Database Develop

my problem with the carriers and android.

I have started a group on facebook called ' the open android movement ' I'm sure it will have absolutely no effect on the monopoly of carriers that are out there denying customers the right to have their phone ship rooted. Which I'm still not seeing at this point to be a bad thing. the ones that mess it up are the people that don't read. shipping with root doesn't mean squat to the average user. but means a ton to the thousands of people out there that have gone through the motions to gain root. Google advertises this platform as an Open Source platform, yet the ones they have to deal with to make the money, continue shut it down. Again I'm at a loss. I have written a letter to the OHA and to Google still with no response. I recently read an article posted at our androidSPIN site androidspin.com/2010/06/16/att-continues-to-lock-down-android about AT&T Locking the latest phone down further and not allowing external apps to be installed. this would detour any company that makes beta apps for testing on the device or for Companys like EA and Gameloft from being able to sell games directly. to add insult to injury T-Mobile is releasing an app called device tune-up. to hopefully help extend battery life. Which is another contradictory to me. Google has explained many times that an external app killer is not necessary due to the OS and how it operates. One day i hope these carriers quit locking down and restricting phones and let the people take over. For instance. The battey life on my My Touch 3G original is better then the G1, but with the ROM im running (which is a fully operational and functioning port of 2.1) my battery life is nearly triple what the stock 1.6 OS that they have on it. it's not about apps. its about the lack of support and understanding the carriers have of the OS. If a carrier took a great phone, the nexus or incredible or whatever has the best hardware, and let the community support it and build for it the phones would sell 2ce as fast. It wouldn't take much and it would save the carriers and the OEM's a ton of money on development and resources. take it to our DEV's. cyanogen, eugene_373, htcclay and many others it would change the game. Think about it for a minute. i have a G1 and MT3G all rooted. all with different versions of android and i flash all the time.... did I switch to sprint? no im still paying T-Mobile for service. Rooting isn't unlocking to take to another carrier. the numbers speak for then selves, OpenEclair v1.3.0.1 by openteam 41353 downloads just off of androidSPIN. CyanogenMod-5 v5.0.7 Stable by Cyanogen 21927 downloads. just 3 different ROMs of many. and those are both Android 2.1 eclair that the G1 or MT3G may or may not ever see. maybe it will jump to 2.2 but i promise the DEV's will take it and make it faster, better, more stable and increase battery life. all im saying is this: Why do the carriers still fight the OS and the customers? Why do they sign up to be part of the OPEN HANDSET ALLIANCE but lock down the handsets? Isn't that a contradiction? I have answers and I continuously ask questions. If anyone wants to be our friend go search for the open android movement, write things up. ask the questions email the carriers email the OEM's email everyone. sitting back and complaining doesn't get us anywhere. if this huge group of people get together and start asking someone will have to listen and make a change. I want it changed. you want it changed. Wouldn't it be great if you had a preinstalled app that lists ROM's to download and flash like the rooters already have? wouldn't it be nice to use your phone you sped hundreds of dollars on the way it was ment to be used. hit us up! help join the movement.

[Q] nexus one and gingerbread - past and future?

if gingerbread is the future of android devices, it suppose to support hardware capabilities that may not be on the nexus that has been around for a while.
i really wanted to buy a nexus, but it seems that when android 3.0 is out - it should be followed by high end devices by HTC and others.
i really don't know what to do here...
gingerbread is said to launch mid november - not a long time to hold off.
but hey, what do think? wait or buy nexus now?

That is Exactly what I am doing! The desire HD looks wonderful, but i think There will be a VERY nice phone coming on T mobile with new gingerbread already there around Christmas....Just my guess
It seems T mobile and Google have some sort of special deal when it comes to android, like getting stock android phones.....and there MUST be a stock gingerbread phone coming soon!

oronm said:
if gingerbread is the future of android devices, it suppose to support hardware capabilities that may not be on the nexus that has been around for a while.
i really wanted to buy a nexus, but it seems that when android 3.0 is out - it should be followed by high end devices by HTC and others.
i really don't know what to do here...
gingerbread is said to launch mid november - not a long time to hold off.
but hey, what do think? wait or buy nexus now?
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Click to collapse
First, Gingerbread will run fine on a N1. Second, no matter when you buy a phone in a couple months another one will come out that is even better. The N1 has an awesome modding scene though.

