CDDA Termux Builder

Build Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead (CDDA) natively on Android using Termux.
Generate APK (Android) or Linux executable without a PC.

This script automates the entire process: install dependencies, download NDK/SDK, fetch the latest CDDA source, configure the build environment, and build the APK with automatic retries.

Features

• One-command setup – installs Termux packages, Android NDK, and SDK.
• Automatic source management – clones CDDA and checks out the latest tag (or any specified tag).
• Build configuration – automatically sets buildToolsVersion, override_ndkVersion, and SDK versions.
• Retry on failure – builds retry up to 3 times for transient issues.
• APK validation – rejects empty or corrupted APKs (<1MB).
• Optional notifications – uses Termux:API to notify when build finishes.
• Customizable – via environment variables (WORK_DIR, BUILD_VARIANT, NOTIFY).

Requirements

• Android device with at least 6 GB RAM and 15 GB free storage.
• Termux (F-Droid version recommended).
• Stable internet connection (first run downloads ~600 MB NDK/SDK).

Quick Start

# Clone this repository
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/dwvwvvwvwb/cdda-termux-builder.git
cd cdda-termux-builder/scripts

# Make scripts executable
chmod +x *.sh

# Full build (latest release) – skip confirmations
./cdda.sh all --yes latest

After success, the APK will be in ~/Cataclysm-DDA/android/app/build/outputs/apk/.

Usage

./cdda.sh [command] [options]

Commands:
  setup [--yes]      Install system dependencies, NDK, and SDK.
  config [--yes] [tag]   Configure project (tag can be "latest" or a specific tag).
  build [--clean]    Build the APK (--clean cleans before build).
  all [--yes] [tag]  Run setup, config, and build in sequence.
  clean              Only clean build artifacts.
  help               Show this help.

Environment variables:
  WORK_DIR          Source directory (default: ~/Cataclysm-DDA)
  BUILD_VARIANT     release or debug (default: release)
  NOTIFY            true/false (default: true)

Examples

# Build the latest release (interactive)
./cdda.sh all latest

# Build a specific tag with automatic confirmation
./cdda.sh all --yes cdda-experimental-2026-03-24-2310

# Only configure the project for latest tag
./cdda.sh config latest

# Build with debug variant and no notifications
BUILD_VARIANT=debug NOTIFY=false ./cdda.sh build

Signing the APK (Optional)

To generate a signed APK, place a keystore.properties file in Cataclysm-DDA/android/ before building.
Example:

storeFile=/path/to/keystore.jks
storePassword=your_store_password
keyAlias=your_key_alias
keyPassword=your_key_password

The build will automatically sign the APK.

Using ccache to speed up subsequent builds

ccache is automatically installed and enabled by default. It caches compiled objects to greatly reduce rebuild time.

1. To adjust cache behavior (e.g., compression or size limit), set environment variables before running the script:

   export CCACHE_COMPRESS=1          # enable compression to save space
   export CCACHE_MAXSIZE=5G          # limit cache size to 5GB

2. Cache is stored in ~/.ccache. Use ccache -s to view stats, ccache -C to clear cache.
3. Run the build script as usual (e.g., ./cdda.sh all --yes latest).

How It Works

1. Setup – Installs git, make, clang, curl, jq, 7zip, gettext, openjdk-17, coreutils, which, cmake, ninja, ccache via pkg. Downloads and verifies NDK and SDK from lzhiyong/termux-ndk, then automatically creates cmake/ninja symlinks to the SDK directory.
2. Config – clones CDDA (shallow clone) and checks out the specified tag. Creates local.properties with SDK/NDK paths and version overrides.
3. Build – temporarily adds buildToolsVersion to app/build.gradle, forces use of the correct NDK toolchain (linux-x86_64), and runs ./gradlew assembleRelease (or debug). On success, locates the APK (>1MB) and sends a notification.

Troubleshooting

"Permission denied" for clang++ in NDK

The script automatically fixes this by recreating the symbolic link. If it persists, delete ~/android-ndk-r29 and run ./cdda.sh setup again.

Gradle tries to download build-tools 30.0.3

The script adds buildToolsVersion "35.0.0" (or your highest available) to build.gradle to prevent this. Ensure your SDK contains at least one build-tools version (e.g., 35.0.0).

Build fails with Java version error

The script sets JAVA_HOME automatically for OpenJDK 17. If you have multiple Java versions, ensure OpenJDK 17 is the default (java -version).

Disk space insufficient

Clean up old builds and logs: rm -rf ~/Cataclysm-DDA ~/android-ndk-r29 ~/android-sdk .cdda_build_logs/*. The script checks free space and warns.

Credits

· lzhiyong for providing Termux-compatible Android NDK and SDK packages.
· Cataclysm-DDA team for the game.

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 – see the LICENSE file for details.

Language Branches

· English version – this main branch.
· Chinese version – available in the zh-CN branch.
    Switch with git checkout zh-CN to get Chinese documentation and scripts.