What this is
------------
A first-hand run of Magisk v31.1's own init_boot patching on a real
Pixel 7 system update, made by magiskguide.com on October 27, 2026 (UTC).
The three .txt files next to this one are the unedited terminal output:
each command is shown after "$ " and followed by exactly what it printed.

This was done on a computer, not a phone. Nothing was flashed or booted.
Only logs and checksums are published here: Google's terms allow its OTA
files for personal use and don't allow redistributing them, so neither
the original nor the patched image is included.

Inputs
------
- Google's full OTA for the Pixel 7 (panther), Android 17,
  build CP3A.261005.002.A1 (October 2026), from
  https://dl.google.com/dl/android/aosp/panther-ota-cp3a.261005.002.a1-6edb8dc9.zip
  as listed on https://developers.google.com/android/ota (panther).
  SHA-256 6edb8dc965db33ad7e50948cc9c1ae1932fba6928afbb6a371f7a0cad4f78e01,
  the same value Google lists for it. Its metadata (in 1-extract-init-boot.txt)
  names the build google/panther/panther:17/CP3A.261005.002.A1.
- Magisk-v31.1.apk from the official GitHub release,
  SHA-256 89cefac0a318afa39fb3880c45c87b036c05bc1ebf02a7a715b7f8d7c26ac6e7.
  From it we used assets/boot_patch.sh, assets/util_functions.sh and the
  arm64-v8a libmagiskinit.so, libmagisk.so and libinit-ld.so, renamed the
  way the app names them (magiskinit, magisk, init-ld).
- magiskboot built for x86-64 Linux from the v31.1 tag of
  github.com/topjohnwu/Magisk, SHA-256
  d5229a6a475aaf57e34238c56d1071bf079205e7aa930602e13699508df948c8.
  Build steps: ../2026-10-27-magisk-v31.1-patch/README.txt

Steps
-----
1-extract-init-boot.txt  Check the OTA, read its metadata, take payload.bin
                         out of the zip and let "magiskboot extract" pick
                         the partition to patch (it chose init_boot, as the
                         app does), then look inside the stock image.
2-patch.txt              Run the APK's boot_patch.sh on init_boot.img with
                         the flags the app passes on an encrypted A/B phone
                         with a vbmeta partition, such as the Pixel 7:
                         KEEPVERITY=true KEEPFORCEENCRYPT=true
                         PATCHVBMETAFLAG=false RECOVERYMODE=false
                         LEGACYSAR=false, with BOOTMODE=true as in the app.
3-inspect-and-restore.txt
                         Open the patched image, compare its init with the
                         APK's magiskinit, check the recorded SHA1, then run
                         "magiskboot cpio ... restore" (what Magisk's
                         uninstaller runs) and compare with the stock ramdisk.

Expected message in 2-patch.txt
-------------------------------
"./magisk: cannot execute binary file: Exec format error": the script
asks the ARM magisk binary for the phone's pre-init partition. A computer
can't run it, so that optional line is skipped; on a phone the partition
name is added to .backup/.magisk. There are no kernel patch attempts here:
init_boot.img has no kernel (KERNEL_SZ [0]), so the script skips them.

Corrections: hello@magiskguide.com