What are the Android SDK build-tools platform-tools and tools And which version should be used

Question

I know this is a very rudimentary question  but to my surprise  I could not find any document about Android SDK Build-tools  Besides Android SDK Tools and Android SDK Platform-tools  there are a bunch of Android SDK Build-tools as shown in the appended screenshot  Could anyone point to a source explaining all of them and help clarifying how a certain version of Android SDK Build-tools is picked for use     Edited  2014-02-27    I still do not fully understand all the tools   The following is my limited understanding based on Google s latest documents    Android SDK Build-tools used to be components of Android SDK Platform-tools  They have been decoupled from Android SDK Platform-tools  so that the build tools can be updated independently of the integrated development environment  IDE  components  Android SDK Platform-tools are customized to support the features of the latest Android platform   They are backward compatible so that you always use the latest update of Android SDK Platform-tools even your app targets older Android platforms  SDK tools are platform independent and are required no matter which Android platform you are developing on     I still do not understand the rationale of taking Android SDK Build-tools out of Android SDK Platform-tools which has a single instance and is easy to manage the update  The only possible reason that I can think of is that some apps have to rely on older build components to build them   Google s document mentions this  but does not explain why  Looking at the release notes  you will notice that updates of Android SDK Build-tools are primarily for fixing bugs or add support for new platforms  The only reason that I can think of for some apps to use older versions of Android SDK Build-tools is that they rely on certain bugs of Android SDK Build-tools  These apps would not function normally without being built with these bugs   I wish Google could explain this better by giving one or two examples showing why these bugs in the tools are critical for certain apps

User · Answer

Android SDK build tools are used to debug, build, run and test an Android application.

Android Build Tools can be used to develop and work from command line or IDE (i.e Eclipse or Android Studio).

Also used to connect Android devices and root them.(fastboot, adb and more..)

Always use the latest.(Recommended)

More Info on Android Build tools and commands

User · Answer

I ll leave the discussion of the difference between Build Tools  Platform Tools  and Tools to others  From a practical standpoint  you only need to know the answer to your second question   Which version should be used   Answer  Use the most recent version   For those using Android Studio with Gradle  the buildToolsVersion has to be set in the build gradle  Module  app  file   android       compileSdkVersion 25     buildToolsVersion  25 0 2               Where do I get the most recent version number of Build Tools   Open the Android SDK Manager     In Android Studio go to Tools   Android   SDK Manager   Appearance  amp  Behavior   System Settings   Android SDK Choose the SDK Tools tab   Select Android SDK Build Tools from the list Check Show Package Details     The last item will show the most recent version      Make sure it is installed and then write that number as the buildToolsVersion in build gradle  Module  app

User · Answer

The right answer is      Decoupled the build-specific components of the Android SDK from the platform-tools component  so that the build tools can be updated independently of the integrated development environment  IDE  components    link  expand Revision 17

User · Answer

Android SDK Build Tools are exactly what the name says they are  tools for building Android Applications It is very important to use the latest build tools version  selected automatically by your IDE via the Android SDK  but the reason the old versions are left there is to support backward compatibility  that is If your projects depend on older versions of the Build Tools

User · Answer

About the version of Android SDK Build-tools  the answer is     By default  the Android SDK uses the most recent downloaded version of   the Build Tools    Source  In Eclipse  you can choose a specific version by using the sdk buildtools property in the project properties file   There seems to be no official page explaining all the build tools  Here is what the Android team says about this      The  build  tools  such as aidl  aapt  dexdump  and dx  are   typically called by the Android build tools or Android Development   Tools  ADT   so you rarely need to invoke these tools directly  As a   general rule  you should rely on the build tools or the ADT plugin to   call them as needed    Source  Anyway  here is a synthesis of the differences between tools  platform-tools and build-tools    Android SDK Tools   Location   ANDROID HOME tools Main tools  ant scripts  to build your APKs  and ddms  for debugging   Android SDK Platform-tools   Location   ANDROID HOME platform-tools Main tool  adb  to manage the state of an emulator or an Android device   Android SDK Build-tools   Location   ANDROID HOME build-tools  VERSION  Documentation Main tools  aapt  to generate R java and unaligned  unsigned APKs   dx  to convert Java bytecode to Dalvik bytecode   and zipalign  to optimize your APKs

User · Answer

You can find details about these in this Android - Command Line Tools    tl dr   SDK Tools    Android SDK Manager  sdkmanager  AVD Manager  avdmanager  Dalvik Debug Monitor Server  ddms    Build Tools    signer proGuard zipalign jobb   Platform Tools    adb aidl  aapt  dexdump  and dx bmgr logcat

[android] What are the Android SDK build-tools, platform-tools and tools? And which version should be used?

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