[alnamvet68]

so if you have an option, why not let the rooters root and the non rooters, not root? No one forces you to root. Its a choice.

Yes, we are all of free will, but for RIM's sake, they need to root out the root hogs and close that security hole.

[Sith_Apprentice]

Me too. Otherwise, it'll be sayonara bye bye RIM coming from the DOD, NSA, CIA, FBI, ATF, DEA, et al.

Current Java based devices will still be in use for a couple more years in those agencies, but BBX (if it cant be secured and STIGed) will likely not make an appearance.

[SunnyB]

Yes, absolutely. When you log in as devuser, it's basically like having a shell account on some shared Linux system (though it's not Linux of course), and logging in as yourself. It just happens to be a system where there isn't a GCC binary preinstalled for you, but you can install one yourself in your home folder, just as you could on said Linux system.

GCC is just a compiler. Does the Playbook provide Linux compatible /proc or /sys?

[wolfier]

Me too. Otherwise, it'll be sayonara bye bye RIM coming from the DOD, NSA, CIA, FBI, ATF, DEA, et al.

Bye Bye Playbook 1.0 maybe. You know, rooting one device is not the same as rooting the entire company's devices.

And, if they say bye bye to BB... I don't know who they they should say hello to, because as of today, all other smartphones are orders of magnitudes less secure and more hacked.

[hardslog]

If you mean by "rooting" jailbreaking, then I have no use for it. To me, it's like downloading the Beta OS, and then have over a thousand posts devoted to your missing icons, or the wi-fi blows, or my keyboard doesn't clic, or I can't synch with DM, etc, etc, ad nauseum. Jailbreaking iPhones and iPads is chronic in the Apple community, and glancing over the posts of the moans and groans of how their iPads or iPhones now don't function right, or they can't get the lates iOS without losing their jailbreak, or I'm under the extended warranty with replacement plan and the Apple store told me to take a very long walk off a short pier because my busted phone is jailbroken, etc, etc, etc, ad nauseum.....

So, what do I think, not much at all....rooting is for pigs looking for truffles.

Sorry to say but Rooting and Jailbreaking are NOT the same thing. Rooting in windows terms means you have administrative rights to the system. Jailbreaking means you are opening the device up to install and modify apps in places where you couldn't before (IE install apps that are not from iTunes). If you have seen what rooting can do to an android device you might change you view on rooting. By being able to root my tablet I have made it perform faster, play more video codecs smoothly, modify any sort of icon (fonts, or otherwise) plug in a usb 3g dongle, broadcast a wifi hotspot, remove ANY software that I don't use, Make exceptional backups that can restore it to the EXACT setting it had before, I have even been able to install a virtual version of an OS and VNC directly into it and run it from my tablet even though it is embedded in it.

AND if you don't want to root it because of riskiness, then just don't do it.

[balth]

Someone tell me what plans they might have for this which was previously an obstacle, other than turning on a blue LED?

Well, one theoretical use could be changing the system-wide keyboard, say to get a full pc-like keyboard. I don't know if that's possible yet. Or playing with cpu frequency scaling to extend battery life, although I hope its already set up perfectly. Changing the splash screen should be pretty simple and on the very far ends of possibility changing the desktop manager. Changing the hosts file is my major advantage right now to block hosts i don't like. Having a full-featured bash-like shell with utils at my fingertips would also be nice

I think there is a lot that is theoretically possible, but if RIM have any sense they will patch it and make the patch obligatory to use app world etc.

[Tre Lawrence]

I was a rooted android user and my pov is that while it does allow for some other things to be done, after rooting your phone or device is never the same. what I mean by this is that my android phone was great for the first week or two sometimes longer with a custom rom, but then the issue start: sluggish, random wtfs, screens not working.

Then came the addiction...the search for the latest and greatest ROM. I hope RIM can patch this up to prevent further development of this rooting thing.

One thing though... rooting, in and of itself, could not cause that.

Rooting and jailbreaking are essentially the same thing: gaining administrative rights. Of course, with Android you have ROM choices.

I love being rooted... but I doubt I would ever root a RIM device. What for?

