Android build system usage:
m [-j] [<targets>] [<variable>=<value>...]
Ways to specify what to build:
The common way to specify what to build is to set that information in the
environment via:
# Set up the shell environment.
source build/envsetup.sh # Run "hmm" after sourcing for more info
# Select the device and variant to target. If no argument is given, it
# will list choices and prompt.
lunch [<product>-<variant>] # Selects the device and variant to target.
# Invoke the configured build.
m [<options>] [<targets>] [<variable>=<value>...]
<product> is the device that the created image is intended to be run on.
This is saved in the shell environment as $TARGET_PRODUCT by `lunch`.
<variant> is one of "user", "userdebug", or "eng", and controls the
amount of debugging to be added into the generated image.
This gets saved in the shell environment as $TARGET_BUILD_VARIANT by
`lunch`.
Each of <options>, <targets>, and <variable>=<value> is optional.
If no targets are specified, the build system will build the images
for the configured product and variant.
An alternative to setting $TARGET_PRODUCT and $TARGET_BUILD_VARIANT,
which you may see in build servers, is to execute:
make PRODUCT-<product>-<variant>
A target may be a file path. For example, out/host/linux-x86/bin/adb .
Note that when giving a relative file path as a target, that path is
interpreted relative to the root of the source tree (rather than relative
to the current working directory).
A target may also be any other target defined within a Makefile. Run
`m help` to view the names of some common targets.
To view the modules and targets defined in a particular directory, look for:
files named *.mk (most commonly Android.mk)
these files are defined in Make syntax
files named Android.bp
these files are defined in Blueprint syntax
For now, the full (extremely large) compiled list of targets can be found
(after running the build once), split among these two files:
${OUT}/build-<product>*.ninja
${OUT}/soong/build.ninja
If you find yourself interacting with these files, you are encouraged to
provide a more convenient tool for browsing targets, and to mention the
tool here.
Targets that adjust an existing build:
showcommands Display the individual commands run to implement
the build
dist Copy into ${DIST_DIR} the portion of the build
that must be distributed
Flags
-j <N> Run <N> processes at once
-j Autodetect the number of processes to run at once,
and run that many
Variables
Variables can either be set in the surrounding shell environment or can be
passed as command-line arguments. For example:
export I_AM_A_SHELL_VAR=1
I_AM_ANOTHER_SHELL_VAR=2 make droid I_AM_A_MAKE_VAR=3
Here are some common variables and their meanings:
TARGET_PRODUCT The <product> to build # as described above
TARGET_BUILD_VARIANT The <variant> to build # as described above
DIST_DIR The directory in which to place the distribution
artifacts.
OUT_DIR The directory in which to place non-distribution
artifacts.
There is not yet known a convenient method by which to discover the full
list of supported variables. Please mention it here when there is.