MobileRead Package Installer

[NiLuJe]

Given the restrictions imposed on OTA packages by FW 5.5.x, and to scratch an itch than had been bothering me for a while, here comes the MobileRead Package Installer (aka., MRPI)!


What Does It Do?:

This is a KUAL extension, that will plug into the Helper menu a single Install MR Packages button.
Notice the plural, we'll come back to that later .
This provides an alternate to the good old Update Your Kindle UI to install the various packages offered on MR in the form of update packages (.bin).
It supports the full range of devices able to run KUAL (... but can be run outside of KUAL if need be ).

Why reinvent the wheel?
Besides overcoming the restrictions imposed by FW >= 5.5.x on OTA packages, it provides a few interesting (for us) advantages:
• You can automatically chain multiple update packages (and it handles a basic dependency chain, prioritizing stuff if needed [jb, usbnet, python, rp])
• On FW 5.x, it doesn't force a full reboot on you (something that the vast majority of our packages don't need) [it also doesn't kill USBNet].
In short, it's noticeably more efficient .

Latest Updates (06/04/2019):

New devices support (1.7.N)

PSA: All downloads have been moved to the Snapshots thread!

INSTALL:

Spoiler:

This is a KUAL extension, so it's as simple as unpacking the MRPI package you'll find in the Snapshots thread to the root directory of your Kindle over USB . You should end up with an extensions folder (with an MRInstaller subfolder) and an mrpackages folder at the USB root of your device.
As mentioned earlier, it'll plug into the Helper menu.

USAGE:

Spoiler:

It's fairly simple: upload all the update packages you need (in one go ) to the mrpackages directory, which you'll find at the root of your Kindle over USB if you installed this correctly .
Eject & unplug your Kindle, then click the Install MR Packages button in the KUAL Helper menu.

Once the installer has done its job, and the UI has been brought up again, while your device should be usable straight away, some hacks may need a full restart to 'take' .

FAQs:

Spoiler:

Q. What happens if I upload an update package not made for my device?

A. Just like the OTA updater, a package not targeting your device will be skipped & destroyed. In the same vein, any package not made by our tools will be destroyed (as will non-OTA updates). This means that if you mistakenly put an official update in there, you don't have to worry about it, it'll go poof .

Q. I don't see any progress information for some packages!

A. That's the downside. Packages will need to provide their own means of user-feedback if they wish to handle progress reporting. Developers can can open up any of my latest snapshots packages and look at the libotautils/libotautils5 helper scripts for some inspiration [spoiler: there's no API, you basically do what you want ^^].

ChangeLog:

Spoiler:

• MR Installer:
  • 1.0.N:
    • Initial release.
  • 1.1.N:
    • A few fixes.
  • 1.2.N:
    • Minor fixes.
  • 1.3.N:
    • Minor packaging fix (i.e., we now really ship with an empty mrpackages folder ).
  • 1.4.N:
    • Fix a severe incompatibility with AcXE.
    • A few minor bugfixes, mostly related to error handling.
  • 1.5.N:
    • Unbreak on legacy devices... Ooopsie.
    • Don't keep unneeded binaries around (thanks for the push, hfpop ).
    • More logging to aid debugging
    • More integrity checking when extracting packages
  • 1.6.N:
    • Proper handling of the KT2.
    • Honor the version constraints of a package.
    • Some theoretical future-proofing on the device identification front.
    • Minor tweaks to the logging to make the logs more useful.
  • 1.7.N:
    • Unbreak OTAv1 handling.
    • Handle latest PW3, KOA, KT3 & KOA2 known variants.
• Doc: $Id: MI_MR_THREAD 16002 2019-06-04 16:56:27Z NiLuJe $

[NiLuJe]

*reserved*

(also, *inserts evil laugh here*)

NB: Right now, you'll only see progress information with my own packages.
Not a problem with ixtab's packages, which have always used a custom feedback mechanism .

This is an initial release, so it may not be utterly bug-free. I've only tested this with my own packages, on a K5 & a K4.

[GoSharks]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

(also, *inserts evil laugh here*)

Muhahahahahaha! (inserted! )

[eschwartz]

Okay, I just want to say this is totally awesome!

* On FW 5.x, it doesn't force a full reboot on you (something that the vast majority of our packages don't need) [it also doesn't kill USBNet].

This should've happened a long time ago.

Thanks NiLuJe, for all your amazing work!!!

[pghaworth]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Okay, I just want to say this is totally awesome!



This should've happened a long time ago.

Thanks NiLuJe, for all your amazing work!!!

Just finished the install. Agreed.

[NiLuJe]

Quick but important notice until I can look into it:

Regardless of what we've said so far, DON'T use (the current version) on FW 5.6.x. It's subtly broken right now, and that can lead to fairly impressive breakage.

EDIT: Confirmed that the biggest part of the issue should be limited to FW 5.6.1

[rafalele]

Hi NiLuJe.

Thanks a lot for your job. I think it is very useful extension.

[pghaworth]

"that can lead to fairly impressive breakage"

I had to laugh, though it's not really funny, and I concur after further testing.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

Quick but important notice until I can look into it:

Regardless of what we've said so far, DON'T use (the current version) on FW 5.6.x. It's subtly broken right now, and that can lead to fairly impressive breakage.

EDIT: Confirmed that the biggest part of the issue should be limited to FW 5.6.1

You said elsewhere the issue is trying to mntroot rw without root and assuming it worked.
Here you say "the biggest issue".

Is there another issue, that might break on other firmwares?

[NiLuJe]

@eschwartz: Hopefully not . There's still something I'm not quite sure of with what happened to @pghaworth, but I'm hoping it came from that first big issues.

Last edited: Today at 03:28. I probably wasn't thinking straight anymore at that point ^^.

[pghaworth]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

@pgh

No offense if you want to use the shortened version.

[NiLuJe]

@pghaworth: Noted, thanks . I usually c/p so it's not a problem, but a shortened version might sometimes slip through before I edit a post .

[NiLuJe]

Okay, released 1.1.N with the few minor fixes accumulated since the initial release.

It's still not FW 5.6.1 ready, but it should at least die gracefully in case of trouble, to avoid shooting yourself in the foot .

It might be *overly* strict, and uncover bugs in some install scripts. If you encounter a repeatable failure when installing a specific package, give me a shout, and I'll look into it.

[NiLuJe]

Released v1.3.N, because I forgot to release 1.2.N ;p.

Minor fixes, and fixed the actual packaging to match the doc.

[Ruskie_it]

Is it possible to choose the order the package are installed?