Proot-Distro on Ivon's Blog

Launch X11 graphical programs from proot-distro on Termux's XFCE desktop

infoivonblog.nkfjt@aleeas.com (Ivon Huang) — Fri, 11 Apr 2025 01:00:00 +0800

Allow apps in proot-distro to draw windows on XFCE desktop in Termux. Integrate X11 GUI apps in proot-distro with Termux host desktop environment.

By default, use Termux’s native packages to run the XFCE desktop environment, and through X11 network transparency, allow X11 program windows inside proot-distro to be displayed on the XFCE desktop.

This image shows Termux and the proot-distro environment running at the same time. The XFCE desktop runs directly in Termux, while LibreOffice starts from inside proot-distro

Here, the side responsible for running native XFCE programs can be called the Termux host for now, while proot-distro is naturally the container. The process is shown below:

This usage is a bit like the Linux desktop container tool Distrobox. It allows X11 graphical programs inside Docker to be displayed on the host desktop.

You might think: why not just start XFCE directly from proot-distro? Why use Termux’s XFCE packages?

Because it is faster. Processes inside proot are emulated with ptrace, so they are inherently slower than programs compiled natively for Termux. Termux now has more and more packages, even the Chromium browser (included in TUR Repo), so in the future there is less need to let the guest usurp the host by running the desktop environment in proot-distro. If most commonly used programs can run as Termux native versions, there is no need to use proot-distro; only start proot-distro when necessary to run programs that are only included in Debian repositories.

1. Install a desktop environment for Termux
#

See Termux Install XFCE4. For graphical display, either Termux X11 or VNC is fine.

Here we also need to add one extra package, used to control X client permissions for connecting to the X server:

pkg install xorg-xhost

Test whether the Termux desktop environment can start.

In addition, we can open XFCE’s file manager, open the storage/shared directory, and read files from Android internal storage.

2. Configure proot-distro
#

I installed proot Debian

It is recommended to add a normal user and configure Chinese localization inside proot-distro.

Termux lacks the locales package and cannot configure Chinese.

Also install graphical programs inside proot-distro, such as LibreOffice:

sudo apt install libreoffice

3. Launch programs inside proot-distro from the Termux desktop
#

First run xhost to allow programs inside proot-distro to draw windows on the X server of the Termux desktop. Because proot processes are started by the Termux user, use the whoami command to pass in the current username and allow this user to connect.

xhost +SI:localuser:$(whoami)

Log in to proot-distro. You must use --shared-tmp to share X server resources, and add --termux-home to mount Termux’s home directory as well (if you do not want files to be messed up by programs inside proot, you can skip mounting it)

proot-distro login debian --user user --shared-tmp --termux-home

Specify the DISPLAY environment variable. The value should be the address of the Termux X server, generally :0. Then run a program, such as LibreOffice:

export DISPLAY=:0

libreoffice

You will then see the LibreOffice window start.

How to connect remotely to Termux's Linux desktop with VNC

infoivonblog.nkfjt@aleeas.com (Ivon Huang) — Thu, 10 Apr 2025 01:00:00 +0800

This article explains how to set up a VNC server so that we can access the Linux system desktop in Termux. It applies to Linux systems installed through proot or chroot.

Termux can run Linux on an Android phone. After setting up the environment, the next concern is how to connect to the desktop (graphical environment). To connect to Termux’s Linux system desktop, there are three methods: Termux X11, XSDL, and VNC.

The first two run an X server on the phone. The latter is the remote desktop concept: run a VNC server on the phone, start a virtual Xvnc server, then connect with a VNC client. This VNC client can be local or a client on another computer.

In terms of graphics performance, an X server is better than VNC, and it is easier to achieve 3D hardware acceleration.

When I first learned Termux, I saw many people using VNC, but as Termux X11 gradually matured, I gradually abandoned VNC.

If all three run on the same phone, since they are all localhost, there is no latency issue, and VNC really has no performance advantage over an X server.

VNC’s strength is remote access from other computers! Compared with SSH X server forwarding, VNC can lower image quality to reduce bandwidth, and can even start headlessly. Its performance advantages appear when viewing remotely.

