. SO...
How about saving it on the SD temporarily.
THEN modifying the .nbh file to restore the <rooting app> to desktop (from SD)
Just throwing some stuff out there.
IF you need some help, hit me up.
if anyone knows how to convert a .sh bash script from linux to a .bat batch file for windows then i already have the script written, send me a PM to get it. or we could port it into java, but i don't know how to do that stuff. tomorrow i will upload my script onto 4shared and provide a link here as long as it works. keep in mind that i am on a linux machine and my script will not work in M$ windows. i don't know a damn thing about mac, so i have no idea if this will work or not for them.
my script is nearly completely automated, the only thing you need to do is hit ENTER a few dozen times, i will also write a completely automated one that sleeps rather than waits for you to hit enter, but it will take longer to run most likely since i will have to oversetimate the sleep time.
hopefully i can find a windows machine and learn what commands in the cmd are equal to the commands in my terminal
akapoor said:
tubaking brings up a good point.
I have an idea that possibly could resolve the "wiping" issue. What you do is, the initial app would be placed on the desktop (assume RC30). From here you'd downgrade the firmware to RC29.
The problem is though, the app you are scripting will be wiped. SO...
How about saving it on the SD temporarily.
THEN modifying the .nbh file to restore the <rooting app> to desktop (from SD)
Just throwing some stuff out there.
IF you need some help, hit me up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
modifying ,nbh files is no easy task, i tried it once and fortunately for many people GSLeon3 was able to help me fix my tilt. i think the .bat or .sh would be the easiest way to root your phone
Tubaking,
Send over the file you have. Ill work on converting it to a .bat, useable from windows.
Email : akapoor92_at_gmail.com
I should have it soon, but since its like 3:30am here, I'm off to bed. Haha
tubaking182 said:
modifying ,nbh files is no easy task, i tried it once and fortunately for many people GSLeon3 was able to help me fix my tilt. i think the .bat or .sh would be the easiest way to root your phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uh, you'd not only need to modify the nbh file, but you'd also need to sign it with the Google OTA keys - otherwise the phone will refuse to flash it.
If it were possible to create Google-signed nbh files we'd dispense with all this downgrading nonsense and just create an nbh of the latest JF firmware with root and directly flash that.
The issue is that until you've patched the recovery loader the phone won't flash anything that isn't signed by Google. The reason we can get around this is that there is a leaked signed file with the old firmware version, and that version happens to contain a vulnerability that you can use to get root access. Once you have root access you can reflash the recovery loader with a new one which accepts the test keys. At that point you can dispense with the hacks and begin directly flashing whatever you want.
In any case, rooting a phone is serious enough of a matter that we probably shouldn't be encouraging anybody who can download an app to do it. They should at least have some confidence in reading and following obscure instructions online, because of anything goes wrong later that is what they'll be doing...
Thanks for all your input. I have been trying to hold hand people through the root process and it is a real pain. Biggest issues are people not being able to unzip files correctly, rename files correctly, and the biggest thing is the recovery.img step and typing in the commands.
- .nbh cannot be patched because it is signed.
- yes my app will get wiped because of the .nbh flash. It does tell the user to reinstall this app once done with the .nbh step and then continue
- i prefer an android app, so people can do it without a computer and without having to install the sdk
- the app does not run a script to get the files. it uses some android sdk functions to download files. it does use the unzip linux command to unzip, not sure if this will work because of permissions, i may have to figure out how to do it from the sdk. the app does run a script to do the recovery.img step, during this step we should already have root so no issue there with permissions.
Biggest problem I see is Fat32 format I heard it is not absolutely necessary. Does anyone have any more information about why this needs to be done?
it IS necessary, you need the card formatted in order to do the NBH flash, after that you should be ok. most card come formatted in the box they came in so anyone that said they didn't need to format their card is lying because is was already formatted to fat 32
in the RC29 firmware is there a su command in /system/bin/ or are all commands run as root without having to call /system/bin/su ??
moussam said:
in the RC29 firmware is there a su command in /system/bin/ or are all commands run as root without having to call /system/bin/su ??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
from what i've read, in the RC29 version andything you type on the home screen gets put through a root shell as well all on it's own
I have a feeling whoever makes this app is going to sell iot for a ridiculous price on the market
My script is written but requires the user to do certain things, later I hope to have it be completely automated after a certain point and it will be free. After I get it written in linux shell I will be converting it to use in windows. Expect my automated root to be available for download by the weekend.
