GitHub Actions ubuntu-24.04-arm runners lack binder/ashmem kernel modules

[robster7674]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

We attempted to run Redroid on GitHub Actions ubuntu-24.04-arm runners (native ARM64, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS) for Android instrumented testing and power/wakelock profiling of an ARM-native app. The runners have Docker with privileged container support, but the kernel ships without binder_linux or ashmem_linux modules.

We confirmed this with a purpose-built probe job (runner image ubuntu24-arm64/20260531.15, kernel aarch64, Azure westus2):

=== /proc/filesystems (android-related) ===
(none)
=== /dev entries ===
(none — no /dev/binder, no /dev/ashmem)
=== kernel modules ===
(none loaded)

modprobe binder_linux silently fails because the module is simply absent from the kernel tree — the kernel was not built with CONFIG_ANDROID_BINDER_IPC=m.

Describe the solution you'd like

Two complementary paths:

1. GitHub adds the modules to their runner image — we have filed actions/runner-images#14184 requesting exactly this. If accepted, Redroid would work on ubuntu-24.04-arm with no changes needed on the Redroid side.

2. Redroid documents / supports a CI workaround — if there is a way to bootstrap binder support without pre-built kernel modules (e.g. by compiling binder_linux from source against the runner's kernel headers, or by using a userspace binder implementation), documenting that as a GitHub Actions recipe would be very valuable to the community.

Describe alternatives you've considered

• x86_64 runners + x86_64 Redroid image — works today, but loses native ARM64 execution; ARM apps run via the native bridge with overhead and less accurate profiling.
• Firebase Test Lab on real Pixel hardware — works for power/wakelock analysis on physical devices, but cannot be self-hosted in CI without cost.
• Netcup / other ARM VPS — netcup VPS uses LXC/Virtuozzo (no module loading); their Root Servers (KVM) are x86 only.

Additional context

• The x86_64 GitHub Actions runners already expose binder/ashmem (the KVM Android acceleration feature depends on this), so the gap is ARM64-specific.
• Related issue in this repo: [Feature Request] Add support for modern kernels using binderfs #859 (binderfs on modern kernels, RPi 5) — our issue is earlier in the stack: no binder support at all rather than legacy-vs-binderfs.
• Our runner-images feature request: actions/runner-images#14184