how to build android app in command line without gradle

Use the following steps to build your apk manually, if you don't want use ant/gralde to build. But you must have Android SDK installed at least.

• create R.java from aapt

• use javac to compile all java source to *.class

• use dx to convert all *.class to dex file, e.g output is classes.dex

• create initial version of APK from assets, resources and AndroidManfiest.mk, e.g output is MyApplication.apk.unaligned

• use aapt to add classes.dex generated in step 3 to MyApplication.apk.unaligned

• use jarsigner to sign MyApplication.apk.unaligned with debug or release key

• use zipalign to align the final APK, e.g output is MyApplication-debug.apk or MyApplication-release.apk if signing with release key

• Done

I have created a sample script to do all the stuffs above, see here

Actually, Some articles have discussed this topic, see the following links.

https://www.apriorit.com/dev-blog/233-how-to-build-apk-file-from-command-line

https://spin.atomicobject.com/2011/08/22/building-android-application-bundles-apks-by-hand/

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/41132753/how-can-i-build-an-android-apk-without-gradle-on-the-command-line