Database Info

How to Install Ubuntu on Your Desire/Android

First sorry for my English
All credits are for zedomax, who has gotten it to work in Nexus One and for Desire is practically the same.
Sorry about "h t t p" of link adress I am very new here.
Original howto -> h t t p : / /nexusonehacks.net/nexus-one-hacks/how-to-install-ubuntu-on-your-nexus-oneandroid/
For now, I've only gotten it to work with Windows 7 and "CyanogenMod 5.0.8" and "Defrost2.0c" ROMs. The rom is important for get this works.
Practically almost all the steps are the same as in the guide of nexus one by zedomax. Well go:
Before anything, download ubuntu.zip from original HOWTO and unzip it.
Now download the updated script from zedomax.
h t t p : / /zedomax.com/android/bootubuntu
and overwrite the bootubuntu file of unzipped ubuntu.zip
1. First, you will need a rooted Desire.
zedomax say that you must have the latest version of busybox 1.16.1 but in Defrost2.0c works with 1.16.0 and cyanogenmod has 1.16.1. So we ignore this step from original guide.
2. Once you have a rooted Android phone, you will be able to run Ubuntu under Chroot.
3. Copy these six files from ubuntu.zip over into your SD card’s root folder under folder name “ubuntu“
4. Put your Desire in recovery mode. And connect it to your computer via USB.
5. I am assuming you've already installed the Android SDK (while you were rooting your phone) so let's head to your Android SDK directory and load up ADB Shell.
For Windows, go to your Android SDK Tools directory such as c:\sdk\tools and type "adb shell".
(FYI, cd is the command you can use to browse to your sdk\tools directory. For Windows, do cd \sdk\tools and for Mac/Linux, do cd /sdk/tools.
For linux and Mac, go to your Android SDK Tools directory such as /sdk/tools and type "./adb shell" or it can also be "sudo ./adb shell" for Ubuntu.
6. Once you are in the ADB shell, you should see a “#”symbol. Great, let’s start bootin’ Ubuntu right away.
7. Next, type "mount system", press enter and then type "mount sdcard". If you get this "mount: mounting /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 on /sdcard failed: Device or resource busy" ignore it, sdcard is already mounted.
8.- Next, type "cd /sdcard/ubuntu"
9.- Now we will write separate commands instead of using a script to see if something has gone wrong easily. Copy and paste each line separately and hit Enter at the end of each command.
rm /system/bin/fsrw <--(this problably return an error, ignore this)
rm /system/bin/bootubuntu <--(this problably return an error, ignore this)
rm /system/bin/unionfs <--(this problably return an error, ignore this)
rm /system/bin/mountonly <--(this problably return an error, ignore this)
cp -f fsrw /system/bin
cp -f bootubuntu /system/bin
cp -f unionfs /system/bin
cp -f mountonly /system/bin
cd /sdcard/ubuntu
chmod 4777 * <--(this problably return an error, ignore this)
cd /system/bin/
chmod 4777 *
cd /
umount sdcard
umount system
exit
Now select "reboot system now" from recovery menu of your Desire. When android fully loaded you need load up again ADB Shell.
For Windows, go to your Android SDK Tools directory such as c:\sdk\tools and type "adb shell".
Type "su" to enter superuser mode. Is very important not to forget this!
type "mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system"
type "mkdir /data/local/mnt"
10. Once that completes, type "bootubuntu" to "chroot" or boot into your new Ubuntu on your Android!
If you get the "root_localhost:/#" sign, congratulations! You've just installed Ubuntu on your Desire/Android phone!
the hardest part is complete!. From now, follows the original guide for the "nexus one" to get access to Gnome (visual desktop).
Other problems like keyboard mapping can fix it follow the original post from nexus one forum:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=718952
well, I hope this helps

thats pretty cool mate thanks ill try it out tonight when i get home from work

Thanks for this! Will give it a shot when I have a moment

Script?
Anybody fancy writing a nice script to do this for us? I'm on Holiday in Spain so I'm feeling pretty lazy.

Awesome, thanks a lot!
I'm on DJ Droid's Sense with Froyo 2.2, will try it.. hope it works! But do you know why it's rom specific? Is it because of busybox?

I tried this out, and got stuck on bootubuntu from the bootloader menu.
command not recognized. . .
everything works ok until i try to boot ubuntu from the bootloader menu.

Works great for me, SixOclock rom with busybox 1.16.2

peewster said:
I tried this out, and got stuck on bootubuntu from the bootloader menu.
command not recognized. . .
everything works ok until i try to boot ubuntu from the bootloader menu.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try ./bootubuntu instead

as soon as i get home, i will.
Thnx

Is anyone nice enough to break the ubuntu.zip down into the 6 files and upload separately?

good job, works fine on SetRom 3.5

someone can post screenshoots ???

?¿?The uncompressed "ubuntu.zip" has a 2Gb .img!!!

peewster said:
I tried this out, and got stuck on bootubuntu from the bootloader menu.
command not recognized. . .
everything works ok until i try to boot ubuntu from the bootloader menu.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
humm, are you get any error in this part?
cp -f fsrw /system/bin
cp -f bootubuntu /system/bin
cp -f unionfs /system/bin
cp -f mountonly /system/bin
and, where are you launching the bootubuntu command? You need do it from adb shell (at least until you set gnome) or terminal client directly from your phone, like better terminal emulator. Don't forget do "su" before launch bootubuntu. If it still does not work I recommend you start again the guide

why would anyone want to install ubuntu on a phone?

horadee said:
why would anyone want to install ubuntu on a phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why would anyone not want to install ubuntu on their phone?

