R.Wieser wrote:
> Anne,
>
>> The commands available to you are whatever is already provided by your
>> Android device.
>
> :-) And how do I know what my android device provides ? Its not like
> we're in a cyberpunk world where I would just grab the knowledge chip that
> came with the phone and plug it into the socket in my neck.

Android is based on (a modified version of) Linux.

Get a manual of Linux commands. Then experiment. Try different
commands to see whether your particular Android device has that
command or not.

> IOW, I'm a noobie. Do you know of a(ny) website carrying that kind of info
> (and preferrably some examples and perhaps even tutorials too) ?

If you are also a Linux noobie, start by learning about Linux commands.

* "The Linux command line for beginners"
<https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/command-line-for-beginners>
Although this tutorial was written for Ubuntu, much of it will
also apply to Android - after you have installed a terminal
emulator on Android.

* "The Linux Commands Handbook"
<https://bjpcjp.github.io/pdfs/devops/linux-commands-handbook.pdf>

Anne de Royde wrote on Fri, 14 Jun 2024 07:25:37 -0000 :

> Android is based on (a modified version of) Linux.

As an aside, anyone (even non rooted phones) can freely add almost any
Linux distro to Android, if that's something people might want to try.

<https://andronix.app/>

There are a lot of threads about this already, so no sense in repeating.

Eli,

>> > Python, Perl, GCC I have installed. There's few different Lua
>> > packages, but I've never used them. Looks like most recent patch
>> > levels of 5.2, 5.3, and 5.4, plus luajit.
>>
>> Those work seperate from Termux, or are they a part of it ? If the
>> first, I could do with a link or two. :-)
>
> They run inside Termux and operate with the same permissions as Termux.
> Termux downloads precompiled binaries for them from a repo server.

Any chance I can download them and than offer them to termux? You see, I
have a deep-rooted wish to backup stuff like that. System crashes and all
that.

> Install Termux and plugins you want, Termux:API probably at minimum.
> Configure your repos,

Thats some sort of Linux inside joke, isn't it ? "You configure it". I
have *zero* information on either termux or any of those plugins, but I'm
expected to configure them ? How ? :-(

> The Termux:API stuff allows you to do various Android-y things.
....
> I had a script reading the air quality sensor built into the phone
> every five minutes using the sensors API.

Yep, thats (in general) what I'm after. :-)

So, any chance that you know of any tutorial in regard to termux and its
(program languages) plugins ? I don't think I will even /try/ to install it
without having anything to go on.

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

Anne,

> Android is based on (a modified version of) Linux.
>
> Get a manual of Linux commands. Then experiment.

:-) You're talking about the mundane stuff like being able to navigate the
filesystem and run programs. I'm rather sure that my time with a Raspberry
Pi will have been beneficial toward that. I just have to remember the
execute bit and the ".\" prefix.

No, I'm talking about the specific Linux version on the phone and what it
offers that other linux versions do not.

Especially in regard to programming (see subjectline), which means API
support towards the devices capabilities.

If learning some basics of Linux (and C ) was my goal I would have kept my
attention on a Raspberry Pi. And that got, due to absense of information
(and half implemented features but fully mentioned in header files),
cumbersome fast.

.... hence my request for information /before/ I go off the deep end.

> If you are also a Linux noobie,

I am. Just like I will be a noobie on the next version of Windows - even if
I've been using Windows in general for a good number of years now.

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

In comp.mobile.android, R.Wieser <address@is.invalid> wrote:
> Any chance I can download them and than offer them to termux? You see, I
> have a deep-rooted wish to backup stuff like that. System crashes and all
> that.

Once downloaded, you can back them up. I use rsync (running in Termux).
The directory tree is all readable inside the app.

General layout:

/data/data/com.termux/files
/cache
/code_cache
/files
/home
/usr
/bin
/etc
/include
/lib
/libexec
/share
/tmp
/var
/shared_preds

> > Install Termux and plugins you want, Termux:API probably at minimum.
> > Configure your repos,
> Thats some sort of Linux inside joke, isn't it ? "You configure it". I
> have *zero* information on either termux or any of those plugins, but I'm
> expected to configure them ? How ? :-(

As I recall it was just a matter of selecting which of the list I'd
prefer to use. I prefer not to use any of the ones in China and prefer
to try North American ones first. It's faster to pick ones that are not
an ocean away.

> So, any chance that you know of any tutorial in regard to termux and its
> (program languages) plugins ? I don't think I will even /try/ to install it
> without having anything to go on.

There's a difference there between us. I tried first, then looked for
help with what I wanted. I don't know of a tutorial, but I haven't
looked for one either. There's a mailing list, which I'm on, that gets
very little traffic. There's a wiki with some basic info. There's code
and issue tracking at github.

https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/Main_Page
https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/Getting_started

https://github.com/termux/

People also ask and answer questions here. I try to read all the posts
with Termux in the Subject, but this group is pretty far down my .newsrc
so I don't reach it every time I look at Usenet.

Elijah
------
wants a pocket computer more than a portable phone

R.Wieser wrote:

> Especially in regard to programming (see subjectline), which means API
> support towards the devices capabilities.

Android itself is deliberately designed as an end-user GUI environment
only, not a programming environment. In this matter Android differs from
both Linux and Windows.

Yes, there is some support for scripting (see subjectline) in Android
when you install a third-party terminal emulator.

But if you also require API support towards device capabilities, you may
need to call Android APIs from Kotlin or Java and cross-compile for
Android on a desktop computer. :-(

There is also the matter of Android permissions. For example, to access
the device's camera the program needs the Android 'Camera' permission.
Scripts do not have Android permissions. Only APK apps can have Android
permissions.

Eli the Bearded <*@eli.users.panix.com> writes:

> In comp.mobile.android, R.Wieser <address@is.invalid> wrote:
>> Any chance I can download them and than offer them to termux? You
>> see, I have a deep-rooted wish to backup stuff like that. System
>> crashes and all that.
>
> Once downloaded, you can back them up. I use rsync (running in Termux).
> The directory tree is all readable inside the app.
>
> General layout:
>
> /data/data/com.termux/files
> /cache
> /code_cache
> /files
> /home
> /usr
> /bin
> /etc
> /include
> /lib
> /libexec
> /share
> /tmp
> /var
> /shared_preds

I use `restic` from within termux to back up my termux environment which
also works well. A basic backup/restore is described on the official
wiki at https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/Backing_up_Termux.

>> So, any chance that you know of any tutorial in regard to termux and
>> its (program languages) plugins ? I don't think I will even /try/ to
>> install it without having anything to go on.

> There's a difference there between us. I tried first, then looked for
> help with what I wanted. I don't know of a tutorial, but I haven't
> looked for one either. There's a mailing list, which I'm on, that gets
> very little traffic. There's a wiki with some basic info. There's code
> and issue tracking at github.
>
> https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/Main_Page
> https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/Getting_started
>
> https://github.com/termux/
>
> People also ask and answer questions here. I try to read all the posts
> with Termux in the Subject, but this group is pretty far down my .newsrc
> so I don't reach it every time I look at Usenet.
>
> Elijah
> ------
> wants a pocket computer more than a portable phone

There's also an IRC channel, #termux on irc.libera.chat and a Matrix
channel, #termux_termux:gitter.im, both reasonably responsive.

--wgreenhouse