This rooted kernel is for the "rooting beginners" and those who want to keep as close to stock as possible. CF-Root takes the kernel from an original Samsung firmware, and just adds root, busybox, and ClockWorkMod recovery
THIS IS NOT A ROM - it is only a modified kernel. You need to have the relevant firmware already on your device. You do NOT need to wipe anything for this patch. You DO need to read the instructions. PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE FIRST FEW POSTS!
Donate
There have now been nearly 1.000.000 downloads of CF-Root for various devices (see for example Galaxy S1, Galaxy Tab 7", and Galaxy S2), and many more if you include ROMs, kernels, etc that use it. Don't be a leech, buy me a beer (and use the "Thanks" button!). Imagine if every CF-Root user had donated me $1...
Main features
- The kernel is fully stock and taken from the original firmware, with just the following added:
- Root
- Busybox v1.19.2-cm71
- ClockWorkMod Recovery 5
- CWM Manager (see below for more detail)
- Custom boot / init scripts
- Custom boot animations
v5.3 and newer
- SuperSU (replaces Superuser)
- "Fake-secure" (ro.secure=1, but ADB is patched to run as ro.secure=0)
v5.5 and newer
- CWM updated to v5.5
v5.6 and newer
- Possible brickbug fix
Installation instructions
Please see the next post !
Other kernels
Replacing CF-Root with other kernels and vice-versa sometimes works, sometimes it doesn't. I don't have a list.
When going from CF-Root to another kernel, root will usually stay, while CWM will be lost (unless the other kernel also includes it), but there should not be issues. The CWM Manager app may remain, but probably won't do anything useful.
ClockworkMod
CF-Root includes a custom version of CWM5. I always make custom versions, as the originals often do not take some Samsung specific things into account.
CF-Root/CWM5 is NOT compatible with ROM Manager! Manage/perform your backup/restores from CWM directly or using the CWM Manager application included with CF-Root
- Booting into recovery will immediately give you CWM. The standard recovery will only be started if a Samsung package is detected.
- ADB is functional in recovery, however it may take up to a minute for it to start up after booting into recovery.
CWM Manager
Because of incompatibilities with ROM Manager, I wrote and included "CWM Manager". This is a new app (as of March 30, 2011). You can find it under Applications -> CWM. It is much faster to use than manually booting into CWM and selecting these options.
Features:
- Boot to ClockWorkMod Recovery
- Boot to Download mode
- Reboot normally
- Backup firmware
- Restore backups (including partition selection)
- Delete backups
- Install APKs
- Flash CWM3/4/5 update.zip's
- Flash kernels (zImage, zImage in TAR, zImage in ZIP, zImage in TAR in ZIP)
--- without changing warning triangle status or increasing flash counter
- Flash complete firmwares (seperate files as well as .tar and .tar.md5 archives, dump files in /sdcard/external_sd/firmware folder)
--- without changing warning triangle status or increasing flash counter
--- can pre-root new firmwares during flash
Note: If you flash a different kernel, CWM Manager may remain installed. However, functions may not work, because they need kernel compatibility !
Custom boot / init scripts
CF-Root will execute the following scripts if present, in the order listed:
- /system/etc/init.d/* (there can be many files here, no extensions! use #!)
- /system/bin/customboot.sh (busybox sh)
- /system/xbin/customboot.sh (busybox sh)
- /data/local/customboot.sh (busybox sh)
Please make sure you chown / chmod the scripts correctly so they can be executed. Pretty much root:root / 755.
Custom boot animations and binaries
CF-Root also supports custom boot animations:
- /system/media/bootanimation.zip
- /data/local/bootanimation.zip
And custom boot binaries:
- /data/local/bootanimation.bin
Installing busybox over the included version
It is possible to install a custom busybox over CF-Root v3.0 and newer. However, this is not without risk. CF-Root makes heavy use of scripting, and many CF-Root scripts rely on the internal busybox version. If you do install a seperate busybox version (always use "stericson" installer!), install it to /system/xbin. Installing it to /system/bin will mess things up for sure. Even if you do that part right, it may still break CF-Root, so make sure to make a backup before trying.
How ?
I wrote my own toolchain to ease patching of initramfs, and that is what all this is based on. It is now used to make CF-Root for many devices!
Help! Which file do I use ?
Listen closely, for I will say zis only once!
Go to Settings -> About phone -> Kernel Version. Note the string present there:
2.6.35.7-N7000XXKJ4-CL641703
What matters most (KJ4) in this case, is in bold. Try to find the matching file under downloads:
CF-Root-SGN_XX_XEN_KJ4-v5.0-CWM4.zip
The XX and XEN identifiers are not that important. Usually a "KJ4" kernel is a "KJ4" kernel, and that is that. Sometimes (pretty rare) it happens there will be multiple different kernels with the same name in different firmwares, that are actually different. If this happens, they are usually only very minor changes and you should expect them to still be fully compatible. I include the "XX" and "XEN" identifiers so the very advanced users can deduce from which full firmware I have taken the kernel file.
Don't worry too much, just find the matching download and use it. What if there is no matching download ? You can ask me to make one, but I can tell you right now, I very very rarely make CF-Root's for kernels on request, unless it is the very latest kernel that has been released by Samsung. In the latter case, be sure to let me know. If there's no match and I'm not making one, try finding the closest match. You should treat "KJ4" as a number, but instead of 1-9, we have 1-9, A-Z (where A would be 10, and Z would be 35). "KJ3" is really close to "KJ4", "KF1" is not close to "KG4" at all. I hope that makes sense.
@Developers: I have noticed that doing a NANDROID RESTORE while connected to your computer AND Eclipse is running may cause the restore to fail. Eclipse automatically starts logcatting in the background, which will prevent /system from being properly restored.
