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Root ZTE ZMAX Pro (Z981) root discussion

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Masterchief87 said:
'Porting' is a term that applies more to Roms than kernels or recoveries and is the dirty way of going about things. It is also commonly referred to as 'dirty porting' or 'zip porting' and is done by taking an existing ROM zip for a similar device and switching out a few system files and the kernel to 'hack together' a working ROM for your own device.

To build or 'compile' a custom recovery for a device you need a computer running Linux or Mac osx with a 64bit processor(preferably a quad core CPU) and a bare minimum of 8GB ram that has been set up to build android. You also need the source code for the recovery you are building. The source code for twrp and cwm comes bundled with the source code of some Roms. You also need a couple of files from the stock recovery and the kernel source for your device, and lastly you need a working device tree for your device. The device tree is basically a collection of files that tells the source code how to go about building the ROM recovery or kernel you are making. This is of course a dumbed down oversimplification since my knowledge on the subject is very limited. So far I haven't been able to compile anything for a device that wasn't officially supported by a ROM like CM or PAC and all I've really done is follow tutorials using the work of others.
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Well actually though I agree with Windows new Linux CMd thing, everything can in theory be built in Windows 10 now if done right I believe
 
NGD1 said:
Well actually though I agree with Windows new Linux CMd thing, everything can in theory be built in Windows 10 now if done right I believe
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The Win10 bash script? Useless at this time, refuses to build anything because it's not an actual Linux style kernel. That's why MS just released an open source Linux OS instead, got tired of being butthurt from ppl switching to other OS's than Windows to build Android.
 
bcrichster said:
The Win10 bash script? Useless at this time, refuses to build anything because it's not an actual Linux style kernel. That's why MS just released an open source Linux OS instead, got tired of being butthurt from ppl switching to other OS's than Windows to build Android.
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Oh well the more you know, hey if you go to the Google+ page for our device I guess someone's talking to ZTE and signing a request to unlock the bootloader and such, something to look into I guess lol anything to free our toy!
 
NGD1 said:
Well actually though I agree with Windows new Linux CMd thing, everything can in theory be built in Windows 10 now if done right I believe
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bcrichster said:
The Win10 bash script? Useless at this time, refuses to build anything because it's not an actual Linux style kernel. That's why MS just released an open source Linux OS instead, got tired of being butthurt from ppl switching to other OS's than Windows to build Android.
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There are some things that can be built on windows with the new bash shell they added to windows 10 but Android is not one of them. This is partly because of the fact that you need a case sensitive file system like ext4 to build android. In a case sensitive file system Android, android, and ANDROID are all different file names. Windows uses NTFS where nothing is case sensitive. Also, the file system has to support Linux style file permissions where you can control exactly what any file or folder can do based on the owner, group, and user id along with the permissions you set. With NTFS you don't have these abilities which is why android can't be built with windows. This is also why windows is extremely vulnerable to malware, while Linux and Mac os are much more secure.
 
Masterchief87 said:
There are some things that can be built on windows with the new bash shell they added to windows 10 but Android is not one of them. This is partly because of the fact that you need a case sensitive file system like ext4 to build android. In a case sensitive file system Android, android, and ANDROID are all different file names. Windows uses NTFS where nothing is case sensitive. Also, the file system has to support Linux style file permissions where you can control exactly what any file or folder can do based on the owner, group, and user id along with the permissions you set. With NTFS you don't have these abilities which is why android can't be built with windows. This is also why windows is extremely vulnerable to malware, while Linux and Mac os are much more secure.
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The windows being vulnerable alway bugged me, i know why still... Tf Microsoft
 
It seems like doin' Android on Windows is like making a conversion for a conversion anymore
 
Elix9000 said:
The windows being vulnerable alway bugged me, i know why still... Tf Microsoft
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They all are vulnerable. The difference is market share. Simply put, the others are too small to be worth the effort to target and exploit. The iPhone is far more popular than Mac in terms of market share and is a big target because of it.
 
