webosbrew / webos-homebrew-channel

Unofficial webOS TV homebrew store and root-related tooling

webos-homebrew-channel

Features

• Independent webOS package repository

  • Homebrew discovery, installation & updates

• Support for multiple repositories (outside of official repo.webosbrew.org

• (root) Root execution service that can be easily used by webOS homebrew developers without a need of separate privilege escalation handling (luna://org.webosbrew.hbchannel.service/exec)

• (root) Disable some telemetry

• (root) Startup user hooks (executable scripts present in /var/lib/webosbrew/init.d are run on bootup)

• (root) Remote access

  • SSH - public key authenticated (with default alpine password until authorized keys are provisioned)
  • Telnet - unauthenticated, use sparingly

• (root) Failsafe mode

  • In case a device crashes on boot only an emergency shell will be exposed via telnet. In order to disable it fix the original crash cause and remove /var/luna/preferences/webosbrew_failsafe flag file.

Installation

Updating

If you already have Homebrew Channel installed just launch Homebrew Channel and select "Homebrew Channel" on apps browser view. "Update" button should be clickable if an update is available for your installation.

If you need to reinstall any app for any reason press "5" button on app details screen and "Update" button should change to "Reinstall" (and get enabled if it wasn't before)

Automated (recommended)

Latest Homebrew Channel version is automatically installed when rooting a TV with https://rootmy.tv exploit.

Automated

Execute the following snippet on target TV using SSH or Telnet:

curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/webosbrew/webos-homebrew-channel/main/tools/install.sh | sh -

# Update startup script (assuming running as root)
cp /media/developer/apps/usr/palm/services/org.webosbrew.hbchannel.service/startup.sh /var/lib/webosbrew/startup.sh

Manual

• Download latest release .ipk
• Install it using ares-install SDK command or using the following command directly on a TV:

  luna-send-pub -i 'luna://com.webos.appInstallService/dev/install' '{"id":"com.ares.defaultName","ipkUrl":"/tmp/path/to/hbchannel.ipk","subscribe":true}'

• (root) Elevate privileges by running:

  /media/developer/apps/usr/palm/services/org.webosbrew.hbchannel.service/elevate-service

• (root) Update startup script:

  cp /media/developer/apps/usr/palm/services/org.webosbrew.hbchannel.service/startup.sh /var/lib/webosbrew/startup.sh

Interfaces

Luna service

This application exposes a Luna service that may be used by other homebrew applications on Rooted devices:

luna://org.webosbrew.hbchannel.service/install

Download, verify and install an application.

Arguments:

• ipkUrl [string] - HTTP(s) URL for ipk application to install
• ipkHash [string] - SHA256 checksum of downloaded ipk application
• subscribe [boolean] - subscribe for status updates

Returns:

• finished [boolean] - returns true when application has been fully installed
• statusText [string] - current status/progress message
• progress [number] - percentage download progress

luna://org.webosbrew.hbchannel.service/exec

Root code execution - this may not execute as root, if a device is not rooted.

Arguments:

• command [string] - command to execute

Returns:

• error [string] - error that may have occured
• stdoutString [string] - stdout as a unicode string representation
• stdoutBytes [string] - stdout as a base64 representation
• stderrString [string] - stderr as a unicode string representation
• stderrBytes [string] - stderr as a base64 representation

luna://org.webosbrew.hbchannel.service/spawn

Root code execution, spawn a long-running process - this may not execute as root, if a device is not rooted.

Arguments:

• command [string] - command to execute

Returns:

• type [string] - one of stdoutData, stderrData, close, exit
  • stdoutData - data incoming on stdout pipe
    • stdoutString [string] - stdout as a unicode string representation
    • stdoutBytes [string] - stdout as a base64 representation
  • stderrData - data incoming on stderr pipe
    • stderrString [string] - stderr as a unicode string representation
    • stderrBytes [string] - stderr as a base64 representation
  • close - child process closed all its stdio streams
    • closeCode [number] - exit code
  • exit - child proess ended
    • exitCode [number] - exit code

luna://org.webosbrew.hbchannel.service/getAppInfo

luna://com.webos.applicationManager/getAppInfo call replicated using devmode-only endpoints.

Repository management

webOS application (or remote device, via SSAP) may request Homebrew Launcher to add an external repository, by launching it with the following launch params:

{
    "launchMode": "addRepository",
    "url": "https://url-to-repository.com"
}

This will automatically jump to Settings view and open up "Add repository" prompt with URL filled in.

This can be tested by using ares-launch as follows:

ares-launch org.webosbrew.hbchannel -p '{"launchMode":"addRepository","url":"https://google.com"}'

Development

Environment

Some libraries used by this project are submodules of this repository. Use following command when cloning:

git clone --recursive https://github.com/webosbrew/webos-homebrew-channel

All required development packages are distributed via npm. In order to install them in a local directory run:

npm install

Technology stack

Frontend is based on last development version of enyo. (dated january 2017) While this definitely is not the cool and jazzy latest technology, it provides us with a sensible UI toolkit for TV-based application that seems to work pretty well with versions of webOS as old as 1.x. We are currently using enyo built-in enyo-dev packager. This requires us to write code that'll be run directly on target platforms (no babel/transpilation of newer ES dialects - no arrow functions, no const, no promises, etc.). In the future we may migrate to some webpack-based solution around that.

