What's your favourite open source app and why?

Drhype@sh.itjust.works to Android@lemmy.world – 120 points –
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Termux

This app alone is one of the huge reasons why I prefer Android. I love that I can natively run a bunch of Linux utilities directly on my phone and use it like I would a regular computer. Everything from Vim, Python, and various networking utilities, I've played around with so many different tools which has helped expand my skillset over the years.

I also use the Termux-X11 addon to have a full xfce desktop environment running on an external monitor with HDMI out over USB-C.

Phones are quite capable devices and using tools like these really unlocks their full potential.

Termux is staple for power user

What kind of scenarios do you pull out a terminal on your phone for?

While Termux doesn't require root, my device is rooted which allows for a lot more.

A few examples:

  • Using mitmproxy to capture and analyze app traffic from phone apps (automated w/ a widget shortcut to configure android proxy settings on launch and then reset back when I'm finished).
  • SSHing into my servers (mosh is useful to keep connections alive if network cuts out). I have my own homescreen widgets to automatically launch for specific nodes. Also use tmux everywhere to handle multiple sessions.
  • Scripting my android phone as a USB keyboard input (simulating BadUSB).
  • I've implemented my own "lost phone rescue" so I have a way to remote into my device if I lose it.
  • Reading man pages about a command
  • Git cloning projects to examine source code when I'm feeling curious
  • Running web servers for sample projects
  • Managing files on device (sometimes easier with CLI)