Root Revolutionary and Stock MR1 (question about recovery)

[kattolo]

I've read in several threads that in case someone keeps the stock Rom after using Revolutionary (with the cwr installation) and rooting, there is the need to flash the original recovery too (to avoid problems in case of OTA updates)

I'm still using the 1.13.605.7 because I'd like to keep using the video capability of the front camera in Skype (I'm using a old leaked version that is not working with the updates) and in the past weeks I've noticed several attempts of updates to MR2 that I promptly stopped.

Is there any way to stop the OTA push on stock roms? is it possible to do that by editing the build.prop file? (even though that might be a temporary solution until next OTA) if so, how should I edit the "fingerprint"?

Since I made a Nandroid backup with the crw installed by Revolutionary, if I flash the stock MR1 recovery as suggested, I guess I won't be able to restore it. To be able to restore it do I have to flash back on the phone a specific CWR version (like the Revolutionary CWR 4.0.1.4, of which I couldn't find a PG05IMG file but just the .img) or any CWR would work?

Thanks in advance for the help

 

[scotty85]

there have been issues with restoring backups on the 5.0.x.x clockworks,so as long as you install nothing higher than 4.0.1.5,you should be able to restore the backup you made with revolutionary 4.0.1.4.

if you want to restore the revolutionary clockwork,its image will be in the nandroids that you make with it(cant remember if you need to check something to back up recovery,or if it backs that up by default). just download one of the hboot flashable recoverys,and replace the image inside with the revolutionary image. an hboot flashable file just needs to have an "android info" text document,and an image for the partition you want to update,so its fairly easy to whip them up. ive actually got one i could email you if youre not comfortable making your own. i dont make it pubilicly available,since its not mine to distribute.

you should be able to edit the fingerprint of mr1 to look like mr2. then you might be able to make it look like mr3(wich will be GB,IDK for sure on that one) when that time comes. something else that may work indefinately would be to make the fingerprint match up with 1.66.605.2 or some other LEAKED ruu that was never a release firmware. i recently have learned that the non-official release ruus wont be updated via OTA,because of the way the updater script works. in fact,i just got done installing the 1.66.605.2 ruu and trying to update it via OTA. gave it about an hour and checked for system updates several times,and nothing happened. eventually gave up,reinstalled my recovery,and restored a backup.

i guess im a little confused by the rest of your post. are you wanting to install the stock recovery and accept the OTA to mr2? or are you wanting to find a way from blocking the OTA completely?

at any rate,youll have to do something... either edit the fingerprint,flash a custom rom,or flash newer firmware. eventually the phone will try and sneek in the update without your approval,you cant keep hitting "install later" forever

 

[kattolo]

First of all thanks for the answer and the info

and now, after getting some more useful info from you, I hope to be able to show my intentions more clearly...

my first choice would be blocking the OTA completely, probably using the fingerprinto of a leaked ruu like the 1.66.605.2 (hoping that skype doesn't turn on me)
I think that would be the best option, especially cause I'd like to try other roms too, and keeping cwr would be the easiest way to do that.
From what I read around I should change the line ro.build.fingerprint in the build.prop file; do you know where I can find the 1.66.605.2 or some other leaked ruu fingerprint? What happen if the fingerprint is somehow broken?

If I'm not able to change effectively the fingerprint or find some other way to block the OTA Updates (I don't know of any other) then I'd flash the stock MR1 recovery, and I'll try stopping the updates manually every time. Needless to say that this option would make trying other roms way more compicated, cause I'd need to flash cwr first and then the ROM and every time I'd want to go back I'd have to remember to flash the recovery too. (I guess I'd have to keep both recovery PG05IMG zips on the SDCard and rename them according to the current need...maybe with a shell script)
Thanks for the precious info about the hboot flashable files, I tought the text file content had to be tied somehow to the image file, good to know that is not the case!
The Nandroid backup contains the recovery too so I should be able to make the Revolutionary CWR one myself
(but only if I won't be able to understand better how to change the build.prop )

---Edit---

Hopefully I was able to find a solution on androidcentral (http://forums.androidcentral.com/verizon-htc-thunderbolt-forums/113963-ota-update.html#post1201837) a post from racedog explains to rename the file /system/etc/security/otacerts.zip to block OTAs.
I'll see in the next few days if it works
I'd still like to understand more about build.prop, I feel it would be "more elegant" changing the setting there.

