Android open source project code search tool officially released

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Jeff Bailey, director of Android open source code engineering, and other co-posters said that at present, the code search tool for the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) has been officially released.

The Android Open Source Project (AOSP) is a collection of Git repositories, which are managed together using the Repo tool. Most Android development tools (such as GitHub) can’t see the source code the way that it’s laid out when it’s checked out on the system. Android Code Search (cs.android.com) is a tool that helps developers view the Android source code as they actually use it.

Code Search makes it easier to navigate cross-references across all of AOSP by allowing you to click through one part of the source code to another. This can help you switch between Android’s open source branches. Only the master branch has cross reference information in Java and CPP, but not Go.

The tool currently includes:

  • Conveniently view and search source code
  • Cross-reference code jumps across the entire code base, you can click one part of the source code to jump to another
  • Switch between branches of open source code for Android (not all branches have cross-reference information)
  • The relevant instructions and documents about the code search tool can be viewed here 

In addition to searching the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) code, this code search tool also provides a source code search for AndroidX libraries such as CameraX, Jetpack Compose.

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