Are you a linux fan or do you just love playing with the terminal and executing cool commands, just to look like a tech genius? Well, for whatever reason it is that you want to install linux on your phone, I got you covered.
Installing linux on your phone might not make you a hacker, but it will certainly make you look and feel like one.
With this guide, you will be able to run a full linux system, including every linux command you can think of and install different PC software, all on your phone! Wait that's not all, you can run a desktop environment and enjoy the PC graphical interface and probably try to hack into NASA using your phone like the guy in that one movie.
Did I mention that you do not require root access to do all this? All you have to do is follow these simple installation instructions and you are a few keystrokes away from running all the cool programs created by the linux community.
Contents
Download and install the Termux app on your phone, then open it and execute the following commands.
- Upgrade Termux packages
pkg update && pkg upgrade- Install
curl
pkg install curl- Download the install script
curl -fsSLO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jorexdeveloper/termux-arch/main/install-arch.sh- Execute install script
bash install-arch.shSee
bash install-arch.sh --helpfor usage information.
It's probably a good idea to inspect any install script from projects you don't yet know. You can do that by downloading the install script, looking through it so everything looks fine before running it.
If you are lazy like me, you can just copy and paste the commands below in Termux.
pkg update -y && pkg upgrade -y && pkg install -y curl && curl -fsSLO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jorexdeveloper/termux-arch/main/install-arch.sh && bash install-arch.shAfter successful installation, you need to launch the system and make a few set ups.
Launch the system by simply executing the following command.
archlinuxor with a shorter version
archYou will be logged in with the default user name, alarm (You can login as another user by providing their user name as an argument. See archlinux --help for usage information).
You will need to install a desktop environment and a vnc server to get a graphical interface to interact with because this is a minimal installation.
Launch the system as the root user (username is root) and execute the following commands.
- Upgrade system packages
pacman -Syu- Install vnc server
pacman -S tigervnc dbus- Install desktop environment
pacman -S xfce4This command will not only take several gigabytes of your storage but also take a while to complete, grab a coffee and make sure you keep Termux open during the installation or you might run into some problems later (You can also acquire Termux wake lock but it will only work if battery optimization is disabled).
Now all that's left is to login into your newly installed system and start playing around with some commands. To do that, you need to start a vnc server in the system and connect to it through a vnc viewer.
Launch the system and execute the following command.
vncserver "${DISPLAY}"On the first run of the command above, you will be prompted for a vnc password. This is the password that will be used to securely connect to the vnc server, in the vnc viewer app, so save it somewhere.
To connect to the vnc server and view the desktop, you will need to download and install a vnc viewer app of your choice (I recommend AVNC).
Start the desktop and minimize Termux.
Then open the vnc viewer app, click add server and fill in with the following details:
Name
Arch Linux DesktopHost
localhostPort
| user name | port |
|---|---|
| alarm (works for all users) | 5900 |
Password
Enter the vnc password you set when starting the desktop for the first time.
If you managed to get this far without any problems, congratulations! Linux now is installed on your phone and it's time to explore and have some fun with it!
The possibilities are endless and the only limits that exist are the ones you set up for yourself.
You might wan't to google for some cool commands and programs to execute or even when get you stuck, good luck.
I stubbornly refuse to add some of these management features to the install script directly because it defeats the whole design structure of making the program do one thing extremely well.
Renaming the installed system is far more complicated than just executing a regular mv command.
To rename your installed system need to locate and change all the proot links within the system to point to the new directory.
Here is a simple shell function to help you do that.
chroot-rename() {
if [ -n "${1}" ] && [ -n "${2}" ] && [ -d "${1}" ]; then
if [ -e "${2}" ]; then
# Prevent overwriting any existing files.
echo ">> '${2}' already exists, aborting."
else
local old_chroot="$(realpath "${1}")"
local new_chroot="$(realpath "${2}")"
echo ">> Renaming '${old_chroot}' to '${new_chroot}'."
# Rename the the directory
mv "${old_chroot}" "${new_chroot}"
echo ">> Updating proot links, this may take a while."
local name old_target new_target
# Find all proot links
find "${new_chroot}" -type l | while read -r name; do
# get old link destination
old_target=$(readlink "${name}")
if [ "${old_target:0:${#old}}" = "${old_chroot}" ]; then
# Set new link destination
new_target="${old_target//${old_chroot}/${new_chroot}}"
# Create new link and eplace old one
ln -sf "${new_target}" "${name}"
fi
done
echo ">> Done, but I didn't rename any launch commands!"
echo ">> Just run the install script again with option '--config-only'"
fi
else
echo "Usage: chroot-rename <old-directory> <new-directory>"
fi
}Just copy and paste the above code in Termux and then execute the command below.
chroot-rename <old-directory> <new-directory>NOTE: This does not update the launch commands to use the new directory, to do that, just execute the install script again giving it the new directory as an argument.
bash install-arch.sh --config-only <new-directory>Backing up the installed system is more complicated than just executing an ordinary tar command.