First, Gingerbread will run fine on a N1.
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nobody know that for sure...the minimal requirements may suit the N1 but it may lack the ability to perform certain tasks. we've seen it happen with other phones.
Second, no matter when you buy a phone in a couple months another one will come out that is even better
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true for most cases. to me nexus is different from others by design. that phone feels right. i really couldn't care less about all these samsungs or motorolas that are out there. and other htc devices seem too big like the desire HD that was mentioned.
basicly, the world need a NEXUS TWO!

So you think Google will develop an OS using their development phone, but not all features of the OS will work on the phone they developed it on? I highly doubt that. Google debunked the minimum requirements roomer for Gingerbread, that was nothing but a site trying to get traffic. Do a little thinking on the subject.
If I were getting a new phone soon though, I would wait till the next gen ones come out. I do love my Nexus though!

the nexus one was a success in regard of telling the world "this is what android can do right now". others did follow and it is biting the market share making other mobile OS look like code accidents.
none the less, why shouldn't gingerbread allow "facetime like" video service for capable devices? the technology for that is in the wild. that is only one example. i am sure there are more features just like that.
at this point, maybe it would be smarter to wait.

oronm said:
the nexus one was a success in regard of telling the world "this is what android can do right now". others did follow and it is biting the market share making other mobile OS look like code accidents.
none the less, why shouldn't gingerbread allow "facetime like" video service for capable devices? the technology for that is in the wild. that is only one example. i am sure there are more features just like that.
at this point, maybe it would be smarter to wait.
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Click to collapse
Whether or not Gingerbread includes a facetime like option is irrelevant to how it will run on the N1. Obviously any phone without a front-facing camera will not be able to do something like facetime. Gingerbread itself will run just fine on the N1. Without going into any technical reasons, just think of this. Of all the Android phones out there right now, the top ones are all in the general vicinity of the N1 in performance. If Gingerbread wouldn't run on the N1, then you cut out these phones too which means only as-yet-unreleased phones would run Gingerbread. So on what basis are you questioning it?
You should probably wait though since you don't seem sure about the N1. The only guarantee you can have is that in a few months from now an even better phone will be released. And then a few months from that once again, and repeat... Dual core snapdragons will start finding their way into phones at some point soon. If you're not rushed then just wait and see what comes out.

Possible to port Nexus 4 ROMs? The kernel source is out.

Is it possible to port over Nexus 4 ROMs (including 4.4 KitKat) to HTC First? HTC has released the kernel source code for our phones. I like the Nexus experience, and don't really want CM. If HTC made Nexus handsets for Google I would have bought that instead, but the minimalist nature of the First really appeals to me.

r00tb33r said:
Is it possible to port over Nexus 4 ROMs (including 4.4 KitKat) to HTC First? HTC has released the kernel source code for our phones. I like the Nexus experience, and don't really want CM. If HTC made Nexus handsets for Google I would have bought that instead, but the minimalist nature of the First really appeals to me.
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um that isnt quite as easy as you think. porting cm is easier cause our phone has hardware relatives like the HTC One mini which use the same drivers and stuff like that. also our screen size matches the One mini so porting it would be as easy as 1-2-3. it does take time but it will be a hell of alot faster than BUILDING an AOSP rom. to make aosp work 1, you would need screensize and other hardware compatibility, then 2, the rom was never made for htc and 3, there is not flashable zip of the stock rom to base the OS off of, so it would requre alot more work. trust me , cm and and aosp arent much different so dont worry.

russian392 said:
um that isnt quite as easy as you think. porting cm is easier cause our phone has hardware relatives like the HTC One mini which use the same drivers and stuff like that. also our screen size matches the One mini so porting it would be as easy as 1-2-3. it does take time but it will be a hell of alot faster than BUILDING an AOSP rom. to make aosp work 1, you would need screensize and other hardware compatibility, then 2, the rom was never made for htc and 3, there is not flashable zip of the stock rom to base the OS off of, so it would requre alot more work. trust me , cm and and aosp arent much different so dont worry.
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Since I have no experience porting Android I can't say that you are incorrect, but isn't the binary architecture of applications the same (ARMv7-A Krait instruction set?), the screen is reasonably similar (1280x720 vs 1280x768, or Nexus 4 having 48 extra pixels on the width in portrait mode). Basically, it's not possible to just stick our device-specific kernel (and kernel modules, aka drivers) in there and have everything else just work? Before Android, I had no problems compiling a new Linux kernel for my distro with new options and applications worked just fine.
By the way, HTC promised a 4.4 KitKat update for HTC One Mini which AFAIK is 95% same as our First. Would it be possible to port that ROM? I'd still prefer Nexus though.

Yeah it would be possible to port 4.4 from the the One Mini, I'm not to sure how stable it would be though I'd foresee the usual bluetooth,camera,wifi issues.

