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Table of contents

• Overview
• Getting Started
• Configuration
• Native Bridge Support
• GMS Support
• WebRTC Streaming
• How To Build
• Troubleshooting
• Note
• Contact Me
• License

Overview

ReDroid (Remote anDroid) is a GPU accelerated AIC (Android In Container) solution. You can boot many instances in Linux host (Docker, podman, k8s etc.). ReDroid supports both arm64 and amd64 architectures. ReDroid is suitable for Cloud Gaming, VMI (Virtual Mobile Infrastructure), Automation Test and more.

Currently supported:

• Android T Preview (redroid/redroid:t_preview_1-latest, redroid/redroid:t_preview_1-amd64, redroid/redroid:t_preview_1-arm64)
• Android 12 (redroid/redroid:12.0.0-latest, redroid/redroid:12.0.0-amd64, redroid/redroid:12.0.0-arm64)
• Android 12 64bit only (redroid/redroid:12.0.0_64only-latest, redroid/redroid:12.0.0_64only-amd64, redroid/redroid:12.0.0_64only-arm64)
• Android 11 (redroid/redroid:11.0.0-latest, redroid/redroid:11.0.0-amd64, redroid/redroid:11.0.0-arm64)
• Android 10 (redroid/redroid:10.0.0-latest, redroid/redroid:10.0.0-amd64, redroid/redroid:10.0.0-arm64)
• Android 9 (redroid/redroid:9.0.0-latest, redroid/redroid:9.0.0-amd64, redroid/redroid:9.0.0-arm64)
• Android 8.1 (redroid/redroid:8.1.0-latest, redroid/redroid:8.1.0-amd64, redroid/redroid:8.1.0-arm64)

Tested Platforms:

• Ubuntu 16.04 / 18.04 / 20.04 (amd64 / arm64)
• Amazon Linux 2 (amd64 / arm64)
• Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 (amd64)
• Alibaba Cloud Linux 3 (amd64 / arm64)
• WSL 2 (Ubuntu) (amd64)
• CentOS (amd64*, arm64*)
• OpenEuler 20.03 (amd64, arm64*)

* customized kernel required

Getting Started

ReDroid requires some kernel modules (binderfs, ashmem etc.). Check kernel modules to install these modules.

# start and connect via `scrcpy`
docker run -itd --rm --memory-swappiness=0 --privileged \
    --pull always \
    -v ~/data:/data \
    -p 5555:5555 \
    redroid/redroid:11.0.0-latest

adb connect <IP>:5555
scrcpy --serial <IP>:5555

## Explanation:
##   --pull always    -- be sure to use the latest image
##   -v ~/data:/data  -- mount data partition
##   -p 5555:5555     -- expose adb port, you can connect via `adb connect <HOST-IP>`

Configuration

required params (already added in docker image)

• qemu=1
• androidboot.hardware=redroid

display params

• redroid.width=720
• redroid.height=1280
• redroid.fps=15
• ro.sf.lcd_density=320

Network:

• net.eth0.dns1=
• net.eth0.proxy.type=[static|pac|none|unassigned]
• net.eth0.proxy.host=
• net.eth0.proxy.port=

GPU accelerating ReDroid use mesa3d to accelerate 3D rendering. Currently tested platforms:

• AMD (arm64, amd64 with amdgpu driver)
• Intel (amd64 with i915 driver)
• virtio-gpu (vendor agnostic, arm64 and amd64)

params:

• redroid.gpu.mode=[auto|host|guest]
• redroid.gpu.node=[/dev/dri/renderDxxx]

NOTE: you can override system props prefixed with qemu. or ro.. for example, you can set ro.secure=0, then you can get root adb shell by default.

Native Bridge Support

It's possible to run arm Apps in x86 ReDroid instance via libhoudini, libndk_translator or QEMU translator.

