Instructions for patching firmware 4.23.15505

[geek1011]

This patch thread is for firmware 4.23.15505 (6da428b2025886593ce645d2265747f31e491605):

Instructions for patching on Windows, Linux, or macOS with kobopatch:

1. Download the Kobo firmware release
   You can find the download links here here.
2. Download and extract the patch zip
   Download and unzip kobopatch_4.23.15505.zip from here.
3. Copy the firmware file to the src folder
   Copy the original firmware you just downloaded into the kobopatch src folder.
4. Install the firmware if needed
   Install the firmware on your kobo BEFORE proceeding with the next steps. You can do this by extracting the contents of the firmware zip into the .kobo folder and ejecting.
5. Choose your patches from the files in the src folder
   Enable patches in the files in the src folder (or use the overrides in kobopatch.yaml to keep your options separate).
6. Run kobopatch
   Double-click kobopatch.bat on Windows, or run ./kobopatch.sh on Linux or macOS. On macOS, you can drag it into the terminal and press enter (you may need to go to System Preferences - Security and Privacy - General to confirm that you actually want to run it).
7. Install the patches by copying KoboRoot.tgz into the .kobo folder of your device
   If the patching succeeded, a file named KoboRoot.tgz will be created in the out folder. Copy it to the .kobo folder of your device. Safely remove your device once you are finished. On Linux, you may have to press Ctrl+H to show the .kobo folder.

Download

[geek1011]

Changes to the kobopatch zip:
v66 (2020-08-19): Fixed "Don't uppercase header/footer text" patches not applying to percent read text (geek1011).
v65 (2020-08-11): Initial release for 4.23.15505.

Missing patches:
- None!

Notes about this firmware version:
- A few nickel CSS patches needed updates to sizes due to layout changes in this firmware version.
- Offsets for "Larger Sleep/Power-off timeouts" needed to be updated.
- See here.
- See here.

New patches in this version:
- geek1011: Remove line from bottom tab bar

Removed patches in this version:
- geek1011: Hide top-left menu item - Dropbox (not relevant anymore)
- geek1011: Hide top-left menu item - Pocket (not relevant anymore)
- geek1011: Hide top-left menu item - Store (not relevant anymore)
- geek1011: Hide top-left menu item - Recommended (not relevant anymore)
- geek1011: Hide top-left menu item - Wishlist (not relevant anymore)
- geek1011: Hide top-left menu item - Activity (not relevant anymore)
- geek1011: Hide top-left menu item - Kobo (not relevant anymore)
- jackie_w: Reduce height of page navigator arrows

[geek1011]

reserved

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by geek1011

<snip>
Notes about this firmware version:
- A few nickel CSS patches needed updates to sizes due to layout changes in this firmware version.
- Offsets for "Larger Sleep/Power-off timeouts" needed to be updated.
- See here.
<snip>

That first link is pointing to release 64 instead of 65.

[geek1011]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

That first link is pointing to release 64 instead of 65.

Fixed.

[Terisa de morgan]

Thank you for the patches!

[jsessions]

Thanks for quick turnaround on patches & Nickelmenu.

[Number9]

Nice! Thank you for your work! 😊

[IanScuffling]

Wow! That was fast. Great work!

Installed the patches this morning without problem.

[93terp]

oh dear, I've messed up big time. I installed the new patches before installing the updated firmware and now my Forma is in a do-loop trying to do the patches update. Help! How can I force exit/stop so that I can install the new firmware?

and

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by 93terp

oh dear, I've messed up big time. I installed the new patches before installing the updated firmware and now my Forma is in a do-loop trying to do the patches update. Help! How can I force exit/stop so that I can install the new firmware?

and

You will have to reset your Forma.

https://help.kobo.com/hc/en-us/artic...Kobo-Libra-H2O

[geek1011]

Originally Posted by 93terp

oh dear, I've messed up big time. I installed the new patches before installing the updated firmware and now my Forma is in a do-loop trying to do the patches update. Help! How can I force exit/stop so that I can install the new firmware?

and

What do you mean by do-loop? Does it switch back and forth between normal boot and updates, does it not get past blinking lights, or does it keep rebooting into the updates? Also, which version were you on before?

It shouldn't be possible to cause it to loop when applying updates which only touch nickel/libnickel/etc unless the internal storage is failing. The init script sets it to boot to recovery before updating, and puts it back after removing the upgrade file. In addition, it will reset if there's unfixable FS corruption on the user storage, or if `pickel should-factory-reset` returns true. Here's some stuff from pickel (TLDR: it's a counter for failed boots):

Spoiler:

00010a28 DFF8E004               ldr.w      r0, =0xc0a                           ; 0x10f0c, CODE XREF=sub_1086a+98
00010a2c 0221                   movs       r1, #0x2                             ; argument "__oflag" for method open@PLT
00010a2e 7844                   add        r0, pc                               ; argument "__file" for method open@PLT, "/dev/mmcblk0"
00010a30 FFF79CEE               blx        open@PLT                             ; open
00010a34 411C                   adds       r1, r0, #0x1
00010a36 0546                   mov        r5, r0
00010a38 3FF477AF               beq.w      loc_1092a

