SDK Google APIs and x86 images

[Jürgen Cruz]

Hi everyone,

Recently for API 19 and 21 some images were released which allowed to have google APIs in the x86 architecture so you can use HAXM and test faster in the emulator while still being able to use google services. To use this apparently you need to download the "Intel x86 Atom System Image" and the "Google APIs Intel x86 Atom System Image". Then you can create an AVD with the two system images. However, after downloading the Google APIs x86 system image, I notice it appears as installed for APIs 14-18 but when I tried making an AVD for this API, there was no option for Google APIs in x86. I thought it might be corrupted so I uninstalled the google system image from API 18 and that uninstalled it from all APIs. Actually, after removing it, it was no longer in the list to redownload except for API 21.

I then thought I could try to look for the files myself and see if I could get it working. I opened the config.ini for the API 21 AVD and found that it just points to one system image:

image.sysdir.1=system-images\android-21\google_apis\x86_64\

and inside the folder I could find the following structure:

- system-images/android-21

  - android-tv

  - default

    - armeabi-v7a

    - x86

    - x86_64

  - google_apis

    - armeabi-v7a

    - x86

    - x86_64

Then I thought the same structure would be there for API18, but no, this is the structure:

- system-images/android-18

  - armeabi-v7a

  - default

    - x86

And I thought, were are the google apis?. So I looked at the API 19 AVD config.ini and found that it uses 2 sys images instead of 1 like API 21:

image.sysdir.1=add-ons\addon-google_apis_x86-google-19\images\x86\

image.sysdir.2=system-images\android-19\default\x86\

This looked more like the structure for API 18, so I gave that a try and tried to search in the add-ons folder. Turns out, there is no addon-google_apis_x86-google-18 folder, but there is a regular addon-google_apis-google-18 bu tit just have an armeabi image.

TL;DR: apparently there is no way to have Google APIs and x86 for APIs 18 and lower. Even though the SDK shows you there is an image installed.

Here is the screen shot showing the images for all APIs from 14 to 18 (Screenshot only got 15 to 18):

My respectful request is if we can get google apis for x86 for API 18 and below and if possible a more standard folder structure because it looks like a nightmare. Or if there is a workaround, to please tell me how to accomplish this.

Thanks.

[Štefan Miklošovič]

Hi Jurgen

I have to admit that it is complete mess. I am not core Android dev, just ordinary user of Android SDK and I do not know what is where.

They have changed the layout on that directory structure of system-images, is was regularly broken some time ago, I submitted bug to upstream and it got fixed (it was basically not possible to create avd from the command line which is totally ridiculous).

Anyway ... what I do not understand is how do I even create AVD of that Google API.

I have installed _full_ Android SDK with every image possible.

Lets say android list target give me this:

----------

id: 36 or "Google Inc.:Google APIs:21"

     Name: Google APIs

     Type: Add-On

     Vendor: Google Inc.

     Revision: 1

     Description: Android + Google APIs

     Based on Android 5.0 (API level 21)

     Libraries:

      * com.google.android.media.effects (effects.jar)

          Collection of video effects

      * com.android.future.usb.accessory (usb.jar)

          API for USB Accessories

      * com.google.android.maps (maps.jar)

          API for Google Maps

     Skins: HVGA, QVGA, WQVGA400, WQVGA432, WSVGA, WVGA800 (default), WVGA854, WXGA720, WXGA800, WXGA800-7in

 Tag/ABIs : google_apis/armeabi-v7a, google_apis/x86, google_apis/x86_64

So I try to create emulator like this:

android create avd -t "Google Inc.:Google APIs:21" -g {one of these tag/abis value}

This does not work at all. When I look into add-ons/addon-google_apis-google-21 there is not images directory. How am I supposed to create such emulator then?

[Xavier Ducrohet]

What you're seeing is a display bug in the SDK Manager.

Note that we very recently) changed how the add-ons package their system image. It used to be that the addon came with the system image (on top of some additional APIs). Now the "Google APIs" package that you see only contains the APIs, and there are additional packages for the system images.

It's a better setup that having 2 Add-ons which both contains the API + system image.

This was introduced in 21+, so it'll look differently in the SDK manager for older API level, and it'll be different on disk as well. What you're seeing is a broken display in the SDK manager that doesn't reflect reality. We'll release a fix soon.

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Xavier Ducrohet
Android SDK Tech Lead
Google Inc.
http://developer.android.com | http://tools.android.com

Please do not send me questions directly. Thanks!

[Jürgen Cruz]

I see. Is this new approach going to be retrofitted to the previous API levels? at least from level 7 or 10 or 14 and above? Since, for 18 and below we have x86 images as well as Google APIs images, but not images with both, which slows development by forcing you to choose between the speed of x86 or being able to use Google APIs.

Thanks for the clarification though Xavier.

Jürgen