[Android Software Development] Drknzz:
Hello everyone

Have you ever been bored in a borrowed pc and wanting to try out a new library/idea on your android but dont have admin privileges to install all the needed android tools? I was in this exact same situation, so i decided to engineer a solution (After all, i AM an engineering student :D) to this boring problem. This solution works almost entirely like a standard Android SDK install (Only downside: Eclipse won't run your application) and has only been tested on Ubuntu Linux so you are on your own on other platforms, but the principle is the same, it might work after all.

Whenever prompted for a platform choose x86 , x64 needs ia32-libs which you cant install due to not having admin privileges

1. Create a directory for all the files and folders (I'll name mine "Development")

2. Download the JDK tar.bz file from http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk7-downloads-1637583.html (You'd better search for an updated link when you read this tho) and extract it into Development

3. Download eclipse from http://eclipse.org/downloads/ (I used the Eclipse IDE for Java Developers) and extract it into the Development folder

4. Download the Android SDK from http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html (If you are on windows, choose the zip!. Again, i've only tested on Linux so you are on your own) and extract it into the Development folder

5. Open the tools/android (It's a shell script) file with gedit/any other editor and edit the line containing java_cmd=".." to read java_cmd="/home/xxx/Development/jdk1.7.0_06/bin/java" (This is my case, make sure this line actually points to the place where you extracted the jdk zip, else this will fail)

6. Open a terminal, cd to the location where you extracted the android sdk, then type "./tools/android" and press enter (Without the quotation marks) to start the sdk manager, install the platform-tools package, the Jellybean (4.1) SDK, and any other SDK you may want, then close the SDK manager.

7. cd to the Development folder and run this "./eclipse/eclipse -vm jdk1.7.0_06/bin" (Assuming you kept the stock folder names from the zips) to run eclipse, then install the ADT as described here http://developer.android.com/sdk/installing/installing-adt.html.

8. When eclipse restarts, it will ask you for the android sdk, just point it to the location where you extracted it.

That's it, your eclipse installation is ready for you to write code.

Now, to debug you'll need to do so manually as eclipse won't somehow recognize this workaround to the usb priviliges (Linux won't allow adb to communicate with the phone unless it's ran as root [Which you can't, that's why you are here] or a configuration file [Again, written as root] is present) system so you need to do this to make adb work:

1. Disconnect your phone from 3G (Optional)

2. Connect your phone to your pc via usb

3. Enable usb tethering on your phone

4. Enable ADB over Network on Application settings

5. On the terminal emulator, run "ip addr show" and look for the usb section

6. On your computer, open a terminal and cd to the tools directory fo the android sdk, then type "./adb connect xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx" (Replace the x's with the IP of your phone, as it appears on the output of the previous command. Remember to use the one on the USB section)

7. Verify adb picked up your device by runing "./adb devices", if it lists an IP as a device, you are ready

Each time you want to test your app, export a signed apk from your project (I may write a small guide for that later, google will help you if you dont know how to do it) and run "./adb install xxx.apk" (Obviously, replace xxx with the path to your exported apk). The icon(s) for your main activity(ies) will promptly appear on your launcher. Again, Eclipse won't run nor debug your app using this method. (Maybe it's an SDK bug?)

I know it's not exactly streamlined but it's something for when you are on the go.

Hope you find this guide useful someday. Until next time.