anbox: fixes and upgrades by samueldr · Pull Request #125600 · NixOS/nixpkgs

samueldr · 2021-06-04T02:25:51Z

Motivation for this change

Make anbox work.

Some changes, mainly geared towards making it work.

Technically some of the changes could be considered breaking... But anbox doesn't work at all currently. So it can't be more breaking than that.

The AArch64 image from anbox doesn't work on my system. Though the postmarketOS image works fine.

Outdated info about kernel config

Newer kernels will require this configuration to be set:

{
boot.kernelPatches = [
  {
    name = "anbox-options";
    patch = null;
    extraConfig = ''
      ASHMEM y
      ANDROID y
      ANDROID_BINDER_IPC y
      ANDROID_BINDERFS y
    '';
  }
];
}

I do not know if we would prefer setting these as defaults. They're not modules, so it changes the way the kernel acts I guess.

Things done

Tested using sandboxing (nix.useSandbox on NixOS, or option sandbox in nix.conf on non-NixOS linux)
Built on platform(s)
- NixOS
- macOS
- other Linux distributions
Tested via one or more NixOS test(s) if existing and applicable for the change (look inside nixos/tests)
Tested compilation of all pkgs that depend on this change using nix-shell -p nixpkgs-review --run "nixpkgs-review wip"
Tested execution of all binary files (usually in ./result/bin/)
Added a release notes entry if the change is major or breaking
Fits CONTRIBUTING.md.

Tested with:

Pinebook Pro, kernel 5.11, with kernel configuration snippet added

To be done

Test on x86_64
~~Test on kernel with compatible anbox module (e.g. 5.4)~~
~~Validate how it acts on 5.5+ when the kernel is configured "incorrectly"~~
Add image edition facilities (to allow end-users to e.g. add F-Droid or a rooting solution...)
Look at making the generated desktop files more robust (hint)
~~Adopt linux-zen patches?~~ No they reverted them
~~Add "OSS" android-tools~~ android-tools: init at 31.0.0p1 #124992 already did it... I feel silly.
Use those android tools for the anbox test
Give escape hatches for "expert mode use" through internal options; useAnboxModules and useBinderFS options that defaults according to the current semantics of looking at the kernel version. (Mobile NixOS, and devices using vendor kernels may not fit the requirements, but will actually work.)

TO ANYONE TESTING: Can you please include these informations:

Kernel package used (e.g. linuxPackages_latest)
How exactly you made ashmem and binderfs available

edwtjo · 2021-06-04T07:21:44Z

Good job (from a cursory inspection)! I will try these out during the weekend.

pkgs/os-specific/linux/anbox/postmarketos-image.nix

cidkidnix · 2021-06-04T14:59:25Z

After the fix to the postmarketos image everything works well for me (I'm on x86_64). But if fails to launch android apps from desktop files without anbox session-manager running in a terminal

EDIT: Scratch that this might be due to my system setup to wipe /var every boot

cidkidnix · 2021-06-04T15:24:52Z

Everything works well but audio is pretty badly delayed

samueldr · 2021-06-04T18:28:14Z

Ah, note that even on another attempt a year back anbox session-manager never worked for me. I was using the same ocmmand anbox-application-manager aliases to.

Launching the first anbox app from a fresh boot/session may take some time, as it has to start the container too. Anbox assumes on a modern system it takes "up to 10 seconds". The assumption was changed to 100 seconds, similar to what postmarketOS does.

samueldr · 2021-06-04T18:32:08Z

@cidkidnix can you also tell me the kernel version, and how you made ashmem and binderfs available? For statistical purposes :).

cidkidnix · 2021-06-04T20:38:58Z

{
  config = lib.mkIf config.virtualisation.anbox.enable {
    boot.kernelPatches = [
      {
        name = "ashmem-binder";
        patch = null;
        extraConfig = ''
          ASHMEM y
          ANDROID y
          ANDROID_BINDER_IPC y
          ANDROID_BINDERFS y
          ANDROID_BINDER_DEVICES binder,hwbinder,vndbinder
        '';
      }
    ];
  };
}