Download
These are general-purpose downloads. See the posts following this one for the kernels.
THIS IS NOT A ROM - it is only a modified kernel. You need to have the relevant firmware already on your device. You do NOT need to wipe anything for this patch. You DO need to read the instructions. PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE FIRST FEW POSTS!
Donate
There have now been nearly 1.000.000 downloads of CF-Root for various devices (see for example Galaxy S1, Galaxy Tab 7", and Galaxy S2), and many more if you include ROMs, kernels, etc that use it. Don't be a leech, buy me a beer (and use the "Thanks" button!). Imagine if every CF-Root user had donated me $1...
Main features
- The kernel is fully stock and taken from the original firmware, with just the following added:
- Root
- Busybox v1.19.2-cm71
- ClockWorkMod Recovery 5
- CWM Manager (see below for more detail)
- Custom boot / init scripts
- Custom boot animations
v5.3 and newer
- SuperSU (replaces Superuser)
- "Fake-secure" (ro.secure=1, but ADB is patched to run as ro.secure=0)
v5.5 and newer
- CWM updated to v5.5
v5.6 and newer
- Possible brickbug fix
Installation instructions
Please see the next post !
Other kernels
Replacing CF-Root with other kernels and vice-versa sometimes works, sometimes it doesn't. I don't have a list.
When going from CF-Root to another kernel, root will usually stay, while CWM will be lost (unless the other kernel also includes it), but there should not be issues. The CWM Manager app may remain, but probably won't do anything useful.
ClockworkMod
CF-Root includes a custom version of CWM5. I always make custom versions, as the originals often do not take some Samsung specific things into account.
CF-Root/CWM5 is NOT compatible with ROM Manager! Manage/perform your backup/restores from CWM directly or using the CWM Manager application included with CF-Root
- Booting into recovery will immediately give you CWM. The standard recovery will only be started if a Samsung package is detected.
- ADB is functional in recovery, however it may take up to a minute for it to start up after booting into recovery.
CWM Manager
Because of incompatibilities with ROM Manager, I wrote and included "CWM Manager". This is a new app (as of March 30, 2011). You can find it under Applications -> CWM. It is much faster to use than manually booting into CWM and selecting these options.
Features:
- Boot to ClockWorkMod Recovery
- Boot to Download mode
- Reboot normally
- Backup firmware
- Restore backups (including partition selection)
- Delete backups
- Install APKs
- Flash CWM3/4/5 update.zip's
- Flash kernels (zImage, zImage in TAR, zImage in ZIP, zImage in TAR in ZIP)
--- without changing warning triangle status or increasing flash counter
- Flash complete firmwares (seperate files as well as .tar and .tar.md5 archives, dump files in /sdcard/external_sd/firmware folder)
--- without changing warning triangle status or increasing flash counter
--- can pre-root new firmwares during flash
Note: If you flash a different kernel, CWM Manager may remain installed. However, functions may not work, because they need kernel compatibility !
Custom boot / init scripts
CF-Root will execute the following scripts if present, in the order listed:
- /system/etc/init.d/* (there can be many files here, no extensions! use #!)
- /system/bin/customboot.sh (busybox sh)
- /system/xbin/customboot.sh (busybox sh)
- /data/local/customboot.sh (busybox sh)
Please make sure you chown / chmod the scripts correctly so they can be executed. Pretty much root:root / 755.
Custom boot animations and binaries
CF-Root also supports custom boot animations:
- /system/media/bootanimation.zip
- /data/local/bootanimation.zip
And custom boot binaries:
- /data/local/bootanimation.bin
Installing busybox over the included version
It is possible to install a custom busybox over CF-Root v3.0 and newer. However, this is not without risk. CF-Root makes heavy use of scripting, and many CF-Root scripts rely on the internal busybox version. If you do install a seperate busybox version (always use "stericson" installer!), install it to /system/xbin. Installing it to /system/bin will mess things up for sure. Even if you do that part right, it may still break CF-Root, so make sure to make a backup before trying.
How ?
I wrote my own toolchain to ease patching of initramfs, and that is what all this is based on. It is now used to make CF-Root for many devices!
Help! Which file do I use ?
Listen closely, for I will say zis only once!
Go to Settings -> About phone -> Kernel Version. Note the string present there:
2.6.35.7-N7000XXKJ4-CL641703
What matters most (KJ4) in this case, is in bold. Try to find the matching file under downloads:
CF-Root-SGN_XX_XEN_KJ4-v5.0-CWM4.zip
The XX and XEN identifiers are not that important. Usually a "KJ4" kernel is a "KJ4" kernel, and that is that. Sometimes (pretty rare) it happens there will be multiple different kernels with the same name in different firmwares, that are actually different. If this happens, they are usually only very minor changes and you should expect them to still be fully compatible. I include the "XX" and "XEN" identifiers so the very advanced users can deduce from which full firmware I have taken the kernel file.
Don't worry too much, just find the matching download and use it. What if there is no matching download ? You can ask me to make one, but I can tell you right now, I very very rarely make CF-Root's for kernels on request, unless it is the very latest kernel that has been released by Samsung. In the latter case, be sure to let me know. If there's no match and I'm not making one, try finding the closest match. You should treat "KJ4" as a number, but instead of 1-9, we have 1-9, A-Z (where A would be 10, and Z would be 35). "KJ3" is really close to "KJ4", "KF1" is not close to "KG4" at all. I hope that makes sense.
@Developers: I have noticed that doing a NANDROID RESTORE while connected to your computer AND Eclipse is running may cause the restore to fail. Eclipse automatically starts logcatting in the background, which will prevent /system from being properly restored.
Download
These are general-purpose downloads. See the posts following this one for the kernels.
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