Develop Bugs

Long Time Reader, First Time Rooter.... :/

Ok, so I really like my HTC Evo, but I want to expand a little outside the box. I used to load custom ROMs on my PPC6700 and that was very straightforward and easy. It seems like this whole Android Rooting thing is not quite so.
What I want to do is load a stock ROM with everything working, but the option to remove some of the Bloatware from Sprint. My biggest problem right now is that I don't know how to backup all my current apps without having root access. In order to get root access, from what I understand, I have to completely erase my phone. Kind of a viscous cycle. Can anyone help me out with this?
Also, should I do the full root (including NAND) or just the base root? Finally, do I have to do the radio update after rooting, or do I not have to worry about it since I already did the first OTA?
Here is the info I have gathered so far:
Root Part 1 (Toastcfh)
Root Part 2 (Toastcfh)
Install New ROM (SuperSonic Version or other??)
Radio Update (Toastcfh - Optional??)
Thanks,
Bryce

You could use unrevoked to root which doesnt wipe your phone and then you would be able to run titanium backup to back your apps then do full root which will wipe your phone install the ROM and radio you want then use titanium backup to restore your apps.

Will I still have to update the radio since I already installed the OTA update? I guess I am confused on the radio thing, is it a driver update or a firmware update?

I beleive once you root using toasts method which uses the PC35IMG.zip file that it downgrades the radio to prior the OTA update. Installing the radio is easy though. Once rooted just install your ROM following the creators directions then flash the radio using the current radio zip and it flashes just like a ROM just has to reboot a couple times. Just what ever you do DO NOT pull the battery during a radio update even if its taking awhile let it finish or you can brick your phone. I used the radio zip found in Flipz ROM post.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=700448

Do you have to flash the radio every time that a new ROM is loaded or just once after doing the root?

LWhitson2 said:
Do you have to flash the radio every time that a new ROM is loaded or just once after doing the root?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, you sure don't.

Root After Update?

I've been considering rooting my phone at some point. I read in one post that the new OTA update might make rooting impossible. Is this true?
As a follow up question- Seems from the forum posts that some people end up with various problems after flashing. Is it really worth rooting and flashing? What are the most important advantages and improvements?
Thanks
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

Dude just root your phone. Having complete control over your device is reason enough to do it. Some programs don't even work without it. Rooting is simple too btw with Unrevoked3. Make sure to get unrevoked3 because unrevoked forever will void any chance at a warrenty claim.

I'm a total noobie to rooting and flashing so please excuse me if I have this wrong.
I would be fine waiting for the official OTA update and then rooting and flashing a cooked ROM but I read on some posts that rooting may not be possible after the update. The advice seems to be to run unrevokedforever to get "s-off" and gain permanent root access. My biggest concern with this is voiding my warranty. I already had to return one of these for a bad speaker.
Can I just refuse the OTA until unrevoked gets s-on?

Before you do any rooting; consider the reason you want to root your phone. If you want official OTA updates then don't bother. IF you want to have the freedom and take on the responsibility of doing whatever you want to your phone and the consequences of not fully understanding what you're doing, then root your phone.
Rooting is not for everyone, decide what you want from your phone first, then consider what you'll gain from having root.
You can re-root your phone, but like anything else it carries risks, be ready to buy a new phone for $600 when you blow this one up. Then you are ready to root for certain.

Good advice DIC. I certainly don't want to shell out the dollars for a new phone. My main reasons for rooting and flashing would be:
- Better battery life
- wifi tethering
- having control for reasons I might realize later
- fun
Will the OTA update address the first 2 issues?
Will rooting still be possible after the OTA? If so I can just enjoy the benefits of that and then root and flash if I still want to.

Rooting after the 2.2 OTA
I ran across some older Unrevoked comments that were in the vein that all of their exploits had been plugged in the 2.2 OTA so finding new ones might take time. That was a few weeks ago so who knows what they have now. So if you accept the 2.2 OTA without the S-OFF mod, then you will have to wait for Unrevoked 4(?) to find a new exploit.
S-OFF on the other hand will let you accept any official, locked down update, load you own recovery (ClockworkMod) and from there load su/Superuser.apk.
I happen to be a Linux developer, so I'm interested in unlocking the phone so I can understand the lower levels (below the Android java machine). But I am also cautious, so I would prefer to start with stock and mod the system in bits and pieces as I need and understand it.

