JB version - how to tell

[Ruskie_it]

Hey everybody,

A couple questions:

1) I have installed JB on my kindle quite some time ago; is there a way to tell - by inspecting local directory, looking on KUAL or anything else, which version of the JB I installed?

2) In case it is not the most recent, is it possible to "update" JB by simply installing the most recent one (fw version 5.4.5.1) on an already jailbroken device?

Thanks

[Ruskie_it]

PS: Question 1 also applies to MKK and SS Hack

[eschwartz]

Yes, simply reinstall the jailbreak. I believe the update_bridge-version.bin is what you want for that.

The jailbreak will bundle MKK, so no worries there.

Again, just reinstall any hacks to make sure you have the latest version.

[Ruskie_it]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Yes, simply reinstall the jailbreak. I believe the update_bridge-version.bin is what you want for that.

Hmmm, the JB instructions post say this, for fw 5.4.5.1:

This will NOT work on FW >= 5.4.5!
Currently, it does survive an update to >= 5.4.5
[...]
If your PW2 shipped on 5.4.5 or newer, all is not lost, you should be able to downgrade to 5.4.3.2 with a bit of trickery.

According to this, I should downgrade to 5.4.3.2 first, but this is for "new" Kindles, i.e. not already jailbroken.
Does this applies to already jailbroken Kindles, or can I just apply the new JB on top of the old one even if my fw is 5.4.5.1?

[eschwartz]

Like I said, use the bridge. It applies the jailbreak via an update.bin, since you already have the jailbreak certificate.

It will update your Kindle with the latest jailbreak goodies -- which includes bridging the Cowards Rescue Pack, sourcing an emergency script, and preserving jailbreak powers into fw5.6.1

[Ruskie_it]

Sounds great. Which is usually when things start to go really BAD.
I like BAD things. I am bored. Might give it a try.

Thanks!

[Ruskie_it]

Confirmed working!
For reference of whoever might want to do that.

Starting fw version: 5.4.5.1
Starting JB version: unknown
-
Final fw version: 5.4.5.1 (this is NOT fw update)
Final JB version: 1.13.N

I am specifying because I can not assume this will work in every condition - though I think it will

Process (aka What _I_ did):
- Download JB zip package
- Copy Update_jailbreak_bridge_1.13.N_install.bin to Kindle root folder
- Eject Kindle
- [HOME] -> [MENU] > Settings -> [MENU] > Update Your Kindle.
- After the reboot, copy the content of archive kindle-5.4-jailbreak.zip to Kindle root folder (kindle-5.4-jailbreak.zip is in the JB zip package)
- Eject Kindle
- [HOME] -> [MENU] > Settings -> [MENU] > Update Your Kindle.

I described all this just to let everyone know that yes: you have to apply both .bin packages: at first I wasn't sure because the "bridge" had the word "update" in it, and also because I had the impression from eschwartz post that it wasn't needed, but then I read the docs and got the opposite impression.

[Ruskie_it]

By the way, I see some JB leftovers in the Kindle root directory:

gandalf
bridge.conf
json-simple1.1.jar
developer.keystore
bridge.sh
jb.sh

Is it safe to delete them?

[knc1]

Originally Posted by Ruskie_it

- - - - -
At first I wasn't sure because the "bridge" had the word "update" in it, and ...
- - - - -

All of our packages that use the Amazon provided installer must fit the Amazon expected filename pattern.
That filename pattern includes the sub-strings: "update_" and ".bin"

Note: the "Jailbreak" package **does not** use the Amazon provided installer.

It can't, since there isn't (yet) a Mobileread developer certificate installed to check the package's validity.
(It is the JB's job to install that certificate.)

[Ruskie_it]

Originally Posted by knc1

All of our packages that use the Amazon provided installer must fit the Amazon expected filename pattern.
That filename pattern includes the sub-strings: "update_" and ".bin"

Understood. That may lead to confusion in this case, but it's not developer's fault, got it.
What about deleting leftovers? Is it possible or are they needed by bridge and/or JB?

[NiLuJe]

@Ruskie_it: The leftovers are most likely because you unpacked the jailbreak zip, but installed the bridge, not the 'from scratch' jailbreak. The scripts only cleanup their *own* mess . (So, yep, clean that up manually).

In most cases, if you want to update the jailbreak, either reinstall the jailbreak like you would on a vanilla device, or reinstall the bridge like any other hack, depending on what is most practical on your device/FW combo.

And to anwser the original question, no, you can't tell. The closest idea you can get is checking the SVN revision of your bridge script and matching that to the releases from the detailed changelog, but that requires a shell access. But that isn't 100% fool-proof, because my build tree is organized in a fairly chaotic manner, so not everything ends up in the right ChangeLog.

[Ruskie_it]

Hmmm... No, what I did was: first I copied to the root dir only the bridge bin. "Updated my Kindle" et voilà, the device rebooted - with some "all done" message that I can't remember but I saw it was there - and the bin was gone.
Done that, once again by the rules I copied the zip-in-the-zip content in the root folder, and again "Updated my Kindle". It said it was done, but when I connected the newly copied bin wasn't there, the other mess it was.

Maybe because the 2nd bin was not necessary as the bridge already updated the jb to latest version?

Too bad with the version thing. It's not only you, I have noticed that not so many hacks/tools have a way to tell wich version they are, and sometimes it's a bit problematic because there are version prerequisites in between them... :-/

[NiLuJe]

@Ruskie_it: Yup, you could have stopped after the first bin (the bridge). The second one would have been a jailbreak 'from scratch' install, except either you're already on 5.6.x, so it doesn't work, hence the leftovers, or the OTA updater got confused and did something stupid. Regardless, if you installed the bridge, you're done, just kill the leftovers manually.

There's no version info because it was never supposed to get so complex. It began as *one* file, and is now a tentacular mess. And with no parts actually living in the userstore, and because of some technical restrictions, just dropping an extra file somewhere in the userstore as a reminder is way more trouble than it's worth.

FYI, everything else I'm releasing has an 'info.txt' file in its main folder to tackle just that issue (that, and the 'version info' button in KUAL extensions).