KindleTool: Create/Unpack Kindle update files

[NiLuJe]

I'm back!

So, err, yeah, those updated packages will really happen sometime soon ^^. With a bit of luck, I'll manage to break things in new and interesting ways (after all, I did manage to run a rm -rf Kindle from the wrong directory only yesterday, so, yeah, NOT RUSTY! )

Don't expect much activity from me for a while though, I have something like 4 months of posts to go through... -_-".

And to answer the repack question, provided you don't need to change the content of the package, the easiest way is probably simply to do a double convert (.bin => tgz, then .tgz => .bin), no need to even extract it (which helps avoiding directory structure issues, depending on how you repack it, and potentially double/wrong sig/dat files, if you happen to be running an old kindletool version).
Basically:

kindletool convert update_blah.bin
kindletool create ota2 -d kindle5 update_blah.tar.gz update_blah_repack.bin

IIRC.

[NiLuJe]

First post updated with new binaries (Lin/Win/Cygwin). Nothing fancy, just making sure everything still builds correctly on all platforms .

[NiLuJe]

The 5.3.7 Kindle Touch update uncovered some oversights in the RecoveryV2 update format handling. Some changes to fix those oversights have been pushed to git .

[NiLuJe]

Released v1.5.9.

* With, err, I dunno, changes and stuff? (mostly the aforementioned RecoveryV2 tweaks)

Also, the return of the OS X binary! Yay! (So, yeah, mostly tagged a release because I had my hands on a MacBook for the evening )

[Degru]

So I'm looking for a way to get the FreeDownload hack (Download any filetype in browser) to work on the silver Kindle 4. The hack currently only has Kindle 3/DX/2 versions. The hack only displays a progress bar while using curl to download a file, so the lack of keyboard shouldn't be a problem. Any idea on how to do this?

I've currently been able to extract the Kindle 3 Wifi version of the hack into a directory, but am unable to create a Kindle 4 version (./kindletool -d k4 create /path/to/directory/) from either the .tar.gz file or the directory. (Invalid update type.)

[NiLuJe]

@Degru: Don't confuse porting a hack to a different FW/model and simply repacking a package.

While the latter is easy enough to do, you'll most likely have to tweak the code/scripts of the hack itself for it to work properly on another model/fw .

Cf. the top of this page for the quickest repack method, which most likely won't suffice/will potentially wreak havoc on your device in the case of the specific hack you're working with (I'm not sure the browser behaves the exact same way/is even the same codebase as what runs on FW 3.x).

Once you have tweaked the code to play nice with a K4, you can do what you were trying to, but with the proper syntax ;p

kindletool create ota2 -d kindle4 Relative_Path

Check post #2 for some example packages and the output from kindletool help for more details about the syntax . [Namely, since you mentioned an absolute path in your message, the -C switch, because by default kindletool behaves like tar, and if you feed it an absolute path, it *will* archive an absolute path, which you most decidedly do NOT want to do )].

[NiLuJe]

Refreshed binaries (bump to ~ 1.5.9.20), which is probably when 1.5.9 should have been tagged in the first place ;P.

* Mostly update the syntax/input validation for the recoveryv2 changes, so it doesn't segfault anymore when you use it wrong [That was a 1.5.9 regression].

[Degru]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

@Degru: Don't confuse porting a hack to a different FW/model and simply repacking a package.

While the latter is easy enough to do, you'll most likely have to tweak the code/scripts of the hack itself for it to work properly on another model/fw .

Cf. the top of this page for the quickest repack method, which most likely won't suffice/will potentially wreak havoc on your device in the case of the specific hack you're working with (I'm not sure the browser behaves the exact same way/is even the same codebase as what runs on FW 3.x).

Once you have tweaked the code to play nice with a K4, you can do what you were trying to, but with the proper syntax ;p

kindletool create ota2 -d kindle4 Relative_Path

Check post #2 for some example packages and the output from kindletool help for more details about the syntax . [Namely, since you mentioned an absolute path in your message, the -C switch, because by default kindletool behaves like tar, and if you feed it an absolute path, it *will* archive an absolute path, which you most decidedly do NOT want to do )].

It's the FreeDownload hack. It runs as a service, looks at the browser logs, and when you try to download a PDF/other file it downloads the file via curl, then auto-unzips it if it's a zip file. It also shows some sort of progress indicator at the bottom of the screen. Do you think something like this would need recoding for Kindle 4?

[knc1]

Originally Posted by Degru

It runs as a service, looks at the browser logs,
- - - - -
Do you think something like this would need recoding for Kindle 4?

Are the browser logs the same?
OR
Does the browser log parsing fit with the logs your device generates?

PS:
Have you considered the "fake register" modification?
OR
Purchase a "Broken for Parts" K4 and just exchange the identification data (or motherboard - takes skill, the K4 is glued) with yours.

[Degru]

Originally Posted by knc1

Purchase a "Broken for Parts" K4 and just exchange the identification data

How would I go about doing this? The utility in the jailbreak thingy requires an actual keyboard to enter a new ID. Also, wouldn't this re-enable special offers? That's one of the things I actually like about this Kindle...

[twobob]

That's not information we really want to get into sharing...
and totally OT for this thread.

Let's just "leave that there" shall we

[NiLuJe]

I may be completely dumb on this one, but what does the registration even have to do with the browser/FreeDownload anyway? :?

EDIT: Oh, yeah, right, profile/device of Degru. So, nothing. ^^

[NiLuJe]

If github wasn't verklemmt, KindleTool would now at least to a certain extent know about the WiFi variant of the PW2.

For the rest, keep the details coming in this thread! Thanks .

Keep in mind that this is all theoretical until, er, well, until something interesting happens ^^.

[ixtab]

Argh... If you use foreign words, use them correctly, you goddamn frog-eater*! It's "verklemmt"!

(*) Je rigole, bien sûr. Et d'après tout ce que j'ai appri, tu ne manges pas les grenouilles de toute façon...

[NiLuJe]

And I just came out of a linguistics class, so it's even more shameful! .

(But interesting, that's pretty much me trying make the word look more like what you would expect in French for that kind of sound )

Thanks for correcting me .


Yeah, the frog (legs) thing still sticks, but I think it's more of a regional dish now, though I couldn't even tell you from which, never having tried it myself . Now, snails, which sounds even crazier as a foodstuff, on the other hand, that I could answer (Bourgogne, what some might know as Burgundy, for its wine).