[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] paulobrien:
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Note: This application is no longer being updated and is only recommended for use on Froyo builds.

What is VISIONary?

VISIONary (so named because it was originally an application designed for the T-Mobile G2 / HTC Vision) is an application you install on your device that allows you to Temproot or optionally Permroot your device, using the 'rageagainstthecage' exploit.

How do I use it?

It's pretty simple really. The options appear as follows:

Temproot on boot - use this to automatically Temproot on each boot (I suggest Temprooting manually first to confirm all is well before enabling this)

Run visionary.sh after root - this allows you to run a script (as root) after rooting. The script file is /data/local/visionary.sh

Set system r/w after root - this allows you to leave the /system partition read/write after root

Temproot now - root temporarily (the root wil be lost after reboot)

Attempt permroot now - attempt to apply a permanent root (please read the safety information below before doing this!)

Unroot now - this will unroot your device

Safety information!

You use VISIONary at your own risk! Although we test it as much as possible, we are unable to guarantee that weird things won't happen.

As a rule, the 'Temproot' option of VISIONary should be completely safe. It installs an application (Superuser) in the conventional way and then sets up a 'ramdisk' for the other parts, which is wiped on boot. As such, no changes are made to the system partition of your device, hence it is considered a 'safe options'.

Permroot on the other hand is inherently more risky. Permroot does make changes to the /system partition of your device. Technically speaking the only change that is made is the installation of a small file to /system/xbin, but any system partition change comes with risks. If you try to permroot, be aware that you might get into a situation where your device will not boot. For this reason, we recommend you have a 'safety net'.

In general, the best 'safety net' for going ahead and doing a Permroot is ensuring that you have a copy of the stock ROM to reinstall should things go wrong. This should be an original update EXE or zip from your device manufacturer / provider which matches the software version currently installed on your device. Bear in mind that flashing older versions is often not possible, so if your device has been updated over-the-air, an update may not yet be available in this form. Hence, you may not be able to find a 'safety net' and attempting to Permroot would be inherently risky. For HTC devices at least, one option would be to Temproot, edit the MISC partition to revert the 'mainver' to an older version, thereby allowing you to flash an update older than the currently installed version should things go wrong. That option is currently outside the scope of this post, although I will provide details on how to accomplish this in another post.

Got your safety net? Aware of the risks? The download is below.

Download

r14 - (see changelog below for details) - [url="http://android.modaco.com/content/software/320350/19-nov-r14-visionary-one-click-root/]DOWNLOAD[/url]

The download is in APK format (if it is downloaded with a 'zip' extension simply rename). Copy to your device and click to install (or run 'adb install -r com.modaco.visionaryplus.r14.apk' if you have the SDK installed).

NOTE: USB DEBUGGING MUST BE ENABLED FOR VISIONARY TO WORK!

And finally

Details on how to donate should you wish to do so are in download topic at MoDaCo.

Enjoy!

P