Android Docker

Dockerfile for building Android projects inside a container. Contains Android SDK and NDK. Based on Ubuntu LTS for maximum compatiblity.

Repos

• GitHub Repo: https://github.com/soygul/android-docker
• Docker Hub Repo: https://hub.docker.com/r/soygul/android-docker

Video Tutorial

I did some of the development work of this project live for a YouTube tutorial on how to use GitHub for open source projects. It also demonstrates how to use this project to build a sample Android app from source. If you want to see it, you can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRAIY-RLSvo

Building

Following commands assume that your project source code is at /build directory of this repo, and your project's Gradle wrapper executable is located at /build/gradlew. Alternatively, you can adjust $(pwd)/build in the second command to point to your Android project source.

Build the Docker image first. Skip this step if you want to use the Docker Hub image:

docker build -f docker/Dockerfile -t soygul/android-docker .

Now build the Android project using Gradle wrapper:

docker run -it --rm -v $(pwd)/build:/root/build soygul/android-docker ./gradlew build

After a successful build, all build artficats will be in their respective locations as if you built the project natively on your computer.

Android SDK/NDK and Build Tools Versions

By default, this image uses the latest version of Android SDK/NDK and Android Build Tools. If you need a different versions, change them accordingly in the Dockerfile and rebuild the image using the commands given above.

Testing

It's best to use a device farm to test your app on real devices, i.e. Firebase Test Lab However if you want to test your app in an emulator inside a container, check the following resources:

• Ready to use Docker image for Android emulator: https://github.com/budtmo/docker-android
• Native support for Android emulator inside containers is emerging (experimental): https://androidstudio.googleblog.com/2019/05/emulator-ci-docker-scripts-for-linux.html

Security Note

While building the image, Dockerfile scripts only have access to files residing in the /docker directory for security reasons. If you need any file from /build directory during image build, you should copy them to /docker directory. Note that this is only true during image building process. Running container will have full access to /build directory.