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Run Linux containers on Android, no root required
- ilsubyeega 6mo agocurious is this just software qemu(not sure what word exactly was) instead of virtualization acceleration, probably more overheads?
- meltyness 6mo agohttps://github.com/ExTV/Podroid/blob/3f7d19dee63e24e0bd36c22fb0647c9e5e9d1716/app/src/main/java/com/excp/podroid/engine/PodroidQemu.kt#L303 https://github.com/ExTV/Podroid/blob/3f7d19dee63e24e0bd36c22... not sure
- NewJazz 6mo agoItbsays it doesnt use kvm, so i thinj that meens no accel.
- em500 6mo agoYes, under How It Works: > libqemu-system-aarch64.so (QEMU TCG, no KVM) TCG means software emulation
- kristianp 6mo agoI thought why is qemu used here? Why not use linux native namespaces and cgroups.
- NewJazz 6mo agoPermissions. Isolation.
- Retr0id 6mo agoso, like namespaces and cgroups?
- figmert 6mo agoAndroid kernel has the relevant kernel parameters disabled. It is entirely possible to run containers directly on android, but it requires enabled the relevant parameter (iirc no recompilation need, just a cmdline change). But this of course requires root.
- TheRoque 6mo agoWith this I could in theory do all my work from my Android phone.
- figmert 6mo agoThis can probably be upstreamed into podman. Podman already has supports using a VM using podman machine (uses different tech under the hood depending on the OS). This seems like it can be yet another backend for it.
- functional_dev 6mo agoThat would be great
- ggm 6mo agoAnd local FS access is mediated how?
- nullbyte808 6mo agoIs it possible to get the reverse of this working? (Waydroid with play services on Linux phones, such as postmarketOS)
- deleted 6mo ago[deleted]
- vimredo 6mo agoWhy wouldn't it? All you need is a binder device for Android IPC and root access to launch Waydroid. It should work perfectly fine when installed and used with Wayland.
- seba_dos1 6mo agoI've been using Waydroid with microG on a Librem 5 with PureOS for years. Not extensively as I don't have a lot of reasons to boot Android, but when I do have one it's there. I've seen some guides for installing Play Services in Waydroid, but personally I'm not interested.
- unicornporn 6mo agoThe latest Waydroid beta is over three years old. Waydroid is dead and I haven't found an alternative.
- seba_dos1 6mo agoThe latest stable release of Waydroid is from little over a month ago. The Android image it uses by default is based on Android 13, which is fresh enough to do its job.
- jansommer 6mo agoOne could also try Android 15 and 16 on Waydroid: https://github.com/WayDroid-ATV/waydroid-builds/releases https://github.com/WayDroid-ATV/waydroid-builds/releases
- nixosbestos 6mo agoI just want a folding portable monitor now. We're getting so close...
- volemo 6mo agoI’ve heard Samsung makes something like that. :D https://www.samsung.com/us/smartphones/galaxy-z-trifold/ https://www.samsung.com/us/smartphones/galaxy-z-trifold/
- anonzzzies 6mo agoI use xreal one pro for that, works well.
- Antitoxic6185 6mo agotmux with proot distros exist though
- deleted 6mo ago[deleted]
- vimredo 6mo agoI don't understand what this would be useful for. The Linux terminal app on Android (check Developer settings if you want it) already exists and it uses hardware accelerated virtualization, while this uses QEMU with TCG. The Linux terminal app also supports running a DE (No VNC - as in no VNC, not NoVNC - required!), has full shell, full root, all the features of Podroid, and hell, you could even swap out the terminal if you wanted to. The only advantage to this seems that it supports Android 14, 15, and 16. Am I missing something, or does this have no purpose?
- j45 6mo agoSometimes the capability unlocks the possibilities.
- nagaiaida 6mo agoyou seem to have articulated precisely the advantage that makes it serve a purpose for me: supporting the version of android on my phone. presumably i am far from unique in not having android 16
- gbil 6mo agoMy understanding is that the integrated linux terminal is not supported on all processors like snapdragon ones and also is not available on all manufactures like Samsung. Therefore this approach covers a much bigger audience.
- tuananh 6mo agowhat about the other way around? i'm aware about waydroid but it has too many problems with nvidia. also require wayland.
- unicornporn 6mo agoX86 builds of Android are stuck at many generations back of the OS. Running Android in a VM on X86 is basically dead AFAIK. :(
- yjftsjthsd-h 6mo agoI'm actually optimistic that this will improve. Google has apparently been working on replacing Chrome OS with android, which I have pretty strong opinions on but the upside is that if they want to go that route they're going to have to make Android officially work well on x86, at which point there's no reason that eg. LineageOS wouldn't be expected to follow suit.
- RobotToaster 6mo agoYou could run a windows VM and run windows subsystem for android.
- jansommer 6mo agoWindows subsystem for Android is deprecated. There's a community maintained alternative but it seems to have a few problems wrt. Windows updates.
- RobotToaster 6mo agoThe community maintained version seems to work okay most of the time, but you're correct a better solution is needed.
