Has anyone compiled a set of command line utilities for Android more robust than BusyBox? Coming from an iPhone, I love Android and its hackability, but I'm surprised that I haven't seen more about command line tools like the BSD Subsystem packages that provide common utils on the iPhone.
It would be incredibly convenient for me (and others, I would think) to have a more complete set of commands available. I know that some have compiled bash for Android, though I haven't seen an installable version of that either.
Any insights?
Android command line utilities archive
I maintain an archive of useful command line utilities at vkfox"dot"com"slash"android and a blog at androidcommandline"dot"apps-1and1"dot"com that describes installation and use for the NON-ROOT terminal emulator user. Included are a properly compiled busybox, popular command line interpreter/compilers (tcl, nodejs, d8, pforth, squirrelfish javascript, php-cli, python, perl, java, pforth, etc.), utilities (grep, strace, gdb, ctags, links, etc.) and other things in which I have an interest. I also describe in the blog how to use dalvikvm without root to compile and execute java and provide dexed versions of the eclipse java compiler and other java utilities for this purpose.
Other places where you can get properly (NDK) compiled tools are the applications CCTools, Terminal IDE, and other terminal based developer apps.
Use at your own risk, and don't point the gun at your own feet.
I've read in a few threads which required the use of terminal/fast boot.
What exactly is this? Can anybody point me to a guide/tutorial on how to use it?
Thanks in advance!
P.S. - I am a newbie in playing around with the Android system.
bump bump bump
Terminal basically allows you to run certain commands directly on your device rather than having to be coupled to your pc.
Android Terminal Emulator
Description
This application lets you access your Android's built-in Linux command line shell. It emulates a Digital Equipment Corporation VT-100 terminal. You can use this application to run utility programs on your device.
What is this app good for?
This application lets you run Linux command line utilities on your Android phone. It is mostly useful for computer programmers. It might also be useful for people who want to explore the Linux internals of their Android phone.
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Click to collapse
Some Android basics - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=619153
How to use ADB - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=502010
Terminal commands - http://www.busybox.net/downloads/BusyBox.html
Hello folks,
So i discovered the wonders of the amazing application "BotBrew", which is basically BusyBox but supercharged to bring a pretty full featured GNU UNIX terminal session to any arm device.
That being said I managed to successfully install Vim on my device without a problem. Its seriously amazing! running vim on my androids terminal!! No emulation! No mounted Linux, nothing but running the real vim on from my android's linux kernel. Phenomenal.
But im curious, i know that has all the same support as vim on linux, including syntax highlighting, etc. But i cant seem to get the syntax highlighting to work. It may be just because my terminal has its colors set to white on black, and maybe its overriding the colors of the syntax highlighting, or maybe I may have just not enabled it or something?
Is there a key combination to enable syntax highlighting in vim? As well as auto-completion?
I know in linux this happens automatically when you save the file with ":w" to whatever file extension it will start the syntax highlighting for that programming language.
So any thoughts on this guys? Maybe a terminal that has basic colors without color schemes? Or a keyboard shortcut that may enable autocompletion and syntax highlighting?
Thanks for your time guys. And i highly recommend getting BotBrew if you have experience on a Linux/UNIX terminal. get vim installed and check out the unreal list of amazing applications you can install and get your new terminal package manager "opkg".
Really you wont regret it.
Oh and help them out and add your device to the supported devices list if it works.
Take care everyone.
Ill take a screenshot in a bit too
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Hey all-
I'm very interested in learning Linux in order to not only do cool stuff at home with my own computer, but also to perhaps be of service in developing ROMs and give back to the devs who've helped breathe life into my ol' OG Evo for nigh-on two years now. If I ever got to the point of doing some 'grunt work' and helping out on a project, that'd be awesome for me.
Here's where I'm currently at with Linux: I've followed instructions to dual-boot Ubuntu on my Windows 7 laptop (yay!!!!), but other than installing Chrome and using all my Google services (Gmail/Docs/etc.) through that, I'm not really sure what else to do in order to become fluent with Linux. It's kind of like reading a book on how to build a car, but not knowing one end of a wrench from another.
Here's where I'm at with Android: I can follow instructions to root my phone, flash ROMs, install the Car-O-Dope tweaks on GB ROMs using System Tuner and ROM Toolbox, and most basic things that include using Smelkus' recovery (flashing, wiping, nandroid/restoring, etc). I'd say I know more than the average Android user, but certainly not as much as the experts here.
