TWRP for Karoo

[cye]

I'll post more info later, but here's TWRP ported for Karoo. You will need a unlocked bootloader to run this.

Please note that touch does not work when this image is flashed to /recovery. You must boot the image using fastboot instead:

Code: Select all

fastboot boot path/to/twrp.img

Edit: At least for versions up to 1.4.135.3, updates are served as full OTAs, and so it doesn't matter if you have a modified /system. Flash away!

Download here.

[cye]

Some notes:

The reason this image doesn't currently work in /recovery is because Mediatek devices don't enable touch firmware when booted into the /recovery partition. The fix for this would be to use a custom kernel, I believe, although I haven't looked in too much detail yet. You should be able to find info on XDA if you're interested in trying however.

Magisk works fine.

Play services can be installed after root by deleting the Karoo NLP app (in system), and flashing OpenGApps. You will want to do this *after* booting into a fresh install of the OS (contrary to normal OpenGApps) to be safe--at least one individual has reported soft bricking, maybe due to verity check fails. If you do so, would love to see some battery usage analysis.

I've updated the image to report the device (correctly) as a 'hx' device. So now, OTA updates should be able to be flashed unmodified.

[Steve]

Have you tried any non-touch-based recoveries on Karoo? Wondering if it might be better to find something else that could be flashed into recovery?

[cye]

I haven't, though you could probably port CWM. It might be more difficult, however, since the MT6735 is a fairly modern processor, and not many people still make non-touch recoveries.

To be clear, I haven't yet managed to compile any recovery from source yet; that'll likely require more extensive work.

[jhazelwd]

Just remember, if you replace your recovery first backup the default recovery, and second you won't be able to automatically apply ota updates as they typically require default recovery. Unless you're planning on using recovery a lot, it's easier to just boot to recovery via fastboot and leave your original untouched.

[Steve]

Does anyone know if the HH OTAs are file-based or block-based? Because a block-based OTA will fail if the system partition has been modified, but a file-based one might still work (e.g. if just additional stuff has been put on there, and none of the existing files have been modified). I assumed because Karoo is using 6.0, it will be block-based.

[nordog]

Way over my head is this.

[jhazelwd]

Looks like block based otas for 5.0 and later.

https://source.android.com/devices/tech/ota/nonab/block

[Steve]

Looks like block based otas for 5.0 and later.

https://source.android.com/devices/tech/ota/nonab/block

That's what Google wants them to do, but I was just checking if anyone has been able to verify that is indeed what they do.

[jhazelwd]

Ahh gotcha! I thought you had to apply them via block, or you'd break the Dm-verity check (so I was thinking you wouldn't have a choice). Hopefully someone can confirm definitively.

[cye]

So it looks like the official Android documentation is ambiguous on this, but I just wanted to confirm that Karoo's OTAs (as of 1.4.135.3) are block-based, but they fully replace /system, so it doesn't matter--they won't fail with a modified system.img.

[jhazelwd]

It would be nice to have a place to store/upload the OTA files for future use.

[dthempel]

Depending on the size and how many, this might be an option. Steve has the details on the hosting.

[Steve]

Agree that we should collect the OTA files. I'll have a think about how/where we could best host them.

[Steve]

The hosting plan has 20GB of storage. Which might sound like a fair bit, but that's going to fill up pretty quickly given that we're getting 1-2 OTAs every 2 weeks at the moment.

So what I suggest is that files can be initially uploaded here to the forum, but then I will move the file into an account I've created on androidfilehost.com (and edit the posting accordingly to point to that). So then the files can still be linked here but can be stored for free and won't compete for space with other uploads here (photos, guides, etc).

[jhazelwd]

That's a great idea. Agreed the otas are quite large and will eat that storage up in no time.

[Aeon]

Does anyone have a copy of an OTA file they'd be willing to post? Thanks!

[Johnboy693]

so what am I missing on getting twrp installed? This is what I've done.

1) enabled Developer options, USB debugging, and OEM unlocking
2) put twrp.img in the same folder as adb
3) opened cmd line in said folder
4) ran adb reboot bootloader
5) flashboot flash recovery twrp.img

and I get a failure error in adb.

Other questions I have

1)can I just disable Karoo NLP app? if not, can I backup the app in case I need it later?
2) is there a way to backup the recovery for the Karoo before I install TWRP? or will doing a backup in twrp be sufficient if I brick the device somehow.


Thanks guys!

[dthempel]

so what am I missing on getting twrp installed?

If you're not really sure what you're doing and need step-by-step, I might suggest you stop now. This forum, nor its contributors, will not be able to help you (or be responsible) if you actually hard "brick" your hardware. HH won't replace it, either. If you don't have $300 to waste playing around, I'd stick with the regular software updates.

[Johnboy693]

I know the risks, I've installed twrp this way countless times. Just because I feel like I'm missing something doesn't mean I don't know what I'm doing. The purpose of a forum is to discuss things like this I thought?