I see the numbers climbing in KingRoot, it tried again...so close
.yet so far

Google is not my friend but our bootloader is locked yes?
 
So, considering we're going to get Nougat, anyone anticipating problems with rooting then/is there a need to root Marshmallow now?
 

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If these get updated to 7.0 I'll definitely wait to root (assuming root is available before 7.0 is released for these phones)


If this happens I'll be thrilled.
 
xyourxhighnessx said:
If these get updated to 7.0 I'll definitely wait to root (assuming root is available before 7.0 is released for these phones)


If this happens I'll be thrilled.
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It's highly unlikely that we will ever get a Nougat update from ZTE. Also, because of changes that began with Marshmallow, if we get root it will be systemless root where all the binaries go on the boot partition and SuperSU is installed as a user app rather than a system app. This makes it a lot easier to install an ota update because as long as you don't change any system files, all you need to do is re-flash the stock boot.img and uninstall SuperSU to go back to complete stock.

Also, if ZTE were to do this update the same way they did the Lollipop update for the Grand X Max + it wouldn't be too difficult to make a pre-rooted TWRP flashable version of the update.

That is a lot of ifs though since we don't really know if we will ever get root, TWRP, or an official Nougat update.
 
Masterchief87 said:
It's highly unlikely that we will ever get a Nougat update from ZTE. Also, because of changes that began with Marshmallow, if we get root it will be systemless root where all the binaries go on the boot partition and SuperSU is installed as a user app rather than a system app. This makes it a lot easier to install an ota update because as long as you don't change any system files, all you need to do is re-flash the stock boot.img and uninstall SuperSU to go back to complete stock.

Also, if ZTE were to do this update the same way they did the Lollipop update for the Grand X Max + it wouldn't be too difficult to make a pre-rooted TWRP flashable version of the update.

That is a lot of ifs though since we don't really know if we will ever get root, TWRP, or an official Nougat update.
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Whether we get root/TWRP entirely depends on whether this phone becomes popular or not. I'm hoping this phone picks up traction, but not many people use MetroPCS... I'm starting to think we will probably not get root.. But that isn't a deal breaker for me. This phone does everything I need, without root! And that's something I can rarely say about phones, I root every device I can. For once I'm satisfied with what I have.
 
Just a quick status of where I am..... Still haven't found a backdoor to gain root. Device tree it's out there we need someone to build either twrp or cm. Every time i try to get root im having problems with signature. So still learning the device. I sent a request to get bootloader key bit they said its was part of the warranty [emoji21]. I have recovery logs . Anyway still trying. Lets not give up.
 

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Another thing... I got from a good source... That on this os all we need its a root.zip to use with the right signatures so we can just flash it through recovery mode same as the custom recovery... Im looking for some one that can build on ... So i can test... I have a extra phone to play with.
 
No can stop us now!
And how would we go about finding signatures and what not?
I can talk to the guys I know if a root zip is all we need if we can get it to go through stock recovery?
Just gotta get them to talk right is that what I'm gathering?
And to build twrp shouldn't be too hard no? Then we need to find a way to push it lol
Edit: could we throw that doc that's on the g+ page at them see if maybe if they see all those people wanting it maybe they'd do it?
 
Masterchief87 said:
It's highly unlikely that we will ever get a Nougat update from ZTE. Also, because of changes that began with Marshmallow, if we get root it will be systemless root where all the binaries go on the boot partition and SuperSU is installed as a user app rather than a system app. This makes it a lot easier to install an ota update because as long as you don't change any system files, all you need to do is re-flash the stock boot.img and uninstall SuperSU to go back to complete stock.

Also, if ZTE were to do this update the same way they did the Lollipop update for the Grand X Max + it wouldn't be too difficult to make a pre-rooted TWRP flashable version of the update.

That is a lot of ifs though since we don't really know if we will ever get root, TWRP, or an official Nougat update.
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Agreed.
Zte has promised Nougat for models past a year old already...
Unfeasible.
 
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