OBSOLETE

Please use tmx instead of this tmx-tmp.

Termux commands to copy-paste: subsection.

Before I forget, about the blog post.

Problems solved:

• No need to give Termux all network access. (Solved by starting the reverse SSH tunnel from it, not ssh-ing straight into it.)
• Need to know the IP address of the host machine. (Solved by a script on the "host" machine.)
• Need to transfer data from the host machine "into" the Android device. (Solved by a small HTTP server and a QR code that leads to localhost:8088 on this very Android device).

Future work:

• I absolutely love that .apk-s can be built by Github actions. Termux itself is open source. Would be great to have a special build to incorporate the contents of this blog post into it. This also opens doors for quick-to-install and quick-to-wipe "devboxes" that run 100% on one's Android device.

• This idea can be taken further to tighten enterprise-grade security. If your company has sensitive data, "ship" it, as well as the means to work on it in a "device-only" way, as .apk-s to install. The data does not leave the device, and the keys are ephemeral, per user, rotated every few days or even hours. Extermely safe. I can imagine tons of use cases where the idea piloted here can be used as the foundation for large-scale solutions deployed to large numbers of people company-wide.

• The QR codes idea may be big. It's a very secure way to exchange short messages. Although zbarimg proved to be not good enough, and my first idea to not use any Browser / HTTP server but just take a picture from the Android device and have the scripts do the rest didn't work.

• Another minor yet fun idea: Have my Android devices all around the home and/or office turn into a distributed compilation cluster. And build artifacts cache.

TODO(dkorolev): Turn this into a blog post. Add a link.

TODO(dkorolev): Add a 403 redirect so that the page in Android's Chrome is not auto-reloading all the time!

TODO(dkorolev): Add a note on how many seconds did the setup take. TODO(dkorolev): Add the flag to not check the device key to the example final ssh command from the host into Termux.

TODO(dkorolev): Daemonize the HTTP listener. TODO(dkorolev): Add a logfile for remote tunnels open and closed. Add flock. TODO(dkorolev): Don't show terminal output of the HTTP server and ssh tunnel-opening code on the screen. TODO(dkorolev): Organize the code better, under scripts/ or .scripts/, no one-char names. Aliases are OK though.

TODO(dkorolev): Have a localhost: URL to "open"? =)

Instructions:

• Read the code block below. I've made it to be as trustworthy as possible, but, hey, it's the Internet.
• (The code is self-contained except my dotfiles. So, at least in theory, there is a security hazard present.)
• Open this page on your Android.
• Click "Copy text" in the upper right corner below.
• Locate and install the right Termux .apk from its Releases page. I've played with v0.118.0.
• Start Termux.
• Long tap, paste, Enter.
• Wait until it is done (~2.5 minutes on my Samsung Galaxy S7+ in good enough Internet).
• Get back to your host machine.
• Make sure the tmx user is created, and that it's ssh-connectable with the key that's now on the Android device.
• Make sure your host machine and your and run the command from the code block at the bottom of this page.
• Scan the printed QR code from the Android device.
• Sacrifice and Apple and ssh -p 8022 tmx@localhost !

Actually, the last command is:

ssh-keygen -f "/home/ubuntu/.ssh/known_hosts" -R "[localhost]:8022"
ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new -p 8022 tmx@localhost

TODO(dkorolev): Put this into the script, and into the actual HTTP (post-redirected) response page.

Before I forget, longer-term plans:

• Convert this into a custom-built .apk, in a separate Github repo, built by an Action?
• Make it easy to build on top of these .apk-creating steps, to spawn Android-first dev envs with custom pre-cloned code and pre-built / pre-installed deps.
• Add support for analyzing QR codes from the SD card, not from the "URL", "followed by" the browser, going to localhost's python3 HTTP server.

Commands inside Termux

# NOTE(dkorolev): This pops out the window for the user to choose "allow" or "deny", better do it first thing, IMHO.
# termux-setup-storage

yes | pkg upgrade

yes | pkg install -y git zsh screen libuv libexpat vim-python curl wget openssh openssl openssl-tool netcat-openbsd libqrencode zbar

mkdir -p .ssh
chmod 700 .ssh

cat <<EOF >>.ssh/authorized_keys
ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAIEeDzRfIMIC+OjsfVGsv9+q2RBeTGX2ZcrNNFa8n0i7o
ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAIHL13Ujd8KlQsE/VJP6s5s934RRN+X/4H16pBqLmiV3J termux@tablet
EOF
chmod 600 .ssh/authorized_keys

cat <<EOF >.ssh/id_ed25519.pub
ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAIHL13Ujd8KlQsE/VJP6s5s934RRN+X/4H16pBqLmiV3J termux@tablet
EOF

