Android build system usage: m [-j] [] [=...] Ways to specify what to build: The common way to specify what to build is to set that information in the environment via: # Set up the shell environment. source build/envsetup.sh # Run "hmm" after sourcing for more info # Select the device and variant to target. If no argument is given, it # will list choices and prompt. lunch [-] # Selects the device and variant to target. # Invoke the configured build. m [] [] [=...] is the device that the created image is intended to be run on. This is saved in the shell environment as $TARGET_PRODUCT by `lunch`. is one of "user", "userdebug", or "eng", and controls the amount of debugging to be added into the generated image. This gets saved in the shell environment as $TARGET_BUILD_VARIANT by `lunch`. Each of , , and = is optional. If no targets are specified, the build system will build the images for the configured product and variant. An alternative to setting $TARGET_PRODUCT and $TARGET_BUILD_VARIANT, which you may see in build servers, is to execute: m PRODUCT-- A target may be a file path. For example, out/host/linux-x86/bin/adb . Note that when giving a relative file path as a target, that path is interpreted relative to the root of the source tree (rather than relative to the current working directory). A target may also be any other target defined within a Makefile. Run `m help` to view the names of some common targets. To view the modules and targets defined in a particular directory, look for: files named *.mk (most commonly Android.mk) these files are defined in Make syntax files named Android.bp these files are defined in Blueprint syntax During a build, a few log files are generated in ${OUT} (or ${DIST_DIR}/logs for dist builds): verbose.log.gz every command run, along with its outputs. This is similar to the previous `m showcommands` option. error.log list of actions that failed during the build, and their outputs. soong.log verbose debug information from soong_ui For now, the full (extremely large) compiled list of targets can be found (after running the build once), split among these two files: ${OUT}/build-*.ninja ${OUT}/soong/build.ninja If you find yourself interacting with these files, you are encouraged to provide a more convenient tool for browsing targets, and to mention the tool here. Targets that adjust an existing build: dist Copy into ${DIST_DIR} the portion of the build that must be distributed Flags -j Run processes at once -j Autodetect the number of processes to run at once, and run that many Variables Variables can either be set in the surrounding shell environment or can be passed as command-line arguments. For example: export I_AM_A_SHELL_VAR=1 I_AM_ANOTHER_SHELL_VAR=2 m droid I_AM_A_MAKE_VAR=3 Here are some common variables and their meanings: TARGET_PRODUCT The to build # as described above TARGET_BUILD_VARIANT The to build # as described above DIST_DIR The directory in which to place the distribution artifacts. OUT_DIR The directory in which to place non-distribution artifacts. There is not yet known a convenient method by which to discover the full list of supported variables. Please mention it here when there is.