RunCommandService : TermuxService terminates before command completion

[bilalilyas90]

Following is the code which I am executing from my app .... command executes successfully but it exits before completion i.e it doesn't download the packages fully using pkg install commands and exits the service.

            Intent intent = new Intent();
            intent.setClassName("com.termux", "com.termux.app.RunCommandService");
            intent.setAction("com.termux.RUN_COMMAND");
            intent.putExtra("com.termux.RUN_COMMAND_PATH",      "/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/pkg");
            intent.putExtra("com.termux.RUN_COMMAND_BACKGROUND", true);
            intent.putExtra("com.termux.RUN_COMMAND_ARGUMENTS", new String[]{"install -y jq gettext curl openssh"});
            startService(intent);

this is the output from logcat

2021-05-24 03:32:27.250 28306-7451/com.termux I/termux-task: [7448] starting: [/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/pkg, install -y jq gettext curl openssh]
2021-05-24 03:32:29.643 28306-7451/com.termux I/termux-task: [7448] stdout: Checking availability of current mirror: ok
2021-05-24 03:32:29.659 28306-7450/com.termux I/termux-task: [7448] stderr:
2021-05-24 03:32:29.659 28306-7450/com.termux I/termux-task: [7448] stderr: WARNING: apt does not have a stable CLI interface. Use with caution in scripts.
2021-05-24 03:32:29.659 28306-7450/com.termux I/termux-task: [7448] stderr:
2021-05-24 03:32:32.627 28306-7451/com.termux I/termux-task: [7448] stdout: Get:1 https://k51qzi5uqu5dg9vawh923wejqffxiu9bhqlze5f508msk0h7ylpac27fdgaskx.ipns.dweb.link stable InRelease [14.0 kB]
2021-05-24 03:32:35.393 28306-7451/com.termux I/termux-task: [7448] stdout: Hit:2 https://grimler.se/game-packages-24 games InRelease
2021-05-24 03:32:35.558 28306-7451/com.termux I/termux-task: [7448] stdout: Hit:3 https://grimler.se/science-packages-24 science InRelease
2021-05-24 03:32:35.683 28306-7451/com.termux I/termux-task: [7448] stdout: Fetched 14.0 kB in 6s (2333 B/s)
2021-05-24 03:32:35.707 28306-7451/com.termux I/termux-task: [7448] stdout: Reading package lists...
2021-05-24 03:32:35.711 28306-7451/com.termux I/termux-task: [7448] stdout: Building dependency tree...
2021-05-24 03:32:35.711 28306-7451/com.termux I/termux-task: [7448] stdout: Reading state information...
2021-05-24 03:32:35.711 28306-7451/com.termux I/termux-task: [7448] stdout: All packages are up to date.
2021-05-24 03:32:35.716 28306-7450/com.termux I/termux-task: [7448] stderr:
2021-05-24 03:32:35.716 28306-7450/com.termux I/termux-task: [7448] stderr: WARNING: apt does not have a stable CLI interface. Use with caution in scripts.
2021-05-24 03:32:35.716 28306-7450/com.termux I/termux-task: [7448] stderr:
2021-05-24 03:32:35.723 28306-7451/com.termux I/termux-task: [7448] stdout: Reading package lists...
2021-05-24 03:32:35.724 28306-7451/com.termux I/termux-task: [7448] stdout: Building dependency tree...
2021-05-24 03:32:35.724 28306-7451/com.termux I/termux-task: [7448] stdout: Reading state information...
2021-05-24 03:32:35.727 28306-7451/com.termux I/termux-task: [7448] stdout: The following package was automatically installed and is no longer required:
2021-05-24 03:32:35.727 28306-7451/com.termux I/termux-task: [7448] stdout: oniguruma
2021-05-24 03:32:35.727 28306-7451/com.termux I/termux-task: [7448] stdout: Use 'apt autoremove' to remove it.
2021-05-24 03:32:35.728 28306-7451/com.termux I/termux-task: [7448] stdout: 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
2021-05-24 03:32:35.729 28306-7451/com.termux I/termux-task: [7448] exited normally

Any help please?

