V Android Bootstrapper

V Android Bootstrapper (vab) is the currently supported way to compile, package, sign and deploy V graphical apps on Android based devices.

Install

Currently Linux and macOS build hosts are supported. Dependencies: V, Java (JDK) 8, Android SDK + NDK (no Android Studio required)

git clone https://github.com/vlang/vab.git
cd vab
v vab.v

If vab fail to detect your environment you can set ENV variables to help it:

JAVA_HOME=/path/to/java-8-jdk
ANDROID_SDK_ROOT=/path/to/android_sdk_linux
ANDROID_NDK_ROOT=/path/to/android_ndk_linux
VEXE=/path/to/custom/v/binary

Usage

Development (debug builds)

The fast way from source to device (build, package, deploy and launch app) is:

./vab run --device auto --archs 'armeabi-v7a' /path/to/v/source/file/or/dir

Release

You can build an Android app ready for the Play Store with the following command:

export KEYSTORE_PASSWORD="pass"
export KEYSTORE_ALIAS_PASSWORD="word"
./vab -prod --name "V App" --package-id "com.example.app.id" --icon /path/to/file.png  --version-code <int> --keystore /path/to/sign.keystore --keystore-alias "example" /path/to/v/source/file/or/dir

Complete list of env variables recognized

VEXE                     # Absolute path to the V executable to use
JAVA_HOME                # Absolute path to the Java install to use
ANDROID_SDK_ROOT         # Absolute path to the Android SDK
ANDROID_NDK_ROOT         # Absolute path to the Android NDK
KEYSTORE_PASSWORD        # Password for keystore
KEYSTORE_ALIAS_PASSWORD  # Password for keystore alias

VAB_KILL_ADB             # Set to let vab kill adb after use. This is useful on some hosts.

See all options:

./vab -h

Setup

vab now has support for guiding and downloading it's dependencies automatically, except the Java 8 JDK.

If you have nerves to let it try and figure things out automatically simply do: vab install auto

Java 8

macOS

Installing Java 8 using homebrew

brew tap adoptopenjdk/openjdk
brew cask install adoptopenjdk8

Linux

You should be able to find a way to install Java 8 JDK with your package manager of choice.

E.g.:

sudo apt install openjdk-8-jdk

Notes

vab targets as low an API level as possible by default for maximum compatibility, you can however tell it to target newer Android versions by using the --api flag. Example: vab --api 30 <...>. Installed API levels can be listed with vab --list-apis.