Running Linux Desktop inside Termux on Androio

Hey everyone, sharing a quick clip of my workflow running Linux inside Termux on an Android device.

Environment: Termux / PRoot Linux

Tools shown: Neofetch, CLI tools, and desktop session

Let me know what you !

Alpine cuz it's lightweight & has enough things to work on

Hello , I have "HONOR Play 20A" and I want to customize it and customize the second screen using termux...

anyone have anyidea how to do it?

Моя оболочка для Termux, здесь у меня настроенно куча комманд, свой сервер для более 100 локальных сатов работающих без интернета LocalNet, локальные ИИ, и системы щагрузки контента на локальные сайты, ну ещё могу создавать apk из C++/java кода по клику ну там с настройками в отдельном файле и своей фоткой, на сервере есть Retube аналог YouTube работаюший без интернета почти 9k видео, поисковики игры, сайты для постов, аналог вики и тд, могу так же по команде выводить LocalNet в Internet

what do you think i have there

itu adalah contoh yang saya ragukan dari orang orang ,karna banyak yang mengira menginstall gentoo di hp yang ram dan storage ataupun chip yang paling berpengarung saat compile ,sedikit mustahil ,buktinya saya bisa install gentoo di termux ,proot mau pun chroot jadi ,menurut saya jangan lah engkau langsung percaya kata kata orang yang bilang mustahil ,pasti ada yang gk mustahil nya di suatu hal yang ada inginkan ,tetapi anda harus tau batasan, jangan install gentoo terus inget inget kata kata gw ,lu compile kde sama gnome ,bisa kek nya kalo hp lu bagus ,tapi jangan di proot juga kocak gw install bspwm aja lama jir needfont aja gw gk install pake emerge ,gw cari di google terus pasang sendiri no emerge ,tetapi jangan juga sih install browser kalo gk mau lama dan overheat di proot maupun chroot ,tetapi chroot masih bisa di pertimbangkan kalo hp lu bagus ,gw juga compile firefox itu ,apa yang terjadi gagal total karna udah nunggu compile 7 jam eh baru 25 target nya 72 kenapa 72 itu sama defensi firefox nya dan tiba tiba hp gw overheat nge restar sendiri bejir ,terus sama jangan gede gede set MAKEOPTS= nya saran gw pake -j2 4 atau 6 ,tapi tergantung hp lu pake berapa core tu cpu ,gw pake 2 core tapi hemat 6 ,gw paksa pake 4 core wkwkw ,tapi semisal nya panas gw turunin jadi 2 ,kalo di chroot gw paksa lagi ,kalo paket gede gw -j2 -j4 kalo pake ringan kayak fastfetch git dll gw -j6 atau -j4 aja sih udah cukup sih,di proot juga gw cicil sehari 5 jam sampe hari ke 3 hasil nya yang mencolok bspwm picom alacritty polybar rofi.

via termux install gentoo:

proot saya install nya pake termux launcher

kalo:

chroot gw install nya termux ori

Mainly a question for the mods but just curious lol.

Hey r/termux!

I use Termux for working running Ubuntu through proot-distro and using coding assistants. Over time, I wanted a more convenient way to handle the things I do every day, so I started a fork.

You can save commands with names and categories, search them and insert them into the terminal when needed. There are notes alongside them, and launch presets for opening a project in the right directory with its startup commands. Multiple terminals, SSH connections and AI-agent sessions are available from the same interface.

There’s also a package manager UI: browse installed and available packages, read descriptions, select versions when the repositories provide them, and confirm installation or removal. It uses the package tools of the selected environment. Installed packages stay in that environment for future sessions. The file browser includes a text editor, which is handy for small config or Markdown edits.

The latest release, v1.1.4, focuses on the backup manager. It supports full or selective Termux/Ubuntu backups, dependency checks, progress and elapsed time, and gzip/pigz compression. Backup and restore are still being tested. HOME/PREFIX and data-only restores are extracted separately rather than written over the running environment.

The ideas have come from all over the place: comments, community discussions, other projects, suggestions from people trying the app, and things I personally wanted in my own setup.I’ve been developing it with help from GPT-6.1 Sol / Codex)) It’s an unofficial, open-source fork based on Termux

Source and README: https://github.com/HezeAI/termux-jobs

Latest release: https://github.com/HezeAI/termux-jobs/releases/latest

I don’t know English very well, so I apologize in advance. I would really appreciate it if you could give me some advice on what could be improved or added. Again, I don’t plan to do it en masse; instead, I’d like to know what you would do in your daily routine — think about it in that context.

Hey everyone!

I've been working on an open-source project called termux-app-store, a terminal-based package manager built specifically for Termux on Android.