So VNC is suitable for the scenario of “using a computer to connect to the phone’s Termux desktop”. You do not like staring at a tiny screen and typing commands like crazy, right? Then, besides text-only SSH access, graphical VNC is a good choice.

VNC and Termux X11 can coexist and should not affect each other.

1. Choose a VNC client
#

On phones, I recommend AVNC or RealVNC Viewer. The latter has more features, but it is proprietary software.

On computers, I recommend Remmina

2. Configure the VNC server
#

Choose one of the two.

Run the VNC server directly in Termux
#

In fact, proot-distro is not required. Termux itself provides a native VNC server package. But if you want to open the desktop of a Linux distribution inside proot-distro, do not use this method.

Also, the desktop environment packages included in Termux are not as rich as those in proot-distro. The most complete one at present is XFCE.

Install the XFCE desktop for Termux, but do not install Termux X11.
Install the TigerVNC package. The current version is 1.13.0.

pkg install tigervnc

Set the VNC server password

vncpasswd

Add the program to execute after the VNC server starts by editing ~/.vnc/xstartup

mkdir ~/.vnc/

vim ~/.vnc/xstartup

Fill in the following content

#!/bin/bash
unset SESSION_MANAGER
unset DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADRESS

# Start the PulseAudio sound server; audio will come out from Termux
pulseaudio --start --exit-idle-time=-1
pacmd load-module module-native-protocol-tcp auth-ip-acl=127.0.0.1 auth-anonymous=1

# Run the desktop environment, XFCE here
exec startxfce4

Grant execute permission to xstartup

chmod +x ~/.vnc/xstartup

Define the VNC server configuration file. Edit ~/.vnc/tigervnc.conf

vim ~/.vnc/tigervnc.conf

Fill in the following content:

# Current session XFCE
$session="xfce-session";
# Resolution; higher values use more bandwidth
$geometry="1920x1080";
# Bit depth, values are 8/16/24/32; larger numbers look better but use more bandwidth
$depth="32";
# Allow external networks to connect
$localhost="no";

Run the VNC server inside proot-distro
#

First install Termux proot-distro, such as Debian. Then install a desktop environment inside proot-distro. XFCE uses the fewest resources, but KDE Plasma is also worth trying.

Solutions when Termux proot cannot use the systemctl command

infoivonblog.nkfjt@aleeas.com (Ivon Huang) — Sat, 31 Aug 2024 23:00:00 +0800

Systemd is an init program. Almost all Linux distributions use Systemd to manage system services, and common commands include systemctl, journalctl, and so on.

However, Termux cannot use Systemd. If you run commands related to systemctl start inside a Termux proot-distro or chroot container environment, you will see this error: System has not been booted with systemd as init system (PID 1). Can't operate. Failed to connect to bus: Host is down

This is because the container environment does not support Systemd.

There is actually no real solution, unless the Termux development team learns from Microsoft WSL and finds a way to make Systemd run. However, we do have some alternatives to address this problem.

Method 1: Start the program directly from the executable path
#

First, understand that Systemd is just an init program for managing system services. It is responsible for starting programs after Linux boots and letting users turn programs on and off. But simply starting a program does not actually require systemctl.

For example, to start the SSH service in proot Debian, the Systemd way is to run the following command:

sudo systemctl start sshd

If we find Systemd’s service file /etc/systemd/system/sshd.service (most Systemd service files are here), we will see that what follows ExecStart= is the command it really executes:

[Service]
EnvironmentFile=-/etc/default/ssh
ExecStartPre=/usr/sbin/sshd -t
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/sshd -D

Therefore, the SSH service can be started directly with this command and run in the background:

mkdir -p /run/sshd

/usr/sbin/sshd -D

Note: programs inside Termux proot-distro cannot use ports below 1000. When logging in to proot-distro, add the --fix-low-ports parameter to redirect SSH port 22 to 2022.

If you want to automatically start a specific program after logging in to proot-distro, the simplest way is to add the command you want to run to ~/.bashrc in the user’s home directory.

Method 2: Switch to a distribution that uses OpenRC
#

OpenRC and runit are more traditional init programs. They are not as complex as Systemd, and they can run and manage services in proot. Users unfamiliar with OpenRC commands can refer to the Systemd and OpenRC command comparison table below.

At present, the proot-distro distribution that uses OpenRC is Alpine Linux, while Artix Linux and Void Linux use runit.

Install Alpine Linux

proot-distro install alpine
proot-distro login alpine

Install the OpenRC package

apk add openrc

After that, append this command when logging in to proot, and the OpenRC program will start

proot-distro login alpine --fix-low-ports -- /bin/ash -c "/sbin/openrc default; /bin/ash -l"

After that, you can use OpenRC to manage services. For example, SSH can be managed with the rc-service command, without typing the executable path

sudo rc-service sshd start

You can also configure the SSH service to start automatically after logging in to proot-distro.

sudo rc-update add sshd

Method 3: Run a full Linux system virtual machine
#

The ultimate solution is to emulate a full Linux system so that Systemd can run.

Use Termux qemu-user to emulate x86_64 Ubuntu on ARM64 Android

infoivonblog.nkfjt@aleeas.com (Ivon Huang) — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 18:00:00 +0800

This explains how to emulate an x86_64 Ubuntu system on an ARM64 (Aarch64) Android phone through Termux proot-distro.

1. Explanation
#

You may say: most Android devices are ARM64, right? Why not just install the ARM version of Ubuntu? Some programs are just obnoxious and are not compiled for ARM.

So on the road of force-running x86 programs, we have three choices:

Run an ARM64 system and install the Box64 translator
Use qemu-system to start a complete x86_64 emulator, such as Ubuntu x86_64 + QEMU
Use qemu-user to emulate an x86_64 system.

qemu-system runs a virtual machine, emulating complete hardware devices so Linux can run as if it were on a real computer. Of course, it consumes a lot of resources.

qemu-user, on the other hand, is a userspace emulator that can emulate x86 executables on ARM64 devices without needing the resources of an entire virtual machine.

QEMU supports emulating many architectures. Besides x86_64, emulating 32-bit x86, RISC-V, and other architectures is also possible.

In Termux, as long as we have a rootfs, we can get a Linux system running without using qemu-system virtual machine emulation.

The proot-distro tool has built-in qemu support. This article discusses using the proot-distro tool together with qemu-user to run an x86_64 system.

Because it is emulated, program execution is naturally slower than native. Add proot’s performance overhead and it becomes even slower. At the end of the article, we will compare the speed of Proot native vs Box64 vs qemu-user.

2. Test environment
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Phone: Sony Xperia 10 V, Android 13
Linux kernel version: 5.4
Termux version: 0.118.0
qemu-user version: 8.1.0
Ubuntu version: 20.04 (Ubuntu 22.04 runs into a problem where apt pub_key cannot be imported)

3. Create an x86_64 proot Ubuntu
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Refer to proot-distro rootfs and add the Ubuntu 20.04_x86_64.sh script. But here we need to change the content a little.

vim $PREFIX/etc/proot-distro/ubuntu20.04_x86_64.sh

Modify it as follows

# Specify the architecture as x86_64
DISTRO_ARCH=x86_64

DISTRO_NAME="Ubuntu20.04 x86_64"

DISTRO_COMMENT="Ubuntu 20.04 Focal x86_64"

TARBALL_STRIP_OPT=0

# Download the x86_64 Ubuntu base
TARBALL_URL['x86_64']="https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-base/focal/daily/current/focal-base-amd64.tar.gz"

TARBALL_SHA256['x86_64']="16c831cc71b8ab79e5156451558df4a025783ba335047f6343518e7225416929"

Install qemu-user-x86-64

pkg install qemu-user-x86-64

Install Ubuntu

proot-distro install ubuntu20.04_x86_64

proot-distro login ubuntu20.04_x86_64

Through the uname -a command, you can see that the architecture is x86_64, and no Exec format error appears.
If a signal 11 Segmentfault error appears while installing packages, just run dpkg --configure -a once.

4. Compare native and emulated execution speed
#

Note: qemu-user in the table below refers to the method in this article

native represents the arm64 executables installed in proot Ubuntu

Box64 means using the box64 command in proot Ubuntu to translate and run x86_64 executables

Use 7z to extract a 133MB zip file, and use time to measure how long it takes to complete.

Use a custom rootfs in Termux proot-distro to create a Linux container

infoivonblog.nkfjt@aleeas.com (Ivon Huang) — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 16:00:00 +0800

This article demonstrates how to add your preferred Linux distribution to the proot-distro tool in Android Termux.

Using Ubuntu as an example, we will install the older Ubunut 22.04 LTS proot Ubuntu.

1. proot vs proot-distro
#

proot is a userspace implementation of chroot, allowing chroot-like functionality without root privileges.

Some developers distribute Termux proot distributions by brute-forcing it with the proot command. For example, Box64Droid downloads a custom rootfs, then uses a long chain of commands to log in to the proot distribution.

But since we have the useful proot-distro script, why not make good use of it? It is a wrapper script for proot, integrating the processes of downloading, logging in to, and logging out of proot distributions, while also making it convenient to execute commands.

I explained its usage in proot-distro usage, but what if the distributions provided by the proot-distro maintainers do not meet your needs? For example:

You need a rootfs for a specific Linux version, such as an LTS version of Ubuntu, but proot-distro’s Ubuntu is always the latest version.
You need a rootfs for a specific architecture, such as 32-bit x86 Manjaro
You want to run an x86_64 system on an ARM64 device

Fortunately, proot-distro allows us to “register” proot distributions. We can add our own rootfs and then operate it with the proot-disro command.

2. How to build a custom Linux rootfs
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Most distributions have their own rootfs building tools. Note that packages like debootstrap included in Termux may have permission issues, so it is safer to create the rootfs on a Linux computer and then move it to the phone.

Ubuntu: debootstrap or download an automatically built rootfs
Debian：debootstrap
Fedora：supermin
openSUSE: download an automatically built rootfs
Alpine：Bootstrapping Alpine Linux
Arch：pacstrap
Manjaro：pacstrap
Void：Installation via chroot

You can also refer to the proot-distro author’s scripts to understand how to create a custom rootfs.

3. Register a new Ubuntu proot-distro
#

Open Termux and install proot-distro

pkg install proot-distro

Go to Ubuntu daily builds and copy the Ubuntu base 22.04 URL. This is a minimal system.
Temporarily download it to the Termux home directory

pkg install wget

wget https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-base/releases/22.04/release/ubuntu-base-22.04.3-base-arm64.tar.gz

Calculate the SHA256 checksum, then remove it

pkg install coreutils

sha256sum ubuntu-base-22.04.3-base-arm64.tar.gz

rm ubuntu-base-22.04.3-base-arm64.tar.gz

Switch to $PREFIX/etc/proot-distro, where proot scripts are stored, copy the sample script, and name it ubuntu22.04.sh

cd $PREFIX/etc/proot-distro
cp distro.sh.sample ubuntu22.04.sh

Edit it

vim ubuntu22.04.sh

Add the following content. I omitted the original comments.

# The architecture should match the phone processor architecture
DISTRO_ARCH=aarch64

# Display name of the distribution
DISTRO_NAME="Ubuntu 22.04 LTS"

# Comment
DISTRO_COMMENT="Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Jammy Jellyfish"

# Directory depth of the archive, default is 1, which ignores the root directory. But Ubuntu base extracts directly as the filesystem, so set 0 here
TARBALL_STRIP_OPT=0

# Each architecture in the array corresponds to a rootfs URL. You can also upload the rootfs to your own Github instead
TARBALL_URL['aarch64']="https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-base/releases/22.04/release/ubuntu-base-22.04.3-base-arm64.tar.gz"

# Fill in the archive's SHA256 checksum
TARBALL_SHA256['aarch64']="bdae94b05d0fca7decbe164010af2ac1b772a9dda21ed9fb5552b5674ad634a3"

# Commands to run after installation
distro_setup() {
 run_proot_cmd touch /etc/hello-world
}

Try running proot-distro list; you can see that the Ubuntu 22.04 LTS we just added has appeared in the list

Install Linux distributions on an Android phone: Termux proot-distro tutorial

infoivonblog.nkfjt@aleeas.com (Ivon Huang) — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 15:00:00 +0800

This article discusses how to use proot-distro to install Linux distributions.

Termux, as a terminal emulator, can install Linux distributions on a phone with the proot-distro tool, without root privileges.

For example, you can install Ubuntu, Arch Linux, Alpine Linux, Fedora, Debian, openSUSE, and so on.

Running Debian 11 on a Sony Xperia 5 II

Linux distributions installed by proot-distro only have a text interface. The graphical interface has to be configured yourself.

If you find that troublesome, you can refer to the automated scripts provided at the end of the article.

1. What are proot & proot-distro?
#

On a GNU/Linux computer system, we can use the chroot command to create an isolated Linux environment. This is the earliest container concept, which appeared before cgroups. After switching into it through the chroot command, it feels as if you have entered another system. For example, using debootstrap on Ubuntu to create a Debian environment, then running a Debian environment.

chroot is neither a virtual machine nor an emulator, because the inside of a chroot container shares the Linux kernel with the host and shares many system resources.

Udroid: A script for quickly installing Ubuntu in Termux (Termux Proot)

infoivonblog.nkfjt@aleeas.com (Ivon Huang) — Tue, 25 Jul 2023 17:00:00 +0800

Ubuntu is a well-known Linux distribution. Besides using it on computers, Android devices can also install Linux distributions without root privileges through Termux Proot container technology.

The lazy solution used below is “Udroid”. Compared with manually entering proot-distro commands, this version of the Linux installation process only requires a few lines of commands. It installs an Ubuntu 22.04 LTS system for you, with a browser and office software built in. GNOME, XFCE, and Mate are available as desktop environment choices.

Because Termux itself is a text-only interface, after installing Ubuntu you can also skip starting the graphical environment and simply run programs and scripts.

1. Prerequisites
#

See Linux Proot-distro

To run Udroid, the phone needs at least 4GB RAM, and the graphical interface needs at least 6GB. Prepare 10GB of storage space.

Install Termux and VNC Viewer. Udroid does not seem to be compatible with Termux X11.

Install Termux: How to Use Termux
Install AVNC Viewer

2. Run the Udroid installation script
#

Open Termux and configure the audio server to start automatically

echo 'pulseaudio --start --exit-idle-time=-1' > ~/.profile
echo 'pacmd load-module module-native-protocol-tcp auth-ip-acl=127.0.0.1 auth-anonymous=1' > ~/.profile

Copy these lines of commands, long-press in Termux to paste them, press Enter, and wait for the 2GB file to finish downloading, installing, and extracting. Yes, Udroid really is quite huge.

pkg install git
git clone https://github.com/RandomCoderOrg/fs-manager-udroid
cd fs-manager-udroid
bash install.sh

udroid install jammy:xfce4
udroid login jammy:xfce4

It will automatically log in afterward. At first, you may encounter zsh asking whether to update; enter y and wait for it to finish. When the prompt becomes ~, that means you have entered text-mode proot Ubuntu. Try using the apt update command to update the package list.
Udroid logs in as root by default. You need to create a normal user account yourself:

apt install openssl

username="user"
password="password"

useradd -m \
 -p "$(openssl passwd -1 ${password})" \
 -G sudo \
 -d /home/${username} \
 -k /etc/skel \
 -s /bin/bash \
 $username

However, Udroid’s normal user will show the The "no new privileges" flag is set error. Reinstall sudo to solve it:

apt reinstall sudo

3. Set time zone, Chinese, input method, and disable Snap
#

Set the time zone to Taipei, Taiwan

sudo ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Asia/Taipei /etc/localtime

Install locales, the Fcitx5 input method, and Chinese fonts

sudo apt install locales fcitx5* fonts-noto fonts-noto-cjk

Generate Chinese locales

sudo locale-gen zh_TW
sudo locale-gen zh_TW.UTF-8
sudo dpkg-reconfigure locales
sudo update-locale LANG="zh_TW.UTF-8" LANGUAGE="zh_TW"

Edit .profile with VIM

vim ~/.profile

Add the following content to set the language to Traditional Chinese and specify Fcitx5 as the input method. Configure Fcitx5 and PulseAudio to start automatically after login

