For some of us root access is still required for day to day use of our devices but with each version of Android, Google increases security and root access has been harder and harder to achieve. For this reason it is good to see that root has already been obtained on the first developer preview of Android O.

Yesterday Chainfire, developer of SuperSU and overall Android legend, tweeted out that he had managed to gain root on Android O developer preview but there were still issues. Chainfire normally does not release things that are not finalised and ready for general consumption but due to circumstances he has released his basic root for Android O first developer preview today, with some caveats. It is only for the Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X and NOT the Pixel or Pixel XL.

Even then there are issues with it causing devices to bootloop due to a kernel panic, the cause of which is currently unknown. It is too early to know if this issue will be fixed by Chainfire or if it is a Google issue. For apps, not all will work, especially with the SELiniux rules being tightened even further so if the app you need to work doesn’t, either hold tight until Chainfire can do more work or contact the app developer.

Due to the new dual partition the code that handles root in this situation is very tricky and due to time constraints Chainfire has not had time to troubleshoot nor solve this. He does say that “this is most likely something I can solve with some more time and effort” so do not give up hope just yet. He managed to do it for Nougat I’m sure he can work his magic eventually for Android O.

At this stage I’d consider this as a very early pre-alpha and should only be used by very daring people who either like to live on the edge or simply must have root access. Stay tuned for more on this as it obviously needs a lot more development.

Source: Chainfire @ XDA.

    RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR