yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Skeetch79:
I think the boot.img came from someone with root and custom recovery. They basically just pulled the boot.img from their nandroid. The recovery.img, I believe, came from someone who rooted with Motochopper who did not install a custom recovery and just dd'd the recovery.img out of the appropriate block.

You would think there would be more "material" available. But as far as Samsung states - the minute we change the software in any way we void our warranty, so that is their out. Maybe we are all learning about this device together, so maybe it is possible no one is at the level yet to be the authority? All I know is that before I changed anything, I installed Philz Touch Recovery and Rooted and made a nandroid. So at least I have a backup of my system to fall back to, albeit rooted.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Roland_D:
I see your point.... And I see Samsung's point as well.. I understand a DevEd is for developers and it's gonna be tinkered with but we are not asking Samsung to fix our phones when bricked... just to give us the firmware to do it. I mean there are VZW odin images...

Anyhow is Philz Touch CMW based or is it a totally new recovery?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] lortay78:
I'm still waiting on my developer edition in the mail. I had an mdk that went south and I couldn't get a refurb that wasn't me7. I'm really glad for all the work you guys have done to figure out how to get root and custom recovery on this device. However, I kept reading about people having problems with radios and gps when trying to flash custom roms. That is why I bought this phone. I anticipate running aosp based roms pretty much exclusively.

I don't mind paying the price for the device, but I still have the option of returning it and just buying a used MDK phone from swappa or something. If I am going to run into problems running cm on this device, I'm kind of leaning in that direction. I'd almost prefer to "vote with my dollars" on a developer phone to help insure the future of unlockable bootloaders, but not if I have to run touchwiz stock for the next two years.

Are any of you running aosp based roms with say ktoonsez kernels and having problems? I'm really glad someone is working on a non-loki recovery because that seems to be a pretty basic need too. (at least for those of us who like twrp.)

I'd love to keep the ability to return the dev phone to stock, but if I can keep the bootloader unlocked nomatter what, I'd dive into a custom rom so long as I could always flash back to the consumer mdk software. I realize that would render my dev device a non-dev device, but I'd hope someone was able to solve that going forward.

Thanks in advance for any advice or knowledge.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] equake:
I believe TWRP is another alternative Recovery. Safestrap uses TWRP and bypasses bootloader lock on the consumer edition ME7 ROM. Its still in beta but is works well from reading the thread. I've used it on Bionic/RAZR and is excellent.

Samsung seems very coy about these Dev devices but it seems that they should be relockable/unlockable like the GPe devices but since fastboot is diable its not clear how that could be done without actual specs.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Skeetch79:
Motorola used to host and make available images for the Wifi Xoom. You would simply download what you needed and reboot the Xoom into fastboot mode and flash system.img, then data.img, recovery.img and boot.img....followed by a reboot and - bam - back to stock. Wonder if they will do the same for Moto X and Maxx that they are releasing.

Philz Touch Recovery is CWM based...it even stores the backup in a folder on your SDCard named "clockworkmod"

I think the VZW odin images were leaked, not supplied. I have inquired about leaked images for the Dev device, but the response I got was that they are in possession of someone on one of the forums but due to the casualness to which Samsung fires off Cease and Desist letters the individual is unwilling to release them to the public.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Roland_D:
Yes, I am currently on a ME7 consumer device (waiting for my DE to come in the mail) using SafeStrap to run JellyBeans.

It works flawlessly but every ROM you install must be compatible with stock ME7 kernel as it's shared by both the stock and the virtual partition and right now there is no kexec solution so... no custom kernels.

Funny thing I listed my phone for sale last week planning of buying a DE when I realized it was locked for good... Then a few days ago Hashcode came out with SS and I almost didn't sell my phone anymore... Then the bid went over 500 so I figured what the heck! LOL

Well it's a shame we can't get a hold of those files... That'd be sweet.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] lortay78:
I'm in almost the exact same scenario. I just don't want another layer of problems when running roms on a devEddevice. I'm assuming that people just quit posting once they figure out what works, but I'm not going to be happy if I buy this thing and then can't run the rom I want for some reason. I read about kernel modules someone posted, but they seemed to be for tw roms/kernels only.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Roland_D:
I assume you are talking about the DEV-modules.zip that can be found in one of the early posts... The person that posted the link said that those solve issues with wi-fi and such on some roms running stock kernels but any custom kernel would do the trick as well so...