Ok, so it worked. I'm now logged in through adb into Ubuntu. But how can i run ubuntu directly from my phone ?

VNC?
10chars.

abc27 said:
VNC?
10chars.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was wondering if you can run ubuntu (shell) directly from phone instead of adb

Anyone got screenshots?
Sent from my Desire using XDA App

[HOWTO] Running debian via chroot on OO

This tutorial is based on this one for G1: http://www.saurik.com/id/10
Hi,
I'll show you how to run debian in chroot on our optimus one. It wont affect android in any way, and they can run simultaneously, side by side. You are only running bash from debian, not its kernel or any other low-level part. But you can use debian's programs.
Requirements
* Linux on your pc or in virtual machine
You need debootstrap to make debian image, so you need debian distro (maybe in *buntu it is too, but I am not sure). You dont need GUI, bash is all you need.
* Busybox(-> rooted phone)
Most custom roms comes with busybox, I am not sure how about store ROM.
* Terminal emulator on phone and/or ADB
I suggest you to make sure you have adb, because you dont wanna write it all on small touch keyboard.
Some knowledge about linux systems
If you are following this tutorial only because you want to /flex on your friends and you dont know anything about linux, then you really _should_ stop reading this tutorial.
I also recommend you to have a2sd, so we can put debian image on its partition, when it is on sdcard main partition, it _may_ cause some problems with usb mass storage.
So, lets start.
1. Getting debian image
Boot into debian and get bootstrap tool:
Code:
apt-get install debootstrap
Now, create an empty disk image, I'd say minimum size is about 150mb, but I recommend you use more:
Code:
dd if=/dev/zero of=debian.img seek=*size_in_bytes* bs=1 count=1
You need to create ext filesystem in image with this tool(you can try it with "sudo" if you have problems):
Code:
mke2fs -F debian.img
Image is ready now, now lets mount it so we can install debian into it:
Code:
mkdir debian
mount -o loop debian.img debian
Debootstrap tool will do all the work for us. You can try to use squeeze instead of lenny or download it from your country's mirror. "--variant=minbase" argument will install just base system with apt-get and only few other packages. (This also may need sudo)
Code:
debootstrap --verbose --arch armel --foreign lenny debian http://ftp.cz.debian.org/debian
umount debian
2. Mount the image
Now, we will use ADB shell to mount the image and finish debian installation. Do not forget to write "su" before you start, we need root for this.
You need to decide where to put debian.img. I suggest you to put it on a2sd partition, which is system/sd, so :
Code:
cp /sdcard/debian.img /system/sd
export kit=/system/sd
Our mount point will be /data/local/mnt, so lets make some variable to make it easier:
Code:
export mnt=/data/local/mnt
busybox mkdir -p $mnt
We also need to set these enviroment variables, and we can also make alias for busybox so we dont have to write busybox all the time.
Code:
export PATH=/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/bin:$PATH
export TERM=linux
export HOME=/root
alias _=busybox
Now we need to create loop device for image:
Code:
_ mknod /dev/loop0 b 7 0
And if nothing went wrong, you should be able to mount image now ("mount: no /etc/mtab" is normal) :
Code:
_ mount -o loop,noatime $kit/debian.img $mnt
3. Finalizing installation of debian
With mounted image, we can proceed to second stage of debian bootstrap:
Code:
_ chroot $mnt /debootstrap/debootstrap --second-stage
If you want install some packages with apt-get, you also need to add repo to sources.list. Of course, if you downloaded squeeze instead of lenny, you need to change "lenny" to "squeeze"
Code:
echo 'deb http://ftp.cz.debian.org/debian lenny main' >$mnt/etc/apt/sources.list
Set correct DNS servers - debian can't take them from Android.
Code:
echo 'nameserver 4.2.2.2' >$mnt/etc/resolv.conf
Done, installation over.
4. Running debian bash
To get to debian bash, use this command. You can try "cat /etc/issue.net" or "uname -a" so you can see its really debian.
Code:
_ chroot $mnt /bin/bash
But its not all yet, you need to mount some things for debian:
Code:
mount -t devpts devpts /dev/pts
mount -t proc proc /proc
mount -t sysfs sysfs /sys
Now link mtab to /proc/mounts. You need to do this only once.
Code:
rm -f /etc/mtab
ln -s /proc/mounts /etc/mtab
And if you want to use ssh server to log in into debian, you also should set root pass:
Code:
passwd root
5. Installing packages
First, you need to update packages list:
Code:
apt-get update
and now you can install whatever you want with "apt-get install"!
6. Finishing
I suggest you to write some .sh script so you can mount it all with one command, for example something like this: http://pastebin.com/VT6272d5
What packages have you tested?
sshd - works great, you can connect to phone via putty or ssh
mc - works, but phone screen is to small
gcc-avr - if you are programming for avr microcontrollers, you can compile it on your phone
netcat - telnet connection
git-core - works great
htop - you can see this on screnshot below
apache2 - works like a charm
xfce4, Xorg server and tightvncserver - working but slow, see screenshots
gnash - working but slow, see screenshots. This is the only option how to run flash content on optimus one xD
Iceweasel - if you are using vnc server, you can browse web pages
gcc, g++, autoreconf, cmake and whatever else is needed to build mangos - working
mysql-server - you have to set "user = root" in /etc/mysql/my.conf, but works
MaNGOS - http://getmangos.com/ takes long to build, but works! See this post and also this one.
..and maybe some more which I dont remember.
Hope this tutorial helped you

