Unroot Help

[furbearingmammal]

Locked down in the sense that it's hard to work on if you make a mistake. It doesn't have the e-fuse technology that the X/2/2G/Pro/etc has, but it's still tricky to hack on.

 

[Mujibar]

Titanium backup just backs up all apps to your SDCard, right? Doesn't touch contacts, or interface with the computer, or anything?

That's right. Titanium does not interface w/ the PC at all. If your contacts are associated w/ your Google account, everything will be refreshed once you set it up again after flashing to stock.

 

[Syndacate]

It's not VZW, it's Samsung that would be responsible for the FroYo update -- and rumor has it that Samsung wants a pretty penny to release ANY upgrade to the software.

And to think, I used to like Samsung. I've heard that it could be Samsung, too, but I'm really not sure which. The Samsungs in damn near every other country in the world short of CA have Froyo, why can't we?

Locked down in the sense that it's hard to work on if you make a mistake. It doesn't have the e-fuse technology that the X/2/2G/Pro/etc has, but it's still tricky to hack on.

Ah, I see, but the hack/root still yields the same results, right?

Titanium backup just backs up all apps to your SDCard, right? Doesn't touch contacts, or interface with the computer, or anything?

That's right. Titanium does not interface w/ the PC at all. If your contacts are associated w/ your Google account, everything will be refreshed once you set it up again after flashing to stock.

Yeaaaa, I like keeping my contacts separate. The problem is I don't want EVERYBODY on my gmail contacts list, so I separate mine to only view phone contacts.

It's looking like that may be what I have to do (flash), though.

EDIT:
It's stupid, I'd like the ability to unroot at some point so I can get updates, then re-root :-\.

 

[WugFresh]

Unrooting shouldn't be necessary for updating, just having all the stock files. Once you update you will probably lose root and have to do it again. I got all my OTA updates without unrooting... then again, I have a DX not a samsung.

{{ WugFresh }}

 

[Syndacate]

Unrooting shouldn't be necessary for updating, just having all the stock files. Once you update you will probably lose root and have to do it again. I got all my OTA updates without unrooting... then again, I have a DX not a samsung.

{{ WugFresh }}

The issue I'm aiming at is finding what's been modified.

As I said, I'm guessing the su binary was there before, this was just a modified version. As for busybox, I don't think that removed lightbox so removal of that is just OK. The issues come in for the Superuser.apk package, and the harder issue, the rage image.

The Superuser.apk, due to its app nature, should probably just be uinstallable, though I'm not sure if that will get rid of "all" of it, I don't know enough about it.

The rage image is where things really get tricky. That entails what the actual root was doing, ie. what was exploited, what files were replaced, etc. It's not a script, it's an executable image, so I have no idea what it could have done, it's all machine code at this point..

If I could get details about Superuser.apk and what the rage image actually does then yeah, it'd definitely be do-able. That's what I'm looking for at the present in order to reverse the root...but I have a feeling I'm going to have to use Odin to flash it .

People in general don't feel the need to learn how something works, just that it does or it doesn't...so info like this is hard to come by..

 

[WugFresh]

No its not (relatively speaking), you just have to dig a little. Start by looking at ROMs that come with bootstrapper preinstalled. Those ROMs run the hijak at first boot. That might give you a better idea of what's going on. However, in my personal opinion, rather than trying to reverse engineer however your phone was rooted and isolate what was modified, just wipe it clean and flash a system image... its like one thousand times easier and a much more logical approach. If you feel like digging, go for it. I work on lots of android side projects, but if you want a solution; just start fresh, simple.

{{ WugFresh }}

 

[Syndacate]

No its not (relatively speaking), you just have to dig a little. Start by looking at ROMs that come with bootstrapper preinstalled. Those ROMs run the hijak at first boot. That might give you a better idea of what's going on. However, in my personal opinion, rather than trying to reverse engineer however your phone was rooted and isolate what was modified, just wipe it clean and flash a system image... its like one thousand times easier and a much more logical approach. If you feel like digging, go for it. I work on lots of android side projects, but if you want a solution; just start fresh, simple.

{{ WugFresh }}

I don't even get what those ROMs have to do with the bootstrapper. Best way I can think of is to look at the source for the rage binary...

I'm not sure how you determine that's a cleaner solution. If you don't store your contacts in gmail (I don't, specifically, to separate them so I can filter by phone contacts, as I don't want my 30 or so phone contacts and 1000 gmail contacts on in my phone contacts list at the same time. Apps don't matter, sure, as they can be backed up to the SDCard (which reminds me, where do apps write their app data too?). I mean sure, media is saved, but all the settings are wrong, so on and so forth.

It's definitely cleaner, no doubt, but re-adding contacts, re-doing all the settings, all that stuff that makes your phone personal - got to re-do it all..

 

[furbearingmammal]

There's a reason the people who find these vulnerabilities don't publish them.

HACKERS!

People who write malware, who wish to steal our information. The Bad Guys. If the knowledge were widely known the attacks would be constant, and the phones would get locked down tighter than the Atrix. We couldn't even root.

