[GUIDE][UBUNTU/DEBIAN] Unlock Your Nexus 6P Without Resorting to Windows - Nexus 6P General

What the heck is all this about?
So, you all know that unlocking a Nexus device is usually pretty straight forward, especially if you're on Ubuntu; you're used to just install android-tools-fastboot and android-tools-adb from the default repos, using sudo fastboot oem unlock, and being on your merry way.
Unfortunately, that's been a bit of a pain with the new 6P for multiple reasons; the default Ubuntu 14.04+ repositories don't yet have the latest adb and fastboot binaries (which you need because the unlock command is now totally different), and the Android SDK Manager is kind of a piece of crap and needs to be beaten into submission before it works for you. I wrote this guide after figuring it out because I don't use Windows and don't ever use it unless there is simply no other way.
Yes, I could just post the adb and fastboot binaries, but this is Linux. We use it to better understand how computers work and ultimately learn.
This process will take you 5 minutes.
What I'm assuming about you
You know what a terminal is and how to use it
You are on Ubuntu 14.04+ 64bit
You have Java already installed
You have already booted your phone, gone into Developer Settings, and turned on "OEM Unlocking"
You're smart enough to not blame me for ruining your new phone (which won't happen) or your Ubuntu installation
Let's kick this off.
Install the Dependencies
The official Android SDK guidelines specify that you need several 32bit dependencies before proceeding. Let's get those set up.
Code:
[B]sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install libncurses5:i386 libstdc++6:i386 zlib1g:i386 -y[/B]
That's it, dependencies are installed.
Grab the SDK
Pop open your terminal and grab the SDK:
Code:
wget http://dl.google.com/android/android-sdk_r24.4.1-linux.tgz
Extract it:
Code:
[B]tar -xzf android-sdk_r24.4.1-linux.tgz[/B]
The SDK is downloaded and extracted.
Open and Configure the SDK Manager
Change directory to the tools directory
Code:
[B]cd android-sdk-linux/tools/[/B]
Execute the "android" executable you see in there:
Code:
[B]./android[/B]
Oh no! We immediately run into an issue connecting to Google's server.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
That's okay, we can easily remedy that. Move your mouse up to your task bar to show your menu, and go to Options.
Uncheck "Use download cache", click on the "Clear cache" button, and then check the box for "Force https:// sources to be...".
Hit close, and reload. Voila! We now have ALL THE THINGS ready for us to grab.
Download the Platform Tools!
Go ahead and check the box for the latest Android platform tools (23.0.1) and hit "Install 1 Package".
When prompted, fill in the bubble to accept the license, and hit "Install".
You'll likely run into this error, which says it can't kill the adb server. This makes sense because there isn't yet an adb server running for it to kill. Ignore it.
Congrats! You've now installed the platform tools. Lets close the SDK.
Put those binaries where they belong!
From here on, you can just execute the adb and fastboot binaries using ./adb and ./fastboot, but come on now, let's make adb and fastboot globally accessible binaries to use so you don't have to cd into the Android tools directory each time you want to use it.
Go back to your terminal, and cd into the newly-created platform-tools folder. Assuming your terminal is where we left it when we launched the Android SDK, this is what you'll run:
Code:
[B]cd ../platform-tools/[/B]
Use "ls -l" to list the contents, you should see an adb and fastboot binary.
Code:
[B]total 3360
drwxrwxr-x 5 user user 4096 Nov 25 16:42 ./
drwxrwxr-x 7 user user 4096 Nov 25 16:42 ../
[COLOR="Magenta"]-rwxrwxr-x 1 user user 1221540 Nov 25 16:42 adb*[/COLOR]
drwxrwxr-x 2 user user 4096 Nov 25 16:42 api/
-rwxrwxr-x 1 user user 58920 Nov 25 16:42 dmtracedump*
-rwxrwxr-x 1 user user 211200 Nov 25 16:42 etc1tool*
[COLOR="magenta"]-rwxrwxr-x 1 user user 556700 Nov 25 16:42 fastboot*[/COLOR]
-rwxrwxr-x 1 user user 11427 Nov 25 16:42 hprof-conv*
drwxrwxr-x 2 user user 4096 Nov 25 16:42 lib/
-rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 220534 Nov 25 16:42 NOTICE.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 16508 Nov 25 16:42 source.properties
-rwxrwxr-x 1 user user 1109318 Nov 25 16:42 sqlite3*
drwxrwxr-x 3 user user 4096 Nov 25 16:42 systrace/
[/B]
Copy these binaries to your /usr/bin/ folder.
Code:
[B]sudo rsync -ah adb /usr/bin/
sudo rsync -ah fastboot /usr/bin[/B]
Now they're in your bin folder, let's give them the proper permissions. Change directory to /usr/bin/.
Code:
[B]cd /usr/bin/[/B]
Let's give them the proper permissions.
Code:
[B]sudo chmod 755 adb fastboot[/B]
All done! Close your terminal window and open it again. Type sudo fastboot and sudo adb and you should see the help pages for both.
Go ahead and unlock your Nexus 6P now, using the command sudo fastboot flashing unlock. Done!
Word of advice, I assume you know how to flash TWRP, but make sure you do it in this order to prevent any bricking:
Let the device boot once after unlocking.
Turn off phone, manually enter bootloader.
Flash the TWRP image (sudo fastboot flash recovery twrp-image-name-goes-here.img)
From bootloader, boot into recovery. Allow TWRP to write to /system.
Reboot, and when rebooting DO NOT ALLOW TWRP TO INSTALL SUPERSU.
Now, reboot back into recovery and head off to the races.
Conclusion + FAQs
I hope this guide was useful to you. Here's some FAQs to help out.
"Sick guide bro, but what theme are you using??"
GTK: Arc Darker Theme
Icon Theme: Numix Circle
Font: Myriad Pro, Myriad Pro Semibold for WIndow Titles

