Hi, i just rooted my hero yesterday.
I have some small capacities on linux, and i wnated to know if there is ( and where it is ) an equivalent to the /etc/init.d and different rc.x.d config. file for the process launched at boot. I wouldl ike to edit or delete some programs launching at startup which i don't need really to launch at startup Is it possible and simple ?
Ciao
Fred
Edit : stupid question... there is no vi on the system so no way to edit the file ..
I am even new than you to android rooting (just rooted my Sprint Hero 2.1 today!).
I loaded Fresh ROM 2.1.2 on my Hero today and there's an app called "ES File Explorer". It allows me to browse the unix-like filesystem, right to the directory you mentioned above.
I can click on the files and open them as Text, Executable, etc. Opening as Text even gives me two different text editors.
Unfortuantly, the file(s) you talk about are for readonly. You have to be logged in as a Superuser to edit them (as I found out today). The easiest way I found is to do it via a command-line prompt.
When you "root" your android phone, that means you are able to login remotely as another user. Such as the "superuser" account from the Android SDK. On Windows, after you have rooted your phone, you can do:
Code:
C:\android\tools\> adb remount
C:\android\tools\> adb shell
#
When you see that "#" prompt, you are now logged into your phone running the default shell (not sure which shell it is). So, now you can copy/open that file:
Code:
# cd \
# type init.rc | more
Of course u can't do squat from here. So, you have two options:
1) Change the permissions to allow you to modify it from the Android device itself (possible security issue if u download a broken app that wants to modify your phone).
Code:
# chmod 755 init.rc
Now you are able to modify the file locally, right on your device. No PC needed any longer. But again, it's a possible seucrity issue.
2) just pull the file from your device to your desktop pc, edit it, and push it back. Exit out of the # shell by typing "exit" and pressing enter. At the C prompt, pull the file:
Code:
C:\android\tools\> adb pull /init.rc C:\init.rc
That pulls the file from your android device and places it at C:\init.rc. You can obmit the C:\ part, which would place the file in your android Tools folder u are running adb from (mine is getting messy though).
Once you edit it to your liking, push it back to your device:
Code:
C:\android\tools\> adb push C:\init.rc /init.rc
And that's it.
most custom roms contain nano, which is also a possible way to edit files.
I updated my post to reflect actual directions on how to modify a system file like that.
I can't find much of any information on hacking the microsoft android emulator. Ideally, I'd like to get it working with superuser, exposed, etc, so it can be a fully functional way to see how android itself and apps work in different environments, all from my desktop. Also, I can just play around with stuff that I wouldn't touch on my tablet for fear of bricking it. I like playing with things.
Disclaimer: I'm not interested in maintaining anything, but as mentioned above, I can't find any information. Therefore, I'm simply posting what information I have here, in the hopes it will interest someone else enough to take a harder look at it. My original post was over here, but I've expanded beyond simply adding supersu to the image.
Things I can't do:
- Install superuser
- Install Xposed
- Install Google Play for anything more recent than KitKat
- Install recovery scripts
Things I can do:
- Run commands as root.
- Install Google Play Services on KitKat
- Change the screen resolution
- Change the amount of internal disk space
- Change the amount of memory and cpu cores available.
- Install busybox
- Flash simple scripts that don't require recent versions of cwm/twrp/other modern recovery.
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Background information: The Microsoft Android "Emulator" is actually a HyperV virtual machine. When you install it, it enables the HyperV virtualization service in windows*. The effect of this is that instead of running android by emulating an arm processor, it runs android natively, with far better performance, by using Microsoft's hypervisor that's built into windows (win8+). You can work with it with Visual Studio and with Android Studio, but I don't use either much, so I can't help you with that. You can download it from Visual Studio if you want to (VS 2015 is free), or you can download a standalone version. I don't know if there's a difference between the two.
* I'm not sure if it installs the HyperV GUI as well, as I already use HyperV for other things and had it already installed. If you need to do so, you can install the GUI by going to add-remove windows features in the control panel ('appwiz.cpl' from the control panel).
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Modifying the properties of the emulated system.
