Question Read Only Access to System Files after Root

Question Read Only Access to System Files after Root - Moto G30

here are some commands I have tried after root following @sd_shadow 's guide
[email protected] ~ $ adb remount
/system/bin/sh: remount: inaccessible or not found
caprip:/ # mount -o rw,remount /system
mount: '/system' not in /proc/mounts
caprip:/ # mount -o rw,remount /
'/dev/block/dm-0' is read-only
caprip:/ # touch file
touch: 'file': Read-only file system

Wanted to post something like this right now since i have the same problem, i think for adb remount to work you need to first run adb root, but that doesnt work unless you modify ro.debuggable=0 to 1 which cannot be done since you cant mount system as rw, i will keep you updated if i find anything tho!
- Apparently you can modify the boot.img to set ro.debuggable=1 but most of the tools i tried dont recognize this phones boot image as valid so i wont really spend more time on this since i think its something way beyond the scope of what i can do. And the only tool that worked outputted a unusable archive, i think this has to do with the source of the device being closed or something related to why we dont have custom roms on this device yet. But dont take my word for it since i just started playing with stuff like this a few hours ago so i can remap the assistant button.
And even if i could modify it i have a hunch it would behave just as using remount from shell.
If anyone who understands this better than me could provide some insight to my rambling it would be great!

The reason for this behaviour is the unified "super" partition. /system is dynamic, i.e. it may change size depending on future updates. /vendor is also a part of the "super" partition, thus is also read only. There is a way to restore rw access but it a) is not guaranteed and b) affects the ability to apply OTA updates.
If you're willing to take the risk, you should be able to find the relevant post on here (XDA, not the G30 section) with some search fu. You will need a Linux machine and the knowledge to use it. The "run on device" unified script does not fully work on the G30 and you need to reconfig the super image on a Linux box.

Chron0s said:
The reason for this behaviour is the unified "super" partition. /system is dynamic, i.e. it may change size depending on future updates. /vendor is also a part of the "super" partition, thus is also read only. There is a way to restore rw access but it a) is not guaranteed and b) affects the ability to apply OTA updates.
If you're willing to take the risk, you should be able to find the relevant post on here (XDA, not the G30 section) with some search fu. You will need a Linux machine and the knowledge to use it. The "run on device" unified script does not fully work on the G30 and you need to reconfig the super image on a Linux box.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can I have some more search terms to find what you are talking about?

I can do better than that but with the usual caveats of bootloops, hard-bricks, kicked kittens, spacetime anomalies and global thermonuclear war:
G30 /system rw
I remain totally immune for blame when this goes wrong. You need a disaster recovery strategy in place before trying this. Read the first post in that thread thoroughly before doing anything.
Make sure you have a copy of the correct stock ROM and at least RSD-lite to recover. Also, revert Magisk patched initrd (boot.img - be sure your stock matches the ROM version or you'll lose the touch screen/RIL) before attempting this method - you can restore it later but the script requires the live ROM on the device to be stock. This is not something Motorola can be blamed for, it's upstream and applies to all devices running with a super partition and dynamic /system and /vendor.
More caveats: You will lose OTA updates. You will still need to boot to fastbootd to access /system. There is still currently no custom recovery for this device. A manual update will put you back to square one, which is why I decided to forget rw on /system and use Magisk to debloat/degoogle as the method employed in the debloater persists across updates.

Chron0s said:
I can do better than that but with the usual caveats of bootloops, hard-bricks, kicked kittens, spacetime anomalies and global thermonuclear war:
G30 /system rw
I remain totally immune for blame when this goes wrong. You need a disaster recovery strategy in place before trying this. Read the first post in that thread thoroughly before doing anything.
Make sure you have a copy of the correct stock ROM and at least RSD-lite to recover. Also, revert Magisk patched initrd (boot.img - be sure your stock matches the ROM version or you'll lose the touch screen/RIL) before attempting this method - you can restore it later but the script requires the live ROM on the device to be stock. This is not something Motorola can be blamed for, it's upstream and applies to all devices running with a super partition and dynamic /system and /vendor.
More caveats: You will lose OTA updates. You will still need to boot to fastbootd to access /system. There is still currently no custom recovery for this device. A manual update will put you back to square one, which is why I decided to forget rw on /system and use Magisk to debloat/degoogle as the method employed in the debloater persists across updates.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As long as I still have access to the bootloader I it should be fine? Also others on this device thread don't have this issue, why?

As long as you can boot to fastboot, you should be able to recover. There are, of course, exceptions to this as every G5s plus owner who ever deleted the persist partition without a bit-perfect backup will know only too well.
I haven't seen a single instance of anyone on a dynamic /system device, including the Moto G30, being able to remount /system rw without jumping through hoops like these. Perhaps it is simply because most people know that dynamic /system became A Thing recently. Again, this is on Alphabet, not Lenovo/Motorola.
This is also why this device section is full of "how to root" queries as the traditional method of banging su into /system/sbin and installing a management APK doesn't work with dynamic partitions. The only way to get a working su binary onto the system is via initramfs preloaded with the kernel, which is what Magisk patches and is why Magisk is the only root solution for this device.
If you think I'm typing nonsense, that's fine. Here's the advice, it was free and comes with a guarantee worth exactly what you paid for it.

No, not at all. Thanks for your help, Got error 73 which is where the Linux comes in so I imagine it's probably fine? I'll run the repair script when I get home later.

Error 73 is exactly the error I got, which is indeed why you need the older Linux method of patching the super image.

Related

[Q] How to make a back-up of the I9250 stock ROM without CWM

I would like create a backup (of my entire system including boot image, data and system partitions. Is there any way I can do this without the CWM. The main reason is that I could return the phone to the original state in case if I have to return for service.

For my knowledge (and i have no knoledge! ) samsung accept rooted device on service (otherwise if the phone has broken screen it is not accepted)...but, if i were you, i would install cwm and make a nandroid backup of the whole system. If you want to have all of google system images(to restore original stock) you could set your sdk environment http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html and download google images (bootloader, rom, radio) and put in a safe place (the SDK supply adb/fasboot which are tools that you would use to restore the google's files). that's the thread with these contents: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1366806 That's the standard (so yours) original stock files from google actually on your phone!
and also i advise you to follow these steps to save your /EFS partition (you never know) before flashing custom things, BUT IT REQUIRES ROOT: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1352371
BUT, if you don't want to install cwm, you could also see here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1392310

Thank you. If I am right, msskip's tools will install the CWM onto my phone as well. I have just come across a guide for back-up without CWM <http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1420351>. I am just not quite sure if it is the same full back-up as I get for the Nandriod or CWM. Does anyone have any experience with this?

The post you linked doens' backup /boot partition and recovery. So you can backup only /system and /data; you can obtain these EXACTLY files just downloading the google system (4.0.1 - 4.0.2 - 4.0.3) files (*.img estension) and you have the same result, plus you can get bootloader.img and recovery (evrything stock, meaning samsung galaxy nexus stock files)...these are in the post i linked and are the stock google images and these are the files that our phones has inside (also including system.img).
that' the explanation why i think that is basically useless to make a backup of /system and /data for warranty purpose, because google (or first phone users in november when the phone came out on the market) provied all .img that you need to revert (using fastboot) anytime your phone to a stock 'new'phone (which is your now, so in warranty!). Make, instead, a backup for the files and apps (apk) (usually /data) that you need if you want to try custom roms and then if you are not satisfied get back to stock...
To answer to your question, no is not the same kind of backup, you will lack /boot and recovery.
adding that you can use adb to generate .img by
Code:
cat /proc/mtd
and you will have a fs table with adresses (i have no phone now so cannot provide), then using dd (assuming boot is on mtd2):
Code:
dd if=/dev/mtd/mtd2 of=/sdcard/boot-stock.img bs=2048
and also use this for recovery partition...never tried for system and data partition (but could work, i'm not sure so not do that in this way, wait more knowing-knoledge people and also never tried on ics but, just ginger remembering...dont' know if it's the same in this new system)
but this process make use of
Code:
adb shell
su
the second one requires root....
as of now, i dont' now any method not involving root to make these things but as i stated at first post, i don't know anything

Thank you. I am wondering if the image file you have provided is for yakjuux. I have come across many posts that if I get the wrong baseband, the phone will not work correctly.

post, please, your baseband version which you can find on settings->phone info->basedand version in your phone; mine is 19250xxkl1 that i have recently updated from xxkk1 (the stock one)

My Build # is ITL41F I9250 UGKL1 and the kernel is 3.0.1-ga052f63 [email protected] #1.
Do you think you have a image of this? Thanks.

As far is i know, you have a GSM version of Galaxy Nexus. So it's safe to grab google image of /system, /boot and for the radio grab UGKL1 radio/baseband version. To better answear it's better to know also you bootloader version (which probably is primekk15): you can view this by going on bootloader on you phone doing this:
1 setup android sdk environment (include fastboot) for your pc system (windows-linux-osx)
2 enter in the settings menu of the phone and tic the 'debug usb'
3 attach the phone to the pc and let it recognize your phone (windows-osx), for linux install udev that already are in your distrib/repo
4 (assuming you are on windows) on pc... start/run/ cmd: the the terminal open up and go in your android-sdk directory, enter and then go to platform-tools; there is adb command, run: adb reboot bootloader
this will restart your phone in the bootloader menu. There, you have all of information you need...just write here your bootloader version (to have a confirmation) to understand which versione you need to download and put in a safe place in case of warranty-need...
Then wait someone better than me that knows how to make backup of all partitions without root (without exploit i think it's difficult to grant su access on the standard ics system); if there is no such possibility, just root, install cwm and do a nandroid backup and then trasnferr on a safe place on your place and you are good to go to try modding.....
now i need sleep as here is 8 in the morning and finishing compilemy l701x kernel which weight 3,4 mb lzo compressed, fine tuning.....good nite,ehm,good mornig..mmm... good is enough

Thank you. It takes some time to download the packages.
The Bootloader shows the following
Product Name: Tuna
Variant: Maguro
HW Version: 9
Bootloader Verson: Primekk14
Baseband Version: I9250UGKL1
Carrier Info: None
Signing: Production
What would be the appropriate to donload. Do you have their respective link? Thank you for your ongoing support.

Would anyone with experience please provide me with inputs if:
1. there is any way to back-up without root
OR
2. the phone has to be rooted, is there any way to have a program residing in my computer iso the phone (CWM in this case).
OR
3. there is any way to remove CWM and other rooted apps before I use GNex Toolkit to relock the phone.
Thanks.

