Run Linux containers on Android, no root required

(github.com)

67 points | by politelemon 7 hours ago

10 comments

  • vimredo 2 hours ago
    I 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 1 hour ago
      Sometimes the capability unlocks the possibilities.
    • nagaiaida 47 minutes ago
      [dead]
  • tuananh 24 minutes ago
    what about the other way around?

    i'm aware about waydroid but it has too many problems with nvidia. also require wayland.

    • unicornporn 21 minutes ago
      X86 builds of Android are stuck at many generations back of the OS. Running Android in a VM on X86 is basically dead AFAIK. :(
  • VonGuard 17 minutes ago
    Podman.....
  • Antitoxic6185 3 hours ago
    tmux with proot distros exist though
  • nullbyte808 4 hours ago
    Is it possible to get the reverse of this working? (Waydroid with play services on Linux phones, such as postmarketOS)
    • seba_dos1 1 hour ago
      I'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 18 minutes ago
        The latest Waydroid beta is over three years old. Waydroid is dead and I haven't found an alternative.
    • vimredo 2 hours ago
      Why 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.
  • figmert 5 hours ago
    This 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.
  • nixosbestos 3 hours ago
    I just want a folding portable monitor now. We're getting so close...
  • ilsubyeega 6 hours ago
    curious is this just software qemu(not sure what word exactly was) instead of virtualization acceleration, probably more overheads?
    • em500 4 hours ago
      Yes, under How It Works:

      > libqemu-system-aarch64.so (QEMU TCG, no KVM)

      TCG means software emulation

      • kristianp 2 hours ago
        I thought why is qemu used here? Why not use linux native namespaces and cgroups.
        • NewJazz 2 hours ago
          Permissions. Isolation.
          • Retr0id 1 hour ago
            so, like namespaces and cgroups?
            • figmert 19 minutes ago
              Android 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.
    • meltyness 5 hours ago
    • NewJazz 5 hours ago
      Itbsays it doesnt use kvm, so i thinj that meens no accel.
  • TheRoque 5 hours ago
    With this I could in theory do all my work from my Android phone.
  • ggm 4 hours ago
    And local FS access is mediated how?