yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] galaxyplayer4.2:
YES. Anything to keep this project going. It's very difficult to maximize the value of the 4.2 if it is not rooted. I just hope that someone can finally root it and you people are the only ones who can so please do it.
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] baruch6132:
to be honest i would target not. just cause i just got my player back and if it broke again i doubt Samsung would fix it again if someone elder could g do it than that wild be cool
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] Yippingbyrd:
If we could get a stock ROM somehow to fix any bricked devices we would be golden pony to continue this project. Can't help if we're broken.
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] zaclimon:
Hey people with stock roms, can you try to flash this in stock recovery (even though this is for ICS):

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1849235
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] baruch6132:
would it brick my player?
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] neoxbox:
did not work :(
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] baruch6132:
what did u excpect? its for ics
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] alice90:
At what point did it fail?. Did it say something like invalid checksum/invalid signature or what?
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] baruch6132:
I didnt try it someone else did thy said it failed. but what can u exspect? its an ics root ont gingerbread
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] alice90:
Ah sorry I've pressed the wrong "Reply" button. It is a generic rooting method, it just copies the su, busybox and superuser.apk to the system and theoritically it can work on Gingerbread, the problem is to pass the key verifications. Some devices accept test keys in the recovery mode, ours doesn't [it seems..]
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] baruch6132:
just tried it said:

E: failed to verify whole-file signature

E: signature verification failed
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] zaclimon:
Ok guys I think a found a way to do a custom kernel, could you download root manager and copy those files and folders and send it to me please?:

all the .rc files, default.prop, lib/ res/ sbin/ tmp/, recovery and init.

Thanks.
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] baruch6132:
permission denied for int files and recovery files
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] baruch6132:
Ignore this it was a mistake
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] zaclimon:
there's init files missing, I said all the .rc files.
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] baruch6132:
hence mistake. heres the best i could get. all init files were permission denied.
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] zaclimon:
Thanks. but can you get init.rc and init.hugo.rc if it's possible, or you have permission denied too?
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] baruch6132:
denied.
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] baruch6132:
any more ideas
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] baruch6132:
http://opensource.samsung.com/index.jsp on this site there is the open source for it. its the yp-gi1_NA
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] baruch6132:
Here's an so that displayed partition tables without root. Maybe helpful?

Sent from my Galaxy Player 4.2 YP-GI1 Using the XDA-Developers app
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] zaclimon:
I don't have any :confused: These files are basically all your initramfs so your kernel can boot, we do need the init.rc as well as recovery file and init file, these are the most crutial files for booting. Which file manager are you using, explorer or root explorer?
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] baruch6132:
root explorer is 4 dollars I just use the explorer 1
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] baruch6132:
twas no way to get the init files. unless im hitting copy wrong. is there anyway its in the opensource thing? or maybe we can do it without them? or just something else?
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] zebluk:
Hey community,

Ok here's my situation. I also need to root the galaxy player 4.2 intl version (yp-gi1). I'm a dev but not so experienced in Android hacking. The good thing is, I got several SGP42 devices so I can afford doing some risky tests on one, since if we succeed in rooting, in the end I'll be able to restore bricked gear (hopefully). I'm trying to gather some dev/hackers on IRC chan but I'm not so successful yet. What would be great imo:

- get a dedicated forum thread for this device and the SGP36, 40+ pages don't lie (which is more or less the same generation right?)

- form a team of devs/hackers and have everyone on IRC teamworking

Really want to get this done; for now you can msg me on irc.freenode.net #xda-devs, my nickname there is bluk

Hope to hear from you soon

bluk
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] baruch6132:
hey man im trying to get on freenode thing and cant figure out how... first time using irc and i need to know how any way. people have wanted me to join before and i couldnt figure out how <-still learning... any way, i may not be a dev but ill be willing to help in any way i can as if u have been reading the thread, im the one always trying to help :) and thanks so much for offeriong to help!
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] baladev:
that's some enthusiasm! Let me get you up to speed with this. There have been a couple of attempts lately by people who own SGS 3.6 to form similar dev groups, but they failed because there are (to my knowledge) exactly zero developers with 4.2 devices and only two guys who have 3.6 devices. Your best bet is to communicate with them here. If you want, i will link their threads here. (one is just above/below yours)
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] zebluk:
I'll galdly join anyone working on this problem, but I thought the 3.6 rooting had been solved already. Anyway, if there are some hackers still working on it, let's join forces. I guess I'll stay 24/7 on IRC (freenode#xda-devs, nick=bluk) as long as this resilient device keeps resisting our attempts.

bluk
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] baruch6132:
thanks man for helping! :)
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] baladev:
I thought your goal isn't just rooting but also developing.

