Running the emulator often hangs when run without "--no-snapshot"

[donv]

When running

ruboto emulator

it always works the first time. On subsequent times, the emulator most often freezes for me. When I run with the --no-snapshot option, it works every time.

There must be something we do wrong when setting the configuration for the emulator that makes snapshots freeze. (or there may be a bug in the Android emulator/tooling)

[gfowley]

I think the problem is with the Android emulator, not the Ruboto emulator command. I have tried many AVD device/configuration combinations and have had similar issues with emulator snapshots. They seem to be a regular source of trouble for Android SDK users:

https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/list?q=emulator+snapshot

This combo of not starting and freezing was the last straw for me:

https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=182435

Just a couple of days ago I tried an x86 based AVD for the first time. Wow!.. it zooms.

The x86 emulator will use QEMU+KVM for x86 CPU acceleration and OpenGL GPU acceleration. I am not using snapshots because of the issue above, but with only ~20 seconds from command to working home I don't have a need for them.

I had no trouble getting CPU and GPU acceleration to work - OpenGL and QEMU are just an apt-get install away on Linux (Ubuntu 14.04). Experiences on OS-X or Windows may be more difficult.

Until now, the ARM emulator performance and snapshot problems caused me to use an actual device for development despite the long rake clean debug reinstall cycle and rake update_scripts not working. I will try the x86 AVD for a while and see how it works out.

[gfowley]

BTW: Ignore the bit about rake update_scripts not working. It was working fine, me using require_relative 'some-file' in the uploaded script was the problem. (Can't load a file from the scripts directory that isn't there).

[donv]

This seems to have improved when starting the emulator without a skin and using newer Android tooling.