I patched my nixpkgs with this PR, My kernel version is 5.11.21, and the above code snippet is what I have imported as a module to enable the kernel configs

EDIT: The audio issue would be resolved with this PR for anbox anbox/anbox#1034 but it has yet to be merged and I don't know if it ever will

cidkidnix · 2021-06-04T20:47:06Z

I'll also be able to test on my pinephone sometime soon:tm:

samueldr · 2021-06-04T21:30:42Z

Looks like the patch for audio requires a fresh image build. So that wouldn't help AFAICT.

It would be nice to see @danielfullmer's robotnix build the Anbox images, so that a more trustful environment can be built to run Anbox.

samueldr · 2021-06-04T21:39:55Z

Here's an example usage of the option for customizing the image.

{ pkgs, ... }:
{
  virtualisation.anbox = {
    enable = true;
    image = pkgs.anbox-postmarketos-image;

    # https://gitlab.com/postmarketOS/pmaports/-/blob/bf6ad7a78c5506eb5ad9089e87f9c1cf7e8cd1f8/main/anbox-image/APKBUILD#L39-63
    imageModifications =
      let
        fdroid_apk = pkgs.fetchurl {
          url = "https://f-droid.org/repo/org.fdroid.fdroid_1013000.apk";
          sha256 = "1n5zcxsfn42b3i067pnkjy3xf5ljs0fj9h01v69xfincr84mlh0y";
        };
        fdroidpriv_apk = pkgs.fetchurl {
          url = "https://f-droid.org/repo/org.fdroid.fdroid.privileged_2120.apk";
          sha256 = "1axa72vfd8qq2dyk7d171vpwb6rf5ps59zrchhhgqmrqmpv88gww";
        };
      in
    ''
      (PS4=" $ "; set -x

        echo "Disabling su"
        rm -v system/xbin/su

        echo "Installing FDroid"
        mkdir system/app/FDroid
        mkdir system/priv-app/FDroid

        cp "${fdroid_apk}"     system/app/FDroid/${fdroid_apk.name}
        cp "${fdroidpriv_apk}" system/priv-app/FDroid/${fdroidpriv_apk.name}

        chmod 0644 system/app/FDroid/*
        chmod 0644 system/priv-app/FDroid/*
      )
    '';
  };
}

Customised this way, the end-user does not need to install F-Droid themselves, and F-Droid does not require additional fiddling around to install apps.

I personally do not think such things belong in Nixpkgs... Mainly because this uses some pre-built APKs...

Maybe we could provide a common way to pre-install any APK? Though I see that as a future improvement. The basic foundations exists to give the end-users the ability to do what they want.

cidkidnix · 2021-06-05T00:02:41Z

Could we not make a script that runs once after anbox is run to adb install applications?

samueldr · 2021-06-05T00:55:31Z

Could we not make a script that runs once after anbox is run to adb install applications?

Running once is... harder than it sounds. And doesn't handle removing apps.

The best bet actually would be to force the desired apps at the system level just like F-Droid here. Though I wonder how things act once a system app is removed. What happens with its data? With a normal Android app uninstall, the data goes away too.

Still, it's out of scope for these changes. The foundations are now here to work on more complex behaviours if desired.

I do not intend to work on fully nix-ifying the Anbox system config, it'd be hard for not enough benefits.

