Full linux distros on Sailfish OS
 

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/PoliticalD...restricted.gif

This topic is created to discuss any questions and thoughts regarding the harbour-containers. This app makes it possible to easily install full Linux distributions onto Sailfish OS and use that distro as any other Sailfish app.

The harbour-containers and lxc-templates-desktop are Illyria's project and he was inspired by the work of Preflex' and Elros34 on chroot.

More info (requirements, downloads and install instructions) is available here:

• harbour-containers
• lxc-templates-desktop

(Note: Once the container is started you can close the command line, and the container will stay running.)

Requirements:

• harbour-containers requirements
• Kernel requirements
• install the lxc and lxc-templates packages with pkcon
• Additional kernel requirements. All the following must be on in the kernel:
  CONFIG_DEVPTS_MULTIPLE_INSTANCES
  CONFIG_NAMESPACES
  CONFIG_UTS_NS
  CONFIG_IPC_NS
  CONFIG_PID_NS
  CONFIG_NET_NS
  CONFIG_CGROUPS
  CONFIG_CGROUP_DEVICE
  CONFIG_CPUSETS
  
  (You can double-check these on the device. e.g. zcat /proc/config.gz | grep CONFIG_DEVPTS_MULTIPLE_INSTANCES)

Downloads:

• harbour-containers
• lxc-templates-desktop
• qxdisplay (I recommend using qxcompositor because that supports auto-rotation)

===========================================
Mouse and cursor support:
Important!: From SFOS4.4 qxcompositor with mouse cursor is not available.
(The cursor support is in an experimental stage, however, that works fine in portrait mode)

Add the -plugin evdevmouse parameter into "/var/lib/environment/compositor/droid-hal-device.conf"
Then install the qxcompositor package. (An older build can be downloaded from here:
qxcompositor-0.0.5+cursor_test2.20200817210502 but I do recommend to install it from the proper repo.)

For SFOS4.4, the qxcompositor can be installed from Elros's repo. As root do the following:

• Code:

  ---

  ssu ar elros34 https://repo.sailfishos.org/obs/home:/elros34:/sailfishapps/sailfishos_4.4.0.64/

  ---

• Code:

  ---

  zypper ref

  ---

• Code:

  ---

  zypper in qxcompositor

  ---

Unfortunately, if you install Debian Sid fresh under SFOS4.4, the installation cannot build the Xwayland binary. If no window appears and on the console, you get this error: "/etc/X11/xinit/xserverrc: 4: exec: /opt/bin/Xwayland: not found", do the following:

• download the latest build (Xwayland.xxx.libc-2.29.bin) from here: Xwayland for armhf(32) or Xwayland for aarch64
• rename it to Xwayland
• set it to be executable
  Code:

  ---

  chmod +x Xwayland

  ---

• then copy into /home/.lxc/<container_name>/opt/bin/

If the window starts but there is an error message "Unable to contact settings server" "Failed to execute child process "dbus-launch" (No such file or directory)", then you need to attach the container and install the dbus-x11 package

Some useful scripts:
(You can download and edit as you wish. :))

• Start LXC and desktop in landscape/portrait/auto-rotation mode with mouse support: debian-mouse.sh
  (two parameters:
  $1 - container name;
  $2 - p or l or a for portrait/landscape/auto-rotate mode
  Please note: if it is called WITHOUT the second parameter, it starts with auto-rotate)
• Start LXC and desktop without mouse support: debian.sh

(Note: Once the container is started with one of the scripts above, you can close the command line, and the container will remain running.)
(Note2 03/11/2021: I've amended the scripts to handle if waydroid is also installed on the device. I also incorporated the landscape/portrait/auto-rotate modes into one script.)

===========================================

If the GUI doesn't work (for some unofficial ports, this is the case), this can be done manually from a command line. Here are the steps:

1. sudo lxc-create -t sfos-download -n <container-name>
2. sudo lxc-start -n <container-name>
3. Manually change the the /usr/share/sailfish-containers/guest to /usr/share/harbour-containers/scripts/guest in the /var/lib/lxc/<container_name>/config
4. sudo lxc-attach -n <container-name>
   then within the container:
   • /mnt/guest/setup_desktop.sh
   • /mnt/guest/setups/debian.sh
5. Start 2! command lines and in one of them issue this as nemo:
   /usr/bin/qxdisplay --wayland-socket-name "../../display/wayland-container-0"
   (or to start with mouse cursor support use this:
   /usr/bin/qxcompositor -o portrait --wayland-socket-name "../../display/wayland-container-0")
6. In the other command-line attach the container, then:
   /mnt/guest/start_desktop.sh 0
7. Done.