00010a3c 07F1B009               add.w      sb, r7, #0xb0
00010a40 4FF40072               mov.w      r2, #0x200                           ; argument "__nbytes" for method read@PLT
00010a44 4946                   mov        r1, sb                               ; argument "__buf" for method read@PLT
00010a46 FFF7CEEE               blx        read@PLT                             ; read
00010a4a DFF8C424               ldr.w      r2, =0xb6e                           ; 0x10f10
00010a4e 99F83731               ldrb.w     r3, [sb, #0x137]
00010a52 D9F83311               ldr.w      r1, [sb, #0x133]
00010a56 7A44                   add        r2, pc                               ; 0x115c8
00010a58 52F82320               ldr.w      r2, [r2, r3, lsl #2]
00010a5c 9142                   cmp        r1, r2
00010a5e 01D1                   bne        loc_10a64

00010a60 042B                   cmp        r3, #0x4
00010a62 22D0                   beq        loc_10aaa

                            loc_10a64:
00010a64 9142                   cmp        r1, r2                               ; CODE XREF=sub_1086a+500
00010a66 4FF00004               mov.w      r4, #0x0
00010a6a 01D0                   beq        loc_10a70

                            loc_10a6c:
00010a6c 4FF0FF33               mov.w      r3, #0xffffffff                      ; CODE XREF=sub_1086a+578

                            loc_10a70:
00010a70 DFF8A014               ldr.w      r1, =0xb46                           ; 0x10f14, CODE XREF=sub_1086a+512
00010a74 0133                   adds       r3, #0x1
00010a76 89F83731               strb.w     r3, [sb, #0x137]
00010a7a 0022                   movs       r2, #0x0                             ; argument "__whence" for method lseek@PLT
00010a7c 2846                   mov        r0, r5                               ; argument "__fd" for method lseek@PLT
00010a7e 7944                   add        r1, pc                               ; 0x115c8
00010a80 51F82330               ldr.w      r3, [r1, r3, lsl #2]
00010a84 1146                   mov        r1, r2                               ; argument "__offset" for method lseek@PLT
00010a86 C9F83331               str.w      r3, [sb, #0x133]
00010a8a FFF7DCEE               blx        lseek@PLT                            ; lseek
00010a8e 4946                   mov        r1, sb                               ; argument "__buf" for method write@PLT
00010a90 4FF40072               mov.w      r2, #0x200                           ; argument "__n" for method write@PLT
00010a94 2846                   mov        r0, r5                               ; argument "__fd" for method write@PLT
00010a96 FFF7ACEE               blx        write@PLT                            ; write
00010a9a 2846                   mov        r0, r5                               ; argument "__fd" for method close@PLT
00010a9c FFF7C0EE               blx        close@PLT                            ; close
00010aa0 43E7                   b          loc_1092a

                            loc_10aa2:
00010aa2 DFF87484               ldr.w      r8, =0xb52                           ; 0x10f18, CODE XREF=sub_1086a+56
00010aa6 F844                   add        r8, pc                               ; 0x115fc
00010aa8 00E7                   b          loc_108ac

                            loc_10aaa:
00010aaa 0124                   movs       r4, #0x1                             ; CODE XREF=sub_1086a+504
00010aac DEE7                   b          loc_10a6c

        
    r0 = open("/dev/mmcblk0", 0x2);
    r1 = r0 + 0x1;
    r5 = r0;
    if (r1 != 0x0) {
            r9 = r7 + 0xb0;
            r0 = read(r0, r9, 0x200);
            r3 = *(int8_t *)(r9 + 0x137);
            r1 = *(r9 + 0x133);
            r2 = *(0x115c8 + r3 * 0x4);
            if ((r1 == r2) && (r3 == 0x4)) {
                    r4 = 0x1;
                    r3 = 0xffffffff;
            }
            else {
                    r4 = 0x0;
                    if (r1 != r2) {
                            r3 = 0xffffffff;
                    }
            }
            *(int8_t *)(r9 + 0x137) = r3 + 0x1;
            *(r9 + 0x133) = *(0x115c8 + (r3 + 0x1) * 0x4);
            r0 = lseek(r5, 0x0, 0x0);
            r0 = write(r5, r9, 0x200);
            r0 = close(r5);
    }
    goto loc_1092a;

[93terp]

Originally Posted by geek1011

What do you mean by do-loop? Does it switch back and forth between normal boot and updates, or does it keep rebooting into the updates? Also, which version were you on before?

I was on the firmware version immediately preceding the new one (but not the one that was released for the Nia rollout).

After pressing the power button for a bit it looks like it forced a factory reset as now I'm back to the setup process...

ETA - just updated to the new firmware via OTA while doing the setup process.

[93terp]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You will have to reset your Forma.

https://help.kobo.com/hc/en-us/artic...Kobo-Libra-H2O

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by 93terp

Happy to help. Glad you got your Kobo sorted. One thing that will help should you ever need to reset again is using the Reading List and Kobo Utilities plugins. You can backup the database ad mark which eBooks on on the Forma every time you connect the Forma to your library. I works very well. It's what I do.