In the early 2G jailbreak/unlock days there was more than one jb/unlock method available, some better for the long term than others. I'd like to avoid revisiting the 2G "revirginizing" drama as we progress to later firmwares.

George and DevTeam used different exploits on the same vulnerability. I'd appreciate any help clarifying the differences between their Purplera1n and Redsn0w methods because I'm techno-speak challenged and sometimes their tech-talk goes right over my head.

Thank you for any experience and knowledge you can share!


Questions/Concerns:
1. Planetbeing wrote that Purplera1n has problems.
"all props to @geohot for coming up with this in short order (tho we wanted to wait), but his jb tarbombs fs (among other problems)"
a. Can someone please explain what "tarbombs fs" means?
b. What are the other problems?
c. Will these problems create issues for later firmware JBs?

2. A couple DevTeam members wrote about kernel patch issues in Purplera1n. Have these been fixed in later versions?

3. Does the Purplera1n JB contact Apple's servers, or is that only the ECID# trick?

4. Have I missed something, or is the DevTeam not updating Pwnage for the 3GS?


Current JB Method Comparison (please feel free to add or correct)
Redsn0w
replaces QwkPwn
Con - post-jailbreak problems: push notification, battery drain, wi-fi
Pro - QwkPwn had excellent track record as new firmwares came out

Purplera1n
Con - no history as firmware is updated
Pro - no post-jailbreak problems?

Pwnage
Con - doesn't work on 3GS yet?
Pro - customize firmware, install custom images
Pro - no post-jailbreak problems on most recent firmwares
Pro - excellent track record as new firmwares come out

taken from wikipedia:

"A tarbomb is derogatory hacker slang used to refer to a tarball that does not follow the usual conventions, i.e. it contains many files that extract into the working directory. Such a tarball can create problems by overwriting files of the same name in the working directory, or mixing one project's files into another. It is almost always an inconvenience to the user, who is obliged to identify and delete a number of files scattered throughout the directory's contents. Such behavior is considered bad etiquette on the part of the archive's creator."

fs is "filesystem"

I used Purplera1n RC1 and later RC2. I haven't noticed any problems since RC2 and the current Cydia patches.

I see rumors of problems with jailbroken 3GS (push, wifi, etc), are those exclusive to Redsn0w?

Why can't redsn0w be integrated into Pwntool?

@risner: I think some of those problems are reported to be caused by the Ultrasn0w unlock as well as by JBs. But, there are many people reporting different results and some are mixing up their terminology, so that makes it a bit tricky to sort feedback.

@tony604: Thanks for the Wiki explanation. I kinda get it now. But, I still would like to know: does the "tarbomb" approach mean there could be complications upgrading to future firmware releases?

Does anyone know, or have an opinion: Which of these methods, purplera1n or redsn0w, is better for the long run, for future firmware releases? Or, are they both solid?

tarbombing was fixed two revs ago...

purplera1n itself is the cleanest jailbreak possible. ultrasn0w causes 90% of complaints I get about it now. and the battery life issues are caused by resident programs like ssh, and even possibly cydia. Freeze is a completely native app, and is the only thing purplera1n adds besides some kernel+iboot+llb patches.

trust me, i know what i'm doing. my jailbreak is cleaner, faster, and easier than devs.

George...Thank you for personally answering my question!

I know you do great work and am in awe of what you've accomplished, not just now, but also all the breakthroughs you've made since the iPhone 2G. I've been with you all the way, learning-by-doing. Serious kudos to you!

I'm not questioning the value of purplera1n...I was one of the first to use the ECID trick and the JB. I was just trying to find out if both jailbreak methods were robust enough to weather future firmware releases and that if we had to switch from one to the other for some reason in the future, there wouldn't be any problems. I'm just thinking back to the "revirginize" workarounds and all the other complications that came up in the early JB/unlock days of the 2G when multiple JB/unlock tools were released. Thanks for letting me know that any concerns with purplera1n are taken care of and old history.

May I ask you?...are you planning on keeping purplera1n updated for future firmware releases? I ask since this is the first time I know of that you've released your own tool. It's working so well, I hope you keep it going.

George, when you say that battery life is possibly caused by Cydia, I'm inferring that you mean that battery life is affected not just when using Cydia, but from simply having it installed. Is this correct? Why would that be the case? Maybe from moving and symlinking applications, ringtones, wallpaper, etc. to the media partition, causing the device to constantly access?

Anyway, thanks for your efforts. I used purplera1n, then redsn0w, but I just restored and used purplera1n, as the battery life sucked after redsn0w. Hopefully better now.

The whole "revirginize" issues was related to 2G unlocks back in the day. Jailbreaking does not have the same effect, and no one has found a way deep enough into the iPhone to cause those sort of problems on the 3G or 3GS. I know that with the 3G jailbreaks (quickpwn, not sure about pwnage), there would be strange issues like music not synching, large amount of "other" space being taken up, permission problems..etc. When upgrading the firmware, it was always recommended to do a fresh restore, jailbreak, then synch (not even restore from backup). Who knows if any of those sort of issues will pop up again, but a restore will completely undo whatever any of the jailbreaks do, so you don't need to worry about messing your phone up, whether you go with purple or red.

Thanks Tony. I remember the old 2G problems were more with the unlock than JB. Just wanted to make sure there wasn't going to be any drama down the line if I used one method over the other now. It's good to know George fixed his early issues. There's still the issue of purplera1n contacting Apple servers, which Apple could try to stop if they wanted to (but probably won't).

> trust me, i know what i'm doing. my jailbreak is cleaner, faster, and easier than devs.

Thanks for giving Dev the exploit they use for Ultrasn0w.

I do not use Purplera1n, nor Purplesn0w, because they are incomplete solutions. There is no Hacktivation.

Im just a consumer, so I used Redsn0w to Hacktivate and Jailbreak, and Ultrasn0w to unlock

I would be happy to use Purplesn0w once it is a complete solution..

By complete solution I mean, it includes Hacktivation, Jailbreak, and Unlock.

Thanks for giving Dev team your exploits so they can make simple GUI's for consumers like me.

Currently on Tmobile USA thanks to Dev Team's packaging of Geohot's 3G exploit, and hoping Dev will now package up Geohots 3GS Jailbreak and Unlock, to include Hacktivation.

I dont care who does it, Geohot or Dev team, as long as the end result is a simple to use, complete package. Thanks to both Dev and Geo for helping the iPhone community..

Jonathan
ps, tell Santa I want a Factory Unlocked iPhone, so I dont have to do this dance.. Activate-Hacktivate, Jailbreak-Cydia, AddRepo-Unlock..