Google Android emulator howto
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Android
Emulation
HowTo
Terminal
Tools
Last update
2020-08-05
2020
08-05
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  1. We need to download cli tools then use sdkmanager to install the emulator and platform-tools.

    See also: fix sdkmanager Could not create settings to set the default sdk path.

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    unzip -d /opt/android_sdk/cmdline-tools/ commandlinetools-linux-*.zip

cd /opt/android_sdk/cmdline-tools/tools/bin

./sdkmanager --list
./sdkmanager platform-tools # install adb, fastboot
./sdkmanager emulator       # install the emulator

./sdkmanager --update       # update all installed packages to latest version

  2. Next we use avdmanager to create an Android Virtual Device for the emulator.

    See also: ARM on x86 support, androi API versions table, config.ini properties

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    cd /opt/android_sdk/cmdline-tools/tools/bin

# choose a device definition for "-d" parameter (optional)
./avdmanager list | grep Nexus\ 5X    # => 10

# choose and download a system image
./sdkmanager --list | grep "system-images;android-28.*X86_ARM"
./sdkmanager "platforms;android-24" \
             "system-images;android-28;google_ndk;x86"

# create virtual device with 6GB sdcard
mkdir -p /opt/android_sdk/avd/ ~/.android/avd
./avdmanager delete avd -n nexus5x # eventually delete previous existing avd
./avdmanager create avd \
  -p /opt/android_sdk/avd/nexus5x \
  -n nexus5x -d 10 -c 6144M \
  -k "system-images;android-28;google_ndk;x86"

./avdmanager list avd

# customize AVD
cd /opt/android_sdk/avd/nexu5x
sed -ri 's/PlayStore.enabled=no/PlayStore.enabled=yes/'                 config.ini
sed -ri 's/disk.cachePartition.size=.+/disk.cachePartition.size=1024M/' config.ini
sed -ri 's/disk.dataPartition.size=.+/disk.dataPartition.size=6144M/'   config.ini
sed -ri 's/hw.keyboard=.+/hw.keyboard=yes/'                             config.ini
sed -ri 's/hw.ramSize=.+/hw.ramSize=4096/'                              config.ini
sed -ri 's/vm.heapSize=.+/vm.heapSize=2048/'                            config.ini
sed -ri 's/sdcard.size=.+/sdcard.size=6144 MB/'                         config.ini

  3. run the emulator

    See also: opengapps.org, install playstore, emulator cli params

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    /opt/android_sdk/platform-tools/adb start-server

cd /opt/android_sdk/emulator

# check if acceleration is enabled
./emulator -accel-check
adduser myusername kvm # logout & login

# run emulator with "-writable-system" for gapps installation
./emulator -list-avds
./emulator -no-snapshot -writable-system @nexus5x

# eventually install google apps & playstore
# download "x86/9.0/stock" from https://opengapps.org/
apt install lzip

unzip -j open_gapps-*.zip 'Core/*'
rm -f setup*
lzip -d *.lz
for i in *.tar; do tar -x --strip-components 2 -f $i; done
rm -f *.tar

alias adb=/opt/android_sdk/platform-tools/adb
adb devices  # eventually use "-s device_id" in subsequent commands
adb root
adb remount

adb push etc       /system
adb push framework /system
adb push app       /system
adb push priv-app  /system

adb shell stop
adb shell start

# close the emulator and re-run it normally
./emulator -no-snapshot @nexus5x

/opt/android_sdk/platform-tools/adb kill-server