I got the app pretty close to done. I hope to put something up tonight or tomorrow that you guys can test. I am not going to charge for this app, I want to give it for free so everybody can have root and a more rich experience.
The place were I am stuck right now is the unzipping of the DREAIMG.NBH file from its zip file after it is downloaded. I am using java.util.zip I am not sure if the problem is because the file is so big or if I am doing it wrong. does anyone have an android java unzip code snippet?
The app now downloads files for you and unzips them if needed. THere is an issue with the unzipping though, after around 25 MB of unzipping DREAIMG.NBH i get this error...
java.io.IOException at java.util.zip.InflaterInputStream.read(InflaterInputStream.java)
anybody have any suggestions? Is their not enough memory to unzip the files or something?
For now I am not going to let the .nbh file be zipped up. THe app instead will have to download the full uncompressed .nbh file.
So it is ready to be tested, if you want to try it out PM me, I do not want to just post it and have everybody use it until it has been tested more.
Good news the app works on downloading the .nbh file and then flashing you to RC29. It then successfully downloads the recovery.img and hardspl update.zip
I had someone testing it and when they ran the recovery script the mount command gave them mount: operation not permitted. Is this correct? I know without root it is supposed to give you mount: permission denied.
If this is correct the app is working, and I just need someone else to confirm.
Mike
Does anybody else want to help with the coding of this project? If so create an open-source repository and I will add the current source in there.
This tool is an interactive console application. It makes it easier to use blob tools. All you have to do is run it, choose to unpack or repack. If you choose repack it will ask you to enter the name for each of the required files. After that it will due the rest.
Notice: You either have to enter the full, have the blob file in the same directory/folder or have change changed directories to the location of the blob. For example: cd /path/to/blob's Dir/
Update: I have fixed the case sensitivity issue.
Note: The attachments below will always be the latest.
ostar2 said:
I created an application to make BlobTools easier to use. It is an interactive console application. I made this because I wanted to be of some help to the community. Well anyways, here it is...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Files are corrupt. Try again please.
Regards,
Brad
bradslinux said:
Files are corrupt. Try again please.
Regards,
Brad
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those were compressed with the LZMA algorithm. Here try these ones there compressed with the normal zip compression for windows.
Edit: To prevent confusion I have removed these attachments please download from The Original Post. Thanks.
ostar2 said:
Those were compressed with the LZMA algorithm. Here try these ones there compressed with the normal zip compression for windows.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That did it, thanks.
Nice work.
Regards,
Brad
welcome..
Excellent! Thank you - these will aid me greatly!
I like to be of help to the community so I am happy that this helps others.
Sourcecode and Update
As I am unable to compile for Linux or mac at the moment here is the sourcecode for this tool.
This uses a Code::Blocks IDE for its project/workspace. It can be compiled with just a c++ compiler. The icon is only available on windows as I do not know to implement it on macosx and Linux does not support icons in executables. also, I have updated this application as well the updated binarie zip files and source zip are attached. Enjoy!
Edit: To prevent confusion I have removed these attachments please download from The Original Post. Thanks.
ostar2 said:
As I am unable to compile for Linux or mac at the moment here is the sourcecode for this tool.
This uses a Code::Blocks IDE for its project/workspace. It can be compiled with just a c++ compiler. The icon is only available on windows as I do not know to implement it on macosx and Linux does not support icons in executables. also, I have updated this application as well the updated binarie zip files and source zip are attached. Enjoy!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried to unpack a blob and it kept failing with an Invalid Option! error. I hit u then typed blob which was in the same directory. I then manually dragged the blob onto the blobunpack.exe and it unpacked it fine.
Any ideas why?
sbdags said:
I tried to unpack a blob and it kept failing with an Invalid Option! error. I hit u then typed blob which was in the same directory. I then manually dragged the blob onto the blobunpack.exe and it unpacked it fine.
Any ideas why?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was unsure of what extenstion the blob file had when I created this. What extenstion do they have? is it .blob? If so I think i can fix it.
Update: Fixed Not unpacking
Hello again I fixed the tool it should work fine now.
Edit: To prevent confusion I have removed these attachments please download from The Original Post. Thanks.
ostar2 said:
I was unsure of what extenstion the blob file had when I created this. What extenstion do they have? is it .blob? If so I think i can fix it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The blobs usually have no extension at all, and the extracted parts have a dot and the partition name as their last part, but I would not call these "extensions" (even if Windows disagrees with me).
