Testing release builds on android without signing

Question

I'm attempting to do some performance analysis on android/JNI.

How do I generate a release build for testing?

I know it's possible, as I've successfully produced a binary and executed it with no signing whatsoever via an Android.mk file, but I'm trying to move to android studio, and it won't let me generate a test-build. Entering garbage in the key fields doesn't seem to work

This is just a test-project to validate I can get the performance I need. It'll never be distributed, or run on any device other then the one on my desk.

Can I just turn all the code verification off entirely? I'm doing validation now, and the end-use of this project is a non-internet-connected device which is intended to be treated as a black-box appliance.

Answer 1

Ok, as far as I can tell, it's impossible to disable the forced requirement, presumably because someone at google makes truly horrible design decisions.

You can, however, just use the debug keystore:

signingConfigs {
    garbage_key {
        keyAlias 'androiddebugkey'
        keyPassword 'android'
        storeFile file('C:/Users/<your_user>/.android/debug.keystore')
        storePassword 'android'
    }
}

Back to trying to get gradle to do anything sensible. This is by far the worst build disaster I've ever worked with.

Answer 2

from the terminal/console use gradlew to create a release build

./gradlew assembleRelease

Once the command finishes you can find the unsigned apk named 'app-release-unsigned.apk' in the following path

PROJECT_NAME/app/build/outputs/apk/release/ 

if you have setup release configs in build.gradle file, you may temporary comment it out

buildTypes {
    /*release { ... } */
}

and

signingConfigs {

    /*release { ... } */
}