Marvin: creating a minimal AOSP device

Why Marvin?

Marvin demonstrates how to construct a minimal device on AOSP. It is based on the Android Cuttlefish emulator [1] built for the x86 architecture. Marvin is available in two flavours: vanilla and car

This version is based on AOSP 14

The name, Marvin, comes from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams. Marvin is a paranoid android, and he was manufactured by the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation.

Preparation

Make sure that you have a system capable of building AOSP in a reasonable amount of time, as described here...

https://source.android.com/source/building.html.

...and here

https://source.android.com/source/initializing.html

Download AOSP

Choose a directory for the AOSP source, e.g. $HOME/aosp:

$ mkdir ~/aosp && cd ~/aosp

Select the release of AOSP 14 you want, e.g. r21:

$ repo init -u https://android.googlesource.com/platform/manifest -b android-14.0.0_r21
$ repo sync -c

The total download will be about 120 GB

If you don't care too much about the git history you can reduce the download by about 48 GB by doing doing a shallow clone like this:

$ repo init --depth=1 -u https://android.googlesource.com/platform/manifest -b android-14.0.0_r21

Get Marvin and sync

$ cd ~/aosp
$ git clone https://github.com/csimmonds/marvin-local-manifest .repo/local_manifests -b android14
$ repo sync -c

Build AOSP

$ cd ~/aosp
$ source build/envsetup.sh

For vanilla marvin, i.e. to build a phone:

$ lunch marvin-userdebug

For marvincar, i.e. to build Andoid Automotive OS:

$ lunch marvincar-userdebug

Then set the build running by typing 'm'

$ m

The command 'm' is a wrapper for 'make', with the additional benefit that it will use all available CPU cores (see ~/aosp/build/soong/ui/build/config.go).

Even so, the build will take a few hours