Participating at a "Free Your Android" Workshop

What will you do at the workshop

• Introduction about software freedom on mobile phones
• unlock the bootloader of your device (if necessary)

• flash a custom ROM of Android (usually CyanogenMod or Replicant)

• install a Free Software Market (F-Droid)
• recommendation and test of various Fee Software apps (optional)

Checklist & HowTo prepare for the workshop

• First, please check whether your device can be liberated.

• Make sure that you can unlock the bootloader of your device - you should be able to check this at your manufacturers website

• Send a mail to your workshop lecturer to register for the event with your exact device model

• Keep in mind that the workshop will last several hours. Please come with enough time.
• Bring a Laptop, USB cable, MicroSD Card and a Card reader for your device.

Be aware of

• All data on your device will be lost. You can copy your data on the new OS, so please make a backup before!

• The manufacturer of your device will most likely declare your warranty void if you unlock/flash it. Even as this is not in line with European Directive 1999/44/EC, they might try to do void your statutory warranty. See http://piana.eu/root for more information.

• Be aware that your device might be destroyed or bricked. Even though this is unlikely, it might happen.
• After the workshop is over, the organizers are not able to and will not provide continued support for your liberated device.

Actually Freeing your Android

Where to get Information

• Supported CyanogenMod devices with instructions how to install are also available on http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/wiki/Devices_Overview

• Instructions for gaining root access and flashing recovery are almost always available on http://forum.xda-developers.com/ in device-specific developer forums

How to backup your Android

before rooting your phone

There are instructions in the Cyanogenmod wiki on how to backup your Android. Unfortunately all their links go to a non-free market store. So here is the manual but free version of doing a backup of all your data:

• go to f-droid.org and get SlightBackup. This tiny app backups the following data from internal memory to you SD card for you:

  • SMS (stock application)
  • call-logs (no voicemails)
  • bookmarks (stock browser; no folder support)
  • user dictionaries
  • playlists
  • settings (experimental)

you find the data afterwards under 'sdcard/backup'

• export your contact list / phone book manually!
• backup all data of each application according to their specific instructions

Now all your personal data on your internal memory should be copied to your SDcard. Finally, copy all data on your SDcard (even as sd-card should not be touched by installing custom rom) as a backup to any memory. That's it.

and/or after rooting your phone

Using Clockworkmod, there is also the possibility to backup the whole system in once. But this option is not available before rooting your phone. If you like to be sure, do the inscriptions above before you root your phone and use Clockworkmod after rooting in addition.

• See if you device is supported by Clockworkmod

• Root your phone and install clockworkmod. How to do these steps totally depend on your phone and are quite different, so they cannot be described here.
• You find your CWM backup here: sdcard/clockworkmod/backup

Technical High-level overview

On most phones Android operating system is spread over several partitions, most important ones being:

/boot - The main system boot loader

/system - Partition where Android operating system is installed

/data - Partition holding all installed applications and all application data (including system data - SMSes, contacts, etc.)

/recovery - Partition holding an alternate bootable system meant for recovering broken Android installation and Android upgrades

The goal of liberation is to replace the proprietary device manufacturer recovery program (which accepts only manufacturer-signed OS packages) with a custom one, which will allow installation of other operating systems (in our case CyanogenMod) to the "/system" partition.

The steps required for most devices are as follows:

1. Backup user data (SMS, Contacts, etc.)
2. Gain root access on the device
3. Use root access to unlock bootloader to allow changes to "/system" and "/recovery" partitions (not all devices need that)

4. Use root access to replace manufacturer recovery with an open one (e.g. ClockworkMod, Amon_Ra, etc.)

5. Reboot phone into Clockwork / Amon_Ra recovery and use it to flash CyanogenMod zip file

6. From within Clockwork/Amon_RA wipe "/data" and "/cache" partitions to prevent boot-loops and OS crashes because of application version differences

Giving a "Free Your Android" Workshop

• ask participants to pre-register and give their device model for preparation
• send them the checklist and further information before the event
• make people sign a declaration that they are aware that their actions might void warranty, lead to loss of all data and destroy the device. Also, they are not holding the workshop organizer liable for that.
• if you like tell them that you will not be able to provide support after the workshop is over
• don't plan to serve more than 3 inexperienced people at once. Make sure to have help when giving a workshop for more people
• while giving the workshop identify smart and experienced people that you can delegate tasks to during the workshop
• talk to those people afterwards if they would be interested in helping with other workshops or give workshops themselves, write down their email addresses

Offical workshops timeline

Workshops that have been given

Workshops that will happen

Templates

• Workshop Announcement

• Workshop Invitation

• Campaign Material