This page describes how to install the latest version of the Android SDK and set up your development environment for the first time.
If you encounter any problems during installation, see the Troubleshooting section at the bottom of this page.
If you are currently using the Android 1.6 SDK, you do not necessarily need to install a newer SDK, since you can already update the platforms, tools, and other components using the Android SDK and AVD Manager tool. To develop against the latest Android platform, for example, you could just download the latest SDK Tools and then add the new Android platform into your existing SDK.
If you are using Android 1.5 SDK or older, you should install the new SDK as described in this document and move your application projects to the new SDK environment.
Before you begin, take a moment to confirm that your development machine meets the System Requirements.
If you will be developing in Eclipse with the Android Development Tools (ADT) Plugin — the recommended path if you are new to Android — make sure that you have a suitable version of Eclipse installed on your computer (3.4 or newer is recommended). If you need to install Eclipse, you can download it from this location:
http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/
A Java or RCP version of Eclipse is recommended. For Eclipse 3.5, the "Eclipse Classic" version is recommended.
Download the SDK package that is appropriate for your development computer. You can get the latest version from the SDK download page.
After downloading, unpack the Android SDK archive to a suitable location on your
machine. By default, the SDK files are unpacked into a directory named
android-sdk-<machine-platform>. Make a note of the name and
location of the unpacked SDK directory on your system — you will need to
refer to the SDK directory later, when setting up the ADT plugin or when using
the SDK tools.
Optionally, you may want to add the location of the SDK's primary
tools directory to your system PATH. The primary
tools/ directory is located at the root of the SDK folder. Adding
tools to your path lets you run Android Debug Bridge (adb) and the
other command line tools without needing to
supply the full path to the tools directory.
~/.bash_profile or ~/.bashrc file. Look
for a line that sets the PATH environment variable and add the
full path to the tools/ directory to it. If you don't
see a line setting the path, you can add one:export PATH=${PATH}:<your_sdk_dir>/tools.bash_profile and
proceed as for Linux. You can create the .bash_profile if
you haven't already set one up on your machine. tools/ directory to the path. If you will be using the Eclipse IDE as your development environment, the next section describes how to install the Android Development Tools (ADT) plugin and set up Eclipse. If you choose not to use Eclipse, you can develop Android applications in an IDE of your choice and then compile, debug and deploy using the tools included in the SDK (skip to Next Steps).
Android offers a custom plugin for the Eclipse IDE, called Android Development Tools (ADT), that is designed to give you a powerful, integrated environment in which to build Android applications. It extends the capabilites of Eclipse to let you quickly set up new Android projects, create an application UI, add components based on the Android Framework API, debug your applications using the Android SDK tools, and even export signed (or unsigned) APKs in order to distribute your application.
In general, using Eclipse with ADT is a highly recommended approach to Android development and is the fastest way to get started. For complete information about how to install ADT, see Installing and Updating ADT.
If you prefer to work in an IDE other than Eclipse, you do not need to install Eclipse or ADT, instead, you can directly use the SDK tools to build and debug your application.
The Android SDK and AVD Manager tool is pre-installed in your SDK. Using the tool is a key part of performing the initial setup of your SDK, as well as keeping it up-to-date with the latest platforms, tools, and other components.
For full instructions on how to use the tool, see Adding SDK Components.
The Android SDK uses a modular structure that separates the major parts of the SDK — platforms, add-ons, tools, and the API documentation — into a set of separately installable components. The SDK components are available to you for individual download, as needed, from the Android SDK repository site.
The Android SDK starter package includes only a single component: the latest version of the SDK Tools. Included in that component is a tool called Android SDK and AVD Manager that you can use to download other components from the SDK repository site. The tool provides a graphical UI that lets you browse the repository, select new or updated components for download, and then install them in your SDK.
There are several types of SDK components available:
<sdk>/tools/ directory. com.google.android.maps library. You can also add additional
repositories, so that you can download other SDK add-ons, where available. To develop any Android application, even if you are following the Hello World tutorial, you must download at least one Android platform into your SDK. Typically, you will want to download multiple platforms, so that you can build your application on the lowest version you want to support, but test against higher versions that you intend the application to run on. You can test your applications on different platforms by running in an Android Virtual Device (AVD) on the Android emulator.
For step-by-step instructions on how to use the Android SDK and AVD Manager to add components, see the Adding SDK Components document.
For release notes and other detailed information about individual SDK components, see the documents listed under "Downloadable SDK Components" in the navigation at left.
Once you've installed the SDK and downloaded the platforms, documentation, and add-ons that you need, open the SDK directory and take a look at what's inside.
The table below describes the full SDK directory contents, with components installed.
| Name | Description | ||
|---|---|---|---|
add-ons/ |
Contains add-ons to the Android SDK development environment, which let you develop against external libraries that are available on some devices. | ||
docs/ |
A full set of documentation in HTML format, including the Developer's Guide,
API Reference, and other information. To read the documentation, load the
file offline.html in a web browser. |
||
platforms/ |
Contains a set of Android platform versions that you can develop applications against, each in a separate directory. | ||
<platform>/ |
Platform version directory, for example "Android 1.6". All platform version directories contain a similar set of files and subdirectory structure. | ||
data/ |
Storage area for default fonts and resource definitions. | ||
images/ |
Storage area for default disk images, including the Android system image, the default userdata image, the default ramdisk image, and more. The images are used in emulator sessions. | ||
samples/ |
Contains a wide variety of sample applications that you can load as projects into your development environment, compile, and run on the emulator. | ||
skins/ |
A set of emulator skins available for the platform version. Each skin is designed for a specific screen resolution. | ||
templates/ |
Storage area for file templates used by the SDK development tools. | ||
tools/ |
Any development tools that are specific to the platform version. | ||
android.jar |
The Android library used when compiling applications against this platform version. | ||
tools/ |
Contains the set of development and profiling tools available to you, such
as the emulator, the android tool, adb, ddms, and more. |
||
SDK Readme.txt |
A file that explains how to perform the initial setup of your SDK, including how to launch the Android SDK and AVD Manager tool on all platforms | ||
SDK Setup.exe |
For Windows SDK only. A shortcut that launches the Android SDK and AVD Manager tool, which you use to add components to your SDK. | ||
Once you have completed installation, you are ready to begin developing applications. Here are a few ways you can get started:
Learn about Android
Explore the SDK
Explore some code
<sdk>/platforms/<platform>/samples,
then compile and run it in your development environmentVisit the Android developer groups
ia32-libs package using
apt-get::
apt-get install ia32-libs
apt-get install sun-java6-bin