Instructions for patching firmware 4.20.14622

[geek1011]

Originally Posted by anacreon

The .bat file aborts just as it opens the nickel file (which I annex as a .txt file). I have read and reread what I have done to it, checking with a printout I have of the 4.18.13737 version, which worked ever since, and can't see where I went wrong. Can anybody help me?
Many thanks.

You have an extra space on line 423 before the "Replace".

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by geek1011

You have an extra space on line 423 before the "Replace".

You're too fast for me, geek1011, but I think you mean line 428

[anacreon]

Originally Posted by geek1011

You have an extra space on line 423 before the "Replace".

Thank you very much, it worked. I don't know the line number, but there was only one place where I replaced # with a space (or two by error in this case). You have a lynx eye.

[jiminrussell]

Thank you Geek1011 for getting these patches out so fast. i have updated all of my devices and patched them, everything is working great. Hopefully Kobo gives you a break by not releasing anymore updates for a while.

[Phil_C]

And "My 24 line spacing values" is back. All is well in Koboville. Thanks to all for so many useful patches!

[JohhnyMix]

I want to thank everyone who make all this possible so big thumbs up and good karma is coming your way!!!

[strindberg]

Did the patches "Remove PDF page turn arrows" and "Keep PDF pan position" get removed? I can't find them in the latest set of patches, but I have also failed to find any release notes mentioning them being removed.

[geek1011]

Originally Posted by strindberg

Did the patches "Remove PDF page turn arrows" and "Keep PDF pan position" get removed? I can't find them in the latest set of patches, but I have also failed to find any release notes mentioning them being removed.

Yes. It's not possible to do "Keep PDF pan position", and there aren't any page turn arrows which can be removed anymore.

[zaslowe]

I've had a strange thing happen with this patch. I've upgraded my firmware (to 4.20.14622), then patched and my Clara HD rebooted, only to tell me that there is a software update waiting.

What?

So I check my firmware level after the patch and reboot, and I'm back at 4.20.14601. What the heck? I've never had this problem before, and I'm not a noob to patching. Did it on my Aura One, doing it now on my Clara HD, but this is the first time patching has rolled me back to a previous software revision.

It's very strange. Has anybody else had this problem in the past?

[NiLuJe]

@zaslowe: You used the wrong (as in, 4.20.14601 instead of 4.20.14622) firmware zip as a source for the patcher?

[zaslowe]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

@zaslowe: You used the wrong (as in, 4.20.14601 instead of 4.20.14622) firmware zip as a source for the patcher?

As far as I know, no. I downloaded it from here.

So after patching it for a third time just now I got it to stick. I have no idea, but it's patched, thankfully, at 14622.

[sumdog]

Hi! I am new to the world of e-readers, I study computer science, so you can speak in a "technical" way if you want, I was wondering only one thing ... what exactly do the patches entail? why should you do it? do I need to activate developer mode to install them? Is this mode safe, or does it expose sensitive data contained in the e-reader to the network (if there are any)? Do I need to remove the SD card from the reader in order to install the patch? (I don't think since currently if I'm not mistaken it is possible to remove it only from Clara HD)
Is there a well done post with a list of all the mods? Or do you have to go crazy looking for them and looking for the right versions in the forum?

[JSWolf]

It looks like the sickel patch from 4.20.14601 may work with 4.20.14622.

Here is the patch if you want to install it.

sickel reboot timeout (20 sec):
  - Enabled: no
  - Description: increases sickel reboot time if no ping from 10s to 20s
  - PatchGroup: sickel reboot timeout
  - ReplaceBytes: {Offset: 0x0035F8, FindH: 42 F2 10 71, ReplaceH: 44 F6 20 61}
  - ReplaceBytes: {Offset: 0x00360A, FindH: 42 F2 10 71, ReplaceH: 44 F6 20 61}
  - ReplaceBytes: {Offset: 0x003856, FindH: 44 F6 20 61, ReplaceH: 49 F6 40 41}
      
sickel reboot timeout (30 sec):
  - Enabled: yes
  - Description: increases sickel reboot time if no ping from 10s to 30s
  - PatchGroup: sickel reboot timeout
  - ReplaceBytes: {Offset: 0x0035F8, FindH: 42 F2 10 71, ReplaceH: 47 F2 30 51}
  - ReplaceBytes: {Offset: 0x00360A, FindH: 42 F2 10 71, ReplaceH: 47 F2 30 51}
  - ReplaceBytes: {Offset: 0x003856, FindH: 44 F6 20 61, ReplaceH: 4E F6 60 21}

[PeterT]

The patches simply alter some of the functions of the Kobo, fixing issues that some feel prevent their enjoyment of the device. These patches are fully described both in the patch file for a given revision and in forum threads.

There is no linkage at all between "dev mode" and the patches.

Unlike some devices, Kobo's have no need to be rooted, instead all that happens is a patched version of the Kobo supplied software is copied to the device, and then the exact same procedure as Kobo uses for their updates is used to install the modified software. This installation process is based on the existence of KoboRoot.tgz in a specified directory on the device which is then expanded and de'tarred by the Kobo.

[geek1011]

Originally Posted by sumdog

I was wondering only one thing ... what exactly do the patches entail?

Most of the libnickel patches patch the executable directly. If you want to look further into it, use a dissassembler (I recommend Hopper and IDA, but Cutter works too) on usr/local/Kobo/libnickel.so.1.0.0. For reference on the meaning of instructions, look at the ARM Keil. The majority of libnickel is in Thumb mode. If you want to learn more about assembly, play with Compiler Explorer.

On the other hand, most of the nickel patches patch zlib-compressed qResource streams by replacing the compressed data. For this, use cssextract (included in the patches) on usr/local/Kobo/nickel, and modify the CSS you find in there. If you're wondering about the layout of the widgets, enable layout rects in developer mode, or look at the ui_* methods and widget constructors in libnickel.