Guided steps to install android SDK on any Ubuntu or Debian system
Download the SDK tools
Firstly download the CLI tools from the Command Line Tools Only section from https://developer.android.com/studio. I have it saved in my Downloads section/directory.
Move it to the Correct location
Now we need to unzip it. Remember to change the zip file name with your specific one.
cd Downloads # Or wherever you have downloaded the CLI tools zip
unzip commandlinetools-linux-10406996_latest.zip
Now we need to copy the cmdline-tools to /opt/android-sdk/ directory. This is going to be our system wide android SDK root.
Yes this is going to throw warnings as we are using our custom directory, but since these opensource projects are maintained by Google, using custom directory configurations is much better as Google is shit and changes such configuration in almost every goddamn releases.
Install platform-tools and emulator
We are going to use the sdkmanager to install the platform-tools and emulator. Now run:
Save the changes, logout and log back in for the changes to take effect.
After this you will have access to commands like sdkmanager, avdmanager, emulator etc.
Install necessary platform, build-tools and system-images
List all build tools and system images
sdkmanager --list --sdk_root=$ANDROID_HOME
The output for the above command will be like:
Available Packages:
Path | Version | Description
------- | ------- | -------
add-ons;addon-google_apis-google-15 | 3 | Google APIs
add-ons;addon-google_apis-google-16 | 4 | Google APIs
add-ons;addon-google_apis-google-17 | 4 | Google APIs
build-tools;27.0.0 | 27.0.0 | Android SDK Build-Tools 27
build-tools;27.0.1 | 27.0.1 | Android SDK Build-Tools 27.0.1
build-tools;27.0.2 | 27.0.2 | Android SDK Build-Tools 27.0.2
build-tools;27.0.3 | 27.0.3 | Android SDK Build-Tools 27.0.3
cmake;3.10.2.4988404 | 3.10.2 | CMake 3.10.2.4988404
cmake;3.18.1 | 3.18.1 | CMake 3.18.1
cmake;3.22.1 | 3.22.1 | CMake 3.22.1
cmake;3.6.4111459 | 3.6.4111459 | CMake 3.6.4111459
cmdline-tools;1.0 | 1.0 | Android SDK Command-line Tools
cmdline-tools;10.0 | 10.0 | Android SDK Command-line Tools
cmdline-tools;11.0 | 11.0 | Android SDK Command-line Tools
cmdline-tools;12.0 | 12.0 | Android SDK Command-line Tools
ndk-bundle | 22.1.7171670 | NDK | 25.1.8937393 | NDK (Side by side) 25.1.8937393
ndk;25.2.9519653 | 25.2.9519653 | NDK (Side by side) 25.2.9519653
ndk;26.0.10792818 | 26.0.10792818 | NDK (Side by side) 26.0.10792818
ndk;26.1.10909125 | 26.1.10909125 | NDK (Side by side) 26.1.10909125
ndk;26.2.11394342 | 26.2.11394342 | NDK (Side by side) 26.2.11394342
platform-tools | 35.0.0 | Android SDK Platform-Tools
platforms;android-27 | 3 | Android SDK Platform 27
platforms;android-28 | 6 | Android SDK Platform 28
platforms;android-29 | 5 | Android SDK Platform 29
platforms;android-30 | 3 | Android SDK Platform 30
platforms;android-31 | 1 | Android SDK Platform 31
platforms;android-32 | 1 | Android SDK Platform 32
platforms;android-33 | 3 | Android SDK Platform 33
platforms;android-TiramisuPrivacySandbox | 9 | Android SDK Platform TiramisuPrivacySandbox
platforms;android-UpsideDownCakePrivacySandbox | 3 | Android SDK Platform UpsideDownCakePrivacySandbox
platforms;android-VanillaIceCream | 1 | Android SDK Platform VanillaIceCream
skiaparser;1 | 6 | Layout Inspector image server for API 29-30
skiaparser;2 | 3 | Layout Inspector image server for API S
skiaparser;3 | 3 | Layout Inspector image server for API 31-34
sources;android-15 | 2 | Sources for Android 15
sources;android-27 | 1 | Sources for Android 27
sources;android-28 | 1 | Sources for Android 28
sources;android-29 | 1 | Sources for Android 29
sources;android-30 | 1 | Sources for Android 30
sources;android-31 | 1 | Sources for Android 31
sources;android-32 | 1 | Sources for Android 32
sources;android-33 | 1 | Sources for Android 33
sources;android-34 | 2 | Sources for Android 34
system-images;android-10;default;armeabi-v7a | 5 | ARM EABI v7a System Image
system-images;android-10;default;x86 | 5 | Intel x86 Atom System Image
system-images;android-10;google_apis;armeabi-v7a | 6 | Google APIs ARM EABI v7a System Image
system-images;android-10;google_apis;x86 | 6 | Google APIs Intel x86 Atom System Image
system-images;android-14;default;armeabi-v7a | 2 | ARM EABI v7a System Image
Choosing platform, build-tools and system-image
Choose the platform, build tools and system-image from the sdkmanager list. Make sure the versions are same. For ex:
For android-27 we can choose:
platforms;android-27
sources;android-27
build-tools;27.0.3 # The latest versions are more stable
system-images;android-27;google_apis;x86
Note: x86 and x86_64 images are best for emulation. The arm64-v8a architecture is damn slow requires at least 32GB ram to emulate properly and can only be done up to android-27 only.
Download and Installation
Download the 4 requirements using the commands given below. Make sure to replace the <> texts with proper versions by referring to the sdkmanager list.
INFO | Android emulator version 32.1.15.0 (build_id 10696886) (CL:N/A)
INFO | AVD android27x86 has path /home/fvalkyrie/.android/avd/android27x86.avd
INFO | trying to check whether /opt/android-sdk is a valid sdk root
WARNING | /opt/android-sdk/android-sdk/system-images/android-27/google_apis/x86/ is not a valid directory.
WARNING | emulator has searched the above paths but found no valid sdk root directory.
PANIC: Broken AVD system path. Check your ANDROID_SDK_ROOT value [/opt/android-sdk]!
This happens because of emulator configuration. To change this go to /home/.android/avd/<DEVICE-NAME>.avd and change the config.ini file as follows:
Go to the line shown below and remove the android/ portion.