Kendosis said:
Yeah it would be possible to port 4.4 from the the One Mini, I'm not to sure how stable it would be though I'd foresee the usual bluetooth,camera,wifi issues.
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Why would there be bluetooth/camera/wifi issues? We would use our own kernel with correctly configured modules. Both First and One Mini kernel source is out, can't we just run a comparison to see what's different? From the look of it they use the same Linux kernel release, so differences should be few (at least no false positives from different module versions). If newer Android builds will use newer Linux kernel, we can add those differences that we will know of after we do the First vs One Mini source comparison.
I think running the patch program would be an easy way to find the affected source files, as files with no differences will generate no patch lines.

Kendosis said:
Yeah it would be possible to port 4.4 from the the One Mini, I'm not to sure how stable it would be though I'd foresee the usual bluetooth,camera,wifi issues.
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It's a darn LG. It would like either 1. Take for ever or 2. Impossible
We are using an HTC lol
Sent from my HTC first using xda app-developers app

russian392 said:
It's a darn LG. It would like either 1. Take for ever or 2. Impossible
We are using an HTC lol
Sent from my HTC first using xda app-developers app
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I don't follow what you mean about incompatibility of LG. It's still the same CPU architecture, and neither the Linux kernel nor the Android operating system are the developments of LG. Explain please.
I'm a computer engineer with a bit of custom hardware core development experience for embedded systems running Linux. I just don't see why there's a problem swapping out all the hardware-specific stuff from underneath Android as long as CPU architecture remains the same.
I have years of Linux experience, just not Android-specific.

r00tb33r said:
I don't follow what you mean about incompatibility of LG. It's still the same CPU architecture, and neither the Linux kernel nor the Android operating system are the developments of LG. Explain please.
I'm a computer engineer with a bit of custom hardware core development experience for embedded systems running Linux. I just don't see why there's a problem swapping out all the hardware-specific stuff from underneath Android as long as CPU architecture remains the same.
I have years of Linux experience, just not Android-specific.
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well.
1. ive seen people try, its not as easy as it seems.
2. think of it as windows. you install it on your pc, it will take another several hours just to download and install various drivers and software for your hardware.
the thing is not just in the android OS. the os should be able to auto adapt itself to any android capable device. BUT we have to consider 1. drivers for the adreno 305 and the snapdragon 400. we also need kernel/baseband capability. the nexus is pretty much a BLANK device with absolutely nothing on it, and they install a stock kernel and stock rom. we would have to go in and make the kernel work, which hopefuly we can just use a ready built one, and then tweak the rom + kernel to fit the harware, whcih will include the capatative side of the screen, and camera, and everything else, and the ram. and that. although technicaly some of it will be there, its not as easy as you might think.
edit
see, ive worked on an ARMv6 device, and its like much harder than an ARMv7 which has alot of similarities. and mind you, im not saying its IMPOSSIBLE, and im not saying its extremely hard. im sure it can be done, but porting cm form a mimic device like the One Mini would be easier than a Nexus 4, or a Nexus 5 at that.

here. maybe this will make my point clear...its not easy eve for big companies, not just for a single person
http://www.androidcentral.com/why-you-ll-never-have-latest-version-android

Wouldn't it be easier and more connivent to port from the HTC one xl? It does have a good amount of great ROMs

abrahammmmmmm_ said:
Wouldn't it be easier and more connivent to port from the HTC one xl? It does have a good amount of great ROMs
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its not the ROM, gosh. its the HARDWARE. the One mini has pretty much identical hardware, therefore its easier. if we can atleast get ONE rom ported successfully everything else would be much easier cause the that rom could be used as a base for other ports...
the XL, well the major difference is the adreno 225 vs our 305, plus we have more sensors...
so um...posibly? you could give it ago if you want

russian392 said:
its not the ROM, gosh. its the HARDWARE. the One mini has pretty much identical hardware, therefore its easier. if we can atleast get ONE rom ported successfully everything else would be much easier cause the that rom could be used as a base for other ports...
the XL, well the major difference is the adreno 225 vs our 305, plus we have more sensors...
so um...posibly? you could give it ago if you want
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Click to collapse
I see what you mean, but I wasn't really aware of the great difference of the adreno 225 & 305. When checking it out I only heard there was some very minor tweaks done to the 225 to get the 305. And I'd actually give it a go if it wasn't for how easily this phone bricks, I guess I'll just have to be patient and wait to see what our great devs we've got can whip up for now

