Google is developing a Terminal app for Android that'll let you run Linux apps. It'll download and run Debian in a VM for you.

Google is developing a Terminal app for Android that’ll let you run Linux apps. It’ll download and run Debian in a VM for you.

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Engineers at Google started work on a new Terminal app for Android a couple of weeks ago. This Terminal app is part of the Android Virtualization Framework (AVF) and contains a WebView that connects to a Linux virtual machine via a local IP address, allowing you to run Linux commands from the Android host. Initially, you had to manually enable this Terminal app using a shell command and then configure the Linux VM yourself. However, in recent days, Google began work on integrating the Terminal app into Android as well as turning it into an all-in-one app for running a Linux distro in a VM.

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Google is still working on improving the Terminal app as well as AVF before shipping this feature. AVF already supports graphics and some input options, but it’s preparing to add support for backing up and restoring snapshots, nested virtualization, and devices with an x86_64 architecture. It’s also preparing to add some settings pages to the Terminal app, which is pretty barebones right now apart from a menu to copy the IP address and stop the existing VM instance. The settings pages will let you resize the disk, configure port forwarding, and potentially recover partitions.

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If you’re wondering why you’d want to run Linux apps on Android, then this feature is probably not for you. Google added Linux support to Chrome OS so developers with Chromebooks can run Linux apps that are useful for development. For example, Linux support on Chrome OS allows developers to run the Linux version of Android Studio, the recommended IDE for Android app development, on Chromebooks. It also lets them run Linux command line tools safely and securely in a container.

  • arthurpizzaEnglish
    6•3 months ago

    I’ve been using Termux for years and there are a lot of nice things you can do. Also, a lot of nice tablets have good keyboards.

    • @JubilantJaguar
      5•3 months ago

      Yeah but to do that one thing that you really want to do, you need root and daddy says no.

          • @[email protected]English
            2•3 months ago

            You can root any phone if you truely want to. I just do not yet have the skillset to do it.

            If you know how to do it, I’m open for it :)

      • arthurpizzaEnglish
        1•3 months ago

        If it’s anything like Chrome OS, you have full root in the VM.

        • @JubilantJaguar
          1•3 months ago

          Giving full admin privileges over device? Doubt it.

          • arthurpizzaEnglish
            1•3 months ago

            I mean if you want root, just buy an unlocked phone. You can run Lineage OS on the Pixel phones just fine. Full root access. This VM system has nothing to do with that.

      • Possibly linuxEnglish
        1•3 months ago

        Honestly you don’t need root. You can enable root (assuming you are already running a custom ROM) but that should not be needed.

        • @JubilantJaguar
          2•3 months ago

          But who decides what I need? For instance, I want to toggle airplane mode. Without root: not allowed.

              • Possibly linuxEnglish
                1•3 months ago

                Well then I guess my device is the exception then. I have an airplane mode toggle

                • @JubilantJaguar
                  2•3 months ago

                  Then your device must be powered by magic, or more likely it’s not a recent Android version. That the toggle is there does not mean it works: it doesn’t work without root.

                  • Possibly linuxEnglish
                    1•3 months ago

                    I’m running almost the the latest version (Android 14) and the toggle works. Why wouldn’t it work? People need to be able to put there devices in airplane mode when they get on an airplane.