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Ask Slashdot: Can I Trust Android Rooting Tools?
Qbertino writes After a long period of evaluation and weighing cons and pros I've gotten myself a brand new Android tablet (10" Lenovo Yoga 2, Android Version) destined to be my prime mobile computing device in the future. As any respectable freedom-loving geek/computer-expert I want to root it to be able to install API spoofing libraries and security tools to give me owners power over the machine and prevent services like Google and others spying on me, my files, photos, calendar and contacts. I also want to install an ad-blocking proxy (desperately needed — I forgot how much the normal web sucks!). I've searched for some rooting advice and tools, and so far have only stumbled on shady looking sites that offer various Windows-based rooting kits for android devices.
What's the gist on all this? How much of this stuff is potential malware? What are your experiences? Can I usually trust rooting strategies to be malware-free? Is there a rule-of-thumb for this? Is there perhaps a more generic way for a FOSS/Linux expert who isn't afraid of the CLI to root any Android 4.4 (Kitkat) device? Advice and own experiences, please.
What's the gist on all this? How much of this stuff is potential malware? What are your experiences? Can I usually trust rooting strategies to be malware-free? Is there a rule-of-thumb for this? Is there perhaps a more generic way for a FOSS/Linux expert who isn't afraid of the CLI to root any Android 4.4 (Kitkat) device? Advice and own experiences, please.
Mod parent up.
I've been frequenting XDA Developers forums for years now, and haven't had any bad experiences or rootkit-type behavior on my devices. Lots of knowledge there, and I was finally able to add some of my own a little while back. Most of the insights I provided were based on years of knowledge learned from the same forums plus my own experimenting, but that's exactly what they're for.
Depending on the version of Android you've got, you'll have to use different methods. Typically, but NOT ALWAYS, the rooting methods aren't device specific, but Android-version specific. So while you may not find instructions for rooting your exact device, you'll probably find a method to root your version of Android (unless the exploit is tailored specifically to a particular device).
As always, make sure you read the forums and search thoroughly before you post a "I'm a n00b and I don't know what to do..."-type question. You won't get flamed out of the forums, but you will likely not receive much help as they do expect you to do some footwork beforehand and not just expect them to do everything for you.
As always, do everything at your own risk.