On my LineageOS device, when I go to Settings -> About Phone -> LineageOS Updates -> and press install on any version, it comes back to me with: “Install Error”

When plugging it in to a USB port with adb debugging turned on, running adb logcat gives the error message: failed to set bootloader message: failed to find /misc partition

TLDR:

As root, remount root (/) partition and then add this line:

/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/misc      /misc              emmc    defaults                                        defaults

to the file /fstab${ro.hardware} (just press tab after /fstab), and then automatic updates will run. This change is not persistent and you have to run it on each reboot.

I found another pastebin from a year ago here: https://pastebin.com/vURbvSGr

My first intuition was to investigate the service called uncrypt, since that is what was giving me the error message

sumire:/ $ find / 2> /dev/null | grep uncrypt
/system/etc/init/uncrypt.rc

A single file, an init file (I think?) which contents point to a binary in /system/bin/uncrypt which doesnt actually exist.

sumire:/ $ ls /system/bin 2>&1 |  grep uncr
ls: /system/bin/uncrypt: Permission denied

Turns out I just don’t have permissions for this file, so onto root!

adb root

While investingating how to create /dev/socket/uncrypt to sucessfully run the uncrypt command by hand, a user in the #lineageOS irc channel responded to a question of mine:

09:15 < mjsir911> Anyone know what the /misc partition is and why it doesnt exist on my phone?
09:36 < s17> The misc partition is used by recovery and is 4KB or larger.
09:37 < s17> https://source.android.com/devices/bootloader/partitions-images
09:38 < mjsir911> ty s17, do you know if it is installed by default?

This gives me a clue, although I’m still not sure why the misc partition still doesn’t exist on my machine.

Success! As root I found a device symlinked at /dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/misc

sumire:/ # readlink -f /dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/misc
/dev/block/mmcblk0p33

After searching around for fstabs for a while…

09:44 < mjsir911> in my bootloader I found a symlink in `/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/misc` so I think uncrypt just wasnt finding it in `/etc/fstab`
09:48 < mjsir911> welp, `/etc/fstab` isnt a thing on android, whoops
09:50 < BtbN> Android very much has an fstab
09:52 < mjsir911> Where's it located? It's not in the place I was expecting
09:54 <+Khaytsus> Most of android's mounting is done in init scripts, but there is a fstab in /system
10:06 < mjsir911> alright so dumping a line for my /misc partition it /fstab.qcom fixed the updater, but on reboot that line when away. Anyway for persistent fstabs?

And looking at the uncrypt source code (./bootable/recovery/uncrypt/uncrypt.cpp):

static struct fstab* read_fstab() {
    fstab = NULL;

    // The fstab path is always "/fstab.${ro.hardware}".
    char fstab_path[PATH_MAX+1] = "/fstab.";
    if (!property_get("ro.hardware", fstab_path+strlen(fstab_path), "")) {
        ALOGE("failed to get ro.hardware");
        return NULL;
    }
    ...
}

Turns out the fstab for my phone was located at /fstab.qcom:

sumire:/ # ls -lha /fstab.qcom
-rw-r----- 1 root root 2.0K 1969-12-31 19:00 /fstab.qcom

Notice that only root can read & write from this file.

adding a line to that file (/fstab.qcom) for my /misc partition did indeed fix the automatic updater, but that line went away after any reboots

/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/misc       /misc     vfat defaults,noauto                                                               defaults

I experimented with extracting the boot image and changing fstab, but /misc was already in it!

/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/misc      /misc              emmc    defaults                                        defaults

At this point, I don’t know much about the architecture and so I can’t really find why that line isn’t showing up on a booted system

If anyone has any pointers, feel free to send me an email.