Here you go:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1420351

Would anyone with experience please help?

I am struggling with the same issue. Restoring the nandroid, removing su and superuser.apk and then relocking the bootloader actually brings the phone to quite factory looking mode (except for timestamps in system)
I wonder if it is possible to pull dump of system the same way it is done for boot and recovery.

Guys - it is pretty trivial to restore all partitions you would be modifying to factory conditions because Google provides the factory images for which you can use fastboot to restore. You don't even need to be unlocked much less rooted or have CWM installed because the Google images are official and have the correct signatures.
As for making image copies of your phones partitions this cannot be done w/o root access because these partitions are only available to root. If you are rooted you can use a utility such as dd on the phone to copy the partitions.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

silow said:
Guys - it is pretty trivial to restore all partitions you would be modifying to factory conditions because Google provides the factory images for which you can use fastboot to restore. You don't even need to be unlocked much less rooted or have CWM installed because the Google images are official and have the correct signatures.
As for making image copies of your phones partitions this cannot be done w/o root access because these partitions are only available to root. If you are rooted you can use a utility such as dd on the phone to copy the partitions.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google provides yakju images only. Phones here in Canada come with yakjuux which is even 4.0.1. It will be pretty obvious you have thinkered with your phone if you return it with yakju image instead the original one.
As for root - I think it might not be necesary - I was able to do nandroid backup without flashing neither recovery or root to my system by simply unlocking the boot loader and booting CWM off fastboot. I am thinking can we dd while in CWM (flash of phone still intact - except of bootloader which is not an issue since it can be relocked)
Anyone have the dd syntax handy and the partition that needs to be dumped?
system partition seems to be /dev/block/platform/omap/omap_hsmmc.0/by-name/system (this is the df output after I mounted it in CWM)
Would the dd command be something like
Code:
dd if=/dev/block/platform/omap/omap_hsmmc.0/by-name/system of=/sdcard/yakjuux.img

CWM provides you "root" because it has the su binaries in the ramdisk.
You can run the following when booted into CWM since CWM will mount /data:
Code:
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p10 of=/data/media/system.img

leobg said:
[snip]
Anyone have the dd syntax handy and the partition that needs to be dumped?
system partition seems to be /dev/block/platform/omap/omap_hsmmc.0/by-name/system (this is the df output after I mounted it in CWM)
Would the dd command be something like
Code:
dd if=/dev/block/platform/omap/omap_hsmmc.0/by-name/system of=/sdcard/yakjuux.img
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think that may work. The output file may be padded with extra zeros, so you may need to trim them before flashing (this is certainly the case when you dump the radio).
EDIT: I would probably use this instead (although I am not sure it will make a difference:
Code:
dd if=/dev/block/platform/omap/omap_hsmmc.0/by-name/system of=/data/media/yakjuux.img

efrant said:
I think that may work. The output file may be padded with extra zeros, so you may need to trim them before flashing (this is certainly the case when you dump the radio).
EDIT: I would probably use this instead (although I am not sure it will make a difference:
Code:
dd if=/dev/block/platform/omap/omap_hsmmc.0/by-name/system of=/data/media/yakjuux.img
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, that was what I actually ended up doing since /sdcard was a sym link to /data/media. Resulting file is 654MB uncompressed. I wonder how can I easily check if content is right on a win machine.
---------- Post added at 09:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:37 PM ----------
silow said:
CWM provides you "root" because it has the su binaries in the ramdisk.
You can run the following when booted into CWM since CWM will mount /data:
Code:
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p10 of=/data/media/system.img
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I meant it's not necessary to make any changes on the filesystem to achieve it once bootloader lock is off. And by simply relocking the device after, there are zero traces of any 'hackery' being done on the phone.

leobg said:
Yes, that was what I actually ended up doing since /sdcard was a sym link to /data/media. Resulting file is 654MB uncompressed. I wonder how can I easily check if content is right on a win machine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is obviously some extra padding in there, as the file size should be closer to half that size uncompressed.
---------- Post added at 09:08 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:51 AM ----------
leobg said:
[snip]
And by simply relocking the device after, there are zero traces of any 'hackery' being done on the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure why so many people are worried about "traces of hackery". I can't speak from personal experience, but many Nexus One owners (if not all of who have attempted), had NO issues returning devices to HTC that were unlocked... Remember, the N1 did not have a relockable bootloader, so they obviously knew you were messing around.

You don't have to FLASH CWM to USE CWM.
Just BOOT CWM. Simple.

Root Telstra T-Hub 2 (Technicolor)

Wanting to root my new Telstra T-Hub 2, made by Technicolor.
There appears to be no USB drivers available (nothing via Google)
There also appears to be no way to get into the Download Mode for connection to Odin. (again nothing on Google)
So these two points have left me a bit lost.
It is running Android (GB) 2.3.7
Any one have any ideas????

Rabs_1976 said:
Wanting to root my new Telstra T-Hub 2, made by Technicolor.
There appears to be no USB drivers available (nothing via Google)
There also appears to be no way to get into the Download Mode for connection to Odin. (again nothing on Google)
So these two points have left me a bit lost.
It is running Android (GB) 2.3.7
Any one have any ideas????
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got ADB working on my T-Hub 2 by using the generic Google drivers, and edited the adb_usb.ini to just say 0x069B
So far I have problems rooting it.

wocko1 said:
I got ADB working on my T-Hub 2 by using the generic Google drivers, and edited the adb_usb.ini to just say 0x069B
So far I have problems rooting it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BUMP

I have this Tablet as-well and having the same problem.
any ideas on the best way to root this thing?
wocko1 do you have any more details on how to got that far?
Thanks guys.
Rabs_1976 said:
Wanting to root my new Telstra T-Hub 2, made by Technicolor.
There appears to be no USB drivers available (nothing via Google)
There also appears to be no way to get into the Download Mode for connection to Odin. (again nothing on Google)
So these two points have left me a bit lost.
It is running Android (GB) 2.3.7
Any one have any ideas????
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

was it released in any other countries as another device?
even if we got root on it what can we do for a custom ROM if noone can dev for it

Madaz2 said:
was it released in any other countries as another device?
even if we got root on it what can we do for a custom ROM if noone can dev for it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We as owners/users of T-Hub 2 devices require sensible answers to important questions.
We need usb drivers for the T-Hub 2, either from Telstra or from Technicolor the manufacturer of the device so that we can attain " ROOT ACCESS" via a usb cable connection to a computer.
Unless we can get "ROOT ACCESS" we cannot move applications to an external SD card (32 GB in my case) or use Titanium Backup or certain Antivirus programs that require "ROOT ACCESS".
Please accept the undeniable fact that 1 Gigabyte of storage on the internal SD card is totally insufficient and pathetic, almost as pathetic as the fact that we are still stuck with "Gingerbread" which puts us three versions behind on Android which is now up to "JellyBean" v2.
The fact is, I believe the Android operating system running on the T-Hub 2 is, like all other versions of Android, based on the Linux kernel which is software using the GNU General Public License, which allows people to see, copy, use, and modify for their own needs.
If indeed I am correct in my assumption then Telstra/Technicolor could be in breach of a world standard which would mean that the proprietary blocks and gates that they have built to prevent access to the kernel on the T-Hub 2 are illegal.

Download Mode discovered...and more...
I thought this:
Hold "Volume-" and "Volume+" and "Power Button" boots into download mode. This is incorrect.
This gets you to recovery mode (which shows the Android robot fallen over).

Help!
wocko1 said:
I got ADB working on my T-Hub 2 by using the generic Google drivers, and edited the adb_usb.ini to just say 0x069B
So far I have problems rooting it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have been looking for the drivers everywhere, and so far none of them have worked. Even tried wireless adb to no avail. Also tried gingerbreak but still nothing. Sick of looking at the bloatware. Someone please help!

anyone had more success now that it has ICS 4.0.4

Yes, it can be rooted, but...
Hi,
Yes, much more progress. I've gained ADB root access using the restore method (i.e., restoring a backup which has been modified to install a file to a strange path, e.g,: ../../../system/bin/su), I recommend creating your own restore file rather than using one of the many out there and using it to install the necessary SU software to the appropriate locations.
If your device isn't detected by ADB, check that the device ID has been added to the ADB config file. The Thub2 ID is not recognised automatically. Also, when using fastboot remember to specify this ID or it won't find your THub.
The biggest issue with the THub2 is that Telstra have (in an oddly intelligent move) adopted SquashFS for the root file system; this is the FS used on things like linux liveCD's, and it's 100% RO (well, 99% RO . I have gotten around this in a number of ways. 1: I copied the SquashFS partition using DD to an Ext4 partition, then forced a dirty unmount of the SquashFS partiition chained to a mount of the new Ext4 partition to /system. RW access no problems, SU installs OK, but no persistence without forcing the dirty unmount each boot. 2: I copied the SquashFS partition to my ~ using DD, mounted and edited the partition, then re-flashed to the thub. worked much better, persistence across reboots, but dangerous and dodgy method that could risk many NANDs. 3: I cross-compiled a busybox containing UnionFS to Android.
Option 3 is by far the best option. UnionFS provides a transperent RW layer for SquashFS filesystems, writing the updates that couldn't be written to a RO system like squash to another partition (e.g., Ext4 on SD card). Mount a UnionFS system over /system to enable write access to the system. Maybe a better idea to mount it at /, but that raises other problems I couldn't be bothered dealing with.
I mentioned above that SquashFS is on 99% RO (in all my other experiences, it has been well and truly 100% RO, so this indicates something else a-going on that we should be able to use; I haven't looked into it yet.). For some reason, files installed to the Thub2 using the Restore method are persistent. Very useful, and should lead to a cleaner method.
So rooting so far:
Root with Restore method to install (1 & 2., SU bins, or 3., UnionFS Busybox)
Remount / as RW
-->Path 1 & 2
Dirty unmount /system && dirty unmount /system2 && mount /dev/block/etc.. NOTE: Once you dirty unmount /system, you will need to reference the location of the Ext4 partiition using the absolute (real) name of the device. You will also need to invoke busybox from a fully qualified path, eg. /data/local/tmp/busybox, as the internal /bin applications are no longer available (eg., mount).
-->Path 3
No need to umount /system, just mount the UnionFS system over the top.
Finally, for Paths 1 & 3...
Install Superuser application and be free!
So to sum up; I have easily rooted the Thub2 to root over ADB using a number of methods, however the Restore method works 100% of the time. I have mounted an Ext4 system to /system in order to have RW, but this isn't persistent. I have re-flashed the SquashFS with modified content, and this works a treat, but is RO and dangerous to NAND. I have mounted a UnionFS system over the SquashFS system, and this seems to provide the best all round performance.
I also wrote a short and nasty .apk to mount the UFS system without terminal, so that's a go as well.
Have fun pulling it all apart; I don't read these message boards, so I probably won't se any questions. More than enough to get rooted though.

