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What for do we need ARM EABI v7a System image in Android development? What is the purpose of that particular image?

Ewoks
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Sunil Gandham
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6 Answers6

35

if you work with the NativeDK, without that image the emulator is not able to simulate the execution of ARMv7 code (like multicore-instructions and NEON floating-point-unit)

noone
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    If I don't use NDK, should the system image still be installed? – Felix Mar 29 '14 at 08:57
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    It's not fancy - takes lots of space... I just wonder why we have to install all of these system images under one version... e.g. Andorid L (api 20) has : 4 images. And my emulator just fine before installing them somehow - at least it didn't cry with errors. Now machine is running out of space and too slow - images are in progress... don't you think it's quite inefficient? – bonCodigo Sep 05 '14 at 09:20
  • So, I don't really need this image when I don't use the ARM emulator? – user626528 Sep 19 '17 at 22:23
12

It is the kernel image. You must install it, otherwise the image won't start, failing with

ERROR: This AVD's configuration is missing a kernel file

rds
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5

The system image is used by the emulator to virtualize the Android OS so Apps can be tested/debugged on a PC without the need to upload the App to a phone whenever a change in the code is made. This speeds up the development process and allows testing for phones that aren't physically available.

Benjamin-M-Dale
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2

That's the emulator image supporting ARMv7-A profile hardware, which is true for all new Android phones.

Since ARMv7-a is backward compatible with ARMv5, it is the only supported image with later system images.

auselen
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2

This package is responsible for faster floating point operations

Arif ul Hoque
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1

The only line I know,

I believe you need to use the Android SDK Manager, ARM EABI v7a System image to add that ARM EABI processor support to your local SDK.

user370305
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