Android development on Chromebooks could soon be easier, as Google looks to make two key features of the Android SDK available on Chrome OS images by default.
Both the Android Debug Bridge (‘adb’), used for a multitude of activities, including sending data to a connected device, and the recovery/flashing tool ‘fastboot’ are being considered for inclusion in Chrome OS, accessible through the Chrome Shell (‘crosh’).
The news come through an update to an older bug report on a related ADB issue, now renamed ‘install adb and fastboot on chromeos images’.
While the idea being proposed is short of offering a full Android development environment to Chromebook developers, the additions would make life easier.
As newer APIs and features like the ‘Android Runtime for Chrome’ plugin mature, and as Google starts to pushes the capabilities of “Chrome Apps on Android“, it makes sense to bake in key developer features.
There’s no indication when (or, as with everything planned, if) ADB and fastboot features will arrive in Chrome OS, but you can be sure you’ll hear about it when they do.
Development solutions are already growing fast on Chrome OS. The Chrome Dev Editor (beta) continues to improve each month and already lets developers build, deploy, debug and publish applications to mobile devices over USB.
Developers can already use adb on a Chromebook using a third-party app and, through “Crouton”, access the full Android SDK.
But nothing beats native, right?
- Source: Issue #444223