Configuration file location: After you create a device, the .cfg file for it will be located in %localappdata%\Microsoft\VisualStudioEmulator\Android\Containers\Local\Devices
To change the resolution: So far, I haven't identified any supported resolutions other than those listed in the device profiles list. So far, supported resolutions that I've used successfully are 480x800, 720x1080. You can edit the .cfg file for the specific device that you want to change the resolution of, and change the `device.screen.resolution=` line to any supported (see previous) resolution.
To change the size of the internal storage, follow the instructions here. You'll need an ubuntu cd; minimal install cd is fine if you have slow internet/computer or low ram.
To change the amount of ram or processors allocated to the virtual machine: Open Hyper-V manager, right-click the appropriate VM and click settings.
- Change the ram allocation by clicking Memory in the list at left. I do not know what happens if you try using Dynamic Memory; if it works, it should be more memory-efficient, but I left that alone. Now update the `device.vm.ram.size=` line in the .cfg file.
- Change the cpu allocation by clicking the Processor field. Please note that if you have hyper-threading, you should only use half your logical processors as cpus; the hyperthreaded 'cores' won't work as well (according to information online; you can check number of logical processors in windows task manager's performance tab). Now update the 'device.vm.cpu.count=' line in the .cfg file
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Info on "recovery" and "flashing" - Installing google play
So far, I have only managed to get Google Play Services working on KitKat. I can't get it to work on Lollipop or Marshmallow (and haven't tried earlier versions at all); the virtual machine does *not* have a recovery or fastboot because of the way it works, and I haven't figured out any way of installing such. Instead, there's a simple shell file called install_zip.sh. It does not work with modern flashable zips that require TWRP/CWM; it only works with the old style zip designed for a specific architecture. As such, opengapps flashable zips will not work.
To install Google Play Services on KitKat (4.4.4)
1. Inside the emulator, open the browser and go to http://www.teamandroid.com/gapps/ and download the file linked under Gapps CyanogenMod 11.
2. Open the window the the android VM from the Hyper-V Manager to get console access. If you have ADB installed locally, you can use that in the future, but getting the VM's shared IP requires terminal access anyways (run `ip addr` as root inside the emulator to get the list of IPs).
3. Run `adb shell` to get access to the root shell (yes, it's that easy).
4. Run `install_zip.sh /sdcard/Downloads/gapps-kk-20140105-signed.zip` (or whatever the name/path for the downloaded gapps file is).
5. It should complete successfully. Now type exit to exit the adb shell, and close the hyper-v console window (the android emulator will continue running).
6. Click the 'X' at the top right of the Emulator to shut down/close the VM
7. Start the emulator back up. You should now have access to Google Play Services.
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Busybox
The emulator does not come with a preinstalled copy of busybox. It does come with the android toolbox, but this has only a very minimal amount of commands in it. The instructions below are for installing stericson's busybox.
1. Get a copy of stericson's busybox from somewhere--your personal device, etc, it doesn't matter. The easiest way is to either install it on a real android device and grab it with airdroid (or other), or to use a play store scanner to get it. The file name will probably be something like stericson.busybox.apk.
2. Rename it to .zip so you can access the contents.
3. Extract the busybox-x86.png file from the 'assets' folder inside the zip, and rename it to `busybox`.
4. In the Android Emulator, click the >> button for tools, and click the sdcard header. Choose a folder (a new one on your dekstop will do) and tell it to pull the contents of the sdcard to the folder.
5. Move the busybox file into the Download folder that you just pulled from the sdcard. If you created a folder for this, you can delete it now.
6. Back in the android emulator, push the folder structure back into the sdcard; this will move the busybox onto the emulator.
7. Open the HyperV console for the emulator or open a terminal app in the android emulator (installing it is up to you)
8. Run `adb shell` to get a root prompt.
9. Run `mount -o rw,remount /system` to remount the system partition as writable
10. Run `cp /sdcard/Download/busybox /system/xbin` to copy the busybox binary over
11. Run `chmod 777 /system/xbin/busybox` to make the busybox binary executable.
12. Run `busybox --install /system/xbin` to copy the busybox binary for all the included applets. I think the -s paramter will symlink the applets to the main binary instead, but I'm not sure.
13. Type exit in the adb shell.
14. You can now run busybox commands in the terminal, and use apps that require busybox to be installed.
Now that you have busybox installed, you can use unzip, etc.
