Briefcase Does Not Detect Failure to Install an APK on an Android version which is too old

[rmartin16]

Describe the bug

During briefcase run android, the attempt to install the APK on the device can fail if the API level of the APK is beyond what the device can support. Briefcase does not detect this error and eventually errors out when attempting to run the app.

           >>> Running Command:                                                                                                                                    subprocess.py:665
           >>>     'C:\Users\domin\AppData\Local\BeeWare\briefcase\Cache\tools\android_sdk\platform-tools\adb.exe' -s PLI5T31F7E install -r                        subprocess.py:666
           'C:\Users\domin\beeware-tutorial\smartmirrortab\android\gradle\SmartMirrorTab\app\build\outputs\apk\debug\app-debug.apk'                                                 
           >>> Working Directory:                                                                                                                                  subprocess.py:673
           >>>     C:\Users\domin\beeware-tutorial\smartmirrortab                                                                                                  subprocess.py:674
[17:31:11] >>> Command Output:                                                                                                                                     subprocess.py:690
           >>>     Performing Push Install                                                                                                                         subprocess.py:692
           >>>     C:\Users\domin\beeware-tutorial\smartmirrortab\android\gradle\SmartMirrorTab\app\build\outputs\apk\debug\app-debug.apk: 1 file pushed, 0        subprocess.py:692
           skipped. 5.5 MB/s (33125287 bytes in 5.768s)                                                                                                                             
           >>>             pkg: /data/local/tmp/app-debug.apk                                                                                                      subprocess.py:692
           >>>                                                                                                                                                     subprocess.py:692
           >>>     Failure [INSTALL_FAILED_OLDER_SDK]                                                                                                              subprocess.py:692
           >>>                                                                                                                                                     subprocess.py:692
           >>> Return code: 0                                                                                                                                      subprocess.py:701
           Installing new app version... done                                                                                                                          gradle.py:336
                                                                                                                                                                   subprocess.py:664
           >>> Running Command:                                                                                                                                    subprocess.py:665
           >>>     'C:\Users\domin\AppData\Local\BeeWare\briefcase\Cache\tools\android_sdk\platform-tools\adb.exe' -s PLI5T31F7E shell am start                    subprocess.py:666
           com.example.smartmirrortab/org.beeware.android.MainActivity -a android.intent.action.MAIN -c android.intent.category.LAUNCHER                                            
           >>> Working Directory:                                                                                                                                  subprocess.py:673
           >>>     C:\Users\domin\beeware-tutorial\smartmirrortab                                                                                                  subprocess.py:674
           >>> Command Output:                                                                                                                                     subprocess.py:690
           >>>     Starting: Intent { act=android.intent.action.MAIN cat=[android.intent.category.LAUNCHER]                                                        subprocess.py:692
           cmp=com.example.smartmirrortab/org.beeware.android.MainActivity }                                                                                                        
           >>>                                                                                                                                                     subprocess.py:692
           >>>     Error type 3                                                                                                                                    subprocess.py:692
           >>>                                                                                                                                                     subprocess.py:692
           >>>     Error: Activity class {com.example.smartmirrortab/org.beeware.android.MainActivity} does not exist.                                             subprocess.py:692
           >>>                                                                                                                                                     subprocess.py:692
           >>> Return code: 0                                                                                                                                      subprocess.py:701
[17:31:12] Launching app...                                                                                                                                            gradle.py:355
                                                                                                                                                                      __main__.py:30
           Activity class not found while starting app.                                                                                                               __main__.py:31
                                                                                                                                                                      __main__.py:31
           `adb` output:                                                                                                                                              __main__.py:31
                                                                                                                                                                      __main__.py:31
               Starting: Intent { act=android.intent.action.MAIN cat=[android.intent.category.LAUNCHER]                                                               __main__.py:31
           cmp=com.example.smartmirrortab/org.beeware.android.MainActivity }                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                                                      __main__.py:31
           Error type 3                                                                                                                                               __main__.py:31
                                                                                                                                                                      __main__.py:31
           Error: Activity class {com.example.smartmirrortab/org.beeware.android.MainActivity} does not exist.                                                        __main__.py:31

Steps to reproduce

Attempt briefcase run android with a device running Android 4.

Expected behavior

Briefcase should detect the failure to install the APK and inform the user as such.

Screenshots

No response

Environment

• Operating System: Windows 10
• Python version: Python 3.8
• Software versions:
  • Briefcase: 0.3.12

Logs

briefcase.2023_03_30-17_31_12.run.log

Additional context

Reported in discord.

[mhsmith]

I've noticed this before: I think the root cause is actually the installer process running on the device, which incorrectly returns 0 on failure in old versions of Android. So the only way Briefcase could work around this is to parse the text in the output.

Since our minimum API level is compatible with over 90% of active devices (beeware/rubicon-java#74 (comment)), I don't think this is worth fixing unless someone is particularly interested in it.

[freakboy3742]

I agree it wouldn't be worth doing major invasive work to accomodate this edge case. However:

1. I'm not convinced it would be major invasive work. The call to adb install -r is effectively a check_output() call where we're ignoring the output; running a regex over the output to look for Failure [(.*)] and raising an appropriate error shouldn't be too difficult.
2. If there's some complication that I'm not seeing, then at the very least we should add a FAQ entry about minimum supported Android versions, and a note in the Android docs about how this problem (and other Android deployment issues) manifests.

On that basis, I'm going to flag this as a candidate for first timers - it's not a high priority, but it shouldn't be too hard to narrow down whether this is trivial or impossible.

[MN193]

I just wanted to note, that I'm working on this error at EuroPython 2023 sprints.