To backup your installed system, you need to execute the tar command with a few extra options to ensure that file permissions are properly preserved and your system remains usable.
Here is a simple shell function to help you do that.
chroot-backup() {
if [ -n "${1}" ] && [ -d "${1}" ]; then
if [ -n "${2}" ]; then
local file="${2}"
else
# Default archive name if not given.
local file="${HOME}/$(basename "${1}").tar.xz"
fi
# Directories to include/exclude in the archive some read-only directories
# like /dev need to be ignored but you can add your own if you wish
local include=(.l2s bin boot etc home lib media mnt opt proc root run sbin snap srv sys tmp usr var)
local exclude=()
echo ">> Packing chroot into '${file}'."
echo ">> Including:"
local i
for i in "${include[@]}"; do
echo -e "\t${i}"
done
echo ">> Excluding:"
local exclude_args=()
# Prepent the '--exclude' tag to all exclude dirs
for i in "${exclude[@]}"; do
echo -e "\t${i}"
exclude_args=("${exclude_args[@]}" "--exclude=${i}")
done
rmdir "${1}"/* &>/dev/null
rm -rvf "${1}"/linkerconfig "${1}"/data "${1}"/storage &>/dev/null
# Make sure all directories exist
for i in "${include[@]}" "${exclude[@]}"; do
mkdir -p "${1}/${i}"
done
# Switch to the chroot directory and backup the given directories
tar \
--warning=no-file-ignored \
--one-file-system \
--xattrs \
--xattrs-include='*' \
--preserve-permissions \
--create \
--auto-compress \
-C \
"${1}" \
--file="${file}" \
"${exclude_args[@]}" \
"${include[@]}"
else
echo "Usage: chroot-backup <directory> [<file>]"
fi
}Just copy and paste the above code in Termux and then execute the command below.
chroot-backup <directory>To restore your installation from the archive, execute the following commands in Termux.
mkdir -p <original-directory>Switch to the directory.
cd <original-directory>Unpack the archive (This can take some time).
tar \
--delay-directory-restore \
--preserve-permissions \
--warning=no-unknown-keyword \
--extract \
--auto-compress \
--file "<archive>"NOTE: This process requires you to restore the system to the same directory as the original installation, otherwise the proot links get broken and the system gets corrupted.
To uninstall the system, just execute the install script again in Termux with the option --uninstall.
bash install-arch.sh --uninstallNOTE: If you installed the system in a custom directory, add the path to the installation directory as an additional argument.
If you feel like all that is too technical, feel free to contribute a management script that automates these actions because i'm still lazy for that right now (see the contributions section).
If you got some hickups during the installation or have some burning questions, you are probably not the first one. Feel free to document them in the issues section
However, a few frequently asked questions have been answered below.
This guide assumes that Termux has no root access and the only root permissions that exist are those simulated in the installed system.
However, if you have tried following the steps above with root permissions in Termux, then you have probably not succeeded because installing and running the system with root permissions in Termux can have unintended effects, and should never be done (unless you are sure of what you are doing) otherwise you might end up damaging your device.
For that reason, I added an anti-root fuse to the install script that prevents the installation process if Termux has root access.
There should not be a good enough reason to launch the system when Termux has root permissions because harmless root privileges are still simulated in the system with help of proot.
If you don't mind damaging your device (probably making it unusable) and are ready to get your hands dirty, this section might resonate.
Disabling the anti-root fuse will require a deeper understanding of the install script and the installation process. You will need to edit the install script as follows:
- Find and comment the call to the function checking root access.
Not very helpful, is it? That because this is definitely a bad idea and you are completely liable for any unintended effects of this action.
Just remember, I am mostly lazy and would never implement an anti-root fuse for absolutely no reason.
Contributions to this project are not only welcome, but also encouraged.
Here is the current TODO list.
-
Create a management script that:
- Can be backup, restore and rename an existing installation.
- Is intuitive and not boring and includes usage information.
-
Utilize the dialog command to perform the installation using GUI (the dialog command comes pre-installed in Termux).
-
Any other improvements.
And most imporantly, make sure any new programs/scripts/functions do only one thing, and extremely well.
Copyright (C) 2023-2025 Jore
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program. If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.