[agnostic-apollo]

This is not a bug in RunCommandService, you are passing a single argument to pkg with the value install -y jq gettext curl openssh, all of which gets consumed by pkg script as part of add|i* when read as CMD="$1", leaving no arguments for apt install, which then prints out 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

You need to do

new String[]{"install", "-y", "jq", "gettext", "curl", "openssh"}

[bilalilyas90]

Thank you so much ... it is working now 👍

One more question @agnostic-apollo
can we run multiple commands within a service ?
like after pkg commands I want to run curl commands ... so like in above example we define com.termux.RUN_COMMAND_PATH as for pkg ... what if we need to run multiple commands with different command_path??

[agnostic-apollo]

Welcome.

Set executable to bash, instead of pkg and arguments to

new String[]{"-c", "pkg install -y jq gettext curl openssh; curl -s url; command 3;"}

You must add a semi-colon ; after each command. But this will need escaping of double quotes, etc for complex commands. Instead, use bash as executable, do not pass arguments extra, and pass any multi-line bash script as is in RUN_COMMAND_SERVICE.EXTRA_STDIN. Will require Termux app version >= 0.109.

Check https://github.com/termux/termux-app/wiki/RUN_COMMAND-Intent#run_command-intent-command-extras

[bilalilyas90]

Thank you again @agnostic-apollo ... all is understood now from wiki link you shared :)

One more issue just appeared when I updated termux app and please can you help me with this also ...

Following is the output from termux terminal

Welcome to Termux!

Community forum: https://termux.com/community
Gitter chat: https://gitter.im/termux/termux
IRC channel: #termux on freenode

Working with packages:

• Search packages: pkg search
• Install a package: pkg install
• Upgrade packages: pkg upgrade

Subscribing to additional repositories:

• Root: pkg install root-repo
• Unstable: pkg install unstable-repo
• X11: pkg install x11-repo

Report issues at https://termux.com/issues

The Google Play version of the Termux app no longer
receives updates. For more information, visit:
https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/Termux_Google_Play

cp: cannot stat '/data/data/com.termux/files/home/.termux/termux.properties': Permission denied
~ $ termux-storage-get
The program termux-storage-get is not installed. Install it by executing:
pkg install termux-api
~ $ value="true"; key="allow-external-apps"; file="/data/data/com.termux/files/home/.termux/termux.properties"; mkdir -p "$(dirname "$file")"; chmod 700 "$(dirname "$file")"; if ! grep -E '^'"$key"'=.' $file &>/dev/null; then [[ -s "$file" && ! -z "$(tail -c 1 "$file")" ]] && newline=$'\n' || newline=""; echo "$newline$key=$value" >> "$file"; else sed -i'' -E 's/^'"$key"'=./'"$key=$value"'/' $file; fi
chmod: changing permissions of '/data/data/com.termux/files/home/.termux': Operation not permitted
bash: /data/data/com.termux/files/home/.termux/termux.properties: Permission denied
~ $

Issue here is that I already updated the termux.properties with allow-external-apps via adb and even if I try to run the above command to set value to true it gives permission denied...
and for this reason I am unable to run service from my app ... I have granted external storage permission also with RUN_COMMAND permission .. but still I am unable to execute the service from my app ...

Below is the output when try to run service

2021-05-25 02:00:44.102 19068-19247/com.qodit.mobileproxy D/PluginResultsService: Execution id 1001 result:
stdout:
```

```
stdout_original_length: `null`
stderr:
```

```
stderr_original_length: `null`
exitCode: `0`
errCode: `2`
errmsg: `RunCommandService require `allow-external-apps` property to be set to `true` in `~/.termux/termux.properties` file.`

RunCommandService require allow-external-apps property to be set to true

This error means that you didn't changed this property in termux.properties or configuration file is unreadable due to wrong ownership, permissions or SELinux labels.

[bilalilyas90]

Thank you again @agnostic-apollo ... all is understood now from wiki link you shared :)

One more issue just appeared when I updated termux app and please can you help me with this also ...

Following is the output from termux terminal

Welcome to Termux!

Community forum: https://termux.com/community
Gitter chat: https://gitter.im/termux/termux
IRC channel: #termux on freenode

Working with packages:

• Search packages: pkg search
• Install a package: pkg install
• Upgrade packages: pkg upgrade

Subscribing to additional repositories:

• Root: pkg install root-repo
• Unstable: pkg install unstable-repo
• X11: pkg install x11-repo

