Linxr | Part 4 — Test Results

Test Results

Part 4 of 4 — the final chapter of building Linxr, a single APK that runs Alpine Linux on non-rooted Android.
← Part 3: SSH Terminal in Flutter

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Download

linxr-v1.apk — v1.0 · ARM64 · 63 MB

Requires Android 8.0+ (API 26), ARM64 device. Enable "Install from unknown sources" before sideloading.

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How We Test

Testing on a Mac with an Android emulator doesn't work — QEMU inside an emulator needs nested virtualisation, which isn't available.

We use Firebase Test Lab with an automated Robo test:

Setting	Value
Device	Pixel 2 (arm64)
Android version	11 (API 31)
Test type	Robo (automated UI crawler)
Timeout	600 seconds

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Test Result: Pass ✅

→ Full test results

No crashes. Key events from the logcat:

01:29:38  VmManager: startVm()
01:29:38  VmManager: Reusing existing user.qcow2
01:29:38  VmManager: VM process launched

01:29:43  QEMU: OpenRC 0.52.1 is starting up Linux 6.6.14-0-virt (aarch64)
01:29:51  QEMU: * eth0 ... [ ok ]
01:29:52  QEMU: * Starting sshd ... [ ok ]
01:29:52  QEMU: Welcome to Alpine Linux 3.19

From QEMU launch to sshd ready: ~14 seconds.

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What the Robo Test Found

The crawler navigated all three tabs — Home, Terminal, About — and exercised the Start VM / Stop VM flow. It found and read through the full open-source component list in the About screen: dartssh2, xterm, QEMU, Alpine, OpenSSH.

No crashes. No ANRs. No unexpected states.

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What Works

• ✅ Install APK → tap Start VM → Alpine boots in ~14 seconds
• ✅ sshd starts automatically; built-in terminal auto-connects
• ✅ Persistent overlay — state survives VM restarts
• ✅ Internet access — apk add works inside the VM
• ✅ No root. No Termux. No PC required after install.
• ✅ Foreground service keeps VM alive when app is backgrounded

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Current Limitations

Limitation	Notes
ARM64 only	QEMU binary targets aarch64 only
Password auth	SSH key setup requires manual ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
No GUI	Text terminal only
APK size 63 MB	Alpine disk image + QEMU + 50 shared libraries

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What's Next

• [ ] SSH key management from the app UI
• [ ] Configurable RAM and vCPU in settings
• [ ] File transfer (SCP/SFTP) from the app
• [ ] ARM32 / x86_64 support

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The Full Series

1. Part 1: The Idea and Architecture
2. Part 2: Shipping QEMU in an APK
3. Part 3: SSH Terminal in Flutter
4. Part 4: Test Results ← you are here

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Linxr Series — Alpine Linux on Android

Linxr = Linux + r. A single Android APK that runs a full Alpine Linux shell on any Android phone — no root, no Termux, no PC required.

#	Post	Topic
📖	Intro	What is Linxr? Start here
1	Part 1	The Idea and Architecture
2	Part 2	Shipping QEMU in an APK
3	Part 3	SSH Terminal in Flutter
4	Part 4	Test Results

GitHub: github.com/AI2TH/Linxr
Website: ai2th.github.io

Contributor: Kalvin Nathan
[e-mail] · LinkedIn