XDA Developers' Android Hacker's Toolkit

Foreword xv Introduction 1 First Things First: What Is XDA? 1 The Dragons that Lie Ahead 3 Who This Book Is For 6 What This Book Covers 6 How This Book Is Structured 6 What You Need to Use This Book 7 Part I: What You Need to Know 9 Chapter 1: Android OS Internals: Understanding How Your Device Starts 11 The Penguin Down Below 12 How Your Android Device Starts 13 Bootstrapping 13 Adding a Custom Bootloader 15 Understanding the Bootloader Process 15 Custom Recoveries: The Holy Grail 17 Chapter 2: Rooting Your Android Device 21 Why Should You Root? 22 Increasing the Service Life of the Device 22 Fixing OEM Defects 23 Increasing Capability 24 Customizing the Device 25 Backing Up Data 26 Contact Information 26 Applications and Their Data 27 Data on the SD Card 27 How You Can Root and Leave Your OEM’s Control 28 OEM Flash Software 28 Exploits 30 Native Fastboot Flash 31 Scripted and One-Click Methods 31 Rooting Two Devices 32 Nexus One 32 HTC Thunderbolt 33 The Root of It All 34 Chapter 3: The Right Tool for the Job 37 Ready, Set, . . . Wait I Have to Have What? 38 Connecting a Phone to a Computer 38 Hacking Tools 38 USB Cables 39 USB Debugging 40 What’s Driving This Thing? 41 Using the Android Debug Bridge 42 Checking Device Connectivity 43 Restarting the ADB Service 44 Copying Files to and from Your Device 45 Rebooting a Device 48 The Power of Fastboot 49 Unlocking a Device 50 Updating a Device 50 Flashing a Device 50 Rebooting a Device 51 Harnessing the Power of the Penguin with ADB Shell 51 File System Navigation 52 File Management 54 File Access Permissions 57 Redirection and Piping 60 Concatenation 60 BusyBox: Giving the Penguin Back Its Power 61 The dd Command 61 The echo Command 62 The md5sum Command 62 Chapter 4: Rooting and Installing a Custom Recovery 63 How to Use Exploits 64 Exploit Scripts 64 Exploit Applications 65 Using a Script or Application on a Device 66 Hacking Utilities 68 OEM Tools 68 Developer Utilities 68 Image Files 68 Recovery Mode 69 What Is Recovery Mode? 69 Make It All So Easy: Get A Custom Recovery! 70 Using ClockworkMod Recovery 71 Rebooting the Device 72 Updating a Device from the SD Card 72 Resetting a Device to Factory Condition 74 Wiping the Cache 74 Installing a Zip File from the SD Card 74 Backing Up and Restoring a Device 76 Mounting Partitions and Managing Storage 79 Advanced Functions 79 Backup and Disaster Recovery 81 Precautions for Success and Data Recovery 82 Backing Up Applications 83 Backing Up Through a Recovery Process 83 Backing Up Through an Application 84 What Happens If It Goes Really Wrong? 84 Chapter 5: Theming: Digital Cosmetic Surgery 87 Changing the Look and Feel of Android 88 Theming the Launcher 89 Theming with an Add-on Launcher 89 Tools Used in Theming 89 APKManager 89 Android SDK 90 Eclipse 90 A ROM of Your Choice 91 7-Zip 91 Paint.NET 91 Update.zip Creator 91 Amend2Edify 92 The Editing Process 92 Walkthrough for Creating Theme Files 92 Walkthrough for Creating a Flashable ZIP File 97 Chapter 6: You’ve Become Superuser: Now What? 99 Popular Multi-Device Custom ROMs 100 CyanogenMod 100 Android Open Kang Project 101 VillainROM 101 Kernel Tweaks 101 Backlight Notifications 101 Voodoo Enhancements 102 Performance and Battery Life Tweaks 103 Root Applications 103 SetCPU 103 Adfree Android 104 Chainfire 3D 104 Titanium Backup 105 Part II: Manufacturer Guidelines and Device-specific Guides 107 Chapter 7: HTC EVO 3D: A Locked Device 109 Obtaining Temporary Root 110 Using S-OFF and Permanent Root Requirements 111 Running the Revolutionary Tool 112 Installing a Custom Recovery 115 Installing the Superuser Binary 116 Installing a SuperUser Application 117 Chapter 8: Nexus One: An Unlockable Device 119 Root Methods Available 120 Resources Required for This Walkthrough 120 Walkthrough 121 Placing the Nexus One in Fastboot Mode 122 Flashing a Boot Partition 123 Getting Full Root Access 124 Installing a Custom Recovery 125 Chapter 9: HTC ThunderBolt: A Tightly Locked Device 127 Root Methods Available 128 Resources Required for This Walkthrough 128 Walkthrough 129 Pushing Files to the Device 129 Gaining Temporary Root 130 Checking a File’s MD5 Signature 131 Writing the Temporary Bootloader 131 Downgrading the Firmware 132 Gaining Temporary Root to Unlock the mmc 133 Rewriting the Bootloader 134 Upgrading the Firmware 135 Chapter 10: Droid Charge: Flashing with ODIN 137 Resources Required for This Walkthrough 138 Walkthrough 138 Connecting the Device to ODIN 138 Flashing the Device 139 Troubleshooting 140 Chapter 11: Nexus S: An Unlocked Device 143 Connecting the Device to a PC 144 Resources Required for This Walkthrough 144 Walkthrough 144 Unlocking the Device 144 Flashing the Device with a Recovery 145 Flashing the Device with the SuperUser Application 146 Chapter 12: Motorola Xoom: An Unlocked Honeycomb Tablet 147 Resources Required for This Walkthrough 148 Walkthrough 148 Pushing the Root File to the SD Card 148 Unlocking the Xoom 148 Flashing the Device with a Recovery 149 Flashing the Device with a Universal Root 150 Chapter 13: Nook Color: Rooting with a Bootable SD Card 153 Resources Required for This Walkthrough 154 Walkthrough 154 Creating a Bootable SD Card 155 Booting the Device from the SD Card 155 Making the Device More Usable 156 Appendix A: Setting Up Android SDK and ADB Tools 159 Installing the Java Development Kit 160 Installing the Android SDK 161 Installing the Platform Tools 162 Setting Up Windows Environment Variables 163 Index 165