Workaround to avoid all native apps be 'AppName'

[rhizod]

edit 19 maj 2005: new revision of package Startup. Added notes about Rootexec now not being nessecary.

Edit: Please note that the information in this post is made obsolete by the more user friendly package system posted in this thread: http://www.www.motorolafans.com/inde...ewtopic&t=1317


Hi,

After some effort I have finally found a way to workaround the problem that for E680i 'type = 4' in InstalledDB/PlugcardDB is broken. That is; unlike on other phone models, your apps won't execute with this type, and therefore you have to use type = 2 instead, but this makes all your native apps to be named 'AppName'.

However, my solution took the creation of three (3!) individual packages.

Rootexec: a suid binary that makes it possible to run some select apps with root priviledges. [Edit: Actually, Rootexec is no longer needed; you only need Startup and Rerouter]

Startup: a "startup system" for people without hacked firmwares. Creates a folder where you can put all 'startup'-related things, and then you 'only' have to run one script each time you turn your phone on to handle all your startup initialization.

Rerouter: installs a fake java interpreter. Uses mount --bind to make it appear in the file system as the real interpreter (in a non-permanent way; upon phone restart it changes back). Result; apps with type=3 and negative javaid in InstalledDB/PlugcardDB is run as native apps instead of as java apps.

All zip files has readme.txt's with instructions. For complete install, do it in order: first Startup and then Rerouter. Installations require both linloader and telnet access. If you use a hacked firmware that provides a startup script, you actually only need 'Rerouter' to fix the AppName problem (But the other packages may be useful for you anyway).

The packages work on my E680i. But I cannot be perfectly sure my assumptions about filesystem layout etc is correct for everyone. So you should probably read through the scripts to make sure they do the right thing for your phone (or wait for others to give positive feedback here ...

[pascal]

THX thats very good

thought myself to make a root wrapper script, but you was faster

[intoxicated]

tkx rhizod
works nicely here on my phone...
but the linloader still have to set to type 2 otherwise can't startup.lin at all

[rhizod]

@pascal

thought myself to make a root wrapper script, but you was faster

Well, I hope I didn't go too far with the security in my root wrapper for people to find it useful (only root can configure which apps are allowed to be run); I mean, security might not be strictly needed since, 1) many users anyway use hacked firmwares where any app could just append a string to /mmc/mmca1/startup.txt to get root access next startup; and 2) most of the vital files is anyway owned by the ezx user. However, I just didn't want to introduce any additional backdoors for malware.

@intoxicated

but the linloader still have to set to type 2 otherwise can't startup.lin at all

True, you will have to have at least 1 app named AppName to bootstrap the whole thing. But it is *possible* to instead for LinLoader use 'startup.lin' as the one type=2 app, and then have LinLoader type=3. But perhaps to be safe it is best to also have a "spare" type=2 linloader or 'activate network' app so you still can activate the network should something go wrong. Since you can keep them "hidden away" in, say, group = 6, they need not be in the way. The important thing for me is that I now will be able to install cool native apps to show my friends, but without them asking "why are they all called AppName?"

[leopardus2]

@pascal

thought myself to make a root wrapper script, but you was faster

Well, I hope I didn't go too far with the security in my root wrapper for people to find it useful (only root can configure which apps are allowed to be run); I mean, security might not be strictly needed since, 1) many users anyway use hacked firmwares where any app could just append a string to /mmc/mmca1/startup.txt to get root access next startup; and 2) most of the vital files is anyway owned by the ezx user. However, I just didn't want to introduce any additional backdoors for malware.

@intoxicated

but the linloader still have to set to type 2 otherwise can't startup.lin at all

True, you will have to have at least 1 app named AppName to bootstrap the whole thing. But it is *possible* to instead for LinLoader use 'startup.lin' as the one type=2 app, and then have LinLoader type=3. But perhaps to be safe it is best to also have a "spare" type=2 linloader or 'activate network' app so you still can activate the network should something go wrong. Since you can keep them "hidden away" in, say, group = 6, they need not be in the way. The important thing for me is that I now will be able to install cool native apps to show my friends, but without them asking "why are they all called AppName?"

sorry, but why did you write a root wrapper when there's one built in in the phone? the start-stop-daemon in /sbin does exactly that...

Rick

[rhizod]

sorry, but why did you write a root wrapper when there's one built in in the phone? the start-stop-daemon in /sbin does exactly that...

Oh, coming from a Linux background, it didn't even occur to me that they could have done something as insane as to suid-root the start-stop-daemon binary... Well, okay, this just means that there is no "security layer" between ezx and root. And, yes, then my suid wrapper is technically unnessesary; Instread of installing Rootexec one can change startup.lin to run /ezxlocal/download/QTDownLoad/Rootexec/startup via 'start-stop-daemon --start' instead. And thus save ~ 8 kb of /ezxlocal-memory. Perhaps I should release an updated 'Startup' package to do that.

But perhaps we should instead try to hide, block or replace start-stop-daemon. I'm not comfortable with all apps I run having access to root rights... Do you know if start-stop-daemon is run during normal phone usage, or only during bootup?

[pascal]

sorry, but why did you write a root wrapper when there's one built in in the phone? the start-stop-daemon in /sbin does exactly that...

did not look in script from rootexec, i was at work, i thought rhizod did it so...

i just wantet to make a script which get another script as param, so i dont need to write this start-stop-daemon -c root etc .... everytime

[rhizod]

sorry, but why did you write a root wrapper when there's one built in in the phone? the start-stop-daemon in /sbin does exactly that...

did not look in script from rootexec, i was at work, i thought rhizod did it so...

I wish I had known about start-stop-daemon... That had saved me a lot of work ... Took me a day to write that suid wrapper...

[yantz]

@rhizod
how does it look exactly using start-stop-daemon?

[rhizod]

@rhizod
how does it look exactly using start-stop-daemon?

I've edited the top message to provide a new version of Startup that uses start-stop-daemon instead. With upgrade instructions etc, the readme for the Startup package is now twice as long as its install script ...