Installing Nextcloud on an Android TV Box using Termux and AnLinux/Ubuntu

📑 How to
1

AI-generated and Transcribed my English.

This guide installs Nextcloud on an Android TV box using Termux + AnLinux + Ubuntu/proot.

Because Ubuntu is running under proot, there are a couple of important differences from a normal Ubuntu installation:

systemd is not available.
Services are started with service
Apache cannot normally use privileged port 80, so this example uses port 8080.

Running services such as Apache and MariaDB can prevent the proot Ubuntu session from exiting, so we add a shutdown command at the end.

Running Server Applications on an Android TV Box using Termux

I have successfully used an inexpensive Android TV box as a small, low-power Linux Nextcloud server using Termux.

This is the basic setup. I have used it 3 times so far.

  1. Install Termux

Install Termux from F-Droid or the official Termux GitHub releases.

One issue I encountered was with Termux:Boot. If Termux and its add-ons come from different sources, their Android signatures may not match. It is therefore best to install Termux and any Termux add-ons from the same source. I ended up used ~/.bashrc instead. The TV Box has Autostart function.

  1. Update Termux and install the basic tools

Open Termux and run:

pkg update && pkg upgrade -y

Install some useful tools:

pkg install git openssh iproute2 which wget nano proot -y

You can check the TV box hardware and available resources with:

nproc
free -h
uptime
cat /proc/cpuinfo
whoami
ip -a route
top

nproc shows the available CPU cores, while free -h is particularly useful for seeing how much RAM Android leaves available to Termux applications.

  1. Enable SSH access

Set a password for the Termux user:

passwd

Start the SSH server:

sshd

Termux OpenSSH normally listens on port 8022 rather than the standard SSH port 22.

Check it with:

ss -ltn | grep 8022

Use:

whoami

To find the Termux username.

From another Linux machine on the LAN:

ssh -p 8022 TERMUX_USER@ANDROID_TV_IP

For example:

ssh -p 8022 u0_a79@192.168.1.xxx

  1. Automatically start SSH when Termux starts

Edit:

nano ~/.bashrc

Add:

# Start SSH if it is not already running

if command -v sshd >/dev/null 2>&1; then
pgrep -x sshd >/dev/null || sshd
fi

Now whenever a Termux interactive shell starts, it checks whether sshd is already running and starts it if necessary.

This is not the same as Android boot autostart. .bashrc runs when Termux starts a shell. For true Android boot-time startup, Termux itself must be started at boot using something such as a compatible Termux:Boot installation or another Android/root startup mechanism.

  1. Ubuntu environment

Termux can also provide the foundation for running an Ubuntu userspace using proot.

This gives a layout such as:

Android TV Box
│
├── Android
│
└── Termux
│
├── OpenSSH :8022
│
└── Ubuntu / proot
│
├── Apache
├── MariaDB
├── PHP
└── other Linux applications

An important difference from a conventional Ubuntu installation is that a proot Ubuntu environment normally does not run systemd as PID 1.

Therefore services are generally controlled with commands such as:

service apache2 start
service mariadb start

rather than:

systemctl start apache2

Another consideration is that unprivileged/proot environments may not be able to bind services to privileged ports such as port 80. Using ports such as 8080 avoids this issue.

  1. SSH and automatic Ubuntu entry

If Ubuntu is installed and you want a locally opened Termux terminal to automatically enter Ubuntu, while still allowing SSH connections to remain at the Termux prompt, the Termux

nano ~/.bashrc can contain:

# Start sshd if needed

if command -v sshd >/dev/null 2>&1; then
pgrep -x sshd >/dev/null || sshd
fi


# Only auto-enter Ubuntu on a local interactive terminal

if [[ $- == i ]] &&
[ -z "$SSH_CONNECTION" ] &&
[ -z "$SSH_CLIENT" ]; then

if [ -x "$HOME/start-ubuntu.sh" ]; then
    "$HOME/start-ubuntu.sh"
fi

fi

This gives two useful behaviours:

Open Termux locally
↓
Ubuntu

SSH → port 8022
↓
Termux

That makes troubleshooting considerably easier because SSH access does not automatically launch another proot environment.

Result

The result is a surprisingly useful little ARM server:

Android TV Box
│
Termux
│
├── SSH :8022
│
└── optional Ubuntu/proot

The box can then be used as the base for whatever Linux services you want to experiment with.

For inexpensive ARM Android TV boxes drawing only around 10 watts, Termux provides a simple way of turning otherwise basic hardware into a small home server without replacing Android or installing a conventional Linux distribution.

  1. Install Ubuntu with AnLinux

Install AnLinux and Termux, then in Termux:

pkg install wget openssl-tool proot -y
hash -r

Download the Ubuntu installer:

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/EXALAB/Anlinux-Resources/master/Scripts/Installer/Ubuntu/ubuntu.sh

Run the generated Ubuntu installer/startup script as appropriate for your AnLinux installation.

