I didn't expect it but that may be what happened. I got tired of the nagging about the OTA of a week or so ago (yes, they wore me down) so I took the stupid OTA from the stupid carrier and let it do whatever to my stupid phone. I figured I'd lost root so I didn't even check.

This morning I remembered I installed Voodoo OTA Rootkeeper and protected root. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.projectvoodoo.otarootkeeper

That couldn't really work, could it? For a goof I had it restore root. It said it worked. OK, rebooted and noticed the initial Samsung screen now has a opened padlock like my unlocked GNex does. I never noticed that before (it may have been there, I don't reboot a lot). Finished booting and opened TiBU which agreed that I had root! I accidentally did the impossible, I think.

Full disclosure, I actually paid for the root app so maybe that was a factor. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.noshufou.android.su

Now when I look at the about screen it says my SELinux status is "permissive". Do they all say that? I never paid attention.

Here is the "proof".



If you all agree that this worked as I believe, I'll add it to the sticky. In any case, do your research and don't trust me blindly. I just stumbled around and here is the result. There may be important factors I haven't documented. Proceed at your own risk.

 

No I don't. 100% stock just rooted. I've disabled a lot of Verizon and Samsung bloat but did that through Settings/Application manager not with TiBU.

 

I don't know. I seem to remember the OTA was smaller than the desktop version released earlier but both were supposed to kill root and screw up tethering. I haven't tested that part yet.