Can Linux apps be run in Android?

Question

Android is based on Linux; can native Linux applications be run on Android?

Answer 1

Android does not run X Windows, nor does it have many of the standard GNU libraries. So, since most native linux applications require one or both of these, most will not run.

In addition, even Java programs can be limited, because the version of Java that Android applications are written in is a subset of the standard Java library.

Answer 2

Not directly, no. Android's C runtime library, bionic, is not binary compatible with the GNU libc, which most Linux distributions use.

You can always try to recompile your binaries for Android and pray.

Answer 3

yes you can ;-)

the simplest way is using this ->http://www.androidfanatic.com/community-forums.html?func=view&catid=9&id=2248

The old link is dead it was for a Debian install script There is an app for that in the android market but you will need root

Answer 4

android only use linux kernel, that means the GNU tool chain like gcc as are not implemented in android, so if you want run a linux app in android, you need recompile it with google's tool chain( NDK ).

Answer 5

yes i have done that on several rooted machines i set a debian linux on a sdcard by dd. i copy this script http://jeanmichel.gens.free.fr/etc/install on /system/bin

i have not yet succeed to run a Xserver but i can use xwindows binaries through the android Xserver application

i can run update my debian with apt-get upgrade , run an apache server with PHP , run a ssh server and all binaries on a terminal including user management i have also a problem with semaphores handling please contact me if you have any trouble

Answer 6

Short answer, no. Long answer, you can run Linux application if you install some software.

To avoid rooting your device, you can try the GnuRoot and XSDL combo to get a minimal chrooted environment, (Actually, it use proot to enable a rootless chrooted jail), or get the Debian Noroot application, which combine the former two application in a single virtual machine environment. Both can be fetch from Google Play.

However, there is a few drawbacks: first, the X11 Server bundled by XSDL and DNR is a compatibility layer wrapped around a Android port of SDL library and SurfaceFlinger. This means, hardware accelerated OpenGL graphics are not avaliable, and even the sound support requires some hacks. So, the author choose a simple Desktop Environment: XFCE4 suitable to low memmory and no 3D support. The second problem is the incompatibility from the DNR Virtual Machine of direct hardware acess, since it requires real root privileges. So you can't burn DVD, print using USB cables,... even the author's projects may promise a workaround in a future. Finally, this solution enables to install user-space programs like LibreOffice, Gimp, Samba,... not kernel-space modules.

Even with this limitations, the DNR is a very powerfull program.