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T-Mobile G2 'Permaroot' Achieved
VValdo writes "After over a month of relentless hacking, genius scotty2 has finally smashed the G2's notorious emmc-read-only-on-boot mechanism, which had been incorrectly characterized in the press as a 'rootkit.' The hack involves several steps — first achieving 'temp root' through a fork bomb exploit, then running a specially crafted kernel module that power-resets the read-only emmc to bring it up in read-write mode. Finally, the bootloader is re-flashed, which permanently removes the read-only on subsequent boots. The whole process is expected to be automated by tomorrow."
It seems that people rarely complain about the proprietary engine/drive-by-wire/etc. management software in their car, unless it breaks (think the Toyota debacle of late). Is it just that phones that run *NIX "feel" like they should be open, as we (the greater /. community) know *NIX (Jurassic Park reference intentional...)? Granted, there are legitimate safety concerns for cars, but I imagine there are less drastic examples of this apathy towards device X, but the demand for openness on device Y (phone, game console, etc.).
That said, I have a clamshell VZW phone, and it does irk me that it's useless for anything except the basics.
Gives you write access to /system/ ? (Inc /etc, so on)
My email addy? should be easy enough.
Let's be clear. I still think Google is a great company and I still have not sold a single one of my respectable stack of Google shares. Stayed with it through thick and thin, and now thankfully we're back to the thick and I'm still not selling. However... Google is a great disappointment compared to what it could if it actually walked the walk that it talks, and compared to what it still could be. This saddens me greatly and I criticize in the hope that some good can come of it.
Certainly, nothing good can come from ignoring the creeping rot that has set in at MTV in many ways. Ignore that and you eventually follow in the footsteps of Microsoft, with only the entrenched management winning and all else including shareholders, employees and customers losing.
Have you got your LWN subscription yet?