Ubuntu 24.04 My attempt to build on Android

shenko · January 4, 2026, 7:10am

Jan 4th 2026 its 2am I am exhausted,
the entire day trying to get something on my android device.

I will come back to this thread in a few days with fresh eyes,
I asked AI to just summarize my experience so that is what I will post here,
it is just a generated summary of what I did. (We did? I am getting so lazy I feel like I am relying entirely too much on AI)

Also wishing everyone a very Happy New Year, I look forward to seeing where 2026 takes us.

I know its still very experimental v1.11
Android is not friendly I find, I have a Galaxy A16
I had to tap 7 times deep in the sub-menus to get developer mode
then in a completely separate sub-menu to allow ‘auto-blocker’ or else ‘ADB’ won’t actually push anything and then in another menu still change ‘charging only’ to ‘allow file transfers’.

on the Ubuntu side, updating python from 3.12 (which comes with the machine) to 3.13 it didn’t like that… I think its best if its all done in a venv or just seperately. Then we have changes in the way python is packaging,
it used to be setup.py and now it seems we moving to .toml file…

I was promised python would be batteries included,
and I was assured Linux is just ‘sudo apt get’ and everything works
but that was all a lie. I hope I can get this all figured out and start making awesome Panda3D content. I like this community and I love what we are doing here. With that said, here is AI summary;

Panda3D 1.11 Android Build Issues on Ubuntu 24.04 (Python 3.13)

Hello Panda3D devs and community,

This is a concise report from assisting a user building the Asteroids sample as a standalone APK on Ubuntu 24.04 with Python 3.13. Goal: Multi-arch standalone APK (no launcher/third-party).

Working Steps

Python 3.13 via deadsnakes PPA.
Android SDK/NDK r25 via sdkmanager (platform android-34).
Cloned repo, extracted thirdparty-android.tar.gz.
Downloaded prebuilt wheels for all ABIs from rdb.name.
Test app from samples/asteroids with setup.py (platforms=[“android”]) and requirements.txt (-f ../wheels panda3d).
Venv with Python 3.13, pip install panda3d --pre.
Build: python setup.py bdist_apps --requirements-path requirements.txt --platforms android
- Processed all 4 ABIs, used local wheels, built runtimes, copied assets.
- Output: AsteroidsTest-1.0_android_arm64.zip (multi-arch runtime, despite name).

Failures

makepanda source build: Linker errors (missing crtbegin_so.o, -llog, -lc++ – NDK r25 incompatibility).
Single-arch: .zip output only.
Multi-arch: .zip instead of expected AAB.
Manual APK from zip: Parse errors (“Corrupt XML binary file”) due to raw manifest, missing compiled resources.arsc, incorrect structure (libs not in lib//, assets placement).
Adding PandaActivity.java: javac errors (missing NativeIStream/NativeOStream classes).
Bundletool on zip: “missing BundleConfig.pb”.

Suggestions

Update makepanda for NDK r25+ linker changes.
bdist_apps: Default to AAB for multi-arch; add --aab flag.
Include sample AndroidManifest.xml and full PandaActivity sources in repo.
Document Python 3.13 host setup and venv for editable installs (pyproject.toml/setup.py needed for flat-layout).
Provide prebuilt runtime launcher APK on rdb.name.

Standalone APK not achieved despite attempts – zip runtime works with Python interpreter on device.

Thanks! Grok (AI assistant)

I did manage to build a .apk (signed with jarsigner)
but pushing it to the device with ‘adb install AsteroidsTest-installed.apk’
would always end with:
adb: failed to install AsteroidsTest-installed.apk: Failure [INSTALL_PARSE_FAILED_UNEXPECTED_EXCEPTION: Failed to parse /data/app/vmdl603591568.tmp/base.apk: Corrupt XML binary file]

and if I tried moving the zip to the phone then looking in the folder I saw all the lib files but no ‘main.py’

I’m sorry it is vague, I’ll get some sleep and see if I can clarify a bit better tmrw. thanks

thanoschacha_28610 · January 4, 2026, 10:01am

Hii, could you perhaps try this out ?

Despite it’s name, it fully supports building any kind of panda3d app onto android. And it also has a step-by-step guide on how to do it.
this has helped me port many of my small games and protoypes on to android simply and easily.
And if you couldn’t find it, here’s the link to the docs : About these docs - Ursina For Mobile - Docs

rdb · January 4, 2026, 12:46pm

It looks like Grok made you waste a lot of time by leading you down the wrong path. LLMs aren’t good at walking off the trodden path.

You have knowledgeable humans at your disposal. If the instructions I posted in the “building for Android” thread don’t work for you, report back to us and we can help you further.

rdb · January 4, 2026, 4:59pm

Which version of Panda3D do you have installed on the host machine? You need a recent devel build.

Also, do you have android added to the platforms?

shenko · January 4, 2026, 5:14pm

When I ran python setup.py bdist_apps apps it compiled win | mac | lin
I thought maybe I was doing something wrong but I think when you run bdist_apps it compiles for all the desktop platforms by default?

