Android - ArchWiki

# Android

Related articles

- Android notifier
- Android tethering

## Exploring Android device

There are few methods of exploring your device:

- MTP over USB for files transferring.
- ADB/Fastboot for development purposes.
- Alternative methods (such as FTP, SSH).

## Android development

There are 3 steps that need to be performed before you can develop Android applications on your Arch Linux box:

1. Install the Android SDK core component,
2. Install one or several Android SDK Platform packages,
3. Install one of the IDEs compatible with the Android SDK.

### Android SDK core components

Note: First, if you are running a 64-bit system, make sure the multilib repository is enabled in pacman.conf.

Before developing Android applications, you need to install the Android SDK, which is made of 3 distinct packages, all installable from AUR:

1. android-sdk
2. android-sdk-platform-tools
3. android-sdk-build-tools

Android-sdk will be installed on `/opt/android-sdk`. This folder has root permissions, so keep in mind to run sdk manager as root, otherwise you will not be able to install/update/modify anything on /opt/android-sdk. However, if you intend to use it as a regular user, create an android sdk users group (or use any group name you want):

    # groupadd sdkusers

Add your user into this group:

    # gpasswd -a <user> sdkusers

Change folder's owner and group.

    # chown -R :sdkusers /opt/android-sdk/

Change permissions of the folder so you will be able to read/write/execute in it:

    # chmod -R g+w /opt/android-sdk/

Note: As an alternative to a global install with the AUR packages, the SDK can be installed to a user's home directory via the upstream instructions.

### Android SDK platform API

Install the desired Android SDK Platform package from the AUR:

- android-platform (latest)
- android-platform-21
- android-platform-20
- android-platform-19
- android-platform-18
- android-platform-17
- android-platform-16
- android-platform-15
- android-platform-14
- android-platform-13
- android-platform-12
- android-platform-11
- android-platform-10
- android-platform-9
- android-platform-8
- android-platform-7
- android-platform-7
- android-platform-6
- android-platform-5
- android-platform-4
- android-platform-3
- android-platform-2

### Development environment

Android Studio is the new official Android development environment based on IntelliJ IDEA. Alternatively, you can use Eclipse with the official but deprecated ADT plugin, or Netbeans with the NBAndroid plugin. All are described below.

#### Android Studio

Android Studio is the new official Android development environment based on IntelliJ IDEA. Similar to Eclipse with the ADT Plugin, Android Studio provides integrated Android developer tools for development and debugging.

You can download and install it with the android-studio package from the AUR. If you get an error about a missing SDK, refer to the section Getting Android SDK platform API above.

If you are using a tiling window manager, you will need to apply one of the fixes mentioned in this issue page.

#### Eclipse

Note: Since 2014-12-08, the ADT plugin is officially considered deprecated and Android Studio is now the official IDE.

Most stuff required for Android development in Eclipse is already packaged in AUR:

Official plugin by Google – Eclipse ADT:

1. eclipse-android

Dependencies:

1. eclipse-emf
2. eclipse-gef
3. eclipse-wtp

Note:

- if you get a message about unresolvable dependencies, install Java manually and try again.
- as an alternative, you can install the ADT via eclipse's built in "add new software" command (see instructions on ADT site).
- if you are in real trouble, it is also possible to download Android SDK and use the bundled Eclipse. This usually works without problems.
- if you need to install extra SDK plugins not found in the AUR, you must change the file ownership of /opt/android-sdk first. You can do this with `# chgrp -R users /opt/android-sdk ; chmod -R 0775 /opt/android-sdk` (see File Permissions for more details).

Enter the path to the Android SDK Location in

    Windows -> Preferences -> Android

Note:

If the plugins do not show up in Eclipse after the AUR package has been upgraded, then eclipse probably has out-of-date caches. Running `sudo eclipse -clean` once should clear them. If the problem persists, uninstall eclipse and all the plugins, delete `/usr/share/eclipse`, and reinstall everything.

#### Netbeans

If you prefer using Netbeans as your IDE and want to develop Android applications, download the NBAndroid by going to:

    Tools -> Plugins -> Settings

Add the following URL: http://nbandroid.org/updates/updates.xml

Then go to Available Plugins and install the Android and JUnit plugins. Once you have installed go to:

    Tools -> Options -> Miscellaneous -> Android

and select the path where the SDK is installed (/opt/android-sdk by default). That is it, now you can create a new Android project and start developing using Netbeans.

### Connecting to a real device - Android Debug Bridge (ADB)

Tip: For some devices, you may have to enable MTP on the device, before ADB will work.

