Anbox Android App Install

ngc602 · 21 Aug 2021, 04:47

I am incredibly confused here, hoping someone can assist

I have successfully installed Ubuntu Touch on the Nexus 6P and it is wonderful so far!
I am stumped however on how to install .apk files on the Nexus 6P, considering that ADB is NOT supported.

Obviously ADB over USB doesn't work, and I cannot seem to get the ADB remote shell to work.

On the Laptop:

$ adb connect ubuntu-phablet
connected to ubuntu-phablet:5555

$ adb shell
error: device unauthorized.
This adb server's $ADB_VENDOR_KEYS is not set
Try 'adb kill-server' if that seems wrong.
Otherwise check for a confirmation dialog on your device.

A couple hours of research has not assisted in this unfortunately.
Same exact issue occurs when running:

On Ubuntu Touch (N6P)

$ adb connect -H localhost
connected to localhost:5555

$ adb shell
error: device unauthorized.
This adb server's $ADB_VENDOR_KEYS is not set
Try 'adb kill-server' if that seems wrong.
Otherwise check for a confirmation dialog on your device.

If trying to install locally on the N6P:

$ adb install Downloads/F-Droid.apk
error: device unauthorized. Please check the configuration dialog on your device
- waiting for device-

Can someone please provide a quick 1-2 about how to install Android applications using Anbox when ADB is not supported? This is the only thing I saw in the Ubuntu Mobile Docs regarding using adb to install (https://docs.ubports.com/en/latest/userguide/advanceduse/adb.html).

Thank you

AppLee · 21 Aug 2021, 07:17

Hi and welcome @ngc602

First of all, ADB is for Android, forget all you know about android because Ubuntu Touch is not it.
We only use the same Linux kernel on formerly android devices...

ADB is not supported on your device.

Now to install APK with Anbox I'm no expert but the first step that you seem missing is to download the APK to your device.
You can use MTP over USB and simply copy the file using your local file manager.
You can use bluetooth even if it's slow and unreliable
You can also use SSH with scp but you need to enable SSH on your device first (easiest way would be to install the UT Tweak Tool from the Open Store)

Oh and of course you can download the APK directly from the website you used on your computer.

Anything ADB is useful to on UT is possible via SSH.
Then refer to this doc:
https://docs.ubports.com/en/latest/userguide/dailyuse/anbox.html

ngc602 · 21 Aug 2021, 14:43

@applee

Thank you for the reply and the warm welcome Happy to finally be here, been waiting a long time to get Linux on an Android device

The file was downloaded directly from the N6P web browser, so the file is stored (on UBTouch Device) ~/Downloads/F-Droid.apk

My only confusion is how to actually push that application to be installed, when the device itself does not support adb and is not a standard android device (no APK package manager)

I believe the link you sent does show an alternative method using anbox-tools, so I will give that a try later and will see if that works

Thank you again for your time and welcome

AppLee · 21 Aug 2021, 15:04

@ngc602
In the linked documentation there are these instructions:

adb shell # connect from your host computer to your UT device
adb install /home/phablet/Downloads/my-app.apk # This is the adb of your device, not your host
exit

I would replace it with:

ssh phablet@<your_local_ip> # connect from your host computer to your UT device
adb install /home/phablet/Downloads/my-app.apk # This is the adb of your device, not your host
exit

But I'm not sure the ADB not working for your phone correspond to the one on your phone or to access the phone...
Being under USB it's probably just the connection to your device...

Good luck though

stanwood · 21 Aug 2021, 16:00

@ngc602 I advise you to wait for the new Anbox (which is called WayDroid) to be available on UT. It will be much more reliable.
A Telegram group is available here:

https://t.me/WayDroid

In the meantime you can try the old Anbox, that works somehow... To do so you first have to install the package (if available on your device):

sudo anbox-tool install

Reboot your device twice.

Then follow AppLee advises above to install your APKs.

ngc602 · 21 Aug 2021, 18:31

An update regarding this:

I have been able to get Anbox Applications installed without adb by doing the following:
(I removed most of them from the log to save space on this post, but keep in mind that there were HUNDREDS of "30 53 E Parcel : Reading a NULL string not supported here." errors that came with this install)

$ sudo anbox-tool disable && sudo anbox-tool upgrade && sudo anbox-tool enable

$ sudo mv Downloads/F-Droid.apk anbox-data/data

$ sudo anbox-tool enable && sudo anbox-tool app-install anbox-data/data/F-Droid.apk
Successfully installed anbox-data/data/F-Droid.apk

$ sudo lxc-console -ndefault -P /home/phablet/anbox-data/containers -t0
Connected to tty 0
Type <Ctrl+a q> to exit the console, <Ctrl+a Ctrl+a> to enter Ctrl+a itself