russian392 said:
its not the ROM, gosh. its the HARDWARE. the One mini has pretty much identical hardware, therefore its easier. if we can atleast get ONE rom ported successfully everything else would be much easier cause the that rom could be used as a base for other ports...
the XL, well the major difference is the adreno 225 vs our 305, plus we have more sensors...
so um...posibly? you could give it ago if you want
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Modern operating systems are built on the principle of abstraction layers. The *nix kernels place devices as memory pointers on the filesystem tree (they are not files however in the literal sense), so you can swap out hardware and kernel but maintaining the same pointer names and your upper level application won't care at all, as a matter of fact it may not even know it runs on different hardware from before. The "ROM" that you download and flash onto your device is not monolithic, it's made up of components and the Linux kernel and Android OS, and the rest of the applications are separate parts. You should be able swap out the hardware specific layer, otherwise the design of the OS won't be worth a damn.
From user's perspective however "ROM" means something else, it means a specific set of features, be it pre-installed apps, eyecandy (like Sense or Touchwiz), or other miscellaneous bloatware. Basically it's a snapshot of an environment, which defines the user experience. HTC has their own tailored user experience which they ship with their phones like the One mini, with Sense, and probably some carrier restrictions (like custom restricted Wi-Fi tethering on AT&T). HTC first, because it's a product manufactured FOR Facebook, and marketed as A Facebook phone, has a different user experience from typical HTC products. Samsung has their own tailored user experience with their own apps and Touchwiz. Finally LG makes their own phones too, however the Nexus device they make for Google is a Google product, and Google tailors the user experience for their product. I like Google's vision of the smartphone user experience (I had a Nexus One before), and that's what I want to achieve with the current phone. True, that I could have bought a Nexus 4, however HTC's hardware design allows me to do things that are seemingly impossible with LG... Like swapping the IMEI (don't ask).
Not everybody wants their user experience be of HTC or CM flavor. Please be respectful of that. Arguing against wishes of others accomplishes nothing.
I believe it's clear enough that One mini updates can AND WILL be ported to our phone, there is no point to discuss that further in the context of THIS thread.

r00tb33r said:
Modern operating systems are built on the principle of abstraction layers. The *nix kernels place devices as memory pointers on the filesystem tree (they are not files however in the literal sense), so you can swap out hardware and kernel but maintaining the same pointer names and your upper level application won't care at all, as a matter of fact it may not even know it runs on different hardware from before. The "ROM" that you download and flash onto your device is not monolithic, it's made up of components and the Linux kernel and Android OS, and the rest of the applications are separate parts. You should be able swap out the hardware specific layer, otherwise the design of the OS won't be worth a damn.
From user's perspective however "ROM" means something else, it means a specific set of features, be it pre-installed apps, eyecandy (like Sense or Touchwiz), or other miscellaneous bloatware. Basically it's a snapshot of an environment, which defines the user experience. HTC has their own tailored user experience which they ship with their phones like the One mini, with Sense, and probably some carrier restrictions (like custom restricted Wi-Fi tethering on AT&T). HTC first, because it's a product manufactured FOR Facebook, and marketed as A Facebook phone, has a different user experience from typical HTC products. Samsung has their own tailored user experience with their own apps and Touchwiz. Finally LG makes their own phones too, however the Nexus device they make for Google is a Google product, and Google tailors the user experience for their product. I like Google's vision of the smartphone user experience (I had a Nexus One before), and that's what I want to achieve with the current phone. True, that I could have bought a Nexus 4, however HTC's hardware design allows me to do things that are seemingly impossible with LG... Like swapping the IMEI (don't ask).
Not everybody wants their user experience be of HTC or CM flavor. Please be respectful of that. Arguing against wishes of others accomplishes nothing.
I believe it's clear enough that One mini updates can AND WILL be ported to our phone, there is no point to discuss that further in the context of THIS thread.
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Click to collapse
1. SWAPPING IMEI IS ILLEGAL
2. You are correct, htc has some briliant hardware but the nexus 5 is a monster now haha
3. Go get the stock aosp android rom (4.2 or 4.3) then get a kernel for our phones, and flash it....see what you get and PLEASE let me know if it works cause i highly doubt it.
4. The reason why i duscussed the One Mini ports, is because if they are successfull, you can use them as a basis for for other ports like a nexus 4 port. and it doesnt have to be a nexus 4 port, it can be anything else, just at the moment, so far we have ZERO roms that boot, one bricked phone because of a blind build, and what you basicaly want is a blind build of a nexus 4 rom...so if youre willing to put your phone on the line, go right ahead.