_that said:
The blobs usually have no extension at all, and the extracted parts have a dot and the partition name as their last part, but I would not call these "extensions" (even if Windows disagrees with me).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, that makes more sense. Also, I am thinking about having BlobTools print the command usage in more detail or at least a "--help" command displaying detailed usage of BlobTools. Like, how to unpack and repack.
[WIP] New tool
I am going to make gui version of this using wxwidgets and also maby consolidate the two tools into one and then combine it with GUI. That would make it much better.
still getting the "invalid option" message :/
arminneman said:
still getting the "invalid option" message :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please re-download from the original post. It should work fine. If not let me know.
Ok, its updated let me know if any problems occur.
ostar2 said:
Ok, its updated let me know if any problems occur.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I try it on win 7 64bit, run as administrator BlobToolUI select u and blob the name of file and give this error:
Unable to open "b"
Can You help me?
Thanks
Riccardo.
cipolippo said:
I try it on win 7 64bit, run as administrator BlobToolUI select u and blob the name of file and give this error:
Unable to open "b"
Can You help me?
Thanks
Riccardo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is the blob you want to unpack in the same directory? If that does not work try adding a "." the end of the file name.
ostar2 said:
Is the blob you want to unpack in the same directory? If that does not work try adding a "." the end of the file name.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes is in the same directory, adding a "." the end of the file does not work..
work if I rename file "blob" in also "b" ?
Thanks.
I'm trying to figure out how fastboot works. I guess it unpacks the .img files into their designated partitions right (another tactic would be to unpack them every time on powerup, but that doesn't make much sense)?
Generally, Is there a good place to get information about android internals (architecture/design documents).
Thanks a lot,
Oren
spierg said:
I'm trying to figure out how fastboot works. I guess it unpacks the .img files into their designated partitions right (another tactic would be to unpack them every time on powerup, but that doesn't make much sense)?
Generally, Is there a good place to get information about android internals (architecture/design documents).
Thanks a lot,
Oren
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
here is a link that should explain everything http://android-dls.com/wiki/index.php?title=Fastboot
Sent from my Fire Kindling A-Pad
I want to unpack the img but don't want to use in my pc(too confused).
so I want to unpack by the phone,
thank you
ytyyutianyun said:
I want to unpack the img but don't want to use in my pc(too confused).
so I want to unpack by the phone,
thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think there is. Maybe I'm wrong too.
Basically all these boot.img tools are written in shell/bash and is made specifically to run in Linux distros.
Anyways there is an Android app called, Complete Linux Installer that lets you install any Linux OS in your phone. But I doubt whether boot.img tools work, as it needs various library files for it to work.
On a side note, I guess it would be more complex to do it in phone rather than in PC, if there is some way for it to work.
coolsandie said:
I don't think there is. Maybe I'm wrong too.
Basically all these boot.img tools are written in shell/bash and is made specifically to run in Linux distros.
Anyways there is an Android app called, Complete Linux Installer that lets you install any Linux OS in your phone. But I doubt whether boot.img tools work, as it needs various library files for it to work.
On a side note, I guess it would be more complex to do it in phone rather than in PC, if there is some way for it to work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your reply, but do you feel strange that the IMG is created by the recovery, so it is rational that there is a tool about IMG building. then why there is no apk. I mean some professional can extract just from the CWM recovery, I think.
need root
if you wanna get boot.img i think you must be rooted.
k0tsompakos said:
if you wanna get boot.img i think you must be rooted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, I root, so I can use the recovery to back and restore,
I think any app that can access zip files in the internal and external memory can extract boot.img.
Like ASTRO File Manager and stuff...
recovery?
You wanna install a rom?
or recovery??
or we speak about boot.img? (Boot img is the boot animation when you turn on your phone.)
k0tsompakos said:
You wanna install a rom?
or recovery??
or we speak about boot.img? (Boot img is the boot animation when you turn on your phone.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nooooo
boot.img is the kernel (zImage + Ramdisk packed into an image file) that lies in the /boot partition
@ OP - If you want to extract boot.img itself, there are various methods and from CWM recovery like you said. I thought you were mentioning about how to unpack the contents of the boot.img say like zImage, Ramdisk and other files.
