Conservative Firmware Downgrade/Upgrade

[thatworkshop]

I have a lot of stuff in my Kindle and I've invested so much time in customizing it and installing required hacks on it. As my profile says it has firmware 5.1.0 on it, but now I want to revert back to a previous firmware (i.e. 5.0.0, 5.0.1, 5.0.3, or 5.0.4) and do it in a very conservative way so that minimal work will be needed afterwards to get all hacks and customs back... One of the reasons is GestureEngine:Touch events... But keep in mind I might want to come back to the 5.1.0.

With this scenario, I think I should follow these steps:
1. backup everything in /mnt/us/
2. backup mmcblk0p1 using dd( well I backed up mmcblk0p2 and mmcblk0p3 in case something horribly bad happens) <- Can someone clarify what each of these 4 partitions are? Which folders do they backup EXACTY? Well I know for mmcblk0p1 and mmcblk0p2 I have list of files but not sure about mmcblk0p3 and mmcblk0p4! <--- asking this because I don't have access to a linux PC right now to do it conveniently.
3. Dump mmcblk0p1 of 5.0.x to my Kindle Touch
4. Jailbreak it, apply GUI Launcher and etc. (after installing GUI Launcher and then copying my current extensions directory all my menu items, right?

@geekmaster: As I have your SSH enabled diags (mmcblk0p2), would doing this touch anything in there? I remember I went through a heck lots of issues to get that to work for me and I don't want to do it again!!!

And in my future Kindle 5.0.x, would simply dd if=/mnt/us/MY_KT_5.1.0.bin of=/dev/mmcblk0p1 bs=1024 revert me back to absolutely the current state I am right now with everything?!

[knc1]

Originally Posted by cscat

I skipped the quote here so that the typo's would not be duplicated.

s/mmcblk0pt/mmcblk0p/g

The eMMC flash can only change its contents in erase block increments. The erase block size for this device is 4K:
s/1K/4K/g
or: bs=4096 rather than bs=1024

Whitespace is the normal IFS (Input Field Separator) of *nix shells.
You have to quote directory and file names that contain whitespace.
s/MY KT 5.1.0/myKT-5.1.0/g
or: any other name avoiding whitespace
or: put that name in quotes wherever it appears on the command line.

- - -
Enough with the *nix nit picking...

p1 = "Main filesystem"
p2 = "Diags filesystem"
p3 = "User data filesystem"
p4 = "User area"
I found that p4 (partition 4) title in the scripting but have not read enough of the system files to know what they are putting on that partition or even if it has a file system on it.

To investigate your system image files (as read-only here for safety) on your non-Kindle Linux system:

cd
sudo mkdir my_main
sudo mount -o ro mmcblk0p1.img my_main
# fiddle, fiddle, fiddle, read
sudo umount mmcblk0p1.img

The above makes the current directory your home (~) directory.
Adds a mount point name.
Mounts the Kindle system image (assuming it is in the current directory) read-only.
Allows you to read files and/or grep for uses of blk0p4.
Un-mounts the Kindle system image.
Note: You must change directory away from the ~/my_main directory and its sub-tree before you un-mount otherwise you will get a "device busy" error.

GM can better answer your specific questions about what procedure you should follow.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by cscat

I have a lot of stuff in my Kindle and I've invested so much time in customizing it and installing required hacks on it. As my profile says it has firmware 5.1.0 on it, but now I want to revert back to a previous firmware (i.e. 5.0.0, 5.0.1, 5.0.3, or 5.0.4) and do it in a very conservative way so that minimal work will be needed afterwards to get all hacks and customs back... And keep in mind I might want to come back to the 5.1.0.

With this scenario, I think I should follow these steps:
1. backup everything in /mnt/us/
2. backup mmcblk0pt1 using dd( well I backed up mmcblk0pt2 and mmcblk0pt3 in case something horribly bad happens) <- Can someone clarify what each of these 4 partitions are? Which folders do they backup EXACTY? Well I know for mmcblk0pt1 and mmcblk0pt2 I have list of files but not sure about mmcblk0pt3 and mmcblk0pt4! <--- asking this because I don't have access to a linux PC right now to do it conveniently.
3. Dump mmcblk0pt1 of 5.0.x to my Kindle Touch
4. Jailbreak it, apply GUI Launcher and etc. (after installing GUI Launcher and then copying my current extensions directory all my menu items, right?

@geekmaster: As I have your SSH enabled diags (mmcblk0pt2), would doing this touch anything in there? I remember I went through a heck lots of issues to get that to work for me and I don't want to do it again!!!