russian392 said:
1. SWAPPING IMEI IS ILLEGAL.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2216371

russian392 said:
1. SWAPPING IMEI IS ILLEGAL
2. You are correct, htc has some briliant hardware but the nexus 5 is a monster now haha
3. Go get the stock aosp android rom (4.2 or 4.3) then get a kernel for our phones, and flash it....see what you get and PLEASE let me know if it works cause i highly doubt it.
4. The reason why i duscussed the One Mini ports, is because if they are successfull, you can use them as a basis for for other ports like a nexus 4 port. and it doesnt have to be a nexus 4 port, it can be anything else, just at the moment, so far we have ZERO roms that boot, one bricked phone because of a blind build, and what you basicaly want is a blind build of a nexus 4 rom...so if youre willing to put your phone on the line, go right ahead.
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Click to collapse
1. Depends, still, don't do it. I don't tell others to do it, and won't say how even if asked. But that's a feature I need hence why I choose HTC.
2. More than I need.
3. When I get around it. Fortunately it's possible to unbrick these if something goes terribly wrong (I have the JTAG pinout for this device). I am waiting on a new JTAG box from the team before I release the pinout to public... Unless of course anyone wants to donate a new box or badass logic probe or a very high speed digital oscilloscope.
4. Of course the One mini port will happen before any others because it will take the least time, however not all of us want to use it.

Sailfish OS for Nexus 6? (on multirom hopefully (so talking to you as well Tassadar))

I've looked into porting this myself based on the instructions provided from Jolla's website (found here https://sailfishos.org/develop/hadk/), it seems pretty straight forward. However apparently (according to Jolla) it cannot be done on a 32bit system even if I use Linux (which I do). I was wondering if anyone has entertained the thought of porting it, as there's a 2.0 version of the OS out now and I really want to try it. Kind of missing it from when I used to play around with it on my Nexus 5.
Conversely, if anyone knows a workaround to using a 32bit system, or if they have knowledge of it actually being possible on a 32bit system (could be Jolla is being overly cautious in requiring a 64bit system, but I believe it has something to do with working with MER), your advice would be forthcoming. Willing to put in the work, I just apparently don't have the tools according to Jolla and can't afford a new computer. My two Linux systems (one running Kubuntu, one running Backbox) are very capable. This is just the only prerequisite I don't meet.
As far as multirom, I'm curious if anything special has to be done besides the instructions from Jolla to make it compatible as a secondary rom at least.
Thanks in advance for all responses and patience. I may be a low contributor/noob to this site, but given the proper tools and advice I think I can pull it off. I haven't found anyone that's working on this for the Nexus 6, so if there is someone, obviously I'm willing to help or test.
Special note to Tassadar if you happen to see this: Multirom is the best thing that's happened to android since custom kernels. lol Big ups for your creation!

Awesome I hope more are interested too, I don't have resources to help either besides a test.
I can say that I have never been more impressed with a UI than the one I flashed on my n5 called Sailfish, Same as you I think.
To others of you have what's needed and haven't seen the ui please check it out. I thought it was minimal, sleek, and I believe it used mostly touch commands.

This thread is kinda in the wrong forum. Should be in q and a or general discussion.
But yes I would love to see this on my phone

First, don't post Q&A in development forums. Second, the first step in the guide states the device must be officially supported with CM 10.1.x, which this device isn't. Unless they just haven't updated their guide this will never be possible until it's updated to something based on Lollipop.

nuevosean said:
I've looked into porting this myself based on the instructions provided from Jolla's website (found here https://sailfishos.org/develop/hadk/), it seems pretty straight forward. However apparently (according to Jolla) it cannot be done on a 32bit system even if I use Linux (which I do). I was wondering if anyone has entertained the thought of porting it, as there's a 2.0 version of the OS out now and I really want to try it. Kind of missing it from when I used to play around with it on my Nexus 5.
Conversely, if anyone knows a workaround to using a 32bit system, or if they have knowledge of it actually being possible on a 32bit system (could be Jolla is being overly cautious in requiring a 64bit system, but I believe it has something to do with working with MER), your advice would be forthcoming. Willing to put in the work, I just apparently don't have the tools according to Jolla and can't afford a new computer. My two Linux systems (one running Kubuntu, one running Backbox) are very capable. This is just the only prerequisite I don't meet.
As far as multirom, I'm curious if anything special has to be done besides the instructions from Jolla to make it compatible as a secondary rom at least.
Thanks in advance for all responses and patience. I may be a low contributor/noob to this site, but given the proper tools and advice I think I can pull it off. I haven't found anyone that's working on this for the Nexus 6, so if there is someone, obviously I'm willing to help or test.
Special note to Tassadar if you happen to see this: Multirom is the best thing that's happened to android since custom kernels. lol Big ups for your creation!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please read the Forum Rules on posting, Moved here...

