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How to set up a debugging and development environment for Android on Linux
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set-up-debugging-development-environment-for-android-on-linux.md

How to set up a debugging and development environment for Android on Linux

Republished on my blog, keeping this version here for historical reasons.

This post describes how to set up a debugging and development environment for Android based systems on an Ubuntu machine, specially for flashing custom recoveries and ROMs, but not for coding. I'm basically pulling together information from other sources across the web, be sure to check out the References and other external links for more details. You only need admin privileges to configure the permissions of the USB device with udev rules (see Configure device group ownership and permissions).

Although some information is specific to the LG Nexus 4 and Cyanogenmod operating system, with a few modifications those instructions can also be used for other devices, custom ROMs and development systems; for example, I successfully followed most of the steps on a Fedora 21 system.

Installing customs ROMs on a Nexus device is easier than on other devices since by default it is very simple to unlock the bootloader on all Nexus phones/tablets. In general, the Nexus family of devices are developer friendly.

Note: I'm omitting values particular to my system (like ids, serial numbers and ports) with the notation <variable>.

Warning: Following this procedure will result in loss of user and system data. Always backup your data.

Install the Android SDK Tools

Host system is Ubuntu 14.04

$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS
Release:        14.04
Codename:       trusty

I hear that the OpenJDK packages available in the Ubuntu repositories should work with the Android SDK Tools. However, I prefer to use Oracle's JDK so I'm able to use the latest Java 8, and also because it's quite simple to install it without root/admin permissions.

Download latest Java SDK from Oracle's site, which is JDK 8u45 at the time of this writing. Verify package integrity with the MD5 checksums published by Oracle

$ md5sum <path to tar package>
<checksum output, should match checksum in webpage above>

Untar the downloaded file, and add to your PATH the bin subdirectoy

$ tar xfz jdk-8u45-linux-<your_system_arch>.tar.gz
$ export PATH=$PATH:<path to jdk1.8.0_45 dir>/bin

Confirm the Java SDK you just installed

$ java -version
java version "1.8.0_45"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_45-b14)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 25.45-b02, mixed mode)

Go to Android SDK Download page, and look for "SDK Tools Only". Download the package for Linux systems. Latest version is 24.3.3 at the time of this writing. Verify the package integrity with the SHA-1 Checksum shown beside the download link.

$ sha1sum android-sdk_r24.3.3-linux.tgz
cd4cab76c2e3d926b3495c26ec56c831ba77d0d0  android-sdk_r24.3.3-linux.tgz

Untar and launch the Android SDK Manager:

$ tar xzf android-sdk_r24.3.3-linux.tgz
$ cd ./android-sdk-linux/tools
$ ./android sdk

Install the Android SDK Platform-tools package. Uncheck other packages that are automatically selected when the GUI launches. When done, the directory android-sdk-linux will now contain the subdirectory platforms-tools with the executables adb and fastboot. Add this directory to your PATH:

$ export PATH=$PATH:<path to android-sdk-linux>/platform-tools
$ adb version
Android Debug Bridge version 1.0.32

Configure the Nexus device for development

On the Nexus 4, go to Settings -> About phone. Tap 7 times on the Build number to enable development. Then enable USB debugging: go to Settings -> Developer Options -> USB Debugging and tap the USB Debugging checkbox.

Connect the device and get bus and device numbers:

$ lsusb | grep -i google
Bus <Bus> Device <Device>: ID XXXX:YYYY Google Inc. Nexus 4 (debug)

The Nexus 4 is connected to the bus <Bus> with device number <Device> and its id is XXXX:YYYY. Check permissions of USB device

$ ls -l /dev/bus/usb/<Bus>/<Device>
crw-rw-r-- 1 root root 189, 4 jul  5 16:45 /dev/bus/usb/<Bus>/<Device>

The device owner and group are root:root, others can only read it. In other words, admin permissions are required to write to the device.

Configure device group ownership and permissions

What we need to do is to change the device ownership and permissions. By using the udev system we can set up an udev rule that matches the device and updates its attributes, including the device ownership and permissions. With the device information we gathered previously we'll match the device, update its group ownership and make it group-writable.

In Ubuntu systems there is already a group created for device management, called plugdev. My user is already a member of such group. Unplug the device from the host computer and run below as root:

# cd /etc/udev/rules.d
# touch 99-android-debug.rules

Edit the file 99-android-debug.rules. Note that the values of the match keys ATTR{idVendor} and ATTR{idProduct} match the id XXXX:YYYY previously obtained:

SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="XXXX", ATTR{idProduct}=="YYYY", GROUP="plugdev", MODE="0664"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="XXXX", ATTR{idProduct}=="YYYY", GROUP="plugdev", MODE="0664"

Reload the udev rules and restart the system service.