As i've said earlier, noone is working on it!

But here's an idea for you - if you haven't updated all your SGS 4.2s to the latest firmware through Kies, we could tell you how to obtain a copy of it, which will speed up rooting of the device.
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] zebluk:
Unfortunately, no update is available for the 4.2. As soon as the first update comes, I guess it's a win for us. Anyway, I'm still interested in how to intercept any future updates, will be a huge timesaver. Let's have a talk on IRC if you wish?

bluk
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] baladev:
oh, ok, so the 4.2 come with the latest firmware? when i got my 3.6 it got updated through Kies. Someone reported here that it's very easy - Kies downloads the latest update and puts it into a temp folder on your computer, which is probably deleted after the update.

I couldn't be bothered installing this IRC thing, i think this forum is exactly for such discussions.
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] zebluk:
Yeah seems so, while I'm not sure GB 2.3.6 deserves the term "latest", there is no update according to Kies.

I understand installing IRC is boring; there's a nice webchat there:

http://webchat.freenode.net/

Just needs a captcha, nickname and channel and you're done.

Still working on the 4.2, best leads so far are Entropy's method and Nelson's exploit. Gonna try those as soon as my dev environment is setup.

bluk
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] baladev:
yeah, i meant it in the sense 'the latest from Samsung for our device'

you seem to be progressing quite well. unfortunately, i can't help you there because i'm not familiar with android development (despite my prior experience with windows programming). it seems that one way for you to go would be to flash a device with partially compatible unsecure kernel (possibly from some other device) to get the clean system dump. I think people here tried flashing the 3.6 kernel and it wasn't very successful. Somebody over in the 3.6 rooting thread recently flashed the 5.0 kernel into his 3.6 (no idea as to why) and it didn't seem to brick his device, the details are sketchy, but i think it parially worked, maybe this is something you would want to investigate?
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] zebluk:
Yeah was just kidding with 'latest' stuff from Samsung :) Anyway... flashing 5.0 kernel onto 3.6 was quite risky, this guy has guts... I'll probably try this kind of move if the other "safe" approaches fail.

Thanks for the pointer!

bluk
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] baladev:
either this or.. you know..

that makes sense

no worries, didn't help you with anything :)
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] alice90:
Dear lads,

here follows a MAYBE working rooted PARTIAL system.img for the Galaxy Player 4.2 US (North American aka NA), please read on before doing ANYTHING with it!

As you may know I have dumped my /system directory and uplaoded here, several files were not dumped because of permissions, here are those files:

/system/etc/bluetooth/audio.conf

/system/etc/bluetooth/auto_pairing.conf

/system/etc/bluetooth/input.conf

/system/etc/bluetooth/main.conf

/system/etc/dbus.conf

By following XDA Elite Recognized Developer Entropy512's suggested method ( http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=31120202&postcount=6 ), the first one of the two, I've injected the su binary and the superuser.apk into the partially dumped system image and created an Odin-flashable image using ext4_utils as advised.

As it was said by Entropy512, one needs to have two devices to try to complete the mission, but I have just one, so now I can't flash this system.img, but IF one understands (REALLY UNDERSTANDS) all the risks and want to help, he can try to flash it using Odin into his/her /system partition ( /dev/block/mmcblk0p8 ). I repeat, there are missing files (bluetooth and d-bus configuration files) and this image IS NOT TESTED BY, I GIVE NO WARRANTY, USE AT YOUR OWN RISK, I AM NOT A DEVELOPER, I JUST FOLLOWED INSTRUCTIONS, SO THIS can WORK BUT CAN RUIN/BRICK YOUR DEVICE. YOU ARE WARNED.

