Python for Android

Python for android is a project to create your own Python distribution including the modules you want, and create an apk including python, libs, and your application.

These tools were recently rewritten to provide a new, easier to use and extend interface. If you are looking for the old toolchain with distribute.sh and build.py, it is still available at https://github.com/kivy/python-for-android/tree/old_toolchain, and issues and PRs relating to this branch are still accepted. However, the new toolchain contains all the same functionality via the built in pygame bootstrap.

For documentation and support, see:

Website: http://python-for-android.rtfd.org/
Mailing list: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/kivy-users or https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/python-android.

Broad goals of the revamp project include:

✓ Replace the old toolchain with a more extensible pythonic one
✓ Support SDL2
✓ Support multiple bootstraps (user-chosen java + NDK code, e.g. for multiple graphics backends or non-Kivy projects)
(WIP) Support python3 (recipe exists but crashes on android)
(WIP) Support some kind of binary distribution, including on windows (semi-implemented, just needs finishing)
✓ Be a standalone Pypi module (not on pypi yet but setup.py works)
Support multiple architectures

We are currently working to stabilise all parts of the toolchain and add more features. Support for pygame-based APKs is almost feature complete with the old toolchain. Testing and contributions are welcome.

TODO to make this the master branch

✓ Add a distribute.sh that gives an appropriate error message when called, so that old versions of buildozer will be informative about the problem.
✓ Make buildozer download python-for-android from a new 'old' branch

Steps to make this the master branch will be:

✓ Copy p4a master to a new 'old_toolchain' branch
✓ Merge kivy/buildozer#233 so that buildozer will pull from this branch
✓ (thanks tito!) Push a new buildozer version to pypi. It is important that people will be able to upgrade!
Merge the revamp branch into the master branch (or just replace it...since it's a total rewrite I guess it doesn't need to be a merge).
Note in any recent non-revamp PRs that they must be redirected to the old_toolchain branch.

Documentation

This toolchain is documented (temporarily) here. Follow the quickstart instructions to install and begin creating APK.

Quick instructions to start would be:

pip install git+https://github.com/kivy/python-for-android.git@revamp

The executable is called python-for-android or p4a (both are equivalent). To test that the installation worked, try

python-for-android recipes

This should return a list of recipes available to be built.

To build any distributions, you need to set up the Android SDK and NDK as described in the documentation linked above.

If you did this, to build an APK with SDL2 you can try e.g.

p4a apk --requirements=kivysdl2 --private /home/asandy/devel/planewave_frozen/ --package=net.inclem.planewavessdl2 --name="planewavessdl2" --version=0.5 --bootstrap=sdl2

For full instructions and parameter options, see the documentation linked above.

Known missing stuff from P4A

Relating to all bootstraps:

Some recipes/components aren't stripped properly of doc etc.
Some command line options of distribute.sh
Biglink is essential (the p4a disable option isn't implemented)

Relating to SDL2 only:

Downloaded file md5 and headers aren't checked
Android services are not implemented at all
App loading screen
Public dir installation
Keyboard height getter
Billing support
Kivy Launcher build (can now be implemented as a bootstrap...maybe?)
Several build options for build.py
Probably some other stuff

Here are some specific things relating to changes in p4a itself since the reference commit that the revamp is based on:

Current status

The tool works, testing is welcomed. Doc is available here.

Development notes

Original reference commit of p4a master was 7c8d4ce9db384528f7ea83e0841fe2464a558db8 - possibly some things after this need adding to the new toolchain. Some of the major later additons, including ctypes in the python build, have already been merged here.