Debian User Forums

When are we going to have debian run on android smartphones?
Given android is not linux, how much attention would a project to run debian as underlying arm system on a smartphone and on top of it run the touch interface of android and make a fully functional system.
Having terminal access, same file hierarchy as debian, Luks encryption support, userland and the rest(or part) of debian tools available to install from apt.
I'm not talking about a chrooted enviroment.

when we will have drivers for the hardware

which hardware? they keep changing all the time.. why not use the same drivers android uses? it is a linux kernel after all..

btw have you seen this? :)
http://developer.ubuntu.com/en/phone/de ... new-device

Thanks for the answer.
I did. Installed it on a google nexus 5 only last week.
It's very good, exactly what I was asking for.
The user interface needs some more polishing but debian under the hood is very good.
At the moment I'm using a Sailfish os phone, gui is brilliant the underlying linux system ok but nowhere near ubuntu phone.
As soon as ubuntu touch improve the gui even borrow sailfish os user interface I'm jumping boat.
I hope ubuntu touch don't deviate from debian system layout.
And many people moan about ubuntu phone not having many apps, well personally besides whatsapp everything else I wanted was there.
Hopefully someone on ubuntu will build android emulator so we can run android apps as well and that's sorted.
Still planning to get a meizu with ubuntu on it but they're very hard to come by.

i heard that ubuntu phone as an os is much closer to android than it is to gnu/linux, like sharing more than just the kernel.
i think it was when i considered getting a ubuntu phone before the summer, browsing ubuntu forums et. al....
desktops apps are not really compatible. it runs not Xorg, but mir, iirc.
considering that the app pool is so much smaller as compared to e.g. android.
in the end, for me a de-googlified android with f-droid "store" was the way to go.
and still is, a year later.

generally speaking, i, too, would like an answer to that original question.
i think i'd even shell out some extra money to get a device that runs this.
if the os is mature. besides touchscreen support and dialing apps, there are a few things to consider with app design. it's nice if you can run gimp on ubuntu phone, but it's pretty useless if the ui is the same as on your desktop.

Agreed.
Not all apps are there and they're not the same, I played with the ubuntu phone, it does not have same desktop apps.
But there was vim, mutt, ok-ish terminal etc.
I'd be willing to pay also to have debian on a hand held phone/device.
Yes I did run cyanogenmod without google bloatware, and fdroid, but in the end gave up with android especially when I was trying to adapt cryptfs/LUKS for it.
It was impossible.
I don't play much games but as long as device makes calls and sends messages and also have usual work apps that are in debian repos, i'd be happy with it.

Given android is not linux

But Android IS Linux.

Look at e.g.https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/ma ... your-phone

The link you sent is interesting, thanks for that.
Although I have to disagree with you on android is linux, it only uses the linux kernel stripped down to the point of merely booting the device.
http://www.zdnet.com/article/linus-torv ... inux-fork/

arochester wrote:

Given android is not gnu/linux

fixed that for you.

arochester wrote:Look at e.g.https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/ma ... your-phone

sounds all-too familiar:

When you plug it in to a monitor, it boots a Debian-based desktop distro. Meanwhile, Android is still running on the phone.
...
Currently, Maru works only on Google's Nexus 5.
...
The Android component is an up-to-date version of Android Lollipop, without bloatware, which means faster performance.

i wonder if ALL googleware is considered bloatware in that sentence? probably not.

all in all, nothing new.
like ubuntu phone, only for debian.

Thanks for the correction.
I second that on Maru os.
I haven't tried it but off top my head should be a chrooted debian environment running android as a base, it is not Debian.
android = 0 security

65654 wrote:android = 0 security

this is a very simplified statement that is factually incorrect.
the android os is very security- and permissions-oriented - but then it goes and gives those permissions away to apps, most of all google, and does other unspeakable things...
there's also baseband and other firmware, go do a ddg search on that.
so the worst insecurity is actually a level below the os.

Well, end product is not secure.
To put it silmply I can trust a Gnu/Linux desktop but I cannot trust an android device.
That's the kind of security I'm talking about.

Well there's also KDE Plasma Mobile, which has testing images based on *buntu available . Nexus 5 seems to be the target testing phone. That would be even more like traditional Linux and presumably installable on any base OS after it's actually complete.

Personally, I don't see why the Maru approach wouldn't work sufficiently. Android App compatibility and you can run Debian as well. Of course that's nothing revolutionary, you've been able to run Debian chroots for a long time, but I guess Maru sort of automates the whole 'convergence' thing. Most mobile applications will require redesigned UIs anyway so I'm mainly hoping F-droid grows to become a viable Google play competitor. If I could run a version of Android built entirely or almost entirely out of the AOSP with as much proprietary code removed as possible with most to all applications coming from F-droid and then a chroot-convergence deal running Debian or even better, a solid selection of Linux distro's (including some systemd free ones) I would be perfectly happy. As it is I always check F-droid first but it's very difficult to get everything you need there, it's really not complete IMO.

debiman wrote:

65654 wrote:android = 0 security

this is a very simplified statement that is factually incorrect.
the android os is very security- and permissions-oriented - but then it goes and gives those permissions away to apps, most of all google, and does other unspeakable things...

which still means "android = 0 security"
or even worse, as users are lulled into a false sense of security!

It has been a few weeks since the last post on this thread but I came across this: How to easily install Debian Linux on your Android phones and tabs: No root required

I am still left with the question "Why would you want too?"

arochester wrote:I am still left with the question "Why would you want to?"

first of all, this still seems to be one of those "install linux on top of android" apps.

to answer your question, i would love to be able to use sshfs on my phone.
watch movies from my home server, or even listen to music, without having to jump through fiery hoops.

but somehow i doubt whether the solution you linked will make that possible.

edit:
where's the link to an actual .apk?

arochester wrote: I am still left with the question "Why would you want too?"

I thought the answer to this would be obvious really.
The tools provided in Debian are not in android.
Also would be nice to ssh into smartphone and you have a linux system layout in it that makes sense unlike android.

The answer is just as obvious, I think. Who would want a smart phone where the wifi module or maybe even touch screen cannot be used because only non-free, non-public proprietary kernel modules and firmware exist for their use? What about the fact that essentially no usable virtual keyboard exists in Debian? How would you even use any graphical interface? Remotely?