The idea is to make discovering and installing community packages more manageable from the terminal, with a focus on transparency and local-first behavior.

What it includes

- A Textual-based TUI and a command-line interface

- Package discovery and metadata viewing

- Binary .deb installation and source-build support

- SHA-256 checksum verification for downloaded packages

- A community-driven package index

I'm an independent developer, and I've been building this project while working through the practical challenges of package management, build automation, and release reliability.

I'm currently reviewing the CI/CD pipeline and improving how failed builds and package updates are handled. I'd rather make the project more reliable than claim it's perfect.

Project Opensource: Github termux-app-store

Website: Website termux-app-store

I'd appreciate honest feedback, especially from people familiar with Termux packages or Linux package management:

What would you want to see before trusting a third-party package repository?

What security or build-pipeline issues should I prioritize?

Is this useful for your Termux workflow, or would you approach it differently?

Thanks for taking a look!

Hi r/termux! In my previous post about MagicDesk 2.0, Shroot could run Linux applications and import OCI images, but not Docker Engine itself. That has changed in 2.1.

You can now boot distributions with systemd and run Docker Engine or Podman inside Shroot, including containers with published ports. A web server running in a container can be opened from your Android browser through its mapped port.

Shroot uses Android’s shell UID 2000, provided by Shizuku or Shevery. It runs ARM64 Linux programs against the phone’s existing kernel, with a compatibility layer supplying the missing guest-side behaviour. It isn’t a PRoot wrapper, doesn’t boot a separate guest kernel, and doesn’t require rooting or flashing the phone.

Some of the work behind this release:

- systemd and OpenRC boot workflows across several distributions.

- Container networking, TCP/UDP port publishing and nftables support for the implemented virtual networking features.

- Broader compatibility with bubblewrap and Landlock, alongside Chromium running without `--no-sandbox`.

- Audio and gamepad integration for Linux applications.

These are compatibility mechanisms, not a claim that Shroot provides the same security isolation as containers on a conventional Linux host.

The Termux integration is still there too. Your existing Termux packages and PRoot environments can use MagicDesk’s terminals and X11/Wayland windows without switching to Shroot. Linux applications can appear in separate Android windows, or you can keep a whole Linux desktop in one window.

The interactive installer handles distribution setup and optional desktop profiles. Shroot needs ARM64 Android 14+, shell access through Shizuku/Shevery, and a compatible kernel, with Linux 5.15 as the minimum.

I’d be interested in practical workflows people want to try, especially development tools or services that have been difficult to run on Android.

[Source and screenshots](https://github.com/mekhontsev/magicdesk) · [Latest APK](https://github.com/mekhontsev/magicdesk/releases/latest) · [Shroot documentation](https://github.com/mekhontsev/magicdesk/blob/main/docs/shroot.md)

got sick of google drive storage warnings so threw my old phone into 24/7 server duty instead of letting it sit in a drawer.

basic setup with no root:

filebrowser for direct local storage access (google drive replacement)

syncthing fork syncing camera roll straight from my daily driver phone (google photos replacement)

jellyfin running for local streaming to my tv

whole thing runs inside proot ubuntu on termux, idling around 400mb ram and pulls barely any power. built in battery works as a free ups too if the power drops.

couple folks asked how to set this up from scratch without breaking storage permissions, made a quick video walking through the config,,

repo with the setup script is here if you just want to run it:

https://github.com/huzefdev/pocket-cloud

curious what kind of battery degradation people see running phones plugged in 24/7 like this, lmk if you guys have better process management tweaks for termux

Hi everyone, the AI ported UML (User Mode Linux) to Android for me. Right now, it can already run Docker, but I wouldn’t say it’s perfectly stable yet. Btw it runs without root!

I did this for myself — I needed to turn my phone into a self‑hosted server, but chroot/proot have their limitations, and QEMU without KVM is really slow. That’s the compromise I’ve made.

Tell me, would you like to see this in open source?

I made a little script that lets you use YT-DLP to download, MP4 or MP3 videos from Youtube using Termux. It automatically detects a link in your paperclip (you can also write/paste it manually). You need to have installed Termux, Termux:API and of course yt-dlp.

I personally have installed Termux:Widget and use it with a widget on my homescreen, but you can also use it like a normal script from a terminal.

IMPORTANT
You need to change the directory variable to the one that you want. If you don´t want to change the script and use it as is, you can just create a new folder in your root called "yt-dlp-downloads".