FYI, android also has needed to be built on 64 bit only for several versions now. I think since Ice Cream Sandwich.. 32 bit just isn't cut out for it.

Sorry to raise this thread from the depths, but why haven't any devs pursued this?
I would love to try sailfish os on the nexus 6!
A $200 budget device was released just a few days ago in India that runs sailfish os natively, which is why i started looking into it for shamu.
Thought about picking one up, but the cellular bands aren't great for use in the U.S., and spec-wise doesn't hold a candle to shamu.
Through a little searching, it seems one person with the handle of mad_fitter on merproject irc attempted a port back in March, but never finished it afaict. Apparently, the fact that he had an intel chip prevented him from completing the final steps somehow...

This is an old post, but i love my phone and have dabbled with sailfish os before. If it could be ported that would be great and according to the the HADK documentation you can now use a cm 12.1 image instead of 10 to build it, whih was available for shamu. Someone could get the image from archive.org and use that. I have no experience with porting roms so i wouldn't be able to do it but if someone else could it would be great for the few of us that want it.

I would love to try this on my shamu, as well.
Has there been any development on this?

[N960U/U1/W][DISCUSSION][Close to rooting]

Hello Fellow XDA Users!
Some of you might remember me from over the years or maybe just from SamPWND root on the S8/S8+. I have had a number of devices since SamPWND with a few being Sammy's. I have been real busy with life and work but of course every spare time I get has been breaking Samsung devices!
I've found some exploits I never released publicly due to the devices being "unpopular" but figured since I am close now as well as what I have found so far most likely works on most Samsung devices (I've only tested on Tab S4 and N9 from Big Red) that I wouldn't keep this one away from everyone.
With that being said, I do not have FULL root yet but am very close. I wanted to create this thread as I don't have let's of free time these days to hopefully bounce ideas around to achieve our end goal a lot faster.
I am going to spare all the specific details to the masses but will let you know what I got so far. I prefer to collaborate over other applications that are more "real time" if there are any developers that read this then PM me and we can share contact info. If you just want to toss ideas in here then that is ok. I just don't want to have someone potentially take my hard work and claim it as their own before I can achieve root. I have been almost non stop since the N9 was released so you can understand hopefully why I want to be the one to bring root to you all!
With that being said, I will begin telling my story and what I have so far.
Some time last year I was working on another Sammy device after SamPWND as I wanted root of course. I spent weeks and weeks trying to find exploits until I finally did! For this time I wanted to see what Sammy would offer for it as it was a tablet, the XDA forum was deserted etc. They did pay out a 2500$ reward so it was ok.
The reason I bring this up is because the exploit plays a factor here as well. The exploit was a mix of SamPWND and SamFAIL as I used the same rooting script as SamPWND but with a custom partition that wasn't checked for integrity when flashing in ODIN.
On this partition there were some init rc scripts. I noticed these scripts could be executed on combo firmware as root user. This means I could mount the partition in Linux, modify the scripts to my liking, sparse it back up and flash in ODIN. Then I could execute them. Believe it or not, they were executed by entering a simple setprop command in ADB. So from start to finish I simply extracted this partition, modified the scripts to install root as well as packaged the root package in with the image, flash it and then execute an adb command and viola! I felt like a loser it took me so long to find yet was so simple to exploit.
This ties in to where I am at now. I spent months looking through various attack vectors with no luck due to enhanced security not just with Sammy but Android also. So one day last week I decided to take a look at combo firmware again. In no time I found something interesting and then I slapped myself for spending months again when I should have looked at init scripts first.
I found it on my Tab s4 initially but wanted to see if the same file was on my N9 on combo and it was!
The first script runs as system user. For some reason the entire folder it is in is world readable/writable which means there is a script I can modify. This one is not an init script but is a script none the less that runs as system user that I can modify and execute with a simple adb command. Of course we want root, not system so I keep looking.
So I started writing all sorts of scripts/commands and executing it as system user since it's better than running as shell user right? One day I decide I am going to try and change permissions on the entire device. To my surprise it actually changed permissions to ALOT of partitions/files including EFS. I start messing with efs but don't want to break my phone so I settled with backing it up, enabling hidden menu, changing my sales code, enabling factory test mode etc. Etc.
One day I decided to see if I could access the same scripts I used previously. The partition was not readable (perms denied) so initially I thought it was a dead end. Then for some reason I tried to go into the sub-directory where I knew the scripts were and guess what!? The parent directory perms were not changed but its sub directories were! Now I am somewhere I have been before and now I have some scripts that I know are executed by init and as root and how to trigger them.
I spent over a week and all my spare time trying to gain full root but progress is slow moving due to new security. I can make a script that backs up every partition on the device, mounts "most" partitions as rw, dd magisk boot images (of course secure check fail due to locked bl but I had to try lol), create folders and push files to roots etc. Etc. Its basically like having full root but you have to run it in a script for everything you do.
Since we have locked bootloaders, we cannot boot modified boot.img. There's also more security causing me to have issues with system root. One of those issues is the fact that system, vendor and odm partitions cause the kernel to panic instantly as soon as they are mounted.
I managed to force some stuff quickly before the crash but they also have something called "secure write protect" which basically backs out anything you might have written before it reboots. I have tried installing chains systemless root and even tried to install magisk without modifying the boot but I am just getting frustrated and tired.
One thing I am currently trying is a safestrap recovery. The end goal is to try and get a GSI on that is pre rooted. Yes, I also tried to dd a gsi and tried with a file manager... it appears to write but it doesn't. I think there is some security going on as it along with odm and vendor are "protected" partitions.
I can modify rootfs and just about every other partition on the device with ease but haven't successfully gained root via su or magisk etc. Some stuff will cause device to boot with good old custom unlock splash screen and even say custom and custom binary in ODIN. That plus it being project treble certified indicates we shouldn't have any issues using GSI's and more soon as we can get ot nailed down!
So in a nutshell, I now have the ability to do almost anything as root user using init scripts on our locked bootloader devices but we only have a little bit left to go in figuring out how to get su binaries onto the device thanks to sammy and googs enhanced security updates.
Hopefully this gets the convo going and I wanted everyone to know that it's not "impossible" and now seems like a guarantee! Let's get some ideas going in here on this last hurdle! If you are a developer please also PM me as I tend to forget to check xda sometimes plus I like a more real time conversation when it comes to this stuff.
We are almost there!
Donation Link: https://forum.xda-developers.com/donatetome.php?u=3812611

