<p>A Java or RCP version of Eclipse is recommended. </p>
<h2 id="installingsdk">Installing the SDK</h2>
<p>After downloading the SDK, unpack the .zip archive to a suitable location on your machine. By default, the SDK files are unpacked into a directory named <code>android_sdk_<em><platform</em>>_<em><release></em>_<em><build></em></code>. The directory contains a link to a local copy of the documentation and the subdirectories <code>tools/</code>, <code>samples/</code>, and others. </p>
<p>Make a note of the name and location of the unpacked SDK directory on your system — you will need to refer to the SDK directory later, when setting up the Android plugin or using SDK tools. </p>
<p>Optionally, you can add the path to the SDK <code>tools</code> directory to your path. As mentioned above, the <code>tools/</code> directory is located in the SDK directory. </p>
<ul>
<li>On Linux, edit your ~/.bash_profile or ~/.bashrc file. Look
for a line that sets the PATH environment variable and add the
full path to the <code>tools/</code> directory to it. If you don't
see a line setting the path, you can add one:</li>
<li>On a Mac, look in your home directory for .bash_profile and
proceed as for Linux. You can create the .bash_profile, if
you haven't already set one up on your machine. </li>
<li>On Windows, right click on My Computer, and select Properties.
Under the Advanced tab, hit the Environment Variables button, and in the
dialog that comes up, double-click on Path under System Variables. Add the full path to the <code>tools/</code> directory to the path. </li>
</ul>
<p>Adding <code>tools</code> to your path lets you run Android Debug Bridge (adb) and the other command line <a href="{@docRoot}guide/developing/tools/index.html">tools</a> without needing to supply the full path to the tools directory. Note that, if you update your SDK, you should remember to update your PATH settings to point to the new location, if different.</p>
<p>If you will be using the Eclipse IDE as your environment for developing Android applications, continue reading the next
section in order to install the Android Development Tools plugin and set up Eclipse. If you choose not to use Eclipse, you can
develop Android applications using other tools — read the guide to developing
<a href="{@docRoot}guide/developing/other-ide.html">in other IDEs</a>.</p>
<h2 id="installingplugin">Installing the ADT Plugin for Eclipse</h2>
<p>Android offers a custom plugin for the Eclipse IDE, called Android
Development Tools (ADT), that is designed to give you a powerful,
integrated environment in which to build Android applications. It
extends the capabilites of Eclipse to let you quickly set up new Android
projects, create an application UI, add components based on the Android
Framework API, and debug using the Android SDK tools.</p>
<p>If you are new to Android or want to develop using the Eclipse IDE,
the ADT plugin will be an essential part of your development
environment. In general, using Eclipse with ADT is a highly recommended
approach and is the fastest way to get started. This section describes
how to install ADT into your Eclipse environment.
<p>If you prefer to work in a development environment other than Eclipse,
you do not need to install Eclipse or the ADT Plugin. Instead, you can
access the SDK tools directly to build and debug your application. </p>
<p>Once you have Eclipse installed, as described in <a href="#setup">
Preparing for Installation</a>, follow the steps below to
download the ADT plugin and install it in your respective Eclipse
If you are having trouble downloading the ADT plugin after following the steps above, here are some suggestions: </p>
<ul>
<li>If Eclipse can not find the remote update site containing the ADT plugin, try changing the remote site URL to use http, rather than https. That is, set the Location for the remote site to:
<li>If you are behind a firewall (such as a corporate firewall), make
sure that you have properly configured your proxy settings in Eclipse.
In Eclipse 3.3/3.4, you can configure proxy information from the main
Eclipse menu in <strong>Window</strong> (on Mac, <strong>Eclipse</strong>) > <strong>Preferences</strong> > <strong>General</strong> > <strong>Network Connections</strong>.</li>
</ul>
<p>
If you are still unable to use Eclipse to download the ADT plugin as a remote update site, you can download the ADT files to your local machine using a browser and the install the files in Eclipse from there:
</p>
<ol>
<li><a href="{@docRoot}sdk/adt_download.html">Download the ADT zip file</a> (do not unpack it).
<li>Follow steps 1 and 2 in the default install instructions (above).
