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Talk:Root access

Revision as of 16:49, 14 July 2008

easyroot

Should we have Wiki pages promoting non-Extras debs?

Can we get "easyroot" into Extras as I would like to propose that we do not promote in the Wiki any deb package that is NOT in Extras (and with full source code). Alternatively, whatever happened to "becomeroot" which used to be the defacto package for anyone wanting to get root. All "becomeroot" does is replace the standard gainroot script - does anyone know what easyroot does to the tablet? —milhouse

Well, becomeroot isn't in Extras, either, and the 3rd-party repository it's in seems to be down/losing distributions all the time. Somebody needs to poke ag2 (I think he's the one, anyway) about getting his stuff in Extras, but at least nitapps.com is stable. Personally, I'm going to be a bit pragmatic on this point. I'm for "whatever makes the least amount of pain and suffering for users", if that happens to be a package outside of Extras, so be it. We can always put the wiki article up, then endless pester the developer about uploading it to Extras after that. Besides, there isn't a solution in Extras for this particular problem. easyroot does pretty much the exact same thing as becomeroot, except it also lets you type just "root". —GeneralAntilles 10:06, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

I have a copy of becomeroot on my web space which installed just fine on Diablo - would it be possible to "fork" this and put it on Extras as the original developer doesn't seem to be around and there isn't really much to develop any more. Since it's also just a replacement gainroot script the deb is essentially the source code. —milhouse

If you want to do that and be responsible for packaging it up for Extras, that's perfectly fine by me. —GeneralAntilles 10:18, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

I genuinely would if I had a clue. :( I may get a clue (about packaging) eventually but it won't be any time soon. —milhouse

I uploaded a easyroot clone to chinook and diablo extras (and -devel) called rootsh. GeneralAntilles already updated this page a while ago pointing to it. Just updating talk for informational purposes. —qwerty12 17:48, 14 July 2008 (BST)

sudo gainroot

Many old articles and ITT posts talk about executing "sudo gainroot" to get root, yet easyroot apparently uses another command ("root") to switch to the super user - more than one command to perform the same function is unecessary and confusing, we should where possible stick with "sudo gainroot" as the standard "get root" command as this covers both R&D mode and the "traditional" becomeroot method. —milhouse

Eh, whichever. How about "Then, from the shell, run sudo gainroot (or root for short). This will give you a root shell."? —GeneralAntilles 10:08, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

It's a minor point I know but we'll be shooting ourselves in the foot if we introduce multiple options - think about all the future articles where root access may be required, are we really going to mention all of the possible options depending on what package the user has installed? Seperate issue... why isn't my username appearing after my replies? :) —milhouse

Because you aint doin' it right. :P —~~~~ (or you can use, --, I suppose ;)) —GeneralAntilles 10:21, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

4*~ did the trick - thanks! —milhouse 10:23, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

Package Installation

This article has the comment "Install easyroot from nitapps.com" but doesn't explain how a deb file or package might be installed - we should have a page devoted to installing applications which can be linked to from other pages discussing the installation of packages etc. —milhouse

Fine with me. Can I take that as volunteering? ;) —GeneralAntilles 10:09, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

I shall have a go - really just throwing ideas out there in case I don't have the time! :)

R&D Mode

Can someone more knowledgable than I highlight the downsides of R&D mode in this article - doesn't the device use more battery power when in R&D mode, possibly because it doesn't idle as often as it could? —milhouse

I don't think that's true. Certainly there are other options you can enable with the flasher (e.g. serial console) which does drain the battery faster. But R&D on its own doesn't - unless something has changed recently. --Jaffa 10:47, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

I might be wrong - I hope I am! - but I'm sure I read somewhere that R&D mode may influence the behaviour of WiFi, amongst other things (although I don't recall who wrote the post, so it may be completely bogus). It would be nice to have a quote from a Nokia techie giving chapter and verse on R&D mode, or a link to a new page detailing R&D mode and the other flasher flags. --milhouse 11:00, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

We need an equivalent of Wikipedia's "^{citation needed}" ;-) --Jaffa 11:11, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

We need the citation plugin first. ;) —GeneralAntilles 11:22, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

Disclaimer required

This article needs a disclaimer both to protect Nokia and the foolish. —milhouse

Agreed on the foolish aspect. But this is now a community wiki, do we need to protect Nokia? Strong warnings dissuade people playing. May be worth emphasising that no matter how hard you try, a reflash should fix it? --Jaffa 17:15, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

The old midgard root access page had a disclaimer for Nokia, I think it's only fair to warn users that root access isn't sanctioned by Nokia, and that a reflash should always get you out of trouble! --milhouse 19:53, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

Quoting qgil:

<qgil> GeneralAntilles: something like that disclaimer should be put at some point in the footer for all pages  :)
<qgil> I mean the whole maemo.org, now it says "Sponsored by Nokia"
<qgil> then it's the maemo.org community who could have a specific warning in specific pages to avoid confusion and,
<qgil> what is more important
<qgil> let them know that "The steps described in this page might lead to severe damage in your system and/or your device.
       You are at your own risk and you are supposed to know what you are doing"
<qgil> or something along these lines

The current warning is probably a little harsh, though, feel free to revise. —GeneralAntilles 03:04, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

Done. --Jaffa 08:38, 2 July 2008 (UTC)