PatchDL

PatchDL is a planned standalone PS5 ELF payload for controlled official game patch downloads.

The target design is deny-by-default:

• Sony domains stay blocked by nanoDNS for the normal PS5 system.
• PatchDL uses its own internal allowlist resolver for Sony CDN hosts.
• Games must be explicitly enabled before PatchDL checks or downloads updates.
• Patch selection is capped to the highest update compatible with the current firmware.
• Install actions are source-aware: shadowmounted and unknown titles are never installed by PatchDL.

Source Classification

PatchDL treats the title source as part of the safety policy:

official     check/download/install allowed
external     check/download/install allowed when detected as a real install
shadowmount  check/download allowed, install blocked
unknown      check allowed, download/install blocked

The future ELF scanner should classify titles by app metadata plus mount table inspection. Shadowmounts should be detected through statfs() / getfsstat() and nullfs mount origins instead of trusting title IDs alone.

Current Contents

Makefile
  PS5 payload build using ps5-payload-sdk and libmicrohttpd.

src/
  Embedded web server entrypoint and API stubs.

web/
  Static web UI prototype for the future embedded PatchDL web server.

Open web/index.html directly for the mock UI, or serve web/ from a local HTTP server.

Embedded Web Server

PatchDL is intended to run one self-contained ELF. It does not need a second websrv.elf process. The payload starts its own libmicrohttpd server and serves the UI from compiled-in assets.

Default port:

http://PS5_IP:12880/

The port can be changed at build time:

make PATCHDL_HTTP_PORT=12881

or at runtime by passing a port as the first argument, if the loader supports argv:

patchdl-ps5.elf 12881

Building

PatchDL builds against ps5-payload-dev/sdk and reuses etaHEN's checked-in libmicrohttpd.a plus header files. By default, the Makefile expects etaHEN's source tree next to this repository:

../Source Code/include
../Source Code/lib

If the SDK is unpacked into .toolchains/ps5-payload-sdk/ps5-payload-sdk, the helper script sets the required environment automatically:

scripts/build_ps5.sh clean all

For a system-wide SDK install, set PS5_PAYLOAD_SDK yourself:

export PS5_PAYLOAD_SDK=/opt/ps5-payload-sdk
make clean all

Override paths and ports as needed:

make ETAHEN_SOURCE_DIR="/path/to/etaHEN/Source Code" PATCHDL_HTTP_PORT=12881

Deploy with an ELF loader listening on the PS5:

PS5_HOST=ps5 PS5_PORT=9021 scripts/build_ps5.sh test