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Awesome work...a lot of work! This is the wave of the future on the go...
I had referenced this ground breaking thread by chamatht before Marshmallow.

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galaxys said:
Awesome work...a lot of work! This is the wave of the future on the go...
I had referenced this ground breaking thread by chamatht before Marshmallow.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did notice that, but I wanted people to be able to grab the binary themselves so they know exactly where it came from. :good:

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Nice work, but manually copy binaries into /usr/bin is actually a very bad idea... Will conflict soon or later with your package manager.
Keep your binaries where ever you downloaded them, and learn how to tweak your $PATH variable instead (hint :it's easy)

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@LiquidSolstice
very good guide. thanks a lot.

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effraie said:
Nice work, but manually copy binaries into /usr/bin is actually a very bad idea... Will conflict soon or later with your package manager.
Keep your binaries where ever you downloaded them, and learn how to tweak your $PATH variable instead (hint :it's easy)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
More than a hint, the solution to do it clean
instead copying binaries to /usr/bin (which is bad, dangerous and must be discouraged), keep your downloaded binaries where you want (people commonly use /opt or $HOME/bin ), and add that place to your $PATH, by adding a line such :
Code:
export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin/
or
Code:
export PATH=$HOME/bin/:$PATH
the position of $HOME/bin/, before or after $PATH, will determine the priority, if a binary with the same name is found in :$HOME/bin/ and your regular $PATH.
You can choose any place : $HOME/bin/ is usual, but :/home/my/fancy/name will work the same, as long you correctly adjust permissions

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effraie said:
More than a hint, the solution to do it clean
instead copying binaries to /usr/bin (which is bad, dangerous and must be discouraged), keep your downloaded binaries where you want (people commonly use /opt or $HOME/bin ), and add that place to your $PATH, by adding a line such :
Code:
export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin/
or
Code:
export PATH=$HOME/bin/:$PATH
the position of $HOME/bin/, before or after $PATH, will determine the priority, if a binary with the same name is found in :$HOME/bin/ and your regular $PATH.
You can choose any place : $HOME/bin/ is usual, but :/home/my/fancy/name will work the same, as long you correctly adjust permissions
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Eh, rather than dealing with exports, in this specific case, I would personally rather manually move the binary myself, and when the default repos actually finally update to the latest platform tools, I'll delete them before installing from the repo.
I appreciate the advice though!

