Haskell development environment on Android phone

Install a full Haskell development environment (including hpack and cabal) on your Android phone. The command prompt runs via Termux and its PRoot (i.e. proot-distro).

F-Droid

Install F-Droid from f-droid.org (follow instructions).

Termux + PRoot

First install the Termux package via F-Droid and then follow the PRoot instructions to install a Linux distribution on your phone (I use Debian).

1pkg install proot
2pkg install proot-distro
3proot-distro install debian

After installation has completed use the following to get a Debian prompt:

1proot-distro login debian

Debian packages

A number of Debian packages are required and useful for your Haskell development environment. To install them start up Debian Linux under Termux (per instructions with PRoot) and type the following commands:

1apt-get update
2apt-get install build-essential curl vim-nox silversearcher-ag git ghc cabal-install hpack hlint stylish-haskell pkgconf libghc-zlib-dev libghc-text-icu-dev libpq-dev

Demonstration

Use the commands below to get and build my Paperspan export (HTML) to Instapaper import (CSV) convertor – Paperspan export (HTML) to Instapaper import (CSV) convertor.

1git clone https://github.com/maridonkers/paperspan2instapaper.git
2cd paperspan2instapaper
3cabal update
4hpack
5cabal build
6cp folders-example.yaml folders.yaml
7cabal run . -- yourpaperspanexportfile.html

Notes:

  • Depending on your phone the cabal new-update and cabal new-build may take a while to complete.
  • If the build fails then simply start it again (I had to start it again once).

Keys menu and colors

Configuration of useful keys in the keys menu and readable colors via Termux configuration files.

