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Effective in 2026, to align with our trunk stable development model and ensure platform stability for the ecosystem, we will publish source code to AOSP in Q2 and Q4. For building and contributing to AOSP, use android-latest-release. The android-latest-release manifest branch will always reference the most recent release pushed to AOSP. For more information, see Changes to AOSP.
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Android.bp file format
Stay organized with collections
Save and categorize content based on your preferences.
By design, Android.bp files are straightforward. They don't contain
conditionals or control flow statements;
all complexity is handled by build logic written in Go.
Modules
A module in an Android.bp file starts with a module type followed by a set of
properties in name: "value", format:
cc_binary {
name: "gzip",
srcs: ["src/test/minigzip.c"],
shared_libs: ["libz"],
stl: "none",
}
Every module must have a name property, and the value must be unique across
all Android.bp files, except for the name property values in
namespaces and prebuilt modules, which may repeat.
The srcs property specifies the source files used to build the module, as a
list of strings. You can reference the output of other modules that produce
source files, like genrule or filegroup, by using the module reference
syntax ":<module-name>".
For a list of valid module types and their properties, see the
Soong Modules Reference generated by running m soong_docs. The output will
be in out/soong/docs/soong_build.html.
Types
Variables and properties are strongly typed, with variables dynamically based on
the first assignment, and properties set statically by the module type. The
supported types are:
Booleans (true or false)
Integers (int)
Strings ("string")
Lists of strings (["string1", "string2"])
Maps ({key1: "value1", key2: ["value2"]})
Maps may contain values of any type, including nested maps. Lists and maps may
have trailing commas after the last value.
Globs
Properties that take a list of files, such as srcs, can also take glob
patterns. Glob patterns can contain the normal UNIX wildcard *, for example
*.java. Glob patterns can also contain a single ** wildcard as a path
element, which matches zero or more path elements. For example,
java/**/*.java matches both the java/Main.java and
java/com/android/Main.java patterns.
Variables
An Android.bp file may contain top-level variable assignments:
gzip_srcs = ["src/test/minigzip.c"],
cc_binary {
name: "gzip",
srcs: gzip_srcs,
shared_libs: ["libz"],
stl: "none",
}
Variables are scoped to the remainder of the file they are declared in, as well
as any child Blueprint files. Variables are immutable with one exception: they
can be appended to with a += assignment, but only before they've been
referenced.
Comments
Android.bp files can contain C-style multiline /* */ and C++ style
single-line // comments.
Operators
Strings, lists of strings, and maps can be appended using the + operator.
Integers can be summed up using the + operator. Appending a map produces the
union of keys in both maps, appending the values of any keys that are present in
both maps.
Defaults modules
Developers can use a defaults module
to repeat the same properties in multiple modules.
For example:
cc_defaults {
name: "gzip_defaults",
shared_libs: ["libz"],
stl: "none",
}
cc_binary {
name: "gzip",
defaults: ["gzip_defaults"],
srcs: ["src/test/minigzip.c"],
}
Prebuilt modules
Some prebuilt module types allow a module to have the same name as its
source-based counterparts. For example, there can be a cc_prebuilt_binary
named foo when there's already a cc_binary with the same name. This gives
developers the flexibility to choose which version to include in their final
product. If a build configuration contains both versions, the prefer flag
value in the prebuilt module definition dictates which version has priority.
Note that some prebuilt modules have names that don't start with prebuilt,
such as android_app_import.
Namespace modules
Until Android fully converts from Make to Soong, the Make product configuration
must specify a PRODUCT_SOONG_NAMESPACES value. Its
value should be a space-separated list of namespaces that Soong exports to Make
to be built by the m command. After Android's conversion to Soong is complete,
the details of enabling namespaces could change.
Soong provides the ability for modules in different directories to specify the
same name, as long as each module is declared within a separate namespace
Developers can declare a namespace:
soong_namespace {
imports: ["path/to/otherNamespace1", "path/to/otherNamespace2"],
}
Note that a namespace doesn't have a name property; its path is automatically
assigned as its name.
Each Soong module is assigned a namespace based on its location in the tree.
Each Soong module is considered to be in the namespace defined by the
soong_namespace found in an Android.bp file in the current directory or
closest ancestor directory. If no such soong_namespace module is found, the
module is considered to be in the implicit root namespace.
Here's an example: Soong attempts to resolve dependency D declared by module M
in namespace N that imports namespaces I1, I2, I3…
Then if D is a fully qualified name of the form //namespace:module, only
the specified namespace is searched for the specified module name.
Otherwise, Soong first looks for a module named D declared in namespace
N.
If that module doesn't exist, Soong looks for a module named D in
namespaces I1, I2, I3…
Soong looks in the root namespace.
Conditionals
Soong doesn't support conditionals in Android.bp files. Instead,
complexity in build rules that would require conditionals are handled in Go,
where high-level language features can be used, and implicit dependencies
introduced by conditionals can be tracked. Most conditionals are converted to a
map property, where one of the values in the map is selected and appended
to the top-level properties.
For example, to support architecture-specific files:
cc_library {
...
srcs: ["generic.cpp"],
arch: {
arm: {
srcs: ["arm.cpp"],
},
x86: {
srcs: ["x86.cpp"],
},
},
}
Formatter
Soong includes a canonical formatter for Blueprint files, similar to
gofmt. To recursively reformat all
Android.bp files in the current directory, run:
bpfmt -w .
The canonical format includes four-space indents, new lines after every element
of a multielement list, and a trailing comma in lists and maps.
Content and code samples on this page are subject to the licenses described in the Content License. Java and OpenJDK are trademarks or registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
Last updated 2026-06-17 UTC.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2026-06-17 UTC."],[],[]]
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