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Android

Saphira Linux androidDragon

Android development on Saphira with proper support: apk add android-tools installs ADB, fastboot and the platform tools (37.0.0_p1-r2) from the hatched repository, with Gradle and the JDK completing the build toolchain. Build here; run on the device the app was made for.

Available now from the hatched repository: apk add android-tools

Saphira Linux dragon mascot

What runs natively on Saphira

The Android build toolchain, the JDK, Gradle, the SDK command-line tools, ADB and the build-tools, runs natively on Saphira as ordinary Linux software. The build host itself is a Linux machine doing Linux work.

What you build for Android devices

The artifact the toolchain produces, an APK or App Bundle, runs on Android devices, not on Saphira. That is the cross-target relationship: Saphira assembles the package, the device executes it. The build-vs-run page states this boundary without implying that Saphira runs the app.

What still needs another operating system

  • Running or emulating Android itself, which needs an Android runtime Saphira does not provide.
  • Running Windows- or macOS-only binaries your toolchain or tests might depend on.
  • Any target environment Saphira is not built to host.
NoteSaphira's role is to be the controlled place where Android code is written, built and signed. Where the work needs an OS Saphira does not run, that step happens on a host that does; Saphira does not pretend to be every target.