Termux configuration

~/.termux/termux.properties

  1### After making changes and saving you need to run `termux-reload-settings`
  2### to update the terminal.  All information here can also be found on the
  3### wiki: https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/Terminal_Settings
  4
  5###############
  6# General
  7###############
  8
  9### Allow external applications to execute arbitrary commands within Termux.
 10### This potentially could be a security issue, so option is disabled by
 11### default. Uncomment to enable.
 12# allow-external-apps = true
 13
 14### Default working directory that will be used when launching the app.
 15# default-working-directory = /data/data/com.termux/files/home
 16
 17### Uncomment to disable toasts shown on terminal session change.
 18# disable-terminal-session-change-toast = true
 19
 20### Uncomment to not show soft keyboard on application start.
 21# hide-soft-keyboard-on-startup = true
 22
 23### Uncomment to let keyboard toggle button to enable or disable software
 24### keyboard instead of showing/hiding it.
 25# soft-keyboard-toggle-behaviour = enable/disable
 26
 27### Adjust terminal scrollback buffer. Max is 50000. May have negative
 28### impact on performance.
 29# terminal-transcript-rows = 2000
 30
 31### Uncomment to use volume keys for adjusting volume and not for the
 32### extra keys functionality.
 33# volume-keys = volume
 34
 35###############
 36# Fullscreen mode
 37###############
 38
 39### Uncomment to let Termux start in full screen mode.
 40# fullscreen = true
 41
 42### Uncomment to attempt workaround layout issues when running in
 43### full screen mode.
 44# use-fullscreen-workaround = true
 45
 46###############
 47# Cursor
 48###############
 49
 50### Cursor blink rate. Values 0, 100 - 2000.
 51# terminal-cursor-blink-rate = 0
 52
 53### Cursor style: block, bar, underline.
 54# terminal-cursor-style = block
 55
 56###############
 57# Extra keys
 58###############
 59
 60### Settings for choosing which set of symbols to use for illustrating keys.
 61### Choose between default, arrows-only, arrows-all, all and none
 62# extra-keys-style = default
 63
 64### Force capitalize all text in extra keys row button labels.
 65# extra-keys-text-all-caps = true
 66
 67### Default extra-key configuration
 68#extra-keys = [[ESC, TAB, CTRL, SPACE, {key: '-', popup: '|'}, LEFT, DOWN, UP, RIGHT]]
 69extra-keys = [[ESC, CTRL, TAB, '|', '/', '~', SPACE, LEFT, UP, DOWN, RIGHT]]
 70
 71### Two rows with more keys
 72# extra-keys = [['ESC','/','-','HOME','UP','END','PGUP'], \
 73#               ['TAB','CTRL','ALT','LEFT','DOWN','RIGHT','PGDN']]
 74
 75### Configuration with additional popup keys (swipe up from an extra key)
 76# extra-keys = [[ \
 77#   {key: ESC, popup: {macro: "CTRL f d", display: "tmux exit"}}, \
 78#   {key: CTRL, popup: {macro: "CTRL f BKSP", display: "tmux ←"}}, \
 79#   {key: ALT, popup: {macro: "CTRL f TAB", display: "tmux →"}}, \
 80#   {key: TAB, popup: {macro: "ALT a", display: A-a}}, \
 81#   {key: LEFT, popup: HOME}, \
 82#   {key: DOWN, popup: PGDN}, \
 83#   {key: UP, popup: PGUP}, \
 84#   {key: RIGHT, popup: END}, \
 85#   {macro: "ALT j", display: A-j, popup: {macro: "ALT g", display: A-g}}, \
 86#   {key: KEYBOARD, popup: {macro: "CTRL d", display: exit}} \
 87# ]]
 88
 89###############
 90# Colors/themes
 91###############
 92
 93### Force black colors for drawer and dialogs
 94# use-black-ui = true
 95use-black-ui = true
 96
 97###############
 98# HW keyboard shortcuts
 99###############
100
101### Disable hardware keyboard shortcuts.
102# disable-hardware-keyboard-shortcuts = true
103
104### Open a new terminal with ctrl + t (volume down + t)
105# shortcut.create-session = ctrl + t
106
107### Go one session down with (for example) ctrl + 2
108# shortcut.next-session = ctrl + 2
109
110### Go one session up with (for example) ctrl + 1
111# shortcut.previous-session = ctrl + 1
112
113### Rename a session with (for example) ctrl + n
114# shortcut.rename-session = ctrl + n
115
116###############
117# Bell key
118###############
119
120### Vibrate device (default).
121# bell-character = vibrate
122
123### Beep with a sound.
124# bell-character = beep
125
126### Ignore bell character.
127# bell-character = ignore
128
129###############
130# Back key
131###############
132
133### Send the Escape key.
134# back-key=escape
135
136### Hide keyboard or leave app (default).
137# back-key=back
138
139###############
140# Keyboard issue workarounds
141###############
142
143### Letters might not appear until enter is pressed on Samsung devices
144# enforce-char-based-input = true
145
146### ctrl+space (for marking text in emacs) does not work on some devices
147# ctrl-space-workaround = true

The color theme

~/.termux/colors.properties

 1background:     #000000
 2foreground:     #F8F8F2
 3
 4color0:         #000000
 5color8:         #4D4D4D
 6
 7color1:         #F1FA8C
 8color9:         #F4F99D
 9
10color2:         #50FA7B
11color10:        #5AF78E
12
13color3:         #F08080
14color11:        #FF6E67
15
16color4:         #8BE9FD
17color12:        #9AEDFE
18
19color5:         #FF79C6
20color13:        #FF92D0
21
22color6:         #BD93F9
23color14:        #CAA9FA
24
25color7:         #BFBFBF
26color15:        #E6E6E6

Termux sessions

If you require additional command prompts then simply swipe in from the left of the Termux window, to get the menu.

Select NEW SESSION in the menu.

OpenSSH and GUI

sshd

Modern phones are multi-core powerhouses with loads of memory and I've compiled big projects on my 2013 phone (a Samsung Note 3). The small on screen keyboard is a bit of a nuisance so you can run a SSH-server on your phone and ssh into it from a computer with a regular keyboard. Termux documentation is here: Remote Access.

GUI

You can also set up a graphical environment for your Termux installation, which enables you to run graphical programs from your termux prompt. Instructions here: Graphical Environment.

Screen dump

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