You need an updated copy of the fastboot tool and it needs to be
included in your PATH environment variable. You can run fastboot
--version to determine the current version. It should be at least
- 28.0.0. Don't proceed with the installation process until this is set up
- properly in your current shell. A very common mistake is using an outdated copy of
+ 28.0.0. You can use a distribution package for this, but most of them
+ mistakenly package development snapshots of fastboot, clobber the standard version
+ scheme for platform-tools (adb, fastboot, etc.) with their own scheme and don't keep
+ it up-to-date despite that being crucial.
Don't proceed with the installation process until this is set up properly in your
+ current shell. A very common mistake is using an outdated copy of
fastboot from a Linux distribution package not receiving regular updates.
- Make sure that the fastboot found earliest in your PATH
- is the correct one if you have multiple copies on your system. The fastboot
+ Make sure that the fastboot found earliest in your PATH is
+ the correct one if you have multiple copies on your system. The fastboot
--version output includes the installation path for the copy of
- fastboot that's being used. Older versions of fastboot do not have
- support for current devices and OS versions. Very old versions of
- fastboot from several years ago are still shipped by Linux distributions
- like Debian and lack the compatibility detection of modern versions so they can soft
- brick devices.
fastboot that's being used. Older versions of fastboot do not have support
+ for current devices and OS versions. Very old versions of fastboot from
+ are still shipped by Linux distributions like Debian and lack the compatibility
+ detection of modern versions so they can soft brick devices.