ARTICLE AD BOX
Why does running gradle assembleDebug cause Android SDK Build Tools (e.g. build-tools;36.0.0) to be downloaded if they are missing, even though modern Android Gradle Plugin (AGP) versions use Maven artifacts for tools like AAPT2, D8, R8, etc?
From my understanding, most core Android build tools are now distributed via Maven and managed through AGP dependencies rather than the SDK Build Tools package.
However, AGP still triggers installation of the SDK Build Tools package when it is not present in the SDK directory.
What is the current role of the Android SDK Build Tools in the build process? Which parts of AGP or the Android build pipeline still depend on tools from build-tools/<version>/, and why is this package still required for a standard assembleDebug task?
gradle assembleDebug ... Preparing "Install Android SDK Build-Tools 36 v.36.0.0". "Install Android SDK Build-Tools 36 v.36.0.0" ready. Installing Android SDK Build-Tools 36 in /home/user/Android/build-tools/36.0.0 "Install Android SDK Build-Tools 36 v.36.0.0" complete. "Install Android SDK Build-Tools 36 v.36.0.0" finished. ...