4 ms·

Enable Developper Options. It should be in the Developer menu. It's a toggle that'll enable this apk.

by simlevesque 8mo ago

seszett 8mo ago
Honestly I don't find it more useful than Termux, especially for being so much heavier.
- cogman10 8mo ago
  Just because I was curious. Termux is doing a container. The android terminal is doing a virtual machine. That's the difference. Termux would definitely be the light weight option, but you will be pinned to whatever version of the kernel your device is shipped with (may be a bit old.)
  - yjftsjthsd-h 8mo ago
    No, termux isn't a container, it's running directly in userspace on the host. The only weird thing is that because it's running directly on the host, it has to be built to use unusual paths, eg. /data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/bash instead of /usr/bin/bash. If it used containers (which IIRC it can't because Android doesn't really support it) that would actually be easier because then it could use a chroot to make the paths look normal.
    - cogman10 8mo ago
      Ah, well that stinks a little. I guess it makes sense, if android doesn't mandate a few kernel settings then working with containers might not be an option.
    - skissane 8mo ago
      Couldn’t it implement a “fake chroot” by e.g. creating its own libc which wraps the real one but with path remapping, and then linking all its executables against that?
      - yjftsjthsd-h 8mo ago
        That would only work for things that use libc (so eg. most Go programs are probably not going to work). The main way that you can do an unprivileged fake chroot is proot, which termux does offer - see https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/PRoot https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/PRoot - but that has a significant performance hit.
  - seszett 8mo ago
    > you will be pinned to whatever version of the kernel your device is shipped with That doesn't matter much for using SSH though. For running more complex Linux programs or scripts Termux is indeed less comfortable (but it can still work).
ndom91 8mo ago
Is this available outside of Pixels? I still can't find it on my OnePlus 13 running Android 16 with Jan security updates
- cmehdy 8mo ago
  The option exists on Samsung phones but is greyed out and crashes if you force it via adb. It is also marked as experimental.
  - mixel 8mo ago
    I just tried it on my S25. I can enable the option an open the APK but can't download it because it fails to create the VM because the S25 does not support Non-protected VMs, so I may require a rooted device. I guess I will stick to Termux but interesting feature nonetheless
- yonatan8070 8mo ago
  I believe it relies on some virtualization extensions Google's CPUs have, which most phone SoCs don't support.
- prmoustache 8mo ago
  It is buggy as hell anyway.

Enable Developper Options. It should be in the Developer menu. It's a toggle that'll enable this apk.

seszett 8mo ago

Honestly I don't find it more useful than Termux, especially for being so much heavier.

cogman10 8mo ago
Just because I was curious. Termux is doing a container. The android terminal is doing a virtual machine. That's the difference. Termux would definitely be the light weight option, but you will be pinned to whatever version of the kernel your device is shipped with (may be a bit old.)
- yjftsjthsd-h 8mo ago
  No, termux isn't a container, it's running directly in userspace on the host. The only weird thing is that because it's running directly on the host, it has to be built to use unusual paths, eg. /data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/bash instead of /usr/bin/bash. If it used containers (which IIRC it can't because Android doesn't really support it) that would actually be easier because then it could use a chroot to make the paths look normal.
  - cogman10 8mo ago
    Ah, well that stinks a little. I guess it makes sense, if android doesn't mandate a few kernel settings then working with containers might not be an option.
  - skissane 8mo ago
    Couldn’t it implement a “fake chroot” by e.g. creating its own libc which wraps the real one but with path remapping, and then linking all its executables against that?
    - yjftsjthsd-h 8mo ago
      That would only work for things that use libc (so eg. most Go programs are probably not going to work). The main way that you can do an unprivileged fake chroot is proot, which termux does offer - see https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/PRoot https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/PRoot - but that has a significant performance hit.
- seszett 8mo ago
  > you will be pinned to whatever version of the kernel your device is shipped with That doesn't matter much for using SSH though. For running more complex Linux programs or scripts Termux is indeed less comfortable (but it can still work).

ndom91 8mo ago

Is this available outside of Pixels? I still can't find it on my OnePlus 13 running Android 16 with Jan security updates

cmehdy 8mo ago
The option exists on Samsung phones but is greyed out and crashes if you force it via adb. It is also marked as experimental.
- mixel 8mo ago
  I just tried it on my S25. I can enable the option an open the APK but can't download it because it fails to create the VM because the S25 does not support Non-protected VMs, so I may require a rooted device. I guess I will stick to Termux but interesting feature nonetheless
yonatan8070 8mo ago
I believe it relies on some virtualization extensions Google's CPUs have, which most phone SoCs don't support.
prmoustache 8mo ago
It is buggy as hell anyway.