Android source code in Windows, the easy way

Since the Android SDK doesn’t come with the source code, you need to get it manually from the Google Git repo’s. Unfortunately, the tutorial is Linux oriented and convoluted. Fortunately, us pesky Windows users have people like Brad Chow and some helpful Asian folks that provide us with a solution out of the box.

Here’s a recap:

1. Head over to msysGit and get the latest release (I got Git-1.7.6-preview20110708.exe). Install that thing with all the defaults.
2. Execute Git Bash from the start menu folder added by the installation
3. Much like a command prompt, you can change drives and add folders. Create a folder at the location where you want the android sources. For me this was:
   1. cd /d
   2. cd temp
   3. mkdir android_source
   4. cd android_source
4. Now download the excellent autogit.sh shellscript created by Brad, that downloads all Android repos, to your new folder
5. Finally, go back to the Git Bash window and execute ‘sh autogit.sh‘

It’ll take a while to get all of the almost 14 GB of sourcecode.

Have fun!

trackback