If you want to try Android testing on MacOS, hopefully our configuration can save you some time:Įcho 'export ANDROID_SDK_ROOT=$HOME/android-tools' > $BASH_ENV Without the convenience of an externally-maintained Docker image, it’s on you to install the Android tools. I had one last wacky idea to try: could we run the Android Emulator on MacOS?ĭarwin static.162.net 19.0.0 Darwin Kernel Version 19.0.0: Wed Sep 25 20:18: root:xnu-6153.11.26~2/RELEASE_X86_64 x86_64 We were already using CircleCI’s MacOS support to build and test our React Native app for iOS. KVM requires a CPU that supports vmx or svmĪt this point, you might heed CircleCI’s advice and pursue a third-party service like Firebase Test Lab or AWS Device Farm, but I wasn’t ready to give up yet. What if we use a conventional Linux VM instead of Docker? (This is called the machine uname -a KVM requires a CPU that supports vmx or means “no.”)īut wait! Docker is but one of several executors available on CircleCI. Here’s what it says in a CircleCI Docker uname -a We can use the Emulator’s -accel-check flag to interrogate a system’s compatibility. Hardware acceleration, which depends on supporting capabilities from the processor and operating system. To achieve reasonable performance, the Android Emulator needs

Unfortunately, when you begin configuring your tests, you’ll soon realize that this environment can’t run the Emulator. For building and publishing, this is fantastic.

One of the jobs in our current workflow boots up the circleci/android:api-29-node image in about four seconds with all the build tools we need. Chances are you can start with a prebuilt one. Overall, it’s great: Docker images are fast, portable, and cacheable. Since CircleCI 2.0, the recommended build environment for most projects is the Docker Executor. With a little tinkering, though, we can make it work in another environment! What Doesn’t Work The Android Emulator, unfortunately, doesn’t work in CircleCI’s conventional ( Docker-based) Android build environment.

Mac os command line android emulator