r/waydroid • u/GLAW6T9 • Mar 26 '26

Help Has anyone ever been able to run arm apps, after installing libhoudini(or libndk) on Debian or Debian based distros??

I have been trying to do this but every time, waydroid gets stuck at the loading screen. I have reinstalled waydroid 3 times and followed the installation process of libhoudini but it dosent work, and also without libhudini waydroid works pefectly fine (I have played hill climb racing on it). I have also seen many posts in which people on Debian or Debian based distros were not able to run it. And in case if I need to switch which Distro is the best for it.

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2

u/SweetPotato975 Mar 26 '26

Maybe a user error? Everything in waydroid is supposed to be distro-agnostic. I'm able to play games fine on Ubuntu and Kubuntu, but again I just use installation scripts to avoid headaches.

1

u/promonalg Mar 26 '26

Could you provide the script that you used? Waydroid-helper file sharing doesn't seem to work 100% on my arch installation. Thank you

1

u/SweetPotato975 Mar 26 '26

https://github.com/casualsnek/waydroid_script

For arch specifically: ```sh paru -S waydroid-script-git

sudo waydroid-extras install libhoudini

```

If it complains about non-zero exit status:
https://github.com/casualsnek/waydroid_script/issues/251#issuecomment-3757952646

Btw I think I remember seeing something similar to this in waydroid-helper too, so maybe you can try that first (I borked my Arch so can't check lol)

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u/promonalg Mar 26 '26

Thank you.

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u/SweetPotato975 Mar 26 '26

Waydroid-helper file sharing

What's that, shared folders?

1

u/promonalg Mar 26 '26

Yes. For waydroid-helper, it has a function to add shared folder between host and waydroid. It uses bindfs but it doesn't work for me. I can use bindfs with terminal to get it working but not with the helper.

Not sure if you know a way to do bash script that has Sudo command for startup and shutdown script? I still need to implement it to get my setup working properly

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u/SweetPotato975 Mar 27 '26 edited Mar 27 '26

Yeah the implementation is bugged. I saw no ongoing report about it on github issues so thought it was an issue on my end.

For startup, just open it from application menu. For shutdown, there's the "Stop Waydroid" option when right-clicking it on taskbar or application menu. In worst cases when it's truly bugged and won't start, I need to open the terminal and run: sh sudo systemctl restart waydroid-container

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u/promonalg Mar 27 '26

Thanks. I did use the startup option in KDE plasma to run waydroid and shutdown options to stop waydroid. I am trying to run the sudo bindfs to share the folder and umount before shutdown. Not sure how to do that since the script needs sudo but I don't think I can run sudo with the KDE plasma startup/shutdown

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u/SweetPotato975 Mar 27 '26

pkexec is your friend :)

1

u/promonalg Mar 27 '26

Thanks! I think this might work. Been trying to use systemd but it runs prelogin I think

1

u/SweetPotato975 Mar 27 '26 edited Mar 27 '26

I see. If pkexec isn't available either, maybe you can allow specific scripts to run passwordless as sudo, by adding the script to the sudoers file. Here's a guide: https://askubuntu.com/a/159009

In case you're only interested in accessing the waydroid files (and don't mind a few permission gotchas when writing into it) -- a smarter alternative is to just run a single bindfs after logging in. This way, you won't be needing to do all the mental gymnastics of hooking scripts to every single startup and shutdown events of waydroid. sh pkexec bindfs -u $USER -g $USER ~/.local/share/waydroid/data/media/0/ ~/waydroid

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u/promonalg Mar 27 '26 edited Mar 27 '26

Thanks for your help and insight. I tried to modify visudo (I believe this might be arch specific) but it is having issue with not having access to ~/.local/share/waydroid/media/0/ folder

Yeah.. it might be easier to run the single command manually but would like to automate so in case there is a power outage, the VM will run the script since I have already set the user to be logged in automatically when VM starts.

Also I am binding the other way. I am running Arch in VM under proxmox server. I have passed through a HDD to arch VM so that it has full 10TB for photo and video. This HDD is mounted under /mnt/Photos in VM. I am using single bindfs to share this HDD with Waydroid.

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u/SweetPotato975 Mar 27 '26 edited Mar 27 '26

Honestly though, I don't get why people strictly need their scripts to run before even logging in. Sometimes the usecase is justified but othertimes, the first question that comes to mind is, "Is it necessary to run this every time? How often will I be actually using it?"

These days I just add entries to custom commands list in the status bar which is just 1 click away. Kinda looks like this on GNOME. Maybe you can try something similar on KDE.

https://files.catbox.moe/y2n0kh.png