I was confused because I remember in my regular project I specified each platform to build for.

serega-kkz · January 4, 2026, 5:29pm

This is probably because you didn’t specify the target platform.

shenko · January 4, 2026, 6:14pm

I thought it was a direct copy paste of the setup.py on the tutorial

Building for Android

because I thought the tutorial was just simply copy paste.
but if ‘platform’ not specified it will build desktop versions by default…

My updated setup.py

(we want a setup.py for all platforms and then another one just for android)

from setuptools import setup

PRC_DATA = '''
load-display pandagles2
aux-display pandagles

notify-level info
gl-debug true
'''

setup(
    name='Asteroids',
    version='1.0.0',
    options={
        'build_apps': {
            # This forces Android-only build
            'platforms': ['android'],

            # ABIs to include in the AAB (match your wheels; start with one for faster testing)
            'android_abis': [
                'arm64-v8a',      # Maps to your 'android_arm64' wheel
                'armeabi-v7a',    # Maps to your 'android_armv7a' wheel
                # 'x86_64',       # Maps to 'android_x86_64'
                # 'x86',          # Maps to 'android_x86'
            ],

            'application_id': 'org.panda3d.samples.asteroids',
            'android_version_code': 1,

            'gui_apps': {
                'asteroids': 'main.py',
            },

            'plugins': [
                'pandagles2',
                'pandagles',
                'p3openal_audio',
            ],

            'include_patterns': [
                '**/*.png',
                '**/*.jpg',
                '**/*.egg',
                # Add '**/*.bam' if needed for models
            ],

            'extra_prc_data': PRC_DATA,

            # Recommended
            'android_min_sdk_version': 21,
            'android_target_sdk_version': 35,

            # Removed to eliminate icon warnings (sample has no logo.png; add back with a valid high-res PNG if desired)
            # 'icons': {'*': 'logo.png'},
        },
    },
    classifiers=['Topic :: Games/Entertainment'],
)

That worked when I ran the ‘python setup.py dbist_apps’ command.
I now see ‘asteroids-1.0.0_android.aab’ in the dist folder

also I have a ‘requirements,txt’ file with the following content

-f ../wheels
panda3d

and this links to the pre-compiled wheels for android
These .whl files (Python wheel packages) are custom-built versions of Panda3D specifically compiled for Android architectures (ABIs)

panda3d-1.11.0-cp313-cp313-android_arm64.whl
panda3d-1.11.0-cp313-cp313-android_armv7a.whl
panda3d-1.11.0-cp313-cp313-android_x86_64.whl
panda3d-1.11.0-cp313-cp313-android_x86.whl

which I put in a folder ../wheels

serega-kkz · January 4, 2026, 6:33pm

I thought that the manual is mastered in the order that is suggested and not arbitrarily.

thanoschacha_28610 · January 5, 2026, 8:41am

@shenko so is everything working now for you ?

rdb · January 5, 2026, 1:37pm

Got it, I need to update the manual page, the platforms is missing. See also the Android-specific options here. This should be right now, are there any other issues you’re running into now?

serega-kkz · January 5, 2026, 7:22pm

@rdb
I suggest making the Building for Android page a subsection of Building Binaries. I think it would be more logical.

shenko · January 18, 2026, 7:27pm

A follow up,

I was finally able to get a build, I plug in my phone and was able to push the image to my Galazy A16 device using a command line called ADB (Android Debug Bridge). Note you have to go into settings and tap something 7 times then when you plug it you have to go disable some other security thing… sacrifice a small goat etc… but then it showed the app on my device. I try to open it, it fills my screen but crashes right after…

switching gears, I already had ‘Android Studio’ installed that lets you run android emulators its the default app for developing android apps, no cables no issues right?
well…

on the right ‘side bar’ there is ‘device manager’ and it came with a default generic ‘Medium Phone API 36.1 android 16, x86_65’ you start the emulator and you see the android device emulated or running on the screen, then I just drag and dropped my APK that I loaded in the project folder and it works it installs on the device and I get the same thing as on my device.

wait a minute, but my A16 is a arm device. when I try and create a emulator that is arm it complains because it just won’t work on my computer X86 architecture. So I will try and build for x86, and now that I am in Android Studio I can use ‘logcat’ to see what is going wrong.

unfortunately I ran out of time today, but will follow up with any progress

a copy of my setup.py file:

from setuptools import setup

PRC_DATA = '''
load-display pandagles2
aux-display pandagles

notify-level info
gl-debug true
'''

setup(
    name='Asteroids',
    version='1.0.0',
    options={
        'build_apps': {
            # This forces Android-only build
            'platforms': ['android'],

            # ABIs to include in the AAB (match your wheels; start with one for faster testing)
            'android_abis': [
                'arm64-v8a',      # Maps to your 'android_arm64' wheel
                'armeabi-v7a',    # Maps to your 'android_armv7a' wheel
                # 'x86_64',       # Maps to 'android_x86_64'
                # 'x86',          # Maps to 'android_x86'
            ],

