What is root?
 

I am waiting on my evo 3d to arrive today and reading up on some of the threads. I hear the term often of root the device. Can some explain what that is and why people are doing it? Thanks!

Re: What is root?
 

Superuser - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Re: What is root?
 

thanks dude

Re: What is root?
 

Short Version: Its the Android equivilant to getting HSPL for your TP2 so that you can flash custom ROMs.

Re: What is root?
 

Thanks again, who has the latest and greatest software for the evo 3d?

Re: What is root?
 

Root access is not yet available for the Evo 3D, but keep an eye on the development forum as it should be ready Soon (TM).

Re: What is root?
 

Root access is available but its not permanent. There is a temp root that works very well and allows almost all of the functions of normal root minus the ability to "stick" after a reboot of phone.

Thats not really correct. Its more like having full access to system files. A "custom recovery" is like having a hard SPL. But you cannot gain access to custom recovery without root. So they do go hand in hand.

Sorry if these minor corrects seem anal...

Re: What is root?
 

Yea, my statement was more so with regards to having Root with ability to flash ROMs (so really S-OFF not Root), which as a TP2 user is probably the OP's prime concern.

Again, was just trying to "dumb it down" to terms he could relate to being a TP2 user. I gathered that the OP didn't have much experience with computers since he was not familiar with the term "root" which isn't unique to cell phones etc.

No apology needed :thumbright:. I wanted to give some quick answers to avoid the feeling of "tl;dr" and "OMG WTF-WALL-OF-TEXT DOES DAMAGE FOR 133,700 HP!!111!!1!!!!11" the OP might have after going to read the wikipedia article. The problem is there isn't really a "quick" answer that I could give.

Re: What is root?
 

Just remember to do this : sudo su