0ops
0ops yeah... :silly:
Searching for 1 minute and found this tool :good:
--> [TOOL] Boot.img tools [unpack, repack, ramdisk] <--
( I do not send link cause i am new here and can't :angel: )
It works. Have a nice day
k0tsompakos said:
0ops yeah... :silly:
Searching for 1 minute and found this tool :good:
--> [TOOL] Boot.img tools [unpack, repack, ramdisk] <--
( I do not send link cause i am new here and can't :angel: )
It works. Have a nice day
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, that's the tool and it works :good:
But as OP mentioned, he wanted to do it within phone, I highly doubt though.
coolsandie said:
Yes, that's the tool and it works :good:
But as OP mentioned, he wanted to do it within phone, I highly doubt though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It could be done using this post http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=20227868&postcount=1124 and a hex editor from play store on your phone. But would be even more fiddly than on pc I would imagine, unless your phone has a largish screen. It could be done though.
If editing the ramdisk, you would need to unpack and repack after editing, which usually requires linux. I recently found http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2036528 for PC, but have not had a chance to try it yet, seems best solution for OP
coolsandie said:
Yes, that's the tool and it works :good:
But as OP mentioned, he wanted to do it within phone, I highly doubt though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you coolsandie, the android is based on linux, isn't it, and if I can, I can install busybox.and using the terminal like Android Terminal Emulator, but I do not know the procedure. like you, it's more complex,
Robbie P said:
It could be done using this post http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=20227868&postcount=1124 and a hex editor from play store on your phone. But would be even more fiddly than on pc I would imagine, unless your phone has a largish screen. It could be done though.
If editing the ramdisk, you would need to unpack and repack after editing, which usually requires linux. I recently found http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2036528 for PC, but have not had a chance to try it yet, seems best solution for OP
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it's good tool, it can unpack the boot.img, but as to the kernel, I don't know how to unpack. but this tool add to my favorite, thanks Robbie.
OK, I find the app, names: yaffs, the author I don't know because I found in the search engine. so I also cannot find the course
then the app,
Hello everyone,
The reason why I wish it to be edited and repack is because I want to change the boot logo(not boot animation) without rooting.
After few hours searching here and there, I found Samsung's boot logo located at BL_[texts].tar.md5
Open it with 7-Zip and open Param.bin, if you like to see it yourself here is a sample:
https://mega.nz/#!bV1XAQ6a!O53nC4V0HNMt3i7Qj6SCN4bxZGtkDqxPQYxSdnh_vm8
I know there's tool to edit and pack the system file but not sure how to do it with BL_[texts].tar.md5 thought
What is the tool available to replace the logo.jpg? Or is it possible to be edited using linux?
Please share what you know, and please don't discourage if you don't know.
doulc said:
Hello everyone,
The reason why I wish it to be edited and repack is because I want to change the boot logo(not boot animation) without rooting.
After few hours searching here and there, I found Samsung's boot logo located at BL_[texts].tar.md5
Open it with 7-Zip and open Param.bin, if you like to see it yourself here is a sample:
hxxps://mega.nz/#!bV1XAQ6a!O53nC4V0HNMt3i7Qj6SCN4bxZGtkDqxPQYxSdnh_vm8 <-- _vm8 no space
I know there's tool to edit and pack the system file but not sure how to do it with BL_[texts].tar.md5 thought
What is the tool available to replace the logo.jpg? Or is it possible to be edited using linux?
Please share what you know, and please don't discourage if you don't know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Greetings and welcome to assist. I think it may be possible with linux, you can unpack and repack the tar file easy enough and then create a md5 file. I have never done it myself but do know of someone who did this on a verizon device with a locked bootloader
Good Luck
Sawdoctor
sawdoctor said:
Greetings and welcome to assist. I think it may be possible with linux, you can unpack and repack the tar file easy enough and then create a md5 file. I have never done it myself but do know of someone who did this on a verizon device with a locked bootloader
Good Luck
Sawdoctor
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not using any linux OS so I don't know much
1. How to compress tar files and set specific permission to file while compress using linux?
2. Is there any GUI or need to use everything using console?
3. In windows is there any tool available to compress tar file as well?
doulc said:
I'm not using any linux OS so I don't know much
1. How to compress tar files and set specific permission to file while compress using linux?
2. Is there any GUI or need to use everything using console?
3. In windows is there any tool available to compress tar file as well?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want to use linux there are plenty of prebuilt vm machines at osbox.com, I like linux mint myself as it has a desktop similar to windows. You can also boot linux mint from a usb drive without actually installing it (live mode)
I also found this tool for windows which may work as well
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2446269
And this kitchen runs in windows too
http://forum.xda-developers.com/che...-android-roms-editor-assayyedkitchen-t3410545
Hope that helps
Good Luck
Sawdoctor