Termux

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Termux

nano running on termux
Original author(s)	Fredrik Fornwall
Initial release	30 May 2015; 6 years ago (2015-05-30)
Stable release	0.118[1]  (7 January 2022; 54 days ago (7 January 2022))
Repository	github.com/termux/termux-app
Written in	Java
Operating system	Android
Platform	x86-64, ARM64, i686, ARMv7
Size	101 MB
Type	Terminal Emulator, Command-line interface
License	GPLv3
Website	termux.com

Termux is a free and open source terminal emulator for Android which allows for running a Linux environment on an Android device. In addition, various software can be installed through the application's package manager.

Termux installs a minimal base system automatically, and additional packages are available using a package manager. ^[2]

Most commands available in Linux are accessible as well as built-in Bash commands. There are also several other shells available, such as Zsh and tcsh.^[3]

Termux is the first Android terminal application to include a variety of software, unlike other terminal emulators, in which only small or limited utilities provided by Android are available.

Overview[]

Packages are cross-compiled with Android NDK and have compatibility patches to get them working on Android. Since all files are installed at the application directory, rooting is not required.^[4]

There are more than one thousand packages that can be downloaded and users can submit requests for new ones. Alternatively, packages can be compiled from source as Termux supports a variety of build tools including CMake as well as compilers for C++, Rust, Go and several others. Termux can also install interpreters for languages like Ruby, Python, JavaScript, etc.

Terminal-based text editors such as Emacs and Vim can be installed to edit and create files from the terminal.

It is also possible to execute GUI applications in Termux through a VNC server and installing a desktop environment (Xfce, LXQt, MATE) or window manager.^[5]

User interface[]

Termux's user interface is fairly simple and only displays extra keys row and the terminal output, managing sessions by swiping left and manipulating Terminal session by tap and holding and clicking more to bring 10 options. It is also possible to change the color scheme and font through Termux:Styling.

Extra keys row can also be customized. Users can add more function keys and controls within termux.properties file

Termux also has mouse/touch support which can be used to interact some programs that can be used with mouse such as htop and other ncurses-based applications, scrolling is also be done by swiping over terminal buffer.

Configuration[]

Users can configure the Terminal within termux.properties file. unlike other Terminal emulators, Termux's configuration is read within that file instead of using graphical settings which users will have to use a text editor.

Add-ons[]

Termux also includes 6 add-ons:

• Termux:API: exposes Android functionality to CLI applications
• Termux:Styling: allows to change the colorscheme and the font of the Terminal
• Termux:Boot: executes Termux commands at boot
• Termux:Widget: let's users to run scripts in a dedicated widget or a shortcut in Home screen
• Termux:Float: runs Terminal session in a floating window
• Termux:Tasker: Plugin to integrate Tasker app to Termux

Add-ons must be installed from same source, as add-ons signed with same signature key to use have same User ID between these apps

History[]

Termux was initially released in 2015. At its initial launch, it already included a variety of Linux software. Support for requesting packages and features was added through GitHub issues in the app's repository. People can also contribute to the project by adding new features and packages.

In January 2020. Termux development team ended support for devices running Android 5-6 and Termux required Android version 7 as a minimum OS requirement.

With the policy changes in Google play policies,^[6] updates to the app through playstore are no longer possible and as such, it is recommended to install the app through alternative sources.

As of 2021 Termux is maintained by collaborators and the current development were behind Fornwall's maintenance to the app

Installation[]

During the installation, it extracts the bootstrap archive from the APK file and set correct permissions for executable and sets up directories like home directory.

Package management and distribution[]

Packages in Termux are installed through the application's package manager (pkg) and uses the .deb format by default. But normal Debian packages cannot be installed as Termux is not FHS compliant.^[7] Users can also build and submit packages.

Package availability[]

Termux has more than 1000+ packages available as of 2021. However, compared to other distributions packages in Termux is still relatively small and some packages can't be ported due to variety of reasons which involve compilation.

Package repositories[]

Termux has 3 repositories available. ones included in default Termux bootstrap installation include:

• main is the main repository containing all CLI utilities and other popular Linux tools and language compilers/interpreters
• x11-repo contains X11-based packages and graphical applications.
• root-repo contains packages that is useful for rooted devices only. However, some packages can be used without root but functionality may be somewhat limited

Google Play Updates[]

Termux v0.101 is the last version to be updated in Google Play Store. Google Play enforced apps to target into API level 29 since November 2020 which breaks the execution of binaries on private application directory. according to Google:

Untrusted apps that target Android 10 cannot invoke exec() on files within the app's home directory. This execution of files from the writable app home directory is a W^X violation. Apps should load only the binary code that's embedded within an app's APK file.^[8]

Termux development team suggests to move to F-Droid in order to continue getting updates

Bintray shutdown[]

In May 2021, Bintray shut down their services,^[9] which has been the primary hosting for the Termux packages. Termux migrated to another hosting service and updating/installing packages leads to 403/404 errors in older Termux versions.

See also[]

• Debian
• Command-line interface
• Package Manager

References[]

External links[]

• Media related to Termux at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website
• Termux Android package at the F-Droid repository
• Termux on GitHub
• Termux packages on GitHub
• Termux wiki