LANG=zh_TW.UTF-8
LC_CTYPE=zh_TW.UTF-8
LC_NUMERIC=zh_TW.UTF-8
LC_TIME=zh_TW.UTF-8
LC_COLLATE=zh_TW.UTF-8
LC_MONETARY=zh_TW.UTF-8
LC_MESSAGES=zh_TW.UTF-8
LC_PAPER=zh_TW.UTF-8
LC_NAME=zh_TW.UTF-8
LC_ADDRESS=zh_TW.UTF-8
LC_TELEPHONE=zh_TW.UTF-8
LC_MEASUREMENT=zh_TW.UTF-8
LC_IDENTIFICATION=zh_TW.UTF-8
LC_ALL=

GTK_IM_MODULE=fcitx
QT_IM_MODULE=fcitx
XMODIFIERS=@im=fcitx
SDL_IM_MODULE=fcitx
GLFW_IM_MODULE=ibus

export PULSE_SERVER=tcp:127.0.0.1

Finally, disable Snap, because Snap cannot work in a Proot environment

sudo apt purge snapd
sudo cat <<EOF | sudo tee /etc/apt/preferences.d/nosnap.pref
Package: snapd
Pin: release a=*
Pin-Priority: -10
EOF

4. Start the desktop environment
#

Change the root password

passwd root

Change the VNC password

vncpasswd

Enter the startvnc command to start the VNC server

Andronix: Quickly install a fully featured Proot Ubuntu

infoivonblog.nkfjt@aleeas.com (Ivon Huang) — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 03:33:46 +0800

Do you always run into all kinds of problems when installing Proot distributions yourself in Termux? Andronix provides lazy-install distribution systems that set up audio and graphics with one click. If you want better quality, you can also buy a tuned version.

Andronix is actually an assistant app. Through a guided interface, it lets users choose the Linux distribution they want to install, then copy and paste the provided commands or one-click installation scripts into Termux and run them. Its pitch is out-of-the-box usability.

1. Download and install
#

Download Andronix. This app has a graphical interface that guides users through installing a Proot distribution. After selecting the required options, paste the generated command into Termux, and it will automatically execute the script and install the corresponding distribution + desktop environment.
In addition to free scripts, Andronix also sells modified Linux distributions (Modded OS). For about NT$100, the installation script automatically solves audio output and graphics issues and includes a nice desktop. You need to register an Andronix account before purchasing.
The purchase screen. Although payment is made through Google Play, the purchased license follows the Andronix account.
After pressing Proceed, you will get a URL and command. Paste them into Termux and press Enter to download and install automatically. For example, I bought Ubuntu 20.04 + XFCE.
After the script finishes, run this in Termux:

./start-andronix.sh

Then set the time zone, keyboard layout, and create a user account. You will use this script to start it in the future as well.
Then use a command to start vncserver, and you can enter the desktop with VNC Viewer:

vncserver

Proot can only be logged out of. Enter the logout command in Termux to close Proot.

2. Usage experience
#

The XFCE desktop is deeply customized, with Chromium and Firefox preinstalled.
There is also LibreOffice, GIMP, VS Code OSS, and other windowed programs such as blender can also open normally.
Supports Pulse Audio output and Open GL (without hardware acceleration)
Install Chinese fonts (Google Noto Sans)

sudo apt-get install language-pack-zh* fonts-noto-cjk

Proot-Distro on Ivon's Blog

Launch X11 graphical programs from proot-distro on Termux's XFCE desktop

1. Install a desktop environment for Termux #

2. Configure proot-distro #

3. Launch programs inside proot-distro from the Termux desktop #

How to connect remotely to Termux's Linux desktop with VNC

1. Choose a VNC client #

2. Configure the VNC server #

Run the VNC server directly in Termux #

Run the VNC server inside proot-distro #

Solutions when Termux proot cannot use the systemctl command

Method 1: Start the program directly from the executable path #

Method 2: Switch to a distribution that uses OpenRC #

Method 3: Run a full Linux system virtual machine #

Use Termux qemu-user to emulate x86_64 Ubuntu on ARM64 Android

1. Explanation #

2. Test environment #

3. Create an x86_64 proot Ubuntu #

4. Compare native and emulated execution speed #