KUAL: Kindle Unified Application Launcher (v2.7)

[knc1]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

@geekmaster: That should only happen when changing the registration status of the device (and maybe tinklering w/ the key db manually, but if you're doing that, I assume you know what you're doing), not a simple networking toggle :?.

Nope -
That just happened to me with the K2 (3G only) - -
Momentarily turn off airplane mode, it discovers the device is not registered and wipes out the MKK keys.

This really old device is being a real PITA to work with.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by knc1

Nope -
That just happened to me with the K2 (3G only) - -
Momentarily turn off airplane mode, it discovers the device is not registered and wipes out the MKK keys.

This really old device is being a real PITA to work with.

It happens on my registered devices too, both 3G and wifi-only. Backdoor lock (KUAL extension) is preventing it so far. As I mentioned previously, amazon also deposits a "not a test kindle" book, so remember to delete that book so you know when you must reinstall MKK.

If this ever happens on newer kindles, I suppose either a JB or MKK reinstall should fix it. I am beginning to appreciate the backdoor lock extension more and more. I only hope amazon does not end up blacklisting these kindles after repeatedly killing MKK on them...

[knc1]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

It happens on my registered devices too, both 3G and wifi-only. Backdoor lock (KUAL extension) is preventing it so far...

It might be part of the March 22nd changes - -

They told us "Your Kindle would not work" in all the e-mails - -
But they did not say they where going to actively disable third-party add-ins.
"Actively disable" is much more aggressive than the prior "We do not support".

and Yolina has just made a trouble report that reads a lot like:
"something just eat my MKK keys"
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...2&postcount=77

[knc1]

This may mean we have to learn how to use lipc-event-wait - -
wait for a change in wireless status and check, restore the MKK keys as required.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by knc1

... and Yolina has just made a trouble report that reads a lot like:
"something just eat my MKK keys"
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...2&postcount=77

I think the first support question for this soon-to-be popular problem should be: "Does your kindle have a new not a test kindle book on it?"

Originally Posted by knc1

This may mean we have to learn how to use lipc-event-wait - -
wait for a change in wireless status and check, restore the MKK keys as required.

Great idea. Thanks! Part of the MKK installer should be updated to include this "MKK self-necromancy" procedure. Perhaps it should also wipe out any "not a test kindle" books, too, just so folks can usefully anser the support question proposed above,

[knc1]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

I think the first support question for this soon-to-be popular problem should be: "Does your kindle have a new not a test kindle book on it?"

YES -
And read the date-time in the message, try to recall what you did then (should be only a few minutes past).

[knc1]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

I think the first support question for this soon-to-be popular problem should be: "Does your kindle have a new not a test kindle book on it?"Great idea. Thanks! Part of the MKK installer should be updated to include this "MKK self-necromancy" procedure. Perhaps it should also wipe out any "not a test kindle" books, too, just so folks can usefully anser the support question proposed above,

My first guess was wrong -
(Since I had USBnetwork running at the time, and I can't turn it off if I wanted to ...)

They did something else:

[root@kindle root]# find / -name '*.pem'
/etc/uks/pubprodkey01.pem
/etc/uks/pubprodkey02.pem
/etc/uks/pubhackkey01.pem

[root@kindle root]# ls -l /etc/uks
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root          272 Jun 16  2010 pubhackkey01.pem
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root          272 Oct 25  2009 pubprodkey01.pem
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root          451 Oct 25  2009 pubprodkey02.pem

Hey - they also set my clock for me:

[root@kindle root]# date
Mon Apr  4 15:11:57 CDT 2016

Isn't there a utility (find? ls? something?) that lets you list files 'modified after' ?

yup - -
find / -mmin -60

And the winner seems to be:

/var/local/java/keystore

Although the list is long, that was the first thing that caught my eye.

And this seems to confirm mischief being done:

[root@kindle root]# ls -l /mnt/base-us/documents/"Test Kindle Installation Result.txt" \
> /mnt/us/system/com.amazon.ebook.booklet.reader/reader.pref \
> /mnt/base-us/system/com.amazon.ebook.booklet.reader/reader.pref \
> /var/local/java/prefs/com.amazon.ebook.framework/prefs
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root          351 Apr  4 14:31 /mnt/base-us/documents/Test Kindle Installation Result.txt
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root          235 Apr  4 14:33 /mnt/base-us/system/com.amazon.ebook.booklet.reader/reader.pref
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root          235 Apr  4 14:33 /mnt/us/system/com.amazon.ebook.booklet.reader/reader.pref
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root          197 Apr  4 14:31 /var/local/java/prefs/com.amazon.ebook.framework/prefs

Well, upon inspection - that was just them setting the time and the timezone (this was the first connect since DST began - they had to change the offset seconds by an hour).

[geekmaster]

So now amazon is actively attacking us whenever they can, instead of just during updates?

