xref: /docs/source.android.com/src/source/building.jd

page.title=Downloading and Building
@jd:body

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<p>The Android build is routinely tested in-house on recent versions of
Ubuntu LTS (12.04), but most distributions should have the required
build tools available. We welcome reports of successes or failures on other
distributions.</p>

<p>Before you download and build the Android source, ensure your system meets the following requirements:</p>

<ul>

  <li>A Linux or Mac system. It is also possible
  to build Android in a virtual machine on unsupported systems such as Windows.
  If you are running Linux in a virtual machine, you need at
  least 16GB of RAM/swap and 30GB or more of disk space in order to
  build the Android tree.
  </li>

  <li>A 64-bit environment is required for Gingerbread (2.3.x) and newer versions, including the master
  branch. You can compile older versions on 32-bit systems.
  </li>

  <li>30GB of free disk space to complete a single build and
  up to 100GB or more for a full set of builds.  The source download is approximately 8.5GB in size.</p>
  </li>

  <li>
  Python 2.6 -- 2.7, which you can download from <a href="http://www.python.org/download/">python.org</a>.</p>
  </li>

  <li>
  GNU Make 3.81 -- 3.82, which you can download from <a href="http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/make/">gnu.org</a>,</p>
  </li>

  <li>
  JDK 7 to build the master branch of Android in the <a
  href="https://android.googlesource.com/">Android Open Source Project
  (AOSP)</a>; JDK 6 to build Gingerbread through KitKat; JDK 5 for Cupcake through
  Froyo. See <a href="initializing.html">Initializing a Build Environment</a>
  for installation instructions by operating system.</p>
  </li>

  <li>
  Git 1.7 or newer. You can find it at <a href="http://git-scm.com/download">git-scm.com</a>.</p>
  </li>

</ul>