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Building a particular module in the android source code

I am working on an android source code which I have downloaded from source.android.com.

After a full build I went through this site http://elinux.org/Android_Build_System which explains the android build system.

When I make changes in external/webkit code and build it with

make -j4 libwebcore it compiles the corresponding file and updates the libwebcore.so, and it save me a lot of time. The same thing is applied to applications and also for building apks.

The problem arises when I make changes in the framework and give the command as make -j4 framework its not compiling the corresponding files. Can any one help me!

Solution

  • The folder frameworks contains many things, you have to be more specific about telling make what to build.

    For example I made a change in: frameworks/base/cmds/input/src/com/android/commands/input/Input.java. Now the corresponding Android.mk file is located in: frameworks/base/cmds/input/Android.mk, which contains a line saying: LOCAL_MODULE := input.

    Thus the module being build from the source is called input, so I call:

    $ make input

    Which rebuilds that specific module.

    As a bonus info, you can use the mmm helper and you can specify the path of the module to build like this:

    $ mmm frameworks/base/cmds/input

    or using mm which just builds the module in you current working directory:

    $ cd frameworks/base/cmds/input
$ mm

    I normally use mmm as my preferred tool.

    Update

    Oh, I see you might be talking specifically about the module called framework

    I just tried to modify: frameworks/base/core/java/android/app/Dialog.java, and do a: make framework.

    This seems to recompile the framework just fine. Which file exactly are you making changes in before running make framework ?

    In response to your comment

    I just tried to modify frameworks/base/core/java/android/webkit/WebView.java. mmm frameworks/base as well as make framework works perfectly fine for me.

    If it does not work for you, can you update your question with additional information about which android version you are building, which commands you are typing exactly, and the output your are seeing?