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Well, if you copy the binaries in the place package manager install regular software, you'll have to purge your distribution adb package, so you won't have any notification when it will be updated.
Export one variable is not so hard... Only one line to copy in your ~.bashrc, and then you can keep both, while keeping your system clean, not messing with your package manager, and being notified when the adb and fastboot packaged in your distribution is updated.
Obviously, you can do whatever you want, but i really can't see any advantage with your solution. (while I can see many possibilities of messing around and breaking your package manager or your system)

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Quick question,my Ubuntu is 32bit will this still work? Honestly kinda confused when it comes to the 6p lol command changes and what not got me a little worried.

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all good, for me simply downloading dependencies(after a gernal update) then the fastboot flashing unlock worked for me, Ubuntu 15.10 32bit.

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Not sure if mentioned here but you can download adb tools and it gives you the adb tools through the terminal so you can do all the commands as you would on a windows machine. http://www.webupd8.org/2012/08/install-adb-and-fastboot-android-tools.html this is an old guide but the ppa is up to date.

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xSilas43 said:
Not sure if mentioned here but you can download adb tools and it gives you the adb tools through the terminal so you can do all the commands as you would on a windows machine. http://www.webupd8.org/2012/08/install-adb-and-fastboot-android-tools.html this is an old guide but the ppa is up to date.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. That PPA does not have up to date android-tools. Check the versions here. It doesn't have the latest fastboot binary, which is required if you want to be able to unlock your 6P. The command is no longer "fastboot oem unlock".

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LiquidSolstice said:
No. That PPA does not have up to date android-tools. Check the versions here. It doesn't have the latest fastboot binary, which is required if you want to be able to unlock your 6P. The command is no longer "fastboot oem unlock".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They worked fine for me but here is a more updated ppa I believe. http://lifehacker.com/the-easiest-way-to-install-androids-adb-and-fastboot-to-1586992378

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xSilas43 said:
They worked fine for me but here is a more updated ppa I believe. http://lifehacker.com/the-easiest-way-to-install-androids-adb-and-fastboot-to-1586992378
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You were able to use "fastboot flashing unlock" with the Webupd8 PPA? I'm not so sure I believe that. The PPA you linked to in the Lifehacker article is using the same 2 year old tools package as well, man. https://launchpad.net/~phablet-team/+archive/ubuntu/tools
Not sure why you wouldn't just properly grab the latest tools.

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LiquidSolstice said:
You were able to use "fastboot flashing unlock" with the Webupd8 PPA? I'm not so sure I believe that. The PPA you linked to in the Lifehacker article is using the same 2 year old tools package as well, man. https://launchpad.net/~phablet-team/+archive/ubuntu/tools
Not sure why you wouldn't just properly grab the latest tools.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To unlock I used a windows tool but have used the fastboot tools for various other things, I was unaware they were all so outdated thanks for the info!

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great tutorial
working fine on 16.04
might need to install java to run sdk
Code:
sudo apt-get install default-jre

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Hi everyone! I'm on cinnamon and I'm trying to unlock my 6p but when typing "fastboot flashing unlock" it gives me the list of fastboot commands. I downloaded the platform tools from the google site and installed adb and fastboot commands (or whatever they are ) with:
sudo apt-get install android-tools-fastboot
‎
sudo apt-get install android-tools-adb
Adb devices and fastboot devices are working tho. I have even installed java with the command posted by dogmatism. Am I missing something? TIA

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hughfollett said:
Am I missing something? TIA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, reading the OP
What you downloaded is too old.
If you absolutely want packages, you need to follow testing or unstable --> https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/android-platform-system-core. I only know debian.

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rchtk said:
Yes, reading the OP
What you downloaded is too old.
If you absolutely want packages, you need to follow testing or unstable --> https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/android-platform-system-core. I only know debian.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But why would google release some outdated files?

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hughfollett said:
But why would google release some outdated files?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google isn't doing the debian packaging. A maintainer is trying to, in his spare time.
Also debian distros follow stable or testing/unstable. Stable packages stay a long time unless they contain grave or security bugs. People following stable seek.. stable stuffs rather than newest packages. I run unstable to get rather recent packages.
And even this said, the fastboot and adb packages don't seem to get the attention they should deserve.