Forgot as a reminder that I can confirm the scripts there on tab s4 and n9 combos.. it's very likely they are present on S9/S9+ also and potentially other devices but they will need to be confirmed once we get to that point.

Was just barely reading up on Samsung defex security.. hope that's not the problem since only fix I can find requires hex patching the boot.img

so i noticed you gave quite a lot of info without going too much into details. i understand that you don't want anyone to steal your ideas and take credit.
would be a shame to get root.
and not get the credit where it is due..
now, that being said, isn't making these statements public open up the door for samsung to notice these possible exploits and patch them up for good? thus rendering all your efforts in vain? As even if the details were kept at a minimum from kangers to use them, the samsung devs can probably read through the lines quite easily.
anyways, hope your effort will bare fruit for as long as it is possible.( samfail lasted what 3 or 4 months? before patches made it too difficult to keep up)
Regards

bober10113 said:
so i noticed you gave quite a lot of info without going too much into details. i understand that you don't want anyone to steal your ideas and take credit.
would be a shame to get root.
and not get the credit where it is due..
now, that being said, isn't making these statements public open up the door for samsung to notice these possible exploits and patch them up for good? thus rendering all your efforts in vain? As even if the details were kept at a minimum from kangers to use them, the samsung devs can probably read through the lines quite easily.
anyways, hope your effort will bare fruit for as long as it is possible.( samfail lasted what 3 or 4 months? before patches made it too difficult to keep up)
Regards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can see where youre coming from but I dont think they can glean exactly what I have as theres are probably hundreds of scripts throughout the system.
Also, this approach is far from new. People have been using init scripts for rooting purposes for many years.
I also tried it with newer firmware and it actually didnt work. So it already requires an older frmware and I expect Sammy will increment bootloaders soon making it unavailable to those who have updated at that poimt in time. I figured best to put out the word on progress now and those can choose to wait or not.
Exploits never last very long. The only way to ensure longevity is to remain on old firmware. There was SamPWND before there was SamFAIL. This could be the perfect time. Unless I am the only one working on this device there will be other exploits to be found.
With that being said, only you have posted all day and no devs have reached out to join in the fun so at this rate by the time full root is achieved it most likely will already be patched.
Thats just my thoughts though.

