You will soon be able to run Linux Terminal on your Android phone
While it is widely known that Android is based on Linux, it is not a typical Linux distro in many ways. There are a lot of standard features and components of Linux that are simply not available in Google’s mobile operating system.
This is starting to change. Developers -- or, indeed, anyone looking to tinker around a little -- will soon be able to use the Linux Terminal, opening up new and interesting worlds of possibility.
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It was late last year that we first learned about Google’s plans to release a Linux Terminal app thanks to references to it in beta releases of Android. Now Terminal can be enabled on Pixel devices with the latest Feature Drop release.
Getting hold of the app is not massively intuitive, as Android Police points out, and the way the Terminal runs is a little unusual. You’ll need to have Developer Mode enabled on your device (open Settings, head to About Phone and hit the build number seven times) and with this done, head to Settings > System > Developer options > Linux development environment. After enabling Terminal, there will be a hefty download the first time you try to launch the app. This is because of the way the app runs -- within a virtualized instance of Debian.
But just what is the significance of releasing a Terminal app for Android? It means that it should be possible to run Linux apps on an Android device, just as can be done in ChromeOS. Looking at bigger options, there is even the potential for running other Linux distros on your phone or tablets -- but whether you’d actually want to do so is another matter entirely.
At the moment it is not clear when, or if, the option will spread to non-Pixel devices.
Image credit: Android Police