I'll try bootstrapping debian when I figure out what the hell is wrong with my system. I can't download files from ftp (but I can with wget and other progs. just not with pacman, debootstrap, and the like).

debian on optimus v
searched around to avoid multiple posts, and found this.
I've been running chroot debian on my V as well, squeeze then sid now going back to squeeze.
the main problem I've encountered was in the "debootstrap --second-stage", which generally froze at "I: configuring sysvinit". I thought that was from overloading the CPU, but turns out android init doesn't create /dev/initctl like debian does, so debootstrap hangs waiting for a response reading/writing /dev/initctl
I didn't have that issue using SL4A's shell instead of android terminal.
being a bit of a 'noid, I have used "mknod /dev/initctl p" in the chroot before running "debootstrap --second-stage" since reading of that solution. not sure if it's making much difference, because that didn't fix the issue before I found SL4A and was still using android terminal for shell functions.
I like xfce4 as a window manager in the VNC, it's small but still functional.
I did a bit of things different than saurik, but used his guide extensively, along with much googling for other deb->droid ports.
my chroot runs in the android root directory with bind-mounts since the custom kernel I like doesn't include unionfs. I also directly use an ext4 2nd partition on the SD rather than a loop-mounted filesystem image. (yes, ext4 journals will eventually frag my SD but the cost of another is worth the crash-resistance to me.)
my short-term goal is to mix inits between the two os's and run X through an android app frontend to avoid the framebuffer copy lag from the VNC. my 3 main reasons for debian on the phone are program development (works currently,) flash (actually gnash, and needs a working full-speed access to framebuffer, not working yet,) and emulators for J2ME and MAME (same boat as flash.)
so far trying to run X directly blanks my screen and forces a battery pull to get it back, so kinda giving up that route for the moment.

so installing Archlinux on O1 must be possible? how?

pymebrahimi said:
so installing Archlinux on O1 must be possible? how?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All must work, as long as they support running on ARM. AFAIK Arch doesn't have an (official) ARM port. You can try Arch Mobile though

This command fails me
Code:
_ mount -o loop,noatime $kit/debian.img $mnt
The error I get is no device or file exists.
Tried creating more number of loop devises too. Still it didn't work. I am using cyanogemmod 2.3.3 ROM.

onehomelist said:
This command fails me
Code:
_ mount -o loop,noatime $kit/debian.img $mnt
The error I get is no device or file exists.
Tried creating more number of loop devises too. Still it didn't work. I am using cyanogemmod 2.3.3 ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is the exact wording of the error?

The exact error that I get:
Code:
# busybox mknod /dev/loop0 b 7 0
# busybox mount -o loop,noatime $kit/debian.img $mnt
mount: can't setup loop device: No such file or directory

Instead of using $kit/debian.img, try manually pointing to the debian image.
For example, if you have it on the sdcard's debian folder:
Code:
/sdcard/debian/debian.img

That too didn't work.

make sure that debian image is where it should be. Also try to "ls /dev/" and look for loop0 - i had some problems with loop devices on mik's 2.3, but I did not really solved it, because I went back to froyo after while.

The loop0 device exists is /dev. As you have experienced same issue on the same ROM, I am convinced that its a ROM issue.

I just tried to install xorg, xfce4 & tightvncserver - everything work just fine, although its kinda slow

ext partition instead of loop filesystem
Tasssadar said:
I just tried to install xorg, xfce4 & tightvncserver - everything work just fine, although its kinda slow
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it runs faster from a sdcard partition than a loop filesystem, if I remember right. I tested a loop-mounted preconstructed debian img from some tutorial for another device before debootstrapping my own.
partition your card with a second partition, ext2 if you're worried about journalling wearing out your sd, or ext4 if you're more worried about corrupting your precious debian filesystem in a crash or unclean umount. gparted in ubuntu seemed to work well for me.
resize your ntfs partition instead of deleting it or android may complain.
with your debian img mounted as a loop filesystem on a linux box at the same time as your new partition, you can copy everything from the img to the ext partition by:
Code:
cp -av /path/to/loopmountedimg/* /path/to/extpartition
if you replace the loop-mounting code in your boot script with a vold mount of your ext partition, android is supposed to umount the partition cleanly on powerdown or reboot.
on my optimus v, the mount looks like the following in my boot script (I'm posting the comments too for info)
# mount 2nd sdcard partition from vold, should prevent dirty unmount at reboot
# if your linux is on a different partition than 2, substitute that number for the 2 in .../vold/179:2 below
# first unmount it; if not already mounted, system will echo 'umount: can't forcibly umount /dev/block/vold/179:2: Invalid argument' but this isn't an error to worry about
Code:
umount -l /dev/block/vold/179:2
mount -o noatime,exec,suid /dev/block/vold/179:2 /$mnt
maybe someone here can use this info.
also, for anyone who wants to save some hours and bandwidth, I have a basic squeeze debootstrap uploaded to 4shared.
it shouldn't be missing any of the readme's or licensing docs, so it should be GPL ok AFAIK.
resolv.conf and sources.list are already configured for 3g access and the main Debian repository, so it's pretty much plug-n-play.
no extra packages. you'll need to apt-get tightvncserver and a window manager unless you just want the bash shell.
the first time you chroot in, you should use passwd to set a root password, and adduser to get a non-root account on there.
the only glitch is that I accidentally tar'd it into a compressed folder; so you can't just untar it into the ext partition, it needs unpacked with an archive manager. sorry!
here is the filesystem image
uncompressed, 9645 items, totalling 264.3 MB
compressed, 116.3 MB (121929580 Bytes)

Tried to put it on ext2 partition without image, its a bit faster but still very slow.
But i took some screenshots this time. You can see flash (well, gnash) player on optimus one working on last screenshot
And I have one question: is debian using its own libc or android's bionic?