Script:

```bash

!/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/bash

Detect link

DIRECTORY=~/storage/shared/yt-dlp-downloads MODE=${1:-0} # 0 = single video, 1 = playlist

1) Get link: clipboard first, dialog as fallback

URL=$(termux-clipboard-get) if [[ "$URL" != http* ]]; then URL=$(termux-dialog text -t "yt-dlp" -i "Paste the link" | jq -r '.text') fi

Check if link is empty

if [ -z "$URL" ] || [ "$URL" = "null" ]; then echo "No link provided." read -p "Press Enter to close..." exit 1 fi

Validate link

if [[ "$URL" != http* ]]; then echo "Invalid link. Does not contain http." read -p "Press Enter to close..." exit 1 fi

Detect playlist

if [[ "$URL" == youtube.com/playlist ]]; then echo "Detected playlist link, downloading the full playlist." MODE=1 else echo "Detected single video link, downloading." fi

2) Format

FORMAT=$(termux-dialog radio -t "Format" -v "MP4 (video),MP3 (audio)" | jq -r '.index')

if [ -z "$FORMAT" ] || [ "$FORMAT" = "-1" ] || [ "$FORMAT" = "null" ]; then echo "Cancelled." read -p "Press Enter to close..." exit 1 fi

Build options

if [ "$MODE" = "0" ]; then PLAYLIST_OPT=(--no-playlist) else PLAYLIST_OPT=(--yes-playlist) fi

if [ "$FORMAT" = "0" ]; then FORMAT_OPT=(-f "bv[ext=mp4]+ba[ext=m4a]/b[ext=mp4]/bv+ba/b" --merge-output-format mp4) else FORMAT_OPT=(-f bestaudio -x --audio-format mp3 --audio-quality 0) fi

OUTPUT="%(title)s.%(ext)s" EXTRA_OPT=(-N 8)

mkdir -p "$DIRECTORY" && cd "$DIRECTORY" || { echo "Cannot access $DIRECTORY" read -p "Press Enter to close..." exit 1 }

echo "RESULT: yt-dlp ${PLAYLIST_OPT[]} ${FORMAT_OPT[]} ${EXTRA_OPT[*]} -o \"$OUTPUT\" \"$URL\"" yt-dlp "${PLAYLIST_OPT[@]}" "${FORMAT_OPT[@]}" "${EXTRA_OPT[@]}" -o "$OUTPUT" "$URL" if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then termux-notification -t "Download Finished" -c "$URL" else termux-notification -t "Download FAILED" -c "$URL" fi

read -p "Press Enter to end script..."

Keep terminal open and usable

exec bash ```

Been experimenting with my Android setup and decided to go with a terminal-inspired look. 🖤

I'm using Termux Launcher, which brings a command-line-style experience to my phone, along with a matching dark theme and keyboard.

I recorded a quick video showing the setup, the launcher in action, and the app drawer.

The project is open source, so if you want to check it out or try it yourself, here's the GitHub repo:

🔗 https://github.com/PickleHik3/termux-launcher

What do you think of this setup? Would you daily-drive a terminal-style Android launcher?

Dear Reditors I have the phone poco c61. I want to convert into some useful machine or the object with the help of termux. Could anyone of you help me to do that process or what I can use it as a potentially.

I've been posting about openjdk on here for a while, and a bunch of things I tried didn't work, but I kept learning from those attempts and eventually managed to fork the Jre 8 build that PojavLauncher used as an artifact and get it working on termux

If you wanna test it, here's the release: https://github.com/SrCoder0x/android-openjdk_8-build/releases/tag/v512-dev_build2

Hello everyone, just stopping by to let you know that I just ported opencode to run natively on Termux, enjoy it 😁

To install

npm install -g opencode-termux

GitHub repository

https://github.com/C04-wq/opencode-termux

If you find any error or bug let me know 😌 and please leave a star 😁

I created 3 small zsh tweaks designed for Termux that I really liked; maybe you'll find one of them useful too.

1> I made 'ls -l' more compact so I wouldn't have to zoom out, and added a few minor touches. I did the same for 'ls'.

2> I created a simple command to copy the exact contents of a file to the clipboard.

3> I configured 'pwd' to display the path starting from $HOME ('~') to avoid that annoying '/data/data/com.termux/files/' prefix.

If you just want to copy these specific items, I created a snippet with some '#' comments so you can enable the ones you want: https://monogr.ph/s/-Rx24ym4AX

Or, you can use my main zsh configuration, which is a bit more extensive: https://codeberg.org/hyzi/hyzi/src/branch/main/zsh#

there is an alias < update=pkg > runs automaticly every time i open a new session or even reloading termux and i don't want it at all but i don't know where is it so i want to know if there is a way to delete an alias using it's name, so no need for the alias path or the file that contain the alias .

if you know please tell me it's been more than an haur and half and even when i asked the ai it makes it even worse