KBOX Linux emulator for Android
KBOX2 is a BusyBox based Linux emulator
for Android
running inside Terminal Emulator for Android (Android App).
With this solution you have a (basic) Linux system in the pocket.
Contents
Installation
Run another Android App OneBox Package Managerinstaller once to create a kbox2 subdirectory under the terminal emulator application containing all necessary emulator software, providing simplified versions of a lot of Linux commands.
18px <translate> Note:</translate>
- There also exists a manual installation script, see http://kevinboone.net/kbox2_install.html
- Why is the Linux emulator installed below the subdirectory of the terminal emulator? Because the Android security model dictates that every app can only access its own executables and data files...
Restrictions
This should work for any off-the-shelf Android device. Your device needs not to be (and should not be) rooted.
As a consequence only user mode programs are allowed. TCP/IP privileged ports lower than 1024 cannot be used. For the same reason SUID programs are technically impossible (e.g. ping, route).
Since Android does not have real usernames, any program in the emulation needs to use fake usernames like "kbox" etc. Also remember when using e.g. ssh to use real usernames.
Run the emulator
By default the terminal emulator uses the standard Android shell /system/bin/sh.
To automatically run the emulator shell, execute:
/data/data/jackpal.androidterm/kbox2/bin/kbox_shell
18px <translate> Note:</translate>
- You can automate the execution of this shell by replacing the default /system/bin/sh - shell via:
Preferences → SHELL → Command line
Libraries
The emulator has a primitive Android Bionic C-library.
The emulator is a BusyBox implementation, so it only has basic Linux functionality.
If you need the full Linux commands, then you better install http://kevinboone.net/coreutils_8.22_kbox.deb
Package manager
Additional packages can be installed using dpkg. See download section.
Platform resources
Processor
uname -a Linux localhost 3.0.31-963581 #2 SMP PREEMPT Mon Mar 4 18:06:43 KST 2013 armv7l GNU/Linux
Remark that my dual-core mobile has more power than my Raspberry Pi...
Storage
df 2>/dev/null Filesystem Size Used Free Blksize / 1.18G 996M 211M 4096 /dev 402M 112K 401M 4096 /dev/shm 402M 0.00K 402M 4096 /system 1.15G 972M 208M 4096 /storage/sdcard0 1.08G 996M 111M 4096 /storage/extSdCard 14.8G 11.0G 3.78G 32768
Host root directory
ls /android_root acct init.samsung.rc res cache init.samsung.usb.rc root config init.samsungskomer.rc sbin d init.samsungskomer.usb.rc sdcard data init.trace.rc storage default.prop init.usb.rc sys dev lib system efs lpm.rc tmp etc mnt ueventd.goldfish.rc fstab.samsungskomer modemfs ueventd.rc init preload ueventd.samsung.rc init.bt.rc prerecovery.rc ueventd.samsungskomer.rc init.goldfish.rc proc var init.rc recovery.rc vendor
Top
top Mem: 802212K used, 21148K free, 0K shrd, 28696K buff, 158356K cached CPU0: 0.0% usr 50.0% sys 0.0% nic 50.0% idle 0.0% io 0.0% irq 0.0% sirq CPU1: 0.0% usr 0.0% sys 0.0% nic 100% idle 0.0% io 0.0% irq 0.0% sirq Load average: 24.42 12.60 6.26 1/1301 21656
PID PPID USER STAT VSZ %VSZ CPU %CPU COMMAND 18828 2 root SW 0 0.0 0 9.3 [kworker/u:3] 2020 1667 system S 640m 79.5 0 1.8 system_server 2219 1667 radio S 506m 62.9 0 0.9 {m.android.phone} com.android.phon 20475 2 root SW 0 0.0 0 0.9 [kworker/u:0] 1687 1680 root S 45604 5.5 0 0.4 /system/bin/admsrv 1659 1 radio S 12124 1.4 0 0.4 /system/bin/rild 14849 1667 u0_a126 S 486m 60.4 0 0.3 {LocationService} com.google.andro 20537 2 root SW 0 0.0 0 0.3 [kworker/0:0] 3737 1667 u0_a144 S 524m 65.1 0 0.2 {.mobilesecurity} com.avast.androi 21460 15736 u0_a146 R 1308 0.1 0 0.2 top
Cleanup after installation
The KBOX2 Linux emulator is installed as an option into the Terminal Emulator for Android.
Especially when you are short of RAM you can easily gain 12,5 MB of (temporary) installer files once the emulator has been installed and is working fine.
If needed later, you can perform a fresh installation. Remember to save your user & data files on an external SD card.
