Does rooting your phone always involve installing/using tools? I want to know if tools are the only mean to root an android phone ?
can it be done using only a root terminal ?

edit: by tools i mean apps to install like https://www.google.be/search?sclient=psy-ab&amp;hl=en&amp;tbo=d&amp;site=&amp;source=hp&amp;q=root+android
Not to say a root terminal, most of such methods are utilising ADB (Android Debugging Bridge) to push root-related files and binaries into your phone to get it "rooted".

Sometimes, there are also methods where you are required to boot into recovery to "flash" zip packages that contains those files, but this method is mostly device specific.