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Re:Rant: Year of Linux on the Desktop (2022) by pjmlp on Sunday January 01, 2023 @03:21PM (#34210440)
Regarding Android, there is hardly any Linux on it besides the Linux kernel, which isn't exposed as stable API to Android's userspace.
Re:Rant: Year of Linux on the Desktop (2022) by NotYourLawyer on Sunday January 01, 2023 @04:33PM (#34211201)
Linux is the kernel.
Re:Rant: Year of Linux on the Desktop (2022) by pjmlp on Sunday January 01, 2023 @04:47PM (#34211337)
Which is something that those that equate Android with GNU/Linux keep forgetting.
Re:Rant: Year of Linux on the Desktop (2022) by dredmorbius on Monday January 02, 2023 @07:21PM (#34225726)
Whilst I agree strongly with your general point: Android is not GNU Linux (that is, the Linux kernel plus a userland largely based on and around the GNU's Not Unix toolchain), there is Termux, an Android app which provides a Linux-like userland, including X11 applications for what it's worth. You'll need to install it through a third-party app store or source, such as F-Droid.

Software is packaged under APT, and whilst the package selection is markedly less than, say, Debian (roughly 70k distinct packages last I checked), there are now several thousand available packages, plus more available through Python, Ruby, Perl, and Node.js package managers (and probably others).

You're still subject to Android limitation:

- No general filesystem access outside Termux's and specifically-shared areas.

- Very limited file permissions options unless rooted.

- No privilege escalation unless you've rooted your device.

- Android's mysterious and quite frequently annoying app process management killing off sessions with no discernible rhyme or reason, let alone owner-based control.

But you'll get all the standard base shell utilities, scripting and programming environments, a selection of networking tools (which function again depends in part on whether your device is or isn't rooted), editors, and even a number of servers, though typically running on high-numbered (unprivileged) ports. There's also a slew of tools for interacting with Android itself, including clipboard, screen brightness, wifi, flashlight (if available), "toasts" (alerts/messages), and more.

Termux has long been the one Android app Which Does Not Precisely and Exactly Suck. It was the first app I found which made the OS vaguely useful to me rather than a captured walled-garden toy.