[Replicant] Testers welcome: Instructions to backup the modem partition (EFS)

Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli GNUtoo at cyberdimension.org
Sun May 12 21:17:45 UTC 2019


Hi,

== Installation instructions and background information ==
I've been reworking the installation instructions. 

Previously there was one installation instruction guide per group
of device. Now all the devices use the same installation instructions.

Thanks to that, the instructions are now easier to modify as you only
need to do the modification once, instead of 8 times.

It's also more modular to enable sharing the same instructions for
different purposes (upgrade, installation from scratch, etc), and
easier to test as some part of the instructions are generic and apply
to all supported devices.

While in the previous instructions, most of the devices didn't have
instructions to backup the modem data partition (EFS), I think it's
crucial to add such instructions as that partition can be corrupted in
certain circumstances. As it's very complicated to recreate the data in
that partition it's a very bad idea not to have any backups of it.

Once this is done, there are still room for improvement like:
- Adding instructions to install Replicant through 'adb sideload', as
  this was an option in the older instructions.
- Writing more general backup instructions for user data, along with
  tips to move the data of applications commonly used on Replicant such
  as silence for instance.

However the basics will be done once the EFS instructions will be
available for every devices. 

It would also be a good idea to test again the instructions to make
sure that everything works as intended.

== How to help ==
As for the instructions to backup the modem partition[1], I've only
added support for the following devices:
* Galaxy S 2 (I9100)
* Galaxy SIII (I9300)
* Galaxy SIII 4G (I9305)
* Galaxy Nexus (I9250)
* Galaxy Note 2 (N7100)

As I don't have access the compatibles device that have a modem data
partition, I will need help to make and test the instructions on
the following devices:
* Galaxy Note (N7000)
* Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 (P3100)
* Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 (P5100)
* Galaxy Note 8.0 (N5100)

To help, first make sure that you can get an adb shell in the recovery.
The instructions on how to do that are explained in the same wiki
page[1].

Once this is done, the next step is to paste the output of the command
below, in a reply to this mail, along with the name of the device you
have:
> adb shell "ls /dev/block/platform/*/by-name/EFS"

For instance here what it gives for a Galaxy SIII (I9300):
> $ adb shell "ls /dev/block/platform/*/by-name/EFS"
> /dev/block/platform/dw_mmc/by-name/EFS

This will enable me to make instructions for that device, that will
then need to be tested in a second time.

References:
-----------
[1]https://redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/wiki/BackupTheEFS

Denis.
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 833 bytes
Desc: OpenPGP digital signature
URL: <http://lists.osuosl.org/pipermail/replicant/attachments/20190512/d1fcd264/attachment.asc>


More information about the Replicant mailing list