I think installing F-Droid here to allow you to then install apps you want, and have F-Droid managing updates is a good enough solution for what hopefully is a temporary problem. We don't want to rely on Android apps!

cidkidnix · 2021-06-05T01:24:13Z

A massive change will probably be needed when erfan's A10 anbox stuff for halium gets ready to use, but we can deal with that when it happens https://github.com/Anbox-halium

cidkidnix · 2021-06-05T01:29:55Z

To add on, when a system app is uninstalled all data should be removed, although that isn't always the case

mvnetbiz · 2021-06-05T04:23:48Z

Test on x86_64

Works with setting kernelPatches and after running manually mount -t binder binder /dev/binderfs

Test on kernel with compatible anbox module (e.g. 5.4)

application-manager starts on 5.4

Validate how it acts on 5.5+ when the kernel is configured "incorrectly"

On 5.10 without kernel CONFIG_ANDROID options, anbox-application-manager window stays open for a minute, then exits.

Jun 05 03:36:54 nixos anbox[1428]: Failed to start as either binder or ashmem kernel drivers are not loaded
Jun 05 03:36:54 nixos dbus-daemon[1111]: [session uid=1000 pid=1111] Activated service 'org.anbox' failed: Process org.anbox exited with status 1

mvnetbiz · 2021-06-05T04:35:40Z

For some reason it is not mounting /dev/binderfs for me. I'm trying to figure out, but you could make it a mount unit required by the container-manager like here. https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/102341/files#diff-b05067fd6d27b2c89be023bde744ecaab904222a09a136d004f9e5c5148fe966R81-R87

samueldr · 2021-06-05T04:44:43Z

@mvnetbiz

I assume this is with e.g. 5.10 (lts) or the latest kernel.

You are using the amended kernel config, and booted in the rebuilt kernel, right?
What is the error messages from the failure to mount /dev/binderfs?

EDIT: github scrolled me to the last comment... the first comment I sent was not in any way helpful

samueldr · 2021-06-05T04:47:37Z

Note that I don't know how this acts on 5.4 yet. I still need to get a "normal" computer that runs 5.4 nicely to test a bit with the anbox kernel modules.

I assume it's possible /dev/binderfs won't mount in that case. And it's possibly fine?

samueldr · 2021-06-05T04:48:24Z

On 5.10 without kernel CONFIG_ANDROID options, anbox-application-manager window stays open for a minute, then exits.

Yes, that's to be expected. Nothing we can do if the kernel options are not enabled. They are features Anbox and Android uses.

As noted in NixOS#102341 this is not actually running as a forked process. It only tells the process that it is running "as a daemon, so shut the warning up". See `daemon_` here - https://github.com/anbox/anbox/blob/9de4e87cdd05135e1c71e6eadb68bf82719cebdf/src/anbox/cmds/container_manager.cpp#L38-L79 It is **strictly** used to hide that message. Co-authored-by: Matt Votava <mvnetbiz@gmail.com>

The AArch64 image from anbox will not start.

mvnetbiz · 2021-06-10T23:10:08Z

Tested again, both images on x86_64 are working.

cidkidnix · 2021-06-12T23:17:45Z

I'll test but it seems anbox crashes for me when it's running in the background and restarts itself, temporarily(maybe?) causing my user to lose connection to systemd, started happening shortly after I enabled anbox

nixos-discourse · 2021-08-07T10:53:54Z

This pull request has been mentioned on NixOS Discourse. There might be relevant details there:

https://discourse.nixos.org/t/run-android-apps-in-nixos/14437/2

SuperSandro2000 · 2021-08-08T04:36:51Z

pkgs/os-specific/linux/anbox/default.nix

  ];

-  patchPhase = ''
+  prePatch = ''


Suggested change

prePatch = ''

postPatch = ''

otherwise patches no longer rapply.

asdf8dfafjk · 2021-08-25T05:23:38Z

@cidkidnix btw, anbox halium is at https://github.com/waydroid/anbox-halium

alyssais · 2021-09-27T17:19:14Z

The lxc patch seems to no longer be required in latest nixpkgs.

asdf8dfafjk · 2021-10-03T00:47:09Z

Also relevant: #140200

arximboldi · 2021-11-04T10:07:16Z

Sorry if this is a very newbie question, but is there a way to try to this PR without bringing this commit into the channels nor replacing my whole nixpkgs by this -- i.e. just using the relevant packages and options from here? I know how to do that when it's just one package to add to environemnt.systemPackages or alike, but this seems a bit more involved.