But, if you decide to try, and you success to boot, and get root shell using adb/other shell program with the help of the injected su binary, you can dump the kernel image and upload here. Then, I will modify it to make it debuggable and insecure, flash into my device, then dump my full STOCK /system, then we will have both the stock /system (and derived rooted ones) and the stock kernel (and derived unsecured ones). This is the plan, it may work, but there is a big chance that you can brick your device if you flash this image or if you do it in a wrong way.

YOU WERE WARNED. IF YOU HAVE READ ALL THE ABOVE TEXT, the password for the archive is XDA-DEV.

May the force be with you.

http://depositfiles.com/files/vuyvxtt5m (265MB)
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] zebluk:
Good move! I've actually done this with international version (YP-GI1CW). The resulting /system doesn't boot, but it's not a problem since you can adb from recovery mode, and dump the kernel.

Unfortunately, making it insecure and debuggable (and adb persistant) does NOT spawn a root shell. I'm currently working on this issue, Rebellos on IRC suggested it might come from Samsung's adbd (on device /sbin) refusing to give root, hence needing to be replaced by a more friendly version of adbd. Another problem: there seems to be some kind of checksum/sha1 check against "something", might be the reason for bootloops.

Modified default.prop boots fine tho, but has no effect; maybe some other files can be safely edited too. If anyone knows more about how to patch initramfs without having bootloops, any info would be appreciated.

bluk
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] alice90:
So why don't you upload your stock kernel image? If there are some checksum checkings, it must be also there in the initramfs isn't it? We can try to find using IDA Pro.

And are you going to try to replace/patch the adbd?
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] zebluk:
Didn't upload it because I don't think it's that useful for ppl. They might just brick their US SGP4.2, I only got INTL kernel.

About the checksum/sha1, it appears on the Kernel partition between the partition header and the start of kernel (offset 0x240 iirc), so it's neither in the Kernel nor in initramfs. I suppose there's some sort of hardware checking but idk.

I noticed the Kernel bootlooped when I manually (un)cpio initramfs, there also something unclear here. If I just hexedit the ramfs, semms to cause less problems. So I'll try injecting with hexedit until I figure that out.

And yeah I tried replacing adb, injecting su on various places, all fails for now; I think it's related to the issue described above. More on that later.

YP-GI1CW stock kernel, DO NOT flash on other devices

bluk
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] alice90:
Thank you.

Do you use mkbootimg when recreating (after editing) the boot image? If yes, what kernel command line string do you use for the --cmdline parameter?

You said you have a root-injected into /system device which doesn't boot but you can access root command line using recovery mode. Can you do `cat /proc/cmdline` so we can know the correct command line when creating a boot image?

Added:

OK it seems the command line can be extracted from the original image, and in this case it is empty
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] zebluk:
I've tried several prebuilt scripts like mkbootimg, abootimg and others, noone worked for me. So I ended up injecting using:

dd if=<gzipped ramfs> of=<kernel dump (the whole 8MB)> bs=512 seek=<ramfs offset in the kernel dump divided by 512> conv=notrunc

The kernel command-line was left empty, as the zeroes in the partition header show (partition spec HERE thanks Rebellos)

The cmdline on the su-injected device looks weird I think there's a bug somewhere and the end is not showing. But apparently this command line is nowhere to be found in the kernel dump so I think it's invoked automatically somewhere

# cat /proc/cmdline
videoout=omap_vout omap_vout.video1_numbuffers=6 omap_vout.vid1_static_vrfb_alloc=y omapfb.vram="0:4M" androidboot.serialno=c08001b16c3132f loglevel=0 androidboot.carrier=wifi-only version=Sbl(1.0.0) 2012-03-17 18:54:00 androidboot.mode=reboot_recovery bootmode=2 androidboot.current_panel=0(

bluk
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] alice90:
mkbootimg works for me.

I have extracted the kernel image and initrmfs from the boot image you have provided, then ungzipped the initramfs, then hex edited it to fix the default.prop (I could extract using cpio then compile back, but hex edit is better I think), then created some different unsecured kernels (I will upload them if you want to try). The thing is, the new boot images that I generate are ~5.5 MB (from 3.5 MB kernel + 2 MB initramfs), but your provided kernel image is ~8.2 MB, so what are thos additional MBs are? [Edit: it seems those MBs are just junk 0xFF bytes in the end of the image, so, no problem)

Your method with dd could have worked only if your new gzipped patched initramfs is the same size as the original initramfs, in my case they differ a bit.

