How I rooted my Incredible, and installed busybox.

[adrynalyne]

I take no credit for this, but I would like to share what I've done so far with DI root. This is not for the faint of heart, and I have had to reflash my phone with an RUU recently due to breaking stuff until I got it right (for me). I've heard of many messed up DI's lately, so do at your own risk.

First, as we have all seen, you must root with the unrevoked method:

public:adb_in_recovery [RootWiki]


To run adb shell in a loop, I did this, using Windows Powershell:

while ($true) { adb shell }

Once I had root access, which is ONLY good for that boot session, I made it permanent via these instructions from xda-dev and to install a working superuser whitelist app:

Superuser 2.1 - Fun for all! [2010-05-16] - xda-developers
Get the last one, and extract the contents so you can copy su and Superuser.apk to your sdcard.
From http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=699088&page=45:

adb shell
su
/system/bin/cat /system/bin/sh > /system/bin/su
/system/bin/chmod 4777 /system/bin/su
export PATH=$PATH:/system/bin
cd /system/app
cat /sdcard/Superuser.apk > Superuser.apk
cd /system/bin
cat /sdcard/su > su
ln -s /system/bin/su /system/xbin/su
chmod 06755 su

Then I installed my own compiled busybox for the TC roms that I put on the sdcard:

cd /system/bin
cat /sdcard/busybox > busybox
chmod 06755 busybox

Then I installed my own custom system read only and read write mount scripts, also from the sd card:

cat /sdcard/sysro > sysro
cat /sdcard/sysrw > sysrw
chmod 06755 sysro
chmod 06755 sysrw

Then I made my own symlink for cp for busybox (once again from the sd card):

cat /sdcard/cp > cp
chmod 06755 cp

Then I removed city id:

rm /system/app/CityID.apk
pm uninstall com.cequint.cityid

Note this all must be done before reboot, you will not be able to do these things after reboot, as the system is locked down still for reasons beyond my understanding. However, these changes will persist. I did these changes, in this order.


I take no credit for this aside from the busybox, cp, sysro, and sysrw stuff. Also, pm uninstall com.cequint.cityid fin ishes the uninstall of CityID, which other instructions do not note. Simply nuking the apk is not the entire procedure.

I've attached my files if anyone is interested.

 

[justin82]

WOW.. that is def not for the faint of heart.. good job.. thinking this thread will be 30 pages with i just bricked my incredible..

 

[adrynalyne]

I have heard of bricks, and I think this phone is probably more easy to brick than the Moto Droid, which is dang near brick proof.

So yes, PLEASE BE CAREFUL!

 

[CaptainTaco]

EDIT: As adrynalyne pointed out, busybox is self contained, read the next post. The instructions in the post would create links to busybox for each individual command allowing you to not have to type "busybox" before each command. It is not necessary.

Interesting, just a few observations / questions.

For BusyBox, is this all you ran?

cd /system/bin
cat /sdcard/busybox > busybox
chmod 06755 busybox

I ask because that wouldn't install BusyBox, it would just place the file in your system/bin

As far as I know, installation would require running from recovery
I believe the proper code would be as follows (I have not run it yet, worked on getting Superuser.apk working first) I'll try it in a bit.... I digress, I believe it should be;

adb push busybox /sdcard/busybox
adb shell

$ su
#export PATH=$PATH:/system/bin
#cd /system/xbin
# cat /sdcard/busybox > busybox
# chmod 06755 busybox
# ./busybox --install -s /system/xbin
# rm /sdcard/busybox
# exit
$ exit

this would all need to be done during the rooting process (aka in Recovery)
This is because the system partition does not properly mount when not in recovery, this is still being worked on.

Which brings me to my second question, the scripts for mounting and remounting, though correct for any other rooted phone, won't work correctly for the Incredible. (I checked your script code). Just curious if you left out some steps you might have done yourself that arn't listed, and perhaps found a way around the issues I described?

I'm not trying to down your work or anything, just trying to help, and of course trying to discover if you figured something out we haven't, (perhaps omitted from the steps in your post)

 

[adrynalyne]

Nope. Buysbox is a self contained file.

Also, I used my scripts. They do work.

Edit: not saying you can't do that, but without expanding 15 million commands, you can simply type:

busybox <command> without the <>.

 

[adrynalyne]

What makes you think the mounting scripts don't work?

 

[adrynalyne]

Default state:

# mount
mount
rootfs / rootfs ro 0 0
tmpfs /dev tmpfs rw,mode=755 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts rw,mode=600 0 0
proc /proc proc rw 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs rw 0 0
tmpfs /sqlite_stmt_journals tmpfs rw,size=4096k 0 0
none /dev/cpuctl cgroup rw,cpu 0 0
[B]/dev/block/mtdblock3 /system yaffs2 ro 0 0[/B]
/dev/block/mmcblk0p1 /data ext3 rw,nosuid,noatime,nodiratime,errors=continue,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/block/mtdblock6 /data/data yaffs2 rw,nosuid,nodev 0 0
/dev/block/mmcblk0p2 /cache ext3 rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime,nodiratime,errors=continue,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/block//vold/179:3 /emmc vfat rw,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,noexec,uid=1000,gid=1015,fmask=0702,dmask=0702,allow_utime=002
0,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro 0 0
/dev/block//vold/179:9 /sdcard vfat rw,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,noexec,uid=1000,gid=1015,fmask=0702,dmask=0702,allow_utime=0
020,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro 0 0
#

After running my script sysrw:

