Analysis of minimum system requirements for running Android OS inside a Linux container

Abstract

Android OS has found its usage, not only in smartphones and other areas of smart devices, but also in automotive and many other industries, as its applications grow more and more over time. Even though Android OS is based on a Linux kernel, some problems arise while trying to execute Android applications on other Linux kernel-based operating systems. Execution of Android applications on an Android emulator was an acceptable solution until their growing complexity demanded more hardware resources. On the other hand, Linux containers were developed and became more popular. Hence, executing Android applications natively on other Linux operating systems became possible on systems with limited hardware resources. Nevertheless, minimum system requirements for this solution are not clearly defined, but could be very useful in the planning phase, when choosing a target platform for a specific project. In this paper, minimum requirements for system resources for executing Android applications in Linux containers have been assessed, and its advantages compared to executing them on an Android emulator have been described.