Added:

Here are two unsecured kernel images based on international kernel by zebluk (NOT US version)

http://depositfiles.com/files/xskjuaic6

Don't use them until you know what you are doing and risking!!! password: XDA-DEV
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] zebluk:
Thanks for the images!

True, mkbootimg generates smaller images which don't work on my device, but even worse than bootloop, lead to blackscreen. The 8MB contains padded 0xFF as you noticed, but also a mysterious 512bytes key just before them, wonder what's its role, maybe Sammy's public key?

And oh yeah, didn't mention, but when I use the dd command above, I previously make a 2048000 bytes file filled with zeroes, on top of which I dd the zramfs, and this file is the one that gets injected into the kdump. Not sure it's needed as the END_OF_ZIP mark should stop the decompression, but it's safe.

I have go to away for an hour then I'll try your kernel image!

bluk
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] alice90:
Hmm, so, maybe the lack of that key (or signature?) is the cause that the new images are causing boot loop/black sreen? Anyway, will think about it after you try the image and it doesn't work ;)
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] zaclimon:
Don't know if this can serve but I have scripts for decompiling and recompiling the normalboot.img. They're in the attachements.
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] zebluk:
So, kernel 1 booted, gratz! Unfortunately, no root. That at least prooves mkbootimg wasn't responsible, but most likely cpio (not confirmed yet).

Kernel 2 leaded to blackscreen; seems you edited the header?

@zaclimon: thanks for the scripts but I'd rather not use cpio for now :)

bluk
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] alice90:
the first kernel was created by:

./mkbootimg --base 0x81800000 --kernel normalboot.img-kernel --ramdisk normalboot.img-ramdisk.cpio.gz -o ypgi1cw-boot-unsecured-nocmdline.img

and the second:

./mkbootimg --kernel normalboot.img-kernel --ramdisk normalboot.img-ramdisk.cpio.gz -o ypgi1cw-boot-unsecured-nocmdline-defbase.img

the difference is the --base 0x81800000 (I have extracted this value from the stock image)

The no root is strange though.. The default.prop was

#
# ADDITIONAL_DEFAULT_PROPERTIES
#
ro.secure=0
ro.allow.mock.location=1
ro.debuggable=1
persist.service.adb.enable=1

Is there anything else that I should have been edited?
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] alice90:
@zebluk

Silly question, but..

When trying my insecured kernel, did you commanded `adb root` before the `adb shell`?

Added 1:

And what does `adb shell getprop ro.secure` command prints?

Added 2:

And, there is another option I think.

We can inject the su binary into the kernel initramfs's /sbin/, then use it in the booted system to get root and dump the FULL stock /system image. What do you think?

Added 3:

And here is the su and busybox injected kernel image, password is the same:

http://depositfiles.com/files/j5jydif6f
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] zebluk:
Thanks for your image! Booted well, but no root again and so, no access to /sbin/su

Your default.prop is just like mine, I think there's no need to put anything else.

Couldn't inject su before, got blackscreens. Did you hexedit-inject it?

Btw, here's the shell output:

$ adb root
restarting adbd as root
$ adb remount
remount failed: Operation not permitted
$ adb shell getprop ro.secure
0

I think adbd auto-restarts to noroot mode each time I adb root, because noticed the device gets temporarily unavailable. Tried to race "adb remount" but no luck so far. I think we need to inject a friendly adbd in /sbin, it might be the cause of root block.

bluk

EDIT: s/adb shell id/adb remount
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] alice90:
What do you mean by no access? What happens when you do `/sbin/su`? No permissions or file not found?

If it is because the lack of permissions to access the contents of /sbin, I can patch the init.rc to mount the /system in read-write mode, copy the /sbin/su into /system/bin/, then remount the /system in read-only (default). Then we will have the su in accessable place. But the contents of /system will be altered, so we will not have vanilla unaltered stock /system image. What do you think?