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Hacking the OS itself.
The android emulator uses a VHD file for the disks. I've mounted the vhd file inside an ubuntu server to play with, and discovered several things about the way it works. The first partition is the boot partition, it contains 3 files:
- kernel - the android/linux kernel
- ramdisk - the ramdisk for the root filesystem. gzipped cpio archive.
- cmdline - the kernel parameters(? not sure what to call this)
I've tried modifying the ramdisk to add the init files for the superuser, but this doesn't seem to work properly; when I boot up the vhd file, I can open the console with hyper-v manager (the android emulator machines show up there automatically), and when it gets to the ramdisk, it says so--then the caps/num/scroll lights start flashing and it hangs. I haven't gotten any further than that at this time.
Warning: Even an expert runs the risk of “bricking,” or locking up their Android device when modifying it. Often this is a ‘soft brick’ from which they can recover, but sometimes the device is “hard bricked” from which no recovery is possible, and the device becomes a source of spare parts. Proceed at your own risk. Neither the author, nor XDA is liable if you do “brick” your device.
Note: I have insufficient posts to include outside links. I'll add them when I do. Until then you'll need to search the 'net.
Keeping that in mind, you may wish to acquire an older model device to practice with before attempting to modify leading edge devices. Kijiji and Craig’s List are good sources for low cost, used devices that can be used for practice. I acquired the Samsung Galaxy S5 neo (SM-G903W) with Android 7.0.0 (Nougat) installed, I’m using in this guide for about $20 USD. Although any device will do, try to get one from the same manufacturer as the device you want to modify. If your device is a phone, you do not need a SIM card to follow this guide.
The Android OS is a derivative of Linux, and many, but not all commands are the same. You should refer to Linux or Unix manuals for an explanation of the commands. Search the ‘net for “Linux Commands” to find the latest manuals.
As the boot animation and sound are the most common modifications, changes to those are the goals of this guide. It seems as though there is an app for everything now. Yes, they are handy, but this guide will use the command line for many of the modifications. I use Terminal Emulator on the device for command line access. I also use BusyBox to expand the command set available. Both are available from the Play Store. You need root access to install and use BusyBox.
The first step is to read the manual for your device. Pay particular attention to the method used to enter the download and recovery modes. The Samsung Galaxy S5 neo uses volume up + home + power to enter the recovery mode, and volume down + home + power To enter the download mode from the power off condition. Press the volume and home buttons first, and then press the power button while holding them down. The device will boot into the desired mode. You may also require special USB drivers on your PC for your device.
Next you need to take as complete a backup of your device as possible using the stock options. See your manual for help with this. It’s also a very good idea to download the full firmware, as well as the boot and recovery partitions and any tools needed to re-flash this software. The best way to find these is to consult the manufacturer’s website, then this forum, followed by a ‘net search if nothing else provides results. For my device I need Odin on my PC. I found the full firmware at sammobile.com and firmware.mobi. The boot and recovery images can be extracted from the Samsung file, and then re-compressed using 7-zip on your PC. The firmware.mobi website offers all three files for several versions of Android, as well as a configured Odin package to root my device.
Now that we’re ready, the next few posts in this thread will cover the following sequence:
1. Root Device
2. Install Recovery
3. Install Applications
4. NANDroid backup
5. Make your modifications
Root Device with Chainfire
Warning: If you have a KNOX enabled device, rooting it will trip the KNOX warranty flag, voiding your warranty. This flag cannot be reset, and will prevent some applications from working.
Warning: Rooting improperly can “Hard Brick” your device, turning it into a source of spare parts.
There are numerous rooting tools out there. I use Chainfire whenever possible. The current website firmware.mobi will generate an easy to use package including Odin for supported devices. Download and extract the package to a new folder on your PC. Start Odin using the root.bat file. Read the warnings. Next:
Ensure Developer Options are enabled on your device. On the SM-G903W, go to Settings/About Phone/Software information/Build number seven times. Other devices may use a different method. Consult your manual.
In Settings / Developer Options ensure OEM Unlock is on and turn on USB Debugging
Note: I also turn “Auto update system” off
Turn the device off, then re-boot into the download mode (Volume Down + Home + Power, and then press Volume Up on my device)
Plug the device into a USB port of your PC
Select AP in Odin, then select the image.tar.md5 file downloaded with your package.