Note: If you don't have the /mnt/guest/ folder within the container, try to use this content in the /var/lib/lxc/<container_name>/config: config
In this config, there are some container-specific lines so we would like to copy them among the containers, we need to adjust these two lines accordingly:
where replace the <container_name> with your name of the container.

===========================================
V I D E O S:

Kabouik has created some very useful and impressive videos on how to use LXC with desktop Linux distributions on Sailfish OS. Many thanks for him! :)

• LXC containers are now working in the Sailfish OS demo:
  - First demo
• Desktop Linux (xfce & i3) on Pro1 qwerty slider without sacrificing telephony:
  - LBRY for good connections (big file)
  - Youtube for slower connections

They're rather long so check the description to jump to any chapter that might be more interesting to you.

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

Will this work on the original jolla phone?

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

copied from the lxc instructions:
On Jolla 1, memory might be a little few.

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

Would be fun to try. Maybe there is a decent light weight distribution.

https://itsfoss.com/lightweight-linux-beginners/

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

Well, my experience so far is that even if the device meets with all the requirements, there can be some issues. Examples:

• on my XA2, it works out of the box
• on my Note 4 (treltexx) port (CM14.1 base) it only works/starts from the command line (not a biggie as I created a script for that and everything else work fine)
• on my Nexus 5 (hammerhead) port (CM12.1 base) it starts but immediately stops (probably there are some other missing bits and bobs, the investigation is ongoing)
• on my S2 (i9100) port (CM12.1 base) it doesn't start either from GUI or from the command line (I think it is similar to the hammerhead and it is also under investigation)

So, it worth a try.

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

I have updated the main post with adding a video to watch it in action.

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

As an alternative, is there a way to boot up a Linux distribution from a sd card?

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

I don't know whether the path is hardcoded into the compiled executables. There are scripts but I have not checked them. So it might be possible, but in the current state that would surely require some manual preparation.

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

My question is how can I mount/attach folders outside of the container e.g. the phone's internal and external sd card, network drive, etc...?

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

hello guys,
i'm the app's developer, and a long time TMO lurker.
I'm a bit surprised to see a topic here so early :D

First of all, i'd like to point out that this project is heavily inspired on previous works done by preflex on "XWayland Victory!" and elros34 "sailfish_linux_chroot".

As edp17 already stated, LXC and harbour-containers usually works out-of-the-box on XA2's generation devices (android base >=9), since AlienDalvik works within a container as well.

Probably the wiki's requirements page needs some updates since community ports seems to require more than just "CONFIG_DEVPTS_MULTIPLE_INSTANCES" on kernel's defconfig, as i excepted.
Unfortunately i don't own other sailfishos devices than my Pro1 to work on, i'm happy anyway to help porters to bring containers on community ports. :)

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

So nice job

The geminipda kernel support it :)

Do you provide rpm somewhere to test on this device ?

Thanks


Forget

pkcon search lxc is my friend


So test in progress

But missing
harbour-containers :)

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

Hello, I have created this topic (am sorry if this was too early) because thought this could be a good place to ask/answer questions and share thoughts about the app. (I love it! :D)
I would like to get this work on all of my current (3) and planned future (3) ports. :)

I have tried the mentioned works (preflex on "XWayland Victory!" and elros34 "sailfish_linux_chroot") but, for me at least, none of them was so simple and safe like your one. I have messed up my well configured SFOS installations so many times (probably because of my stupidity :)) that finally, I stopped experimenting with them.

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

Check the links I provided in the first post. Or you can find it here. ;)

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

Oups sorry ...


:)

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

No worries. :) I have updated the first post with direct links to the downloads. You also need to check the requirements because there are some in the kernel and you need to install the lxc and lxc-templates packages.

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

Ok i found the script to setup desktop in the lxc after create by the GUI.