Atemu · 2021-11-04T12:30:03Z

Best just clone nixpkgs, merge this branch and then nixos-rebuild test -I nixpkgs=/path/to/checkout/

arximboldi · 2021-11-04T14:55:49Z

Aha! That's easy and nice, thank you @Atemu I didn't know I could just do test -I

asdf8dfafjk · 2021-11-04T19:57:59Z

@arximboldi I don't want to disrespect anybody's work but at this point you should probably try #141076 since waydroid is newer than anbox

mzabani · 2021-12-27T14:20:53Z

Merged this into a relatively recent 21.11 nixpkgs branch, removed the lxc patch as suggested by @alyssais and it seems to work. Is something other than a suggested change
by @SuperSandro2000 holding this? Is there something I/we can do to help get this merged?

SuperSandro2000 · 2022-01-16T22:57:37Z

nixos/modules/virtualisation/anbox.nix

+        squashfsTools
+      ];
+    } ''
+      echo "→ Extracting Anbox root image..."


Suggested change

echo "→ Extracting Anbox root image..."

echo "-> Extracting Anbox root image..."

we shouldn't use special unicode characters

SuperSandro2000 · 2022-01-16T22:57:47Z

nixos/modules/virtualisation/anbox.nix

+      ${cfg.imageModifications}
+      )
+
+      echo "→ Packing modified Anbox root image..."


Suggested change

echo "→ Packing modified Anbox root image..."

echo "-> Packing modified Anbox root image..."

SuperSandro2000 · 2022-01-16T22:58:25Z

pkgs/os-specific/linux/anbox/postmarketos-image.nix

+      url = imgroot + "/android-7.1.2_r39-anbox_x86_64-userdebug.img";
+      sha256 = "16vmiz5al2r19wjpd44nagvz7d901ljxdms8gjp2w4xz1d91vzpm";
+    };
+  }.${stdenv.system}


Missing or throw unsupported system to eval on unsupported platforms.

SuperSandro2000 · 2022-01-16T22:58:43Z

by @SuperSandro2000 holding this? Is there something I/we can do to help get this merged?

I can't really help because I don't know kernels to well.

Atemu · 2022-01-17T08:48:59Z

The kernel stuff should be dropped anyways. It was necessary to support kernels <5.5 which we don't really need to anymore.

Mindavi · 2022-05-10T19:11:32Z

Kernel config was added here: #145768

rnhmjoj · 2023-09-03T15:09:24Z

Continuation in #253146.

github-actions bot added 6.topic: nixos Issues or PRs affecting NixOS modules, or package usability issues specific to NixOS 8.has: module (update) This PR changes an existing module in `nixos/` labels Jun 4, 2021

samueldr force-pushed the feature/anbox-2021-06-refresh branch from 3473040 to eca7814 Compare June 4, 2021 02:32

ofborg bot requested review from edwtjo and fpletz June 4, 2021 02:35

ofborg bot added 10.rebuild-darwin: 0 This PR does not cause any packages to rebuild on Darwin. 10.rebuild-linux: 1-10 This PR causes between 1 and 10 packages to rebuild on Linux. 8.has: package (new) This PR adds a new package labels Jun 4, 2021

cidkidnix reviewed Jun 4, 2021

View reviewed changes

pkgs/os-specific/linux/anbox/postmarketos-image.nix Outdated Show resolved Hide resolved

samueldr force-pushed the feature/anbox-2021-06-refresh branch from eca7814 to b084ab6 Compare June 4, 2021 18:31

ofborg bot added 10.rebuild-linux: 11-100 This PR causes between 11 and 100 packages to rebuild on Linux. and removed 10.rebuild-linux: 1-10 This PR causes between 1 and 10 packages to rebuild on Linux. labels Jun 4, 2021

samueldr and others added 3 commits June 8, 2021 01:55

nixos/tests/anbox: init

fb3c51e

nixos/tests/anbox: Use postmarketOS anbox image

fdf7b4b

The AArch64 image from anbox will not start.