However, with firmware-controlled wifi hardware in many kindles, I can see these recent active attacks are most likely them taking the easy way out to complying with the recent FCC mandate that has locked down many brands and models of wireless routers to no longer allow custom firmware such as openwrt or dd-wrt (even though the open source firmware is MUCH more secure than OEM firmware), despite the fact that the FCC claims such total lockdowns were NOT their intent:

FCC Says It Won’t Lock Down Your Routers

Manufacturers start to lock down Wi-Fi router firmware. Thanks, FCC.

Amazon might get MUCH MORE NASTY before this all ends, because the FCC will impose HUGE FINES if they do not comply in locking down the wifi hardware, and the easiest way to do that is a total lockdown.

Once again, government mandates to solve a nonexistent problem have unintended consequences that are biting us all in the behind (both amazon, and us in the kindle developer community who increase their sales AND provide their customers with free technical support).

As I posted before, amazon staff gave us (me, verbally) permission to share firmware images for "repair purposes", and they have also referred folks in their support forums to my "simple debricking" thread in the past. I find it sad that amazon is trying to take the easy way out, instead of just locking the wifi power and frequency adjustments (perhaps with a "binary blob" wifi driver), which is all the FCC demands of them. Sadly, their efforts are doomed because somebody could ship a kindle to the wrong country, and the wifi would violate radio rules whenever wifi is enabled, despite a total firmware lockdown.

Which all means we will have to work much harder to find new jailbreak methods AND to preserve our jailbreaks with firmware update "bridges", perhaps just giving up in the end as so many open source wifi router firmware developers have done...

[knc1]

I started a thread for this topic (shortly after you made your post) -
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=272716

[KrautHolg]

Greetings from Germany. By now I have three K4NT and on all three I updated to 4.1.3

On two of them I was successful getting KUAL to work again after a while, but with number three I am not so successful. I have been reading and rereading and when I try to do everything from the beginning again, I get the error code “Update unsuccessful” when trying to install Update_mkk-20141129-k4-ALL_install.bin

What could I be doing wrong?

The error message when trying to run KUAL is “This device is not authorized as a test Kindle by the developer of this item. Please contact the developer.”

Cheers!

KrautHolg

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by KrautHolg

Greetings from Germany. By now I have three K4NT and on all three I updated to 4.1.3

On two of them I was successful getting KUAL to work again after a while, but with number three I am not so successful. I have been reading and rereading and when I try to do everything from the beginning again, I get the error code “Update unsuccessful” when trying to install Update_mkk-20141129-k4-ALL_install.bin

What could I be doing wrong?

The error message when trying to run KUAL is “This device is not authorized as a test Kindle by the developer of this item. Please contact the developer.”

Cheers!

KrautHolg

The KUAL error message means that MKK is not installed. The MKK install depends on jailbreak, so you may need to run the jailbreak on it again, then reinstall MKK. If all else fails, use Kubrick (and after Kubrick you may still need to install the jailbreak seperately, as I did in a few cases).

[KrautHolg]

Thanks! I'll get on to it ASAP.

****

And thanks again! That worked. I mean doing the JB once more and reinstalling MKK. KUAL works fine now. I just wonder now why it wasn't necessary on the other two Kindles.....

Cheers!

KrautHolg

[knc1]

Originally Posted by KrautHolg

Thanks! I'll get on to it ASAP.

****

And thanks again! That worked. I mean doing the JB once more and reinstalling MKK. KUAL works fine now. I just wonder now why it wasn't necessary on the other two Kindles.....

Cheers!

KrautHolg

Duplicate posting is discourage at this site.
Please don't do it again = post only in a single thread please.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by KrautHolg

Thanks! I'll get on to it ASAP.

****

And thanks again! That worked. I mean doing the JB once more and reinstalling MKK. KUAL works fine now. I just wonder now why it wasn't necessary on the other two Kindles.....

Cheers!

KrautHolg

I wondered the same thing. The kubrick jailbreak seems intermittent on some devices, so I got in the habit of just installing the jailbreak as an extra step anyway, instead of "MKK fail, JB, and then MKK success". I did that for thousands of dollars of demo devices (purchased back when I still had money).

[geekmaster]

KUAL was working on my DXG. Then after I rebooted (20 second power switch hold, with wireless OFF) I cannot start KUAL. It gives me a popup message "The permissions to open the requested title have an invalid date. Please contact customer service."

I tried turning on wireless for a moment so the date was correct after the reboot, but KUAL still failed.

Then I reinstalled MKK (which said it was successful), however I still get that same error message when I try to run KUAL.

Any ideas (other than wiping /mnt/us and reinstalling everything)? Perhaps I just need to "touch" everything to get a fresh date on all the files on /mnt/us? I need a working root shell for that. I will try usbnetwork to do that...