Android Development on Kubuntu: best way to install required programs?

[Feathers McGraw]

I'd like to have a crack at making an Android app, and I've been reading around what I'll need to install & configure to get started.

There seems to be a couple of ways to do things:

1) Download the lot from Google as the ADT bundle

If you're a new Android developer, we recommend you download the ADT Bundle to quickly start developing apps. It includes the essential Android SDK components and a version of the Eclipse IDE with built-in ADT (Android Developer Tools) to streamline your Android app development.

With a single download, the ADT Bundle includes everything you need to begin developing apps:

Eclipse + ADT plugin
Android SDK Tools
Android Platform-tools
The latest Android platform
The latest Android system image for the emulator

2) OR, do things separately:

• download eclipse through apt-get
• download the ADT eclipse plugin manually (can this be done with apt-get?)
• download the SDK tools manually (again, why not apt-get?)
• download the android platform and system images for the emulator (apt-get? is this what android-platform-headers is?)

As you may have guessed, I'm a little confused as to why I can't just download the lot using apt-get, either through the ubuntu repos or by adding a PPA... from what I've read it seems like the whole lot is free software, so why not?

I'd rather do it with apt-get to make upgrading easier, but if I can only do bits with apt-get then that kind of defeats the point, and I may as well just do the whole lot in one go manually.

Any advice you can offer would be greatly received!

Thanks,

Feathers

[SteveRiley]

APT = Advanced Packaging Tool. apt-get is used to download and install packages from repositories, and to remove installed packages. If no one has created packages and placed them in a repository, then there's nothing for apt-get to do. Packages sometimes are created but not placed in a Debian/Ubuntu type repository. These you will first download and then use dpkg at the command line to install.

If you haven't already, I'd recommend creating an account at the XDA Developers forum and take a good look through their wikis and Android development forums. That's the best place for such guidance.

[Feathers McGraw]

I guess I just don't understand why Google hasn't made a Linux repository for the ADT bundle... they made one for Chrome!

I've used XDA before (passively), I just wanted to ask the Kubuntu specific bit here first.

[SteveRiley]

Last time I checked, the ADT was self-updating. Once you install the bundle, it will keep itself updated as Google releases newer SDK bits and frameworks.

[Feathers McGraw]

Cool, I didn't realise that! No reason to install eclipse from the repos then, unless you're already using it for some other development work?

[SteveRiley]

That's a good question. At one point, probably when I last checked, Eclipse wasn't bundled. Now it is. Given the description -- "It includes the essential Android SDK components and a version of the Eclipse IDE with built-in ADT" -- I'm left to wonder whether the included Eclipse will be generically useful. The alternative is to install Eclipse from the *buntu repository, and then download just the Android SDK tools. From within the tools utility, you pick which parts of the SDK you want and also the ADT plugin.

The end result is that Eclipse is kept up-to-date via the repository, and the SDK + ADT plugin are kept up-to-date via the SDK tools utility.

[Feathers McGraw]

Yeah... see my dilemma? I love being able to upgrade everything with apt-get.

Doing the whole lot manually seems easier as everything should "just work", but I'm wondering whether it may be better in the long run to use the version of eclipse that's in the repos.

My brother is making an app at the moment using Windows, and recently ran into problems upgrading eclipse...I think that would be less likely with apt. Plus, when installed with apt there's no need to fiddle around with the $PATH and all that.

Hmm...

[SteveRiley]

Personally, I'd stick with repos as much as possible. These packages often have taken care of any distro-specific configuration quirks required. I deviate away from repos when package versions become too old (Rekonq, for instance). Of course, when something you need isn't even in a repo, then you have no choice but to download and install manually. So yeah, grab Eclipse from the repo, manually install the SDK tools from Google, then use that to install the actual SDK and the ADT plugin.

[Feathers McGraw]

Thanks, I'll do that!