Android setup

RustFerry’s Android backend calls the SDK, NDK, Rust, and JDK tools directly. It does not require Android Studio, Gradle, an emulator, adb, or a connected device for build.

Required tools

• Rust, Cargo, and rustup.
• One Rust Android target for every configured ABI. The starter uses aarch64-linux-android for arm64-v8a.
• Android SDK platform matching android.target_sdk, or any installed platform when it is installed.
• A complete SDK Build Tools revision containing aapt2, d8, zipalign, and apksigner.
• Android NDK with an LLVM prebuilt for the host.
• A JDK containing java, javac, and keytool.

Typical setup for the starter:

rustup target add aarch64-linux-android
sdkmanager "platforms;android-35" "build-tools;35.0.0" "ndk;29.0.14206865"
cargo ferry doctor

Accept SDK licenses deliberately with the Android SDK tooling. cargo ferry doctor is read-only and never accepts licenses or installs components.

Discovery order

The SDK root is resolved from an explicit CLI/build request, then ANDROID_SDK_ROOT or ANDROID_HOME, then the conventional host location:

• macOS: ~/Library/Android/sdk
• Linux: ~/Android/Sdk
• Windows: %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk

The NDK is resolved from an explicit path, ANDROID_NDK_HOME or ANDROID_NDK_ROOT, versioned directories below <sdk>/ndk/, then <sdk>/ndk-bundle. Installed platforms, Build Tools, and NDKs are sorted numerically; the newest complete compatible installation is selected. JAVA_HOME/bin takes precedence over PATH for JDK tools.

Doctor scope

The Android report separates build requirements from optional deployment tools. Missing adb or emulator tooling is a warning because APK creation does not use either. Missing SDK platform, Build Tools, NDK/linker, Cargo, Rust target, Java runtime, or keytool blocks a build and includes the searched paths and a concrete install command.

References: Android command-line build tools, Rust platform support, and Slint Android setup.