Once inside Ubuntu, update it:

apt update
apt full-upgrade -y

  1. Install Apache, MariaDB and PHP

Install the basic Nextcloud stack:

apt install -y \
apache2 \
mariadb-server \
libapache2-mod-php \
php \
php-mysql \
php-gd \
php-curl \
php-mbstring \
php-intl \
php-gmp \
php-bcmath \
php-xml \
php-zip \
php-imagick \
php-apcu \
unzip \
wget \
nano \
bzip2

Check the installation:

php -v
apache2 -v
mariadb --version

  1. Move Apache to port 8080

Under AnLinux/proot, use an unprivileged port such as 8080.

Edit:

nano /etc/apache2/ports.conf

Change:

Listen 80

to:

Listen 8080

For the initial Apache test, edit:

nano /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default.conf

Change:

<VirtualHost *:80>

to:

<VirtualHost *:8080>

Suppress Apache’s hostname warning:

echo "ServerName localhost" >> /etc/apache2/apache2.conf

Enable the Apache modules for Nextcloud needs:

a2enmod rewrite headers env dir mime setenvif

Start Apache:

service apache2 start

Check:

ss -ltn | grep 8080

From another computer on the LAN, open:

http://ANDROID_BOX_IP:8080/

If you get the Apache default page, Apache is working.

  1. Configure MariaDB

Start MariaDB:

service mariadb start

Enter MariaDB:

mariadb

CREATE DATABASE nextcloud
CHARACTER SET utf8mb4
COLLATE utf8mb4_general_ci;

CREATE USER 'nextcloud'@'localhost'
IDENTIFIED BY 'YOUR_DATABASE_PASSWORD';

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON nextcloud.*
TO 'nextcloud'@'localhost';

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

EXIT;

Replace YOUR_DATABASE_PASSWORD with your own password.

  1. Download Nextcloud

Download the current Nextcloud release:

cd /tmp

wget https://download.nextcloud.com/server/releases/latest.tar.bz2

tar -xjf latest.tar.bz2

mv nextcloud /var/www/

Set ownership:

chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/nextcloud

Configure Apache for Nextcloud

Create:

nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/nextcloud.conf

Use:

<VirtualHost *:8080>
ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
DocumentRoot /var/www/nextcloud

<Directory /var/www/nextcloud>
    Require all granted
    AllowOverride All
    Options FollowSymLinks MultiViews

    <IfModule mod_dav.c>
        Dav off
    </IfModule>
</Directory>

ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/nextcloud-error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/nextcloud-access.log combined

</VirtualHost>

Disable the default Apache site:

a2dissite 000-default.conf

Enable Nextcloud:

a2ensite nextcloud.conf

Check the configuration:

apache2ctl configtest

You should get:

Syntax OK

Restart Apache:

service apache2 restart

Verify the virtual host:

apache2ctl -S

and:

ss -ltn | grep 8080

  1. Complete the Nextcloud browser installation

From another machine, browse to:

http://TV_BOX_IP:8080/

For example:

http://192.168.1.xxx:8080/

The Nextcloud installer start page should appear.

Create your Nextcloud administrator username and password.

For the database settings:

Database user: nextcloud
Database password: YOUR_DATABASE_PASSWORD
Database name: nextcloud
Database host: localhost

Click Install.

  1. Automatically start Nextcloud services

Because AnLinux/proot doesn’t use systemd, Apache and MariaDB can be started when the Ubuntu shell starts.

Edit Ubuntu’s:

nano ~/.bashrc

Add:

#Auto-start Nextcloud services

if ! pgrep -x mariadbd >/dev/null; then
service mariadb start
fi

if ! pgrep -x apache2 >/dev/null; then
service apache2 start
fi

Nextcloud itself does not require a separate daemon — Apache/PHP serves Nextcloud and MariaDB provides its database.

  1. Cleanly exit Ubuntu

One peculiarity of proot is that Apache and MariaDB can keep the Ubuntu environment alive when you type exit.

Add this alias to Ubuntu’s ~/.bashrc:

alias stop-ubuntu=‘service apache2 stop; service mariadb stop; exit’

Then instead of:

exit

use:

stop-ubuntu

This stops both services and allows the proot Ubuntu session to exit cleanly.

  1. Optional: Termux SSH and automatic Ubuntu startup

In the Termux ~/.bashrc — not Ubuntu’s — you can start SSH automatically and enter Ubuntu only from a local interactive Termux terminal:

if command -v sshd >/dev/null 2>&1; then
pgrep -x sshd >/dev/null || sshd
fi

#Auto-enter Ubuntu only from a local interactive Termux session

if [[ $- == i ]] &&
[ -z "$SSH_CONNECTION" ] &&
[ -z "$SSH_CLIENT" ]; then

if [ -x "$HOME/start-ubuntu.sh" ]; then
    "$HOME/start-ubuntu.sh"
fi

fi

This prevents an incoming SSH connection from unexpectedly launching the Ubuntu proot environment.

Termux SSH normally listens on port 8022, so from another Linux machine:

ssh -p 8022 USER@TV_BOX_IP

Troubleshooting: Apache page appears instead of Nextcloud

Check which virtual host Apache is using:

apache2ctl -S

Check enabled sites:

ls -l /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/

If the default site is still enabled:

a2dissite 000-default.conf
a2ensite nextcloud.conf

Then:

apache2ctl configtest
service apache2 reload

Verify:

apache2ctl -S | grep 8080

and:

curl -I ``http://127.0.0.1:8080/

The *:8080 virtual host should point to nextcloud.conf.