elliwigy said:
I can see where youre coming from but I dont think they can glean exactly what I have as theres are probably hundreds of scripts throughout the system.
Also, this approach is far from new. People have been using init scripts for rooting purposes for many years.
I also tried it with newer firmware and it actually didnt work. So it already requires an older frmware and I expect Sammy will increment bootloaders soon making it unavailable to those who have updated at that poimt in time. I figured best to put out the word on progress now and those can choose to wait or not.
Exploits never last very long. The only way to ensure longevity is to remain on old firmware. There was SamPWND before there was SamFAIL. This could be the perfect time. Unless I am the only one working on this device there will be other exploits to be found.
With that being said, only you have posted all day and no devs have reached out to join in the fun so at this rate by the time full root is achieved it most likely will already be patched.
Thats just my thoughts though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the note 9 kinda missed the party bus.
ive had almost all Sammy's devices and i have to unfortuanly say this is by far the most bleek state of development ive ever experienced.
but back in the day, there was far less android competition.
edit:
and i think that if not the competition, the fact that alot of people feel content with what stock samsung is offering. when the device came out, the forums were littered with Shakespearean: 'to root or not to' type of threads.

This is great news. Hopefully some devs contact you. Loved your work with the S8.

Yeeeeeeeesssssss!
Very exciting! If we're updated to Pie, are we out of luck then though, regarding the firmware?
I remember you doing some great stuff but I don't recall the phone... Galaxy S3? Note5? Note7? Note8? HTC M8? EVO 4G LTE? OG EVO? Anyway, I am excited to see you here. ?

Wow, this is very interesting, and I loved reading your detailed post. I am super exited, and can't thank you enough for all your work elliwigy! :good:

Full on beast!
Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

PsiPhiDan said:
Yeeeeeeeesssssss!
Very exciting! If we're updated to Pie, are we out of luck then though, regarding the firmware?
I remember you doing some great stuff but I don't recall the phone... Galaxy S3? Note5? Note7? Note8? HTC M8? EVO 4G LTE? OG EVO? Anyway, I am excited to see you here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wanna say s8/+ and the note 8.. both of which root solutions I used.
Word brotha ?? thank you for your diligence. I love that your hobby can help out so many who don't have the time, will, or discipline to learn it.

PsiPhiDan said:
Yeeeeeeeesssssss!
Very exciting! If we're updated to Pie, are we out of luck then though, regarding the firmware?
I remember you doing some great stuff but I don't recall the phone... Galaxy S3? Note5? Note7? Note8? HTC M8? EVO 4G LTE? OG EVO? Anyway, I am excited to see you here. ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you should be fine as long as you remain on rev1 firmware..

PsiPhiDan said:
Yeeeeeeeesssssss!
Very exciting! If we're updated to Pie, are we out of luck then though, regarding the firmware?
I remember you doing some great stuff but I don't recall the phone... Galaxy S3? Note5? Note7? Note8? HTC M8? EVO 4G LTE? OG EVO? Anyway, I am excited to see you here. ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol ive had a lot of devices thats for sure but most my work is on samsung

teknowiz23 said:
I wanna say s8/+ and the note 8.. both of which root solutions I used.
Word brotha ?? thank you for your diligence. I love that your hobby can help out so many who don't have the time, will, or discipline to learn it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeeeeeeeesssssss!
You are always the loveliest "Rev1 firmware baby"

elliwigy said:
you should be fine as long as you remain on rev1 firmware..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So.. I had to get a replacement via Asurion, and before setting it up I installed the earliest unlocked firmware. Sm-n960u on Verizon plan. I understand that this should work as long as I don't update, correct?

teknowiz23 said:
So.. I had to get a replacement via Asurion, and before setting it up I installed the earliest unlocked firmware. Sm-n960u on Verizon plan. I understand that this should work as long as I don't update, correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, just make sure you stay away from anything that says N960UxxU2 or S2

Jammol said:
Yes, just make sure you stay away from anything that says N960UxxU2 or S2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine says Rev 1.1. Does that mean game over for me?

PsiPhiDan said:
Mine says Rev 1.1. Does that mean game over for me?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No that's for hardware revision. Is normally for when a device has had a hardware fix that changed something from the original design. So if they realized the fingerprint readers on rev1 were crappy and changed it out for future ones, they would show rev1.1 or whatever numbers they want to classify it as.
I'm not sure what they may have changed on the Note 9 though. Could have been camera or even something internal such as memory or radio chip.

What you want to stay away from is any changes to the attached image. Don't update to anything that says U2 or S2 at that section of the firmware.

Thank you for your hard work on this .