termux-generator

This script builds a termux/termux-app or termux-play-store/termux-apps/termux-app from source, but allows changing the package name from com.termux to anything else with a single command.

Building Termux in GitHub Actions

1. Fork the repository:

2. Click the "Actions" tab and enable GitHub Actions:

3. Click the "Generate Termux application" workflow, then click the "Run workflow" button and type your desired settings:

4. Click the "Run workflow" button, then wait for your build to complete. If the build is successful, there will be an artifact available to download containing all possible Termux APKs for the combination of settings you selected:

Building Termux locally

Dependencies

• Docker
• Android SDK
• OpenJDK 17
• git
• patch
• bash

Common Dependencies

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y openjdk-17-jdk git patch

Android SDK (Ubuntu 20.04 and 22.04)

sudo apt install -y android-sdk sdkmanager

Android SDK (Ubuntu 24.04 and 24.10)

sudo apt install -y google-android-cmdline-tools-13.0-installer

Android SDK common setup

echo "export ANDROID_SDK_ROOT=/usr/lib/android-sdk" >> ~/.bashrc && . ~/.bashrc
sudo chown -R $(whoami) $ANDROID_SDK_ROOT
yes | sdkmanager --licenses

Docker

Note

docker.io by Debian/Ubuntu or docker-ce by https://docker.com are both acceptable here. This example shows installing docker.io - to use Docker CE instead, visit the docker.com docs for Docker CE

sudo apt install -y docker.io
sudo usermod -aG docker $(whoami)

Note

Restart your computer or otherwise apply the group change. For me, logging out and logging in was insufficient

sudo reboot

Using termux-generator locally

Example: build Termux with the location changed and some popular packages preinstalled

Important

Best-case typical time to compile the below example with added packages and only the aarch64 bootstrap: 3 hours

git clone https://github.com/robertkirkman/termux-generator.git
cd termux-generator
./build-termux.sh --name a.copy.of.termux.with.the.location.changed \
                  --add make,pkg-config,autoconf,automake,bc,bison,cmake,flex,gperf,libtool,libllvm,m4,git,golang,nodejs,patchelf,python,ruby,rust,subversion,python,proot-distro,ffmpeg \
                  --architectures aarch64

Important

Running the command a second time will delete all the modified files and start over. Use --dirty if you are troubleshooting.

Example: build Termux with SSH server enabled by default and install it through ADB

Note

• This technique can be used to bootstrap from ADB access into full SSH access through Termux, without any access to a display or touchscreen.
• This might be useful on devices that have no screen or a broken screen.
• If you install Termux:Boot or build with --type play-store (which comes with Termux:Boot already built into the same APK as the main Google Play Termux APK), then the SSH server will also autolaunch every time the device is first unlocked after rebooting.
• adb forward tcp:8022 tcp:8022 is only necessary for:
  • If you prefer to use SSH through USB connection and/or ADB connection
  • If your device doesn't have network connectivity other than ADB
  • If your ADB connection is itself being forwarded through a tunnel or firewall that you don't have set up for SSH

git clone https://github.com/robertkirkman/termux-generator.git
cd termux-generator
./build-termux.sh --enable-ssh-server
adb install com.termux-f-droid-termux-app_apt-android-7-debug_universal.apk
adb install com.termux-f-droid-termux-boot-app_v0.8.1+debug.apk
adb shell am start -n com.termux.boot/.BootActivity
adb shell am start -n com.termux/.app.TermuxActivity
adb forward tcp:8022 tcp:8022 # use only if needed
ssh -p 8022 localhost # if not using 'adb forward', replace 'localhost' with device's LAN IP
# default password is 'changeme'
passwd # change the default password

Example: build Termux with the location changed and XFCE preinstalled

git clone https://github.com/robertkirkman/termux-generator.git
cd termux-generator
./build-termux.sh  --add valac,thunar,xfce4-panel,xfce4-session,xfce4-settings,xfconf,xfwm4,xfce4-notifyd,xfce4-terminal,xfdesktop,xfce4 \
                   --architectures aarch64,x86_64 \
                   --name two.termux

• After installing both the main app and the X11 app that appear after building, use this command to launch XFCE:

termux-x11 -xstartup xfce4-session &