AinD: Android (Anbox) in Docker
AinD launches Android apps in Docker, by nesting Anbox containers inside Docker.
Unlike VM-based similar projects, AinD can be executed on IaaS instances without support for nested virtualization.
Docker Hub: aind/aind
Purposes
- Anti-theft (see FAQ)
- Android compatibility (via cloud) for iOS and Windows tablets
Non-goals
- Cloud gaming
Screenshots
$ docker ps -a
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
950e3fa7d320 aind "/docker-entrypoint.…" 7 minutes ago Up 7 minutes 0.0.0.0:5900->5900/tcp aind
$ docker exec aind ps -ef | tail -n 20
101023 323 138 0 11:18 pts/2 00:00:00 /system/bin/sdcard -u 1023 -g 1023 -m -w /data/media emulated
110020 347 154 0 11:18 pts/2 00:00:00 com.android.systemui
101001 397 154 0 11:18 pts/2 00:00:00 com.android.phone
user 403 154 0 11:18 pts/2 00:00:00 com.android.settings:CryptKeeper
user 448 154 0 11:18 pts/2 00:00:00 com.android.settings
110009 531 154 0 11:18 pts/2 00:00:00 android.ext.services
110032 546 154 0 11:18 pts/2 00:00:00 com.android.deskclock
110015 577 154 0 11:18 pts/2 00:00:00 com.android.provision
110047 583 154 0 11:18 pts/2 00:00:00 com.android.smspush
110000 615 154 0 11:18 pts/2 00:00:00 org.anbox.appmgr
110011 642 154 0 11:18 pts/2 00:00:00 com.android.managedprovisioning
110008 657 154 0 11:18 pts/2 00:00:00 android.process.media
110003 675 154 0 11:18 pts/2 00:00:00 com.android.providers.calendar
110002 694 154 0 11:18 pts/2 00:00:00 android.process.acore
110027 744 154 0 11:18 pts/2 00:00:00 com.android.calendar
110028 765 154 0 11:18 pts/2 00:00:00 com.android.camera2
110034 784 154 0 11:18 pts/2 00:00:00 com.android.email
110037 807 154 0 11:18 pts/2 00:00:00 com.android.gallery3d
110013 822 154 0 11:18 pts/2 00:00:00 com.android.onetimeinitializer
root 1003 0 0 11:25 ? 00:00:00 ps -ef
Quick start
Tested on Ubuntu 19.10 (Kernel 5.3).
May not work on other distros.
If modprobe ashmem_linux
or modprobe binder_linux
fails, see https://github.com/anbox/anbox-modules .
sudo modprobe ashmem_linux
sudo modprobe binder_linux
docker run -td --name aind --privileged -p 5900:5900 -v /lib/modules:/lib/modules:ro aind/aind
docker exec aind cat /home/user/.vnc/passwdfile
NOTE:
--privileged
is required for nesting an Anbox (LXC) inside Docker. But you don't need to worry too much because Anbox launches "unprivileged" LXC using user namespaces. You can confirm that all Android processes are running as non-root users, by executingdocker exec aind ps -ef
.
Wait for 10-20 seconds until Android processes are shown up in docker exec aind ps -ef
, and then connect to 5900
via vncviewer
.
The VNC password is stored in /home/user/.vnc/passwdfile
. The password file can be also overridden by docker run -v /your/own/passwdfile:/home/user/.vnc/passwdfile:ro
.
If the application manager doesn't shown up on the VNC screen, try docker run ...
several times (FIXME). Also make sure to check docker logs aind
.
Future version will support connection from Web browsers (of phones and tablets) without VNC.
Troubleshooting
docker logs aind
docker exec -it aind systemctl status anbox-container-manager
docker exec -it aind ps -ef
docker exec -it aind cat /var/lib/anbox/logs/console.log
Kubernetes
kubectl apply -f kube/aind.yaml
kubectl port-forward service/aind 5900
The manifest contains the kernel module installer as initContainers
.
The manifest is known to work on:
- Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) 1.16.8-gke.8 (ubuntu) [Apr 14, 2020]
- Kubernetes 1.16.8, Ubuntu 18.04.4, Kernel 5.3.0-1012-gke, Docker 19.03.2
- n2-standard-8
- Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) 1.16.8-gke.8 (ubuntu_containerd) [Apr 14, 2020]
- Kubernetes 1.16.8, Ubuntu 18.04.4, Kernel 5.3.0-1012-gke, containerd 1.2.10
- n2-standard-8
- Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) 1.17.3 [Apr 14, 2020]
- Kubernetes 1.17.3, Ubuntu 16.04.6, Kernel 4.15.0-1071-azure, MS-Moby 3.0.10+azure
- Standard DS2 v2
- kind 0.7.0 [Apr 14, 2020]
- Kubernetes 1.17.0, Ubuntu 19.10, Kernel 5.3.0-46-generic, containerd 1.3.2
- NOTE: Requires
docker exec kind-control-plane mount -o remount,rw /sys
Tips
adb
docker exec -it aind adb shell
To run adb on the host:
socat TCP-LISTEN:5037,reuseaddr,fork 'EXEC:docker exec -i aind "socat STDIO TCP-CONNECT:localhost:5037"' &
adb connect localhost:5037
adb shell
Apps
Pre-installed Apps
- Firefox
- F-Droid
- Misc accessories like Clock and Calculator
Installing apk packages
APK files mounted as /apk.d/*.apk
are automatically installed on start up.
You can also use F-Droid. To use F-Droid, enable "Settings" -> "Security" -> "Allow installation of apps from unknown sources".
FAQ
Isn't encrypting the phone with strong passcode enough for anti-theft? Why do we need aind?
People in the real world are likely to set weak passcode like "1234" (or finger pattern), because they want to open email/phone/twitter/maps/payment apps in just a few seconds.
aind is expected to be used in conjunction with encryption of the client device, and to be used only for sensitive apps, with a passcode that is stronger than the passcode of the client device itself.
TODOs
- Map different UID range per containers
- Support remote connection from phones and tablets, ideally using Web browsers (noVNC?).
- Better touch screen experience
- Redirect camera, notifications, ...
Similar projects
- Anbox: Desktop only and single-user/single-instance only. aind is built using Anbox.
- Android container in Chrome OS: ChromeOS/ChromiumOS-only
- Docker-Android: VM-based
- kubedroid: VM-based
- Anbox Cloud: Proprietary
- Intel Celadon in Container (CIC): Proprietary
License
- aind itself (e.g. Dockerfile, Kubernetes manifests, and start-up scripts) is licensed under the terms of the Apache License, Version 2.0.
- The Anbox patches (
./src/patches/anbox/*.patch
) are licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License, Version 3, corresponding to Anbox itself.
Binary image
- The
aind/aind
image on Docker Hub (built from./Dockerfile
) contains the binaries of several free software.- Anbox (
/usr/local/bin/anbox
): the GNU General Public License, Version 3 - Firefox (
/apk-pre.d/fennec-*.apk
): the Mozilla Public License 2 - F-Droid (
/apk-pre.d/FDroid.apk
): the GNU General Public License, Version 3 - Android image (
/android.img
, fetched from https://build.anbox.io/): see https://source.android.com/setup/start/licenses . For build instruction, see https://github.com/anbox/anbox/blob/master/docs/build-android.md - For other packages, see
/usr/share/doc/*/copyright
.
- Anbox (