To get ADB to connect to a real device or phone under Arch, you must:

- Install android-tools.
- Enable USB Debugging on your phone or device:
  - Jelly Bean (4.2) and newer: Go to `Settings --> About Phone` tap “Build Number” until you get a popup that you have become a developer (about 10 times). Then go to `Settings --> Developer --> USB debugging` and enable it.
  - Older versions: This is usually done from `Settings --> Applications --> Development --> USB debugging`. Reboot the phone after checking this option to make sure USB debugging is enabled.
- install android-udev to connect the device to the proper `/dev/` entries.
- Add yourself to the adbusers group. (`gpasswd -a username adbusers`)

If ADB recognizes your device (it is visible and accessible in IDE), you are done. Otherwise see instructions below.

#### Figure out device IDs

Each Android device has a USB vendor/product ID. An example for HTC Evo is:

    vendor id: 0bb4
    product id: 0c8d

Plug in your device and execute:

    $ lsusb

It should come up something like this:

    Bus 002 Device 006: ID 0bb4:0c8d High Tech Computer Corp.

#### Adding udev Rules

Use the rules from Android developer or you can use the following template for your udev rules, just replace [VENDOR ID] and [PRODUCT ID] with yours. Copy these rules into `/etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules`:

    /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules

    SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="[VENDOR ID]", MODE="0666"
    SUBSYSTEM=="usb",ATTR{idVendor}=="[VENDOR ID]",ATTR{idProduct}=="[PRODUCT ID]",SYMLINK+="android_adb"
    SUBSYSTEM=="usb",ATTR{idVendor}=="[VENDOR ID]",ATTR{idProduct}=="[PRODUCT ID]",SYMLINK+="android_fastboot"

Then, to reload your new udev rules, execute:

    # udevadm control --reload-rules

#### Configuring adb

Instead of using udev rules, you may create/edit `~/.android/adb_usb.ini` which contains a list of vendor IDs.

    $ cat ~/.android/adb_usb.ini
    0x27e8

#### Does it work?

After you have setup the udev rules, unplug your device and replug it.

After running:

    $ adb devices

you should see something like:

    List of devices attached
    HT07VHL00676    device

You can now use adb to transfer files between the device and your computer. To transfer files to the device, use

    $ adb push <what-to-copy> <where-to-place>

To transfer files from the device, use

    $ adb pull <what-to-pull> <where-to-place>

If you do not have the adb program, it means you have installed neither platform tools(usually available in `/opt/android-sdk/platform-tools/`) nor android-tools(available in `/usr/bin/`).

If you are getting an empty list (your device is not there), it may be because you have not enabled USB debugging on your device. You can do that by going to Settings => Applications => Development and enabling USB debugging. On Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) the Development menu is hidden; to enable it go to Settings => About phone and tap Build number 7 times.

If there are still problems such as adb displaying `???????? no permissions` under devices, try restarting the adb server as root.

    # adb kill-server
    # adb start-server

### NVIDIA Tegra platform

If you target your application at NVIDIA Tegra platform, you might also want to install tools, samples and documentation provided by NVIDIA. In NVIDIA Developer Zone for Mobile there are two tools:

1. The Tegra Android Development Pack provides tools (NVIDIA Debug Manager) related to Eclipse ADT and their documentation.
2. The Tegra Toolkit provides tools (mostly CPU and GPU optimization related), samples and documentation.

Both are currently not available in the AUR anymore, because NVIDIA requires a registration/login for the download.

## Building Android

Please note that these instructions are based on the official AOSP build instructions. Other Android-derived systems such as CyanogenMod will often require extra steps.

### OS bitness

Android 2.2.x (Froyo) and below are the only versions of Android that will build on a 32-bit system. For 2.3.x (Gingerbread) and above, you will need a 64-bit installation.

### Required packages

To build any version of Android, you need to install these packages:

- 32-bit and 64-bit systems: gcc git gnupg flex bison gperf sdl wxgtk squashfs-tools curl ncurses zlib schedtool perl-switch zip unzip libxslt python2-virtualenv bc

- 64-bit systems only: gcc-multilib lib32-zlib lib32-ncurses lib32-readline

### Java Development Kit

Android 5 (Lollipop) can be built with jdk7-openjdk.

Older versions require a working Oracle JDK installed on your build system. It will not work with OpenJDK.

- For Gingerbread through KitKat (2.3 - 4.4), Java 6 is required, which is available as jdk6 from the AUR. See Java if you want to use it besides another (newer) JDK version.
- For Cupcake through Froyo (1.5 - 2.2), Java 5 is required, which is no longer available for Arch Linux.

### Setting up the build environment

Download the `repo` utility.