cat <<EOF >.ssh/id_ed25519
-----BEGIN OPENSSH PRIVATE KEY-----
b3BlbnNzaC1rZXktdjEAAAAABG5vbmUAAAAEbm9uZQAAAAAAAAABAAAAMwAAAAtzc2gtZW
QyNTUxOQAAACBy9d1I3fCpULBP1ST+rObPd+EUTfl/+B9eqQai5oldyQAAAJAXLNzGFyzc
xgAAAAtzc2gtZWQyNTUxOQAAACBy9d1I3fCpULBP1ST+rObPd+EUTfl/+B9eqQai5oldyQ
AAAECu6NutqnO9viXJqGTkvlXwF0kmpb3C6GkcYzIJd0H0GnL13Ujd8KlQsE/VJP6s5s93
4RRN+X/4H16pBqLmiV3JAAAADXRlcm11eEB0YWJsZXQ=
-----END OPENSSH PRIVATE KEY-----
EOF

chmod 600 .ssh/id_ed25519.pub
chmod 600 .ssh/id_ed25519

for i in .zshrc .vimrc .screenrc .inputrc fmtqr.py ; do
  wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dkorolev/dotfiles/main/$i
done

export PATH=$PATH:$PWD
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:$PWD' >>~/.zshrc

export SECRET_TMX_PASSWORD=lopata
echo 'export SECRET_TMX_PASSWORD=lopata' >>~/.zshrc

chsh -s zsh

sshd

# git clone https://github.com/dkorolev/current
# (cd current/bricks/strings; time test)

# passwd
# ipconfig

pip install colorama
chmod +x fmtqr.py

# NOTE(dkorolev): Historically, `w` is a one-char command so that it's easy to type from mobile keyboard.
# TODO(dkorolev): Remove everything under `scripts/`, and perhaps use an `alias` for the line-liner instead!

echo '(echo -n 'tmx://'; echo "TMXUSER:$(whoami)" | openssl aes-256-cbc -pbkdf2 -a -salt -pass pass:$SECRET_TMX_PASSWORD) | qrencode -t ascii | python3 fmtqr.py' >~/w
chmod +x ~/w

# w

echo '''#!/bin/bash
#
# Opens an tunnel and forwards port 8022.
if [ "$1" != "" ] ; then
  echo "Decyphering $1"
  echo "$1"
  echo -n "$1" | sed "s/_/\//g"
  if HOST=$(echo $1 | sed "s/_/\//g" | openssl aes-256-cbc -d -a -pbkdf2 -pass pass:$SECRET_TMX_PASSWORD) ; then
    echo "Opening tunnel to $HOST"
    ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new -N -R 8022:localhost:8022 tmx@$HOST >/dev/null 2>&1 &
  else
    echo "Can not decypher, ensure the \$SECRET_TMX_PASSWORD is correct on both ends."
  fi
else
  echo "Need host."
fi
''' >open_tunnel.sh
chmod +x open_tunnel.sh

cat <<EOF >s.py
from http.server import BaseHTTPRequestHandler, HTTPServer

import os

class SimpleHTTPRequestHandler(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
  def do_GET(self):
    fields = self.path.strip().split('/')
    if len(fields) >= 3 and fields[-3] == "tmx" and fields[-2] == "rvp":
      self.send_response(200)
      self.send_header('Content-type', 'text/plain')
      self.end_headers()
      self.wfile.write(b"ssh -p 8022 tmx@localhost  # Should work from the host machine now.\n")
      print(f"DEBUG: ~/open_tunnel.sh {fields[-1]}")
      os.system(f"~/open_tunnel.sh {fields[-1]}")
    else:
      self.send_response(500)
      self.send_header('Content-type', 'text/plain')
      self.end_headers()
      self.wfile.write(b"My responses are limited. You must ask the right questions.\n")

def run(server_class=HTTPServer, handler_class=SimpleHTTPRequestHandler):
  server_address = ('', 8088)
  httpd = server_class(server_address, handler_class)
  httpd.serve_forever()

if __name__ == '__main__':
  run()
EOF

python3 s.py >/dev/null 2>&1 &

# whoami
# ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new -N -R 8022:localhost:8022 [email protected]

echo
echo 'Everything is up and running. Now:'
echo
echo '1) Run the magic on the laptop, gen the QR code.'
echo '2) Scan this QR code from the tablet, open the URL. This opens the tunnel.'
echo '3) Can `ssh -p 8022 tmx@localhost` from the host machine now.'

Now, on the host machine.

(I am skipping the host machine user creation part and SSH host key setup for now. -- D.K.)

# Make sure the same `fmtqr.py` is available on the host machine.
[ -s ~/fmtqr.py ] || ((cd; wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dkorolev/dotfiles/main/fmtqr.py);chmod +x ~/fmtqr.py)

# Generate the QR code. TODO(dkorolev): Explain this in detail!
export SECRET_TMX_PASSWORD=lopata
echo && echo http://localhost:8088/tmx/rvp/$(ip route get 8.8.8.8 | awk '{printf "%s\n", $7}' | openssl aes-256-cbc -pbkdf2 -a -salt -pass pass:$SECRET_TMX_PASSWORD | sed 's/\//_/g') | qrencode -t ascii | python3 ~/fmtqr.py && echo && echo 'Run `ssh -p 8022 tmx@localhost` after scanning this QR code from the Android device.'