Build android release apk on Phonegap 3 x CLI

Question

How can I build an android app locally using the Phonegap 3 x CLI  ready to release  I check the bin folder generated inside the platforms android directory of the project  and only has  debug APKs   By the way  I use this command  phonegap local build android

User · Answer

i got this to work by copy pasting the signed app in the same dir as zipalign  It seems that aapt exe could not find the source file even when given the path  i e   this did not work  zipalign -f -v 4 C     CordovaApp-release-unsigned apk   C     destination apk it reached aapt exeCordovaApp-release-unsigned apk   froze and upon hitting return   aapt exeCordovaApp-release-unsigned apk  is not recognized as an internal or external command  operable program or batch file  And this did zipalign -f -v 4 CordovaApp-release-unsigned apk myappname apk

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In cordova 6 2 0  cd cordova   change to root cordova folder platforms android cordova clean  clean if you want cordova build android --release -- --keystore   path to keystore  --storePassword password --alias alias name  password will be prompted if you have any     Previous answer   According to cordova 5 0 0          android               release                   keystore    app-release-key keystore                 alias    alias name                         and run   build --release --buildConfig build json from directory platforms android cordova   keystore file location is relative to platforms android cordova   so in above configuration  keystore file and build json are in same directory   keytool -genkey -v -keystore app-release-key keystore -alias alias name -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000

User · Answer

In PhoneGap 3 4 0 you can call   cordova build android --release   If you have set up the  ant properties  file in  platforms android  directory like the following   key store  Path to KeyStore myapp-release-key keystore key alias myapp   Then you will be prompted for your keystore password and the output file  myapp-release apk  ends up in the  platforms android ant-build  directory already signed and aligned and ready to deploy

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Building PhoneGap Android app for deployment to the Google Play Store   These steps would work for Cordova  PhoneGap or Ionic  The only difference would be  wherever a call to cordova is placed  replace it with phonegap or ionic  for your particular scenario   Once you are done with the development and are ready to deploy  follow these steps    Open a command line window  Terminal on macOS and Linux OR Command Prompt on Windows   Head over to the  path to your project   which we would refer to as the Project Root   While at the project root  remove the  Console  plugin from your set of plugins The command is  cordova plugin rm cordova-plugin-console While still at the project root  use the cordova build command to create an APK for release distribution The command is  cordova build --release android The above process creates a file called android-release-unsigned apk in the folder ProjectRoot platforms android build outputs apk  Sign and align the APK using the instructions at https   developer android com studio publish app-signing html signing-manuallyAt the end of this step the APK which you get can be uploaded to the Play Store    Note  As a newbie or a beginner  the last step may be a bit confusing as it was to me  One may run into a few issues and may have some questions as to what these commands are and where to find them   Q1  What are jarsigner and keytool  Ans  The Android App Signing instructions do tell you specifically what jarsigner and keytool are all about BUT it doesn t tell you where to find them if you run into a  command not found error  on the command line window  Thus  if you ve got the Java Development Kit JDK  added to your PATH variable  simply running the commands as in the Guide would work  BUT  if you don t have it in your PATH  you can always access them from the bin folder of your JDK installation   Q2  Where is zipalign  Ans  There is a high probability to not find the zipalign command and receive the  command not found error   You d probably be googling zipalign and where to find it  The zipalign utility is present within the Android SDK installation folder  On macOS  the default location is at  user-name Library Android sdk   If you head over to the folder you would find a bunch of other folders like docs  platform-tools  build-tools  tools  add-ons    Open the build-tools folder  cd build-tools  In here  there would be a number of folders which are versioned according to the build tool-chain you are using in the Android SDK Manager  ZipAlign is available in each of these folders  I personally go for the folder with the latest version on it  Open Any  On macOS or Linux you may have to use   zipalign rather than simply typing in zipalign as the documentation mentions  On Windows  zipalign is good enough

User · Answer

I know this question asks about Phonegap 3 X specifically  but just for reference any Phonegap version above 4 0 0 uses Gradle instead of Ant to build by default  To use Ant instead of Gradle you can add this to your config xml    lt preference name  android-build-tool  value  ant    gt    When using Gradle the keystore signing information now needs to go into a new location  as outlined in this post   Create new file called  release-signing properties  in the same folder as  build gradle  file and put inside the following content   storeFile         some-keystore keystore storeType jks keyAlias some-key    if you don t want to enter the password at every build  you can store it with this keyPassword your-key-password storePassword your-store-password

User · Answer

Following up to  steven-anderson you can also configure passwords inside the ant properties  so the process can be fully automated  so if you put in platform android ant properties the following  key store       yourCertificate jks key store password notSoSecretPassword key alias userAlias key alias password notSoSecretPassword

User · Answer

You could try this command  it should build and run the app  so  apk should be created      phonegap local run android

User · Answer

This is for Phonegap 3 0 x to 3 3 x  For PhoneGap 3 4 0 and higher see below    Found part of the answer here  at Phonegap documentation  The full process is the following    Open a command line window  and go to  path to your project platforms android cordova  Run build --release  This creates an unsigned release APK at  path to your project platforms android bin folder  called YourAppName-release-unsigned apk  Sign and align the APK using the instructions at android developer official docs    Thanks to  LaurieClark for the link  http   iphonedevlog wordpress com 2013 08 16 using-phonegap-3-0-cli-on-mac-osx-10-to-build-ios-and-android-projects    and the blogger who post it  because it put me on the track

User · Answer

just wondered around a lot because I got the same issue but in my installation the command  cordova  was never available and  phone gap build android --release  just ignored the platform android ant properties    so looking inside my platform filter I found a folder named  cordova  and inside of it there was an  build  binary that accepted the --release argument  it asked me for the key chains and I ended with a signed and ready for production APK   this was never documented in any part of the phone gap site and frankly speaking now I kinda hate phonegap    it was supposed to make the things easier but everything was just complicated

[android] Build android release apk on Phonegap 3.x CLI

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