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Building Lynx Explorer for Android

explorer/android/README.md

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Building Lynx Explorer for Android

This document provides instructions for building the Lynx Explorer Android app from source. If you just want to try out Lynx, you can download the pre-built APK from the releases page instead.

System Requirements

  • 100GB or more of disk space
  • Git/Python3(>=3.9) installed

Install Dependencies

The following dependencies are needed:

  • JDK 11
  • Android development environment
  • Python library

JDK

Install JDK11

  • MacOS

    We recommend using Homebrew to install the OpenJDK distribution called Zulu, which is provided by Azul.

    bash
    brew install --cask zulu@11

    You can use the following command to confirm whether the installation is successful.

    bash
    javac --version

    If the installation is successful, the terminal will output javac version number 11.

  • Linux

    On Ubuntu or Debian:

    bash
    sudo apt install openjdk-11-jdk

    On RHEL or CentOS:

    bash
    sudo yum install openjdk-11-jdk

  • Windows

    We recommend using winget to install the OpenJDK distribution.

    powershell
    winget install -e --id ojdkbuild.openjdk.11.jdk

    You can use the following command to confirm whether the installation is successful.

    powershell
    javac --version

    If the installation is successful, the terminal will output javac version number 11.x.xx (minor version might vary).

Update JAVA_HOME

Confirm your JDK installation directory. If you follow the above steps, the JDK path is likely to be

  • /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/zulu-11.jdk/Contents/Home on MacOS
  • /usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-amd64 on Linux
  • C:\Program Files\ojdkbuild\java-11-openjdk-11.0.15-1 on Windows.

Add the following statement to your environment configuration file on Linux or MacOS (it may be ~/.zshrc or ~/.bash_profile or ~/.bashrc, depending on your terminal environment):

  • MacOS

    bash
    export JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/zulu-11.jdk/Contents/Home
export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH

  • Linux

    bash
    export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-amd64
export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH

  • Windows

    powershell
    # the minor version of openjdk might vary
$JDK_PATH="$env:ProgramFiles\ojdkbuild\java-11-openjdk-11.x.xx"
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable('JAVA_HOME', $JDK_PATH, 'User')
$EXISTING_PATH = [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable('PATH', 'User')
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable('PATH', "$JDK_PATH;$EXISTING_PATH", 'User')

    Instead of using PowerShell to execute the commands above, you can also add %ProgramFiles%\ojdkbuild\java-11-openjdk-11.x.xx to user scope's environment variables Path and JAVA_HOME through "Editing System Environment Variables".

Android Development Environment

Configuring the Android development environment required by Lynx includes the following step:

Configure ANDROID_HOME

Add the ANDROID_HOME variable to your environment configuration file on Linux or MacOS (maybe ~/.zshrc or ~/.bash_profile or ~/.bashrc, depending on your terminal environment).

If you have installed the Android SDK before, please set ANDROID_HOME to the installation directory of the Android SDK.(If you have previously installed Android SDK by Android Studio, the installation path of the Android SDK is usually located at $HOME/Library/Android/sdk on MacOS and Linux or %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk on Windows)

If you have NOT installed the Android SDK before, you can set ANDROID_HOME to the path where you want the Android SDK to be installed. We have tools to help you install the Android SDK to ANDROID_HOME.

  • MacOS and Linux

    bash
    export ANDROID_HOME=<path-to-android-sdk>

  • Windows

    powershell
    [Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable('ANDROID_HOME', $path-to-android-sdk, 'User')

    Instead of using PowerShell to execute the commands above, you can also add Android SDK's path to user scope's environment variables ANDROID_HOME through "Editing System Environment Variables".

Python Library

We recommend using pyenv to manage python environment. To install pyenv:

Install python with version higher or equal to 3.9 using pyenv:

pyenv install 3.9 # or higher
pyenv global 3.9 # or higher

Get the Code

Pull the Repository

Pull the code from the Github repository.

git clone https://github.com/lynx-family/lynx.git

Get the Dependent Files

After getting the project repository, execute the following commands in the root directory of the project to get the project dependent files.

  • MacOS and Linux

    bash
    cd lynx
source tools/envsetup.sh
tools/hab sync .

  • Windows

    powershell
    cd lynx
tools\envsetup.ps1
tools\hab.ps1 sync .

    notice: tools/envsetup.ps1 will add ninja to user scope's Path environment variable for building.

Install the Android Components

Execute the following commands, which will install the Android components required by Lynx, including the Android SDK/NDK. During the execution process, your authorization might be required.

python3 tools/android_tools/prepare_android_build.py

notice: There might be no alias python3 on Windows, use python instead.

Build and Run

You can compile LynxExplorer through the command line terminal or Android Studio. The following two methods are introduced respectively.

Method 1: Build and Run using Android Studio

Open the Project

  1. Use Android Studio to open the /explorer/android directory of the project.

  2. Make sure that the JDK used by your Android Studio points to the JDK 11 installed in the above steps:

    1. Open Settings > Build,Execution,Deployment > Build Tools > Gradle, modify the Default Gradle JDK.
    2. Fill in the path of your JAVA_HOME. If you follow the JDK configuration steps above, it is likely to be
      • /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/zulu-11.jdk/Contents/Home on MacOS.
      • /usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-amd64 on Linux.
      • C:\Program Files\ojdkbuild\java-11-openjdk-11.0.15-1 on Windows.

  3. Trigger Gradle sync.

Build and Run

Select the LynxExplorer module and click the Run button to experience LynxExplorer on your device. If using avd, please wait until the build is done.

Method 2: Build and Run using the Command Line

Build

Enter the explorer/android directory from the project root directory and execute the following command.

cd explorer/android
./gradlew :LynxExplorer:assembleNoAsanDebug --no-daemon

This command will generate LynxExplorer-noasan-debug.apk in the lynx_explorer/build/outputs/apk/noasan/debug/ folder.

notice: If you have just setup the development environment in the same terminal session, some environment variables might not take effect. Please restart a terminal session (or VS Code, Android Studio) then retry.

Install

You can install the above .apk file on your device using the adb command.

adb install lynx_explorer/build/outputs/apk/noasan/debug/LynxExplorer-noasan-debug.apk

If the adb command is not found, you can add the path to the adb command in the environment configuration file on Linux or MacOS (~/.zshrc or ~/.bash_profile or ~/.bashrc):

  • MacOS and Linux

    export PATH=${PATH}:${ANDROID_HOME}/platform-tools

  • Windows

    After executing the following command, restart PowerShell to use the adb command.

    $EXISTING_PATH = [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable('PATH', 'User')
$ANDROID_HOME= [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable('ANDROID_HOME', 'User')
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable('PATH', "$ANDROID_HOME\platform-tools;$EXISTING_PATH ", 'User')

    Instead of using PowerShell to execute the commands above, you can also add $ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools to user scope's environment variables Path through "Editing System Environment Variables".