These instructions apply to all branches, including master
.
The Android build is routinely tested in house on recent versions ofUbuntu LTS (14.04), but most distributions should have the requiredbuild tools available. Reports of successes or failures on otherdistributions are welcome.
For Gingerbread (2.3.x) and newer versions, including the master
branch, a 64-bit environment is required. Older versions can becompiled on 32-bit systems.
Note: See the Requirements for the complete list of hardware andsoftware requirements. Then follow the detailed instructions for Ubuntu and MacOS below.
The master
branch of Android in the Android Open Source Project (AOSP)requires Java 7. On Ubuntu, use OpenJDK.
Java 7: For the latest version of Android
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install openjdk-7-jdk
Optionally, update the default Java version by running:
$ sudo update-alternatives --config java
$ sudo update-alternatives --config javac
If you encounter version errors for Java, set itspath as described in the WrongJava Version section.
To develop older versions of Android, download and install the corresponding version of the Java JDK:
Java 6: for Gingerbread through KitKat
Java 5: for Cupcake through Froyo
You will need a 64-bit version of Ubuntu. Ubuntu 14.04 is recommended.
$ sudo apt-get install git-core gnupg flex bison gperf build-essential \
zip curl zlib1g-dev gcc-multilib g++-multilib libc6-dev-i386 \
lib32ncurses5-dev x11proto-core-dev libx11-dev lib32z-dev ccache \
libgl1-mesa-dev libxml2-utils xsltproc unzip
Note: To use SELinux tools for policyanalysis, also install the python-networkx
package.
You may use Ubuntu 12.04 to build older versions of Android. Version 12.04 is not supported on master or recent releases.
$ sudo apt-get install git gnupg flex bison gperf build-essential \
zip curl libc6-dev libncurses5-dev:i386 x11proto-core-dev \
libx11-dev:i386 libreadline6-dev:i386 libgl1-mesa-glx:i386 \
libgl1-mesa-dev g++-multilib mingw32 tofrodos \
python-markdown libxml2-utils xsltproc zlib1g-dev:i386
$ sudo ln -s /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/mesa/libGL.so.1 /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libGL.so
Building on Ubuntu 10.04-11.10 is no longer supported, but may be useful for building olderreleases of AOSP.
$ sudo apt-get install git gnupg flex bison gperf build-essential \
zip curl zlib1g-dev libc6-dev lib32ncurses5-dev ia32-libs \
x11proto-core-dev libx11-dev lib32readline5-dev lib32z-dev \
libgl1-mesa-dev g++-multilib mingw32 tofrodos python-markdown \
libxml2-utils xsltproc
On Ubuntu 10.10:
$ sudo ln -s /usr/lib32/mesa/libGL.so.1 /usr/lib32/mesa/libGL.so
On Ubuntu 11.10:
$ sudo apt-get install libx11-dev:i386
Under GNU/Linux systems (and specifically under Ubuntu systems),regular users can't directly access USB devices by default. Thesystem needs to be configured to allow such access.
The recommended approach is to create a file at/etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules
(as the root user).
To do this, run the following command to download the 51-android.rules file attached to this site, modify it to include your username, and place it in the correct location:
$ wget -S -O - http://source.android.com/source/51-android.rules | sed "s//$USER/" | sudo tee >/dev/null /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules; sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
Those new rules take effect the next time a device is plugged in.It might therefore be necessary to unplug the device and plug itback into the computer.
This is known to work on both Ubuntu Hardy Heron (8.04.x LTS) andLucid Lynx (10.04.x LTS). Other versions of Ubuntu or othervariants of GNU/Linux might require different configurations.
By default, the output of each build is stored in the out/
subdirectory of the matching source tree.
On some machines with multiple storage devices, builds arefaster when storing the source files and the output onseparate volumes. For additional performance, the outputcan be stored on a filesystem optimized for speed insteadof crash robustness, since all files can be re-generatedin case of filesystem corruption.
To set this up, export the OUT_DIR_COMMON_BASE
variableto point to the location where your output directorieswill be stored.
export OUT_DIR_COMMON_BASE=<path-to-your-out-directory>
The output directory for each separate source tree will benamed after the directory holding the source tree.
For instance, if you have source trees as /source/master1
and /source/master2
and OUT_DIR_COMMON_BASE
is set to/output
, the output directories will be /output/master1
and /output/master2
.
It's important in that case to not have multiple sourcetrees stored in directories that have the same name,as those would end up sharing an output directory, withunpredictable results.
This is only supported on Jelly Bean (4.1) and newer,including the master
branch.
In a default installation, Mac OS runs on a case-preserving but case-insensitivefilesystem. This type of filesystem is not supported by git and will cause somegit commands (such as git status
) to behave abnormally. Because of this, werecommend that you always work with the AOSP source files on a case-sensitivefilesystem. This can be done fairly easily using a disk image, discussed below.
Once the proper filesystem is available, building the master
branch in a modernMac OS environment is very straightforward. Earlier branches, including ICS,require some additional tools and SDKs.
You can create a case-sensitive filesystem within your existing Mac OS environmentusing a disk image. To create the image, launch DiskUtility and select "New Image". A size of 25GB is the minimum tocomplete the build; larger numbers are more future-proof. Using sparse imagessaves space while allowing to grow later as the need arises. Be sure to select"case sensitive, journaled" as the volume format.
