[Android-tools-devel] New upstream (android-tools-5.1.1+git20150904-0.1) fixes adb not listing newer devices

[Scott Wakeling]

> Thanks for the packaging! However we are abandoning android-tools
> package and adb and fastboot is included in the
> android-platform-system package.

android-tools is currently the only package in Debian to provide adb
and fastboot - albeit older versions that no longer work with more
recent Android devices.

> See <
> http://anonscm.debian.org/cgit/android-tools/android-platform-system.git>.
> The version is now 5.1.1_r8.

I searched https://packages.debian.org, but there is no
android-platform-system package in Debian, not even in experimental
(https://packages.debian.org/experimental/allpackages).

I cloned the repo you linked to, and tried dpkg-buildpackage, but got:

  dpkg-checkbuilddeps: Unmet build dependencies: android-libselinux-dev
  libf2fs-dev libf2fs-format-dev android-libunwind-dev

I don't know where to get android-libselinux-dev. Again, there seems to
be no such package in Debian.

I read at https://wiki.debian.org/AndroidTools that the following is
planned:

  build adb as part of android-platform-system-core package, replacing
  the android-tools-adb package.

  build fastboot as part of android-platform-system-core package,
  replacing the android-tools-fastboot package.

I downloaded and built android-platform-system-core from source (sid),
but it does not appear to provide adb or fastboot yet.

I agree with the sentiment expressed here:

https://guardianproject.info/2015/04/30/getting-android-tools-into-debian/

"many people who are not developers at all want to use tools like adb
and fastboot to access their Android device, or even root it. Having
them in Debian means they are trivial for people to install, vastly
easier than trying to figure out how to download and install the
Android SDK. What lots of people end up doing instead is downloading
random binaries from insecure internet forums and using those."

If anybody needs a more up-to-date version of android-tools (adb not
listing your newer device?), find it here:

https://github.com/scottwakeling/android-tools

I think while android-tools is the only package to provide adb and
fastboot, it ought to be kept up-to-date and maintained.

-scott

-- 
4096R/1533BECF 2014-11-20 Scott James Wakeling <scott at diskfish.org>