Nexus Howto

In order to do anything with a Nexus phone, the first thing you'll need is a working android development framework. This guide is the only one I've found geared toward doing this in a Linux environment, which seems sort of ridiculous, since Android is a linux based platform.

In order to perform any advanced tasks on your Nexus, you'll need to first enable developer options.

In order to flash a custom recovery image, you'll need to Unlock the Bootloader.

Once your Nexus is unlocked, you can move on to Flashing a Recovery Image.

After your recovery image has been flashed to the device, you can move onto the true goal, achieving root access.

If the root binaries have been installed, you should clear cache and restore factory settings before booting into your newly rooted Nexus.

If you have a Nexus 4 and live in the best country in the world (Canada), you'll probably want to Enable LTE.

Since LTE isn't officially supported on the Nexus 4, you'll need to make a change to the Android firewall to enable tethering.

Nexus 4 Android 4.2.2 Update

Due to some legal bullshit having something to do with the FCC, Google disabled the LTE functionality on the Nexus 4's radio with the 4.2.2 update. So, if you're like me and like having LTE as an option, you can follow the instructions here.

Nexus 4 Android 4.3 Update

The Jelly Bean 4.3 update arrived at the end of July 2013. For whatever reason, Google made this update verify a number of system files before applying itself, which tripped me up somewhat. I had to source a version of the /system/etc/apns-conf.xml file which I did not back up an original copy of, and I also found that I had to flash the radio to the 4.2.2 version in order to install the update. Details are here.