Getting to the Root of Rooting the G1 – Why so popular?

This a guest post by frequent Google And Blog commenter Nick Stringer

In the recent surge of anticipation for the release of the Cupcake Android update there has been a lot of talk about how to root your G1 and install the update manually.

In this post I’m going to talk about what root access is, why it’s useful and why it probably won’t be officially supported by T-Mobile.

The way that the Android operating system has been designed makes it efficient, lightweight and extremely versatile.

Android is based around a Linux kernel, which negates much of the need for drivers and has the added benefit of being extremely powerful if this power is made available.

The power in question is of course root access.

For anyone unfamiliar with Linux, this can be seen simply as administrative rights – If a user obtains root access they can pretty much do whatever they like with their Linux install, completely opening up the workings of the system.

This means that (hardware permitting) almost any feature conceivable can be implemented:

• Want to share your 3G connection with your laptop via Wifi or USB? Sure, write an application for it.
• Want to share a folder on your G1 with other computers on your network? Same solution & if you can’t write one,  just search for one on Google.

Though the hardware may not support every function that you might want to implement, the OS certainly would. In the case of the G1, this has been taken to the point of installing an entirely new OS alongside Android.

This demo above – though in its early stages – is an important step in getting an entirely new interface running on a G1. The text you see in the video is that of a Debian system updating itself.

Debian is a Linux OS, and is coincidentally the base system on the ever popular Ubuntu distribution is based.

Theoretically then, it should be possible to install a version of Ubuntu’s Mobile Internet Device Edition – a version of the OS which is optimised for devices such as the G1.

With support for things like the hugely moaned-about Flash available, and a wide range of software loaded from the basic install, this could be extremely useful.

This freedom is dangerous in some parties’ eyes though, and it wasn’t without reason that RC30 (RC8 in the UK) removed the possibility of root access.

A lot of discussion as to why this was done has been based around security – a few basic lines of code executed by an unwary user could destroy their phone’s software.  However, there are further implications.

The most important issue from certain parties’ point of view is money as allowing regular users root access would allow them to install their own applications.

Allowing this kind of freedom at a time when the Android Market is gearing up to launch paid versions of its apps would undermine the funding structures involved.

The aforementioned example of enabling the sharing of 3G connections with computers wouldn’t be beneficial for T-Mobile either.

While most contracts are limited to a 3GB monthly download limit, the added traffic from having a computer accessing these connections would place a large strain on the networks used.

So in my opinion, while having root access would be hugely beneficial for the end user I can’t see it being reinstated by either T-Mobile or Google for public use any time soon, if at all.

For those that are willing to delve into the working of their phone and take risks though, the possibilities of a rooted G1 are almost endless.

What are your thoughts on this? Have you enabled root on your G1? Have you seen any other exciting developments that have opened up because of this?