Ensure one of the COM ports is highlighted.
This is your last chance to abort. DO NOT CONTINE if you have any doubts.
Click Start
When your device is rooted successfully you’ll see a green pass in Odin. Congratulations! Your device will re-boot into recovery mode to root the device, and then re-boot normally. Well, that’s how it was supposed to work. When I used the CF Autoroot file for the SM-G903W, I got the error message “Recovery is NOT seandroid enforcing”, and was unable to boot into the recovery mode. I used Odin to re-flash the recovery partition which allowed me to enter the recovery mode again. A little searching on this forum, led me to this post by Neoony. I used the link for the SM-G903F and succeeded in rooting the device.
Now you need a root manager. My preference is Super SU. Install it from Google Play. Run Super SU. It will let you know if you were not successful by reporting that your device is not rooted.
Install Backup/Recovery (TWRP)
As we intend to modify the Android system itself, we need the ability to back it up and restore it. There are several options including Clockwork Mod (CWM), Team Win Recovery Project (TWRP) and Titanium Backup. My personal preference is TWRP.
Installation is as follows:
Install the “Official TWRP App” from Google Play
Run the App, agree to the Terms and Conditions, and enable “Run with root permissions,” then tap OK.
Tap “TWRP FLASH” on the next screen
Select your device from the drop down menu, you will need a network connection for this. You’ll be presented with a series of choices. Choose the latest and greatest. The image will be downloaded to your device.
Select “FLASH TO RECOVERY”, and confirm the image is correct. You will see the message “Flash Completed Successfully!” when installation is complete.
Exit the “Official TWRP App” and re-boot your device into the Download, followed by Recovery, and finally normally to confirm all is well.
Install Applications
The applications to install are those you will use to customize your device. I suggest BusyBox, and Terminal Emulator from the Play Store. BusyBox requires root access for the expanded command set. Terminal Emulator will allow command line access on your device so you won’t need ADB on your computer. You will be able to gain root access through it to modify anything on your device anytime, anywhere.
Other Apps you may find useful are the Jota Text Editor, and Hex Editor. These are also available through the Play Store.
NANDroid backup
Once the device is rooted, and your choice of applications are installed it’s a good idea to fully back up the device. This includes ALL partitions, so you have a baseline that you can re-flash. If your device has minimal memory, you may need an SD card or USB OTG drive to hold your backup. These backups will often be larger than 4GB.
Re-boot your device into the Recovery Mode. In TWRP, select ALL the partitions. Select the desired Storage location, and tap OK. Swipe to backup your device. Note the warning that “Backups of data do not include any files in internal storage such as pictures or downloads.” That is not the purpose of TWRP, and is best accomplished with the native backup utility. This backup will require several minutes.
Make your modifications
With root access, a recovery program and needed applications installed; and a complete backup we are finally ready to modify the Android installation of your device. We’ll start with the boot animation.
Modifying the boot animation:
Most devices use a ZIP file for boot animations. Samsung uses a proprietary QMG file. I tried to convert a boot animation that I put together a few years ago into the QMG format using Samsung’s Theme Designer Version 2.0.4 (Build 3918), as the links I found to newer versions on the XDA forum were broken. Searching through this forum, I found this post by Jertlok. I used the Marshmallow version with Nougat successfully.
Enough of this talking, let the games begin! Find the boot animation you want to use and download it to your device.
I’m using the Terminal Emulator for this installation. Our first step is to find the source and destination folders for this file. The relevant folders for the SM-G903W are:
boot animation: /system/media
downloads: /data/media/0/Download
If you have another device and the boot animation is located elsewhere, do a search of this forum first to find them. Look for your device first, and the other models by the same manufacturer.
Type the following commands using the Terminal Emulator:
Code:
su get super user privileges
mount -o rw,remount /system remount /system with read & write permissions
cd /system/media go to directory with boot media files, may differ
ls verify this is the correct folder
mv /data/media/0/Download/bootanimation.zip . move the file to our current location
ls verify the file was moved
exit leave super user mode
Reboot your device and verify the boot animation works.
Note: Don’t forget the period at the end of the mv command. This is a shortcut meaning the current directory, saving you from typing the full location.
