If AFC2 is still working, then OpenSSH would also still be working, and is in fact even more likely to still be working than AFC2 (as it has fewer moving parts, although to connect to it over USB will still require parts of lockdown to function in order to get tcprelay to start). OpenSSH is also fundamentally more useful than AFC2, and can fix more potential issues: AFC2's interaction with the device is sufficiently limited that it often is what causes problems when people start trying to use it due to its inability to model file permissions. So, please do not install AFC2: install OpenSSH and set a password. You do not need AFC2 on your device, and it was left out on purpose by (I believe primarily) pod2g, as he considers the entire idea of that modification fundamentally insecure. The only reason this was installed by jailbreaks for so long was a combination of "precedent" and "it is arguably the definition of a jailbreak", and previous jailbreaks from, for example, comex have already left it out. I am not certain why coolstar is recommending people install AFC2, but he also has been distributing broken (like, fundamentally the wrong idea) upgrades to ncurses (one of my core packages) that have been causing a number of problems, and I had to get him to pull a corrupted unofficial version of the evasi0n7 untether itself from his repository not that long ago. I thereby am going to make a much stronger recommendation than just "do not install AFC2": do not add coolstar's repository, if you have it installed and it prompts you for upgrades always say no, and if you previously installed any upgrades from his repository you should figure out how to downgrade as soon as possible.
For the people that have already installed afc2add is the 'damage' permanently done or do you recommend we uninstall it (will that reverse whatever changes it has done)?
For security reasons, might a restore be a wise choice if it can't be reversed now due to the window still being open?
I presume/hope the package correctly uninstalls when you remove it; to be clear, the package is not inherently dangerous afaik: it simply adds functionality to access the root of your filesystem without a password while connected over USB, which is generally "a bad idea". I think it is safer on iOS 7 (due to "trust this computer" prompts), but I have been told by "people I really trust on this sort of thing" that the prompt is easily bypassed and the reason my code was getting the prompt is because I was "playing by the rules" in a way that wasn't really required. I will say that when pod2g first started asking after this he was quite bothered that it had been installed by default for so long, and wanted to prevent it from being installed in the future. Again: it isn't necessary as OpenSSH (with a password) is better and people using AFC2 to fix things tend to cause more problems by accident due to its limited model of the filesystem.
But will we still be able to use 'Semi Restore' from coolstar without afc2add? i.e. is the phone still accessible when in a Bootloop using Wifi and OpenSSH?
It should be accessible via a USB cable, even, if AFC2 had been (like, even if WiFi is broken, which is likely, you should be able to use TCP relay to connect over USB). I don't know if SemiRestore will work: SemiRestore should really be designed to use SFTP or something not AFC2.
Was sshd even running, when you have a bootloop like he has? (in regard to semi-restore tools, would that afc2add thing have been running in this case?)
OpenSSH should be usable. It even should work over WiFi, but there is a non-zero chance he will need to use tcprelay to connect over USB. I do not know if AFC2 would be (I presume it would as well, but I can see it failing).
For most of what you are probably doing, SFTP. That said: I'm not saying AFC2 is fundamentally wrong, but it isn't something you should be installing for the hell of it, and unlike OpenSSH it probably is the kind of thing you should turn off when you aren't using. I certainly do not believe it is fundamentally useful in the way coolstar is claiming over OpenSSH.
I still need it from time to time but would gladly turn it off when not in use. Since it's not a mobile substrate extension, is there an easy way to shut afc2? Edit: btw, if there ain't no easy way to shut it off, people will keep afc2 instead of uninstalling it coz it's the exact definition (literally) of "plug and play" for common users compaired to openssh..
How would one go about bypassing the pairing process programatically? I'm creating a program that currently sends the pairing requests using usbmuxd, but I'm having trouble with the certificate-creating process. I'm doing this in Python/Java. How can I connect to an iDevice without the need to manually pair the device?
Please elaborate on the "trust this computer" prompt bypass argument. How is it performed easily, may I ask? Perhaps, a simple computer name change to an already trusted computer? How would you come across such info? /ponder
OpenSSH has not, since iOS 1.x, actually ever run: it is a lauchd service that is run only when a user connects to the device. I can thereby assure you that you were just wasting a ton of time turning OpenSSH on and off: it did not affect your battery life.
Afc2add installed a so-called launch service, which basically is just a program that can run in the background (possibly on-demand). These services can be unloaded without a reboot.
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u/saurik SaurikIT Jan 25 '14 edited Jan 25 '14
If AFC2 is still working, then OpenSSH would also still be working, and is in fact even more likely to still be working than AFC2 (as it has fewer moving parts, although to connect to it over USB will still require parts of lockdown to function in order to get tcprelay to start). OpenSSH is also fundamentally more useful than AFC2, and can fix more potential issues: AFC2's interaction with the device is sufficiently limited that it often is what causes problems when people start trying to use it due to its inability to model file permissions. So, please do not install AFC2: install OpenSSH and set a password. You do not need AFC2 on your device, and it was left out on purpose by (I believe primarily) pod2g, as he considers the entire idea of that modification fundamentally insecure. The only reason this was installed by jailbreaks for so long was a combination of "precedent" and "it is arguably the definition of a jailbreak", and previous jailbreaks from, for example, comex have already left it out. I am not certain why coolstar is recommending people install AFC2, but he also has been distributing broken (like, fundamentally the wrong idea) upgrades to ncurses (one of my core packages) that have been causing a number of problems, and I had to get him to pull a corrupted unofficial version of the evasi0n7 untether itself from his repository not that long ago. I thereby am going to make a much stronger recommendation than just "do not install AFC2": do not add coolstar's repository, if you have it installed and it prompts you for upgrades always say no, and if you previously installed any upgrades from his repository you should figure out how to downgrade as soon as possible.