$ cd data/

$ pm install -r F-Droid.apk # using -r since it has already been installed previously, otherwise would not use this option
08-21 18:21:56.778   900   900 D AndroidRuntime: >>>>>> START com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit uid 2000 <<<<<<
08-21 18:21:56.784   900   900 D AndroidRuntime: CheckJNI is OFF
08-21 18:21:56.879   900   900 W art     : Unknown instruction set features for ARM CPU variant (generic) using conservative defaults
08-21 18:21:56.886   900   900 D ICU     : No timezone override file found: /data/misc/zoneinfo/current/icu/icu_tzdata.dat
08-21 18:21:56.914   900   900 E memtrack: Couldn't load memtrack module (No such file or directory)
08-21 18:21:56.914   900   900 E android.os.Debug: failed to load memtrack module: -2
08-21 18:21:56.915   900   900 I Radio-JNI: register_android_hardware_Radio DONE
08-21 18:21:56.926   900   900 D AndroidRuntime: Calling main entry com.android.commands.pm.Pm
08-21 18:21:56.976    39    39 I         : free_cache(8605919) avail 111367782400
08-21 18:21:57.428   750   761 I art     : CollectorTransition marksweep + semispace GC freed 49(2656B) AllocSpace objects, 0(0B) LOS objects, 24% free, 6MB/8MB, paused 10.538ms total 10.538ms
08-21 18:21:57.468   110   135 I PackageManager.DexOptimizer: Running dexopt (dex2oat) on: /data/app/vmdl1030667680.tmp/base.apk pkg=org.fdroid.fdroid isa=arm vmSafeMode=false debuggable=false target-filter=interpret-only oatDir = /data/app/vmdl1030667680.tmp/oat sharedLibraries=null
08-21 18:21:57.505   911   911 W dex2oat : Unknown instruction set features for ARM CPU variant (generic) using conservative defaults
08-21 18:21:57.505   911   911 I dex2oat : /system/bin/dex2oat --compiler-filter=interpret-only
08-21 18:21:58.873   911   917 W dex2oat : Before Android 4.1, method android.graphics.PorterDuffColorFilter androidx.vectordrawable.graphics.drawable.VectorDrawableCompat.updateTintFilter(android.graphics.PorterDuffColorFilter, android.content.res.ColorStateList, android.graphics.PorterDuff$Mode) would have incorrectly overridden the package-private method in android.graphics.drawable.Drawable
08-21 18:22:00.547   911   911 I dex2oat : dex2oat took 3.042s (threads: 8) arena alloc=88KB (91000B) java alloc=6MB (6605888B) native alloc=13MB (14395984B) free=3MB (3691952B)
08-21 18:22:00.574   110   124 I ActivityManager: Force stopping org.fdroid.fdroid appid=10050 user=-1: installPackageLI
08-21 18:22:00.646   110   135 I PackageManager: Package org.fdroid.fdroid codePath changed from /data/app/org.fdroid.fdroid-2 to /data/app/org.fdroid.fdroid-1; Retaining data and using new
08-21 18:22:00.647   110   135 W PackageManager: Code path for org.fdroid.fdroid changing from /data/app/org.fdroid.fdroid-2 to /data/app/org.fdroid.fdroid-1
08-21 18:22:00.647   110   135 W PackageManager: Resource path for org.fdroid.fdroid changing from /data/app/org.fdroid.fdroid-2 to /data/app/org.fdroid.fdroid-1
08-21 18:22:00.706   110   135 W PackageManager: Unknown permission android.permission.FOREGROUND_SERVICE in package org.fdroid.fdroid
08-21 18:22:00.767   110   135 I art     : Starting a blocking GC Explicit
08-21 18:22:00.827   110   135 I art     : Explicit concurrent mark sweep GC freed 28532(1615KB) AllocSpace objects, 10(248KB) LOS objects, 19% free, 10MB/12MB, paused 1.003ms total 59.530ms
08-21 18:22:00.846    39    39 E         : Couldn't opendir /data/app/vmdl1030667680.tmp: No such file or directory
Success
08-21 18:22:00.846   110   135 I ActivityManager: Force stopping org.fdroid.fdroid appid=10050 user=0: pkg removed
08-21 18:22:00.856   110   145 I InputReader: Reconfiguring input devices.  changes=0x00000010
08-21 18:22:00.860   110   145 I InputReader: Reconfiguring input devices.  changes=0x00000010
08-21 18:22:00.860   110   400 I BroadcastQueue: Delay finish: com.android.gallery3d/.app.PackagesMonitor
08-21 18:22:00.861   110   145 I InputReader: Reconfiguring input devices.  changes=0x00000010
08-21 18:22:00.868   900   900 I art     : System.exit called, status: 0
08-21 18:22:00.868   900   900 I AndroidRuntime: VM exiting with result code 0.
08-21 18:22:00.871   110   405 I BroadcastQueue: Resuming delayed broadcast
08-21 18:22:00.872   254   254 E PhoneInterfaceManager: [PhoneIntfMgr] getCarrierPackageNamesForIntent: No UICC
08-21 18:22:00.872   254   254 D CarrierSvcBindHelper: No carrier app for: 0
08-21 18:22:00.873   254   254 E PhoneInterfaceManager: [PhoneIntfMgr] getCarrierPackageNamesForIntent: No UICC
08-21 18:22:00.873   254   254 D CarrierSvcBindHelper: No carrier app for: 0
08-21 18:22:00.873   254   254 D CarrierConfigLoader: mHandler: 9 phoneId: 0
08-21 18:22:00.874   792   792 W ContextImpl: Calling a method in the system process without a qualified user: android.app.ContextImpl.startService:1357 android.content.ContextWrapper.startService:613 android.content.ContextWrapper.startService:613 com.android.keychain.KeyChainBroadcastReceiver.onReceive:12 android.app.ActivityThread.handleReceiver:3040 
08-21 18:22:00.877   110   306 I BroadcastQueue: Delay finish: com.android.keychain/.KeyChainBroadcastReceiver
armv7-a-neon:/data $ 08-21 18:22:00.885   110   123 W Searchables: No global search activity found
08-21 18:22:00.886   110   123 W Searchables: No global search activity found
08-21 18:22:00.886   110   405 I BroadcastQueue: Resuming delayed broadcast
08-21 18:22:00.890   110   404 I BroadcastQueue: Delay finish: com.android.musicfx/.Compatibility$Receiver
08-21 18:22:00.895   110   274 I BroadcastQueue: Resuming delayed broadcast
08-21 18:22:00.897   110   122 W BroadcastQueue: Unable to launch app org.fdroid.fdroid/10050 for broadcast Intent { act=android.intent.action.PACKAGE_REMOVED dat=package:org.fdroid.fdroid flg=0x4000010 (has extras) }: process is bad
08-21 18:22:01.503    30    52 E Parcel  : Reading a NULL string not supported here.
08-21 18:22:01.504   427   427 I AnboxAppMgr: Connected to platform service
08-21 18:22:02.043    30    53 E Parcel  : Reading a NULL string not supported here.
08-21 18:22:02.053   110   404 I BroadcastQueue: Delay finish: com.android.gallery3d/.app.PackagesMonitor
08-21 18:22:02.093   110   306 I BroadcastQueue: Resuming delayed broadcast
08-21 18:22:02.098   110   122 I BroadcastQueue: Delay finish: com.android.musicfx/.Compatibility$Receiver
08-21 18:22:02.106   110   412 I BroadcastQueue: Resuming delayed broadcast
08-21 18:22:02.118   110   121 I BroadcastQueue: Delay finish: com.android.musicfx/.Compatibility$Receiver
08-21 18:22:02.123   110   122 I BroadcastQueue: Resuming delayed broadcast

