Cheatsheet for Setting up Termux on Android Smartphones

Termux is a useful software for emulating Linux environment in Android (much better than the ADB shell). As part of the Smartphone Setup Cheatsheet, this article elaborates on how to setup Termux.

Also note that this is mostly based on my personal development requirements, which are focused on AI-related computing tasks. It might not perfectly suits you if you’re more interested in App development and GUI debugging.

A useful repo: sanwebinfo/my-termux-setup

Installation

• Install from F-Droid to get convenient plugin support
  • Termux: Style
• Install from APK if you prefer. Download from GitHub Release

System Setup

System-level setup for Termux.

Update packages

• Select mirrors automatically: termux-change-repo
• Update and upgrade: pkg update && pkg upgrade

Setup SSH

• Install OpenSSH: pkg install openssh
• Check Termux username: whoami
• Set login password: passwd
• Get IP address: ifconfig
• Launch SSH server: sshd
• Connect from remote: ssh -p 8022 <username>@<ip>
  • The default SSH port of Termux is 8022

Install packages

Common packages during system setup:

• Tsu (su wrapper for Termux): pkg install tsu
• Git: pkg install git
• Wget: pkg install wget
• cURL: pkg install curl
• CMake: pkg install cmake
• tmux: pkg install tmux
• htop: pkg install htop

Environment Setup

Set up development environments.

Code

Termux doesn’t support VSC (Visual Studio Code) remote server, but you can set up an open-source code-server as an alternative.

Install code-server via Tur repo:

pkg install tur-repo
pkg install code-server

Configure the server via ~/.config/code-server/config.yaml. For example:

bind-addr: 0.0.0.0:8080
auth: password

Launch the server:

code-server

Now you will be able to access the code UI via http://ip:8080 with the configured password.

Note that the config path will be slightly different (under ~/.tsu) if you run in tsu mode.

Python

Termux doesn’t support miniconda.

Install Python: pkg install python