# udevadm control --reload
# /etc/init.d/udev reload
# /etc/init.d/udev status
* udevd is running

Plug the device to the host computer. Verify the file group is plugdev or whatever other group you configured in the udev rule. The device and/or bus number may have changed, in which case you have to get them again. Subsequent steps do not need admin permissions.

Confirm ownership and allow adb to access the device

$ lsusb | grep -i google
Bus <Bus> Device <Device>: ID XXXX:YYYY Google Inc. Nexus 4 (debug)
$ ls -l /dev/bus/usb/<Bus>/<Device>
crw-rw-r-- 1 root plugdev 189, 4 jul  5 17:05 /dev/bus/usb/<Bus>/<Device>

Run adb to show the device

$ adb devices -l
* daemon not running. starting it now on port <port number> *
* daemon started successfully *
List of devices attached
<device serial no.>       unauthorized usb:<Bus>-<Device>

The Nexus 4 will ask you to confirm USB debugging from the host Linux system. Click OK if the RSA key fingerprint shown by the phone matches the output of the below command (code snippet copied from this forum thread).

$ cut -d' ' -f1 ~/.android/adbkey.pub | base64 -d | md5sum

Now the device shows as authorized to adb.

$ adb devices -l
List of devices attached
<device serial no.>       <some message not showing the word "unauthorized">

Unlock the bootloader

Boot into bootloader:

$ adb reboot bootloader

Once in fastboot mode, verify fastboot correctly sees the device.

$ fastboot devices -l
<ok message, not errors>

Unlock bootloader (accept the disclaimer the device displays when entering below command, then you will see the output shown below)

$ fastboot oem unlock
...
OKAY [ 10.344s]
finished. total time: 10.344s

If the device doesn't reboot by itself, reboot it from the menu.

Install TWRP recovery

Enable USB debugging on the device, again. Verify again that the RSA key fingerprint shown on the device matches the output of the command in a previous step.

Then download TWRP 2.8.7.0 for Nexus 4 and verify file integrity. With the device connected, reboot into fastboot mode.

$ adb reboot bootloader

In fastboot mode, flash the TWRP recovery image downloaded in the previous step

$ fastboot flash recovery <path to TWRP image>
sending 'recovery' (9028 KB)...
OKAY [  0.429s]
writing 'recovery'...
OKAY [  0.384s]
finished. total time: 0.814s

Boot into bootloader

$ fastboot reboot-bootloader

Start in recovery mode using the device volume keys to navigate to Recovery mode and the power key to select. TWRP recovery starts. Swipe to allow modifications.

Install custom ROM / Cyanogenmod

Tap Backup and select the 4 partitions Boot, System, Data and Cache. Swipe to start backup, and when done reboot into recovery mode again. Then tap Wipe and swipe to start Factory Reset.

Download Cyanogenmod. At the time of this writing the most recent nightly build for the Nexus 4 is Cyanogenmod 12.1-20150704. Verify package integrity.

$ md5sum cm-12.1-20150704-NIGHTLY-mako.zip
941676945c437311e443fdbcbf1be42a  cm-12.1-20150704-NIGHTLY-mako.zip

Copy CM distribution zip into device

$ adb push <path to cm-12.1-20150704-NIGHTLY-mako.zip> /sdcard
2933 KB/s (266022605 bytes in 88.573s)

Go back to TWRP main menu and tap Install. Search in the file system for the zip just copied and tap it. Tap checkbox Zip file signature verification and swipe to confirm flash. The message Successfull should show. Tap Reboot System and the device will now boot into CyanogenMod.

Relock bootloader

This step is optional. Enable USB debugging again and reboot into fastboot mode.

$ adb reboot bootloader

Then lock bootloader with fastboot.

$ fastboot oem lock
...
OKAY [  0.010s]
finished. total time: 0.010s
$ fastbook reboot

In the end you have a Nexus 4 device with Cyanogenmod 12.1, TWRP 12.8.7.0 recovery and locked bootloader.

Notes

  • If something doesn't work as expected when using adb, try restarting the server.

    $ adb kill-server
$ adb start-server

  • If at any point when booting into either the stock ROM or Cyanogenmod you seem to get the boot loop (boot animation never stops for more than 30 minutes), power off device, start in recovery mode and wipe the user and cache data partitions. Then reboot.

References

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