This article is for those of you who are Linux-users/Distro-hoppers/Android-developers who are trying to find the perfect distro to do their android development activities in. Android is built on top of the Linux kernel, which makes Linux the ideal Operating System to develop android in. This goes for both application development, custom ROM development and even kernel development. Let’ go ahead and explore what choice we have and analyze their differences in an attempt to choose the best Linux Distro for Android Development activities.
Let’s start by look at the short version of the answer for those of you in a hurry to start your Android development activities!
The Short Answer
Winner: BBQ Linux
Runner up: Ubuntu and it’s variants
3rd Place: FWUL
That is just the short version of the answer, let’s go ahead and look at the longer and more informative version and learn what were the factors considered, what other choices you have and see why BBQ Linux is chosen as the best distro for android development along with some valuable resources for getting started with your android development activities!
The Analysis
Linux has already captured a huge percentage of the server market and it is the most dominant player there. As Linux is getting more and more famous lots of distros are being developed to enhance the desktop support for Linux.
The setup programmers would need for coding will be radically different than the setup artists and video editors would need for content creation and editing! Hence some factors that are considered important for using Linux as a workstation depend upon the kind of work that you are planning to do with it.
But some factors are common across all types of work. These include
- stability
- performance
- support &
- security
If you plan to do all of your productive activities on your next Linux distro then I suggest reading the article I wrote recently given in the link below where I have analyzed and compared several options in order to figure out what is the best distro for workstation purposes.
Best Linux Distro For Workstation: Analysis and Comparison!!
In this article, we will be focussing on the needs of Android developers and let’s see what those needs are in the next section.
The Needs of an Android Developer
The basic tools needed for Android development include the following.
Basic Tools
- Java, using which all android apps are built
- Android Studio IDE
- The official Android SDK which comes with the Software Development Kits for various versions of Android OS along with tools like
- Android Virtual Device(AVD) for emulating an Android device on your PC through QEMU, which again has kernel support in Linux to make it run faster than other operating systems
- Android Device Monitor to analyze the resource usage on your Android device to get information similar to what you will get using the System Monitor app on Linux or the Task Manager app on windows.
- Android Device Bridge(ADB) a command-line tool which can be used for communicating and executing commands on your Android device
The above tools are all you need to start developing Android apps. But then they aren’t the only tools out there, as a professional android developer you are going to need so much more! Let’s have a look at some of the other tools that will help with your android development activities.
Advanced Android Tools
- AOSP development tools like OmniROM, cyanogen mod, etc to help you build your own custom ROM for your Android device straight from the Source code of Android. These tools can come in handy if you work for a smartphone manufacturer or if you wish to make your own custom ROM for your personal smartphone.
- Game development tools like Unity and Unreal engines. Even though you can still make simple games using the Android Development Studio, you are going to need these pro tools to build your cool game idea into a great mobile game!
- SimpleADB: a GUI interface for ADB and fastboot tools.
- FireBase: Googles platform for web and mobile developers
- ML kit: Googles machine learning kit for AI apps
Manufacturer Specific Tools
This list can go on and on with tools specific for given smartphone manufacturers like
- SP Tools for MediaTek devices
- Heimdall for flashing firmware onto Samsung devices,
- SALT for managing LG devices,
- Sony Flashtool for flashing firmware onto sony devices,
- MIFlash for Xiaomi devices,
- ROME to extract ROMs, etc.
Other tools
Other essential development tools which are common to all programmers are
- a good text editor like VS Code or Atom,
- DevOps tools like GitLab or GitHub
These are just a small list of endless tools you may need to install and configure before you can start your development activities. Hence it is a good decision to waste less time and go ahead with a distro that comes in with all the tools you will ever need so that you don’t have to waste time and do everything manually wasting a good hour or 2 each time you need one of the above-mentioned tools!
Distro Choices That Match These Needs
Let’s take a look at the 3 most popular distros among android developers and see which one shines in what aspects in this section!
Ubuntu and its Derivatives
I am sure you did not come to this article expecting to see Ubuntu on the list! But there is a reason for it being here, among all the top distros, Ubuntu is the one giving some thought to moving into the smartphone arena with its Ubuntu phone. Because of that the android tools that are made available through the official Ubuntu repos are made to go through a rigorous testing process to make sure it will perform just the way we expect them to!
Also Ubuntu is a very popular distro you and is known for its stability, you can count on it to not break on you every once in a while, leading to endless hours of trying to fix your computer!
I am not a fan of Ubuntu’s Unity desktop environment, if you are someone like me, I suggest giving one of their flavors or derivatives a try like Kubuntu, Linux Mint, etc. You can read more about these flavors in my other article given below.
Linux Distros vs Desktop Environments: Differences Explained!
With that being said let’s look at some of the pros and cons of choosing ubuntu for your android development needs.
Pros of choosing Ubuntu
- Stability
- good online community support
- android tools are tested by the distro provider
Cons of choosing Ubuntu
- you still need to manually install all the software mentioned in the section above, which is not a good use of your time!
