[Hero CDMA General] ffolkes:
The problem: After installing AOSP 1.6, I noticed protected apps weren't showing in Market, including some I had bought in 1.5. I restored my 1.5 backup and found the same thing. Instructions on this thread (http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=605028) were able to get my apps back in 1.5, but upon reflashing 1.6 I was back to square one.

Update:

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I started fresh to test things out, trying both AOSP 1.6 and gbhil's modded AOSP 1.6. I wiped, then flashed and booted, then flashed gbits and booted, then setup my google creds, then rebooted and flashed superuser, then installed busybox then rebooted.

That's my baseline. From that point, I observed:

- Market showed a limited amount of apps. One time My Downloads had all my apps, but upon trying to install one I got a "Download unsuccessful" error. I'm assuming when the download was initiated my fingerprint was sent out, and then Market filtered My Downloads to reflect that unofficial fingerprint. Meaning, most apps were missing again.

- I updated build.prop with the fingerprint from stock 1.5 (see below for instructions). I downloaded a random app (Twidroid Free) so it'd send out my "new" fingerprint, and thus remove the filter limiting my apps. Soon after all apps were appearing again. Be patient here, sometimes it doesn't update instantly. One gave a download error, but trying to install it again solved it.

- Just to test, I edited my build.prop back to whatever was default with the 1.6 rom I was using, then rebooted. My Downloads still showed everything, but as soon as I installed any random app, that unofficial fingerprint was sent out and my apps were limited again.

I don't know enough about Market to know the repercussions of what I did - does it think I have 1.5, so will it be showing me only 1.5 compatible apps? Either way, I'd rather have access to all 1.5 apps than only some 1.6 apps. And aren't most (not all, but most) 1.5 apps backwards compatible with 1.6 anyway? So the only real downside is 1.6+ apps will be hidden. If someone has the fingerprint for an "official" 1.6 device, they could change their fingerprint to that and conceivably have the best of both worlds (protected apps AND 1.6+ apps).

How To Change Your Build Fingerprint:

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1. Connect your phone.

2. Pull /system/build.prop | For Mac users: ./adb pull /system/build.prop ./

3. Using your favorite editor, find the line that starts with ro.build.fingerprint and put a # in front of it.

4. On a new line, put: ro.build.fingerprint=sprint/htc_heroc/heroc/heroc:1.5/CUPCAKE/85027:user/release-keys

5. Save the file.

6. Remount the filesystem as read/write | For Mac users: ./adb remount

7. Log into the phone | For Mac users: ./adb shell

8. Exit the shell by typing: exit

9. Now push the file back. | For Mac users: ./adb push ./build.prop /system/build.prop

10. Reboot | For Mac users: ./adb reboot

11. Go to Market, and install something to send out the new fingerprint.

12. Within a few minutes you should see all apps. If not, try rebooting. If still not, try clearing Market's cache (Settings->Applications->Market->Clear Cache)

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Hope this helps someone.

-TM