Tasssadar said:
Tried to put it on ext2 partition without image, its a bit faster but still very slow.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
guess I'm biased, first linux I used was on a 100MHz pentium 1, so this handheld flies by comparison.
But i took some screenshots this time. You can see flash (well, gnash) player on optimus one working on last screenshot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I could only get gnash to play ads. boo. froze up iceweasel every time I tried to open a flash video. what browser are you using? oh, man, it's iceweasel, isn't it?? also, chromium just refused to start on my optimus.
And I have one question: is debian using its own libc or android's bionic?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
pretty sure it's standard debian libc. you could integrate the android toolchain if you were so motivated, probably.

bigsupersquid said:
I could only get gnash to play ads. boo. froze up iceweasel every time I tried to open a flash video. what browser are you using? oh, man, it's iceweasel, isn't it?? also, chromium just refused to start on my optimus.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Chromium does not work for me, too.
Well, it froze for me too, but after while it at least got to show what you see on the screenshot
bigsupersquid said:
pretty sure it's standard debian libc. you could integrate the android toolchain if you were so motivated, probably.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was just thinking if this is possible, then normal android aplication could have libc included, if its needed.

Do you know MaNGOS? It is open-source server for World of Warcraft (for more info go to http://getmangos.com/). I just compiled it and I run it on my optimus one. And guess what - without world db, its really fast! I am extracting UDB to database right now, I will post some screenshots and results with full-featured db soon.
And thats why I love linux and android

I got no words to describe my eyes when reading that at the moment.

So, what you might wanna know if you wanna try it too:
All packages needed for mangos to compile are working good, except for mysql server: you need to set "user = root" in my.cnf - it is located in /etc/mysql/ - because you cant put any root rights to any other user than root, so mysql user cant create tcp socket.
You will most likely need swap file - optimus has plenty of RAM, but yet not enough. All you need is to compile kernel with CONFIG_SWAP=y and follow this tutorial: http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-add-a-swap-file-howto/. 512mb swap is enough. Just for the record, swap is working on optimus one, I think nobody tried it here yet.
Now as for the compilation of mangos, it is mostly working as it is, only problems are intel tbb library and g3dlite library.
TBB is not available for arm yet, so you need to compile without it. Use -DUSE_STD_MALLOC=0 in cmake line.
As for the g3dlite, things are little bit more tricky - you need it, and there are some asm() instructions in it, which are different for arm. I only commented them, because I dont know assembler: https://github.com/Tasssadar/mangos-arm/commit/67c442fa0c10e82b282b83a8fe485588f8786e12
I have no idea how it can even work without all that code in g3dlite, but it just does.
You can use scriptdev2 from its git, theres no problem in it.
Thats all, after that just "make" and get something good to read, because it will take really long. At least 5 hours for compilation and nearly hour and a half for linking of scriptdev2 and mangosd binary.
Creating of databases is just like on normal pc, so I just skip it...same goes for dbc files, maps and vmaps.
Loading of mangos takes around 4 minutes with full-featured db. mangos then takes around 180mb of ram and cpu usage is...surprisingly low, considering the fact that our cpu does not have hw float operations. I tried to clear Azjol Nerub instance (well, solo with gm character) and maximal cpu usage was 60%, when fighting a boss with lots of spawns. I could imagine some 5-man dungeon run would be just fine
Also, you will get slight lag when moving into new location, when phone loads map files from sdcard.
Thats all, see screenshots

[Q] Anyone have Linux/Ubuntu/Fedora Working Currently On GB?

Problem:
I've worked with every available distribution of Linux, trying to get the damn thing working on my phone. Troubleshooting the ***t out of it, and no deal. Constant errors/files not found etc. So, rather than post my logs and ask for help troubleshooting them (as I've obviously been unable to do), I thought I'd just ask:
Does anybody have a Linux build (besides android!) working on their phone that's running Gingerbread or ICS? If yes, can you post your software specs?
Here are mine currently:
Busybox- v1.19.3-Stericson in /system/xbin
Firmware Version- 2.3.5
Baseband Version- T959VUVKG6
Kernel- 2.6.35.7-T959VUVKI3-CL611444
Build Number- Gingerbread.VUVKI3
Mod Version- Octaine Team Acid
Thanks, this has been a pain in my **s for too long now!
S

I had both Fedora and Ubuntu working on Froyo at one point through lots of modifying and editing of the scripts.
What do you need them for anyway? I think it's more of a hassle to set them up than it's worth.

Well, I am working quite a bit now with linux for servers and such, and it's good to have a system (even minimal) that I can use/reference, plus it helps me get better at it.
Get this: I was so frustrated that I went back to BlackIce (keeping my gb bootloaders) and the damn thing loads right up, ubuntu 11.04, no problem. So, I then loaded up Valhalla's GB build and, sure enough, that works too. So, going with my luck I load octane 2.x GB which i've been digging of late and no deal, ubuntu just won't load.
Now, trying the same trick I cannot get it to work. It just won't load now when I SH it. Here's the instructions that worked before (and I've tried them all!):
http://www.nerd65536.com/2011/07/installing-ubuntu-in-android-version-2.html
Also, I hard bricked again (corrupted bootloaders from a Parallels Windows stallout) but did Adam's UnBrickable Mod and that's all better. Everybody needs to check it out, it's awesome:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1333424
So FBI, any idea why linux is so temperamental? Once it SH's properly, it always works.
(Thanks to all the developers for their great roms!)