For me the GUI failed, to launch this script

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

On my Note 4 (treltexx) port, for an unknown reason, the GUI doesn't work. Therefore I do the following in command line:

1. sudo lxc-create -t sfos-download -n <container-name>
2. sudo lxc-start -n <container-name>
3. Manually change the the /usr/share/sailfish-containers/guest to /usr/share/harbour-containers/scripts/guest in the /var/lib/lxc/< container name >/config
4. sudo lxc-attach -n <container-name>
   then within the container:
   • /mnt/guest/setup_desktop.sh
   • /mnt/guest/setups/debian.sh
5. Start 2! command lines and in one of them issue this as nemo:
   /usr/bin/qxdisplay --wayland-socket-name "../../display/wayland-container-0"
6. In the other command-line attach the container, then:
   /mnt/guest/start_desktop 0
7. Done.

I have created a script that runs the `/usr/bin/qxdisplay --wayland-socket-name "../../display/wayland-container-0" &` and then enters to the container (sudo lxc-attach -n Debian) then I can just enter the comman `/mnt/guest/start_desktop 0` in there. This way you do not need 2 command line session.

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

No problem! This is without any doubt the best place to discuss about this project.
I'm happy to hear that :)

This changed since i updated lxc-templates-desktop's rpm,
now "/usr/share/sailfish-containers" shouldn't exists anymore.

Without GUI you'll need to add the mountpoint manually on container's config as follows:
To reply to your previous question, it is possible to mount host directories inside the container in the same way, for example i usually mount ~/Desktop on my containers with this:
if the GUI doesn't work please open an issue on github so we can start debugging ;)

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

Great stuff!

I have debian sid running on my Pro¹. Impressive how good the desktop works with touch. I haven't expected that.

I have not found out yet, if there is a way to use the hardware keyboard. I have a qwertz one. Anyone an Idea if that is possible?

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

Qwerty works out of the box, that's for sure. You should be able to use a qwertz USB keyboard on a qwertz Pro¹ too, but given the unusual qwertz xkb implementation on the Pro¹, I assume you would need to toggle between two different xkb layouts: one for builtin keyboard with the offset, one for external keyboard. Xfce4 as well as i3wm should have support for that.

Here's how to do it (I think). From SFOS terminal, copy the "pro1" xkb file to the container:

I use a modified version of "pro1", submitted in this PR on Github and merged today, so it will be in the next update. It should fix a few issues with the previous file, and adds an extra us-intl called "us2" with more dead keys (useful in chroot and LXC for those who like dead keys like me, or for Havoc terminal, but not other SFOS apps). The previous file just has "ru", "de" and "us" with fewer dead keys.

Then, in your i3 configuration file, add:

If you use xfce4, a similar approach with both layouts could be used as well using the "keyboard" application GUI to add both the vanilla de and the pro1 de.

The idea would be to use the layout for the builtin keyboard by default when the Desktop Environment is started, and the normal qwertz layout for USB keyboards when pressing Shift+Ctrl+Space. Ctrl+Space would revert to the builtin keyboard layout again. If you want to test first, just try running the commands manually in the container and please report back.

For us-intl users, use just this if you want the variant with more dead keys in your i3 container and use Caps Lock as compose key:

Optional if you want "us2" in native SFOS apps too + a way to switch back to "us" with Alt+Space from SFOS (but really, "us2" is useful in LXC and chroot only, not really in native apps except Havoc if you installed the compose-deadkeys package from Openrepos.net):

Changing input language in the SFOS GUI later will revert this (including the toggle option).

---

We have mouse support too (all buttons and scroll wheel work), but so far we haven't found a way to display the cursor icon, or to rotate the mouse into landscape orientation (xinput doesn't seem to work with xwayland, and Wayland doesn't offer as many customization options).

HDMI out would be the next step, but Illyria doesn't know for sure yet if that would be doable.

(I posted the same video and some pics in the Pro¹ thread some weeks ago when I just finished configuring the container, no one noticed it! :O)

-- Posted from Debian Sid i3. :>

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

Edited the commands above, this should work with qwertz Pro¹s now, else please let me know.

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

So if this is my output:

... then that's a 'no' for me, right?

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

I think so. The output of 'ls -lha /dev/pts/' should be like this (the important bit is the ptmx line):
However, if you can compile the kernel (or ask somebody who can do it for you), you can add the missing bits and bobs (details are in the first post).

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

Kabouik, illyria
I have a few questions:

1. I can manually attach the container, then when I am in, I can start a command.
Is there a way that by a command-line script attaches the container, then automatically runs a command once the container is attached?

