Aura H2O 2 FNAC affiliation reset on newer firmware (4.23.15548, maybe before)

[JAC70]

Originally Posted by davidfor

It would mean that the correct affiliate was there for whatever else it is used for.

Ongoing commissions to vendors for sales from the Kobo book store?

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by JAC70

Ongoing commissions to vendors for sales from the Kobo book store?

I assume so. The uses of the affiliate that I know of are for checking the firmware and the few runtime restrictions like for FNAC. I assume there is commission as well, but, I do not know.

[Rojofo]

Originally Posted by davidfor

I suppose so. It would mean that the correct affiliate was there for whatever else it is used for. That is probably better for the affiliate than changing it to something completely different.

Thank you, Davidfor, for this explanation and for the tip on changing the date!

Thank you also Geek1011 for your offer of providing a patch for this.

I would like a simple solution, like a patch, but i would prefer this patch to allow the user to choose his affiliation.

At the moment, the FNAC affiliation is an annoyance: it prevents the Kobo from showing the book cover but also blocks the adjustments to the book cover display that are available on the Walmart version of the firmware.

This Walmart version, I have discovered by chance, allows the user to choose the book cover display on sleep or extinction of the Kobo but also provides options to tweek this display. I consider these options a real advantage. Other affiliations may also provide these options but I don‘t know them.

Consequently I would prefer to have the best version of the firmware and that means choosing to leave the FNAC firmware (unless the FNAC were to decide to change its position on this, of course!).

I hope it would be possible to provide a simple patch that allows the owner of the Kobo to choose his affiliation.

I do not care if the FNAC loses some rewards because I change my affiliation. I owe the FNAC nothing.

Thanks in advance for the future patch, if it is possible!

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Rojofo

Consequently I would prefer to have the best version of the firmware and that means choosing to leave the FNAC firmware (unless the FNAC were to decide to change its position on this, of course!).

I hope it would be possible to provide a simple patch that allows the owner of the Kobo to choose his affiliation.

I do not care if the FNAC loses some rewards because I change my affiliation. I owe the FNAC nothing.

Thanks in advance for the future patch, if it is possible!

1. As has been mentioned several times, there is no FNAC firmware. The 4.25.15875 firmware for a mark7 device is the same for any affiliate.
   
2. Following @davidfor's post, the line to add to the .kobo/Kobo/Kobo ereader.conf file that will prevent the affiliate from changing for 10 years or so is available. Simply add "LastAffiliateSyncTime=@Variant(\0\0\0\x10\0%\x94h \x3!>i\x2)" to that file under the [ApplicatonPreferences] heading.
   
3. From what I read into @geek1011's post is that his suggested patch would block the affiliate selection from changing the lock screen settings.

[geek1011]

Originally Posted by DNSB

1. From what I read into @geek1011's post is that his suggested patch would block the affiliate selection from changing the lock screen settings.

Yes. I'll need people to reply with their affiliate since there's too many to deal with all of them to be worth the effort.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by geek1011

Yes. I'll need people to reply with their affiliate since there's too many to deal with all of them to be worth the effort.

I don't remember any affiliate other than FNAC and Walmart changing any behaviour on the device. Both change the boot screen. And FNAC hides the sleep screen options. Isn't it just a matter of dealing with these?

[geek1011]

Originally Posted by davidfor

I don't remember any affiliate other than FNAC and Walmart changing any behaviour on the device. Both change the boot screen. And FNAC hides the sleep screen options. Isn't it just a matter of dealing with these?

There's a whole lot of them. Search for Affiliate::is* symbols. Around 75% of those brand the UI, and at least 50% do something to the lock screen. Although I guess most of those affiliates are probably nonexistent now.

And, before someone asks, no, I can't just make each one return false everything since some do more important things than changing the lock screen (e.g. Rakuten China has a lot of fixes and UI changes for people in China like using Apple for the hotspot detection).

[NiLuJe]

@geek1011: Given the usual public on MR, the vast majority of answers you'd get are from Walmart & FNAC.

I have a vague memory of something specific to Spain, but it might be FNAC too nowadays?

[NiLuJe]

As a followup to #43, I can confirm that, now that said "next" update is out (funnily enough, basically everywhere except the kobo affiliate ;p), the device on which I sideloaded it to (the H2O) got reset to fnac .

I'll leave my LastAffiliateSyncTime as-is for now, for Science! .

[BeachPi]

Originally Posted by davidfor

I have discussed this issue with Kobo with following results:

• There were some changes made a while ago in how affiliates were checked and updated.
• There is a bug in the firmware related to when you signed in and the affiliate not updating. This will be fixed in the next release.
• There is also a bug in the desktop application if you tried that. Again, it will be fixed in the next release.
• The problem affects all affiliates and FNAC is not handled differently in how it is checked.
• If syncing by WiFi, the affiliate is checked every seven days. If you manually make a change, it could last up to a week.
• When the affiliate is checked, is stored in the config file. It is in the "ApplicationPreferences" section with the key "LastAffiliateSyncTime". Setting it to a future date appears to work to prevent the check and it being changed back. The following is about 10 years into the future:
  

  LastAffiliateSyncTime=@Variant(\0\0\0\x10\0%\x94h\x3!>i\x2)

  Putting that in the config file should block the check for a while.

Would you mind explaining what does the following mean?

@Variant(\0\0\0\x10\0%\x94h\x3!>i\x2)

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by BeachPi

Would you mind explaining what does the following mean?

@Variant(\0\0\0\x10\0%\x94h\x3!>i\x2)

As implied by the paragraph before that, it is a timestamp in the format that the code expects. And was about 10 years into the future at the time I posted it.

[BeachPi]

Originally Posted by davidfor

As implied by the paragraph before that, it is a timestamp in the format that the code expects. And was about 10 years into the future at the time I posted it.

Yeah, I got that.
I meant, what is the format? If I wanted to set a specific date in the future, how would I go about doing that?

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by BeachPi

Yeah, I got that.
I meant, what is the format? If I wanted to set a specific date in the future, how would I go about doing that?

Honestly, I have no idea. It is some sort of Qt data type that has been serialized. I trust the source for the value, and haven't needed to work it.

But, why would you want to? I can't think of a useful reason to ever turn this back on if you wanted if off in the first place. If FNAC or one of the other affiliates and Kobo change how this is handled, or the functions that are turned off for the affiliate, then you just remove the line and the affiliate will be updated the next time you sync.

If it is just curiosity to see it happens, I completely understand that.

[BeachPi]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Honestly, I have no idea. It is some sort of Qt data type that has been serialized. I trust the source for the value, and haven't needed to work it.

But, why would you want to? I can't think of a useful reason to ever turn this back on if you wanted if off in the first place. If FNAC or one of the other affiliates and Kobo change how this is handled, or the functions that are turned off for the affiliate, then you just remove the line and the affiliate will be updated the next time you sync.

If it is just curiosity to see it happens, I completely understand that.

Yeah it's just curiosity!

The Qt data serialization makes sense, thanks!