Rooting/Custom ROMs + Pleco

[etm001]

Hi,

In the Android world, you can do the following to your phone:

1. root
2. install a custom ROM (you can root but choose not to install a custom ROM)
3. convert a stock carrier phone to a Google Play Edition (GPE) version (involves changing the phone's CID, MID, etc.; it's a fairly involved process not for the faint of heart).

How does each of the above, it all all, affect how Pleco and/or Google Play Store determines that you have a valid license to run Pleco? I'm thinking about rooting and possibly installing a custom ROM (using Titanium Backup to restore Pleco from backup after flashing custom ROM), but want to be sure I won't run into any unexpected issues with Pleco.

Thanks!

 

[mikelove]

It would almost certainly change your device's hardware ID, but assuming that you didn't install some sort of root hack that spoofed that ID or that caused it to randomly change every time you start up your phone, once you'd reactivated Pleco it should continue on its merry way. But definitely do make a copy of your Registration ID before hand, since this might screw up Google's in-app purchasing system and you'd need that ID to reactivate if it does.

 

[etm001]

Hi,

Just wanted to follow-up: I did end up rooting my phone and installing a custom ROM, and as Mike noted, all I had to do was re-enter my Pleco registration ID.

 

[etm001]

Second follow-up.

I did end up changing the carrier ID (CID) of my phone as part of the process of converting it from stock software to Google Play Edition software. Pleco worked fine after re-authenticating with the Pleco servers, downloading the basic Android files as well as all the add-ons I had previously purchased.

Question: I used Titanium Backup to backup all my Android apps. I successfully restored Pleco from my backup, but lost my entire flashcard database. (It's my own fault, I simply forgot about it, otherwise I would have manually exported the database from Pleco just to be safe before wiping the phone). I'm curious to know if the flashcard database and add-ons (which weren't preserved as part of the backup, although it wasn't painful to re-download them) can/should be included in a backup of the app's data files. (Note: some things were preserved in the backup, such as my dictionary search history).

 

[mikelove]

They would be in /Android/data/com.pleco.chinesesystem/files/databases on your SD card - not sure whether or not that was one of the directories you backed up.

 

[etm001]

I did a simple drag-and-drop backup of the SD card contents before wiping, so I have the database after all.

Thanks!