You can also create it from a shell with the following command:
# hdiutil create -type SPARSE -fs 'Case-sensitive Journaled HFS+' -size 40g ~/android.dmg
This will create a .dmg
(or possibly a .dmg.sparseimage
) file which, once mounted, acts as a drive with the required formatting for Android development.
If you need a larger volume later, you can also resize the sparse image with the following command:
# hdiutil resize -size g ~/android.dmg.sparseimage
For a disk image named
android.dmg
stored in your home directory, you can add helper functions to your
~/.bash_profile
:
mountAndroid
: # mount the android file image
function mountAndroid { hdiutil attach ~/android.dmg -mountpoint /Volumes/android; }
Note: If your system created a .dmg.sparseimage
file, replace ~/android.dmg
with ~/android.dmg.sparseimage
.
To unmount it when you execute umountAndroid
:
# unmount the android file image
function umountAndroid() { hdiutil detach /Volumes/android; }
Once you've mounted the android
volume, you'll do all your work there. You can eject it (unmount it) just like you would with an external drive.
The master
and 5.0.x
branches of Android in the Android Open Source Project (AOSP)require Java 7. On Mac OS, use jdk-7u71-macosx-x64.dmg.
To develop for versions of Android Gingerbread through KitKat, download andinstall the Java 6 version of the Java JDK.
To build the latest source in a Mac OS environment, you will need an Intel/x86machine running Mac OS X v10.10 (Yosemite) or later, along with Xcode4.5.2 or later including the Command Line Tools.
To build 6.0.x and earlier source in a Mac OS environment, you will need an Intel/x86machine running Mac OS X v10.10 (Yosemite), along with Xcode4.5.2 and Command Line Tools.
To build 5.0.x and earlier source in a Mac OS environment, you will need an Intel/x86machine running Mac OS X v10.8 (Mountain Lion), along with Xcode4.5.2 and Command Line Tools.
To build 4.2.x and earlier source in a Mac OS environment, you will need an Intel/x86machine running Mac OS X v10.6 (Snow Leopard) or Mac OS X v10.7 (Lion), along with Xcode4.2 (Apple's Developer Tools). Although Lion does not come with a JDK, it shouldinstall automatically when you attempt to build the source.
The remaining sections for Mac OS apply only to those who wish to buildearlier branches.
To build android-4.0.x and earlier branches in a Mac OS environment, you need anIntel/x86 machine running Mac OS X v10.5 (Leopard) or Mac OS X v10.6 (Snow Leopard). Youwill need the Mac OS X v10.5 SDK.
Install Xcode from the Apple developer site.We recommend version 3.1.4 or newer (e.g., gcc 4.2).Version 4.x could cause difficulties.If you are not already registered as an Apple developer, you will have tocreate an Apple ID in order to download.
Install MacPorts from macports.org.
Note: Make sure that /opt/local/bin
appears in your path before /usr/bin
. If not, please add the following to your ~/.bash_profile
file:
export PATH=/opt/local/bin:$PATH
Note: If you do not have a .bash_profile
file in your home directory, create one.
Get make, git, and GPG packages from MacPorts:
$ POSIXLY_CORRECT=1 sudo port install gmake libsdl git gnupg
If using Mac OS X v10.4, also install bison:
$ POSIXLY_CORRECT=1 sudo port install bison
For versions of Android before ICS, there is a bug in gmake 3.82 that prevents android from building. You can install version 3.81 using MacPorts by taking the following steps:
Edit /opt/local/etc/macports/sources.conf
and add a line that says
file:///Users/Shared/dports
above the rsync line. Then create this directory:
$ mkdir /Users/Shared/dports
In the new dports
directory, run
$ svn co --revision 50980 http://svn.macports.org/repository/macports/trunk/dports/devel/gmake/ devel/gmake/
Create a port index for your new local repository:
$ portindex /Users/Shared/dports
Finally, install the old version of gmake with
$ sudo port install gmake @3.81
On Mac OS, the default limit on the number of simultaneous file descriptors open is too low and a highly parallel build process may exceed this limit.
To increase the cap, add the following lines to your ~/.bash_profile
:
# set the number of open files to be 1024
ulimit -S -n 1024
You can optionally tell the build to use the ccache compilation tool.Ccache acts as a compiler cache that can be used to speed up rebuilds.This works very well if you use make clean
often, or if you frequentlyswitch between different build products.
Put the following in your .bashrc
(or equivalent):
export USE_CCACHE=1
By default the cache will be stored in ~/.ccache
.If your home directory is on NFS or some other non-local filesystem,you will want to specify the directory in your .bashrc
file as well:
export CCACHE_DIR=<path-to-your-cache-directory>
The suggested cache size is 50-100GB.You will need to run the following command once you have downloadedthe source code:
prebuilts/misc/linux-x86/ccache/ccache -M 50G
On Mac OS, you should replace linux-x86
with darwin-x86
:
prebuilts/misc/darwin-x86/ccache/ccache -M 50G
When building Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0.x) or older, ccache is ina different location:
prebuilt/linux-x86/ccache/ccache -M 50G
This setting is stored in the CCACHE_DIR and is persistent.