Building for ISH

Date: 2025 10-October 06

TLDR

apk add --no-cache py3-numpy
apk add py3-cryptography

1️⃣ Architecture compatibility

• iSH on iPhone emulates x86_64 Linux using user-mode x86 emulation, regardless of the ARM hardware of your iPhone.
• PRoot Alpine on Termux is running ARM Linux (because Termux runs natively on ARM).

Implication:

• A binary built on ARM (Termux) will not run on iSH because iSH expects x86_64 ELF.
• You need to build for x86_64 if the target is iSH.

2️⃣ Using PRoot Alpine on Termux

• PRoot lets you run a “full Alpine chroot” on ARM Termux.
• Inside that environment, Python, pip, PyInstaller, etc., will all be ARM binaries.
• So PyInstaller will produce an ARM ELF, not x86_64.

3️⃣ Options to produce an iSH-compatible binary

1. Cross-compile with PyInstaller:

   • PyInstaller does not natively support cross-compilation from ARM → x86_64.
   • You’d need an x86_64 chroot or container environment to build the binary.

2. Build directly in iSH:

   • Install Alpine packages inside iSH (apk add python3 py3-pip py3-setuptools py3-wheel py3-cryptography py3-cffi py3-musl-dev binutils)
   • Set up a venv in iSH.
   • Install your requirements and PyInstaller in that environment.
   • Run build_executible.py → the output will be x86_64 ELF, compatible with iSH.

4️⃣ TL;DR

• ARM Termux → ARM ELF → ❌ won’t run on iSH.
• iSH → x86_64 ELF → ✅ will run natively in iSH.
• If the goal is a single-file executable that runs on iSH, you need to build in an x86_64 environment (iSH itself or an x86_64 Alpine chroot/VM).

Once copied to the right folder on an ISH installation, is there a way to launch the executible through iOS shortcuts, without running from the terminal directly?

Yes — you can trigger a command-line executable in iSH via iOS Shortcuts, but it’s a bit indirect because iOS can’t natively run Linux binaries — it relies on iSH as the execution environment. Here’s how it works:

1. Make sure your executable is ready

• Copy the binary into iSH’s filesystem (e.g., ~/pipeline).

• Ensure it’s executable:

chmod +x ~/pipeline/pipeline-eds-0.3.10-py310-alpine3.17.0-x86_64

• Test in iSH:

~/pipeline/pipeline-eds-0.3.10-py310-alpine3.17.0-x86_64 --help

2. Create a small shell script as a wrapper

iOS Shortcuts can call scripts via URL schemes. It’s easier to wrap your executable in a script:

#!/bin/sh
# ~/pipeline/run_pipeline.sh
~/pipeline/pipeline-eds-0.3.10-py310-alpine3.17.0-x86_64 "$@"

Make it executable:

chmod +x ~/pipeline/run_pipeline.sh

3. Use iSH’s URL scheme in Shortcuts

• iSH supports opening a terminal and running a command via x-callback-url:

ish://term?command=/root/pipeline/run_pipeline.sh%20arg1%20arg2

• In Shortcuts, you can use “Open URLs” with this URL.
• %20 is a space — so you can pass arguments if needed.

4. Optional: Auto-launch iSH in background

• iSH itself doesn’t run headless — opening a shortcut launches the iSH app first.
• Once iSH is open, the script runs automatically.

Summary

• You can trigger your ELF through iOS Shortcuts.
• You cannot run it completely headless — iSH must start.
• Wrapping the binary in a small shell script makes passing arguments easier.
• CLI outputs appear in the iSH terminal window.

If you want, I can write a ready-to-use shortcut URL that launches your pipeline-eds binary with a preset command, so you can run it from your iOS home screen with one tap.

ish://term?command=/root/pipeline/run_pipeline.sh%20trend%20--help ; This goes into the safari browser bar?

Yep

Cheat Sheet

Here’s a concise cheat sheet for iSH URL encoding when launching commands via ish://term?command=.... Anything that could be interpreted by the URL parser or the shell needs attention:

Rule of thumb:

• Encode spaces and any characters that could be interpreted by either URL parser or shell.

• Most letters, numbers, _, -, ., / are safe as-is.

If you want, I can draft a ready-to-use iOS Shortcut template that lets you enter arguments for iSH commands and automatically encodes everything properly. This avoids manual %20 and other encodings.