[FF22]

I admit I probably don't understand the consequences.

Apparently, one needs to enter the password to do any of this stuff. So what's the harm if I want to do it? How does that affect the security of the device?

[conix67]

If you mean by "rooting" jailbreaking, then I have no use for it. To me, it's like downloading the Beta OS, and then have over a thousand posts devoted to your missing icons, or the wi-fi blows, or my keyboard doesn't clic, or I can't synch with DM, etc, etc, ad nauseum. Jailbreaking iPhones and iPads is chronic in the Apple community, and glancing over the posts of the moans and groans of how their iPads or iPhones now don't function right, or they can't get the lates iOS without losing their jailbreak, or I'm under the extended warranty with replacement plan and the Apple store told me to take a very long walk off a short pier because my busted phone is jailbroken, etc, etc, etc, ad nauseum.....

So, what do I think, not much at all....rooting is for pigs looking for truffles.

You can't compare this to iOS jailbreaking, which doesn't do much for adding apps. If the Beta OS is what it's going to be like for release OS in Android App support, this rooting can change all that, and make more Android apps available with full functions.

I like my Playbook, and althought I got it for what it's got now, I'm excited about possibility to run more Anroid apps on it. Not many developer's going to port their Android/iOS apps to Playbook and that's almost guaranteed. Even Android vs iOS there's still a big gap in availability of quality apps.

[Roscopcoletrain]

and here you have it

“Research In Motion (RIM) is aware of a claim made on Twitter by security researchers working together that suggests the ability to “jailbreak” a BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. The term “jailbreaking” is commonly used to describe altering the software on a smartphone or tablet in order to obtain access to systems or applications not officially authorized or distributed by the manufacturer. BlackBerry smartphone users are not affected.RIM is currently investigating this claim and has been in contact with one of the security researchers to discuss it.

RIM is currently not aware of a jailbreak being leveraged by anyone other than the researchers, who claim to have performed a jailbreak on their own BlackBerry PlayBook tablets only. If it is determined that the claim is accurate, RIM will follow its standard response process to develop and release a software update that is designed to minimize adverse impact to our customers or carrier partners. RIM is aware that the security researchers have stated they intend to release a tool to jailbreak the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. If such a tool is released, RIM will investigate it.

The security of mobile devices and major networked systems is tested by third-party security researchers every day. RIM also continually tests the security of its own products, and volunteers its products to recognized industry experts for security testing and certification to help identify possible issues. RIM is committed to the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet and to working with researchers to continue to protect our customers.

[mud314]

One thing though... rooting, in and of itself, could not cause that.

Rooting and jailbreaking are essentially the same thing: gaining administrative rights. Of course, with Android you have ROM choices.

I love being rooted... but I doubt I would ever root a RIM device. What for?

I agree that there is no need to root a device. However, two rooted Androids in my house, the other guy refused. The two rooted androids had all sorts of problems and issues, even when running a stock rom. The non-rooted android ran like a champ, all three phones were the same model. Only the two rooted phones had issues. In the end the, prior to me switching to the 9930, the only ROM that would make my phone run "ok" was the Chinese ROM MIUI, very iOS though and they were releasing updates WEEKLY. Man that became annoying.

[j2mc]

FYI - if you can get access to the filesystem you can get the source code to any of the webworks based apps loaded on the playbook. I saw some discussion from devs worrying about the security of their source since the bar is just a plain zip file with their full source code included, no encryption or anything...RIM assured that the bar files would never be accessible by the end user....doesn't seem to be the case anymore.

[Roscopcoletrain]

I agree that there is no need to root a device. However, two rooted Androids in my house, the other guy refused. The two rooted androids had all sorts of problems and issues, even when running a stock rom. The non-rooted android ran like a champ, all three phones were the same model. Only the two rooted phones had issues. In the end the, prior to me switching to the 9930, the only ROM that would make my phone run "ok" was the Chinese ROM MIUI, very iOS though and they were releasing updates WEEKLY. Man that became annoying.

