How can I build an Android apk without Gradle on the command line?

Question

I wrote an Android app that uses no dependencies or modules, has a single activity, and has a single layout file.

How can I build an apk file of my app on the command line without using Gradle (or other "build systems" or "dependency management" software)?

Solution 1

Use the following steps to build your apk manually, if you don't want use ant/gralde to build. But you must have Android SDK installed at least.

• create R.java from aapt

• use javac to compile all java source to *.class

• use dx to convert all *.class to dex file, e.g output is classes.dex

• create initial version of APK from assets, resources and AndroidManfiest.mk, e.g output is MyApplication.apk.unaligned

• use aapt to add classes.dex generated in step 3 to MyApplication.apk.unaligned

• use jarsigner to sign MyApplication.apk.unaligned with debug or release key

• use zipalign to align the final APK, e.g output is MyApplication-debug.apk or MyApplication-release.apk if signing with release key

• Done

I have created a sample script to do all the stuffs above, see here

Actually, Some articles have discussed this topic, see the following links.

https://www.apriorit.com/dev-blog/233-how-to-build-apk-file-from-command-line

https://spin.atomicobject.com/2011/08/22/building-android-application-bundles-apks-by-hand/

Solution 2

Try this for building apps with support libraries from command line. https://github.com/HemanthJabalpuri/AndroidExplorer

Solution 3

alijandro gave a perfect answer. I managed to write simple ANT script that builds production APK with AdMob and without gradle usage. A couple useful comments:

1. If you want to obfuscate classes you have to jar the compiled classes (between javac and dx steps) and run proguard on it

2. For AdMob you have to extract the following jars from zip archives (like C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Local\Android\sdk\extras\google\m2repository\com\google\android\gms\play-services-ads\10.2.6\play-services-ads-10.2.6.aar):

   • play-services-ads-10.2.6.jar
   • play-services-ads-lite-10.2.6.jar
   • play-services-base-10.2.6.jar
   • play-services-basement-10.2.6.jar
   • play-services-clearcut-10.2.6.jar
   • play-services-gass-10.2.6.jar
   • play-services-tasks-10.2.6.jar

These archives should be passed in javac and dx

3. For AdMob there are several additional simple config steps as well

Gradle does a lot of mess with android projects, so own script looks like a singular solution for projects that are going to go into production

Solution 4

A while back I stumbled across this thread after getting frustrated with both Android Studio and Gradle. Inspired by the answer from alijandro and this template from authmane512, I wrote a series of scripts to compile an Android app (including with dependencies/packages) in Java or Kotlin without any external build system.

Link: https://github.com/jbendtsen/tiny-android-template

There is a little bit of DIY involved here, but given that it's the sort of stuff that something like Gradle would do for you, I would argue that it's useful to know. Besides, it's like wayyyy less slow, and you have a lot more control how your app gets assembled.

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Comments

[CommonsWare]

If you don't like Gradle, you can look into another build system (e.g., Maven, Buck). If that's not the problem... what is the reason for avoiding Gradle?

[aoeu]

I don't want a build system. I want to build.

[CommonsWare]

Building an Android app involves lots of work. The diagram on that page will help get you started in terms of the different tools and pieces that are involved.

[Ciro Santilli OurBigBook.com]

related: just the dex: stackoverflow.com/questions/10199863/…

[ChuckZHB]

I'm an iOS developer, after downloading Xcode, user could use it to create app directly. Almost all the gears are on belt once download is complete. But each time I use Android Studio, I was very confused. After download it, you has to wait that endless gradle sync. Why Google can't ship those gradle stuff with Android Studio release directly.

[aoeu]

Thanks, that is exactly what I wanted to know! Nice shell scripting and thanks for the articles, too.

[Leo supports Monica Cellio]

Would be nice to see that ANT script, if you still have it around.

[user3700562]

I did this and it works, however when I run the app in the emulator I always get a warning: "This app was built for an older version of Android and may not work properly." I made sure it's using the correct build-tools directory and the android.jar from the correct platform version folder. What else do I need to do?

[user2347921]

@user3700562, make sure your AndroidManifest.xml has a correct android:minSdkVersion specified. Right now, you need to specify version 23 or higher for the warning to not show up.