Knutwurst
fcb0a5c3b0
g_stage and g_err are now _Atomic. The backend init thread publishes
stage transitions and function-pointer assignments; HTTP request
handlers read g_stage to decide whether to call the Sony API. With the
old `volatile int` reads, nothing in the C memory model ordered the
function-pointer loads against the stage check — a stage==5 sighting
could (in theory) come before the pointer stores were visible. Default
seq_cst on _Atomic gives us the acquire/release pairing for free.
/api/pkgdiag returned g_pkg_diag_json directly with RESPMEM_PERSISTENT,
so MHD's writer thread could read the buffer while record_pkg_diag was
mid-snprintf — torn JSON or a missing NUL terminator. Snapshot under
g_mutex into a heap copy and queue with RESPMEM_MUST_FREE instead.
patchdl_net.c gets fopen_safe(): open() with O_NOFOLLOW|O_CLOEXEC and
mode 0600, then fdopen. The old fopen("wb") follows symlinks (a
malicious symlink at dest_path could redirect the write) and creates
mode 0666 (libc default). Both download paths now use it.
patchdl_appdb opens SQLite with SQLITE_OPEN_FULLMUTEX. Today the scan
runs on the startup thread only, but a future rescan triggered from the
HTTP thread would otherwise race the handle.
PatchDL
A standalone PlayStation 5 ELF payload that downloads and installs official game patches on your terms. It serves its own dark-mode web UI and runs without etaHEN.
PatchDL is built for setups where nanoDNS blocks Sony's servers for the whole console. It resolves the Sony patch CDN on its own DNS path, so the rest of the system stays offline and only the patches you pick get fetched.
by Knutwurst
What it does
- Scans installed titles and classifies each: genuine install, ShadowMountPlus mount, preinstall, or unknown.
- Reads the title name, installed version, and Sony
version.xmlURL from the PS5 app database. - Fetches each title's
version.xmlpast nanoDNS (a raw DNS query to 1.1.1.1) and verifies TLS against the pinned SCEI DNAS root. - Picks the newest patch compatible with the current firmware
(
system_ver <= firmware), so an update never forces a firmware upgrade. - Downloads the patch from Sony's manifest pieces into one local
.pkg, then installs it through Sony's AppInstUtil service.
Downloading
PatchDL pulls each patch over a pool of connections instead of one stream, which lifts the ~7 MB/s per-connection ceiling on the Sony CDN. Set the connection count (1 to 16) in Settings with the stepper; the change applies live, with no payload restart. One patch downloads at a time and further requests queue.
Downloads survive interruptions:
- Resume across a reboot. PatchDL records progress per manifest piece in a
sidecar beside the
.pkg, written after every completed piece, so a reboot or relaunch continues where it stopped. - Pause, Resume, Cancel. Pause keeps the partial file, Resume continues it, Cancel deletes it. All three work at any point in a download.
- Verification. Turn on "Verify downloaded pieces (SHA-256)" to check each
piece against its manifest hash while downloading. After a download you can
also verify the assembled package on-device against Sony's per-piece hashes
(
GET /api/pkgverify/<title_id>).
Patches download to /data/patchdl on the internal SSD. Large retail updates
run tens of GB.
Safety model
Deny-by-default. A patch installs only for a genuine install, and only when the patch metadata targets the installed game:
| Source | Check | Download | Install |
|---|---|---|---|
| official | yes | yes | yes |
| shadowmount | yes | yes | no |
| preinstall / unknown | yes | no | no |
Two guards stop the wrong target being installed: the patch target id (from
version.xml / manifest_url) must match the installed game, and the install
call receives the installed game's content id from app.db. PatchDL refuses a
true target-title mismatch rather than installing a phantom title.
All writes stay under /data/patchdl. PatchDL never writes to the system
partition and never touches firmware.
Settings
Settings persist to /data/patchdl/config.json and survive a restart:
- Default policy (allow or deny) and a per-game enable toggle.
- Install after download, as a global default with a per-game override.
- Delete the PKG after a successful install.
- Verify downloaded pieces (SHA-256).
- Parallel download connections (1 to 16), applied live.
Build
Requires ps5-payload-dev/sdk. The network and install features need the
prebuilt libcurl + OpenSSL from ps5-payload-dev/pacbrew-repo in the SDK sysroot
(target/user/homebrew); scripts/build_ps5.sh enables them when present.
libmicrohttpd is vendored under vendor/etahen, SQLite under vendor/sqlite.
scripts/build_ps5.sh # produces patchdl-ps5.elf
Deploy
This console uses the BD-JB autoloader with itsPLK's Payload Manager on port 8084
(not a 9021 elfldr). scripts/deploy_ps5.sh uploads the version-named ELF and
launches it; the payload replaces any running instance.
PS5_HOST=<console-ip> scripts/deploy_ps5.sh
On start it shows an on-screen notification with the URL. Open the web UI at:
http://<console-ip>:12880/
Status
Verified on firmware 11.60: title scan, source classification, version resolution past the nanoDNS block, firmware-compatibility filtering, the parallel download pool, reboot-safe resume, and on-device SHA-256 verification. A full Dead Island 2 update (61.6 GB) downloaded and verified byte-perfect across several reboots.
Install works for same-region patches, where Sony stores the patch bytes under
the installed game's own title id. PatchDL now mirrors etaHEN's native
DirectPKGInstaller call shape for that path: it passes an empty
MetaInfo.content_id, lets AppInstUtil bind the signed package metadata, keeps
the returned content id, and exposes /api/installstatus for installer progress
when sceAppInstUtilGetInstallStatus is exported.
Cross-region patches are a known limitation. Sony sometimes packages a regional
patch under a different (master) storage title and ships it as a debug-magic
container. PatchDL downloads such a patch and verifies it against Sony's hashes,
but refuses to install it from the standalone ELF because InstallByPackage
does not retarget signed package metadata on 11.60, and the homebrew alternative
(BGFT register) returns "not supported" outside the system process. Installing
that class of patch needs Sony's authenticated updater, which nanoDNS blocks.
Disc games need the disc inserted for their patch to apply, which is a normal
Sony requirement.