BBQ Linux
BBQ Linux is a distro focussed solely on Android development. It is made by an XDA developer and is based on Arch Linux. Here is an introduction snippet of BBQ from its humble website
BBQLinux is based on Arch Linux and is using a rolling release development model which means it is getting continually updated and upgraded. It will never be necessary to re-install a later release of BBQLinux. It is fully compatible with Arch Linux and is using the Arch package repos plus a BBQLinux specific one. The default desktop environment is “CINNAMON” but we’re also providing images with “MATE”, “GNOME”, “PLASMA” and “XFCE4”.
You can test BBQLinux without doing any modifications to your computer using our live media.
http://bbqlinux.org/
This distro comes with all the goodies you will need to start your android development so that you don’t have to waste too much time installing the required software packages on your Linux machine. You can find a complete list of packages that come as part of your download in this link
A screenshot of that link is shown below
As you can see BBQ Linux already has most of the tools you need like android SDK, android studio, etc,. setup and ready to go! It even ships with some manufacturer-specific tools like Heimdall!
Pros of choosing BBQ Linux
- This distro comes with many software packages that you will need for your android development efforts
- Based on Arch Linux which is known for a rolling release model and is a very popular distro with a very good community following.
Cons of choosing BBQ Linux
- Arch Linux has the nature of expecting users to solve any problems they might have using their online documentation, which means there will be some learning curve associated with it.
FWUL
Another distro made by an XDA developer, FWUL is meant to be targetted on android hobbyists rather than pro developers and as such FWUL comes bundled with all the cool tools and toys you will ever need if you wish to start hacking your phone in your free time!
FWUL stands for Forget Windows Use Linux, a fun name indeed and according to the creator the story behind the name was
FWUL … Why? .. and why this name?
https://fwul.binbash.rocks/index.html
The existence of FWUL has a simple reason. I wanted to have something where I were able to point users to when they came with issues on Windows because the most problems around were solvable when using Linux …
… and so the generic answer I gave those were exactly what FWUL means today. The only issue with Linux (even with Ubuntu, Mint and such) is that they do not include everything an Android user needs. You still have to issue commands to install and you have to make other adjustments like udev rules etc. Nothing a “normal” Windows user can do without guidelining.
That was the main reason why I started FWUL.. and because I had the above in mind FWUL is named like this.
easy right?
Similar to BBQ Linux, this one is also an Arch Linux derivative, more specifically it is a derivative of Manjaro which in turn is a derivative of Arch Linux.
This one comes with all the tools an Android hobbyist will ever need to mod his/her phone. The screenshot below shows some of the included tools like SimpleADB, Heimdall, SALT, ROME, MiFlash etc. You can visit this link to see a full list of tools that come with this distro.
Some tools like SPI Flash tools, Sony Flash tools, etc. are not packaged with the distro in order to keep the distro lightweight and due to some licensing issues. To make it easier to install these tools the distro comes with simple installers prebuilt so that you can just double click and install these other tools! Thoughtful indeed by the developer behind the distro!
Pros of choosing FWUL
- Best collection of tools for an android hobbyist
- Based on the popular Manjaro distro
Cons of choosing FWUL
- FWUL doesn’t cater to the needs of a professional Android developer.
Best Distro For Android Development
Now that we have seen 3 distros popular among the android developer community, let’s go ahead and choose one! As you have already read at the beginning of the article, my choice was BBQ Linux. Let’s look at the reasons why I think BBQ Linux is our best bet.
- The goal of this distro matches with the focus of this article and it is the only one to do so!
- Comes with android studio preinstalled
- Comes with AOSP tools for making custom ROMs
- Based on Arch Linux a very old and popular distro
In short BBQ Linux comes with all the toys and goodies that you will ever need for your android development needs! Ubuntu is a close second place, and FWUL though a Linux distro focussed on Android, the target users are hobbyists and not professional developers and hence FWUL gets the third place!
Of course, you can make a good android development workstation with any distro of your choice, so if you are into that sorta thing then go ahead and do that, I am sure it will be a fun project!
And with that, I will conclude this article!
I hope you guys enjoyed this article and learned something useful.
If you liked the post, feel free to share this post with your friends and colleagues!
Some Links You May Find Interesting
bbqlinux.org: The official BBQ Linux homepage
fwul.binbash.rocks: The official FWUL homepage
Best Android developer tools for getting started or levelling up your dev skills: a nice article by AndroidAutority
Related Articles
Here are some of my other articles that might interest you!
A Step By Step Plan To Learn Linux..!
Best Linux Distro For Workstation: Analysis and Comparison!!
A Complete Guide For Choosing A Distro For Your Computer’s Specs..!!
Best Distro For Software And Hardware Support: An Analysis.!!
Distro-Hopping, What, Why & How Explained!
Reasons Behind The Existence of SO MANY Linux Distros: An Analysis!