Yeah I noticed that slight changes from different ROMs based on the same kernel base had that effect too. I'm thinking it had to do something with the busybox installations since I had to edit the script sometimes. For some reason on some installs running mount won't work unless you use it as busybox mount. It was very iffy like that. I haven't even tried it again because of how frustrating it is to get even a boot. The other thing is that if you try to do a shutdown from ubutu/fedora it doesn't even kill the processes all the way so the only way you can clear some ram up with with a reboot.

Yeah man, I was figuring Busybox myself. I've tried old installs, new installs, xbin only, bin only, xbin & bin, etc. It's so frustrating because I can't figure it out. When it was working it was great, pretty stable.
So the first problem always lists as:
Remounting /system rw...
Mount: no such file or directory
Usage: mount [-r] [-w] etc, etc
So does this tell us that the system is not mounted rw? I used the Mount/system r/w application, but I cannot verify it's doing it's job. Everything is rooted properly, CWM also.
In Terminal on the phone I ran:
"mount | grep system"
which gave me
"/dev/block/st19 on /system type ext4 (rw,relatime,barrier=0,data=writeback)"
which leads me to believe the system is r/w.
I'm converting the system back from ext4 using CWM Voodoo to disable Lagfix and system Lagfix to see if this has any effect. Will report.

No deal. Didn't do a damn thing. I'm going to crack this if it's the last thing I do....
I'm using Better Terminal Pro, Bash shell, and under command line in options it lists the Shell as: /system/bin/sh-
The sh install.sh also tells me:
"Mounting: Loopback mount
mknod: /dev/block/loop254: File exists"
Does this mean that all (255) of my loops are used? Do I need to remove programs?

The available loop device thing never got resolved. Nameless originally fixed it by making it use 254 so that there was a low chance of the loop device being available, but the phone's OS is very iffy about letting a new loop device get assigned to a system image file. Can't really help you out since I never got it to consistently mount with different roms.

Linux on SGS4G Working! Done and Done!
Figured it out.
I can get Ubuntu 11.04, 11.10 & Debian 6 to mount repeatedly in all sorts of ui updatable configurations using this information:
http://www.nerd65536.com/2011/07/installing-ubuntu-in-android-version-2.html
It's a friggin Christmas Miracle! Can't tell you how much time I've wasted working this out, and it all boils down to the sh and run scripts.
So, without further ado, here goes.
!!Make sure you're rooted!!
!!The quotes just tell you what to type. Don't type them!!
1.
Download one of the three builds on the website listed above (or build your own, it should work fine). Extract it from tar.bz2, they should all extract to a linux file, this includes the necessary scripts. Put it on the sd-card on your phone.
2.
Download the new scripts that (Nerd) listed found here: http://ohm.nerd65536.com/android-linux/scripts-latest.tar.bz2
And extract them. You'll have another file that says linux. Open it, take the three files inside (install.sh, root-scripts & scripts) and paste them in the linux folder you moved to your sd-card. They will overwrite the ones currently there. These scripts work for sgs4g, the originals did not.
3.
Install the latest BusyBox in xbin if it's not already installed (must be rooted). Latest is 1.19.3
4.
Download a terminal client, like Better Terminal Emulator or Android Terminal Emulator. I use the first. The terminal needs to run the commands as root, especially the linux vnc command as it didn't want to work for me no matter if I started by typing su. Better Terminal Emulator has a check box to always start in root.
5.
Open up your terminal emulator and type su if you are not rooted there. Then change directory to the linux file on the sd-card. run the sh file there.
Like this:
"su"
"cd /sdcard/linux"
"sh install.sh"
If it works, the resulting dialog in terminal won't throw up any problems.
6.
Get back to / on sd by typing in terminal:
"cd /"
You should then have a: / # prompt, which means you are still rooted.
Enter:
"linux"
Which should result in a: [email protected]:/#
This means Linux is running. Congratulations. It should continue to run unless you shut down your phone.
7.
Download a VNC client, like Android VNC Viewer (free) or Remote VNC Pro, which I use. Add a new entry in it, with the following settings:
Host: localhost
Port: 5901
Password: cheesecake
Color: 24-bit
Name: Linux
When that's done save if you can or back out if you can't, and go back to your terminal emulator.
8.
It should still say: [email protected]:/#
If it doesn't, fine, if it does, just go back to root prompt by typing:
"exit"
Which should get you: / #. Then type:
"linux vnc"
Which should run itself and mount the chroot environment. It should tell you your new 'X' desktop is localhost:1, and have a: / # prompt again.
It might also ask you for a password, if so then put whatever password you'll remember in that's longer than 6 characters and verify it. This only happens once.
9.
Go back to your VNC client and if you entered a password in step 8. then edit your listing to your password instead of cheesecake, if not then don't.
Click on the Linux link and BAM! (shameless Emerilism), you're at your Linux desktop which should be running a iceWM desktop interface, which is fast. The LXDE desktop is nicer and if you want that then go into you're terminal and get into the linux shell by typing:
"linux"
And then switch to LXDE by typing:
"apt-get autoremove icewm- lxde+"
Which will run through the removal/ installation, and verify you want to download the <400mb files. Type:
"y"
And give it time to finish. When finished, just go back to your VNC client and hit Linux again, and you will have a nice looking functional desktop, with a cpu load graph on the bottom. I tried using Gnome desktop and Unity 2d, but both of these would install and not fully run with all options. They are heavier and slower, but cool non-the-less. Let me know if anyone has luck with these on Android.
Notes-
You only have to type "linux vnc" once in terminal to start linux every time you boot your phone. Otherwise, just open your VNC client and click on Linux to use it. Easy!
You will want to update and upgrade your linux after install, do so by typing in terminal:
"apt-get update"
"apt-get upgrade"
Also, you might run across a problem if you try to add-apt-repository, that's because that python command is not present. To use it, enable by typing:
"apt-get install python-software-properties"
Also of note, the downloadable linux builds are sized to about 2.15gig on your sd, which is big enough for most. There is a way to resize them which I tried but it gave me trouble in loading. I will try again and see if I can get it to work.
Here's the link from Dangermouse:
http://www.androidfanatic.com/community-forums.html?func=view&catid=9&id=1610
Thanks to Nerd65536 for the info, write-up and files. He fixed my problem.

