An application that runs Alpine Linux distribution on your Android device.
Inspired by Termux and UserLAnd applications.
What is this app for ?
This application is general purpose as it runs a full blown Linux distribution. You are limited only by amount of available packages (more than 10000) as Alpine Linux is relatively new distribution, however you can compile missing packages on your own. Performance can be a problem in some cases too.
Here is just a few ideas for what you can use Alpine Term application:
- Educational purposes.
- Development environment: compile & test your programs written in C, C++, Go, Python, etc… But remember that emulator performance is limited.
- Experimental sandbox: here you free for executing all kinds of potentially dangerous stuff without being afraid of damaging your host OS.
- Run a local web server or TOR hidden service.
- Run x86 Linux programs on your ARM(64) device. Note that a Docker container with Ubuntu may be required. Alpine Linux uses a Musl libc and programs compiled for systems based on GNU libc may not work.
- Run software which requires root, but you don’t want to root your device.
This application does not provide access to host hardware or operating system. You cannot use it to root your device, flash custom ROMs, run Aircrack-NG, access USB OTG devices, etc…
This application is not a terminal emulator for Android OS. If you searching for one, check Termux project.
A page with brief explanation about usage can be accessed through context menu inside application or you can view it online at this link: https://xeffyr.github.io/alpine-term/docs/help.html.
Information about Alpine Linux tips and tricks can be accessed through its official Wiki: https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Main_Page.
System requirements
In general, it should work on any high-end device which met the following requirements:
- Android 7.0 or higher.
- At least 1 GB of space on the internal storage.
Consider this before opening a new issue
Bugs:
Consider opening an issue if you found that application crashes or not working at all on your device. Note that app can have same bugs as Termux as many parts of code were borrowed from this project.
I do not accept any issues about packages or used operating system. They are third-party projects not related to this application.
New features:
Application is kept on bare minimum of features.
Most of things can be already done either through OS shell or QEMU monitor console, for example backups to Android shared storage or custom drive images. I’m not Android developer and won’t bother to reimplement these things through GUI.
Credits
Alpine Term relies on the source code of the following projects:
