Root How does root work on a phone?

[cp1]

So what's the deal with "rooting your phone"?

Is there a password to the root account?

Can any app you install su root without your permission?

Can someone connect to your phone through wifi / internet and login as root with no password? (Are there any sshd / ftpd / telnetd etc running?)

 

[jbuck1984]

I'm no expert, but from what I have learned it's a term derived from the linux based OS. You become the superuser, which allows for total control of the phone...

Example: You know all those dumb verizon programs you can't get rid of. As superuser you will be able to overide this.

You will be able to tether without verizon getting involved and charging you tons of money.

You can load stock Android and then update to Froyo

If you don't like stock, choose another ROM!

Over/Under clock GPU

And probably much more...

 

[dgourd]

You know how certain apps need permisions to access certain features and you need to give them those. Root is the same thing except it gives you all permissions.

 

[cp1]

Thanks, I guess I should have been more clear: how secure is the root access to the phone once it's been "rooted". Does it require a password to su root, or can any app that is installed do that on its own? So if I root my phone it becomes vulnerable to anything I have installed, plus any outside connections that it accepts?

 

[dgourd]

Apps have to specifically request all the permissions it needs. If you have rooted your phone, and you install a malicious app, it will have root access. But you would have to grant the app that permission when you install. If you check the list of permissions, you should be fine.

 

[cp1]

Ah I see, thanks.

 

[necosino]

I'm no expert, but from what I have learned it's a term derived from the linux based OS. You become the superuser, which allows for total control of the phone...

Example: You know all those dumb verizon programs you can't get rid of. As superuser you will be able to overide this.

You will be able to tether without verizon getting involved and charging you tons of money. (Only WiFi requires Root. You can tether via USB for free without root)

You can load stock Android and then update to Froyo (Well actually no, someone will have to cook a ROM with 2.2 in it..)

If you don't like stock, choose another ROM! (It'll take a while before chefs (me included) get the point where ROMs are released.)

Over/Under clock GPU (CPU, no GPU on this phone (it's integrated with the CPU))

And probably much more...

Added a few annotations to your post

 

[dgourd]

Added a few annotations to your post

Since you're a chef, I was wondering if you knew about the differences between cooking ROMs on WinMo and Android. I used to do Sense UI customizations on TP2, but not sure how to do it on Android.

 

[jbuck1984]

Added a few annotations to your post
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[Bayint Naung]

Can someone clarifies after rooting, is it that all apps can do anything root can do?
Those apps that required root access, can they access everything? There's no more sandbox?
How can I control to grant which apps can use root access??
Is it that once rooted, the user is running as root.( like running linux box always as root which is dangerous). Please enlighten...

 

[wayrad]

My (imperfect) understanding is that root permission gives superuser access to an app, i.e. it lets an app view and modify things that are normally off limits. An app must request superuser access and be approved. A Superuser app that is installed as part of the root process will pop up a request the first time you run a new root-requesting app, and will maintain a list of which apps you have approved superuser access for.

Most of your apps are not written to request superuser permission and will consequently never get it. They will function exactly as before. Only those apps that actually request root and which you approve will have it. Root permission will not be in the list of permissions shown in the Market (I guess because it's not "official"), but is usually indicated in an app's title or Market description somewhere (developers naturally don't want nonrooted users downloading root-only apps and leaving bad ratings because they can't get them to work!). There are occasional exceptions (Juice Defender comes to mind, unless it's changed by now), but you'll still get notified by the Superuser app.

 

[sdrawkcab25]

^^ correct, any app that needs superuser access has to be approved by the user. Further, any app that is approved superuser access, can be easily be denied superuser access at any time.