Service is packaged using webpack & babel, thus, with enough shims and patches, we can write and use some modern ES features (like Promises, arrow functions, async functions, const, etc.) while targeting NodeJS 0.10 (used on earliest webOS versions)

Development TV setup

Configuring @webosose/ares-cli with Developer Mode App

This is partially based on: https://webostv.developer.lge.com/develop/app-test/using-devmode-app/

• Install Developer Mode app from Content Store
• Enable developer mode, enable keyserver
• Download TV's private key: http://TV_IP:9991/webos_rsa
• Configure the device using ares-setup-device (-a may need to be replaced with -m if device named webos is already configured)
  • PASSPHRASE is the 6-character passphrase printed on screen in developer mode app

ares-setup-device -a webos -i "username=prisoner" -i "privatekey=/path/to/downloaded/webos_rsa" -i "passphrase=PASSPHRASE" -i "host=TV_IP" -i "port=9922"

Configuring @webosose/ares-cli with rooted TV

• Enable sshd in Homebrew Channel app
• Generate ssh key on developer machine (ssh-keygen)
• Copy the public key (id_rsa.pub) to /home/root/.ssh/authorized_keys on TV
• Configure the device using ares-setup-device (-a may need to be replaced with -m if device named webos is already configured)

ares-setup-device -a webos -i "username=root" -i "privatekey=/path/to/id_rsa" -i "passphrase=SSH_KEY_PASSPHRASE" -i "host=TV_IP" -i "port=22"

Note: @webosose/ares-cli doesn't need to be installed globally - you can use a package installed locally after npm install in this repo by just prefixing above commands with local path, like so: node_modules/.bin/ares-setup-device ...

Frontend development

EnyoJS is able to watch for frontend changes, but does not expose a HTTP server.

npm run build -- --watch

# ...in a separate terminal:
python -m http.server -d dist/

Production build

rm -rf dist && npm run build -- --production && npm run build-service -- --env production && npm run package

Full application testing / deployment

rm -rf dist && npm run build && npm run build-service && npm run package && npm run deploy && npm run launch
ssh root@10.0.0.2 -p 9922 /media/developer/apps/usr/palm/services/org.webosbrew.hbchannel.service/elevate-service

Service testing

npm run build-service && \
    cat dist/services/service.js | ssh root@10.0.0.2 -p 9922 sh -c 'cat > /media/developer/apps/usr/palm/services/org.webosbrew.hbchannel.service/service.js && pkill -f org.webosbrew.hbchannel.service'
ssh root@10.0.0.2 /media/developer/apps/usr/palm/services/org.webosbrew.hbchannel.service/run-js-service -k -n /media/developer/apps/usr/palm/services/org.webosbrew.hbchannel.service

Update startup.sh script

cp /media/developer/apps/usr/palm/services/org.webosbrew.hbchannel.service/startup.sh /var/lib/webosbrew/startup.sh

Release engineering

npm version minor
git push origin main --tags

Testing

Before every release following features should be verified:

• Releases with startup.sh updates:

  • A single "/var/lib/webosbrew/startup.sh updated!" or "/media/cryptofs/apps/usr/palm/services/com.palmdts.devmode.service/start-devmode.sh updated!" notification should pop up on first Homebrew Channel launch once.
  • Further app launches should not show any other notifications (unless Homebrew Channel is rolled back to some older version)

• Non-installed app info page:

  • Install button should be enabled
  • Launch button should be disabled
  • "Project page" and inline application description links should be clickable and should open system browser
  • After clikcing "Install" button should transform into a progress bar
  • Installation should finish with "Application installed: Application Name" - no other notifications should be shown.
  • After installation "Launch" button should be enabled, "Install" button should be disabled and called "Completed"

• Installed app info page:

  • Update button should be disabled
  • Launch button should be enabled and should launch selected application
  • After pressing remote button 5 disabled "Update" button should transform to enabled "Reinstall" button. Clicking it should perform usual package installation.
  • Uninstall button should be enabled and should remove an application when pressed.
  • On Homebrew Channel app info page Launch and Uninstall buttons shoud always be disabled.
  • If an update is available for application "Version" should show eg. "0.1.2 (installed: 0.1.0)"

• Homebrew Channel Self-update - reinstall/update can be force-enabled by pressing remote button 5 on Homebrew Channel app page.

  • Self-update should show the following notifications:
    • Performing self-update...
    • Performing self-update (inner)
    • Elevating...
    • Self-update finished!
  • "Package info fetch failed: ..." notification should not be shown.

• Settings page:

  • Root status should show "ok"
  • "System reboot" button should perform a full system reboot
  • "Add repository" button should show an URL text prompt. Entering an invalid url "aaa" and going back to main page should show "An error occured while downloading some repositories: aaa (0)". Main page should still be navigatable and applications should be installable. Pressing on "aaa" repository in settings should remove it from the list.
  • Switching off all repositories (Default repository / Extra non-free software) and going back to main page should produce an empty page without any errors. Going back to settings and enabling these back again should populate main apps list page back again.
  • Switching "Root Configuration" options should not show any errors. "Root Configuration" option values should be saved immediately - after going back to main page, then going to settings again - these should show correct values, as last set on the settings page. (a second ago) After pressing "System reboot" apropriate configuration should get applied.

• Root execution service:

  • Homebrew using /exec and other endpoints should work correctly. Good testing target is "Custom Screensaver" app since it uses plain /exec calls without going through its own service.

• Autostart:

  • On TVs without persistent script boot hook (eg. crashd) Telnet/sshd should be accessible (when enabled) before launching Homebrew Channel itself.