Modifying the boot sound:
Finding the location for the boot sound can be more involved that finding that for the boot animation. If you know the name of the file, you can do a search through Terminal Emulator with the following commands:
Code:
su get super user privileges
cd /system/media choose a starting point for your search
find –name PowerOn.ogg name of the boot sound on the SM-G903W
This shows the file to be located in /system/media/audio/ui. Put the sound you want in the Download folder. I’ve named mine bootsound.ogg to show another use of the mv command. Use the following commands in Terminal Emulator:
Code:
su get super user privileges
mount -o rw,remount /system remount system with read /write permissions
cd /system/media/audio/ui go to the folder containing PowerOn.ogg
ls confirm we’re in the right folder
mv PowerOn.ogg PowerOn.ogg.bak rename PowerOn.ogg
mv /data/media/0/Download/bootsound.ogg . move bootsound.ogg
mv bootsound.ogg PowerOn.ogg rename bootsound.ogg
ls confirm the change has been made
exit leave super user mode
Reboot your device and verify the boot sound works. The shutdown sound is not used in the stock ROM. You can add a shutdown sound in the same manner by placing PowerOff.ogg in /system/media/audio/ui. Note: If PowerOn.ogg or PowerOff.ogg do not play, check your file permissions. Set them to the same values as the remainder of the files in the directory, usually 644.
Wrap up
Everyone needs to start somewhere. My goal in starting this thread was to provide that starting point, and a path forward for those new to modifying an Android device. That is why I started with a stock not-too-old device, and showed how to take it to manually changing the boot animation and sound. Why manually, when there are apps for that? An App can only accomplish a single task, such as changing the boot animation. At the command line you can do almost anything. You won’t be stopped by the lack of an App.
Much of the material covered by this guide is specific for a device. Those with Samsung devices came out far ahead, and those with a Galaxy S5 neo may just have hit the jackpot. The general sequence for all devices is the same. You’ll just need to dig for those devilish details.
There are two things that should stick out:
1. Use a not too old device by the same manufacturer as your target when starting. It’s far cheaper than bricking a bleeding edge device.
2. Backup, backup, backup! This can’t be stressed enough. Losing hours or days of work is very depressing, and often leads to dropping a project.
Good luck modding your device. This forum is one of the best, if not THE best place for resolving those devilish details that you will encounter.
The Next Step: Changing the Boot Logo
First, thanks to Near_07 for his post Galaxy S9 and S9+ Boot logo. I modified his package to make one for the Samsung Galaxy S5 neo. Note that his script is for the same exynos platform. This is critical for packages containing binaries.
I unpacked the pile to a new directory on my PC.
The first thing I did was to verify paths and filenames in the script "update-binary". I opened the file using WordPad on my PC for ease of reading. The file contains references to "/dev/block/platform/11120000.ufs/by-name/UP_PARAM", which does not exist on the S5 neo. I used Terminal Emulator to check for something close and found "/dev/block/platform/13540000.dwmmc0/by-name/PARAM ". I copied the file to the Download directory, and from there to my PC. Opening the archive, I found that it contained the file "logo.jpg". Bingo! I was in the right place. I copied the "update-binary" back to the Download directory on the S5 neo, and used Jota Text Editor to change ALL the references from 11120000.ufs to 13540000.dwmmc0; and UP_PARAM to PARAM. I then copied the modified "update-binary" back to replace the original on my PC. Why did I use Jota Text Editor on the S5 neo, instead of notepad on my PC? Unix, Linux, and Android use different end of line sequences than the PC. There are programs for the PC capable of generating Android compatible files, but I'm sticking with software already mentioned in this tutorial.
Choosing or Creating a New Boot Logo:
Choose or create a new .jpg image, the same size as your screen for your new boot logo. I've attached the original logo.jpg from my S5 neo to this post. I used that as a starting point, moving and adding elements to mate with my boot animation. I've included a demo copy in the zipped package. I've also attached a copy of the first image in my boot animation sequence. The powered by Android Nougat element fades in as the animation runs.
How to Change the Boot Logo:
You are rooted and have TWRP installed if you've been following along. These are pre-requisites. STOP NOW if they are not installed.