THub Drivers and ADB Access
THUB 2 DRIVER INSTALLATION AND ADB ACCESS
This method sets out how to install drivers for the THub 2 and access ADB (Android Debug Bridge).
Access to ADB is the usual way that you use to Root an Android device.
Please note that not all ADB versions work. If you download and try a root method, you may have to copy the ADB.exe and support files across so that the root method can at least have a chance of working.
INSTALLING GOOGLE UNIVERSAL ANDROID DRIVERS
1. Ensure that Debugging has been enabled – Settings  Developer options  USB debugging and make sure the box is checked
2. The following is for Windows 7, other versions will be similar
3. Unzip the file and copy contents to a folder on the C: drive. I copied it to a folder I named THub
4. Plug the THub into your PC and it will try to find suitable drivers – some drivers may load and install but at least one will come up with “No driver found”
5. Open “Computer”
6. Click on “System properties”
7. Click on “Device Manager”
8. Under “Other devices” you will see T-Hub2 with an icon with a yellow exclamation mark.
9. Right-click the device and select "Update Driver"
10. Select "Browse my computer for driver software"
11. Select "Let me pick from a list of device drivers"
12. Click “Show All Devices”
13. Click “Have disk …”
14. Browse to where you put the extracted files
15. Select and open “Android_winusb.inf”
16. Select “Android Composite ADB Interface”
17. Click “Next” and then Click “Yes” (Ignore warning)
18. Wait until the software installs
19. You should now have Android Composite Interface” under the “Android Phone” listing
If you have problems, ensure Debugging is selected and try unplugging the THub and reconnecting it
ACCESSING ADB
1. Ensure that Debugging has been enabled – Settings  Developer options  USB debugging and make sure the box is checked
2. The following is for Windows 7, other versions will be similar, It also assumes that the file has been down loaded, unzipped and installed in a folder called THub on you C: drive
3. Connect the THub to your PC
4. Click in the “Start” icon, lower left icon on your PC Desktop
5. In the entry box type in “CMD” and push “Enter”
6. You will be at the “Command Prompt”
7. You need to navigate to the “THub” folder, the following are my entries, and yours should be similar.
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
C:\Users\Terry>cd .. and “Enter”
C:\Users>cd .. and “Enter”
C:\>
C:\>cd THub and “Enter”
C:\THub>
8. At the THub folder type in “ADB devices” and “Enter”
9. You should get an output similar to this:
* daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
* daemon started successfully *
List of devices attached
01545CAB0B015004 device
C:\THub>
10. You now have ADB access
11. Try “adb shell” and “Enter” to enter ADB and then “ls” and “Enter” to get the THub Root folder listing
What next, I don’t know but at least we have ADB access?
I have been trying to copy system files to my SD card to have a look at them but have no success.
Does anyone know how?
Here is the site I uploaded the files to:
"You can fill in the missing bits"
xxx.mediafire.com/download/voku3wnuff5s2ef/THub.zip
NOTE: There is also a file called “UniversalAdbDriverSetup6.msi”.
I don’t know what it is for, but I installed it anyway. It MAY be necessary for the above method.

Firstly, I understand this is an old thread but quite a lot of us Australians have this THub 2 now because Telstra seem to basically be handing them out like shots at a party.
As far as I know this thing still has no root access. You can get into ADB with it without too much trouble.
But what I really want to know is how I can get root access with SuperSU so I can install something like AdAway to remove the seemingly ridiculous amount of advertisements that apps and etc. come with.
In addition to that, after installing just TWO small apps. It seems the device's internal memory is already full and it cannot install any more apps.. I need root access in order to run Apps2SD so I can move some apps to the SD card that I have purchased for it.
Does anyone, and I mean anyone have any ideas about how to root this thing? There has to be some Australian who has a rooted version with SuperSU running.
I tried 'towelroot' but the device just rebooted (meaning it failed) and then when I ran the .apk again it said that the device was unsupported.
It's one thing to be able to get access to the root partition (which is possible over ADB) but it's another to be able to run apps with root privileges.
For any information.
The specs are:
Manufacturer - Technicolor
Operating System - Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.4
Processor - 1 GHz dual core
Screen - 7″ (1024 x 600 pixels)
Camera - 1.9 MP rear camera, 1.2 MP HD front camera
RAM - 1GB
Storage - 2 GB Internal with an expandable Micro SD card slot (1GB internal usable)
Battery - 6000 mAh (non-removable)
I know it's nothing amazing, but if I could root the device and change the DPI, remove advertisements and install a few hacks. I'd get so much more out of the device.
I picked it up in almost perfect condition second-hand off eBay for only $15. They're worth $360 AU brand-new.
If anyone has any information at all, please do post something. My apologies again for bumping a super old thread but otherwise I was going to just start my own.

Possible to restore system partition
Hi Guys,
I done goofed.
I killed my T-Hub by flashing a corrupted system partition and now the device wont boot and only displays the Telstra logo at the boot loader. I do have a backup of my system partition however I cant work out how I would perform the restore. The boot loader will not allow an ADB connection so no luck there.
Im thinking JTAG may be my only option. I have experience with this on other devices but i cant find the JTAG terminals on this thing? I must have tapped about 60 different combinations of testpoints now and have only been able to get console out of the radio module which is obviously no good for talking to the kernel.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
Swamp

SwampCrack1210 said:
Hi Guys,
I done goofed.
I killed my T-Hub by flashing a corrupted system partition and now the device wont boot and only displays the Telstra logo at the boot loader. I do have a backup of my system partition however I cant work out how I would perform the restore. The boot loader will not allow an ADB connection so no luck there.
Im thinking JTAG may be my only option. I have experience with this on other devices but i cant find the JTAG terminals on this thing? I must have tapped about 60 different combinations of testpoints now and have only been able to get console out of the radio module which is obviously no good for talking to the kernel.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
Swamp
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm completely new to this. What ROM would i look for to install on the THUB if any? And if i could install it?

clearburn said:
I'm completely new to this. What ROM would i look for to install on the THUB if any? And if i could install it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sorry but no one has developed a ROM for this device, there is no demand

Madaz2 said:
sorry but no one has developed a ROM for this device, there is no demand
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I thought there might have been a rom from the basic device that didn't have all of the Telstra stuff on it.
It is currently a brick

if you can root it then you could install Titanium backup and uninstall the bloatware off of it

Some moderate success
I have had some moderate advancements of late.
I can get temporary ADB root using the directory traversal exploit
.
While the above method gets you a root terminal session, as it screws with some settings the device is nearly unusable due to screen flicker and general lag. I guess the exploit breaks some settings. Does anyone know how to leave the exploit in place and restore the settings file to eliminate the flickering and lag?
I have been able to export the system partition, edit it (add su.bin and SuperUser.apk) then swap the system mount so the device uses my edited system partition as described by malleus. When I try to flash my partition the device reboots and is in a semi brick state (reboot loop, stuck on boot loader Telstra logo).
I was able to obtain the OTA update files by getting an old 2.3.7 device, rooting it then grabbing the OTA files using ADB once it had downloaded them. These OTA's can be flashed from an SD card (ext4 format) in 3e recovery. This was a good bit of progress as it means I can restore from a bricked state. If anyone needs them, the files I have are:
Product_4.0.4_3.38-FOTA
Product_4.0.4_3.48-FOTA
This is all new territory for me but i think I am getting close to achieving full, persistent root in 4.0.4.
Any help would be appreciated.

I would be very interested in your progress as I have one of these but in default state it is only usable as a phone on the DECT base.....
Having some useful apps running off an SD card would help no end (like multimedia remote for my home theatre system)
Cheers,
Alex B
SwampCrack1210 said:
I have had some moderate advancements of late.
I can get temporary ADB root using the directory traversal exploit
.
While the above method gets you a root terminal session, as it screws with some settings the device is nearly unusable due to screen flicker and general lag. I guess the exploit breaks some settings. Does anyone know how to leave the exploit in place and restore the settings file to eliminate the flickering and lag?
I have been able to export the system partition, edit it (add su.bin and SuperUser.apk) then swap the system mount so the device uses my edited system partition as described by malleus. When I try to flash my partition the device reboots and is in a semi brick state (reboot loop, stuck on boot loader Telstra logo).
I was able to obtain the OTA update files by getting an old 2.3.7 device, rooting it then grabbing the OTA files using ADB once it had downloaded them. These OTA's can be flashed from an SD card (ext4 format) in 3e recovery. This was a good bit of progress as it means I can restore from a bricked state. If anyone needs them, the files I have are:
Product_4.0.4_3.38-FOTA
Product_4.0.4_3.48-FOTA
This is all new territory for me but i think I am getting close to achieving full, persistent root in 4.0.4.
Any help would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Has anyone made any progress on this?
I have two of these tablets that have sat unused since I got them from Telstra. I really just want to update it to at least 4.1, but there's no official release from Telstra for the T-Hub, and I don't think there will be. Are ports entirely unfeasible?
Do you think I could contact Technicolor? What should I say?
P.S. there is a recovery mode, because I've booted into it.
hxxp://imgur.com/O0uq4Uk

