[International / GSM] Rooting a Nexus vs. Any other Device

[willstilson]

Please pardon my ignorance with this question. I am not totally new to rooting, as this is my third android device that I plan to root. I rooted my OG Droid and TB very early on, and enjoyed every second of it.

With those phones, it was my understanding that we were achieving root by exploiting some hole found in the sw. It was also my understanding that with a Nexus device, you don't need "exploit" anything. As it is a dev device, root should come easily.

Now I understand that unlocking the bootloader is a simple fastboot command. What I don't understand is what exactly the SU.zip image is, put out by Koush, that allows perma-root. Aren't Nexus devices supposed to have root if the user desires it, from Google? Why does Koush (credit to an amazing Dev) have to put out a zip to allow this device to be rooted?

Again I'm just trying to get clarification on exactly how the Nexus devices are supposed to work. I guess I just thought that all the hard work that the Dev communities had to do, to achieve root on other phones, like the TB and OG, wouldn't need to be done on a Nexus. I thought that Google just allows you to be rooted from the beginning, without having to flash CWM and root package. Was I just misinformed?

With that said, I am glad we have a permanent solution now and can't wait to get home from work and root mine.

 

[pool_shark]

I thought the same as you. I figured with a Nexus device, I could just open a terminal and type su.

I believe the su package is giving you the superuser.apk and some other files. It isn't an exploit.

 

[willstilson]

I thought the same as you. I figured with a Nexus device, I could just open a terminal and type su.

I believe the su package is giving you the superuser.apk and some other files. It isn't an exploit.

I could just get superuser from the market though. Like you said, I thought that with a nexus, I could just have root, without having to flash an exploit. Im not complaining or anything. I am thrilled that we already have root, Im just trying to understand the means by which that was achieved.

 

[ssick92]

Ya, at least from MY understanding, the su.zip file gives you everything you need to actually have root. It just gives you superuser.apk and gives you some other system files to help run it. I THINK. But ya I don't think it is an exploit to root.