 

[WugFresh]

No its not (relatively speaking), you just have to dig a little. Start by looking at ROMs that come with bootstrapper preinstalled. Those ROMs run the hijak at first boot. That might give you a better idea of what's going on. However, in my personal opinion, rather than trying to reverse engineer however your phone was rooted and isolate what was modified, just wipe it clean and flash a system image... its like one thousand times easier and a much more logical approach. If you feel like digging, go for it. I work on lots of android side projects, but if you want a solution; just start fresh, simple.

{{ WugFresh }}

I don't even get what those ROMs have to do with the bootstrapper. Best way I can think of is to look at the source for the rage binary...

I'm not sure how you determine that's a cleaner solution. If you don't store your contacts in gmail (I don't, specifically, to separate them so I can filter by phone contacts, as I don't want my 30 or so phone contacts and 1000 gmail contacts on in my phone contacts list at the same time. Apps don't matter, sure, as they can be backed up to the SDCard (which reminds me, where do apps write their app data too?). I mean sure, media is saved, but all the settings are wrong, so on and so forth.

It's definitely cleaner, no doubt, but re-adding contacts, re-doing all the settings, all that stuff that makes your phone personal - got to re-do it all..

You can backup app data easily and restore it later with TiBackup. Restoring contacts is simple if you have them sync with something like google or exchange. Its really easy to get back to where you were.

{{ WugFresh }}

 

[Syndacate]

There's a reason the people who find these vulnerabilities don't publish them.

HACKERS!

People who write malware, who wish to steal our information. The Bad Guys. If the knowledge were widely known the attacks would be constant, and the phones would get locked down tighter than the Atrix. We couldn't even root.

Ah, I see. Guess that makes sense.

No its not (relatively speaking), you just have to dig a little. Start by looking at ROMs that come with bootstrapper preinstalled. Those ROMs run the hijak at first boot. That might give you a better idea of what's going on. However, in my personal opinion, rather than trying to reverse engineer however your phone was rooted and isolate what was modified, just wipe it clean and flash a system image... its like one thousand times easier and a much more logical approach. If you feel like digging, go for it. I work on lots of android side projects, but if you want a solution; just start fresh, simple.

{{ WugFresh }}

I don't even get what those ROMs have to do with the bootstrapper. Best way I can think of is to look at the source for the rage binary...

I'm not sure how you determine that's a cleaner solution. If you don't store your contacts in gmail (I don't, specifically, to separate them so I can filter by phone contacts, as I don't want my 30 or so phone contacts and 1000 gmail contacts on in my phone contacts list at the same time. Apps don't matter, sure, as they can be backed up to the SDCard (which reminds me, where do apps write their app data too?). I mean sure, media is saved, but all the settings are wrong, so on and so forth.

It's definitely cleaner, no doubt, but re-adding contacts, re-doing all the settings, all that stuff that makes your phone personal - got to re-do it all..

You can backup app data easily and restore it later with TiBackup. Restoring contacts is simple if you have them sync with something like google or exchange. Its really easy to get back to where you were.

{{ WugFresh }}

Is the app data stored IN their respective apps, or is it in like the Library or some common place?

As I said, syncing contacts is a bad idea if you have too many. I'd like to scroll through my phone contacts list without seeing the god knows how many people (most of which I'll never e-mail again) on my gmail contacts list. That's why I kept them separate, so I can filter the list to show phone contacts only.

Seems like wipe is the only viable solution :-\.

 

[WugFresh]

App data is not stored within the app, its stored in an organized directory on your phone.

I have a tremendous amount of contacts as well, but I only sync my exchange contacts, not my gmail contacts. You should make an exchange account or a separate gmail account that just syncs your primary contacts. Mixing all your contacts with ones you don't care about is the problem with your current setup.

{{ WugFresh }}

 

[Syndacate]

App data is not stored within the app, its stored in an organized directory on your phone.

I have a tremendous amount of contacts as well, but I only sync my exchange contacts, not my gmail contacts. You should make an exchange account or a separate gmail account that just syncs your primary contacts. Mixing all your contacts with ones you don't care about is the problem with your current setup.

{{ WugFresh }}

Where does this said organized directory reside?

I don't use exchange, or outlook, or any kind of local-side e-mail program. I only use gmail. I'd hate to make a second account just to store phone contacts :-\. That's why the phone has "local" contacts built into it. If I dug around for a bit I'm sure there's an app that can offload/load the contacts in a CSV or XML file or something.

 

[WugFresh]

/data/data/

Yeah;
Contacts > Menu Button > Import/Export > 'Export to SD card' > OK

{{ WugFresh }}

 

[Syndacate]

/data/data/

Yeah;
Contacts > Menu Button > Import/Export > 'Export to SD card' > OK

{{ WugFresh }}

Ah, both are pretty simple. I'm guessing TB only backs up the apps themselves, so I need to take the data folder if I want any of the apps to be in the state they were, right?

Maybe erasing is the way to go :-\. I'd like to do it tomorrow, so I guess it'll have to be the way to go...but my guess is VZW will make me wait, like with everything else . Arg, wish I could unroot it :-\. I mean somebody has to know how b/c z4root can unroot it.

 

[WugFresh]

No TiBackup can backup apps and app data, that's why its so useful. You can unroot, just follow the manual instructions in terminal. Its just not worth it when you can just start over. Good luck with whatever you decide.

{{ WugFresh }}