Quickstart Guide

Usage

To display DebDroid's help page, run:

/sdcard/debdroid/debdroid.sh help

Usage:
  debdroid.sh [OPTION] [SUBOPTION] [ARGUMENTS]

Options:
  run [COMMAND...]
      Runs the default Debdroid environment.
      If COMMAND is provided, it executes that command inside the environment.
      If no command is given, an interactive shell is started.

  list
      Lists all command scripts in the command directory.

  command [COMMAND_NAME]
      Executes the specified command script from the command directory.
      Example: debdroid.sh command setup_user

  resize [SIZE]
      Resizes the debian image to the specified size.
      Example: debdroid.sh resize 5G

Notes:
  - Unrecognized options are treated the same as the 'run' option.

Running Interactive Sessions

1. Open the Terminal Emulator app.
2. Type the following commands, pressing Enter after each one:

su
sh /sdcard/debdroid/debdroid.sh

This launches the environment and gives you a shell inside Debian.

Inside the chroot shell, users can execute the exit command to leave the environment and automatically unmount the filesystems.

Running Commands

You can run a specific command inside the chroot without starting an interactive shell. DebDroid provides pre-made command scripts located in /sdcard/debdroid/command, which automate common tasks such as maintenance, setup, or service management.

To list available command scripts, run:

su
sh /sdcard/debdroid/debdroid.sh list

To execute a command script, run:

su
sh /sdcard/debdroid/debdroid.sh command <command-name>

To execute other commands directly inside the chroot, run:

su
sh /sdcard/debdroid/debdroid.sh apt update
# or (explicit version)
sh /sdcard/debdroid/debdroid.sh run apt update

This will execute the apt update command directly in the chroot environment.

Image Resizing

The Debian root filesystem (debian.img) in DebDroid has a fixed size. If you need more space, you can easily expand it using the built-in resize helper.

The following command expands the debian environment to 5GB:

su
sh /sdcard/debdroid/debdroid.sh resize 5G

For additional usage instructions, run:

su
sh /sdcard/debdroid/debdroid.sh resize

• Make sure the image is not mounted when resizing.
• Ensure you have enough free storage on your device to accommodate the new image size.

User Networking

Due to Android group restrictions, users inside the DebDroid chroot need to be added to the inet group to access networking tools.

usermod -aG inet <username>

After this, the user should be able to use networking commands like ping.