[Gen9] Gen9 permanent root with SuperUser

Hello All,

*Update*. Except special request, I won't release this:

Simpler and much safer: enable SDE! Go there.
Rooted build that works with it here.



First, a big thank you to Paul O'Brien at Modaco for his root method (http://android.modaco.com/topic/347305-archos-80-g9-root-phase-1/), it's the indispensable first step needed to permanent root. This is as far as I know the only way to get the temp root required for this "proper" permanent root.

** edit ** Guys, don't try Paul's root on Gen8, this is for Gen9 only

And to clarify a bit for Gen9, Paul's root method alone is not enough, having root with it will kill audio and device don't wake up.

WAIT for the whole thing to go out of beta!

If you installed Paul's one and want to get rid of it, you have to clear data partition by going to Settings/Repair and formating, Reset Android. You'll loose all apps and preferences but your device will be back to normal.

A big thank you to the openaos team too, their documentation and work on previous Archos devices helped a lot.

Here is just a little preview of what I've been doing on my A101 G9:

I now have a "clean" permanent root with working SuperUser.apk, see picture attached of Titanium Backup running on it (sorry about the very poor quality of the pictures).

I'll be releasing it soon if all goes well, but I'd like to beta test it before with few brave and experimented users. If you want to beta-test and don't fear too much about your G9, send me a PM.

Word of caution: you shouldn't do that! wait for SDE, it will probably come.

Currently, the method is quite "rough", you have to have adb working and be a bit cautious about what you do. You also invalidate your warranty doing this.

A little technical background on it:

1) Gen9 is having a similar rawfs as Gen8, same init/custom, same kind of initrd/rootfs...

2) Gen9 bootloaders are *not* protected with checksum verifications like we had in Gen8! I just had to rewrite a kernel with a modified initrd to bypass squashfs.secure verifications, then rebuild a squashfs with ro.secure=0 and SuperUser.apk installed.

I spent some time looking at bootloaders disassembly thinking that I may have missed something before taking the risk of modifying kernel, but it seems they have been removed.

3) Gen9 Init/Custom/Recovery are now zImage+lzma cpio, not gzip anymore.

I have build 3.2.77 ext4 root. I use 3.2.64 kernel/modules.

Link : http :// tmp .li/2i


I have mod initramfs for a semi perma-root (I use fbmenu with "abcbox reboot_into -s").


Have a nice day =)

Thaolia

use the provided ext4-image and install "busybox" from market, it will update your busybox installation.

//EDIT:
URL to ext4-image: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1361210&page=3