I found another example for Froyo but I'm still not able to understand the line...
This is from my build.prop:

ro.build.fingerprint=verizon_wwe/htc_mecha/mecha/mecha:2.2.1/FRG83D/341545:user/release-keys

and this is from "The Perfect Storm 1.5" ROM:

ro.build.fingerprint=verizon_wwe/htc_mecha/mecha/mecha:2.2.1/FRG83D/338893:user/release-keys

 

[scotty85]

hmmm.now im not real sure...

after i mistakenly said the leaks would be OTAed over on xda,adrynalyne popped in and said this:

Actually, no.

Unless the rom reads as 1.70.605.blahblah, OTAs will not be received, and will not be installed. Every OTA contains mostly patch files. These patch files require certain file versions and the installer script alone looks for the above version. When it does not find it, it aborts.

so now im not sure if altering the fingerprint will stop the OTAs. his comment make it seem like hte updater script is more concerned with the firmware version... idk if its getting that from something in the otacerts.zip,or from the firmware itself.

if you navigate to that otacerts.zip folder,what does it contain?

looking at it in ao5pth3ory(apples and oranages,i know) system/etc/security only contains 2 files- the otacerts.zip and a cacerts.bks. otacerts.zip only contains 1 file-textkeyx.509.pem

i guess you could always just try and change your footprint to match perfect storm. change back to r/o and reboot,then try and check for updates. since perfect storm is a custom rom with OTAs disabled,and the fingerprint wont match any of the release firmwares, if you get an update notice we could guess that editing the fingerprint wont neccessarily stop OTAs.

or, if you can find the fingerprint for mr2,you could switch it to that,and try and check for updates. if that alone yields "no updates found" then it wwould we worth searching for a build between 1.12.609.9 and 1.13.605.7(so hopefully skype doesnt turn on you ) to try and match the fingerprint of

hope that helps some

 

[kattolo]

Ok, it looks like the otacert.zip "hack" works perfectly, I received several attempts for updates, accepted them (and tried to update manually too) but none could get installed
After failing it tried downloaded the update again but it couldn't install it again (it seems is an old trick used on several different android devices)

The file contains the digital certificates of the signatures of the OTA Updates and without them the phone will not be able to verify their authenticity therefore blocking the installation.

Probably is not the most elegant way to fix the problem but is effective and easy to make/turn back

The point being:
If you use Revolutionary to s-off the bootloader, install CWR (or any other custom recovery) and root the Thunderbolt, and you are on a Stock ROM, and you don't want to risk problems caused by OTA Updates, you can block them by renaming the file

/system/etc/security/otacerts.zip

for example someting like otacerts.zip.bak

This way the moment you want to allow OTAs you can just FLASH THE APPROPRIATE RECOVERY FIRST (that you can find in the sticky thread in the first page), rename the file back to otacerts.zip and wait for the OTA or check for OTA updates without having to worry about boot problems.

To rename the file is needed a file manager with root capabilities (like Root Explorer or Super Manager) cause the file's permission are rw-r--r-- (or 0644)

I wrote some of the previous paragraphs like a mini-guide that can be used freely around on forums to help other that might be in the situation I was into a few hours ago

@scotty85
I tried changing the fingerprint line of build.prop file but It didn't work (it still found the OTA update), I guess that way more variables are involved, not just that line. I might need some more build.prop from various versions before I'll be able to start understanding something

 

[scotty85]

awsome! thanks for sharing the results. if you dont mind,copy and paste that whole thing(or even rewrite it to be more guide-like if you want) into the "how to" sticky thread,so it will always be there and i can include the post # to it in table of contents in the 3rd post. very good info for alot of folks that want to stay on a particular stock rom

 

[kattolo]

new post in the how-to thread!
I'm glad I could be helpful

 

[kattolo]

I added some more details in the post in the Howto thread on how it works, because I was afraid someone would panic when they saw the download of the OTA
(I must admit I was a little worried myself when I experimented first )

 

[Yeahha]

Be careful when checking for updates some roms will require a battery pull when you do check.

 

[kattolo]

This little trick applies just to OTA Updates, it's not meant for and it won't stop deliberate flashing or updating of ROMs (from recovery mode or clockworkmod for example)

I found it cause I was looking for a way to keep the CWR that is installed by Revolutionary (that is the version 4.0.1.4, so it doesn't have the restore problems of the new 5.x ones), without risking the boot problems caused by verizon OTAs installing automatically and almost silently on "old" Stock ROMs.

 

[Yeahha]

Okay good to know I misread thinking you were on a custom rom

 

[kattolo]

probably I should add that first statement on the post in the Howto... just to be on the safe side