No, I've unpacked the cpio, copied the su into the /sbin, chmod it 6755, then repacked+gzipped the cpio.
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] zebluk:
Got quite the same idea; patched the init.rc to operate on /data and.. got root yey! Stock factoryfs coming soon.

bluk
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] alice90:
Congrats!!!

So, the method is proved working, is somebody with US version going to try to help me by flashing this rooted image then extracting the kernel image from the recovery mode, though it is risky:
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] zebluk:
Wait; as I'm the only one with restore options, I should try first. Just give me time to finish the INTL images, and I'll start working on US stuff when I'm back home (ETA 2h).

bluk
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] baladev:
it's amazing what two of you have managed to achieve in a couple of days. Congratulations!!! To be honest i thought GS 4.2 would never get root because a few had tried and failed.
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] alice90:
Thank you :)

OK, but you don't have a device with US factoryfs, don't you?
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] zebluk:
If US factoryfs doesn't brick my device maybe the reverse is true... but yeah, probably pointless :)

bluk
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] alice90:
OK, then if it's safe for you, try please.

When dumping your partial factoryfs, what files were not dumped in your case? The same bluetooth and dbus configs (that was in my case) or other files?
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] zebluk:
Just back, sorry. Yeah those files only, /etc/bluetooh/<4 .conf files iirc> + /etc/dbus.conf

Now building roms, I'll make a new thread for those I guess. Don't forget you can meet me on IRC channel #xda-devs to get things done quicker.

bluk
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] Yippingbyrd:
I've been gone for two pages' worth of stuff and it's a bit tl;dr for me but it definitely looks like progress is being made!

I'm not sure if I should send my bricked 4.2 into Samsung or we're close enough to me being able to flash it back into commission, but I'm still guessing the former is a better option for now.
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] k4ry4k:
Hi friend! Je suis le friend that talk you in irc the other night ;)

I am very happy with your and alice work. Thank you very much!!

I am waiting for the roms :)

Can you publish here the link of your new thread? Merci :)

Enviado desde mi YP-GI1
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] zebluk:
Hey Yippingbyrd; if your device is bricked already, there's less risk trying the ROMs. I would advise checking the PIT before, making sure the layout matches between US and INTL. I'll attach mine at end of the post so you can compare.

And btw the ROM upload is finally done!

Flash at your own risk

Stock and su-injected ROMs for YP-GI1CW ONLY

I'll make a dedicated thread later, need some sleep.

bluk
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] Consumers:
Sorry, I'm just a newbie who's lurked here a while, but does this mean that it should successfully root the device now?

Nonetheless, thank you very much for your hard work!
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] Yippingbyrd:
Thank you but I'm not completely sure what software I should be using to flash these. Keep in mind I can only get into download mode with this brick.

Nevermind, just tried Odin3 with the su .tar. Claimed to work on Odin3 but when it restarted it was the same broken Galaxy II bootscreen. Didn't start up or anything. Any specific instructions? Should I re-partition it? Or run the kernel first? I don't really know. And yeah, I know it's not the NA version but I figure I should try it anyway.
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] alice90:
So the international version didn't work for you?

How did you brick your device? If you only altered your /system, you can flash my rooted incomplete /system (several posts back, a long post with depositfiles link in the end), then try to boot in recovery mode, dump the kernel image, upload it here, I will root the kernel, flash into my device, dump my stock /system, upload here, and then you will finally recover your /system.

We need somebody to do this. Any volunteers?

P.S.

I've forgotten to tar my rooted /system image before uploading, so you decide to try it, tar it before flashing with Odin.

Added:

No! Don't do that re-partition thing! And no need for flashing kernel if you didn't messed with it previously.

Hopefully yes, the files to root the international version are already uploaded by zebluk. To success with the US version we need a volunteer who should risk and temoprary (hopefully) brick his device to gain root access and dump the kernel, if we get the kernel we can have the stock rom, so he then can recover his bricked device.
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] baruch6132:
alice u have a us version?

and is yippingbird trying zebluk's thing?
[Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0] alice90:
yes, I have a us version.

it was night for him, and now it's...... about 8:30am at his place, so we can wait until he wakes up and see what's that he wants to do :)