    $ mkdir ~/bin
    $ export PATH=~/bin:$PATH
    $ curl http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/git-repo-downloads/repo > ~/bin/repo
    $ chmod a+x ~/bin/repo

Create a directory to build.

    $ mkdir ~/android
    $ cd ~/android

You will need to change the default Python from version 3 to version 2:

    $ virtualenv2 venv # Creates a directory, venv/, containing the Virtualenv

Note: During build you may receive error pertaining to missing python modules. A quick and dirty fix is to symlink /usr/lib/python2.7/* to ~/android/venv/python2.7/ (Change ~/android to reflect your build directory if different than above).

Example:

    $ ln -s /usr/lib/python2.7/* /Data/Android_Build/venv/lib/python2.7/

Activate the Virtualenv, which will update $PATH to point at Python 2.

Note: this activation is only active for the current terminal session.

    $ source venv/bin/activate

### Downloading the source code

This will clone the repositories. You only need to do this the first time you build Android, or if you want to switch branches.

- The `repo` has a `-j` switch that operates similarly to the one used with `make`. Since it controls the number of simultaneous downloads, you should adjust the value depending on downstream network bandwidth.

- You will need to specify a branch (release of Android) to check out with the `-b` switch. If you leave the switch out, you will get the so-called master branch.

    $ repo init -u https://android.googlesource.com/platform/manifest -b master
    $ repo sync -j4

Note: To further decrease sync times, you can utilize the -c switch with the repo command as such:

    $ repo sync -j8 -c

The `-c` switch will only sync the branch which is specified in the manifest, which in turn is determined by the branch specified with the `-b` switch, or the default branch set by the repository maintainer.

Wait a long time. Just the uncompiled source code, along with the `.repo` and `.git` directories that are used to keep track of it, are well over 10 GB.

Note: If you want to update your local copy of the Android source, at a later time, simply enter the build directory, load the Virtualenv, and re-sync:

    $ repo sync

### Building the code

This should do what you need for AOSP:

    $ source build/envsetup.sh
    $ lunch full-eng
    $ make -j4

If you run lunch without arguments, it will ask what build you want to create. Use -j with a number between one and two times number of cores/threads.

The build takes a very long time.

Note: Make sure you have enough RAM.

Android will use the /tmp directory heavily. By default the size of the partition the /tmp folder is mounted on is half the size of your RAM. If it fills up, the build will fail. 4GB of RAM or more is recommended.

- Alternatively, you can get rid of the tmpfs from fstab all together.

Note: From the Android Building and Running guide:

"GNU make can handle parallel tasks with a -jN argument, and it's common to use a number of tasks N that's between 1 and 2 times the number of hardware threads on the computer being used for the build. E.g. on a dual-E5520 machine (2 CPUs, 4 cores per CPU, 2 threads per core), the fastest builds are made with commands between make -j16 and make -j32."

### Testing the build

When finished, run/test the final image(s).

    $ emulator

### Creating a Flashable Image

To create an image that can be flashed it is necessary to:

    make -j8 updatepackage

This will create a zip image under out/target/product/hammerhead (hammerhead being the device name) that can be flashed.

## Alternative connection methods

### AirDroid

AirDroid is an Android app to access files from your web browser.

### FTP

You run a FTP server on Arch and connect to it from your phone, or the other way around: run a FTP server on your phone and connect to it from Arch.

See List of applications/Internet#FTP. There are a lot of FTP clients/servers available for Android.

### SSH Server

There are many SSH servers available for Android, it allows you to transfer files using `scp` command. See also SSH.

### Samba

See Samba.

## Tips & Tricks

### During Debugging "Source not found"

Most probably the debugger wants to step into the Java code. As the source code of Android does not come with the Android SDK, this leads to an error. The best solution is to use step filters to not jump into the Java source code. Step filters are not activated by default. To activate them:

    Window -> Preferences -> Java -> Debug -> Step Filtering

Consider to select them all. If appropriate you can add the android.* package. See the forum post for more information: http://www.eclipsezone.com/eclipse/forums/t83338.rhtml

### Linux distribution on the sdcard

You can install Debian like in this thread. Excellent guide to installing Arch in chroot (in parallel with Android) can be found on archlinuxarm.org forum.

## Troubleshooting

### aapt: No such file or directory

The build tools include 32-bit binaries. For this reason they require 32-bit libraries. If you happened to install the SDK manually, you will additionally need to install multilib/lib32-libstdc++5 and multilib/lib32-zlib.

### ValueError: unsupported pickle protocol

One fix is to issue:

    rm ~/.repopickle_.gitconfig

If that doesn't work, then try this:

    rm `find /path/to/android-root -name .repopickle_config`

Categories:

- Development
- Mobile devices