CODEWITHSUNDEEP
androidandroid-sdk-tools
user3141985
user3141985

Reputation: 1385

Android SDK Build Tool Multiple Versions

I need to know, Do we need to install every Android SDK Build Tool, or only the latest one will be sufficient?.

See this image for reference,

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Upvotes: 19

Views: 13211

Answers (3)

Ojonugwa Jude Ochalifu
Ojonugwa Jude Ochalifu

Reputation: 27237

Long story short, it is recommended you install the latest version of the SDK Build tools. The older versions are left there for backward compatibility, that is if your projects depend on older versions of the Build Tools. I've resolved many errors in my projects by just referencing older versions of the build tools.But most importantly, you are better off with the latest version.

Upvotes: 1

harveyslash
harveyslash

Reputation: 6014

Quote from official android website:

Build Tools is a component of the Android SDK required for building Android application code. The latest version of these tools is included in the SDK starter package and installed in the /build-tools/ directory.

You should always keep your Build Tools component updated by downloading the latest version using the Android SDK Manager. By default, the Android SDK uses the most recent downloaded version of the Build Tools. If your projects depend on older versions of the Build Tools, the SDK Manager allows you to download and maintain separate versions of the tools for use with those projects.

To make it short,if your project is using an OLDER version of apis (like 2.2 etc), it might make sense to use the build tools that were supplied to it.

See this to know more about the build tools.

But, having said that, there is NO NEED TO INSTALL OLDER VERSIONS of the build tools. You should always use the latest Android SDK build tools are used to debug, build, run and test an Android application,so the latest update will always have the most refined of features.

But of course, this is only for the final android app. If you want to use the version specific features of the build tools, you will need to download the respective build-tools.

Quoting The comment below for easier readability :

It's more if you created custom build scripts (Ant, Gradle, etc.) that assumed certain command-line switches for the build tools (dx, aapt, etc.), you can stick with a particular version of those build tools. Otherwise, developers tend to move to the most recent version of those tools, for better performance, bug fixes, and the like

Upvotes: 18

tyczj
tyczj

Reputation: 73721

If you are not using any 3rd party libraries or support libraries then no you dont need to install everything but some libraries (google play services and the support library for example) require you to install other SDK's

Upvotes: 1

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