The easiest way to use this tool is to clone it into a site_scons/site_tools directory:

mkdir -p site_scons/site_tools
cd site_scons/site_tools
git clone git://github.com/richq/scons-android.git android

Add the tool to the Environment in your SConstruct file and use the AndroidApp builder:

var = Variables(None, ARGUMENTS)
var.AddVariables(PathVariable('ANDROID_SDK', 'Android SDK path', None))
env = Environment(tools=['android'], variables=var)
env.AndroidApp('MyApp')

This assumes a standard layout, with an AndroidManifest.xml file, and src and res directories. To run the compilation:

scons ANDROID_SDK=/path/to/sdk

The advantage over a regular ant build is that dependencies are handled better

• instead of regenerating R.java every time, it is only generated when the resource files change. This means builds do not take as long.

In addition, you can incorporate NDK code quite easily:

var = Variables(None, ARGUMENTS)
var.AddVariables(
        PathVariable('ANDROID_NDK', 'Android NDK path', None))
        PathVariable('ANDROID_SDK', 'Android SDK path', None))
env = Environment(tools=['android'], variables=var)
lib = env.NdkBuild('libs/armeabi/libmyshared.so', ['jni/my_code.c'])
apk = env.AndroidApp('MyApp', native_folder='#libs')

This will use SCons's SharedLibrary builder to create a shared library from your code. If you want to use an Android.mk-style build, which requires creating an Android.mk file , then you can use NdkBuildLegacy:

lib = env.NdkBuildLegacy('libs/armeabi/libmyshared.so', ['jni/my_code.c'])

This is the old way of doing things and scons passes the native compilation work off to GNU Make.

The following environment variables or SCons Variables are used to control the build:

• ANDROID_KEY_STORE: Android keystore
• ANDROID_KEY_NAME: Android keyname
• ANDROID_NDK: Android NDK path
• ANDROID_SDK: Android SDK path

The NDK/SDK paths are hopefully obvious. The key store and key name are used to create the final signed release. Without these being set, a debug build is created using the debug key. See the official documentation for more details. To create a release build with your keys in 'my-release-key.keystore' and the key to be used 'alias_name', you would run:

scons ANDROID_KEY_STORE=my-release-key.keystore ANDROID_KEY_NAME=alias_name

An install target is added which will run adb install for your generated APK file. This means to install on the device, just run:

scons install

If no changes have been made since the last install, nothing is installed.

Not requiring an Android.mk file for NDK builds gives tighter dependency tracking and less spurious rebuilds. However Android's ndk-build has a great deal of features to cover and creating a suitable SCons API is time consuming, error prone and can become obsolete or broken between NDK releases.

There is no way to create an Android library project, only applications.