This guide has been tested with Ubuntu 16.04 (Xenial) x86_64. It is meant to cross-compile Kodi for Android using Kodi's unified depends build system. Please read it in full before you proceed to familiarize yourself with the build procedure.
It should work if you're using macOS. If that is the case, read macOS specific prerequisites first.
- Document conventions
- Install the required packages
- Prerequisites
3.1. Extract Android SDK and NDK
3.2. Configure Android SDK
3.3. Set up the Android toolchain
3.4. Create a key to sign debug APKs
3.5. macOS specific prerequisites - Get the source code
- Build tools and dependencies
- Build binary add-ons
- Build Kodi
- Package
- Install
- Debugging Kodi
This guide assumes you are using terminal, also known as console, command-line or simply cli. Commands need to be run at the terminal, one at a time and in the provided order.
This is a comment that provides context:
this is a command
this is another command
and yet another one
Example: Clone Kodi's current master branch:
git clone https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc kodi
Commands that contain strings enclosed in angle brackets denote something you need to change to suit your needs.
git clone -b <branch-name> https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc kodi
Example: Clone Kodi's current Krypton branch:
git clone -b Krypton https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc kodi
Several different strategies are used to draw your attention to certain pieces of information. In order of how critical the information is, these items are marked as a note, tip, or warning. For example:
NOTE: Linux is user friendly... It's just very particular about who its friends are.
TIP: Algorithm is what developers call code they do not want to explain.
WARNING: Developers don't change light bulbs. It's a hardware problem.
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Install build dependencies needed to cross-compile Kodi for Android:
sudo apt install autoconf build-essential curl default-jdk gawk git gperf lib32stdc++6 lib32z1 lib32z1-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev unzip zlib1g-dev
NOTE: If you're running a 32bit Debian/Ubuntu distribution, remove lib32stdc++6 lib32z1 lib32z1-dev from the command.
Building Kodi for Android requires Android NDK revision 20. For the SDK just use the latest available.
- Android SDK (Look for
Get just the command line tools) - Android NDK
Create needed directories:
mkdir -p $HOME/android-tools/android-sdk-linux
Extract Android SDK:
unzip $HOME/Downloads/sdk-tools-linux-4333796.zip -d $HOME/android-tools/android-sdk-linux
NOTE: Since we're using the latest SDK available, filename can change over time. Adapt the unzip command accordingly.
Extract Android NDK:
unzip $HOME/Downloads/android-ndk-r20-linux-x86_64.zip -d $HOME/android-tools
Before Android SDK can be used, you need to accept the licenses and configure it:
cd $HOME/android-tools/android-sdk-linux/tools/bin
./sdkmanager --licenses
./sdkmanager platform-tools
./sdkmanager "platforms;android-28"
./sdkmanager "build-tools;28.0.3"
All packages must be signed. The following command will generate a self-signed debug key. If the result is a cryptic error, it probably just means a debug key already existed.
keytool -genkey -keystore ~/.android/debug.keystore -v -alias androiddebugkey -dname "CN=Android Debug,O=Android,C=US" -keypass android -storepass android -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000
- Java Development Kit (JDK) installed.
- Normal macOS installations filesystem is case insensitive but compiling for Android requires a case sensitive filesystem. Generate a writeable hdd image and format it with hfs+ (case sensitive) issuing
hdiutil create -type UDIF -fs 'Case-sensitive Journaled HFS+' -size 20g -volname android-dev $HOME/android-dev.dmg
- Whenever you want to compile/develop you need to mount the image
open ~/android-dev.dmg
- Once you have your hdd image with case sensitive hfs+ file system execute all the steps inside of this filesystem. You need to adapt all paths in this guide so that they match your local environment. As an example here is a configure line that demonstrates possible paths:
./configure --with-tarballs=/Users/Shared/xbmc-depends/tarballs --host=arm-linux-androideabi --with-sdk-path=/Volumes/android-dev/android/android-sdk-macosx --with-ndk-path=/Volumes/android-dev/android/android-ndk-r20 --prefix=/Volumes/android-dev/android/xbmc-depends
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Change to your home directory:
cd $HOME
Clone Kodi's current master branch:
git clone https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc kodi
Prepare to configure build:
cd $HOME/kodi/tools/depends
./bootstrap
TIP: Look for comments starting with Or ... and only execute the command(s) you need.
