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I am trying to understand what it means to "root" and Android phone. I see lots of "follow these scary directions" and "then you can do these wonderful things", but I don't know what it going on. I understand that Android is Linux with some extra protections: - every app has its own UID - apps are signed and updates mush have matching signatures - lots of interesting things are available for apps to do, but they require getting permission from the user before installation - some interesting things are not possible for obvious reasons, and others for less obvious reasons - the phone owner doesn't have the root password nor login keys to will get root, etc. Further, I am guessing that updates to the OS require a signature that the previous version checks before turning over the shop. I am wondering whether there are integrity checks that might notice whether configurations have changed in ways that were not expected. I recently bought a Nexus One and I *like* all that security stuff. Except, I would like to be able to fire up a bash shell (which I can do) and successfully do "sudo bash" (which I can't). Rooting, I fear, opens up my phone to a wild west of anything goes, I have to trust every app I install to be good. Is this correct? What is "rooting" an Android? How is control wrested from the current install? Thanks, -kb
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