Setting up a development environment for Android on Ubuntu is very simple. Before you start take a quick look at the Android SDK installation guide and make sure that your computer meets the minimum spec – Both Eclipse and the Android emulator can be a massive resource hog at times.
STEP 1
Once you are ready to proceed, open a terminal and type the following:
sudo apt-get install open-java7-jdk
Press enter and follow the prompts.
- Installing JDK through the terminal
After the JDK has installed you can install Eclipse:
sudo apt-get install eclipse
Again, follow the prompts. This will likely take a few minutes to download and install, as there are quite a few dependencies. Feel free to read on or get a cup of tea.
STEP 2
You will now need to download the SDK Starter Package. At the time of writing this is “android-sdk_r12-linux_x86.tgz” and can be downloaded directly from here. Make sure you pick the linux version, ending in .tgz.
After this has downloaded you will need to extract it to a folder. Make a note of the folder name and location, as you will need it in the next step.
STEP 3
Now Eclipse has finished installing we can go grab the ADT Plugin from Google. Run Eclipse and browse to Help > Install New Software….
Click Add (top right corner). In the dialog that opens, use ADT Plugin as the name and the URL below for the location:
https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/
Click through the rest of the wizard, making sure to read and accept the licenses. Once the installation is finished you will need to restart Eclipse.
- Installing the ADT Plugin
STEP 4
We now need to configure our ADT Plugin. In Eclipse go to Window > Preferences…
Select Android from the left panel. A dialog from Google will pop up asking about usage statistics, you will need to decide on this before you can continue.
For the SDK location you will need to browse to the folder where you extracted the SDK starter pack.
- Configuring the ADT Plugin
STEP 5
Lastly, we need to add the Android platforms and optional third party components. within Eclipse, select Window > Android SDK and AVD Manager.
Browse to Available Packages and select which components you wish to install. You can refer to the SDK installation page if you are unsure about which platforms you need.
- Android SDK & AVD Manager
Depending on how many you select you could have a lot of files to download, so another cup of tea could be in order.
Once the ADT components have finished you will be all done and ready to start developing. Happy coding!