And in my future Kindle 5.0.x, would simply dd if=/mnt/us/MY_KT_5.1.0.bin of=/dev/mmcblk0pt1 bs=1024 revert me back to absolutely the current state I am right now with everything?!

There is no 't' in mmcblk0p1 (not mmcblk0pt1), and the same for other partitions. p1 is main. p2 is diags. p3 is /var/local. p4 is /mnt/us (also a restricted mount at /mnt/base-us). You should boot main to backup p2. You should boot diags to backup p1. Backing up the mounted partition MAY cause a corrupted backup due to changes in open files (yes the kindle DOES modify both main and diags boot partitions while running).

Changing firmware version should only affect main. Changing the diags version should not (currently) affect hacks.

How I would do it is to backup my main partition, then mount it on my host PC and compare that against my virgin (unhacked) main partition backup, saving any changes. Then I would flash whichever firmware version on my kindle that I want. Then I would copy the changes seen in previous hacked/virgin main comparision, and copy those changes into the new (old version) main partition, being careful about any hack-modified scripts that changed between firmware versions (perhaps merging individual lines in those scripts with something like WinMerge)...

[thatworkshop]

It is MY_KT_5.1.0.bin and when underlined it gave you that impression of space, but thanks again for everything knc1 and GM.

I have created a new Wiki page called Kindle Touch Firmware Updates Changelog in frustration of all little good/bad changes happened without Amazon mentioning them. Please feel absolutely welcome to add (in fact please do!). And I added a link to it from K5 Index page too. It'd be a good idea if this can be done with other Kindle devices too!

@Geekmaster: Considering your warning here, I would assume as kernels are different between 5.0.0 and 5.1.0, I should change kernel back to whatever 5.0.0 is with, eh?

P.S. Man! I don't like how Amazon >>> Lab126 is proceeding with this thingy!!!

P.S.S. I'm really sick of being scared by all these hidden updates. I've been a loyal customer (term coined by Geekmaster) but now this has to change! Everytime, I turn my Kindle on, I see Wireless/3G is turned on because when I wanted to turn it off, I had suddenly touched bottom of screen where there is an ad and it automatically turns Wireless on!!! NOW, I'm going to disable ads and screensaver and all update pushes!!! ENOUGH.

[knc1]

Originally Posted by cscat

P.S. Man! I don't like how Amazon >>> Lab126 is proceeding with this thingy!!!

You must not have seen the link at the very bottom of the "Tools" page yet.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by cscat

It is MY_KT_5.1.0.bin and when underlined it gave you that impression of space, but thanks again for everything knc1 and GM.

I have created a new Wiki page called Kindle Touch Firmware Updates Changelog in frustration of all little good/bad changes happened without Amazon mentioning them. Please feel absolutely welcome to add (in fact please do!). And I added a link to it from K5 Index page too. It'd be a good idea if this can be done with other Kindle devices too!

@Geekmaster: Considering your warning here, I would assume as kernels are different between 5.0.0 and 5.1.0, I should change kernel back to whatever 5.0.0 is with, eh?

P.S. Man! I don't like how Amazon >>> Lab126 is proceeding with this thingy!!!

P.S.S. I'm really sick of being scared by all these hidden updates. I've been a loyal customer (term coined by Geekmaster) but now this has to change! Everytime, I turn my Kindle on, I see Wireless/3G is turned on because when I wanted to turn it off, I had suddenly touched bottom of screen where there is an ad and it automatically turns Wireless on!!! NOW, I'm going to disable ads and screensaver and all update pushes!!! ENOUGH.

I was referring to "of=/dev/mmcblk0pt1", which should not contain a 't' (as knc1 showed with his s//).

The main 5.0.0 kernel goes with 5.0.0 through 5.0.3, but then there is a 5.0.4 kernel, and now a 5.1.0 kernel.

The diags kernel first changed with 5.1.0, as I recall...

Try to use the kernel originally used with whatever partition version you use. We want to stay as close to *something* once shipped by amazon as we can.

There have been a LOT of reports of OTA updates bricking kindles, including kindles that did not have any jailbreak or hacks installed. Normally, when flashing firmware, it is best to be sure that the kindle is plugged in or has a full battery charge. Apparently, the kindles install OTA updates even with a low battery charge, so they fail during a restart when only partially updated, and then they cannot be restarted again. It appears that amazon uses some VERY UNSAFE firmware update methods...