sconsylman said:
Also of note, the downloadable linux builds are sized to about 2.15gig on your sd, which is big enough for most. There is a way to resize them which I tried but it gave me trouble in loading. I will try again and see if I can get it to work.
Here's the link from Dangermouse:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're welcome.
It's actually a lot easier than that to make the image larger. Just pop the SD card into a Linux machine and:
(Assuming the original file is: /media/phone/linux/linux.img)
Code:
resize2fs /media/phone/linux/linux.img 4095M
And you're done. resize2fs is made of magic!
Note: Most SD cards are FAT32, which has a filesize limit of 4GiB. The above instructions will make the file a megabyte less than that.

nerd65536:
Thanks! Worked like a charm. Had to e2fsck -f /media/SDCARD/linux/linux.img (phone plugged in to Mint) before i did it to check over the file system, but then it ran immediately. Much appreciated.
Have you had any luck on native boot? I've been working a little on this, as I can't run BackTrack arm well virtually, it gets buggy. Granted the telephony systems won't work during, but the functionality should be pretty good if we could run it standard.

Also, while I'm thinking of it, is it possible to run the img from an ext4 partition on the card? I have an existing one being used for link2sd files and would much prefer using it as it's a far superior file system to fat32, without the 4G limits. Vnc should have no problem graphically, but would the linux.img chroot properly?

It would probably work but you would have to alter the script to mount the other partition if it doesn't do it automatically and change the path. Shouldn't be too hard.

I'm getting an error when I try running sh install.sh:
Code:
# sh install.sh
readlink: applet not found
Remounting /system rw ...
sh: Can't open /linux/scripts/fsrw
Installing scripts in /system/bin ...
cd: can't cd to /linux/scripts
cp: write error: No space left on device
cp: omitting directory 'root-scripts'
Unable to chmod /system/bin/root-scripts: No such file or directory
cp: omitting directory 'scripts'
Unable to chmod /system/bin/scripts: No such file or directory
cp: omitting directory 'tmp'
Unable to chmod /system/bin/tmp: No such file or directory
Mounting the Linux image ...
install.sh: /system/bin/linux: not found
Customizing the image ...
install.sh: cannot create /data/local/mnt/etc/resolv.conf: directory nonexistent
install.sh: cannot create /data/local/mnt/etc/resolv.conf: directory nonexistent
Installing root-scripts ...
mkdir failed for /data/local/mnt/root/scripts, No such file or directory
Unable to chmod /data/local/mnt/root/scripts: No such file or directory
cp: can't stat '/linux/root-scripts/*': No such file or directory
Unable to chmod /data/local/mnt/root/scripts/*: No such file or directory
Install finished
# linux
linux: not found

NuVanDibe said:
I'm getting an error when I try running sh install.sh:
Code:
# sh install.sh
readlink: applet not found
Remounting /system rw ...
sh: Can't open /linux/scripts/fsrw
Installing scripts in /system/bin ...
cd: can't cd to /linux/scripts
cp: write error: No space left on device
cp: omitting directory 'root-scripts'
Unable to chmod /system/bin/root-scripts: No such file or directory
cp: omitting directory 'scripts'
Unable to chmod /system/bin/scripts: No such file or directory
cp: omitting directory 'tmp'
Unable to chmod /system/bin/tmp: No such file or directory
Mounting the Linux image ...
install.sh: /system/bin/linux: not found
Customizing the image ...
install.sh: cannot create /data/local/mnt/etc/resolv.conf: directory nonexistent
install.sh: cannot create /data/local/mnt/etc/resolv.conf: directory nonexistent
Installing root-scripts ...
mkdir failed for /data/local/mnt/root/scripts, No such file or directory
Unable to chmod /data/local/mnt/root/scripts: No such file or directory
cp: can't stat '/linux/root-scripts/*': No such file or directory
Unable to chmod /data/local/mnt/root/scripts/*: No such file or directory
Install finished
# linux
linux: not found
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cp: write-error.. no space left on device? You need more space dude

[Q] Send files to a mounted windows share using adb

Kind of a one-off question... I'm working on a project that will automatically dd image an android phone to an off-phone location (the host computers d: drive for example) using a script executed through adb. It has to be automatic and the resulting dd image absolutely cannot be written to the phones memory.
Maybe something like:
Code:
$ su
# mount -o rw,remount -t vfat /dev/block/mmcblk0p4 /dd
# dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p1 of=/dd/system.dd
I've tried the cifs route but sadly, it appears the cifs.ko and slow-work.ko modules haven't been done for my handset (or I may be so stupid I can't even follow directions. It's a real possibility).
I thought I'd use the time-tested netcat method but again, I can't locate the nc binary for netcat that will run on my handset.
Any alternatives? Anyone know where the G2X specific kernel modules can be had? Someone maybe have an android nc binary?

