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How to install Nitrocid KS on Android

The tricky part is getting Nitrocid KS to run on Android phones and tablets, especially those that run the latest version of Android.

Installation

To install Nitrocid KS on your phone or tablet, install the following dependencies:

Ensure that your Android version is compatible with Termux. You need at least 8 GB of free storage and Android 7.0 or higher.

To get a better experience with Nitrocid KS on your phone or your tablet, it's advisable to get a phone or a tablet that supports desktop mode (Samsung DeX for example) and a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard.

Required packages

You can consult the required dependencies here:

Dependency Information

Once you're done, follow the steps:

  1. Install Termux

  2. Install proot-distro using the following command:

    • pkg install proot-distro

  3. Install the Ubuntu proot

    • proot-distro install ubuntu

  4. Log in to the Ubuntu proot

    • proot-distro login ubuntu

  5. Ensure that you've updated the package cache

    • apt update

    • apt dist-upgrade

  6. Install the .NET 8.0 runtime

    • apt install dotnet-runtime-8.0

  7. Install wget to download the latest release from this page.

    • apt install wget

    • wget https://github.com/Aptivi/NitrocidKS/releases/download/v0.x.x.x-beta/0.x.x.x-bin.zip

  8. Install unzip to extract the files

    • apt install unzip

    • unzip 0.x.x.x-bin.zip

  9. Execute dotnet Nitrocid.dll

For 0.0.24.x or older, files that end with the -dotnet prefix means that it's for .NET 6.0.

Bleeding-edge

Bleeding-edge builds usually come from building the development branch of the kernel, and they usually contain bugs and other untested features.

If you're a tester to such software, please follow the steps on your Windows machine. Please be sure that you're signed in to your GitHub account.

  1. Open the canary release preparation workflow

  2. Select the most recent build

  3. Scroll down to Artifacts and click on the nks-build button to download the ZIP file.

  4. Repeat steps 1-6 in the Installation section

  5. Now, use the termux-setup-storage command. Follow the instructions here.

  6. Copy the nks-build.zip file from ~/storage/downloads/nks-build.zip to your home directory

    • cp ~/storage/downloads/nks-build.zip ~/

  7. Still in the home directory, install unzip to extract the files

    • apt install unzip

    • unzip nks-build.zip

  8. Execute dotnet Nitrocid.dll

Important notes

Here are important notes to consider when trying to run Nitrocid KS on Android:

Trying to run or build Nitrocid KS on an ARM64 Android device (e.g. Android devices with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 as SoC) with Termux emits two error messages. The first one is:

$ dotnet build
GC heap initialization failed with error 0x8007000E
Failed to create CoreCLR, HRESULT: 0x8007000E

and the second one is:

$ DOTNET_GCHeapHardLimit=1C0000000 dotnet build
(...)
error MSB6006: "csc.dll" exited with code 139.
Build FAILED.

In order to fix the first message, append the below environment variable before each dotnet build command like this:

$ DOTNET_GCHeapHardLimit=1C0000000 dotnet build

However, to fix the second message, download the fixed version of proot using this link (mirror if down) and run these commands outside the Ubuntu proot-distro environment:

# dpkg -i proot_5.1.107-50_aarch64.deb
# apt-mark hold proot