Android Vulkan Bridge

Run Android Vulkan drivers on GNU/Linux containers via libhybris, enabling GPU acceleration on Termux X11.

Overview

This repository provides packages to bridge Android's Vulkan drivers with GNU/Linux userspace, allowing:

• Native Vulkan applications (vkmark, vkcube, etc.)
• OpenGL via Zink (Mesa's OpenGL-over-Vulkan)
• X11 DRI3 support for Termux X11

Tested Hardware

• Device: Redmi Note 11T Pro+ (xaga)
• SoC: MediaTek MT6895 (Dimensity 8100)
• GPU: Mali-G610 MC6
• OS: Android 16
• Container: Arch Linux ARM

Prerequisites

• Root access on Android device
• Termux X11 installed
• GNU/Linux container (Arch Linux recommended)
• Android 11+ (API level 30+)

Installation

Step 1: Mount Android Resources

Ensure the following Android paths are accessible in your container:

Required mounts:

• /system - Android system partition
• /vendor - Vendor partition with GPU drivers

How you mount these depends on your container setup (proot, chroot, lxc, etc.).

Then copy everything in /apex/com.android.runtime and /apex/com.android.i18n/ to ROOTFS/apex.

Step 2: Patch libc.so

The Android bionic libc needs a patch to work properly with libhybris:

# Download patched libc.so
LIBC_URL="https://github.com/Linux-on-droid/vendor_lindroid/raw/lindroid-22.1/prebuilt/arm64/libc.so"
LIBC_PATH="/apex/com.android.runtime/lib64/bionic/libc.so"

# Backup original
sudo cp "${LIBC_PATH}" "${LIBC_PATH}.bak"

# Replace with patched version
sudo curl -L "${LIBC_URL}" -o "${LIBC_PATH}"
sudo chmod 644 "${LIBC_PATH}"

Step 3: Build and Install Packages

Clone this repository and build packages in order:

git clone https://github.com/kde-yyds/android-vulkan-bridge.git
cd android-vulkan-bridge

# Build packages (in order)
cd android-headers-30 && makepkg -si && cd ..
cd libhybris && makepkg -si && cd ..
cd ahb-wrapper && makepkg -si && cd .. 
cd vulkan-wsi-layer && makepkg -si && cd ..
cd mesa-vulkan-icd-wrapper && makepkg -si && cd .. 

Step 4: Test Vulkan

# Verify Vulkan device detection
vulkaninfo | head -30

# Test Vulkan rendering
vkcube
vkmark

# Test OpenGL via Zink
glxinfo | grep "OpenGL"
glmark2

# Test Chromium with GPU acceleration
chromium --use-vulkan --enable-features=Vulkan --disable-gpu-compositing

Package Descriptions

Package	Description
android-headers-30	Android API level 30 headers for building Android-dependent packages
libhybris	Bridge layer enabling GNU/Linux programs to use Android bionic libraries
ahb-wrapper	Wrapper for AHardwareBuffer API
vulkan-wsi-layer	Vulkan layer adding X11 DRI3/Present support for window system integration
mesa-vulkan-icd-wrapper	Android Vulkan driver wrapper

Troubleshooting

Common issues:

OpenGL applications fail with Zink

# Check Mesa version (25.1.2 recommended)
pacman -Qi mesa | grep Version

# If using newer Mesa, downgrade: 
# Mesa >25.1.2 has a Zink regression

Chromium GPU process crashes with window manager

When using a window manager with compositing, Chromium GPU process will crash due to transparent windows.

Workaround:

# Disable GPU compositing for Chromium
chromium --use-vulkan --enable-features=Vulkan --disable-gpu-compositing

Known Issues

• Mesa > 25.1.2: Zink regression breaks GLX/DRI screen creation. Recommended: Stay on Mesa 25.1.2.
• Bad compatibility due to lack of extensions on most devices. Use freedreno/turnip instead if you have Adreno GPU.

Performance

Benchmarks on Mali-G610 MC6 @ 850MHz (Dimensity 8100):

vkmark:         ~7000 FPS (default scenes)
glmark2 (Zink): ~900 FPS (default scenes)