S-OFF on the other hand will let you accept any official, locked down update, load you own recovery (ClockworkMod) and from there load su/Superuser.apk.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So are you saying you recommend applying forever and s-off now before accepting the OTA update?
As a "cautious" linux developer what have you done with your phone at this point?

I think I will root the phone with unrevoked3 and just install wireless tethering from the app store for now.
I would also like to update the radio for better performance. I read I can only update to 2.05 without applying s-off and that it can brick my phone if I install it twice. Is this a good idea?
If the official OTA shows up can I run it on a rooted phone? I assume I can. More importantly, do I want to?

marcmarshall said:
So are you saying you recommend applying forever and s-off now before accepting the OTA update?
As a "cautious" linux developer what have you done with your phone at this point?
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Click to collapse
I applied the S-OFF mod specifically because I want to use stock as a starting point rather than relying upon a rebuilt or reconstructed MOD from someone else. Not that I don't trust the developers - they do a lot of great work. But with so many files flying around and very little source code behind those mods, I rather build the pieces myself (as much as is feasible). Koush has a lot of his work available on github, for example, and you can see exactly how he goes about replacing a kernel. I've also been able to recompile the kernel from the HTC released sources - now if I can find the configuration files that the Hydra Kernel developer uses, then I can roll my own kernels - again from stock sources.
To address your second question - I've done a network port scan on my phone to identify open TCP or UDP ports and found an unidentified UDP port listening. I posted a thread and some deductive reasoning from other XDA users narrowed down the source to the new Chrome to Phone feature. I'll be able to verify this after the stock 2.2 OTA comes through, but the phone is really a little Linux system under the Java machine that "traps" most of the Android apps. Root privilege bypasses the Android security and the hardware security (NAND lock) and could allow a "root" only app to install something under the hood. The phones are trapped in Verizon's network, so they are hard to get to, but the standard firewall (iptableS) is down by default.
So as Spiderman's Uncle Ben says, "With great power comes great responsibility". If you root your phone, but do not compile your own apps/mods from source, then you must rely upon the integrity of the community and file sharing systems for the mods that you install. S-OFF will let you install stock images and then as a minimum you need a replacement recovery (ClockworkMod) and the superuser package. But from there, you can work as you see fit.
It may benefit the community to have some form of central "Modding integrity verification" system for example where source codes, update zips and md5sums are fully documented so that if you pull down a mod from a file sharing site, then you have a good idea that the file is from the original developer. Then if the developer is good with changelogs and source, the user can feel reasonably good as to the integrity what's running on the phone. It would slow down innovation however.

I like the way you think Starfire. Last night I rooted with Unrevoked3, no s-off. I've only added a few root only apps and removed a couple bloats so far. I'm concerned about not being able to root after the OTA update so I think I will stop worrying so much and apply Unrevoked forever, update the radio, and apply the leaked or a custom ROM.
I like Sense and I would like a kernal with the adaptive cpu clocking, or whatever it is called, so I can improve battery life. Any suggestions?
Thanks much............mm

If you wait for the official ota its gonna be a while until a developer group like unrevoked finds a way to root it. If you want wifi tethering and froyo now I suggest rooting.
youtube.com/user/mejdam
^has several guides on how to root upgrade to baseband 2.05 and downgrade back to stock. Most roms can run on 2.05. If you want to extend battery life I suggest installing a hydra kernal that is undervolted or kingxkernal (if you want more control in oc). Also only way to get true wifi tethering for free is through rooting.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

marcmarshall said:
I like the way you think Starfire. Last night I rooted with Unrevoked3, no s-off. I've only added a few root only apps and removed a couple bloats so far. I'm concerned about not being able to root after the OTA update so I think I will stop worrying so much and apply Unrevoked forever, update the radio, and apply the leaked or a custom ROM.
I like Sense and I would like a kernal with the adaptive cpu clocking, or whatever it is called, so I can improve battery life. Any suggestions?
Thanks much............mm
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I played with SkyRaider 2.2 Sense and liked it a lot. 2.5.2 sounds even better although I have not tried it because (1) I have my phone S-OFF, rooted stock 2.1 with the stock 605.2 recovery waiting a few more days for the OTA and (2) there was a lot of back and forth with boot loops, sound fixes, Hulu fixes, etc. so I'm letting it settle out a bit. The SkyRaider dev does a great job with extras and themes available through ROM Manager. If the OTA takes too much longer, I may give that one a shot again - and keep looking under the hood.

