this post was submitted on 15 Apr 2026
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Linux
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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This doesn't look like another alpine vm. But maybe I misread the install script. I see it uses apt so some sort of Debian base? If so, no root, GPU accelerated, not virtualized, Linux on Android is quite the accomplishment.
It's an installer for Termux packages. You can do the same thing manually in Termux shell, if you know the names of packages you are installing.
And yes, Termux uses Debian apt package manager.
Thanks, that was definitely the missing piece in my understanding.
Though they recommend to use their pkg wrapper instead right?
You never needed a VM to run Linux apps on Android. Android can run Linux apps because it is already a Linux operating system. This is like referring to a docker container as "running Linux on Debian" or whatever.
docker is technically running linux on debian though
If by Linux you mean "literally everything except Linux" though, then sure. But I prefer to say what I mean and mean what I say
wait, is docker not running a linux environment?
Linux, the kernel, is the thing that containers run on top of. The container does not actually contain an instance of Linux, it shares it with the host.
yes, it's another complete operating system with a shared kernel. a lot of more complete full-fledged virtualization software does similar stuff.
Just to put it out here. Termux has
proot-distrothat allows you to run qite a few distros as containers. Technically not a VM afaik. I find it useful, because it is sometimes simpler to wipe that instead of reinstalling Termux.