[Tools/Recovery] TWRP for LG Optimus F3Q

TWRP Recovery for the LG F3Q (codenames: fx3q, d520)
Background story (who ever wants to know):
As I'm currently testing around with flashing etc I hated it to re-flash the stock ROM again and again. It is sooo time consuming..
In that kind of ROM compiling learning process I also was able to build a working TWRP recovery for the LG F3Q so that was such a good feeling But as said the caveat was that because of the locked bootloader we can reach TWRP (or CWM) only when executing "adb reboot recovery" from the running system. That was not really satisfying me though..
Some day I've done a factory reset and well I saw that this is starting my TWRP recovery when executing it! Well it isn't such a surprise as TWRP sits on the recovery partition and will be triggered by the factory reset script but... well do you think what I think? When it would be possible to start TWRP fully and not that factory reset part of TWRP than we would have a workaround to reach the recovery mode without booting the system (which is in fact not possible anymore when flashing of system.img/boot.img fails)
That said.. I was in touch with the TWRP developers bigbiff and Dees_Troy and many thanks for the hint they gave me! I have build a new TWRP version based on that information I got and well the idea of that is:
Vol Down + Power -> LG Factory Reset screen appears
Confirming with power 2 times as asked
Voila: No factory reset anymore but TWRP is here!
Well that will have a caveat - READ CAREFULLY:
As you may think of the factory reset in the boot-up process and within the ROM will not working anymore until you flash another recovery!
But if you know that it is not such a caveat because you can choose the wipe options within TWRP to do a "manual" factory reset.
v2.8.1.0 build 5
USE THAT ON YOUR OWN RISK! BACKUP BEFORE!
Working (quickly tested):
Install (to flash a custom Kernel)
Mounting partitions
Reboot Recovery | System
adb shell (also see known issues)
Backup (compressed | uncompressed | encrypted (!) | unencrypted)
Restore (unencrypted | encypted (!) | compressed | uncompressed)
Internal storage /data/media
MTP which mounts the external storage!
File Manager
Terminal Command
Power charging while in TWRP
Displaying CPU temp
Totally untested:
WIPE (should work)
decrypting /data (but should work as it do so for encrypted backups already)
Every option which is not stated as "Known issue" or "Working"
Known issues (with workarounds):
ADB works only when screen "timed out" (manual locking does not help it must time out) therefore ADB can take up to 1 minute after boot until it becomes available (because screen need to be timed out first)
Workaround: set the time limit in the screen menu to e.g. 10 sec (that is the default value for now)
Timezone is not set correctly (that seems to be a well known bug in several devices using TWRP.... )
Workaround: set a timezone which displays the most accurate timezone
Known issues (without workarounds):
When you use the "Power Off" option in the "Reboot" menu the device will reboot instead of powering off
Wiping /data not possible after "factory reset buttons" used. You need to choose "wipe" and then "format data" manually (or use mke2fs on CLI).
Vibration is not working (I will not fix that atm because I like it that way)
Hardware keys at bottom doesn't work
If you use the factory reset button /data partition will be inaccessible and need to be re-flashed (means you will LOOSE your app and system configs when you use factore reset)
Download:
Attached you will find the TWRP v2.8.1.0 version ready to use even with locked bootloader:
BACKUP EVERYTHING BEFORE USING THIS. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!
DD Image file:twrp_v2.8.1.0_build5_fx3q_FR-OFF.img.zip = FactoryReset is disabled / TWRP will be loaded instead (also see known issues)
Read the Installation & Usage instructions in this thread on how to install that file.
Installation & Usage instructions
Pre-Requirements
Read the FAQ
YOU NEED ROOT! (check FAQ)
YOU SHOULD do a NANDroid BACKUP! (check FAQ)
You need to boot up, enable USB debugging and then connect USB cable.(check FAQ get ROOT - the link contains a guide on that)
You better doing a NANDroid backup right? (I mentioned that before - but DO it! NOW!)
For the best usage experience install the sediKERNEL or use joel's debloated stock ROM which includes it already
Bulletproof Method 1: "the average user"
Use this guide if you simply want to install & use TWRP like it should be. If you're unsure use this guide!
Install:
Download the TWRP recovery file and unzip it
copy it to your device (e.g. adb push or simply copy & paste by your file browser)
Download the loki_tool (https://github.com/djrbliss/loki/raw/master/bin/loki_tool)
copy loki_tool to your device (e.g. adb push or simply copy & paste by your file browser)
execute:
adb shell
su (you may need to grant permission)
mount -oremount,rw /system
cp /PATH-WHERE-YOU-COPIED/loki_tool /system/bin/ && chmod 755 /system/bin/loki_tool
loki_tool flash recovery /PATH-WHERE-YOU-COPIED/twrp_X.X.X.X_recovery_FRoff/off.img
reboot recovery --> you should see the TWRP screen
Usage (sediKERNEL v2.0 or higher installed):
Power on the device
when you see the LG logo the first time do NOTHING!!
When the screen goes black THEN press Volume UP + Volume DOWN. Both the same time and hold them pressed.
Release the buttons when the screen goes black again
Wait. You will see the LG logo a third time and then you will see the recovery screen!
If you see a kernel crash then you have pressed the magic keys too early! Read and follow the above steps carefully and you should be fine.
Usage (without sediKERNEL v2.0 or higher):
boot into your ROM
execute "adb reboot recovery" from your PC or open a Terminal on your device and execute "su" then "reboot recovery"
Bulletproof Method 2: "developers only"
This is the developers preferred way of installing TWRP. It ensures that even when your ROM or Kernel gets damaged that you still be able to boot into recovery. This is to the developers or heavy testers who are knowing what they do ONLY!
But even when you think this is for you: Read the important hint at the end before deciding if you want to choose this method.
Install:
flash recovery image to your RECOVERY partition:
adb shell su -c dd if=/storage/external_SD/twrp_vXXXXX_fx3q_FR-OFF.img of=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/recovery
adb reboot recovery
A user reports the the by-name does not worked for him but this one:
adb shell su -c dd if=/storage/external_SD/twrp_vXXXXX_fx3q_FR-OFF.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p17
-> If you can see TWRP now everything is fine - Otherwise DO NOT continue!
BACKUP YOUR WHOLE DEVICE NOW! I highly recommend to backup everything except /data from within TWRP because it is easy and works (from TWRP v2.8build5 or higher)
BACKUP /data is recommended to be done NOW and this way:
adb shell su -c dd if=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/userdata of=/external_sd/userdata_backup_stock.img
--> This can take a long while but it contains also the backup for the internal storage not only /data and that internal part is not backupable over TWRP
while in TWRP flash the same recovery image to your BOOT partition now (do not think that this is dangerous. The boot partition is not a magic thing or so it is only the partition which will be started from the bootloader thats all about it. So yes you can install a recovery image on the boot partition without any harm.):
adb shell su -c dd if=/external_sd/twrp_vXXXXX_fx3q_FR-OFF.img.loki of=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/boot
watch carefully that the process ended without errors and that the size is exactly the same as it should be (about 1,3GB)
adb shell sync
power off the device by taken out the battery (do not use reboot or something we want to be sure that the next step is absolutely really the normal boot up)
Boot up normally --> you should see TWRP !! You're NOT in recovery mode you're booting the normal boot mode!
Go on with flashing the sediKERNEL into your RECOVERY partition:
Download the sediKERNEL from here (the stock one could work, too but never tested ...)
push it to your device with adb or MTP (since v2.8build5)
Flash the sediKERNEL to your RECOVERY partition:
adb shell su -c dd if=/external_sd/sediKERNEL_JB-vXXXX.img of=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/recovery
Reboot into Recovery by using TWRP GUI or by executing "adb reboot recovery"
Your ROM will boot.
Usage:
From now on every time your device booting up you will see the TWRP screen and need to choose Reboot-->Recovery to boot your ROM.
This is the absolute best way to use TWRP if you want to be sure that you will reach the recovery even when your ROM gets damaged and is confirmed to work very well (as always guarantees are not available )
Important hint:
Be sure that you keep in mind that from now on your recovery and boot partition are not the same anymore (you can always revert back to the normal behaviour, of course!). So if you want to flash a kernel image you need to ensure that it goes to the RECOVERY partition instead of the normal BOOT partition (because on boot partition is TWRP now).
If I got my ROM working I will definitively add an option to the installer where this will be ensured and I asked @joel.maxuel for his stock ROM to add that, too. As for now we are the only ones who are developing for the F3Q so you should be save enough atm but you will need to keep that always in mind when you want to replace the kernel and/or ROM.
What would happen if you forget about that? Well nothing really bad because when you install a kernel or ROM the boot image partition simply gets overwritten and that means only that your TWRP is not there anymore but the system will boot (if the new kernel/ROM is not buggy or damaged). You then could install TWRP by method 1 or using method 2 by using the boot image/Kernel you want to install.
Damage your device - booting (NOT RECOMMENDED will loose /data ):
You probably NEVER want to use this method. It is here for reference only.
I highly recommend to choose one of the above bulletproof versions instead of this one because it WILL damage /data and you need to restore that whole partition afterwards.
All my tests has shown that this comes not from TWRP (in one of my tests I disabled everything in the sourcecode of TWRP which wipes /data) but coming from LG itself. The factory reset button/option do something with the /data partition sturucture and afterwards you cannot use that anymore. I also tried to restore the partition info by trying all backup superblocks but that doesn't worked. No backup superblock is accessible.
Restoring them by mke2fs and e2fsck does not work unfortunately.. (mke2fs -S /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/userdata && e2fsck -yf /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/userdata)
So if you have loosed your /data and/or internal storage you need to have a DD imaged backup near.
Install:
same as for "Bulletproof Method 1" above
Usage:
When you choosen FR-OFF then TWRP will be able to start without booting up the whole system (also see known issues):
Power Off the device (remove battery)
Vol Down + Power --> Then put the battery back --> LG Factory Reset screen appears
Confirming with power button 2 times as asked - if you downloaded and flashed the FRoff version of TWRP it will NOT open the normal reset procedure but /data and the internal storage are not accessible afterwards (read above about the details). That means your app configs and systems configs get lost that way. You have been warned!
Voila: No (full) factory reset anymore but TWRP is here when you have damaged your ROM or for some dev approach
If you want the factory reset back simply choose the file twrp_2.7.1.0_recovery_FRon.img.lok and follow the above instructions. Afterwards you will have TWRP but it will be reachable only when you execute "adb reboot recovery" from the running system.
XDA:DevDB Information
sediTWRP for LG Optimus F3Q, Tool/Utility for the General Discussion
Contributors
xdajog
Source Code: https://github.com/xdajog/bootable_recovery_twrp_fx3q
Version Information
Status: Stable
Current Stable Version: v2.8.1.0 build 5
Stable Release Date: 2014-11-18
Created 2015-05-19
Last Updated 2015-07-20

FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is that "adb" thing?
adb stands for: Android Debug Bridge and can help a lot when it comes to work with your device. It is not for developers only but they use it a lot of course.
But a normal user can use this to exchange files without the need of mounting, backing up the device, reboot the device and use it as a very comfortable way of having a terminal emulator.
Normally adb itself is not available as a standalone application - it comes with the Android SDK which is very big and heavy if you want to use adb and/or fastboot (another great tool) only.
But we live in a great world with many people wanting to make things easy so here you go when you want/need only adb and fastboot:
download & install adb at lifehacker
(Direct link for Windows users: Go to easy ADB install thread)
How to get root for the F3Q?
Here is the tool and guide: Saferoot
[*]What is a "nandroid" backup?
nandroid means essentially: "a full image of all your partitions" so it is a full snapshot of your ROM including all your apps and contents.
The name NANDroid is a portmanteau of "NAND" (as in Flash memory - NAND flash) and "Android." (Source)
[*]How to create a "nandroid" backup?
(See above for the meaning of "nandroid backup")
You have several options on how to do that.
The normal and absolutely recommended way is to do that "offline" (from within recovery mode) but you can also do it "online" (while Android is running).
.
Offline nandroid backup by using TWRP recovery: Guide
If you have no custom recovery installed read on.
.
Online nandroid backup:
by using an app:
There is 1 (known to me) "online" nandroid backup tool available which will backup from within your running Android: PlayStore.
I tested it and still using it since a while and I really like it but I would not fully resist on it.
I had no problems backing up but sometimes an app is lost when restoring. This may have been fixed but well it is like imaging a running Windows or Linux system:
Do not do it online if you can - it may/will work but there could be problems/inconsistencies later!!
If you never made a nandroid before doing it online will not harm anything and should be your first start. So install the Online Nandroid backup tool and begin.
Check out this guide for some hints: Guide
(If you like the Android app do not hesitate to buy the unlock key to support the developer!)
by using commandline tools:
First of all you need "adb" installed (check out the FAQ answer number 1 above).
Then you need someone who is telling you the device partition table and you need a big sized SD card to hold the images.
The reason is that you will use a special command named "dd" which images the whole partition (not the content only!).
dd is a VERY dangerous tool because if you use it wrong your device may get bricked so it is essential that you are using the
correct command and check that twice!
Check out the next FAQ on how to do this for the F3Q.
[*]How to create a "nandroid" backup for the F3Q - WITHOUT having a custom recovery?
The whole process will take a big amount of time but it is worth to follow each step including the md5sum checks at the end.
Please read the previous FAQ first because there you will find more information about background and other options you may have.
Ensure you have a SD card inserted which is big enough and having enough free space available (4GB at least! I recommend at least 8 GB but this depends on the size of your current data partition. A completely stock ROM with nothing installed and unused will need 3 GB space).
.
Install "adb" on your pc (check out the FAQ #1 above).
root your device (check out FAQ #2 above)
connect with adb to your (running) F3Q:
adb shell
(you should see a prompt)
su
(you need to grant permission if you haven't yet)
Then backup your current ROM and data:
dd if=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/system of=/storage/external_SD/system.2015-07-20.img
dd if=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/boot of=/storage/external_SD/boot.2015-07-20.img
dd if=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/userdata of=/storage/external_SD/userdata.2015-07-20.img
dd if=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/recovery of=/storage/external_SD/recovery.2015-07-20.img
# If you never backed up your EFS you really should do that once:
dd if=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/modemst1 of=/storage/external_SD/modemst1.img
dd if=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/modemst2 of=/storage/external_SD/modemst2.img
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to be sure you can do an online backup now, too ( Guide ) Online Nandroid backup App
.
copy the backup(s) to your device (connect USB cable - open your external storage and drag&drop) <--- DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP!!!! It is absolutely essential!
Check your copy on your device:
md5sum /storage/external_SD/system.2015-07-20.img
md5sum /storage/external_SD/boot.2015-07-20.img
md5sum /storage/external_SD/userdata.2015-07-20.img
md5sum /storage/external_SD/recovery.2015-07-20.img
md5sum /storage/external_SD/modemst1.img
md5sum /storage/external_SD/modemst2.img
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Download a md5sum checker like this one Windows MD5 and load each file you copied to it (on Linux the "md5sum" command can be used of course).
compare the md5sums from the above output and ensure that they are all matching.
[*]Why is factory reset not working when installing TWRP? (or: AAAAaaaah my /data is inaccessible after doing a factory reset!!!!)
All my tests has shown that this comes not from TWRP (in one of my tests I disabled everything in the sourcecode of TWRP which wipes /data) but coming from LG itself. The factory reset button/option do something with the /data partition sturucture and afterwards you cannot use that anymore. I also tried to restore the partition info by trying all backup superblocks but that doesn't worked. No backup superblock is accessible.
Restoring them by mke2fs and e2fsck does not work unfortunately.. (mke2fs -S /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/userdata && e2fsck -yf /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/userdata)
So if you have loosed your /data and/or internal storage you need to have a DD imaged backup near. Sorry but you have been warned (known issues) before.
.
if you want the factory reset back simply choose the file twrp_2.7.1.0_recovery_FRon.img.lok and follow the above instructions. Afterwards you will have TWRP but it will be reachable only when you execute "adb reboot recovery" from the running system. v2.7. is not recommended to use but atm the only option if you really want that. Instead I would better try the wipe options from within TWRP and re-installing your ROM of choice or simply using the official LG flashing tool to get your F3Q fully reset.
.

History / Changelog
Previous development (v2.7.1.0)
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND USING v2.8 instead of this version!
You have been warned.. If you still want that buggy version go on here:
USE THAT ON YOUR OWN RISK! I STRONGLY RECOMMEND TO BACKUP EVERYTHING BEFORE PROCEEDING.
Working:
Install (to flash a custom Kernel)
Mounting partitions (see known issues for the internal one)
Reboot Recovery | System
adb shell
File Manager
Terminal Command
Totally untested:
WIPE (may work)
Known issues:
If the device becomes locked and then unlocked by the user adb will restart on the device (or crash and start again. haven't had looked into that yet)
When you use the "Power Off" option in the "Reboot" menu the device will reboot instead of powering off
RESTORE (will NOT work!)
BACKUP (will NOT work!)
You cannot mount the external sd via USB or MTP
Vibration is not working (I will not fix that atm because I like it that way)
Timezone is not set correctly (that seems to be a well known bug in several devices using TWRP....
Internal storage is missing (/data/media)
Hardware keys at bottom doesn't work
If you use the factory reset button /data partition will be inaccessible and need to be re-flashed (means you will LOOSE your app and system configs when you use factore reset)
Download:
Attached you will find the loki'ed TWRP version (v2.7.1.0):
AGAIN: THIS IS A PROOF-OF-CONCEPT only. It definitively WILL have bugs and problems! I want to proof that it will be possible to have TWRP on this device and also have a way to boot up into TWRP without booting the whole system.
twrp_2.7.1.0_recovery_FRoff.img.lok = FactoryReset is disabled / TWRP will be loaded instead
twrp_2.7.1.0_recovery_FRon.img.lok = FactoryReset is enabled / TWRP can be reached with "adb reboot recovery" only
Read the Installation & Usage instructions in the OP on how to install that file.

Awesome work! Saves having to risk modifying the bootloader (for now). :laugh: :highfive: Thanks!

xdajog said:
TWRP Recovery for the LG F3Q / D520
...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm unable to get logs from TWRP, it does crash reliably when messing about in settings and such.
Timezone fix is needed. (Devices time is set to the correct local time, but TWRPs timezones arent correct.)
Device does not show internal storage.
Wipe menu does not differentiate from internal storage and /data
there's no /mnt, /storage or /sdcard present while in TWRP.
Uhm, I'm sure there's some more I've missed, but that's all I've got for now.

eriklion said:
I'm unable to get logs from TWRP, it does crash reliably when messing about in settings and such.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uhm what do you mean? adb shell and then open /tmp/recovery.log? Clicking on the small mini icon at middle bottom of the screen? Both working for me. Have you tested the above attached version or the one I gave you at dropbox? The above is a more current one!
Timezone fix is needed. (Devices time is set to the correct local time, but TWRPs timezones arent correct.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hm I will look into that
Device does not show internal storage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah forgot to mention that. Is that shown in CWM btw?
Wipe menu does not differentiate from internal storage and /data
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you explain what does that means?
there's no /mnt, /storage or /sdcard present while in TWRP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
/mnt and /storage are not needed or am I wrong? /sdcard would point to the internal storage I think but I decided to use /external_sd instead which is accessible in the latest version.

Finally got around to test. Looks great, I love having TWRP over CWM!
Unfortunately the backup function is not working. TWRP errors out and reloads itself. I have a pastebin, sorry it's so long but I wanted to try a couple different backup options before I gave up and produced a log file:
http://pastebin.com/QUfNw6Rk
The portions of interest are:
Code:
Backing up Cache...
I:Creating backup...
I:Creating tar file '/external_sd/TWRP/BACKUPS/1db9cba/1970-01-24--22-43-59 JZO54K//cache.ext4.win'
I:addFile '/cache/recovery' including root: 0
Failed to get selinux context: Operation not supported on transport endpoint
I:addFile '/cache/recovery/log' including root: 0
Failed to get selinux context: Operation not supported on transport endpoint
...
Code:
Backing up Data...
I:Creating backup...
I:Creating tar file '/external_sd/TWRP/BACKUPS/1db9cba/1970-01-24--22-43-59 JZO54K//data.ext4.win'
I:addFile '/data/dontpanic' including root: 0
Failed to get selinux context: Operation not supported on transport endpoint
I:addFile '/data/dontpanic/last_kmsg0' including root: 0
Failed to get selinux context: Operation not supported on transport endpoint
I:addFile '/data/dontpanic/next_count' including root: 0
Failed to get selinux context: Operation not supported on transport endpoint
I:addFile '/data/dontpanic/last_kmsg1' including root: 0
Failed to get selinux context: Operation not supported on transport endpoint
I:addFile '/data/dontpanic/last_kmsg2' including root: 0
Failed to get selinux context: Operation not supported on transport endpoint
I:addFile '/data/dontpanic/last_kmsg3' including root: 0
Failed to get selinux context: Operation not supported on transport endpoint
I:addFile '/data/dontpanic/last_kmsg4' including root: 0
Failed to get selinux context: Operation not supported on transport endpoint
I:addFile '/data/dontpanic/last_kmsg5' including root: 0
Failed to get selinux context: Operation not supported on transport endpoint
I:addFile '/data/dontpanic/last_kmsg6' including root: 0
Failed to get selinux context: Operation not supported on transport endpoint
I:addFile '/data/dontpanic/last_kmsg7' including root: 0
Failed to get selinux context: Operation not supported on transport endpoint
__bionic_open_tzdata: couldn't find any tzdata when looking for localtime!
__bionic_open_tzdata: couldn't find any tzdata when looking for GMT!
__bionic_open_tzdata: couldn't find any tzdata when looking for posixrules!
Starting TWRP 2.7.1.0 on Sun Jan 25 03:44:01 1970
I:Single storage only.
I:No internal storage defined.
I:No storage defined, defaulting to /sdcard.
I:Lun file '/sys/devices/platform/usb_mass_storage/lun0/file' does not exist, USB storage mode disabled
I:Found brightness file at '/sys/class/leds/lcd-backlight/brightness'
I:TWFunc::Set_Brightness: Setting brightness control to 255
Starting the UI...Pixel format: 480x800 @ 32bpp
Pixel format: RGBX_8888
Not using qualcomm overlay, 'msmfb43_80201'
framebuffer: fd 4 (480 x 800)
=> Linking mtab
=> Processing recovery.fstab
I:Processing '/boot'
I:Processing '/cache'
I:Processing '/data'
I:Processing '/misc'
I:Processing '/recovery'
I:Processing '/external_sd'
I:Processing '/system'
I:Creating Android Secure: /external_sd/.android_secure
I:Backup folder set to '/external_sd/TWRP/BACKUPS/1db9cba'
I:Settings storage is '/external_sd'
Updating partition details...
I:Unmounting main partitions...
E:Unable to unmount '/data'
I have a stock based ROM to test, and I want to make sure I can enter recovery through the bootloader should things go sour. If TWRP can backup and restore, that allows me to go back to my true stock after the test. Any ideas?

