doc: Describe cloud dev setup, without Android Studio

Co-authored-by: Khader M Khudair <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: Rajesh Malviya <[email protected]>

Author: 3 people

README.md

@@ -92,13 +92,23 @@ Two specific points to expand on:
 
 ### Setting up
 
+Running the app requires only a standard Flutter setup,
+using the Flutter `main` channel:
+
 1. Follow the [Flutter installation guide](https://docs.flutter.dev/get-started/install)
    for your platform of choice.
 2. Switch to the latest version of Flutter by running `flutter channel main`
    and `flutter upgrade` (see [Flutter version](#flutter-version) below).
 3. Ensure Flutter is correctly configured by running `flutter doctor`.
 4. Start the app with `flutter run`, or from your IDE.
 
+Parts of our test suite require an additional dependency:
+
+5. Install SQLite, for example by running `sudo apt install libsqlite3-dev`.
+
+For more details and help with unusual configurations,
+see our [full setup guide](docs/setup.md).
+
 
 ### Flutter version
 

docs/setup.md

@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+# Dev setup
+
+For general instructions on setting up to do development
+on this app, [see the README][readme-setup].
+
+This file covers specific topics in more detail.
+
+[readme-setup]: https://github.com/zulip/zulip-flutter#setting-up
+
+
+## Android without Android Studio
+
+The standard [Flutter installation guide](https://docs.flutter.dev/get-started/install)
+calls for installing Android Studio in order to build for Android.
+This is the recommended option where possible; but for use cases
+like building the app on a remote server in the cloud, you may want
+to set things up without Android Studio.
+
+To set up the development environment on Linux without Android Studio:
+
+1. Follow the [Flutter installation guide](https://docs.flutter.dev/get-started/install),
+   up until the step calling for Android Studio.
+
+2. Install Java, specifically JDK 17 (or later?):
+   `sudo apt install openjdk-17-jdk`
+
+3. Install the Android SDK.  This might look like the following:
+
+   ```
+       # Download Android SDK cmdline-tools: https://developer.android.com/studio#command-line-tools-only
+   $ curl -LO https://dl.google.com/android/repository/commandlinetools-linux-11076708_latest.zip
+   $ mkdir -p ~/Android/Sdk/cmdline-tools/latest
+   $ unzip commandlinetools-linux-11076708_latest.zip -d ~/Android/Sdk/cmdline-tools/latest
+   $ mv ~/Android/Sdk/cmdline-tools/latest/cmdline-tools/* ~/Android/Sdk/cmdline-tools/latest
+   $ rmdir ~/Android/Sdk/cmdline-tools/latest/cmdline-tools
+       # Add "$HOME/Android/Sdk/cmdline-tools/latest/bin" to PATH.
+       # Set environment variable ANDROID_HOME to "$HOME/Android/Sdk".
+   $ sdkmanager platform-tools
+   ```
+
+4. Resume following the Flutter installation guide
+   starting from the step after installing Android Studio.
+   Use the Flutter `main` channel, just like in
+   [our standard setup instructions][readme-setup].
+
+5. Build the app with `flutter build apk`
+   or `flutter build apk --debug`, and
+   download the resulting APK file to your local machine.
+   Then use `adb install` (see `adb help` for help)
+   to install it on either a physical or emulated device,
+   and run it.
+
+   (Have you tried setting things up so that you can use
+   `flutter run` on the remote machine, and get hot reload?
+   If so, we'd be glad to hear instructions for it;
+   please start a thread in our [`#mobile-dev-help`][] channel,
+   or send a PR.)
+
+[`#mobile-dev-help`]: https://chat.zulip.org/#narrow/stream/516-mobile-dev-help