, 3 min read
ssh and rsync for Android
I got somewhat tired of using FTP with my Android, even with lftp. Keeping multiple folders in sync is simply very cumbersome. If I only had rsync working on Android! I found SSHelper, written by Paul Lutus, see also Arachnoid.
SSHelper offers ssh, scp, rsync. You can ssh to your Android phone and issue commands like vi, ls, top, uptime, etc.
Put your public key into .ssh/authorized_keys on the smartphone then you can log-on without being prompted any password. This is very convenient.
SSHelper
Running top on a Nexus 4 looks like this:
Mem: 1524664K used, 391008K free, 0K shrd, 69980K buff, 869424K cached
CPU0: 3.8% usr 7.4% sys 0.9% nic 87.7% idle 0.0% io 0.0% irq 0.0% sirq
CPU1: 0.0% usr 0.0% sys 0.0% nic 0.0% idle 0.0% io 0.0% irq 0.0% sirq
CPU2: 0.0% usr 0.0% sys 0.0% nic 0.0% idle 0.0% io 0.0% irq 0.0% sirq
CPU3: 0.0% usr 0.0% sys 0.0% nic 0.0% idle 0.0% io 0.0% irq 0.0% sirq
Load average: 0.70 1.44 5.39 2/1029 29712
PID PPID USER STAT VSZ %VSZ CPU %CPU COMMAND
517 172 1000 S 943m 50.2 0 2.2 system_server
6397 172 10052 S 915m 48.8 0 1.9 {droid.apps.plus} com.google.android.apps.plus
29709 29707 10019 R N 2260 0.1 0 1.6 top
26025 172 10019 S 870m 46.4 0 1.1 {chnoid.sshelper} com.arachnoid.sshelper
625 172 10057 S 854m 45.5 0 1.1 {ndroid.systemui} com.android.systemui
194 1 9999 S 10444 0.5 0 0.8 /system/bin/sensors.qcom
183 1 0 S < 6204 0.3 0 0.8 /system/bin/mpdecision --no_sleep --avg_comp
171 1 1000 S 66016 3.4 0 0.5 {Binder_2} /system/bin/surfaceflinger
22578 2 0 SW 0 0.0 0 0.5 [kworker/0:4]
29699 26055 10019 S N 1276 0.0 0 0.2 /data/data/com.arachnoid.sshelper/utilities/dropbear -p 2222 -P /data/data/com.arachnoid.sshelper/utilities/dro
617 2 0 SW 0 0.0 0 0.2 [TX_Thread]
618 2 0 SW 0 0.0 0 0.2 [RX_Thread]
25 2 0 SW 0 0.0 0 0.2 [khubd]
29270 2 0 SW 0 0.0 0 0.2 [kworker/u:15]
8665 172 10060 S 958m 51.1 0 0.0 {equicksearchbox} com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox
25418 172 10010 S < 945m 50.4 0 0.0 {.android.chrome} com.android.chrome
760 172 10023 S 889m 47.4 0 0.0 {rocess.location} com.google.process.location
26154 172 10023 S 879m 46.9 0 0.0 {gle.android.gms} com.google.android.gms
24529 172 10016 S 876m 46.7 0 0.0 {e.android.email} com.google.android.email
805 172 10035 S 870m 46.4 0 0.0 {ndroid.launcher} com.android.launcher
856 172 10023 S 868m 46.3 0 0.0 {e.process.gapps} com.google.process.gapps
28886 172 10042 S 843m 44.9 0 0.0 {roid.music:main} com.google.android.music:main
28808 172 10050 S 842m 44.9 0 0.0 {android.vending} com.android.vending
28783 172 10073 S 840m 44.8 0 0.0 com.whatsapp
780 172 1001 S 838m 44.6 0 0.0 {m.android.phone} com.android.phone
26057 172 10029 S 836m 44.6 0 0.0 {gle.android.tts} com.google.android.tts
789 172 1027 S 836m 44.5 0 0.0 com.android.nfc
28476 172 10057 S 836m 44.5 0 0.0 {emui:screenshot} com.android.systemui:screenshot
26136 172 10022 S 836m 44.5 0 0.0 {ogle.android.gm} com.google.android.gm
1315 172 10017 S 833m 44.4 0 0.0 {ndroid.exchange} com.google.android.exchange
23488 172 10000 S 831m 44.3 0 0.0 {d.process.acore} android.process.acore
24771 172 10023 S 831m 44.3 0 0.0 {droid.gsf.login} com.google.android.gsf.login
24653 172 10089 S 826m 44.0 0 0.0 {m.concur.breeze} com.concur.breeze
28638 172 10006 S 824m 43.9 0 0.0 {ndroid.calendar} com.google.android.calendar
27149 172 10051 S 823m 43.9 0 0.0 {d.maps.mytracks} com.google.android.maps.mytracks
27084 172 1000 S 823m 43.8 0 0.0 {ndroid.settings} com.android.settings
743 172 10034 S 821m 43.8 1 0.0 {putmethod.latin} com.google.android.inputmethod.latin
844 172 1027 S 818m 43.6 0 0.0 {id.nfc:handover} com.android.nfc:handover
28618 172 10007 S 818m 43.6 0 0.0 {viders.calendar} com.android.providers.calendar
25175 172 10082 S 818m 43.6 0 0.0 {baggus.barometr} pl.baggus.barometr
26232 172 10015 S 818m 43.6 0 0.0 {d.process.media} android.process.media
172 1 0 S 808m 43.1 0 0.0 zygote /bin/app_process -Xzygote /system/bin --zygote --start-system-server
174 1 1013 S 45784 2.3 0 0.0 /system/bin/mediaserver
182 1 0 S < 20848 1.0 0 0.0 /system/bin/thermald
Added 28-Oct-2013: The recent update to version 2.3 of SSHelper unfortunately is completely broken. It doesn't start, no shell. I wished I had not updated. You probably have read this more than once in this blog: Newer is not better.
Added 05-Nov-2013: SSHelper is running again. Important notice from www.arachnoid.com: users must fully uninstall, then reinstall SSHelper.
Added 02-Mar-2020: I am no longer using SSHelper. I now use Termux instead. See ssh and rsync for Android, Termux.