Release and installer commands

release.sh, the signed MANIFEST, and the verbs of mapple-install.

release.sh

A release is a checkout of the release repository with its files in assets/ (gh release download <tag> -D assets, or by hand), its MANIFEST, MANIFEST.sig and allowed_signers. release.sh puts Open Mapple together on your Mac from them and your iOS.

./release.sh [--ipsw IPSW] [--touch-fw FW]

It checks MANIFEST.sig against allowed_signers (ssh-keygen -Y verify, identity open-mapple-release, namespace mapple-release) and every file of assets/ against the size and SHA-256 MANIFEST lists, and stops on any difference.
Without --ipsw it downloads iOS 16.7.16 (20H392) for the iPhone X from Apple’s servers (6.2 GB into work/): running it is your consent. With --ipsw it uses your copy. Either way the IPSW’s size and SHA-256 are checked.
--touch-fw (developers) puts FW_NF_ILI7807S_*.bin into the payload too; normally the loader takes the copy the zip leaves in the tail area.
Building the root needs sudo: the script prints the command and stops; run it, then run the script again. Out come out/root.img (for fastboot) and out/mapple-...-PERSONAL.zip (for the recovery).

Maintainers only:

Command	What
`./release.sh pack OUT TOP TAG [--rehearsal]`	`assets/`, `assets/SHA256SUMS` and `MANIFEST` for the tag, from an `mka` build of the single product in `OUT` and the tree `TOP`; every project must be clean and at its `origin/main` (`--rehearsal`: any commit, the tag marked as such). The kernel in `OUT` must be the common tree’s `HEAD`
`./release.sh sign KEY`	`MANIFEST.sig` with the release key (`ssh-keygen -Y sign`, namespace `mapple-release`); writes `allowed_signers.new` when the key’s line is new

MANIFEST holds: the release tag; the IPSW’s size and SHA-256; the command line; adt, payload_max and root_size; the kernel’s version; one source <project> <commit> line per project; and one file <sha256> <size> <name> line per asset: kernel, shim.Image, mtkloader.bin, mapple-install, root-overlay.tar and tools.tar.

mapple-install

What the zip runs in the recovery (static aarch64), and what mka uses on the Mac to make the boot image. DEV is the partition that holds the root (userdata in the single layout); every write is read back and hashed.

Verb	What
`verify-root RANGES DEV`	both volume headers and the SHA-256 of every allocated block against `root.ranges`
`put DEV REGION\|OFFSET FILE`	`FILE` into a region of the tail (`settings`, `firmware`, `log`; zero-filled to its end) or at a byte offset
`save DEV NAME FILE`	`FILE` kept in the saved area under `NAME` (`boot`), its header updated; `chained` records only the size and SHA-256 of the boot image as chained
`ilifw FIRMWARE OUT`	the touch firmware as the loader’s `ilifw` item
`chain BOOT LOADER PAYLOAD [--backup FILE] [--out FILE]`	the loader in front of the Android kernel in `BOOT` and the payload after it, written to `--out` or back to `BOOT`; `--backup` keeps `BOOT` as it was if it carries no loader yet; a kernel that already carries a loader is chained again from the Android kernel inside it
`split-carve DISK [--size GIB] [--check]`	with the dual boot built in: `xnusys` (default 22 GiB) carved off the end of `userdata`; the boot partition is not touched
`split-chain DISK BOOT LOADER PAYLOAD`	after the root is flashed and checked: the boot image kept in `xnusys`’s saved area, then chained, and the chained image recorded
`split-uninstall DISK BOOT [--check]`	the boot image back from the saved area (only while it is still the one chained), the partition table as before the carve

The zip’s script (update-binary) checks the phone, the root and every block before it writes anything: it clears the settings record, writes the phone’s own firmware into the tail area, keeps the Android boot in the saved area, and chains the loader into boot last, recording the chained image’s size and SHA-256 after it. A split zip has two passes (without xnusys it carves it and stops for fastboot flash xnusys root.img; with it, it chains); an uninstall zip gives xnusys back to userdata and the saved boot back to boot.

Source: release.sh of mapple_releases (branch spaced) at a8ff522; installer/mapple-install.c and installer/update-binary of mapple_build at f7431bb; installer/split.c of mapple_splitboot at 406b03a.

Applies to realme 8i (spaced), release 1 · Updated 15 November 2026