joel.maxuel said:
Finally got around to test. Looks great, I love having TWRP over CWM!
Unfortunately the backup function is not working. TWRP errors out and reloads itself. [.....] Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes.
There are several things coming in place when it comes to backing up out of TWRP atm...
You hopefully have read the big fat red warning ? What I mean is the part regarding /data gets lost when you do a factory-reset
That said if you have entered TWRP by pressing the physical keys your /data partition will be wiped (really bad thing but that it is made for and I haven't had the time to look into that further)
The result is a cleaned /data which is not mountable until you format it with mke2fs.
(e.g.: "adb shell mke2fs -T ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p15")
If you do not do that what MAY happens is that TWRP failing because of missing /data (and if not then you should ensure that /data was really backed up)
But as your log told me it seems to be not the problem here 'cause the /data partition is detected by TWRP. so it could be 2)
Mounting points.
As stated the mount points are not fully working in TWRP atm. That means when it comes to /sdcard which is the internal device storage it will fail, too because it cannot be found. The reason for this is that LG mounts /sdcard by the sdcard service but that is somehow tricky thats why it is not working atm.
And on top: the internal storage normally needs to be mounted to "/data/media" especially when we want to use MultiROM later.
So +1 for /sdcard or/and internal storage related
background info: http://teamw.in/DataMedia
The last one I could imagine is "something else" which could be catched by "/proc/last_kmsg"
The important thing is that this file gets written only after a crash and when the battery was not removed. So if the device reboots to TWRP again try to adb shell to the device and then paste the last_kmsg again. Maybe we can find something here.
When I will continue on TWRP I think of upgrading to v2.8 because they enable MTP here which could be good for copying data between device and pc..
BTW:
I have no idea what CWM port which is also be available would do in case of starting a backup especially what will REALLY gets backed up!!!!
IMHO the best way on doing a nandroid backup atm is "adb shell dd ...." Takes a long time but then you can be sure. I can give you all the mountpoints if you need them.
As I currently have not such much success with porting the ROM I will now come back here to TWRP and will finish it to have a hopefully fully working recovery. I cannot say the timeline for this but it will definitively be the next what I want to do because when this is done I can better match the rest for the ROM.

xdajog said:
<SNIP>
IMHO the best way on doing a nandroid backup atm is "adb shell dd ...." Takes a long time but then you can be sure. I can give you all the mountpoints if you need them.
As I currently have not such much success with porting the ROM I will now come back here to TWRP and will finish it to have a hopefully fully working recovery. I cannot say the timeline for this but it will definitively be the next what I want to do because when this is done I can better match the rest for the ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This should work (I've done it before for eriklion):
Code:
adb shell
dd if=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/system of=/storage/external_SD/system.2014-11-12.img
dd if=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/boot of=/storage/external_SD/boot.2014-11-12.img
dd if=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/cache of=/storage/external_SD/cache.2014-11-12.img
dd if=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/userdata of=/storage/external_SD/userdata.2014-11-12.img
Now, is there a recommended adb command to wipe data and cache, since factory reset function is not the best choice? I see a few with the following process...
Code:
adb shell
su
format DATA
format CACHE
...but not much commentary on it.
I appreciate the second (third, whatever you are on) crack at TWRP. Hopefully the next version will squash the bugs. Btw, I will see if I can provide a /proc/last_kmsg tonight have posted a last_kmsg here.

joel.maxuel said:
This should work (I've done it before for eriklion):
Code:
adb shell
dd /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/system /storage/external_SD/system.2014-11-12.img
dd /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/boot /storage/external_SD/boot.2014-11-12.img
dd /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/cache /storage/external_SD/cache.2014-11-12.img
dd /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/userdata /storage/external_SD/userdata.2014-11-12.img
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes thats all you need to backup & restore
joel.maxuel said:
Now, is there a recommended adb command to wipe data and cache, since factory reset function is not the best choice? I see a few with the following process...
Code:
adb shell
su
format DATA
format CACHE
...but not much commentary on it.
I appreciate the second (third, whatever you are on) crack at TWRP. Hopefully the next version will squash the bugs. Btw, I will see if I can provide a /proc/last_kmsg tonight.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I always do it that way:
Code:
Starting TWRP
adb shell
("su" in TWRP not needed normally)
mke2fs -T ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p15 (for userdata)
mke2fs -T ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p14 (for cache)
Then you can be sure it is clean and well formatted. ext4 is for both cache and userdata and works fine for me.

twrp v2.8 with many enhancements and fixes is on its way
Stay tuned ....
if you get bored in the meanwhile ... click thanks

Is someone here with running the stock ROM (or absolutely not modified means formatted! /data partition) who is willing to give me a quick help? It must be stock or placed back to stock by using a backuped image dump if you have one.
The following need to be done in recovery so you need to have CWM or TWRP installed. Boot into recovery (adb reboot recovery) and then use "adb shell" to connect.
I need your output of this command:
Code:
mke2fs -n /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/userdata
This will not do/destroy/modify anything.
It should display some information about that partition. Read the details here http://linux.die.net/man/8/mke2fs
The reason is that LG factory reset seems to wipe superblocks (wanted by LG or not - fact is that they are thrown) and THEN forwarding to the recovery tool like TWRP but to be sure I need the above output from 1 or 2 people to be sure enough on how to proceed.
Thanks in advance
As Joel investigated that may destroy /data cause of a buggy version of mke2fs!! Oh man..
-----
Sent from my SGH-I927 using XDA Android mobile app

Ok thx to joel I'm able to investigate the LG facotry reset further.
In parallel I will try another way which will be (if I get it working) absolutely smooth and will not have such workaround character like the current idea (hijacking factory reset).
Give me some time but if that works it would be a great solution for accessing recovery..
Stay tuned some good things may happen...
-----
Sent from my SGH-I927 using XDA Android mobile app

Finally v2.8 for F3Q has arrived !!! I think a very good approach now!
Have fun and as usual any thx click.... and so on
Check out the OP for Download and details:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=55239027&postcount=1
UPDATE:
I have completely reworked the "Installation & Usage instructions" section in the OP. PLEASE READ and be happy

xdajog said:
Finally v2.8 for F3Q has arrived !!! I think a very good approach now!
Have fun and as usual any thx click.... and so on
Check out the OP for Download and details:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=55239027&postcount=1
UPDATE:
I have completely reworked the "Installation & Usage instructions" section in the OP. PLEASE READ and be happy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great work.
Am looking at method two. If I was to install a ROM, wouldn't the boot partition (thus my new recovery) be overwritten by the ROM package's boot.img? And when I was cooking with the Kitchen, the ROM required a specific mount point for the boot partition. If it is supposed to point to recovery, seems to me that neither would boot (overwritten recovery, ROM pointing in the wrong location).
So, what is this solution getting around? So we have an option to load TWRP before a system we don't necessarily trust will boot? Thus avoiding the bootloader fallback even more? Or is it a broken boot.img breaks TWRP as well so even if we try to go in through the bootloader, TWRP fails to load as well?
Sorry for my confusion, still trying to grasp all this new information.

joel.maxuel said:
Great work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks
Am looking at method two. If I was to install a ROM, wouldn't the boot partition (thus my new recovery) be overwritten by the ROM package's boot.img?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Method 2 will suggest that if you install a custom ROM that you are be able to use/choose the boot.img partition (I hoped that the "hint" at the was clear enough but better to ask of course!)
And when I was cooking with the Kitchen, the ROM required a specific mount point for the boot partition. If it is supposed to point to recovery, seems to me that neither would boot (overwritten recovery, ROM pointing in the wrong location).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well yes you either need to point to the recovery partition or (and that would be what I recommend) you let the user choose what he wanted to do.
So, what is this solution getting around?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The best we can do here (and that is what I will do for my custom ROM if I get it done some day) to use AROMA installer and ask the user if he has a recovery installed in the boot partition or not. Then you can choose what to do in the updater script.
I uploaded an example of my AROMA installation setup for the "sediROM for Samsung Captivate Glide" in this post. This one is VERY complex but you will get the idea and many input on how to do things.
So we have an option to load TWRP before a system we don't necessarily trust will boot? Thus avoiding the bootloader fallback even more?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes using method 2 we have always coming TWRP up when powering on the device. We then can choose to do things in there or to boot to "recovery" which will be the ROM. What do you meant with "bootloader fallback"?
Or is it a broken boot.img breaks TWRP as well so even if we try to go in through the bootloader, TWRP fails to load as well?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure If I got you. When the boot partition gets overwritten TWRP and any possibility to get into TWRP will be lost because it sits only in the boot partition when using method 2. If you choose to do a factory reset when powering on the device or from within the ROM I have no idea what happens then unfortunately. That is untested but if you willing to test..
Sorry for my confusion, still trying to grasp all this new information.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No worry about that happy if that is useful for someone

xdajog said:
I uploaded an example of my AROMA installation setup for the "sediROM for Samsung Captivate Glide" in this post. This one is VERY complex but you will get the idea and many input on how to do things.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! I will take a look at this in the next few days.
xdajog said:
Yes using method 2 we have always coming TWRP up when powering on the device. We then can choose to do things in there or to boot to "recovery" which will be the ROM. What do you meant with "bootloader fallback"?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bootloader fallback as in having to access TWRP via the bootloader. Our regular method is to access form the ROM, but if the ROM is bricked for whatever reason, the fallback is through the bootloader.
xdajog said:
Not sure If I got you. When the boot partition gets overwritten TWRP and any possibility to get into TWRP will be lost because it sits only in the boot partition when using method 2. If you choose to do a factory reset when powering on the device or from within the ROM I have no idea what happens then unfortunately. That is untested but if you willing to test..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was alluding to the scenario if one was to choose method one, installed a ROM, and things got busted badly... Would you even be able to access TWRP with a bad boot partition? I think so, because recovery partition should be self sufficient (I think you proved it by swapping their places by way of method two), it is just getting into recovery by way of bootloader) I don't particularly like.
Had to face that fear last night, and ultimately, TWRP started up fast enough from the bootloader that it seemed like nothing happened, but when i went to dump the log, it could not recognize the sdcard. DD'ing my userdata partition back fixed that issue.

