Vodka

Experimental. Vodka is a research project, not a supported product. It does not ship any Roblox code or binaries.

Vodka is an experimental runtime that aims to launch the real, unmodified Roblox Studio Windows executable (RobloxStudioBeta.exe) on Android devices with ARM64 CPUs, by composing a user-space compatibility stack:

Android (ARM64) → Linux container → FEX-Emu → Wine (x86-64) → DXVK → Roblox Studio

It is the mirror image of projects like Sober/Vinegar (which run the Roblox client on desktop Linux): Vodka runs the creator tool on mobile ARM.

Status

Pre-alpha / design phase. Nothing runs yet. The current deliverable is the architecture and plan in docs/ARCHITECTURE.md.

Milestone	Description	State
M0	Architecture, repo layout, build plan	✅ done
M1	ARM64 glibc container boots on device	🚧 in progress
M2	FEX-Emu runs an x86-64 Linux binary	🚧 implemented, needs device
M3	Wine x86-64 under FEX, window on Android Surface	🚧 scripted, needs device
M4	DXVK + Vulkan thunks, D3D11 at playable FPS	⬜ planned
M5	Studio installer + launch to login screen	⬜ planned
M6	Input/audio/storage; edit and playtest a place	⬜ planned

M1 progress

• native/container — portable C++17 container launcher with two backends: fast user/mount namespaces (with uid_map/gid_map setup and chroot) and a universal proot fallback. Capability probing and backend selection included.
• Host test suite (native/tests) passes; it launches a process through both backends and runs a command inside a real user+mount namespace.
• Android app scaffold (app/) with a Kotlin control plane, JNI bridge, and a Material 3 UI (status card, backend selector, progress, per-payload install actions).
• native/archive — dependency-free tar + gzip extractor (zlib, shipped by the NDK) with path-traversal protection; used to install rootfs payloads on-device. Validated against a real Ubuntu 24.04 arm64 base rootfs (2562 files, 100 MB, symlinks and modes preserved); GNU sparse archives are rejected explicitly.
• runtime/rootfs-arm64/ — reproducible ARM64 Debian rootfs build (Dockerfile + build.sh) producing rootfs-arm64.tar.gz, with a Wine/DXVK prefix setup helper.
• In-app install flow: pick each archive with the system file picker, extract into files/runtime/…, then launch through the container.
• tools/device-probe/probe.sh reports kernel, namespace, SoC, and Vulkan capabilities.
• Debug APK builds and packages arm64-v8a/libvodka_jni.so (NDK r26b, minSdk 29) with ten JNI entrypoints (container, archive, runtime).

Still pending for M1: running the installed rootfs end-to-end on a physical device.

M2 progress

• native/runtime — launch-plan and FEX-config generator (argv/env/cwd + JSON, with escaping), exposed to Kotlin via NativeRuntime.*; unit-tested on the host.
• runtime/fex/ — cross-compiles FEX for aarch64 (build.sh) and ships FEX config templates. Uses a directory rootfs and explicit FEX wine invocation (no root, no binfmt_misc).
• runtime/rootfs-x86_64/ — amd64 Debian Wine rootfs (Dockerfile + build.sh) with wine64, winetricks, and staged DXVK.
• runtime/rootfs-arm64/overlay/usr/local/bin/vodka-wine-setup — creates the Wine prefix under FEX and stages DXVK DLLs.
• App flow: base rootfs → Wine rootfs → FEX → Set up Wine prefix → Launch Roblox Studio.

Design and the upstream FEX facts behind these choices: docs/M2-FEX-WINE.md.

Building

Native library and tests (any Linux host):

cmake -S native -B build/native -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build/native --parallel
ctest --test-dir build/native --output-on-failure

Android APK (requires JDK 17, Android SDK, NDK 26+):

gradle :app:assembleDebug

Rootfs and emulator payloads (container engine with buildx, gzip/pigz, and an aarch64 cross toolchain for FEX):

./runtime/rootfs-arm64/build.sh      # -> rootfs-arm64.tar.gz
./runtime/rootfs-x86_64/build.sh     # -> rootfs-x86_64.tar.gz
./runtime/fex/build.sh               # -> fex-arm64.tar.gz

Install them in the app in that order, run Set up Wine prefix, then Launch Roblox Studio. See docs/M2-FEX-WINE.md.

CI runs the native and Android jobs on every push/PR; the rootfs job runs on manual workflow_dispatch. See .github/workflows/ci.yml.

Why this is hard

Mobile GPUs, Android's Bionic libc, scoped storage, and the lack of a display server make this far harder than Wine on a Linux desktop. The three biggest problems are GPU acceleration (D3D11 → DXVK → Vulkan → mobile driver), presentation (no X11/Wayland on Android), and process/container isolation (no root). See the architecture doc for how each is addressed.

Legal

Vodka is licensed GPL-3.0 (see LICENSE). It contains no Roblox code, assets, or binaries. Any Roblox Studio payload is downloaded by the user from Roblox's own servers at runtime, subject to Roblox's Terms of Use. Do not redistribute Roblox software with Vodka. Roblox and Roblox Studio are trademarks of Roblox Corporation; Vodka is not affiliated with or endorsed by Roblox Corporation.

Layout

Path	Contents
docs/	architecture, the FEX/Wine layer, decisions
app/	Android application (Kotlin, Material 3)
app/src/main/cpp/	Android-native JNI bridges, Bionic (C/C++)
native/container/	namespace/proot container launcher
native/archive/	tar + gzip extractor for rootfs payloads
native/runtime/	FEX/Wine launch plan and config generator
runtime/rootfs-arm64/	ARM64 glibc rootfs (build + Wine setup helper)
runtime/rootfs-x86_64/	amd64 Wine rootfs (guest) and DXVK staging
runtime/fex/	FEX aarch64 build + config templates
tools/	Studio fetcher, rootfs packer, device probes

See docs/ARCHITECTURE.md and docs/M2-FEX-WINE.md.