Android has (through FDroid, as Google Play Store no longer permits it) Termux, The Only App Which Does Not Specifically and Precisely Suck[tm] (though as before, Einkbro is increasingly stiff competition).
Termux offers an arguably rich Linux userland, with over 2,500 packages (2,581 listed as I write this). That's still a small fraction of the total number of Debian packages, which now exceeds 57,000, but the tools which are available are a highly useful set and includes numerous scripting languages (Perl, Python, Ruby, Node.js, etc.) and compilers, along with several repositories associated with those tools. All told, Termux is far more than a toy.
But ...
... it's still hampered by numerous Android limitations:
- No root access unless your device is rootable (and rooted).
- No multi-user capabilities or security.
- Limited to the default Android filesystem limitations (including being locked out of most of the filesystem), and limited filesystem permissions capabilities.
- Subject to Android's process-management and process-reaping "features", which mean your shell session(s) may be killed off at any time.
- Limited on-board keyboard support. Even with an external bluetooth keyboard there are quirks and issues.
I can do, and do do quite a bit with the system. It remains limited and crippled in numerous ways though I can often avoid the sharpest of edges.
There's no full-fledged equivalent on iOS, and many years of attempting to provide even a fraction of Termux's capabilities (through ISH) seems to be running into even steeper headwinds than Termux has had to deal with.
Termux offers an arguably rich Linux userland, with over 2,500 packages (2,581 listed as I write this). That's still a small fraction of the total number of Debian packages, which now exceeds 57,000, but the tools which are available are a highly useful set and includes numerous scripting languages (Perl, Python, Ruby, Node.js, etc.) and compilers, along with several repositories associated with those tools. All told, Termux is far more than a toy.
But ...
... it's still hampered by numerous Android limitations:
- No root access unless your device is rootable (and rooted).
- No multi-user capabilities or security.
- Limited to the default Android filesystem limitations (including being locked out of most of the filesystem), and limited filesystem permissions capabilities.
- Subject to Android's process-management and process-reaping "features", which mean your shell session(s) may be killed off at any time.
- Limited on-board keyboard support. Even with an external bluetooth keyboard there are quirks and issues.
I can do, and do do quite a bit with the system. It remains limited and crippled in numerous ways though I can often avoid the sharpest of edges.
There's no full-fledged equivalent on iOS, and many years of attempting to provide even a fraction of Termux's capabilities (through ISH) seems to be running into even steeper headwinds than Termux has had to deal with.