joel.maxuel said:
Bootloader fallback as in having to access TWRP via the bootloader. Our regular method is to access form the ROM, but if the ROM is bricked for whatever reason, the fallback is through the bootloader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean "factory-reset" right? By either pressing the factory reset buttons (or by choosing from within the ROM) correct?
I was alluding to the scenario if one was to choose method one, installed a ROM, and things got busted badly... Would you even be able to access TWRP with a bad boot partition? I think so, because recovery partition should be self sufficient (I think you proved it by swapping their places by way of method two), it is just getting into recovery by way of bootloader) I don't particularly like.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you install TWRP with method 1 and your boot partition gets corrupt you still be able to reach TWRP by using the factory-reset buttons. But you will loose /data then.
If you install TWRP with method 2 and your boot partition has gone you can not start TWRP anymore because it sits on there.
So you're more bulletproof by choosing method 1 because you would reach TWRP even when the boot partition gets damaged but you will loose /data then! Mentioned in the known issues in the OP.
Had to face that fear last night, and ultimately, TWRP started up fast enough from the bootloader that it seemed like nothing happened, but when i went to dump the log, it could not recognize the sdcard. DD'ing my userdata partition back fixed that issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you have TWRP installed with method 1 you will reach TWRP by factory reset buttons and it will DO NOTHING ! Really! It simply starts TWRP because I patched TWRP that way that it will not wipe anything when triggered by the factory-reset command / button!
I can say that for double sure since today because:
1) In one of my tests I had disabled REALLY EVERY wipe option within TWRP - compiled it - installed it and even then /data gets lost!
2) I have installed the BOOT image means KERNEL on the RECOVERY partition today again and then used the factory-reset buttons again (after I restored /data of course)... and /data gets lost AGAIN--?!!
That means even when there is absolutely no custom recovery in place (like TWRP) which would normally handle wiping /data then nevertheless /data gets corrupted! I have tested that twice so I can say now for sure that this has nothing to do with TWRP but it comes from the LG bootloader instead! That bootloader is CRAP. sorry.
I had tested one approach which is build in boot image RAM disk which catches the keys which are pressed and then reboot into recovery. That would work but only as long as you have a working boot image partition. So that is the same good/bad as having TWRP sitting within the boot partition which is much easier to do so I decided to go this way for now.
One last word about the crappy factory-reset by LG: I have tried a lot to find out what really happens to the partition or partition table of /data when those keys are pressed but the only thing I can say is that the superblocks are inaccessible and the same for the backup superblocks. doing a "mke2fs -S" does not work (and wouldn't fix the root cause of the issue) and I have no idea what LG do here. Therefore cannot fix that ..
so I believe we will need to live with one of the 3 methods described in the OP....
Hope that answered some of your questions...

Bad news..
The Desire Z of my wife is completely broken now.
That means I cannot develop anymore..
- I ported and released the latest TWRP version to the F3Q
- I'm able to build AOSP JellyBean (not booting yet though),
- I compiled and released a custom AOSP Kernel (named sediKERNEL)
.... and a lot more..
I have everything I need to continue here in place...
I have the will and the ability to continue...
But no device anymore..
If someone has a F3Q to give away.. then I will continue but I'm not willing to buy a F3Q for developing only. So if you have an idea how we could continue let me know.
Update:
Check out the following link if you want to help http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2952919
Otherwise that will end here for me unfortunately...
Hopefully not.
Yours
Xdajog.
-----
Sent from my SGH-I927 using XDA Android mobile app

I will update the installation instructions soon!
Because of the new sediKERNEL v2.0 the instructions will be made bullet proof only .. and i try to do it more detailed @Kediil
-----
Sent from my SGH-I927 using XDA Android mobile app

[Root Question] How to I Install Xposed on Rooted Amazon Fire TV 2? (Guide Please)

How to I Install Xposed on Rooted Amazon Fire TV 2? (Guide Please)
Do I download XposedInstaller_3.0_alpha4.apk? and xposed-v78-sdk21-arm64.zip?
Please Help
Could I Use Flashfire?

You can't install xposed since there is no custom recovery

Tried with Flashfire where no custom recovery is needed ? what version of xposed should i try?

No Luck with Flashfire and xposed v78-sdk22-arm 64. Going to have to wait for a fix

yeah I've had no luck, just have to wait I guess

ians325 said:
No Luck with Flashfire and xposed v78-sdk22-arm 64. Going to have to wait for a fix
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you encounter boot loop or soft-brick when you attempted this?

z_thompsonpa said:
Did you encounter boot loop or soft-brick when you attempted this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No

ians325 said:
No
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! You prompted me to give this a shot after confirming that it wouldn't do any serious damage. I found some things out in the process that explain why this isn't working as of yet.
The Xposed zip you mentioned requires the following Linux GNU tools (or equivalent):
cut
find
head
sed
I suspect this is why it is failing, because I was able to backup my system partition and restore my backed-up system partition through FlashFire. (more on this later)
Sooo.. I thought why not go all the way and try to install BusyBox first? ..since this would fix the missing commands
Much to my surprise the Busybox install actually worked and I had the whole suite of linux commands at my disposal!!!
Things went south pretty quick, though, when I realized that SELinux was blocking my ability to run the following command:
I couldn't run this command:
Code:
mount -o remount rw /system
So, this would prevent a further attempt at installing Xposed through Flashfire, because it would have to mount the system partition as rw in order to modify the files and add the Xposed framework.
I ended up restoring my system partition after this fiasco using Flashfire. It re-enabled my ability to remount /system as rw and SELinux has seemed to calm down in the logs.
In conclusion:
Xposed requires Busybox
[*]SELinux enforces more policies when Busybox is installed
[*]Setting SELinux to Permissive has no effect
EDIT: **Details in my next post**

z_thompsonpa said:
Thanks! You prompted me to give this a shot after confirming that it wouldn't do any serious damage. I found some things out in the process that explain why this isn't working as of yet.
The Xposed zip you mentioned requires the following Linux GNU tools (or equivalent):
cut
find
head
sed
I suspect this is why it is failing, because I was able to backup my system partition and restore my backed-up system partition through FlashFire. (more on this later)
Sooo.. I thought why not go all the way and try to install BusyBox first? ..since this would fix the missing commands
Much to my surprise the Busybox install actually worked and I had the whole suite of linux commands at my disposal!!!
Things went south pretty quick, though, when I realized that SELinux was blocking my ability to run the following command:
Code:
mount -o remount rw /system
So, this would prevent a further attempt at installing Xposed through Flashfire, because it would have to mount the system partition as rw in order to modify the files and add the Xposed framework.
I ended up restoring my system partition after this fiasco using Flashfire. It re-enabled my ability to remount /system as rw and SELinux has seemed to calm down in the logs.
In conclusion:
Xposed requires Busybox
SELinux enforces more policies when Busybox is installed
Setting SELinux to Permissive has no effect
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice work, have you seen this tidbit on BusyBox Github for SELinux?
https://github.com/ukanth/afwall/wiki/BusyBox#difference-between-selinux-and-non-selinux-busybox
There's also some decent results on Google that may offer some clues... https://www.google.com/search?q=SELinux+mount+system+as+rw+android&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

fldash said:
Nice work, have you seen this tidbit on BusyBox Github for SELinux?
https://github.com/ukanth/afwall/wiki/BusyBox#difference-between-selinux-and-non-selinux-busybox
There's also some decent results on Google that may offer some clues... https://www.google.com/search?q=SELinux+mount+system+as+rw+android&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for helping out. I jumped the gun on blaming SELinux. I'll go back and edit my previous post.
BusyBox, as far as I can tell works great!
(It will probably require more testing, but for the time being I am not having any issues.)
I figured out what was causing the problem with the inability to mount /system as rw. It was actually caused by attempting to flash Xposed, I believe. I tried it all again tonight and stopped this time after installing BusyBox and before flashing Xposed using Flashfire. I was still able to mount /system properly with functional GNU utils. I hadn't tested this before at this this stage.
I couldn't remount because of "orphaned inodes" after attempting to flash Xposed. Pretty sure this means its corrupting the partition, but yet its still mountable as read-only.
I restored my /system again to get everything back to normal and just installed BusyBox this time. So far so good...
I want to go back and try to flash Xposed again, and this time look in the logs folder. I think the addition of the BusyBox binaries are causing the installer script to error somewhere else during execution causing the partition corruption. Who knows.. there may be a workaround.

keep up the good work

z_thompsonpa said:
Thanks for helping out. I jumped the gun on blaming SELinux. I'll go back and edit my previous post.
BusyBox, as far as I can tell works great!
(It will probably require more testing, but for the time being I am not having any issues.)
I figured out what was causing the problem with the inability to mount /system as rw. It was actually caused by attempting to flash Xposed, I believe. I tried it all again tonight and stopped this time after installing BusyBox and before flashing Xposed using Flashfire. I was still able to mount /system properly with functional GNU utils. I hadn't tested this before at this this stage.
I couldn't remount because of "orphaned inodes" after attempting to flash Xposed. Pretty sure this means its corrupting the partition, but yet its still mountable as read-only.
I restored my /system again to get everything back to normal and just installed BusyBox this time. So far so good...
I want to go back and try to flash Xposed again, and this time look in the logs folder. I think the addition of the BusyBox binaries are causing the installer script to error somewhere else during execution causing the partition corruption. Who knows.. there may be a workaround.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How are you restoring your system partition? Using that diff patcher (for root) with a USB A-A cable?

fldash said:
How are you restoring your system partition? Using that diff patcher (for root) with a USB A-A cable?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't had to break out the USB A-A cable yet... thankfully (except for root of course).
I used Flashfire to backup my /system partition as RAW backup before I started all of this experimentation. I have just been restoring back to this known good state using Flashfire after each time I corrupt the system partition.
I intended on trying this method, and if it didn't work to fall back to the method mentioned in the root thread. I checked the logs last night and Flashfire seems to be succeeding at this task, at least.
Right now, I am picking through the Xposed installer script source and using the Flashfire logs to debug why it is failing. It appears to be a permissions issue, but a lot of the stdout/stderr is suppressed so its hard to tell exactly where. When I get home today, I am going to try to modify the installer script to produce more output so I can debug the issue further. If I cant figure it out, I'll post my findings either way.