2. Sound 1. How can I get the sound working in the container?

3. Sound 2. If the container is attached the sound on the host is muted. And it remains muted even if the container stops. I need to reboot the phone to get the sound back. (Probably there is another way for this, but this solution was the quickest one for me.)

4. I have managed to move the Onboard so right to the screen that I cannot grab and move a bit to the left. Is there a way to change the position/size of the Onboard in a configuration file or something?

Edit:
On 1. I can answer to myself. :)
This way, now I can start the container, launch the qxdisplay, attach the container and start the desktop in it with one single command. Cool. :D

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

You should be able to do all that from the GUI too at some point, even though it doesn't work on your phone yet (works well on Pro¹)!

2. Sound works out of the box for me. Maybe I needed to install pactl/pavucontrol, I don't remember. Then the sound from some applications can be adjusted with the hardware volume rocker, while some others' sound is unaffected and can only be affected in pavucontrol. I cannot firmly confirm yet if it actually works this way in some apps and not the others, or this was the whole session that responded to the volume rocker some times and not others.

3. I never observed that, but don't attach often. I need to test if I can reproduce this.

4. You can export your Onboard settings using the dconf-cli package to run:

Find the coordinates setting and fix it in a text editor, and then re-import the modified settings with:

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

So, I zcat'ed all of the config flags in the first post, and they all return 'y', except the one about ...MULTI_INSTANCES, which returns 'not set'. Is there any way to set that to 'y' without recompiling kernel?

BTW - I did notice that I have ptmx file in /dev, but /dev/pts/ directory is empty...

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

Actually setting that flag, changes many things (or maybe only one thing) in the compiled kernel. Therefore, I am sorry for saying that but if you would like to utilize all those features in the kernel, you need to recompile.

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

With this command I get an empty file. :confused:

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

Can I somehow use the camera in the e.g. firefox within the container desktop? If so, how?

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

Ok, well I might give it a try... I've done minor ramdisk mode before with unpackbootimg, etc., but I imagine that to change config would require having kernel source and compiling from there, no? Any other way?

Thanks

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

Yes, of course, you need the source. There is no other way, I am afraid.

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

Hum, that's weird. Works for me:

You could try to "dconf load" mine but you'll lose your previous settings if this works. I'm not sure why "dump" it doesn't work for you, unless you installed Onboard in a different way maybe (snap or something?).

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

I didn't try that yet but I'd be interested in this too, it would be useful for video conferencing web apps like meet.jit.si, although performance would probably be bad without hardware acceleration.

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

I have installed and tried the jami app and the web interface of the zoom.

The chat worked fine in Jami but the call (video/audio) didn't.

With zoom, I was able to join a meeting and see the other party but wasn't able t switch the camera on, didn't hear any sound and the other party didn't hear any sound either.
(The sound issue is probably the result of the previously mentioned problem.)

I have also installed linphone but didn't have the chance to try it yet.

If we can find a way to utilize the camera and speaker/mic the desktop distro will be good for even sip or video calls.
(I understand that currently there is no hw acceleration but we may find a workaround for that. And on a powerful device, it might work fine.)

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

I tried meet.jit.si (it's open source and requires no installation), but no microphone or camera detected either. Don't know if I would see others, but I assume that part would work since it's just a video stream in browser.

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

@edp17
Would you mind to edit your first post and change the title to 'distros, please?

Re: Full linux distos on Sailfish OS
 

It's done. Sorry for the typo! :o

Re: Full linux distros on Sailfish OS
 

Now that Illyria created an account on TMO, maybe also add a sentence stating harbour-containers and sailfish-lxc-templates are his project and were inspired by the work of Preflex' and Elros34 on chroot? You linked the repositories but now that he has an account here, it would make sense if people could associate his name to this.

Re: Full linux distros on Sailfish OS
 

Of course! He is the author. If you could let me know how I can do that, I'll transfer/handover/pass on this topic to him. From now on it would make sense to give him as all the credit is his.

Edit: Until we find out how the maintenance of this topic can be transferred to the author, I have updated the first post with the info you mentioned. If you would like to add anything else in there, please let me know!

Re: Full linux distros on Sailfish OS
 

I have no idea if that's possible, but my humble opinion is it's perfectly fine as is! Thanks!