Right now on SS I have to flash a similar ME7 module to make the installed rom work with the stock kernel so nothing new to me... As long as it works..
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] lortay78:
I guess I'm going to roll with the dev phone then. If I can be of any use to the effort of building an odin image, someone let me know. I have a linux environment in place. Should be here by the 25th.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Skeetch79:
We would need as close to stock images as possible. i know how to create a tar.md5 from an .img file using cygwin and a few command lines.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] lortay78:
Okay. I figured that part out too, to make a tar.md5 out of a recovery .img. I just need to refresh on how to pull the .img's to begin with. I guess I just dd the individual partitions. I think I can learn it from this thread and some googling. It seems like someone has everything except the stock recovery? Is that right? I have a few days to try and figure it out.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] equake:
I think there has been problems replicating the stock image from the binaries. The closest is the rooted deodexed ROM posted in the threads.

The XOOM was supposedly a Nexus type device for Honeycomb like the GNex so that is why its fairly unadulterated.

Whats ironic is the GPe version doesn't even have factory images because they are not supported by Google proper but by Samsung.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Skeetch79:
The stock recovery is in this thread. I believe Bait-Fish posted the recovery.img with the stock boot.img

But to list and pull your phone's various "blocks"

With Root acess on your Phone:

1. connect your phone to your PC with USB debugging enabled

2. Open terminal window on PC

3. Assuming you have ADB properly installed and configured type "adb shell" - if it works, ADB will find your device and you will see "shell@android:/ $ "

4. Then type "su"

5. Your phone may prompt for Root access, grant it

6. You should see "root@android:/ #"

7. type "ls -l /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/" and hit enter (those are lower case "L"'s in "ls" and "-l"

8. This will spit out all the blocks for your phone

9. If you want to pull the boot partition, type "dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p20 of=/sdcard/boot.img"

10. Substitute the 2-digit number after 0p to denote a different block and of course change all the output names to reflect what you are pulling (i.e. for system type: "dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p16 of=/sdcard/system.img"

11. Be vary careful you pull the right block and name the output correctly

12. All files are saved to your SDCard (phone's internal SDCard not your external Card) so you will have to retrieve them

13. That should be it

I have not independently verified converting these files to tar.md5's and flashing them back via ODIN. So proceed at your own risk.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Roland_D:
This is a GREAT step-by-step.. Thanks as I said I don't have my phone yet but I can give this a try as soon as I get it... now I assume I would need to be rooted right?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Skeetch79:
Yup, I list that you need root in the line over my numbered list.

I do caution again, that if you accidentally pull a block and name it as something else and then flash it back you can do some very serious damage....maybe irreparable.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Roland_D:
Ok... cause what I am trying to understand is if theoretically the 'system' img after being converted to be flashed with Odin will carry over the root... I'm thinking yes... So there is virtually no way to get an unaltered system img.. this is the closest we can get.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Skeetch79:
True. I believe you are correct.

When you use motochopper or a custom recovery to install root, SuperSu (or superuser) is placed in "/system/app/". You can always uninstall SuperSu (superuser) from /system/app/ and reinstall it from the play store and it will now reside in /data/app/. However, "su" will be present in /system/xbin/ in either case.

I believe to truly have an unaltered system image we would need the stock image firmware from samsung or leaked to us by someone who has it.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] lortay78:
Well, obviously I'd like a failsafe for an insurance return or something, but mostly it would be nice to odin back to something that will work. I'm thinking that if we are able to even flash back to consumer edition MDK, I would be a lot happier than I am now stuck on ME7. I'm excited to get the phone, and grateful for your step by step instructions, and for all of you who have figured out as much as you have about the phone. Thanks!