I've looked on a variety of forums both here and on Ubuntu's site, but I'm not really sure how people got their start using Linux and how they progressed from there in terms of fluency with Linux, applying that to Android developing, and also generally using it as a 'one-stop shop' for home use. I've read about people being able to build HTPCs on the cheap, using a computer as a file server/web site host (my wife's a graphic designer, but hates technology, natch)/media streamer/home security server, but as soon as the instructions get to "Ok, now open up your command line and follow these 28 steps......", I get a bit gun-shy.
If anyone's got any helpful tips on how they got started, any good beginner's guides (project-oriented would be great, just as reading a book on speaking a foreign language is no substitute for conversing with a native/fluent speaker), and how they grew in fluency or just any general advice, it'd be greatly appreciated. I'm putting this here and spreading it around in the hopes that some of the WAY talented XDA devs and members I've read so much from will toss a bone in my direction.
Thanks for reading and for any help!
Get very familiar with Terminal. For Android dev or otherwise, it is essential. Reading man-pages is also good to learn new commands better. In Terminal, just type "man man" minus quotations. That will get you going.
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You should definitely make an effort to become comfortable with the Linux command line environment (also known as Shell, the most common Shell currently is BASH).
Try giving yourself some useful activities to do, such as: setting up a home file server with Samba, setting up a media streaming server (DLNA - Plex Media Server is a great program for this), just little things like that.
Before you know it you'll be a pro
markinaus said:
You should definitely make an effort to become comfortable with the Linux command line environment (also known as Shell, the most common Shell currently is BASH).
Try giving yourself some useful activities to do, such as: setting up a home file server with Samba, setting up a media streaming server (DLNA - Plex Media Server is a great program for this), just little things like that.
Before you know it you'll be a pro
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, is Bash something I download/install, or should it be already 'packaged' in with Ubuntu?
go to the development forum on ubuntuforums.org and find out how to upgrade to ubuntu 13.04. As that version is currently in development you should get a chance to learn a few things. That's how I learned modern linux distros. Also setting up and playing around with Ubuntu server edition might be helpful.
For app development Google some Java tutorials. Once you get the beginners stuff out of the way you should be ready to learn android development with your new Java skills.
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---------- Post added at 06:01 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:47 AM ----------
just using Ubuntu for your day to day tasks should also help. When the other Guy was talking about bash he was talking about the terminal in Ubuntu. its a command line that lets you enter various commands. Google 'Ubuntu terminal' for more info
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Joshmccullough said:
So, is Bash something I download/install, or should it be already 'packaged' in with Ubuntu?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No Bash is something that is already packaged with Ubuntu, it is one of the most essential elements of Ubuntu (and Linux in general) because it gives you a means of interfacing with everything else. If you have a type of Linux with no graphical interface, then the shell is your only means of interfacing with the operating system at all.
So in short, yes Bash is packaged with Ubuntu and every other kind of Linux out there (if it's not, a different shell will be packed with it, but Bash is the most common one).
Maybe something for later but I have seen a number of different Dev threads about getting started with AndroidDev, I know that I have seen at least about 10, all from different perspectives/starting points. One that I could find easily was the following:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1778984
Check it out. Basically, says ... Linux (fundamentals), CLI (command line interface or shell, fluent), Java (fundamental), XML (medium), SDK (medium) and Time - to start with at least. Hope that is useful.
RootFW4 - An Android Root Shell Framework
RootFW is a tool that helps Android Applications act as root. The only way for an application to perform tasks as root, is by executing shell commands as Android has no native way of doing this. However, due to different types of shell support on different devices/ROM's (Shell type, busybox/toolbox versions etc.), this is not an easy task. RootFW comes with a lot of pre-built methods to handle the most common tasks. Each method tries to support as many different environments as possible by implementing different approaches for each environment. This makes the work of app developers a lot easier.
RootFW is the largest of it's kind. It does not only provide a feature of connecting to a root shell and executing a few shell commands. It also provides a very large range of additional features and extra shell tools that are all build to make RootFW the most cross-device compatible library for Android, and very fast and easy to use in your app.
Besides the ability to connect and communicate with a shell, it provides tools for working with files, properties (Both registered and prop files), file systems, binaries, busybox, memory (RAM, SWAP, ZRAM etc), processes and so on.
Links
Source
Usage and Overview
Full Documentation
Reserved...
Thanks @dk_zero-cool. This looks interesting. I'm currently using Chainfire's SU library. I'll give it a try !
Edit: Just out of curiosity, Why LGPL ?
ukanth said:
Edit: Just out of curiosity, Why LGPL ?
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GPL has got to much limitation on how and where. I use GPL most of the times, but for something like this, I think LGPL fits much better.