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Building a Minimal Node.js Debian rootfs (arm64) in Termux

** English ** | 简体中文

A step-by-step guide to create a lightweight Debian rootfs with Node.js 18.20.4 in Termux, suitable for packaging into Android apps.

1. Preparation

# Update and install required tools
pkg update -y && pkg upgrade -y
pkg install -y proot debootstrap wget tar xz-utils

2. Create Working Directory

mkdir -p ~/minimal-node-rootfs
cd ~/minimal-node-rootfs

3. Create Minimal Debian rootfs using debootstrap

debootstrap --arch=arm64 \
  --variant=minbase \
  --include=apt,coreutils,dash,libc-bin,ca-certificates \
  stable ./rootfs https://mirrors.tuna.tsinghua.edu.cn/debian/

4. Create Directories and Add pocket User

mkdir -p ./rootfs/home/pocket
mkdir -p ./rootfs/root
mkdir -p ./rootfs/var/log

# Manually create pocket user (UID/GID 1000)
echo "pocket:x:1000:1000::/home/pocket:/bin/dash" >> ./rootfs/etc/passwd
echo "pocket:x:1000:" >> ./rootfs/etc/group

5. Install Node.js v18.20.4

curl -O https://nodejs.org/dist/v18.20.4/node-v18.20.4-linux-arm64.tar.xz

tar -xJf node-v18.20.4-linux-arm64.tar.xz -C ./rootfs/usr/local --strip-components=1

6. Create Startup Scripts

6.1 Root User Script (start.sh)

cat > start.sh << 'EOF'
#!/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/bash
unset LD_PRELOAD
exec proot -0 -r ./rootfs \
  -b /dev -b /proc -b /sys -b /sdcard \
  -w / \
  /bin/dash
EOF

chmod +x start.sh

6.2 Regular User Script (pocket_login.sh) — Recommended

cat > pocket_login.sh << 'EOF'
#!/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/bash
unset LD_PRELOAD

mkdir -p rootfs/home/pocket

exec proot --link2symlink \
  -r ./rootfs \
  -b /dev -b /proc -b /sys -b /sdcard \
  -i 1000:1000 \
  -w /home/pocket \
  /bin/dash -c "export HOME=/home/pocket; export USER=pocket; export LOGNAME=pocket; \
  export PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin; \
  exec /bin/dash -l"
EOF

chmod +x pocket_login.sh

7. Enter rootfs and Test Node.js

# Login as pocket user
./pocket_login.sh

Inside the rootfs, run:

/usr/local/bin/node -v
/usr/local/bin/node -e "console.log('Hello Node!')"

After testing, clean and exit:

/bin/apt clean
exit

8. Clean up rootfs (Reduce Size)

# Run these commands in Termux
rm -rf ./rootfs/usr/local/share/doc
rm -rf ./rootfs/usr/local/share/man
rm -rf ./rootfs/usr/share/locale/
rm -rf ./rootfs/var/lib/apt/lists/*
rm -rf ./rootfs/var/cache/apt/archives/*.deb

# Optional: remove the downloaded Node.js archive
# rm node-v18.20.4-linux-arm64.tar.xz

9. Package the rootfs

rm -f debian.tar.xz

tar -Jcpvf debian.tar.xz --exclude=".l2s.*" -C ./rootfs \
  bin boot etc home lib media mnt opt root run sbin sd srv tmp usr var

10. Copy to Internal Storage

cp debian.tar.xz ~/storage/shared/debian.tar.xz

Transfer debian.tar.xz to your computer and place it in your Flutter project:

~/AndroidStudioProjects/tiny_computer/assets/

11. Split File on Computer (Flutter Asset Limit)

# Split into 98MB chunks
split -b 98M debian.tar.xz

# Clean and rebuild Flutter project
flutter clean
flutter pub get