[GUIDE] How to mount ext4 formatted MicroSD card on Android 4.2.2 Phone/Tablet.

Why?
MicroSD cards are traditionally formatted using ExFAT filesystem. The trouble is that while universally compatible, ExFAT is rather primitive filesystem prone to data loss, and poor speed. Linux ext4 on the contrary is highly reliable and very fast.
Trouble is that, and I quote, "Android supports devices with external storage, which is defined to be a case-insensitive and permissionless filesystem." (see http://source.android.com/devices/tech/storage/)
Well that pretty much narrows it down to dumb stuff like ExFAT.
Note: As of JB (Android 4.1) default umask is 077, which means that files created by apps on the ext4 formatted SD card will only be readable by the same apps, unless you manually update permissions. See this thread for more: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=889471&page=5​
The good news is that Android has Linux at its core, which naturally supports ext4, and actually all of the internal storage is (or will be in near future) formatted this way. The design limitation mentioned above is somewhat artificial and is enforced by
restricted functionality of funky little daemon, called vold. The sole purpose of vold is not monitor external storage,
detect filesystem on it, mount it as specified in /etc/vold.fstab (or vold.xxx in Android 4.3), and then report to the Volume Manager.Volume Manager in turn notifies the MTP application, and all other apps, displays icons and handles rest of user-visible stuff.
Stock Android vold only supports ExFAT/vfat filesystem. It has been improved in Cyanogenmod to support ext4 and NTFS filesystems, but for those of us stuck with OEM Android this goodness in unavailable. In my experience simply re-building vold from CM as part of AOSP,
while yields an executable, this executable results in a boot loop for an unclear reason.
All hope lost seemingly, yet there is a silver lining.
Silver Lining?
If MicroSD card is mounted manually in the way that vold can see it, re-running vold will properly report it to the Volume Manager and it will be recognized and utilized by apps.
In theory this is easy to accomplish on any rooted device, in practice there are a number of obstacles:
On a locked device, it is not possible to update init script to run the commands at system bootup.
Since Android 4.2, mount propagation no longer work (as described here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=36889027),
so if sdcard is mounted in terminal, vold will still not see it. Hence the mount operation has to be done in adb.
Furthermore in Android 4.2.2, running adb on localhost is broken as a result of it loosing its private key.
See here https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=48126 for more.
The solution?
Pre-requisites:
Rooted device (don't have to be unlocked) with USB debugging enabled.
MicroSD card formatted as ext4 (inserted)
Terminal app, such as Android Terminal Emulator https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jackpal.androidterm&hl=en
Familiarity with adb.
Step 1 - Fix adb localhost.
Open terminal and type the commands:
Code:
su
setprop service.adb.tcp.port 5555
adb kill-server
stop adbd
start adbd
HOME=/sdcard adb start-server
adb connect localhost
adb -s localhost:5555 shell
exit
stop adbd
cat /sdcard/.android/adbkey.pub >> /data/misc/adb/adb_keys
start adbd
Step 2 - Install scripts.
Please note that the script msd2.sh has to be modified if your device uses different partition names.
To get list of partition names available run command:
Code:
adb shell cat /proc/partitions
There are 3 (very simple) scripts:
sd.sh is just a convenience so that you don't have to type su everytime.
It calls msd1.sh which takes care of starting localhost adb in a reliable way.
It then executes msd2.sh in adb shell, which actually does the mounting trickery.
To install scripts, download the zip file below, open terminal, unzip the archive and change into msd directory.
Then connect your phone to your PC and run the following commands:
Code:
adb push sd.sh /sdcard/sd.sh
adb push msd1.sh /sdcard/msd1.sh
adb push msd2.sh /sdcard/msd2.sh
adb shell
su
mount -o rw,remount /system
cp sd.sh /system/xbin/
cp msd1.sh /system/xbin/
cp msd2.sh /system/xbin/
chmod 755 /system/xbin/*.sh
mount -o ro,remount /system
exit
exit
Step 3 - Profit.
In terminal app run command:
Code:
sd.sh
There will be some messages in notifications bar and then you will be asked if it is ok to restart MTP application. Click Ok.
That should be it.
Note that this last command will have to be executed every time device reboots (see obstacle #1).
You can automate it using Script Manager app from marketplace. In this case, ask Script Manager to run msd1.sh instead, marking it as Root script.
Disclaimers
I've developed and tested this procedure on Samsung Galaxy S4 Active phone from ATT.
Should work for any other Android 4.2 device.
The steps outlined are non-destructive if done properly and should not affect any other functionality, yet obviously I do not assume any responsibility for you damaging your device in the process.
It is a good idea to read the linked articles before performing the procedure, to get a better understanding of what is actually going on.

Motorola Droid 4 (xt894)
Hello!
if you have a Motorola Droid 4 you need to change the third row in "msd2.sh" from
"mount -t ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk1p1 /storage/extSdCard && sleep 5 && /system/bin/vold" to
"mount -t ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 /storage/sdcard1 && sleep 5 && /system/bin/vold"
in order to get it to work, thanks for the guide!
Best Regards
/ Rasmus

It works well on TW based MIUI
It works well on TW based MIUI, so many many thanks!!!
But I still have the permission problems mentioned.
AOSP based MIUI is ext4 compatibile out of the box, and without permission problems.
This trick is amazing, but the permission issue make it useless ...
I can not shot a picture and than have to manually change the permission of tehf ile in order to view it on the gallery ...
Is there a definititive solution?

