When installing the Android SDK and NDK, note the filepaths where they

may be found, and the version of the NDK installed. You may need to

set environment variables pointing to these later.

.. _basic_use:

unset to use the default of ``14``).

This is **NOT** the only way to set these variables, see the `setting

SDK/NDK paths <setting_paths_>`_ section for other options and their

details.

.. _setting_paths:

Setting paths to the the SDK and NDK

If building your own dists it is necessary to have installed the

Android SDK and NDK, and to make Kivy aware of their locations. The

instructions in `basic use <basic_use_>`_ use environment variables

for this, but this is not the only option. The different possibilities

for each setting are given below.

Path to the Android SDK

python-for-android searches in the following places for this path, in

order; setting any of these variables overrides all the later ones:

- The ``--sdk_path`` argument to any python-for-android command.

- The ``ANDROIDSDK`` environment variable.

- The ``ANDROID_HOME`` environment variable (this may be used or set

by other tools).

If none of these is set, python-for-android will raise an error and exit.

The Android API to target

When building for Android it is necessary to target an API number

corresponding to a specific version of Android. Whatever you choose,

your APK will probably not work in earlier versions, but you also

cannot use features introduced in later versions.

You must download specific platform tools for the SDK for any given

target, it does not come with any. Do this by running

``/path/to/android/sdk/tools/android``, which will give a gui

interface, and select the 'platform tools' option under your chosen

target.

The default target of python-for-android is 14, corresponding to

Android 4.0. This may be changed in the near future.

You must pass the target API to python-for-android, and can do this in

several ways. Each choice overrides all the later ones:

- The ``-android_api`` argument to any python-for-android command.

- The ``ANDROIDAPI`` environment variables.

- If neither of the above, the default target is used (currently 14).

python-for-android checks if the target you select is available, and

gives an error if not, so it's easy to test if you passed this

variable correctly.

Path to the Android NDK

python-for-android searches in the following places for this path, in

order; setting any of these variables overrides all the later ones:

- The ``--ndk_path`` argument to any python-for-android command.

- The ``ANDROIDNDK`` environment variable.

- The ``NDK_HOME`` environment variable (this may be used or set

by other tools).

- The ``ANDROID_NDK_HOME`` environment variable (this may be used or set

by other tools).

If none of these is set, python-for-android will raise an error and exit.

The Android NDK version

python-for-android needs to know what version of the NDK is installed,

in order to properly resolve its internal filepaths. You can set this

with any of the following methods - note that the first is preferred,

and means that you probably do *not* have to manually set this.

- The ``RELEASE.TXT`` file in the NDK directory. If this exists and

contains the version (which it probably does automatically), you do

not need to set it manually.

- The ``--ndk_ver`` argument to any python-for-android command.

- The ``ANDROIDNDKVER`` environment variable.

If ``RELEASE.TXT`` exists but you manually set a different version,

python-for-android will warn you about it, but will assume you are

correct and try to continue the build.