enter
Ctrl+A q

$ sudo reboot

It seems that it installs, and a reboot is performed. Upon coming back online and refreshing the App Drawer, the stock Android apps appear and F-Droid does as well. Apps such as Clock and Contacts (anbox version) open and function, but F-Droid opens to a black screen and never actually launches. Same happened with 'Idle Heroes' (yes, I am one of those losers)

Any insight is appreciated, but nice to get somewhere where at least something technically installs

Edit:
@stanwood
To your point, while I could easily wait for WayDroid to be integrated to UBTouch for the N6P, where is the fun in that when I can tinker now?

stanwood · 21 Aug 2021, 19:16

@ngc602 To be honest, old Anbox was almost unusable to me (only Whatsapp worked correctly). Most apps were crashing at launch, etc...

That's why I did uninstall it a few months ago.

flohack · 23 Aug 2021, 17:40

@stanwood We should remove Anbox docu entirely. It just confuses people with a developer preview and everyone thinks its ready for production lol.

Cor3 · 29 Aug 2021, 21:32

@flohack any idea on when waydroid will be rolling out for nexus 6p? And will it be installed with a update ir what?

flohack · 29 Aug 2021, 21:44

@cor3 No idea, sorry. Currently our dev is working only on a device with Halium 9, an dit is not clear when or how it can be made for older devices.

One option would be to upgrade N6P to Halium 9, but I am not sure I will find time for this.

That said, Waydroid is far from being ready for daily use. I would not expect that to be before next 3-6 months probably.

Cor3 · 30 Aug 2021, 17:14

@flohack wish i had the smarts to help with this dev i love this platform so much , you and all the rest have done such wonderful work. Its just the few little things like ,anbox/waydroid or lack of monitermode that break my heart lol other then that i cant complain hopefully in time webwill seeball this up and running

Cor3 · 30 Aug 2021, 17:15

@flohack if you ever need a tester for a helium9 contact me id be happy to assist though