- Tajnymag 6mo agoThere's for example redroid (https://github.com/remote-android/redroid-doc https://github.com/remote-android/redroid-doc) which seems to be exactly that. Android inside a container.
- VonGuard 6mo agoPodman.....
- ekropotin 6mo agoI find the title very misleading. Linux containers typically means LXC, but when in readme you say it’s intended for running OCI-based containers.
- anthk 6mo agoTermux and a BT keyboard it's enough. Also, native Emacs under FDroid has recently been improved a lot. With just Emacs you get: - An IRC, Usenet and Mail client. The ONLY libre Usenet client. comp.arch and comp.misc have really engaging discussions. You can score up nice commenters and blacklist every spammer - Gemini and Gopher via ELPA (run Esc-x package-install RET elpher) - A math mini CAS with Esc-x calc RET - Esc-x package-install RET malyon, get some nice ZMachine text adventures at IFDB - Elisp environment+cl-lib can do a lot - Esc-x package-install jabber, Esc-x jabber. Chat with cool people at XMPP servers. - Org-Mode, enough said - eshell will allow you to automate stuff - Elisp + Android related functions + org-mode: heaven. - Sudoku, Sokoban, Tetris... - LSP integration it's possible Get some $10 pocket bluetooth keyboard and try it.
- dietr1ch 6mo agoI tried Emacs, but realised I need NixOS to get the packages I depend on like git to download my config. I can't use stock emacs. There's a trick to get Emacs and termux to share packages, but not for nix-on-droid :/
- getpokedagain 6mo agoYou can do some signing hackery and allow Emacs to see executables from termux https://gsilvers.github.io/me/posts/20250921-emacs-on-android/ https://gsilvers.github.io/me/posts/20250921-emacs-on-androi... For anyone who ends up here and curious.
- spidermonkey23 6mo agoI think this is great, I've wanted some sort of docker on android system and this does the job quite nicely all wrapped up in an apk. So there is definitely space for this in the current ecosystem. The new terminal built into android crashes whenever I try booting it up.
- nsonha 6mo agoWhat would be the usecases?
- pjmlp 6mo agoI don't see the purpose to run containers on Android, the managed userspace provides everything I need, including code on the go apps, already sandboxed. Also not a termux fan.
- yenko 6mo agoWhat code on the go apps do you have in mind ?
- pjmlp 6mo agoPascal N IDE, C# Shell NET IDE, Pydroid 3, Shader Editor, the paid versions.
- dredmorbius 6mo agoWhat are your concerns / objections to Termux?
- pjmlp 6mo agoPeople are holding it wrong. Instead of embracing the Java/Kotlin userspace alongside C and C++ on the NDK, with the official APIs, they try to subvert into GNU/Linux. First of all bionic isn't glibc, secondly the Linux kernel is only a matter of convenience for Google, which they could in theory replace by something else, while keeping the Java/Kotlin and the NDK C/C++ APIs. Which is exactly termux isn't without issues on modern Android versions, not much different than using cygwin/mingw on Windows.
- derekzhouzhen 6mo agoThis is exactly Termux's point, to subvert Android into linux cheaply. Same for MinGW or MSYS2. I want to invest as few as possible on Andriod or Windows, while still able to use them in the way that I prefer.
- pjmlp 6mo ago
- randomtoast 6mo agoI find it somewhat amusing that it uses QEMU to emulate Linux in order to create a container with restricted permissions, even though it is already running on Linux with restricted permissions. I get the point while it is designed that way, but still funny.
- AlexeyBelov 6mo ago[flagged]
- randomtoast 6mo ago[flagged]
- AlexeyBelov 6mo ago[flagged]
- randomtoast 6mo ago[flagged]
- Beijinger 6mo agoHow is it the other way around? What is the status of Waydroid?
- seba_dos1 6mo agoWorks.
- hu3 6mo agoAdded to my list of things that will never be possible on iOS.
- StilesCrisis 6mo agoNot to defend it, but emulating Linux in WASM is possible and ought to work on iOS in a reasonably performance way. See https://webvm.io/ https://webvm.io/
- hu3 6mo agoIt will never be native though, which is the main point.
- k38f 6mo agoThe QEMU TCG approach makes sense for isolation, but I'm curious about the traffic routing story. Does each container get its own network namespace, or does all traffic still go through Android's network stack? The latter would mean carrier-level DPI still sees everything the container sends — which matters a lot depending on what you're running.
- cringleyrobert 6mo agoJust because you can doesn’t mean you should.
- venyxx__tnt 6mo ago[flagged]
- unnouinceput 6mo agoI want the opposite. And I want to behave like a true Android. Reason: My fucking useless bank that has a banking app that only runs on non-rooted Android only (cause fuck iOS/web according to them). My attempts to run their shitty app on emulators, virtual machines and the like failed. So currently I have a dumb phone that only has their crappy app on it and that's all. On a separate Google account, because I do not dare to link my main Google account to their name. Any advice?
- Aegis_Labs 6mo ago[dead]
- ike____________ 6mo agoJust tried it, the last 2 versions, I cannot continue after specifying the ram and cpu number.