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Latest revision as of 01:56, 11 June 2023

KDE Software on Android

Android is currently the mobile platform regarding market share and number of provided applications. Hence, it is a platform very well suited to increase the availability and usage of applications by the KDE community.

Contact

For questions and discussion around KDE software on Android join our Matrix channel and mailing list.

Getting Applications

Stable releases for our Android apps are available on Google Play and F-Droid.

Nightly test builds can be found in the Nightly F-Droid repo.

Build Environment

There are different ways to setup a build environment:

Use Ready-to-Build Docker Container with Craft - This is the most convenient way to setup a system. It also brings the advantage to have a clear separation between your Linux build system and your cross-compile system; in particularly when you require several cross-compiled libraries for your application.
Setup your Build Environment Manually - This tutorial for setting up the cross-compiling environment requires considerably more time and brings the disadvantage to make no clear separation between your system and the cross-compile environment.
DEPRECATED Use Ready-to-Build Docker Container with android tooling - This works very similar to using Craft since it uses a docker environment too. However the tooling is now deprecated and no longer supported. You should use Craft in a container instead.

You can also get the binaries from binary-factory.kde.org. Here's some explanation about how it works:

https://community.kde.org/Android/BinaryFactory

Building

The following examples do not apply if you use Craft to build the software.

Example: Building Marble

cd /opt/android
git clone kde:marble
mkdir marble/build
cd marble/build
cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=/PATH/TO/ECM/toolchain/Android.cmake -DECM_ADDITIONAL_FIND_ROOT_PATH=${Qt5_android} -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=../export  ..
make install/strip

Note:

/PATH/TO/ECM/toolchain/Android.cmake must be replaced with the actual path to toolchain/Android.cmake, if using the docker image it probably is at /opt/android/kde/install/share/ECM/toolchain/Android.cmake
make install/strip strips build symbols from the binaries and reduces sizes considerably

Building with KDESRC-BUILD

For building the below mentioned frameworks on Android, you can use the following kdesrc-buildrc config file:

cd /opt/android
git clone git://anongit.kde.org/scratch/cordlandwehr/kdesrc-conf-android.git
mkdir -p extragear/kdesrc-build
git clone git://anongit.kde.org/kdesrc-build extragear/kdesrc-build
ln -s extragear/kdesrc-build/kdesrc-build kdesrc-build
ln -s kdesrc-conf-android/kdesrc-buildrc kdesrc-buildrc
./kdesrc-build extra-cmake-modules frameworks-android

Packaging and Deployment of APKs

See ECM Android Toolchain documentation.

KDE Frameworks 5 & Third Party Libraries

KDE Frameworks 5

supported frameworks are listed at [1]

Third Party Libraries

libintl-lite: is required for KI18n, since BIONIC does not fully support gettext

Further References

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-= KDE Software on Android =
+== KDE Software on Android ==
-Android is currently ''the'' mobile platform regarding market share and number of provided applications. Hence, it is a platform very well suited to increase the availability and usage of applications by the KDE community. In the following, we give an overview of the technical steps required to setup a build system for cross-compiling a Qt5/KF5 based Android application, the necessary steps to deploy it, and a reference list of the porting steps by different applications/people.
+Android is currently ''the'' mobile platform regarding market share and number of provided applications. Hence, it is a platform very well suited to increase the availability and usage of applications by the KDE community.
-If you enter the field of cross-compiling and Qt on Android for the first time, the best start is to follow our tutorial:
+=== Contact ===
-* [[Android/Tutorial|KDE on Android Tutorial]]
+For questions and discussion around KDE software on Android join our [https://matrix.to/#/#kde-android:kde.org Matrix channel] and [https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-android mailing list].
-== Build Environment ==
+=== Getting Applications ===
+Stable releases for our Android apps are available on [https://play.google.com/store/apps/dev?id=4758894585905287660 Google Play] and [https://f-droid.org/ F-Droid].
+Nightly test builds can be found in the [[Android/FDroid | Nightly F-Droid repo]].
+=== Build Environment ===
 There are different ways to setup a build environment:
-# '''[[Android/Environment_via_Container|Use Ready-to-Build Docker Container]]''' - This is the most convenient way to setup a system. It also brings the advantage to have a clear separation between your Linux build system and your cross-compile system; in particularly when you require several cross-compiled libraries for your application.
+# '''[https://develop.kde.org/docs/packaging/android/building_applications/ Use Ready-to-Build Docker Container with Craft]''' - This is the most convenient way to setup a system. It also brings the advantage to have a clear separation between your Linux build system and your cross-compile system; in particularly when you require several cross-compiled libraries for your application.
 # '''[[Android/Environment|Setup your Build Environment Manually]]''' - This tutorial for setting up the cross-compiling environment requires considerably more time and brings the disadvantage to make no clear separation between your system and the cross-compile environment.
+# '''DEPRECATED [[Android/Environment_via_Container|Use Ready-to-Build Docker Container with android tooling]]''' - This works very similar to using Craft since it uses a docker environment too. However the tooling is now deprecated and no longer supported. You should use Craft in a container instead.
 You can also get the binaries from binary-factory.kde.org. Here's some explanation about how it works:
@@ Line 14: / Line 21: @@
 https://community.kde.org/Android/BinaryFactory
-== Building==
+=== Building===
+The following examples do not apply if you use Craft to build the software.
 ==== Example: Building Marble ====
 <syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
@@ Line 45: / Line 52: @@
 See [https://api.kde.org/ecm/toolchain/Android.html ECM Android Toolchain] documentation.
-= KDE Frameworks 5 & Third Party Libraries =
+== KDE Frameworks 5 & Third Party Libraries ==
 === KDE Frameworks 5 ===
@@ Line 53: / Line 60: @@
 * [https://github.com/j-jorge/libintl-lite libintl-lite]: is required for KI18n, since [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bionic_%28software%29 BIONIC] does not fully support gettext
-= Further References =
+== Further References ==
 === References: ===
 * [https://phabricator.kde.org/project/profile/45/ Phabricator Project]
@@ Line 65: / Line 72: @@
 * 2015-04 - Péterffy Gábor: [http://pgabor.blogspot.de/2015/05/it-is-official-marble-is-coming-to.html Marble is coming to Android]
 * 2015-01 - GCompris Devels: [http://gcompris.net/newsall-en.html#2015-01-06 GCompris is now released on Android]
-* 2014-06 - Alex Pol: [http://www.proli.net/2014/06/12/kde-software-on-android/ KDE Software on Android]
+* 2014-06 - Aleix Pol: [http://www.proli.net/2014/06/12/kde-software-on-android/ KDE Software on Android]
-= Testing =
-We have an F-Droid instance serving nightly builds of KDE Applications that work on Android. Here's the instructions to use it:
-https://community.kde.org/Android/FDroid
-= Contact =
-If you want to join us the best place is the IRC channel and mailing list:
-* [irc://irc.freenode.net/kde-devel #kde-devel] channel on irc.freenode.net (currently no separate channel)
-* [mailto:[email protected] [email protected]] mailing list: [https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-android  subscribe], [http://lists.kde.org/?l=kde-android&r=1&w=2 archives]