Feature Request: Add native support for Android App Bundles / Dynamic Delivery

[nkoroste]

Description of the problem / feature request:

Add the ability to build and publish Android APKs using the new App Bundles / Dynamic Delivery android features. See:

https://developer.android.com/platform/technology/app-bundle
https://developer.android.com/guide/app-bundle/dynamic-delivery

Feature requests: what underlying problem are you trying to solve with this feature?

Use Bazel with App Bundles / Dynamic Delivery

What operating system are you running Bazel on?

MacOs or Linux

What's the output of bazel info release?

Any

Have you found anything relevant by searching the web?

https://developer.android.com/platform/technology/app-bundle
https://developer.android.com/guide/app-bundle/dynamic-delivery

[rockwotj]

Seems like this is going to be very important come this August, as without this you can't publish to the play store: https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2020/11/new-android-app-bundle-and-target-api.html

[rockwotj]

I asked about this issue on bazel discuss and didn't get anything back:

https://groups.google.com/g/bazel-discuss/c/z8Z3-tLcaCI/m/TCKUppYHBQAJ

[ahumesky]

Hi all,

Our approach to solving this issue is for us to provide a rule called android_application that replaces android_binary and supports building Android App bundles. The android_application rule will support configuration splits, as well as feature splits for assets and native libraries. We anticipate publishing it with enough time for adoption before the Play Store deadline.

If you would like to switch to using android_application and Bazel to generate an Android App Bundle from an existing Bazel target that uses android_binary:

1. Replace android_binary with android_application.
2. Move srcs (if any) to a new android_library target, then add that library to the deps of the android_application (android_applcation does not accept source files directly).
3. Set bundle_config_file to a .pb.json bundle configuration, as per https://developer.android.com/studio/build/building-cmdline#bundleconfig to configure the splits for the application.

We'll publish additional documentation and examples when we publish the android_applcation rule.

[styurin]

@ahumesky How would this work for generating APKs from AAB files? Would we need to use bundletool or keep android_binary alongside android_application to be able to create APKs?

[ahumesky]

Good question. Yes, you'd keep android_binary targets for development. To clarify, the "Replace android_binary with android_application" step was about android_binary targets you might be using for deployment to Play store.

Also, android_application will support bazel run, which will use bundletool to install an APK to a connected device.

It should also be possible to invoke bundletool in a genrule that depends on the android_application and specifies the configuration you want for the APK.

[ajanuar]

@ahumesky any target when android_application will be available?

[ahumesky]

@ajanuar I aim to publish at least a preview of the code later this week or next week.

[ajanuar]

Any update?