Download the file S5neo_Boot_Logo_Changer
Unzip the file to an empty directory
Replace logo.jpg with your desired logo. Note the name MUST be exactly the same.
Use 7-Zip to compress the contents of your working folder, with 'Store' as the compression method
Copy the resulting archive to the Download folder on your S5 neo
Re-boot your S5 neo into the Recovery mode
Install the package, re-boot, and enjoy!
Removing Bloatware (or fun with scripts)
Bloatware consists of the unwanted apps generously added to your phone by Google, the manufacturer, and your carrier. There can literally be a hundred or more of these apps on your phone. So how do you get rid of them? You can use a package found on this site, but that can be problematical. You may have a different view of bloatware than the package’s author. You may not know what each APK deleted by the package does, and delete one you actually want on your phone. If this happens you’ll need to restore from backup, factory reset the phone, or even re-flash the firmware. My preference is to archive the APK on my desktop so that hopefully I can restore the APks with the package manager.
To start, grab one of the packages to delete bloatware for your version of Android, for as close to your phone as possible. I used this one by Windforce. The contents of updater-script may include a section that looks like this:
Code:
run_program("/sbin/rm", "-rf", "system/app/AASAservice");
run_program("/sbin/rm", "-rf", "system/app/BluetoothMidiService");
run_program("/sbin/rm", "-rf", "system/app/CloudGateway2017");
run_program("/sbin/rm", "-rf", "system/app/GooglePrintRecommendationService");
There are many tools such as word processors, and text editors that you can use to strip out the unwanted bits so that you end up with something like this:
Code:
AASAservice
BluetoothMidiService
CloudGateway2017
GooglePrintRecommendationService
Save it as a file, ensuring that you have an Android (Unix) end of line character. We end up with a list of folders containing the unwanted APKs. Next we need a script to archive the APKs.
The following script has been designed to run in the ‘Download’ folder, from the Terminal Emulator, or ADB (Android Debugging Bridge). It was written on my desktop using Notepad++, to ensure the proper end-of-line character was used. The script, and APK lists must be copied to the Download folder from the desktop. To access the Download folder from the Terminal Emulator or ADB, Super User or root permissions are required. File permissions allowing root to execute the script must be set. Finally the script must be run from within a shell.
Code:
mount -o rw,remount /system # mount /system for read/write
tempdir=/system/app/app # temporary folder for APKs to be archived
mkdir $tempdir
while read apkname # loop parses file for APK names to archive
do
mv /system/app/$apkname $tempdir/$apkname
done < sysapp.txt # supplied list of APKs to be archived
tar -czvf sysapp.tar.gz $tempdir # archive APKs
rm -rf $tempdir # remove temporary folder recursively
rm -rf /cache/* # clear cache contents
rm -rf /data/dalvik-cache/* # clear dalvik-cache contents
reboot
exit 0
After the script has executed, you’ll note the icons for the archived APKs remain on the apps screen, and are still listed under Apps. The must be manually removed. You’ll find that ‘Uninstall’ is now available in both places for the archived apps.
Attached is a .zip file containing the script, and data files I used on a Samsung Galaxy S5 neo (SM-G903W).
I want to edit camera_features.xml file but it needs root access, I don't want to root device but I think there is a way through ADB or using some third party apps that uses super user permission to edit root files
Please I'm sure there is way to edit it without rooting device by using special third party apps but I need someone who know how to
Temporarily root Android by putting a suitable su binary into Android's filesystem - preferably /data/loca/temp - and making it executable.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/attachments/su-binaries-zip.5566949/
I don't find the directory data/local
And does it require root to put the su file there
Noticed that I made a spelling mistake:
The directory recommended to copy su binary into is
/data/local/tmp
what exists on all Android versions since beginning and by default is mounted as RW
How can I reach the folder, which app can reach and copy files to root data/local/tmp without rooting device
You use ADB - of course requires USB DEbugging got enabled on device in question.
To clarify things: the su binary is the root functionality you want to add to Android.
I tried to use adb push su data/local/tmp but it doesn't work
xXx yYy said:
You use ADB - of course requires USB DEbugging got enabled on device in question.
To clarify things: the su binary is the root functionality you want to add to Android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know but I think there is another way using apps that uses system apps permissions
Such as editing root file of the device as official device updater