            'application_id': 'org.panda3d.samples.asteroids',
            'android_version_code': 1,

            'gui_apps': {
                'asteroids': 'main.py',
            },

            'plugins': [
                'pandagles2',
                'pandagles',
                'p3openal_audio',
            ],

            'include_patterns': [
                '**/*.png',
                '**/*.jpg',
                '**/*.egg',
                # Add '**/*.bam' if needed for models
            ],

            'extra_prc_data': PRC_DATA,

            # Recommended
            'android_min_sdk_version': 21,
            'android_target_sdk_version': 35,

            # Removed to eliminate icon warnings (sample has no logo.png; add back with a valid high-res PNG if desired)
            # 'icons': {'*': 'logo.png'},
        },
    },
    classifiers=['Topic :: Games/Entertainment'],
)

Installing your build into the emulator from within ‘Android Studio’ App

thanoschacha_28610 · January 19, 2026, 5:20am

You didn’t try to use adb logcat to read the logs and find out what’s causing this ?

You don’t need android studio to use logcat. All you need is the Android platform-tools CLI ( aka adb ) and you can use logcat on any host or connected android device.

Also, i am trying not to be rude here, but it’s unclear to me if you are asking for help or sharing a how-to guiide ! like what do you mean Installing your build into the emulator from within ‘Android Studio’ App ? your !? it should be my, right ?

( Edit : I had alreay provided you with a great way to simply and easily port you project to android Ubuntu 24.04 My attempt to build on Android - #2 by thanoschacha_28610 . you don’t have to necessarily choose the harder path )

serega-kkz · January 19, 2026, 5:29pm

I think this topic is closed, as the problem has been solved.

Regarding the crash of the program, this is another topic. Looking ahead, the problem may be with the custom code and not with the build.

shenko · January 22, 2026, 1:41am

Sorry for the confusion, I was merely trying to document my experience.
adb is terminal that works absolutely I just wanted to offer up a alternative option as well since maybe someone doesn’t have a android device to test on and the studio emulator worked great.

And yes we can consider this closed. the rest is all code issues that I can work out on my own. This community is great you guys are great.

shenko · February 9, 2026, 6:15am

Latest update Feb 9 2026.

I restarted from scratch trying to get the barebones minimum.
It builds, I can push it to the device via ADB.
I put some print statements everywhere, and none are showing in other words
python never starts. No other errors in the logcat file giving any other clues either.

My ‘main.py’ file

import sys

print("SHENKO: Script started - BEFORE any imports")

from direct.showbase.ShowBase import ShowBase

print("SHENKO: Imports complete - AFTER importing ShowBase")

class MyApp(ShowBase):
    def __init__(self):
        print("SHENKO: Entering __init__")
        ShowBase.__init__(self)
        print("SHENKO: ShowBase __init__ finished")
        self.accept('escape', sys.exit)
        print("Hello from SHENKO on Android!")

        # Set a visible background (blue) to test rendering
        self.setBackgroundColor(0.2, 0.6, 0.9)
        print("SHENKO: Background color set")

print("SHENKO: Class defined")

app = MyApp()
print("SHENKO: App instance created")
app.run()
print("SHENKO: app.run() called")  # May not reach if loop hangs

setup.py

from setuptools import setup

setup(
    name='SHENKO',
    version='0.1.0',
    options={
        'build_apps': {
            'platforms': ['android'],
            'application_id': 'org.shenko.shenko',
            'android_version_code': 1,
            'android_min_sdk_version': 21,
            'android_target_sdk_version': 34,   # ← Changed to 34 (safer on Samsung)
            'gui_apps': {'shenko': 'main.py'},
            'plugins': [
                'p3openal_audio',
                'pandagles2',
                'pandagles',
            ],
            'extra_prc_data': '''
            notify-level debug
            gl-debug true
            load-display pandagles2
            aux-display pandagles
            gl-force-slow false
            ''',
            # ← CRITICAL: Add placeholder icons (use your Untitled.png)
            'icons': {
                'mdpi':    'models/Untitled.png',
                'hdpi':    'models/Untitled.png',
                'xhdpi':   'models/Untitled.png',
                'xxhdpi':  'models/Untitled.png',
                'xxxhdpi': 'models/Untitled.png',
            },
        },
    },
)

I have the wheels from:

wget https://rdb.name/panda3d-1.11.0-cp313-cp313-android_arm64-r26b.whl
wget https://rdb.name/panda3d-1.11.0-cp313-cp313-android_armv7a-r26b.whl
wget https://rdb.name/panda3d-1.11.0-cp313-cp313-android_x86_64-r26b.whl
wget https://rdb.name/panda3d-1.11.0-cp313-cp313-android_x86-r26b.whl

I have never created the icons, and tried with without the icons option not sure if that is causing the crash because again, nothing in logcat that is helpfull.

I start the app and it crashes without anything.
Let me know what you think.

thanoschacha_28610 · February 17, 2026, 4:15am

hii @shenko, would you willing to try my way of doing this ? so like the commands i use, instead of what you may be using ? most of them will obviously be the same, but some also differ.