I've fixed a few bugs in the flash script already, but it always errors on overwriting:
Code:
/system/lib/libart.so
It's throwing some error about read-only filesystem. (I'll post exact error later)
I've thrown in some checks to see if the /system mount is unmounting or something odd like that, but that's not it.
I've got a few guesses as to why, but I am not going to mention them until I have more solid evidence.
Any advice would help as well... I just wanted to post the update I promised.

z_thompsonpa said:
Thanks for helping out. I jumped the gun on blaming SELinux. I'll go back and edit my previous post.
BusyBox, as far as I can tell works great!
(It will probably require more testing, but for the time being I am not having any issues.)
I figured out what was causing the problem with the inability to mount /system as rw. It was actually caused by attempting to flash Xposed, I believe. I tried it all again tonight and stopped this time after installing BusyBox and before flashing Xposed using Flashfire. I was still able to mount /system properly with functional GNU utils. I hadn't tested this before at this this stage.
I couldn't remount because of "orphaned inodes" after attempting to flash Xposed. Pretty sure this means its corrupting the partition, but yet its still mountable as read-only.
I restored my /system again to get everything back to normal and just installed BusyBox this time. So far so good...
I want to go back and try to flash Xposed again, and this time look in the logs folder. I think the addition of the BusyBox binaries are causing the installer script to error somewhere else during execution causing the partition corruption. Who knows.. there may be a workaround.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
z_thompsonpa said:
I've fixed a few bugs in the flash script already, but it always errors on overwriting:
Code:
/system/lib/libart.so
It's throwing some error about read-only filesystem. (I'll post exact error later)
I've thrown in some checks to see if the /system mount is unmounting or something odd like that, but that's not it.
I've got a few guesses as to why, but I am not going to mention them until I have more solid evidence.
Any advice would help as well... I just wanted to post the update I promised.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think we should go another method. Use the tools in the root thread to just create an image with Xposed/root and just do a DIFF.

fldash said:
I think we should go another method. Use the tools in the root thread to just create an image with Xposed/root and just do a DIFF.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think so... I am pretty sure its a dead end. I also tested using adb to write the files and it failed on /system/lib/libart.so, as well. It's, I believe, because the object is loaded in memory?? don't quote me on that... but loading through preloader, I think, would avoid this limitation as ART is not running.

So can anyone in here tell me if its possible to have xposed on fire tv 2 5.0.5 thats rooted and now has twrp recovery on ? I have tried to flash the xposed zip in recovery but when i reboot its stuck at amazon logo. Went back into recovery and flashed rbox's pre rooted 5.0.5 and booted normally. Id like to have (im sure many others would also) xposed and playstore, ive searched the forums but because rbox method is new there is no information on this subject now.

sconnyuk said:
So can anyone in here tell me if its possible to have xposed on fire tv 2 5.0.5 thats rooted and now has twrp recovery on ? I have tried to flash the xposed zip in recovery but when i reboot its stuck at amazon logo. Went back into recovery and flashed rbox's pre rooted 5.0.5 and booted normally. Id like to have (im sure many others would also) xposed and playstore, ive searched the forums but because rbox method is new there is no information on this subject now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use this method, I've slightly modified the text from another post & added it into a text file for you, this works a 100% but as usual I take no responsibility if you do any thing wrong & brick the Fire Tv2.
Enjoy & press that thanks button If this helped you

Thanks for this. I will try it shortly and report back if it works for me. I have stumbled upon another thread that the guys seem to be working on playstore issues, http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire-tv/help/q-guide-to-getting-google-play-rbox-t3310974

Made a guide here if anyone wants to install
http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire-tv/general/installing-xposed-fire-tv-2-guide-t3314142

Android 7.0 & /etc/hosts

/etc/hosts blacklist entries seem to be ignored with Android 7.0 (e.g. adding 127.0.0.1 amazon.com still allows me to reach amazon.com). Is anyone else experiencing something similar or familiar with any gotchas around Android 7.0 and modifying /system/etc/hosts?
I'm running official Nexus 5X Android 7.0 build number NRD90R. I have an engineering build of android that I boot from as follows to modify my /system/etc/hosts file:
adb reboot-bootloader
fastboot boot my-recovery.img
<mount from phone menu>
adb remount
adb push my-hosts system/etc/hosts
adb shell
chmod 644 system/etc/hosts
exit
<reboot from phone menu>
I've been using this process after every OTA update since Android 6.0, and it's been working. I also noticed that I'm not getting the red warning on boot any more (the one you get after you modify anything on the system partition), just the yellow warning (the one you get from having phone unlocked). Maybe I did something wrong ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ but I could sure use a sanity check.

Could be related to java cache, after a modification to hosts file you should reboot to let the cache reload. Try it.

The OS is not booted when editing hosts since it's being edited from a recovery image with the system mounted into it. The last step is to reboot. I did reboot the phone again for good measure and it's still not working. If it is a cache related thing, it lives through reboot. I suspect it's not though as I was seeing ads in news websites that I do not frequent.
Any other thoughts?

Are you using chrome? Did you disable data saver option in chrome?
Sent from my SHIELD Tablet K1 using Tapatalk

Seems to be related to: http://forum.xda-developers.com/nex...oid-nougat-t3445647/post68737720#post68737720 . Basically the files that one would modify by mounting /system are no longer used, afaict.
When I boot a live image, mount the system partition, and make a modification (i.e. /system/etc/hosts), that change is persisted through a reboot back to the live image and remount. However, it's not loaded by the OS when it boots. Instead both /etc/hosts and /system/etc/hosts are unmodified. Odd, and why is there even anything mounted at /system? I'm not sure if there are multiple system partitions or what's going on. I would love to find some information about Android 7.0 that explains.

crashenx said:
Seems to be related to: http://forum.xda-developers.com/nex...oid-nougat-t3445647/post68737720#post68737720 . Basically the files that one would modify by mounting /system are no longer used, afaict.
When I boot a live image, mount the system partition, and make a modification (i.e. /system/etc/hosts), that change is persisted through a reboot back to the live image and remount. However, it's not loaded by the OS when it boots. Instead both /etc/hosts and /system/etc/hosts are unmodified. Odd, and why is there even anything mounted at /system? I'm not sure if there are multiple system partitions or what's going on. I would love to find some information about Android 7.0 that explains.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I responded to your post in the other thread. This is repost.
Android 7.0 introduced redundant bits for reed solomon forward error correction into the system and vendor partitions and code in the kernel to perform the error correction.
Your changes are being written to emmc but when you boot with 7.0 kernel with dm-verity enabled your changes are being treated as data corruption and on-the-fly error corrected back to original.
You can see your changes if you boot into twrp because it has dm-verity disabled. However if you boot into android with dm-verity enabled it will look like original image again even though your changes are technically still there.
It took me a day to figure out what was really going on because i initially had no idea they added this feature to Android N.
The simple way to disable dm-verity is to install SuperSU, but you can also accomplish the same patching your own kernel, installing pre-patched kernel, installing custom kernel, etc.

sfhub said:
I responded to your post in the other thread. This is repost.
Android 7.0 introduced redundant bits for reed solomon forward error correction into the system and vendor partitions and code in the kernel to perform the error correction.
Your changes are being written to emmc but when you boot with 7.0 kernel with dm-verity enabled your changes are being treated as data corruption and on-the-fly error corrected back to original.
You can see your changes if you boot into twrp because it has dm-verity disabled. However if you boot into android with dm-verity enabled it will look like original image again even though your changes are technically still there.
It took me a day to figure out what was really going on because i initially had no idea they added this feature to Android N.
The simple way to disable dm-verity is to install SuperSU, but you can also accomplish the same patching your own kernel, installing pre-patched kernel, installing custom kernel, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's good info and makes total sense. Thanks! Pretty neat actually, just a bummer for me.
Yeah so SuperSU path is not really one I want to pursue. I could learn how to update the dm-verity shas used for verification. That'd probably be the most secure, but it's gonna be a PITA I bet. I imagine I'd need to compile my own image similar to how I made my live image and update a few things. Might have to deal with encryption which is probably an even bigger headache. Also, I bet it would break OTA and have to reflash to update, though that's true now.
I'm really curious what AdAway is doing. Maybe I should pursue reverse engineering that.
I really appreciate you pointing us in the right direction.

crashenx said:
I'm really curious what AdAway is doing. Maybe I should pursue reverse engineering that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't use adaway but I believe there are 2 ways to install it with Android N. First is to install SuperSU (or otherwise disable dm-verity) and have it update as it always has. 2nd way is systemless where it piggybacks on some init scripts SuperSU has created to mount "over" the existing hosts file. Basically like symlinking but using a mount point on top of the existing file.

sfhub said:
I don't use adaway but I believe there are 2 ways to install it with Android N. First is to install SuperSU (or otherwise disable dm-verity) and have it update as it always has. 2nd way is systemless where it piggybacks on some init scripts SuperSU has created to mount "over" the existing hosts file. Basically like symlinking but using a mount point on top of the existing file.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll probably try to go the route of updating init scripts to mount over the existing host file but without using SuperSU or AdAway.

Develop Bugs

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