Take libndk_translator as an example:

# grab libndk_translator libs from Android 11 Emulator
find /system \( -name 'libndk_translation*' -o -name '*arm*' -o -name 'ndk_translation*' \) | tar -cf native-bridge.tar -T -

# example structure, be careful the file owner and mode

system/
├── bin
│   ├── arm
│   └── arm64
├── etc
│   ├── binfmt_misc
│   └── init
├── lib
│   ├── arm
│   └── libnb.so
└── lib64
    ├── arm64
    └── libnb.so

# Dockerfile
FROM redroid/redroid:11.0.0-amd64

ADD native-bridge.tar /

COPY factory.prop /factory/factory.prop

# factory.prop
ro.product.cpu.abilist=x86_64,arm64-v8a,x86,armeabi-v7a,armeabi
ro.product.cpu.abilist64=x86_64,arm64-v8a
ro.product.cpu.abilist32=x86,armeabi-v7a,armeabi
ro.dalvik.vm.isa.arm=x86
ro.dalvik.vm.isa.arm64=x86_64
ro.enable.native.bridge.exec=1
ro.dalvik.vm.native.bridge=libndk_translation.so
ro.ndk_translation.version=0.2.2

# build docker image
docker build . -t redroid:11.0.0-amd64-nb

Take a look at https://gitlab.com/android-generic/android_vendor_google_emu-x86 to extract automatically libndk_translator from the Android 11 emulator images.

After following the guide on "Building" section, you will get native-bridge.tar under vendor/google/emu-x86/proprietary.

If you find errors in using libndk_translator, please try the following:

• YOU MUST HAVE binfmt_misc kernel module loaded for supporting other binaries formats! If you have not loaded it already:

  sudo modprobe binfmt_misc

  or add binfmt_misc to /etc/modules to autoload it at boot (for example in Ubuntu).

  Check your specific distribution wiki/docs if you don't have binfmt_misc module and you want to install it, or how to autoload the module at boot.

• Extract the native bridge archive, preserving the permissions, set specific permissions for allowing init file to be executed and traverse of important dirs:

  mkdir native-bridge
  cd native-bridge
  sudo tar -xpf ../native-bridge.tar `#or path to your actual native bridge tarball`
  sudo chmod 0644 system/etc/init/ndk_translation_arm64.rc
  sudo chmod 0755 system/bin/arm
  sudo chmod 0755 system/bin/arm64
  sudo chmod 0755 system/lib/arm
  sudo chmod 0755 system/lib64/arm64
  sudo chmod 0644 system/etc/binfmt_misc/*
  sudo tar -cpf native-bridge.tar system

  Move or copy your new native-bridge.tar into the dir where you have written your Dockerfile, and rebuild again the new image with native bridge support.

  You must use sudo or a root shell to preserve the permissions and owners of the files.

GMS Support

It's possible to add GMS (Google Mobile Service) support in ReDroid via Open GApps, MicroG or MindTheGapps.

WebRTC Streaming

CALL FOR HELP

Plan to port WebRTC solutions from cuttlefish, including frontend (HTML5), backend and many virtual HALs.

How To Build

It's Same as AOSP building process. But I suggest to use docker to build.

Check android-builder-docker for details.

Troubleshooting

• Container disappeared immediately

make sure the required kernel modules are installed; run dmesg -T for detailed logs

• Container running, but adb cannot connect (device offline etc.)

run docker exec -it <container> sh, then check ps -A and logcat

try dmesg -T if cannot get a container shell

Note

• Kernel 5.7+, need enable binderfs / ashmem
• redroid require pid_max less than 65535, or else may run into problems. Change in host OS, or add pid_max separation support in PID namespace
• SElinux is disabled in ReDroid; possible enabled with selinuxns POC
• sdcardfs currently not implemented, use fuse instead; may need run modprobe fuse first in some OS (AmazonLinux2 ?)
• CGroups errors ignored; some (stune for example) not supported in generic linux.
• procfs not fully seperated with host OS; Community use lxcfs and some cloud vendor (TencentOS) enhanced in their own kernel.
• vintf verify disabled (since no kernel)

Contact Me

• ziyang.zhou@outlook.com
• remote-android.slack.com (invite link: https://join.slack.com/t/remote-android/shared_invite/zt-q40byk2o-YHUgWXmNIUC1nweQj0L9gA)

License

ReDroid itself is under Apache License, since ReDroid includes many 3rd party modules, you may need to examine license carefully.

ReDroid kernel modules are under GPL v2