SDK Tools is a downloadable component for the Android SDK. It includes the complete set of development and debugging tools for the Android SDK.
If you are new to the Android SDK, the SDK starter package installs the
latest revision of the SDK Tools in the <sdk>/tools
directory.
If you are already using the SDK and you want to update to the latest version of the SDK Tools, use the Android SDK and AVD Manager to get the update, rather than downloading a new SDK starter package. For more information about how to update, see Updating SDK Components.
The sections below provide notes about successive releases of the SDK Tools, as denoted by revision number. To determine what revision of the SDK Tools you are using, refer to the "Installed Packages" listing in the Android SDK and AVD Manager.
If you are developing in Eclipse with ADT, note that SDK Tools r8 is designed for use with ADT 8.0.0 and later. After installing SDK Tools r8, we highly recommend updating your ADT Plugin to 8.0.0.
Also note that SDK Tools r8 requires a new SDK component called
Platform-tools. The new Platform-tools component lets all SDK platforms
(Android 2.1, Android 2.2, and so on) use the same (latest) version of build
tools such as adb
, aapt
, aidl
, and
dx
. To download the Platform-tools component, use the Android SDK
Manager, as described in Adding SDK
Components
If you are upgrading to SDK Tools r8 from an earlier version, note that the
the default installed location for the adb
tool has changed from
<SDK>/tools/adb
to
<SDK>/platform-tools/adb
. This means that you should
add the new location to your PATH and modify any custom build scripts to
reference the new location. Copying the adb
executable from the new
location to the old is not recommended, since subsequent updates to the SDK
Tools will delete the file.
android:debuggable
attribute to the
<application>
tag in the manifest — the build tools add
the attribute automatically. In Eclipse/ADT, all incremental builds are assumed
to be debug builds, so the tools insert android:debuggable="true"
.
When exporting a signed release build, the tools do not add the attribute. In
Ant, a ant debug
command automatically inserts the
android:debuggable="true"
attribute, while ant release
does not. If android:debuggable="true"
is manually set, then
ant release
will actually do a debug build, rather than a release
build.android
tool — the build tools
then automatically run ProGuard against the project sources during the build.
For more information, see the ProGuard
documentation. java.encoding
,
java.source
, and java.target
(default values are
"ascii", "1.5", and "1.5", respectively).If you are developing in Eclipse with ADT, note that SDK Tools r7 is designed for use with ADT 0.9.8 and later. After installing SDK Tools r7, we highly recommend updating your ADT Plugin to 0.9.8.
-pre-build
, -pre-compile
, and
-post-compile
.android -h update sdk
for more information.If you are developing in Eclipse with ADT, note that SDK Tools r6 is designed for use with ADT 0.9.7 and later. After installing SDK Tools r6, we highly recommend updating your ADT Plugin to 0.9.7.
The SDK Tools now support the use of library projects during development, a capability that lets you store shared Android application code and resources in a separate development project. You can then reference the library project from other Android projects and, at build time, the tools compile the shared code and resources as part of the dependent applications. More information about this feature is available in the Developing in Other IDEs document.
If you are developing in Eclipse, ADT 0.9.7 provides the equivalent library project support.
layoutopt.bat
to execute correctly on Windows.SDK Tools r4 is compatible with ADT 0.9.5 and later, but not compatible with earlier versions. If you are developing in Eclipse with ADT, you must update your ADT plugin to version 0.9.5 or higher if you install SDK Tools r4 in your SDK.
SDK Tools r3 is compatible with ADT 0.9.4 and later, but not compatible with earlier versions. If you are developing in Eclipse with ADT, you must update your ADT plugin to version 0.9.4 or higher if you install SDK Tools r3 in your SDK.
android create test-project
and android update
test-project
commands to allow for greater flexibility in the location of the
main and test projects.The SDK Tools r3 package includes layoutopt
, a new command-line
tool that helps you optimize your layout hierarchies. When run against your
layout files, the tool analyzes their hierarchies and notifies you of
inefficiencies and other potential issues. The tool also provides simple
solutions for the issues it finds. For usage, see layoutopt.