Filed under: iPod Family, Apple, iPhone
The secret life of firmware 1.1.3
Cre.ations.net's Nate True wrote a blog post describing what he found inside the iPhone firmware 1.1.3 update. Whilst digging around in the iPhone's firmware innards, he found that Apple has made some startling changes to the iPhone's OS, including: - The SpringBoard doesn't have to be modified to show custom Applications installed on the iPhone
- Applications no longer run as root, instead they run as 'mobile'
- Preferences are no longer stored in /var/root
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Miranda Kali said 11:03AM on 1-23-2008
I'm no hacker, just a fangirl who likes to mod GUI...Anyone know if the change in preferences will allow a change to the graphics?
I know Steve's a bit touchy (no pun intended, honest) when it comes to people mucking about with their devices nice , shiny, interface. I'm skeptical that the SDK will allow for new fonts, colors, and icons..
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spectre9 said 9:13PM on 1-23-2008
Ah, I see you have your documents in order. Welcome to Interzone Mr. IP*owned! Please, enjoy your stay. Be certain
to tip your friendly "Borders and Customs Agents!"
(hello to all my friends in the NSA)
#if TARGET_OS_EMBEDDED
2794 if (path_check("/etc/fstab")) {
2795 const char *mount_tool[] = { "mount", "-vat", "nonfs", NULL };
2796 assumes(fwexec(mount_tool, true) != -1);
2797 } else
2798 #endif
2799 {
2800 assumes(fwexec(remount_tool, true) != -1);
2801 }
2786 2802
see
https://svn.macosforge.org/projects/launchd/changeset/23492/branches/SULeopard/launchd
Revision 23492, 7.8 kB (checked in by zarzycki@apple.com, 9 hours ago)
Merge embedded changes into TOT
SpringBoard needs custom launchd job management API
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Rahul Bumb said 5:46AM on 2-10-2008
Hi,
I have a iphone, which had 3.9 - bootloader, i has unlocked the phone and updated to the 1.1.3. After that when i had launched installer, the phone restarted but it was locked" slide for emergency". But if i had put the my own sim i could see the network and msg's received. But could not go to home screen. So i had restored the ipod to 1.1.3.
Now if i try to downgrade it is not happening. Please Help.!!!!
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ProudWiiOwner said 8:39PM on 1-22-2008
interesting....i wonder if the jailbreak will be necessary and how many support it after the sdk.
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ERock said 9:32PM on 1-22-2008
I think jailbreak will still be necessary for some apps. Besides that, I'll want to retain root access to my device even after the SDK is released and Apple certainly isn't going to give it to me.
drebes said 9:52PM on 1-22-2008
It means Apple is preparing the iPhone's OS to run untrusted applications, like those that will be available when they release the SDK next month.
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STrRedWolf said 9:31AM on 1-23-2008
Good, since the iPhone runs Unix, it's using Unix security. It's no longer QTopia, it's now Angstrom.
Russell said 10:49PM on 1-22-2008
It means the iPhone is going to finally be a computer in the useful sense, instead of an overpriced cell phone.
I'm going to wait for the SDK and at least one consumer phone running Android before buying anything, but its looking more and more like iPhones will become a viable product for people who actually want to be able to use their hardware to do what its capable of in the near future here.
I'm excited. In the next few weeks we are going to see whether the iPhone is going to go the way of Windows ME or the way of the MacBook.
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Gregory Pierce said 12:39AM on 1-23-2008
Now if we could just get that official SDK - hell just give us the headers so we can see what the deal will be :) I've heard that Erica has got 1.1.3 handled but do we know for certain that our apps will be able to build and run on the iPhone using the headers that we already have access to?
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Nicholas Arvanitis said 2:35AM on 1-23-2008
No they won't allow untrusted apps since Steve hinted at SDK apps being signed (http://developer.apple.com/iphone/devcenter/third_party_apps.php). Therefore 1.1.3 is likely the new way the OS handles apps, however the signature implementation may be removed. They could easily require only signed apps to run in the future which would end all non-official third party apps from running.
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Phil said 5:22PM on 1-23-2008
Or perhaps enable 3rd parties to sign for specific a specific or group of IMEIs? Symbian Signed "Open Signed" does something similar to this.
Dave said 7:04AM on 1-23-2008
As long as its not iPhone hardware version 2.0 (or 1.1, you get my meaning) that runs all the good stuff.
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Patrick McCarron said 9:13AM on 1-23-2008
The only thing I see keeping this from being the final SDK release is the calling of CoreAnimation by it's old name LayerKit in the 1.1.3 headers still. They changed LayerKit to CoreAnimation during the pre-release Leopard builds early in 2007. I really assume they'll make the name change for iPhone by the time the SDK hits to keep Apple's ADC documents in line and unified between the two platforms. Otherwise it looks like everything else is in place to make the SDK.
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