Annoying? I love it. Ive got a Nexus S, rooted of course running a ICS rom. I was on Cyanogenmod nightly builds before this. I didnt flash a new nightly every day, but every other for sure. Loved the updates. New features, etc. Sure some stuff would break every so often, but it was usually fixed in the next build.

Rooting and running custom roms isnt for everyone for sure, that I agree with.

[howarmat]

FYI - if you can get access to the filesystem you can get the source code to any of the webworks based apps loaded on the playbook. I saw some discussion from devs worrying about the security of their source since the bar is just a plain zip file with their full source code included, no encryption or anything...RIM assured that the bar files would never be accessible by the end user....doesn't seem to be the case anymore.

this has been the case for a while now. This flaw was discovered back in the spring i think

[peter9477]

FYI - if you can get access to the filesystem you can get the source code to any of the webworks based apps loaded on the playbook. I saw some discussion from devs worrying about the security of their source since the bar is just a plain zip file with their full source code included, no encryption or anything...RIM assured that the bar files would never be accessible by the end user....doesn't seem to be the case anymore.

Can you link to any place where RIM actually stated that, or a credible report (i.e. a popular web site) where it was reported they'd said that?

While many of us thought before launch that the .bar files would be better protected, I'm pretty sure RIM never actually made any statement about it, and from Day One the backup through Desktop Manager has exposed the code for all our apps. That hasn't made developers very happy, but this whole "root" thing doesn't increase our exposure to piracy by one tiny bit because of this...

[bbaleno]

i am wondering if the can get to personal or app data if they can read it or are those files encrypted

if they are using encryption i would imagine that rooting it would be no worse than giving access to the hardware and allowing anyone go load what ever os they wanted. which also brings up the point of malware. i would be very carefull.

[alnamvet68]

Sorry to say but Rooting and Jailbreaking are NOT the same thing. Rooting in windows terms means you have administrative rights to the system. Jailbreaking means you are opening the device up to install and modify apps in places where you couldn't before (IE install apps that are not from iTunes). If you have seen what rooting can do to an android device you might change you view on rooting. By being able to root my tablet I have made it perform faster, play more video codecs smoothly, modify any sort of icon (fonts, or otherwise) plug in a usb 3g dongle, broadcast a wifi hotspot, remove ANY software that I don't use, Make exceptional backups that can restore it to the EXACT setting it had before, I have even been able to install a virtual version of an OS and VNC directly into it and run it from my tablet even though it is embedded in it.

AND if you don't want to root it because of riskiness, then just don't do it.

Rooting, hacking, jailbreaking....all same same to me GI.

[jabraunski]

cydia is the main reason i have an iPad....free apps for all!!!

[pustyak]

I can see why rooting might be interesting, but it really isn't necessary at this point. It's not like someone is developing a better version of QNX or anything like that.

However, I have a Nook Color which I have not only rooted, but I have installed a completely new (full Gingerbread) version of Android. In my opinion, anyone who buys one of the cheaper tablets like the Nook Tablet or the Kindle Fire and doesn't root it is a fool. You will be so limited.

[thisissun]

does this mean that app like "VLC media player" can be put on the rooted PB?

[qbnkelt]

Bye Bye Playbook 1.0 maybe. You know, rooting one device is not the same as rooting the entire company's devices.

And, if they say bye bye to BB... I don't know who they they should say hello to, because as of today, all other smartphones are orders of magnitudes less secure and more hacked.

I can assure you that security minded agencies will not be happy with the lesser of two evils. They want the secure communications that BB has historically provided.

[ajm67]

I noticed that the blackberry apk-bar requests page has been taken down why is that?

[lawguyman]

Suggestion: If you don't like rooting, don't root your Playboot. If you do like rooting, go ahead and root it.

It's not mandatory.

[okie4309]

I sense a cat and mouse game coming up, RIM will patch the security hole, dingleberry finds another way in or just updates it tool. This is very common in all OS (except android) RIM will always try to protect their rep. Overall i do support rooting, almost all my devices are rooted.

[bpdude]

Please let me download virus ridden android apps oh please! But don't let em root their pbs.