# sysrw
sysrw
**System mounted as Read-Write**
# mount
mount
rootfs / rootfs ro 0 0
tmpfs /dev tmpfs rw,mode=755 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts rw,mode=600 0 0
proc /proc proc rw 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs rw 0 0
tmpfs /sqlite_stmt_journals tmpfs rw,size=4096k 0 0
none /dev/cpuctl cgroup rw,cpu 0 0
[B]/dev/block/mtdblock3 /system yaffs2 rw 0 0[/B]
/dev/block/mmcblk0p1 /data ext3 rw,nosuid,noatime,nodiratime,errors=continue,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/block/mtdblock6 /data/data yaffs2 rw,nosuid,nodev 0 0
/dev/block/mmcblk0p2 /cache ext3 rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime,nodiratime,errors=continue,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/block//vold/179:3 /emmc vfat rw,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,noexec,uid=1000,gid=1015,fmask=0702,dmask=0702,allow_utime=002
0,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro 0 0
/dev/block//vold/179:9 /sdcard vfat rw,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,noexec,uid=1000,gid=1015,fmask=0702,dmask=0702,allow_utime=0
020,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro 0 0
#

After running my script sysro:

# sysro
sysro
**System mounted as Read-Only**
**Synced.**
# mount
mount
rootfs / rootfs ro 0 0
tmpfs /dev tmpfs rw,mode=755 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts rw,mode=600 0 0
proc /proc proc rw 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs rw 0 0
tmpfs /sqlite_stmt_journals tmpfs rw,size=4096k 0 0
none /dev/cpuctl cgroup rw,cpu 0 0
[B]/dev/block/mtdblock3 /system yaffs2 ro 0 0[/B]
/dev/block/mmcblk0p1 /data ext3 rw,nosuid,noatime,nodiratime,errors=continue,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/block/mtdblock6 /data/data yaffs2 rw,nosuid,nodev 0 0
/dev/block/mmcblk0p2 /cache ext3 rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime,nodiratime,errors=continue,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/block//vold/179:3 /emmc vfat rw,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,noexec,uid=1000,gid=1015,fmask=0702,dmask=0702,allow_utime=002
0,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro 0 0
/dev/block//vold/179:9 /sdcard vfat rw,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,noexec,uid=1000,gid=1015,fmask=0702,dmask=0702,allow_utime=0
020,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro 0 0
#

What am I missing? I am not claiming that you can make magic happen with the locked down filesystem, but it does allow renaming, deleting, and permissions changes.

 

[CaptainTaco]

that is what I was trying to explain, the filesystem is locked. It was not made clear in your original post, so should someone go through the steps and then try adding an app, such as Superuser.apk to the /system/app directory, they're going to be confused as to why even after they mounted the file system, it still does not let them.

I am not claiming you are incorrect, just clarifying. And yes, I already stated the coding was correct for the rw script, just that even after rooting it does not work properly on the incredible. Not a fault of yours or mine, but a fault of the limitations we still have regarding the Incredible.


EDIT: Sorry I just read the end of my original post, Sometimes I think ahead, and end up forgeting to write something I orginally intended. I did NOT state that your scripts were correct... but I meant to... after "(I checked your script code)" .... I just meant to clarify the limitations of mounting the file system currently. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[adrynalyne]

Busybox output example:

# busybox tar
busybox tar
BusyBox v1.16.1 (2010-04-18 12:50:01 MST) multi-call binary.

Usage: tar -[cxtzjaZmvO] [-X FILE] [-f TARFILE] [-C DIR] [FILE]...

Create, extract, or list files from a tar file

Options:
        c       Create
        x       Extract
        t       List
Archive format selection:
        z       Filter the archive through gzip
        j       Filter the archive through bzip2
        a       Filter the archive through lzma
        Z       Filter the archive through compress
        m       Do not restore mtime
File selection:
        f       Name of TARFILE or "-" for stdin
        O       Extract to stdout
        exclude File to exclude
        X       File with names to exclude
        C       Change to DIR before operation
        v       Verbose

#

 

[adrynalyne]

that is what I was trying to explain, the filesystem is locked. It was not made clear in your original post, so should someone go through the steps and then try adding an app, such as Superuser.apk to the /system/app directory, they're going to be confused as to why even after they mounted the file system, it still does not let them.

I am not claiming you are incorrect, just clarifying. And yes, I already stated the coding was correct for the rw script, just that even after rooting it does not work properly on the incredible. Not a fault of yours or mine, but a fault of the limitations we still have regarding the Incredible.

from my first post:


Note this all must be done before reboot, you will not be able to do these things after reboot, as the system is locked down still for reasons beyond my understanding. However, these changes will persist. I did these changes, in this order.

 

[adrynalyne]

So, let me clarify. Things that can be done with this damn locked down filesystem:

Deletions.
Permissions changes.
Viewing of files.
Renaming.


What cannot be done:
Adding to /system.

 

[CaptainTaco]

Thank you for the clarification, I missed that statement in your first post, it's clear I have offended you in some manor, I truly did not mean to in any way, as I stated just looking to clarify. Apologies if I have.

 

[adrynalyne]

No, you didn't offend me. I am just not a people person and come off that way Its all good

 

[CaptainTaco]

Thank You as well for the clarification of busybox, in my previous phones I've always used the full install method (the one I listed), however I did just use your suggestion, and placed it in /system/bin as a standalone binary file (I use /system/xbin as force of habit). Verified it does work through using Titanium Backup. Learn something new every day.

I guess it's just a matter of the App Makers requiring busybox installed better have both methods programed into their apps.


and yea... I lack social skills as well, generally why I tend to offend people... I just assume I'm going to ahead of time, and deal with the ramifications as they come.

 

[adrynalyne]

Yeah--thats why I symlinked cp, is because app devs don't take that into account.

I am still playing, but am so limited by the lockdowns in place that it is frustrating.