Android SDK Tools in Debian
Description of the project: The Android platform is free software, including the tools used for developing apps for Android. Debian-derivatives are already a preferred platform for Android developers, and stretch already includes the core Android SDK tools, enough to build some apps.
The Debian Android Tools team is working towards the goal of having the entire Android toolchain and SDK in Debian. That means Android apps can be developed using only free software from easy-to-use packages. In combination with Replicant, this will make the most popular operating system in the world, Android, into a 100% Free Software platform. This project is in conjunction with the Debian Java team, since many tools like gradle are for any Java software.
There are many chunks of work to be done:
finish packaging all of the core development tools (lint, SDK Manager, android update project utility, etc.)
update android-tools and relevant pkg-java packages to the latest upstream version
add Continuous Integration tests
update androidsdk-tools to the Android Tools Team style, and update to latest upstream version
- package new parts of the Android upstream source, including the NDK, target platforms, emulators, Android Studio, etc.
- make all Android Tools packages build reproducibly
- improve package build systems to be more tightly integrated with upstream build systems
- package and improve related tools, like apktool, androguard, fdroidserver, drozer, etc.
Since this project is a large one, multiple mentors and students could work on it simultaneously. You can find relevant documentation in READMEs in each git repo and source package. There is also this wiki section: AndroidTools
There is also a blog post about contributing to this project here
The Debian Android Tools Team works with git and git-buildpackage: PackagingWithGit
Confirmed Mentor: Hans-Christoph Steiner
How to contact the mentor: hans@at.or.at and _hc on IRC
Confirmed co-mentors: Kai-Chung Yan, seamlikok@gmail.com and seamlik on IRC
Deliverables of the project: The deliverables of this project will mostly be finished packages submitted to Debian sid, both for new packages and updated packages. Whenever possible, we should also try to get patches submitted and merged upstream in the Android sources.
Desirable skills: Building and packaging C and Java code, Android development, an understanding of git and git-buildpackage.
What the student will learn: Students will learn to figure out large scale projects like Android, and how to organize their own work within such projects. They will also learn about building and packaging C and Java, as well as some of the guts of Android itself.
Related projects: Replicant, the 100% free software Android ROM, uses our packages to provide a 100% free software Android SDK.
Application tasks:
build an Android app using only apt install android-sdk android-sdk-platform-23 android-sdk-helper, F-Droid is a good app to try
backport android-sdk-helper to stretch-backports
test Android Tools bash completion (e.g. for adb, fastboot, etc), file bugs if it doesn't work properly