JOdin3 and Heimdall - corrupt PIT file - Samsung i9300 I'm running an Android 4.3 (never rooted) on my Samsung Galaxy S3 (I9300). 

I'd like to install a brand new CM 12.1 (Android 5.1).  Along with rooting, I need to install Clockworkmod Recovery to backup the system before wiping and installing the new system. To install Clockwordmod, I need to root the phone with CF-Auto-Root.

I'm trying to do this using JOdin3 on my Ubuntu. I can't do that, because JOdin3 says: 


  The PIT file was corrupt. We cannot continue without a PIT file.


I created the PIT file using Heimdall, this works without error. Also, I can print-pit with Heimdall and everything seems fine. 

It seems really strange for me, because the rooting has been done before thousands of times from other people using the phone.

Anyone knows what to do?

Thanks in advance!
As I wasn't able to solve the problem related to JOdin3, I rooted the device using heimdall and CF-Autoroot. It worked flawlessly. I installed Clockwork Recovery and I'm able to backup the system. Now, I can continue upgrading the system to CM 12.1. Anyway, heimdall-frontend seems to be more advanced than Odin.

Here's a tutorial for it: http://www.all-things-android.com/content/how-root-samsung-mobile-device

The tutorial shows how to use CF-autoroot by using the heimdall-frontend. First, you need to download/create the PIT file from your mobile phone. Be aware, that there is no finished dialog or something similar shown. After doing this, you can flash the recovery image and the cache image from CF-autoroot. If everything went fine, you should see "Flash completed successfully"!

I installed CM 12.1 successfully and Android 5.1.1 is now running on my I9300. :)