I'll definitely pull those blocks when I get the phone, but I doubt i'm going to try and flash them unless I have already screwed up the phone. What I really hope, is that I'll never have to Odin flash anything on this phone again, once I have a custom recovery.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Bait-Fish:
Between me and asharad, we both posted all of the pertinent files to dd back to stock. It seems possible, untested by me, to tar.md5 them into ODIN flashable files. I hesitate to think we can build a single ODIN file to flash having read a remark by open1your1eyes0 elsewhere that the dd blocks don't quite mesh into an ODIN package properly (to that effect).

Be very careful dd'ing onto your phone. I've read it is not error tolerant. Check the MD5 to ensure your got the file good on your side before flashing. . .

I have only used one file, asharad's boot.img, to restore mine after using the old kernel swap root method.

Edit: Also, if you make a stock nandroid immediately after first ODIN'ing the recovery on but BEFORE flashing the root update zip, then you'll be able to later flash everything back to stock except recovery. Then ODIN the recovery back and you should be stock again. At least that's what I see to be the easiest way.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Skeetch79:
Do you mind reposting the links to the pertinent files or updating the OP with the links? Thanks
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Surge1223:
Does safestrap work on the dev edition? If it does you could pull the stock boot.img. Someone get the pit file. Do you have odin flashable files for your modem? I just made mdk and me7 odin flashable modems, I can probably help you guys out but I need the pit file.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Skeetch79:
It might be better just to start a new thread where in the original posting you have all the necessary links to all the stock files.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Bait-Fish:
Would the PIT file be within boot.img?

I dd'd my own system.img and I'm sure asharad did too. The file is large though so we didn't post the links publicly. I have used asharad's boot.img and rmanaka used my recovery.img, so they're proven.

I've been curious what scrosler's Dev modules and if we use SafeStrap, what we would need to keep our Dev Editions functional with SS. The multiboot ROM slot functionality is alluring.

Samsung's suggestion to go to Best Buy if we need to reflash firmware is a dead end. I dropped by one maybe a month ago and asked. The guy looked it up and only saw the retail phone versions there, Nothing Dev specific.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Surge1223:
Ok now what exactly are you guys trying to do? Im not sure how to get the pit file on windows. I use heimdall in linux to get it i can explain how for Linux but if you can you use heimdall in windows id do it to get the pit file. I need the pit file to be able to see the partitions names and write a script for the firmware.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Skeetch79:
I'd be interested in your system image if that is possible. Maybe you would be able to upload it to my Dropbox account or some other file hosting service. is it stock but rooted?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Bait-Fish:
Using invisiblek's instruction for getting a PIT from the S3, I got the following file using that command from Terminal Emulator.

out.pit

https://app.box.com/s/oe7pmcmn87v0901ui1sq

MD5:

5d74f0fb43d24ff9910eb272aff77185
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Surge1223:
Alright im taking a look ill report back
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Bait-Fish:
Ideally, it would be optimal to have an ODIN package to fall back on if we got our Dev Editions into trouble. So far we have not been fortunate enough to get a manufacturer leak, nor build one ourselves.

I tried Heimdall for Windows in WinXP but it failed to open, not a valid win32 application. I also tried lyriquidperfection's EFS Pro and PIT Magic but but failed one way or another there too.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Roland_D:
I am pretty sure you would need those modules to make the deved work with a rom's stock or modified stock kernel... Since right now it's the way ss works for me7 but with me7 modules.. Custom kernels as someone stated before in this thread should work out of the box without the need for any modules to be flashed.. But remember that the ROM's on the custom slots use the kernel on the 'stock' (read original/primary/safe) partition... So whatever kernel you use for your main ROM will be used by the other ones too and goes without saying that if not compatible may lead to various issues...

