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There is no need to 'jailbreak' it. It's built with the same idea as the Nexus phones. It isn't 'fastboot unlock' but Glass has a specific command in adb to u

There is no need to 'jailbreak' it. It's built with the same idea as the Nexus phones. It isn't 'fastboot unlock' but Glass has a specific command in adb to unlock, so you can root it. Takes less than a minute, no need for exploits. Tim Bray says, "Yes, Glass is hackable. Duh."

shmerl 14y ago
They could already use normal Linux and open bootloader. Android? Sounds boring.
saurik 14y ago
Apparently the previous person to provide your overall commentary got downvoted enough that you likely don't see my response anymore, so I will respond more directly here (making this reply sadly somewhat repetitive: I'm sorry). First, it actually does have fastboot oem unlock, and no: there is no "specific command in adb" to unlock it; the command you are seeing people post reboots the device unto the bootloader, which can then be used with fastboot oem unlock. However, that isn't helpful; in fact, I had to use an exploit (not one I came up with: a known one that affects all Android 4.0/4.1 devices) to accomplish this. (So, my device actually still has a locked bootloader ;P.) In order to go from "unlocked bootloader" to "root" you need a new image to flash. The most common way to get this is to dump the kernel from the device (as you know that that works), but guess what: you can't, as that requires root. The alternatives are either to have a stock image from the manufacturer that you can extract a working kernel from (something Google did not provide for the Glass, at least yet) or to build your own from the Linux source code. Building your own kernel is, of course, possible, however it is quite irritating, and there is no guarantee the result will work as there might be binary blobs in loadable modules that you need, or other irritating hardware checks. You also need a good feel for what hardware the device has for this to be an option, and Google disabled access to /proc/config, which makes the process of building a vaguely compatible kernel all the more like guess-and-check. So no, it isn't at all clear to me that it is so obvious that you can go from nothing to "modified software" on the Google Glass. I'd like to see Tim Bray explain how he'd easily go about hacking on the thing ;P. This is especially the case as the Glass Guide (the fancy term for the Google Glass sales person) who gave me the glass (I chose the option to go to Google HQ to pick it up in person) seriously told me that the debug mode feature (which gives you adb shell) is something that he thought they removed from the units they were distributing. (I guess I was the first person to find it during the at-Google demo and then ask what it would let me do ;P.)
- angusgr 14y ago
  Google disabled access to /proc/config, which makes the process of building a vaguely compatible kernel all the more like guess-and-check. Is there really no .config in their GPL release? AFAIK compile-time config is a GPLv2 requirement as part of the "scripts used to control compilation" (Gpl-Violations FAQ specifically mentions Linux .config files.) I'd hope there's either a .config or a defconfig that applies to Glass as-shipped. (NB: I don't mean to dispute your overall point by this, just wondering.)
  - edderly 14y ago
    I haven't looked but I think you'd find the config file be in their kernel source under arch/arm/configs/.
    - saurik 14y ago
      I cannot find one for the "glass-1" (or, to be clear, for any glass). I've also tried searching around the device hierarchy of git repositories they have, and cannot find anything for glass{,-1} under various vendor names (including "google"). I really just don't think they posted anything.
    - DannyBee 14y ago
      it's the default config for the notle board, so you want "make notle_defconfig"
      - saurik 14y ago
        (For historical clarity, in the code that was released after these comments were posted.)
- Tomdarkness 14y ago
  Could you expand on why you need a image with a kernel? I rooted my nexus 4 by unlocking the boot loader, installing cm recovery, and flashing a zip that just contains superuser and busybox binaries. Is there a key difference with Google glass?

shmerl 14y ago

They could already use normal Linux and open bootloader. Android? Sounds boring.

saurik 14y ago

Apparently the previous person to provide your overall commentary got downvoted enough that you likely don't see my response anymore, so I will respond more directly here (making this reply sadly somewhat repetitive: I'm sorry). First, it actually does have fastboot oem unlock, and no: there is no "specific command in adb" to unlock it; the command you are seeing people post reboots the device unto the bootloader, which can then be used with fastboot oem unlock. However, that isn't helpful; in fact, I had to use an exploit (not one I came up with: a known one that affects all Android 4.0/4.1 devices) to accomplish this. (So, my device actually still has a locked bootloader ;P.) In order to go from "unlocked bootloader" to "root" you need a new image to flash. The most common way to get this is to dump the kernel from the device (as you know that that works), but guess what: you can't, as that requires root. The alternatives are either to have a stock image from the manufacturer that you can extract a working kernel from (something Google did not provide for the Glass, at least yet) or to build your own from the Linux source code. Building your own kernel is, of course, possible, however it is quite irritating, and there is no guarantee the result will work as there might be binary blobs in loadable modules that you need, or other irritating hardware checks. You also need a good feel for what hardware the device has for this to be an option, and Google disabled access to /proc/config, which makes the process of building a vaguely compatible kernel all the more like guess-and-check. So no, it isn't at all clear to me that it is so obvious that you can go from nothing to "modified software" on the Google Glass. I'd like to see Tim Bray explain how he'd easily go about hacking on the thing ;P. This is especially the case as the Glass Guide (the fancy term for the Google Glass sales person) who gave me the glass (I chose the option to go to Google HQ to pick it up in person) seriously told me that the debug mode feature (which gives you adb shell) is something that he thought they removed from the units they were distributing. (I guess I was the first person to find it during the at-Google demo and then ask what it would let me do ;P.)

angusgr 14y ago
Google disabled access to /proc/config, which makes the process of building a vaguely compatible kernel all the more like guess-and-check. Is there really no .config in their GPL release? AFAIK compile-time config is a GPLv2 requirement as part of the "scripts used to control compilation" (Gpl-Violations FAQ specifically mentions Linux .config files.) I'd hope there's either a .config or a defconfig that applies to Glass as-shipped. (NB: I don't mean to dispute your overall point by this, just wondering.)
- edderly 14y ago
  I haven't looked but I think you'd find the config file be in their kernel source under arch/arm/configs/.
  - saurik 14y ago
    I cannot find one for the "glass-1" (or, to be clear, for any glass). I've also tried searching around the device hierarchy of git repositories they have, and cannot find anything for glass{,-1} under various vendor names (including "google"). I really just don't think they posted anything.
  - DannyBee 14y ago
    it's the default config for the notle board, so you want "make notle_defconfig"
    - saurik 14y ago
      (For historical clarity, in the code that was released after these comments were posted.)
Tomdarkness 14y ago
Could you expand on why you need a image with a kernel? I rooted my nexus 4 by unlocking the boot loader, installing cm recovery, and flashing a zip that just contains superuser and busybox binaries. Is there a key difference with Google glass?