DISCLAIMER: THIS METHOD MAY BREAK APPSTORE APPLICATIONS FOR SOME PEOPLE. EDIT THOSE ICONS AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Pre 2.0 GUI modding thread can be found here.

I noticed a couple people asking about a detailed write-up about the the process of changing the SpringBoard icons in iPhone firmware 2.0. Here's what he have so far:

Helpers

-Mac Intosh- Found the CodeResources fix so that you don't break your AppStore Apps
-Toffeenut- Gave insight to icon size and attributes. Also told us about UIPrerenderedIcon in the plist.
-Sakurina- For all of his amazing work on SpringRoll and helping me on AIM. He found out how to bypass the SHA1 test.

Limitations:

-Must be either 57x57(AppStore) or 59x60(Third Party).
-No static background for SpringBoard

Changing Icons

1. Jailbreak your 2.0 firmware. I'm not going to detail this, just use PwnageTool
2. Install OpenSSH from Cydia.
3. SSH into your iPhone. I use CyberDuck since it has a friendly UI. For more info, read the SSH section below, starting at step 12.
4. In the root directory, you will see a symlinked folder named 'Applications'. This is where the third party and default applications are kept. AppStore applications are kept in /private/var/mobile/applications. Inside this folder you will find more folders with long names in the following format: "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxx". When you navigate inside these folders, you will see another folder with the name of the application.

To replace AppStore applications, read step 5. For Third Party and default applications, skip to step 10

5.  Once inside your applications folder, you will need to locate three files. The first is CodeResources. This file is inside the _CodeSignature folder, and has no extension. You can edit this file with TextEdit. The second and third files are Info.plist and ResourceRules.plist. These are inside the app's folder. I'll tell you how to edit those when we get there. The last file is icon.png. It is also inside the main folder.

6. The first file is CodeResources. It is located at /private/var/mobile/applications/xxxxxxxx-xxxx.../app_name.app/_CodeSignature/.  Now, open CodeResources with TextEdit, then press CMD+F and find "icon.png". Once you find it, delete everything from <key> to </data>, like so.

Make sure you only delete this part, and nothing like "eba_icon.png"
Now find the Rules section of the file.

Below the <dict>, add the following:

        <key>icon.png</key>
        <dict>
        <key>omit</key>
        <true/>
        <key>weight</key>
        <integer>10000</integer>
        </dict>

Change "icon.png" if the app's icon has a different name.
Save and overwrite this file to your iPhone.

7. Now, save info.plist and ResourceRules.plist to your hard drive. Open up terminal and type cd into the folder where you have those plists saved. mine is this.

 cd User/Jake/Documents

now type the following code:

plutil -convert xml1 Info.plist

Now, double click to open Info.plist and it should come up in TextEdit, if not, right click it and select Open With and find TextEdit. Look for the child "UIPrerenderedIcon" If it is there, it needs to be a STRING and have a value of 1. If it isn't there, create it. It should look like this.

Save the file and go back to terminal and enter the following code:

plutil -convert binary1 info.plist

And upload the file back to your phone

Now convert ResourceRules.plist to xml using the same method:

plutil -convert xml1 ResourceRules.plist

Open this up and past the code that you used in CodeResources under the rules section.

Save the file and convert it back to binary:

plutil -convert binary1 ResourceRules.plist

Upload the file to your phone.

8. All that's left is to replace the icon.png*. Your icon needs to be 57x57 and not have any shadow behind it. This is because the shadow is automatically added by the firmware. Your icon needs to be named "icon.png*" and uploaded to your iPhone, overwriting the old one.
*Some applications, such as those from Tapulous, use "Icon.png". Note the capital i. That is important.

9. Now reboot your iPhone, or restart the SpringBoard with "Respring".

Third Party and Default Apps

Note: You Do NOT have to edit any documents other than icon.png for these

10. These icons are stored in /Applications/. This is a symlink folder and is actually located in /private/var/stash/applications.xxxxxx. These icons are 59x60 and include the shadow. Their location is similar to the following image:


11. All you have to do for these is replace icon.png with your own. Some frequently asked icon locations are below.
iPod: MobileMusicPlayer.app/icon-MediaPlayer.png
Music: MobileMusicPlayer.app/icon-AudioPlayer.png
Videos: MobileMusicPlayer.app/icon-VideoPlayer.png
Camera: MobileSlideShow.app/icon-Camera.png
Photos: MobileSlideShow.app/icon-Photos.png

How To SSH Using CyberDuck

12. Click Open Connection at the top.


13. Fill out the information like this. (The "Server" is the IP.Address of your iPhone)
username: root
password: alpine

If you don't know how to find the IP.Address of your iPhone, refer to step 15.

14. Press Connect. If it fails the first time, try again until it connects. Your iPhone must be turned and connected to wi-fi to connect.
You are now connected to your iPhone via SSH and should see a list of folders like this.

How To Find Your iPhone's IP.Address

15. On your iPhone, tap the Settings icon. From there, tap Wi-Fi.

16. Click the blue arrow to the right of your wi-fi network.


17. Your iPhone's IP.Address is listed here.





If you have any questions or additions feel free to comment.

Last edited by albinoAZN (Jul 31, 2008 10:56 am)