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Simlock ships its own Android device profiles #483

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Description

@V3RON

The problem

Simlock has no Android device profiles of its own. A model name such as "Pixel 9" is whatever the installed Android SDK ships (avdmanager list device) or whatever the user's Android Studio ~/.android/devices.xml defines. That causes four problems:

  • The same name can mean different hardware on different hosts, or not exist at all. A model is present only when the SDK is new enough, and devices.xml is per machine. A gateway routes by model name, so it assumes a name means the same device on every worker, and that is not guaranteed.
  • The default models for each class (Pixel 9, Pixel 8, ...) work only if the installed SDK happens to ship them.
  • Two sources can define the same name, and they disagree (An Android model's class comes from the listed profile, not the one its name resolves to #341).
  • A device created from a profile defined by properties starts from a seed SDK profile, and any hardware key the profile does not set keeps the seed's value. The device then depends partly on which seed was used.

Who runs into this

Operators who run more than one worker, or upgrade the SDK on one of them. Agents that ask for a model by name and expect the same device every time.

What you would like to happen

Simlock ships a small library of Android device profiles:

  • One TypeScript file per profile in src/drivers/android/profiles/ (pixel-9.ts, medium-phone.ts, ...), plus an index.ts that imports them all. Listing the folder shows which devices Simlock ships.
  • Each profile gives the name, its other names, the class, and the complete set of hardware keys written into the device's config.ini (screen, density, RAM, cores, keys, sensors, cameras), so the device never depends on the seed profile. Values are copied from the SDK's own profiles, so a name means the same as in Android Studio.
  • The library covers the default models for each class plus a few common screen sizes. Any other model still comes from the SDK or devices.xml.
  • Library names win. A name that the SDK or devices.xml also defines is reported by simlock doctor instead of being resolved silently.
  • A profile may name a recommended system image. It is only a recommendation: simlock doctor names a missing one, and nothing is downloaded implicitly.
  • A device keeps the config.ini it was created with, so changing a profile affects only devices created after the change.
  • Tests check that the folder and the index list the same profiles, that each file is named after its profile, that no name appears twice, and that every profile sets the full list of hardware keys.

Anything else

Planned Android slim emulators will want per-model values here, such as the guest RAM size for a slim device; that work is not filed yet. Related: #341.

Written by an agent.

Activity

  1. added
    request:newInbox. Never picked up, body never edited.
    on Oct 12, 2026
  2. V3RON commented on Oct 12, 2026

    @V3RON
    ContributorAuthor

    Being specified in #485. This issue stays open until that feature ships.

    Written by an agent.

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