what is the Right Way™ to install a differential update when rooted?

[starkruzr]

now that unrooting via Magisk is no longer an option I'm not sure how to do it. I have tried just writing the original boot partitions back to the device in EDL but that previously got me in a whole lot of trouble. it's possible it was just me confusing myself and writing the files for the wrong device, but I don't know.

[Renate]

Why is Magisk rooting not an option?

Lazy way: Always keep track of full updates. Then you can just flash the last full update and the newest incremental update.

[starkruzr]

Originally Posted by Renate

Why is Magisk rooting not an option?

Magisk unrooting is not an option. It's removed from the UI.

Lazy way: Always keep track of full updates. Then you can just flash the last full update and the newest incremental update.

What do you mean by "keep track?" Are you able to download the updates independently from somewhere? And by "just" flash the last full update: how/with what tools? Is that something you can do from recovery? It's not clear that a lot of this kind of functionality is available in fastboot.

[dcarvil]

Originally Posted by starkruzr

Magisk unrooting is not an option. It's removed from the UI.

I have the latest stable Magisk version 28.1, and the "Uninstall Magisk" button is on the Home screen, right where it has always been. Is unrooting something different?

[Renate]

Originally Posted by starkruzr

What do you mean by "keep track?"

Well, which device are we even talking about?

When you find out the the next (or last) full update either save a copy somewhere or save the link. It will be around for a while.

[farfromrefuge]

FOr the process is now quite easy. On each update i store on my computer the non patched boot.img (before i update by extracting from upx)
Then:
* flash back the previous stock boot.img
* update through box OTA
* patch the new boot.img (if different) with magisk
* flash that newly patch boot.img

[dcarvil]

Originally Posted by farfromrefuge

FOr the process is now quite easy. On each update i store on my computer the non patched boot.img (before i update by extracting from upx)
Then:
* flash back the previous stock boot.img
* update through box OTA
* patch the new boot.img (if different) with magisk
* flash that newly patch boot.img

Theoretically that should work. However, the last time I tried it the differential OTA update refused to install. I had to download the full update and install it manually.

[farfromrefuge]

@dcarvil but how do you download full update for like beta03 or right now 4.0rc ?
Cause indeed right now 4.0rc does not want to work. Same error the hash of boot is not the one it expects. But i cant find the boot.img it expects (tried beta02 and latest 3.x build, beta03 update does not seem to come with an updated boot.img).

[dcarvil]

Originally Posted by farfromrefuge

@dcarvil but how do you download full update for like beta03 or right now 4.0rc ?
Cause indeed right now 4.0rc does not want to work. Same error the hash of boot is not the one it expects. But i cant find the boot.img it expects (tried beta02 and latest 3.x build, beta03 update does not seem to come with an updated boot.img).

Sorry, I don't know how to find a full update for beta firmware. I suggest asking in a thread for your device. A full update is not always available.

One other thing you could try with the OTA, is to flash the stock boot image to both slots instead of just the active slots.

[Renate]

It could be that the boot image itself is full although the update is incremental.
You could extract the boot image, manually replace it, fudge the old hash for the boot image to be the current hash. But you'd need to do a custom incremental update and that's always a problem.

If you like you can PM me your MAC and I can see if I can find a full update for it.

[starkruzr]

so, somehow I convinced myself that the Magisk "uninstall" button on the home screen didn't work anymore. I have no idea where I read this or whatever. but yeah, use that and differential upgrades apply with no problem whatsoever. then just re-root. question answered!