samueldr force-pushed the feature/anbox-2021-06-refresh branch from c477bda to fdf7b4b Compare June 8, 2021 05:55

L-as mentioned this pull request Jul 3, 2021

anbox local-/bin/sh: git: not found #129118

Open

SuperSandro2000 reviewed Aug 8, 2021

View reviewed changes

asdf8dfafjk mentioned this pull request Sep 25, 2021

Package Request: Waydroid #139140

Closed

SuperSandro2000 added the 2.status: merge conflict This PR has merge conflicts with the target branch label Jan 16, 2022

SuperSandro2000 reviewed Jan 16, 2022

View reviewed changes

stale bot added the 2.status: stale https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/.github/STALE-BOT.md label Nov 12, 2022

rnhmjoj mentioned this pull request Sep 3, 2023

anbox: unbreak #253146

Merged

12 tasks

rnhmjoj closed this Sep 3, 2023

samueldr deleted the feature/anbox-2021-06-refresh branch November 4, 2024 16:41

	echo "→ Extracting Anbox root image..."
	echo "-> Extracting Anbox root image..."

	echo "→ Packing modified Anbox root image..."
	echo "-> Packing modified Anbox root image..."

Uh oh!

Conversation

samueldr commented Jun 4, 2021 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Uh oh!

Motivation for this change

Things done

To be done

Uh oh!

edwtjo commented Jun 4, 2021

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

cidkidnix commented Jun 4, 2021 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

cidkidnix commented Jun 4, 2021

Uh oh!

samueldr commented Jun 4, 2021

Uh oh!

samueldr commented Jun 4, 2021

Uh oh!

cidkidnix commented Jun 4, 2021 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

cidkidnix commented Jun 4, 2021

Uh oh!

samueldr commented Jun 4, 2021

Uh oh!

samueldr commented Jun 4, 2021 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

cidkidnix commented Jun 5, 2021

Uh oh!

samueldr commented Jun 5, 2021 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

cidkidnix commented Jun 5, 2021

Uh oh!

cidkidnix commented Jun 5, 2021 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

mvnetbiz commented Jun 5, 2021

Uh oh!

mvnetbiz commented Jun 5, 2021

Uh oh!

samueldr commented Jun 5, 2021 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

samueldr commented Jun 5, 2021

Uh oh!

samueldr commented Jun 5, 2021

Uh oh!

mvnetbiz commented Jun 10, 2021

Uh oh!

cidkidnix commented Jun 12, 2021

Uh oh!

nixos-discourse commented Aug 7, 2021

Uh oh!

SuperSandro2000 Aug 8, 2021

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

asdf8dfafjk commented Aug 25, 2021 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

alyssais commented Sep 27, 2021

Uh oh!

asdf8dfafjk commented Oct 3, 2021 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

arximboldi commented Nov 4, 2021

Uh oh!

Atemu commented Nov 4, 2021

Uh oh!

arximboldi commented Nov 4, 2021

Uh oh!

asdf8dfafjk commented Nov 4, 2021

Uh oh!

mzabani commented Dec 27, 2021

Uh oh!

SuperSandro2000 Jan 16, 2022

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

samueldr commented Jun 4, 2021 •

edited

Loading

cidkidnix commented Jun 4, 2021 •

edited

Loading

cidkidnix commented Jun 4, 2021 •

edited

Loading

samueldr commented Jun 4, 2021 •

edited

Loading

samueldr commented Jun 5, 2021 •

edited

Loading

cidkidnix commented Jun 5, 2021 •

edited

Loading

samueldr commented Jun 5, 2021 •

edited

Loading

asdf8dfafjk commented Aug 25, 2021 •

edited

Loading

asdf8dfafjk commented Oct 3, 2021 •

edited

Loading