Linux Setup Reference Guide

Get the CLI from npm: npm install -g @snap/valdi. Then run valdi dev_setup for automated setup. This guide is a reference for manual installation or troubleshooting only.

About

This guide documents the dependencies Valdi needs on Linux and how to install them manually. For the quickest setup, use valdi dev_setup which automates all of these steps.

This guide assumes you're using the default shell (bash). Setup is possible for other shells, but you'll need to adapt the configuration file paths.

Setup git-lfs deb

curl -s https://packagecloud.io/install/repositories/github/git-lfs/script.deb.sh | sudo bash

apt-get install dependencies

On Debian/Ubuntu, install the same dependencies that valdi dev_setup would use:

apt-get install npm openjdk-17-jdk git-lfs watchman adb libfontconfig1-dev zlib1g-dev

(On other distros, use the equivalent packages: e.g. RHEL/Fedora use java-17-openjdk-devel, android-tools, fontconfig-devel, zlib-devel. The CLI detects your distro and installs the right packages.)

Install bazel

[!NOTE] valdi dev_setup installs Bazelisk automatically. It downloads the bazelisk binary to ~/.valdi/bin/ and adds it to your PATH.

For manual installation, follow the Bazelisk installation guide or install via npm:

npm install -g @bazel/bazelisk

Install git-lfs

Git Large File Storage (LFS) manages the binaries that we need for Valdi.

git lfs install

Install Android SDK

[!NOTE] valdi dev_setup installs Android SDK command-line tools automatically. You only need Android Studio if you prefer using its GUI or need Android emulator management.

Option 1: Automated (Recommended)

Run valdi dev_setup - it will download and install Android SDK command-line tools, including:

• Platform tools (API level 35)
• Build tools (version 34.0.0)
• NDK (version 25.2.9519653)

Option 2: Manual via Android Studio

If you prefer using Android Studio's GUI:

1. Download and install Android Studio from developer.android.com/studio
2. Open any project, navigate to Tools -> SDK Manager
3. Under SDK Platforms, install API level 35
4. Under SDK Tools, uncheck Hide obsolete packages, check Show Package Details
5. Install build tools version 34.0.0
6. Install NDK version 25.2.9519653

Add the following to your .bashrc

echo "export ANDROID_HOME=$HOME/Android/Sdk" >> ~/.bashrc
echo "export ANDROID_NDK_HOME=\$ANDROID_HOME/ndk-bundle" >> ~/.bashrc
echo "export PATH=\$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools:\$PATH" >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

Next steps

Installation guide

Troubleshooting

Warning: swap space

Bazel eats a lot of memory, if you see Java memory errors, you don't have enough swap space.

8GB should be enough for an Android build of the hello world app.