this post was submitted on 30 Mar 2025
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Android

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Can you convert an android apk to a linux package? (mander.xyz)
submitted 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) by BlastboomStrice@mander.xyz to c/android@lemdro.id
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Supposing we have an open source android app, (how) could one convert it to a linux distro package? (Like for debian, nixos, etc.)

Android is essentially a linux distro if I get it correctly, a heavily modified one.

Many android apps are written with java and the newer ones tend to go with kotlin, which I think should be able to run cross-platform.

Would hard of an attempt would this be?

Edit: Thank you people! From what I gather android is very far from the rest of linux distros (practically having in common only a few parts of the kernel) and the fact that apps tend to be written in java/kotlin doesnt have much of a difference if they are not built in a way that makes the cross-platform compatible (like godot engine does). Those apps will probably need to do many system calls to the android OS, soI can't just compile them for a different architecture. I'd either need an android translation layer or an emulator to run them.

Unrelated, but cool to see some familiar usernames:)

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[–] hendrik@palaver.p3x.de 11 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Last time I checked, Waydroid was one of the more common ways to launch Android apps on Linux. I mean you can't just package the bare app file, since you need all the runtime and graphical environment of Android. Plus an app could include machine code for a different architecture than a desktop computer. So either you use some layer like Waydroid, or bundle this together with some app in a Linux package...

Android includes lots of things more than just a Linux kernel. An app could request access to your GPS, or to your contacts or calendar or storage. And that's not part of Linux. In fact not even asking to run something in the background or opening a window is something that translates to Linux. An Android app can do none of that unless the framework to deal with it is in place. That's why we need emulation or translation layers.