This is a Kotlin wrapper that makes the Viam RDK usable on Android systems.
We upload daily builds to GCS, linked below.
You probably want the aarch64 build. If you're running an emulator on an intel device, use x86_64.
App setup after installing:
- Use the GUI to load a viam.json file, either from a folder or by pasting in its contents.
- In the GUI, there's a card with a list of required permissions. If they're not all checked, add them, either by going to device settings or with the 'add permissions' line in the runbook below.
- Once this is done, your device should show up as live in the Viam webapp. If it doesn't try the logcat lines below to debug.
Use a daily build (see above) if possible, i.e. if you're doing module development. Only build this project if you plan to work on this project.
- install android studio
- open this project
- in your local RDK checkout, run
make droid-rdk.aar. you may need to install gomobile (google for instructions). - help this find your RDK. either:
- create a symlink /usr/local/src/rdk that points to your rdk folder.
- or edit app/build.gradle.kts. change the droid-rdk.aar line to point to the correct path
- hamburger menu -> run -> run
- once the app is on your emulator AVD, go to its settings and grant all permissions
If you run into trouble, check logcat. Some invocations:
# view logs from the RDK golang thread
adb logcat -d | grep GoLog | less
# view logs for our android package. If something fails to start and `GoLog` doesn't match anything, try this
adb logcat -d | grep fgservice | lessFor module development instructions, look at the Android example modules README in our Java SDK.
Android 12 introduces a background process killer that has to be disabled in device config. Make sure
Root is not strictly required but you may want it so you can write + inspect app private storage. If so:
- in android studio device manager, create a new AVD. Pick an android 10 image for your laptop's architecture (x86 for intel, ARM for apple silicon probably). Make sure to pick one that doesn't have google play services. You'll probably have to switch tabs in the UI.
- run
adb root,adb shell,su,whoamito make sure you really can get root
Use any AVD image that works on your architecture, ideally with android version less than 12.
Useful commands for working with android, adb, emulators. If a command doesn't start with adb, it needs to be run inside an adb shell session.
uninstall-reinstall:
adb uninstall com.viam.rdk.fgservice
adb install ./path/to/apkadd permissions:
for perm in CAMERA RECORD_AUDIO READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE ACCESS_MEDIA_LOCATION; do pm grant com.viam.rdk.fgservice android.permission.$perm; done
# (remove ACCESS_MEDIA_LOCATION if it complains)start app from CLI:
adb shell am start -n com.viam.rdk.fgservice/.RDKLaunchTo force restart the app (sometimes need to manually start after, see 'start app' above):
# need to `su` first
# ps -A | grep viam
u0_a54 12743 839 13775572 249856 do_epoll_wait 0 S com.viam.rdk.fgservice
# kill -9 12743Find viam's subprocesses (i.e. modules, if running as processes):
$ ps -A | grep viam
u0_a120 6555 1743 6285104 241764 0 0 S com.viam.rdk.fgservice
$ ps -A | grep a120
u0_a120 6555 1743 6285104 241764 0 0 S com.viam.rdk.fgservice
u0_a120 6620 6555 11724 7180 0 0 S sh
u0_a120 6634 6620 3669544 119780 0 0 S app_processNewer android doesn't want to execute files you download. (They think this is a W^X violation, i.e. nobody other than the package manager should be able to write to a location that is then executed).
We target android sdk 28 to get the old behavior.
More links:
- termux/termux-app#3372 for summary of termux approach
- https://android.googlesource.com/platform/system/sepolicy/+/master/private/untrusted_app_27.te#24 droid selinux policy which controls this for SDK <= 28