I think I will play a little wait and see also. I was also leaning to skyraider based on what I had read. I might use it and then patch this kernal http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=760050&highlight=cpu+rom+battery . It is optimized for battery usage. I need to do some homework about it though to see if Skyraider is not already using the same optimization and that it is stable.
Thanks!

Do Official OTA Updates and Factory Resets Work After Rooting?

Maybe someone can throw a new guy a bone here? ....
One thing I had on my jailbroken iPhone was free tethering. My Xfinity went down the other day and I realized I couldn't tether my new Android without paying AT$T. So from what I understand, like the iPhone I need to root it and then download a third party tethering app?
If I root now, I'll probably be tempted to give Black Jelly or Frost ROMs a try. I know with this 'Odin' program or 'Nandroid' backup with CWP (still figuring all this out) I can switch between ROMS pretty easily. It takes me about an hour though to download all my apps and reconfig my phone after a reset though. I think Titanium backup or something solves this, but seems to me using something like that with custom ROM, as opposed to a 'clean' install and just start installing/configuring from scratch may pose higher risk of having issues?
So my question is, if I root and install custom ROM, how hard is it to get the official update installed, or any more official future updates installed if I decide I don't want to stay on a custom ROM?
Being an experimental person and my first time to Android, I'm sure I'm going to eventually cave (for sure root) and try a custom ROM. I see SO many posts though in these ROM forums with all sorts of little issues. I want to go back to stock and get official updates if I need to.

When the official jb drops there will most likely be some debloated version on here in a day or so. If you're rooted with a custom recovery it will take no time to install. I would also seriously consider titanium backup, it makes the process much easier.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app

OTA after Rooting - Yes and No....
jazee said:
Maybe someone can throw a new guy a bone here? ....
So my question is, if I root and install custom ROM, how hard is it to get the official update installed, or any more official future updates installed if I decide I don't want to stay on a custom ROM?
Being an experimental person and my first time to Android, I'm sure I'm going to eventually cave (for sure root) and try a custom ROM. I see SO many posts though in these ROM forums with all sorts of little issues. I want to go back to stock and get official updates if I need to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are two issues you mention: 1) Having a custom ROM and doing an Custom OTA, and 2) OTA with stock ROM and after you you have rooted your phone.
Stock ROM and OTA after Rooting
In times past, there have been vendors that look for rooting and refused to OTA the phone. Citing it violated warantee, contract, whatever. AT&T use to do it, but with current ROMs, especially with the S3, they simply turn off the SUID bit on /system/xbin/su during the update.(They turn off the Root modification, of sorts). The current OTA of 4.0.4 does this trick. Making near impossible to root afterwards.
Usually it is always best to flash back to stock to insure you get a clean OTA.
Some versions of rooting will allow you to keep root even after OTA, but I would not count on it.
The other issue that some forget is any modification to the ROM may trip a counter which may cause OTA's to fail. In the S3 there is a counter on how many times the ROM has been flashed by custom software. Once it is tripped, any warantee you have on the device is voided. You can see the information when you set your phone into flash mode.
There are programs to reset the counter, and other methods, but it gets pretty ugly and you can hard brick your phone in some cases. Just use them with care.
Custom ROM and OTA after Rooting
With custom ROM's rooting is the norm. OTA's will usually not affect them. In fact some OTA's will include updated 'su' programs. There are some custom ROM's that are not able to OTA.

So it sounds to me like if I plan on rooting to get the free tethering, I should always wait until there's a stock ROM available here and manually install it? That way, I don't lose my root and I don't increase the counter unnecessarily?
Thanks for your help.

[Q] If you are s-off w/root and custom recovery...why take OTA?