Configure build for aarch64:
./configure --with-tarballs=$HOME/android-tools/xbmc-tarballs --host=aarch64-linux-android --with-sdk-path=$HOME/android-tools/android-sdk-linux --with-ndk-path=$HOME/android-tools/android-ndk-r20 --prefix=$HOME/android-tools/xbmc-depends
Or configure build for arm:
./configure --with-tarballs=$HOME/android-tools/xbmc-tarballs --host=arm-linux-androideabi --with-sdk-path=$HOME/android-tools/android-sdk-linux --with-ndk-path=$HOME/android-tools/android-ndk-r20 --prefix=$HOME/android-tools/xbmc-depends
Or configure build for x86:
./configure --with-tarballs=$HOME/android-tools/xbmc-tarballs --host=i686-linux-android --with-sdk-path=$HOME/android-tools/android-sdk-linux --with-ndk-path=$HOME/android-tools/android-ndk-r20 --prefix=$HOME/android-tools/xbmc-depends
Build tools and dependencies:
make -j$(getconf _NPROCESSORS_ONLN)
TIP: By adding -j<number> to the make command, you can choose how many concurrent jobs will be used and expedite the build process. It is recommended to use -j$(getconf _NPROCESSORS_ONLN) to compile on all available processor cores. The build machine can also be configured to do this automatically by adding export MAKEFLAGS="-j$(getconf _NPROCESSORS_ONLN)" to your shell config (e.g. ~/.bashrc).
WARNING: Look for the Dependencies built successfully. success message. If in doubt run a single threaded make command until the message appears. If the single make fails, clean the specific library by issuing make -C target/<name_of_failed_lib> distclean and run makeagain.
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You can find a complete list of available binary add-ons here.
Change to Kodi's source code directory:
cd $HOME/kodi
Build all add-ons:
make -j$(getconf _NPROCESSORS_ONLN) -C tools/depends/target/binary-addons
Build specific add-ons:
make -j$(getconf _NPROCESSORS_ONLN) -C tools/depends/target/binary-addons ADDONS="audioencoder.flac pvr.vdr.vnsi audiodecoder.snesapu"
Build a specific group of add-ons:
make -j$(getconf _NPROCESSORS_ONLN) -C tools/depends/target/binary-addons ADDONS="pvr.*"
Configure CMake build:
cd $HOME/kodi
make -C tools/depends/target/cmakebuildsys
TIP: BUILD_DIR can be provided as an argument to cmakebuildsys. This allows you to provide an alternate build location. Change all paths onwards as required if BUILD_DIR option used.
mkdir $HOME/kodi-build
make -C tools/depends/target/cmakebuildsys BUILD_DIR=$HOME/kodi-build
Build Kodi:
cd $HOME/kodi/build
make -j$(getconf _NPROCESSORS_ONLN)
CMake generates a target called apk which will package Kodi ready for distribution.
Create package:
make apk
Generated apk file will be inside $HOME/kodi.
Connect your Android device to your computer through USB and enable the Unknown sources option in your device settings.
Make sure adb is installed:
sudo apt install adb
Install Kodi:
cd $HOME/kodi-android
adb devices
adb -s <device-id> install -r <generated-apk-name-here>.apk
The device-id can be retrieved from the list returned by the adb devices command and is the first value in the row representing your device.
To be able to see what is happening while running Kodi you need to enable USB debugging in your device settings (already enabled in the Android Emulator).
Access the log output of your Android device:
adb -s <device-id> logcat
Install a new build over the existing one:
adb -e install -r images/xbmcapp-debug.apk
Launch Kodi on Android Emulator without the GUI:
adb shell am start -a android.intent.action.MAIN -n org.xbmc.xbmc/android.app.NativeActivity
Kill a misbehaving Kodi:
adb shell ps | grep org.xbmc | awk '{print $2}' | xargs adb shell kill
Filter logcat messages by a specific tag (e.g. Kodi):
adb logcat -s Kodi:V
Enable CheckJNI (before starting the Kodi):
adb shell setprop debug.checkjni 1
NOTE: These commands assume that current directory is tools/android/packaging and that the proper SDK/NDK paths are set.
GDB can be used to debug, though the support is rather primitive. Rather than using gdb directly, you will need to use ndk-gdb which wraps it. Do not trust the -p/--project switches, as they do not work. Instead you will need to cd to tools/android/packaging/xbmc and execute it from there.
ndk-gdb --start --delay=0
This will open the installed version of Kodi and break. The warnings can be ignored as we have the appropriate paths already setup.