Sorry for the over killed explanation but I noticed many people are struggling to understand how the kernel situation works on ss... At least for right now until (if we ever) have a kexec solution..
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Bait-Fish:
I don't have a lot of time today but may be able to get it up later. It's ~2.7 GB but I think zipping it will help.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Surge1223:
I understand the kernel situation. I have a couple scripts I need the output from. let me get home first.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Skeetch79:
I actually had a conversation with the admin over at sxtpdevelopers...here is the convo:

ME: "Are you aware of any stock factory images that are available for the SCH-I545 Verizon Samsung Galaxy S4 Developer Edition variant? The firmware is OYUAMDK. Thanks."

ADMIN: "Yes but we were advised to lay off leaks due to Samsung slapping sites with cease aand desist "

ME: "Wow that would be a huge resource for owners of the Dev Phone to have. It is too bad Samsung does not support those owners by making those files available. So there is no way to share the files quietly huh? Our secret! :) LOL"

ADMIN: "Unfortunately no which sucks because that's how our forum got started leaks we have the access and the files but I prefer not to endanger myself and our sources "

So they are out in the "wild" but not "allowed" to be shared. Aren't pretty much all firmware files on this site and others leaks?

Bait-Fish....if I gave you the info to my box account would you be willing to upload your system image. I would do it in a PM.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Bait-Fish:
I have it uploaded to 4shared. I'm away at the moment but will pay the link here when I can.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Skeetch79:
Great. I am assuming it is a stock rooted system image?

Have you personally flashed it through ODIN?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Bait-Fish:
This is a stock rooted Dev Edition system.img using dd if/of. This is not yet ODIN ready. I haven't yet tried to prepare img files created with dd to tar.md5 yet. Someone else with experience can do that. I don't want to risk someone's phone in a n00bish attempt.

I zipped system.img which cut the size considerably.

http://www.4shared.com/zip/v_9BmI7O/system.html

Update: If that link doesn't work, use this one,

http://www.4shared.com/zip/v_9BmI7O/system.html

system.zip MD5

4B78CDA613516B2DC25083B1D472B72C

system.img MD5

0ac0955670840d830879fc2aaff52588

And, no, I have not dd'd this back onto my phone. So, it is essentially untested. Back when asharad and I were dd'ing our phones, our MD5s were matching as expected so I don't forsee anything wrong.

Edit: This image is rooted with SuperSU.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Skeetch79:
Grabbed it! Thank you so much! Though, I need to ask, I was under the impression that you needed root in order to dd a partition/block....how did you achieve this? Was it because of the unlocked boot loader?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Bait-Fish:
You know. . . I think you are exactly right. dd certainly needs su. It was a bit too long an my recollection was foggy. Yes, assume this is rooted (SuperSU). Shazbait!

On that note, if one was to get a stock nandroid after ODIN'ing a recovery on, then that system.img within the nandroid would be pristine. Sorry about the confusion. :o

I tried my best to retain an untainted phone while doing the dd's back then so that stuck in my mind more than recalling it required root, lol.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Skeetch79:
Heh, it is all good!

We will just need to be on the lookout for some new "fish" with a virgin Dev Ed Phone to install custom recovery and immediately pull a backup.

Think about it, if Samsung had just provided the images we would be missing out on all this fun! :)
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Roland_D:
I'll get the phone on Monday... Do you just need a nandroid?

BTW we have to find a way to get that leak... Come on torrent? Let's just put it on tpb and there you have it :P
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Skeetch79:
The leak? Talk to the Admin at sxtp Developers.....I believe his name is sextape?!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] equake:
I don't get what the big deal is especially with binary files being signed. There are two leaks already for the consumer ed. namely MDK and ME7. How do we convince him to upload the dev Ed. I thought the whole purpose of the dev Ed was to tinker
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] lortay78:
I don't think I'll get my phone until Wednesday, but I'll be happy to nandroid a clean factory rom. I'm a lot more comfortable with that than dd'ing. I am fairly comfortable with adb, fastboot, wheelie, nvflash, etc. But I'd need instructions for anything more advanced than making the nandroid. I'm happy to help the cause, and I'll be hitting up sextape tonight.

Edit: I sent him a PM. I am a big fan of donations, and I think this would warrant a good one. I'm hoping you guys will do the same. I feel it would very worth it if he points the way to a torrent.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Skeetch79:
I am a big fan of donations and community support, but he is obviously uncomfortable sharing the files due to Samsung's stance and supposed threats to others who have hosted their files. While it would be great to get the info and have the files as a safety net, I hate to be the pessimist, but I am not holding my breath on this one. :(
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Roland_D:
Well I'm not sure about the donation thing... If he is reluctant giving it away for free because of legal reasons if he sells it Samsung would who whoop his ass even harder cassis now there is a profit involved... Do you know what I mean?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] lortay78:
Yeah, you guys are right. I just thought every Odin file we've had was a leak. I was just a little too hopeful last night.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Skeetch79:
It does not hurt to keep trying though. It's just too bad these files are not more readily available. Who knows maybe miracle happen.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] asharad:
What we really need is a way to convert our dd images into ODIN images. Yes, we can already do that with recovery and boot, but not the rest of the files. I think I have a clue, but I'm not certain enough. I don't want to brick my phone trying.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Skeetch79:
I think if you dd the system image you can convert the img file into a tar.md5 using cygwin. You could move the system.img file to c:\cygwin\home\<windows login name\> and then proceed to open a cygwin terminal and issue these commands to create the tar.md5 from the img:

tar -H ustar -c system.img > system.tar

md5sum -t system.tar >> system.tar

mv system.tar system.tar.md5

it could work
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Toddricks:
I sure hope someone gets a odinable factory image for the dev gs4 soon. My wife is going back to an iphone, and I will take her mdk gs4 and sell my dev gs4 if I can get an odinable image for it..
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Skeetch79:
No one else has contacts within Samsung to help a few brothers out? Lol
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] rashly:
I just bought a dev edition, and I am unable to flash Phil's CWM in odin. It is failing when I try to flash it. In Odin mode, it says "Write protection: enable." Does that mean that the bootloader is locked? It came with version ME7.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Roland_D:
Wow how odd... Are you sure it was a DE? Did you get it from Samsung? I got mine yesterday and flashed philz touch like a champ... It had OYUAMDK firmware and a big writing DEVELOPER DEVICE on the package...
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] markwebb:
Wow..you would be the first with a Dev Edition with ME7...are you sure it is a dev edition? Again, the firmware should have OYUAMDK listed in the About Device in the Baseband Version area. Did you buy it from Samsung direct? Did you accidentally take the update? Again, just looking for some clues.

I wonder if Samsung recycled some returns from those early ones where some individuals took the ME7 update... I was one of them. It would be awful if they did. Luckily, I was in the 30 day return window and they credited me and sent me another one.

If you are still within the 30 day return window, give Samsung a call and get an RMA to return. You will have to re-order again on their site.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Skeetch79:
*DELETED*
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Skeetch79:
Stupid question but is the recovery file that you have a tar.md5, zip or other?

Also if you could post the screen shots showing baseband, kernel, build, etc. that would be very helpful - this update supposedly is to hit next month. Screen shot on the Samsung Galaxy S4 is done by pressing "Power + Home Button" - it might take a few tries to get it.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] equake:
Interesting, Its been said that ME7 relocks the bootloader even on a Dev Edition but its HW unlocked. Did you buy this from a third party like ebay, craigslist etc.

How do you know its a VZW Dev Edition?

Write enabled does not mean its bootloader unlocked/locked.

Which version of ODIN are you using? Which version of PHILz did you use?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Roland_D:
Yeah actually the most unsettling thing is that the DE should be HW unlocked... How can flashing me7 lock it down at all?? Supposedly there is no efuse to blow...

Sent from Eclipse TW edition on a Samsung Galaxy S4 DE
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] Skeetch79:
I smell something fishy here. Either he didn't actually get the DevEd after all (screen shots would be nice - that way we could see the baseband and version/build information), he tried flashing an unsupported format via ODIN or something else is going on.

The fact that he hasn't replied since his initial post is also curious.