Report issues at https://termux.com/issues

The Google Play version of the Termux app no longer
receives updates. For more information, visit:
https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/Termux_Google_Play

cp: cannot stat '/data/data/com.termux/files/home/.termux/termux.properties': Permission denied
~ $ termux-storage-get
The program termux-storage-get is not installed. Install it by executing:
pkg install termux-api
~ $ value="true"; key="allow-external-apps"; file="/data/data/com.termux/files/home/.termux/termux.properties"; mkdir -p "$(dirname "$file")"; chmod 700 "$(dirname "$file")"; if ! grep -E '^'"$key"'=.' $file &>/dev/null; then [[ -s "$file" && ! -z "$(tail -c 1 "$file")" ]] && newline=$'\n' || newline=""; echo "$newline$key=$value" >> "$file"; else sed -i'' -E 's/^'"$key"'=./'"$key=$value"'/' $file; fi
chmod: changing permissions of '/data/data/com.termux/files/home/.termux': Operation not permitted
bash: /data/data/com.termux/files/home/.termux/termux.properties: Permission denied
~ $

Issue here is that I already updated the termux.properties with allow-external-apps via adb and even if I try to run the above command to set value to true it gives permission denied...
and for this reason I am unable to run service from my app ... I have granted external storage permission also with RUN_COMMAND permission .. but still I am unable to execute the service from my app ...

Below is the output when try to run service

2021-05-25 02:00:44.102 19068-19247/com.qodit.mobileproxy D/PluginResultsService: Execution id 1001 result:
stdout:

stdout_original_length: `null`
stderr:

stderr_original_length: `null`
exitCode: `0`
errCode: `2`
errmsg: `RunCommandService require `allow-external-apps` property to be set to `true` in `~/.termux/termux.properties` file.`

RunCommandService require allow-external-apps property to be set to true

This error means that you didn't changed this property in termux.properties or configuration file is unreadable due to wrong ownership, permissions or SELinux labels.

I just solved this issue ... it was due to wrong permissions to ~/.termux using below command
chmod 755 -R /data/data/com.termux/files/home/.termux;

[agnostic-apollo]

I already updated the termux.properties with allow-external-apps via adb

That's likely where your problem is. I assume you ran commands with root which would have created the files with root ownership, look here for a potential fix. Or delete .termux directory with root and recreate it from termux shell, if that's the only thing you did with root.

chmod 755 -R /data/data/com.termux/files/home/.termux;

755 (rwxr-xr-x) will just allow termux to read it due to everybody read bit set, but writing would fail. The real reason is likely wrong ownership, you need to fix it as mentioned above. Termux directories only need 700 permission. Run stat .termux

[bilalilyas90]

RunCommandService require allow-external-apps property to be set to true

This error means that you didn't changed this property in termux.properties or configuration file is unreadable due to wrong ownership, permissions or SELinux labels.

I did change this property to true ... but as @agnostic-apollo said I ran commands with root permissions and that's why I couldn't access the .termux folder ...

[bilalilyas90]

I already updated the termux.properties with allow-external-apps via adb

That's likely where your problem is. I assume you ran commands with root which would have created the files with root ownership, look here for a potential fix. Or delete .termux directory with root and recreate it from termux shell, if that's the only thing you did with root.

chmod 755 -R /data/data/com.termux/files/home/.termux;

755 (rwxr-xr-x) will just allow termux to read it due to everybody read bit set, but writing would fail. The real reason is likely wrong ownership, you need to fix it as mentioned above. Termux directories only need 700 permission. Run stat .termux

@agnostic-apollo Thank you for your support :) now I understand the issue properly and have solved the problem ...

[agnostic-apollo]

welcome :)

[bilalilyas90]

@agnostic-apollo
if we want to run the service directly after installing apk without even opening the app once what should we do?
when I run the service directly after installing apk I get following error

Regular file not found at executable file path.
Executable Absolute Path: "/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/bash"

any shell command or something like this??

[agnostic-apollo]

When you install (not update) termux, bootstrap has not been set up. $PREFIX does not exist, hence you get that error. No other way than letting termux setup bootstrap first.

[bilalilyas90]

Is there any way to setup bootstrap via some adb command?

[agnostic-apollo]

For testing it might be possible with root (ADB != root), do a fresh install of termux. Copy /data/data/com.termux to /data. Then uninstall. Then reinstall. Copy /data/com.termux to /data/data/com.termux, then get sharedUserId assigned to com.termux as mentioned here, then restore ownership and selinux context of /data/data/com.termux as mentioned here. You will have to replace $(id -u):$(id -u) with <uid>:<uid> you found earlier, like 10123:10123. Then hopefully, it might work, I haven't tested this.