- Deinstall OneBox Package Manager
- Remove directory /storage/sdcard0/com.monami_ya.onebox.manager (and kbox2-base-installer) via My Files
- Remove remaining installer files:
cd /data/data/jackpal.androidterm ls -l drwxrwx--x 2 u0_a146 u0_a146 4096 Apr 10 19:43 app_HOME drwxrwx--x 3 u0_a146 u0_a146 4096 Apr 11 21:00 cache drwxrwxr-x 2 u0_a146 u0_a146 4096 May 1 2013 installer-image drwxrwxr-x 10 u0_a146 u0_a146 4096 Apr 10 23:39 kbox2 -rwxr-xr-x 1 u0_a146 u0_a146 2714309 Apr 10 19:54 kbox2-base-installer drwxr-xr-x 2 system system 4096 Apr 10 19:40 lib -rwxr-xr-x 1 u0_a146 u0_a146 142 Apr 26 2013 setup drwxrwx--x 2 u0_a146 u0_a146 4096 Apr 10 20:22 shared_prefs
df 2>/dev/null Filesystem Size Used Free Blksize /storage/sdcard0 1.08G 1.04G 45.8M 4096
rm -rf installer-image/ setup kbox2-base-installer
df 2>/dev/null Filesystem Size Used Free Blksize /storage/sdcard0 1.08G 1.03G 56.0M 4096
How to
Set the execution path
If you want to add user executables, you might need to change the exeuction path. Remember that the SD card cannot be used for bin files.
PATH='/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin:/android_root/system/bin'
vi /etc/profile ... PATH="${PATH}:/home/kbox/bin" cd /storage/extSdCard/kbox
18px <translate> Note:</translate>
- Add the double quotes, or you would not be able to login any more!
- /sbin and /usr/bin are symbolic links to /bin
Install additional packages
Telnet daemon
- Install kbox-login and utelnetd from KBOX2 download using dpkg.
Remember to use port 10023 (no root access):
telnet 192.168.1.41 Trying 192.168.1.41... telnet: Unable to connect to remote host: Connection refused
telnet 192.168.1.41 10023
Compile native ARM programs
Use gcc compiler; see download.
18px <translate> Note:</translate>
- Requires 100 MB of RAM storage.
- Currenlty only version 4.7 is supported
SSH client and server
Prerequite: kbox-login
wget http://kevinboone.net/dropbear_0.52_kbox.deb dpkg -i dropbear_0.52_kbox.deb
Provides the client commands ssh and scp, and the /bin/ssh_daemon.sh ssh daemon.
To login to a remote system:
ssh ruser@...
To start the ssh server:
/bin/ssh_daemon.sh &
To login:
ssh -p 10022 ruser@192.168.1.41
Other packages
Other packages you can download from http://kevinboone.net/kbox2_downloads.html.
Package | Description |
---|---|
coreutils | Linux commands with more options than the BusyBox versions |
ftp | FTP client |
gawk | awk script processor |
nano | Text editor |
Perl | Perl script processor |
rsync | Remote file synchronisation |
strace | Command tracing |
More packages exist... see http://kevinboone.net
Security
When running daemon programs, you can better stop the emulator before leaving your intranet...
KBOX and Android versions
Version | Notes | |
---|---|---|
KBOX | Android | |
KBOX1 | 2 | Obsolete |
KBOX2 | 4 | Current version |
KBOX3 | 4.2 or 5 | For the newest Android 4/5 devices1 |
Notes:
- 1. Android Lollipop (5.0.2) fails to run the emulator:
/data/data/jackpal.androidterm/kbox3/bin/kbox_shell fakechroot: dlopen: undefined symbol: dlopen
Maybe a manual installation might help... You could use this script as well with other terminal emulators.
Known problems
Uninstalling the terminal emulator
Uninstalling the Terminal Emulator for Android will also remove the KBOX2 and any of its data files. Therefore it is adviced to use an (external) SD card for storage. Do not use /home/kbox to store data or program sources.
No privileged commands
No root access, no SUID, no system ports.
Consequence: any network tool requiring root privileges do not work.
ping www.pi.be ping: permission denied (are you root?)
Use the built-in Android ping command:
which ping
result:
/bin/ping
rm /bin/ping which ping
result:
/android_root/system/bin/ping
- route does not work
route add -net 192.168.0.0/16 dev wlan0 route: ioctl 0x890b failed: Operation not permitted
(no solution here)
- TCP/IP ports below 1024 cannot be used by user (root required)
Use higher (non privileged) port numbers.
SD card
No exec rights; so you can only store executable programs in RAM.
Slow response
Sometimes slow response:
- Radio streaming interrupted
- Console commands slowly responding (command entry echo; execution delay)
Might be caused by to few free RAM.
Telnet session fails
Timeout?
- Login again...
Network commands fail
telnet 192.168.1.47 telnet: can't connect to remote host (192.168.1.47): No route to host
route -n Kernel IP routing table Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface 0.0.0.0 192.168.1.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 wlan0 0.0.0.0 192.168.1.1 0.0.0.0 UG 383 0 0 wlan0 192.168.1.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 383 0 0 wlan0 192.168.1.1 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.255 UH 0 0 0 wlan0 192.168.1.30 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.255 UGH 0 0 0 wlan0
- Why is 192.168.1.0/24 not working?
- Why is there a 192.168.1.30/32?
Routing problems which cannot be manually solved, because route requires root access.
Symbolic links not supported
ln -s a b ln: b: Function not implemented
Symbolic links not allowd on vfat file system:
mount |grep extSdCard /dev/block/vold/179:97 /storage/extSdCard vfat rw,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,nodiratime,uid=1000,gid=1023,fmask=0002,dmask=0002,allow_utime=0020,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro 0 0