My lg l3 e400..sd card not mounted
to sashavasco:
sir, pls help configuring my phone...the codes u've given at the top part seems to work accordingly..but after when i entered the command
"cat /sdcard/.android/adbkey.pub >> /data/misc/adb/adb_keys"
it says: "no such file or directory"
can you point out the problem of the device plss...
i appriciate your response..
my phone s LG L3 E400..CYANOGENMOD 9..external sd wont mount on my device

sashavasko said:
Why?
Step 1 - Fix adb localhost.
Open terminal and type the commands:
Code:
su
setprop service.adb.tcp.port 5555
adb kill-server
stop adbd
start adbd
HOME=/sdcard adb start-server
adb connect localhost
adb -s localhost:5555 shell
exit
stop adbd
cat /sdcard/.android/adbkey.pub >> /data/misc/adb/adb_keys
start adbd
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am getting an error here: adb -s localhost:5555 shell stating device offline. I've done this 6 times now, and it's always the same error
Galaxy S4 i337 NC1 Rooted

kevp75 said:
I am getting an error here: adb -s localhost:5555 shell stating device offline. I've done this 6 times now, and it's always the same error
Galaxy S4 i337 NC1 Rooted
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the same for me...

same error "unable to connect to local host:5555"
rooted Asus memo-7 build ME173X_US_user_4.2.404152_20140714 release-keys. But thanks for the heads up on Cyanogenmod.

>>If MicroSD card is mounted manually in the way that vold can see it, re-running vold will properly report it to the Volume Manager and it will be recognized and utilized by apps.
Re-running vold crashes it ("Segmentation fault") if sdcard is already mounted in ext4. If not, it restarts gracefully.
Stock android 4.4.2. AFAIK, vold must inform userspace stuff that sdcard is available, without it, android do not see any sdcard at all...
What can be done here?
p.s. Is there anywhere patched or recompiled vold which supports ext4?

Gigionaytor said:
the same for me...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same here too. Please help.

ZeroBubble said:
same here too. Please help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same error!

I had to modify terminal commands a bit to allow me to connect properly. Only moving the "start adbd" command down because the key needed to be appended to "adb_keys" before starting the service back up.
Code:
su
setprop service.adb.tcp.port 5555
adb kill-server
stop adbd
HOME=/sdcard adb start-server
cat /sdcard/.android/adbkey.pub >> /data/misc/adb/adb_keys
start adbd
adb connect localhost
adb -s localhost:5555 shell
exit
I'm also still dealing with the "msd1.sh" script execution consistently asking about my fingerprint and not remembering it. If I don't press "continue" quick enough it claims the resource is busy, which prompted me to also change the msd1.sh script sleep from 2 to 5. I have gotten the notification that msd2.sh has been elevated, which seems like it ran, but my partition still doesn't get mounted, even though I've got the right one from the /proc/partitions output.
Another note, because I had BusyBox installed, I needed to prepend "busybox" (no quotes) to the mount command in the msd2.sh or else that wouldn't work either.
Anyone have thoughts?

I followed DemisesAngel suggestion. There was no error this time but nothing happens when running any of the 3 scripts. I tried mmcblk1 and mmcblk1p1, also changed microsd path to match, /MicroSD, but nothing works. Even with manual ext4 mount command ...
Clicking mount in settings still results in incompatible storage and file explorer shows no sdcard.
Edit: Set permissions, script will run but nothing mounts unsupported file system ...

Error directory already exist
I folllow the steps but i.think I meaaes up.
When u run through DemiseAngel scripts
At:
car /sdcard/.android/adbkey.pub >> /
Error:tmp-mkish:cant create /:Is a directory
To I attempt to find and rm it, or would that mess something up
Rca RCT677W22

I dont know if this thread is closed but I have one simple question, can I somehow partition sdcard and have a little space for music and other stuff, and to use ext4 partition alongside with this, lets say "visible" partition ( I mean on windows).

WrathBand said:
I dont know if this thread is closed but I have one simple question, can I somehow partition sdcard and have a little space for music and other stuff, and to use ext4 partition alongside with this, lets say "visible" partition ( I mean on windows).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First, I have been able to create a formatted partition of less than the full size of an SD card. I did this because my Android seems to have issues with anything larger than 16GB and all I had lying around was a 64GB. I did not try to do anything with the remaining space. Maybe it could work, maybe not. I would have my doubts.
Second, thanks for this discussion. Here is what "kind of" works on my Android 5.1 TV computer:
su -mm -c mount -t ext4 -o noatime /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 /storage/sdcard1 && sleep 5 && /system/bin/vold
chown -R root:sdcard_r /storage/sdcard1
chmod 771 /storage/sdcard1
I say "kind of" because this is still not seen as a true, external storage card by Android or file manager apps (and the like). However, all apps can read/write/traverse the folder tree and do what they need to. You do NOT have to be root except to do this. As things stand for me now, I have to re-issue this upon every re-start of Android. But using Tasker makes this pretty easy to accomplish.

long as a problem remains so do this thread ! . Well i am on 7.x and wonder if the op would post a method or even approach for getting a
Code:
ext4
partitioned sdcard so that vold is well aware of that and will mount sdcardfs on that giving all apps access to the partitions. I have 3 of these on my card .

Is there a method to auto mount ext4 partition on external SD that works on lineageOS 17.1 on S4 i9506?