I don't get it....
I have been rooting and customizing since my Droid 1. In all that time over several devices...there was never a need to un-root and take an OTA...that was not soon made available through Dev's that could be flash via customer recovery, or pushed via ADB.
But I keep reading how all these HTC One users are doing just that.
I got my One on Thursday from VZW store, and it was still running 1.10.605.8. I figured that once s-off and rooted I could flash any new radios/modems...and the ROMs would take care of the rest...so no need to update to 1.10.605.15.
Currently running EclipticOne with the 1.10.605.15 radios.
Am I wrong? Is there something I missed?
Thanks,

I think it's the amount of people who are new to the process of how to handle taking updates when they're S-Off/Unlocked Bootloader/Rooted. The only way they've ever known to do Android updates is taking OTA's. They're new to the paradigm of manually updating radios, hboot, and /system.
It can't be stressed enough that OTA's are designed for completely stock, untouched devices. OTA's aren't made with hacks in mind, nor will they ever be, nor should they be.
If you want to go S-OFF, unlock the bootloader, install a custom recovery, and get root, you have to be willing to take on some of the extra responsibilities that come along with it. One of those is forfeiting a normal OTA process. OTA's will, at the very least, remove root. You're going to have to boot to recovery to reinstall superuser so you might as well just do all the updates manually.

Really just a matter of preference and what you are after. This is the first phone I have owned that I am content running stock, other than a few apps that require root. It's actually faster for me to take the OTA and reflash custom recovery/supersu which are already on my computer than to wait for someone to upload the goods.The end result is the same, just different ways of getting there, none better than the other.

xenakis said:
Really just a matter of preference and what you are after. This is the first phone I have owned that I am content running stock, other than a few apps that require root. It's actually faster for me to take the OTA and reflash custom recovery/supersu which are already on my computer than to wait for someone to upload the goods.The end result is the same, just different ways of getting there, none better than the other.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I could be wrong but if you take an ota and expect to retain root and s-off every time, you might be in for a surprise. im pretty sure certain updates have been pushed that relocked bootloaders and removed s-off.

MJL99 said:
I could be wrong but if you take an ota and expect to retain root and s-off every time, you might be in for a surprise. im pretty sure certain updates have been pushed that relocked bootloaders and removed s-off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was my understanding S-OFF stays on/off (whatever) no matter what OTA you take.
Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk

Though folks often warn that an OTA may remove s-off, I have never seen evidence of one doing this and could not find any posts on XDA or anywhere else about this happening. And while it is technically feasible for an OTA to remove s-off, I can't imagine any phone maker or carrier doing so. More important for them is patching known exploits, which if you already have s-off is not an issue since the exploit was only needed to get you s-off, not to keep you there.
Obviously, this wouldn't be the first time that I am wrong and welcome anyone to post a link to an example of an OTA undoing s-off. I'm only here to learn and if you keep me from screwing up my phone, I'll thank you!

Before Rooting Question

I just got this phone. Android 4.2.2. I was wondering if rooting is still possible. I know that there are issues with unlocking the bootloader like, we can't. So can I still root and have the rooting goodies? If so, can you direct me to the correct method of rooting? All the methods I can find include unlocking the bootloader first and I don't know if I can just skip that step or not.
Thank you for your time.

Time To Shine said:
I just got this phone. Android 4.2.2. I was wondering if rooting is still possible. I know that there are issues with unlocking the bootloader like, we can't. So can I still root and have the rooting goodies? If so, can you direct me to the correct method of rooting? All the methods I can find include unlocking the bootloader first and I don't know if I can just skip that step or not.
Thank you for your time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To answer your question you need to unlock/s-off your phone to root it, I would recommend running the rumrunner tool, installing a customer recovery and then install a custom rom. The reason I say install a custom rom even if you want to remain stock is because you can get a stock rom without any bloat. Most of the bloat apps on the HTC One and pretty much any phone, run in the background as soon as your phone starts, this eats battery life and performance. For a stock rom check out Santod040, he has a good stock rom released, personally I like NuSense and ViperOne they are both very solid roms.
Read this thread - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2473644 it is the Rumrunner tool. I believe as long as you DO NOT UPGRADE to 4.3 you can still root/unlock/s-off, after you unlock/s-off you can install whichever rom you like without worrying about losing the ability to have root access.
You will want to get into the bootloader to check which OS version you have and then download the corresponding version of Rumrunner.
Edit:
Be sure to backup your whole phone as soon as you install a customer recovery. After the backup is complete, save a copy on your computer. There will be times when you are tinkering with your phone that you will need to get your phone back to a factory state, you can use a RUU but in my opinion that is more complicated process and you have a higher risk of something going wrong compared to simply restoring a backup.

Okay. Thank you. I will look into this.