Skip to content

Instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

Show Gist options
  • Save mzaksana/f4c3cf3bce9c21ebaad65dd2dc825af2 to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Save mzaksana/f4c3cf3bce9c21ebaad65dd2dc825af2 to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Installing and creating Emulators with AVDMANAGER (For Continuous Integration Server or Local Use)

Install and Create Emulators using AVDMANAGER and SDKMANAGER

TL;DR

For generic skin emulator with default apis (without google apis):

  1. List All System Images Available for Download: sdkmanager --list | grep system-images

  2. Download Image: sdkmanager --install "system-images;android-29;default;x86"

  3. Create Emulator: echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "generic_10" --package "system-images;android-29;default;x86" --tag "default" --abi "x86"

    I recommend adding these lines to: ~/.android/avd/generic_10.avd/config.ini
    
    skin.name=1080x1920        # proper screen size for emulator
    hw.lcd.density=480
    hw.keyboard=yes            # enables keys from your laptop to be sent to the emulator
    
    If you cannot do this, you can still pass -skin 1080x1920 as an argument when starting the emulator. 
    
  4. Run Emulator: emulator @generic_10 &

About

  • The goal of this gist is to quickly pre-install a range of system images to provide our project teams the ability to run emulators on a range of API levels, from API 19 to API 28.
    • These can be run locally or on the base build agent.
  • Note: X86 is the fastest architecture for emulators, though x86_64 would probably be better to test against because most phones are 64 bit now.
  • We create two sets of emulators here, one set with pixel hardware emulation and one set with default oem emulation.

See: Google Documentation on Start the emulator from the command line for more info

Steps

  1. Run the sdkmanager --install commands.
  2. Run the avdmanager commands.

Extra Steps

  • Add aliases to run the emulators with parameters more easily. Or add these parameters to your build steps in TeamCity.
    • Instead of using emulator @{EMULATOR NAME} to run devices, you can use the aliases if they are added.
  • If you run this locally, you can use the -read-only parameter to run multiple devices at the same time. You can then manually run automation against various APIs for added device coverage during regression.

Step 1 - Run the sdkmanager commands

KITKAT (4.4) API 19

sdkmanager --install "system-images;android-19;google_apis;x86"

LOLLIPOP (5.0) API 21

sdkmanager --install "system-images;android-21;google_apis;x86"

LOLLIPOP (5.1) API 22

sdkmanager --install "system-images;android-22;google_apis;x86"

MARSHMELLOW (6.0) API 23

sdkmanager --install "system-images;android-23;google_apis;x86"

NOUGAT (7.0) API 24

sdkmanager --install "system-images;android-24;google_apis;x86"

NOUGAT (7.1) API 25

sdkmanager --install "system-images;android-25;google_apis;x86"

OREO (8.0) API 26

sdkmanager --install "system-images;android-26;google_apis;x86"

OREO (8.1) API 27

sdkmanager --install "system-images;android-27;google_apis;x86"

PIE (9.0) API 28

sdkmanager --install "system-images;android-28;google_apis;x86"

Step 2 - Use AVDMANAGER to create emulators

Pixel Emulator with Google Apis and x86 architecture

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "pixel_4.4" --device "pixel" --package "system-images;android-19;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "pixel_5.0" --device "pixel" --package "system-images;android-21;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "pixel_5.1" --device "pixel" --package "system-images;android-22;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "pixel_6.0" --device "pixel" --package "system-images;android-23;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "pixel_7.0" --device "pixel" --package "system-images;android-24;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "pixel_7.1" --device "pixel" --package "system-images;android-25;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "pixel_8.0" --device "pixel" --package "system-images;android-26;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "pixel_8.1" --device "pixel" --package "system-images;android-27;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "pixel_9.0" --device "pixel" --package "system-images;android-28;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

Generic Emulator with Google Apis

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "generic_4.4" --package "system-images;android-19;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "generic_5.0" --package "system-images;android-21;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "generic_5.1" --package "system-images;android-22;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "generic_6.0" --package "system-images;android-23;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "generic_7.0" --package "system-images;android-24;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "generic_7.1" --package "system-images;android-25;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "generic_8.0" --package "system-images;android-26;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "generic_8.1" --package "system-images;android-27;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

echo "no" | avdmanager --verbose create avd --force --name "generic_9.0" --package "system-images;android-28;google_apis;x86" --tag "google_apis" --abi "x86"

Extra Steps - Aliases and notes on resolutions

Aliases to run emulators more optimally

Note: Add this alias to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc, or just run using these parameters for best results. -skin 768x1280 is useful to run default emulators successfully because they have a very low resolution out-of-the-box.

alias generic_4.4='emulator @generic_4.4 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 768x1280 &'

alias generic_5.0='emulator @generic_5.0 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 768x1280 &'

alias generic_5.1='emulator @generic_5.1 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 768x1280 &'

alias generic_6.0='emulator @generic_6.0 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 768x1280 &'

alias generic_7.0='emulator @generic_7.0 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 768x1280 &'

alias generic_7.1='emulator @generic_7.1 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 768x1280 &'

alias generic_8.0='emulator @generic_8.0 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 768x1280 &'

alias generic_8.1='emulator @generic_8.1 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 768x1280 &'

alias generic_9.0='emulator @generic_9.0 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 768x1280 &'

Note: Add this alias to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc, or just run using these parameters for results. Pixel emulators should run at default resolution of 1080x1920 by default, but can specify this just in-case with the parameter: -skin 1080x1920

alias pixel_4.4 ='emulator @pixel_4.4 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 1080x1920 &'

alias pixel_5.0 ='emulator @pixel_5.0 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 1080x1920 &'

alias pixel_5.1 ='emulator @pixel_5.1 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 1080x1920 &'

alias pixel_6.0 ='emulator @pixel_6.0 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 1080x1920 &'

alias pixel_7.0 ='emulator @pixel_7.0 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 1080x1920 &'

alias pixel_7.1 ='emulator @pixel_7.1 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 1080x1920 &'

alias pixel_8.0 ='emulator @pixel_8.0 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 1080x1920 &'

alias pixel_8.1 ='emulator @pixel_8.1 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 1080x1920 &'

alias pixel_9.0 ='emulator @pixel_9.0 -no-boot-anim -netdelay none -no-snapshot -wipe-data -skin 1080x1920 &'

Note You can run all of the emulators above with a -read-only parameter to run multiple emulators at the same time, but this is an experimental feature right now.

Other

  1. Certain emulators, like Pixel, need to be started at a higher resolution than default oem emulators. Either define this in the ~/.android/avd/{name of avd}/config.ini file, or start emulator with -skin {RESOLUTION} as seen above.
  2. emulator -list-avds will print list of available devices
  3. avdmanager list , avdmanager list target, avdmanager list devices , avdmanager list avd
-   avdmanager list              : Lists existing targets or virtual devices.
-   avdmanager list avd          : Lists existing Android Virtual Devices.
-   avdmanager list target       : Lists existing targets.
-   avdmanager list device       : Lists existing devices.
Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment