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Upgrading to the latest Android test host - AWS Device Farm
Upgrading from Amazon Linux 2 to Amazon Linux 2023

Upgrading to the latest Android test host

For the full list of available test hosts and how to select one, see Hosts for custom test environments.

Device Farm periodically adds a new Android test host to support newer Android versions and software, and ends support for older test hosts over time. You select the test host with the android_test_host field of your test spec file. To upgrade, set the field to the new test host and review the differences listed for that upgrade.

To avoid updating the field each time Device Farm adds a test host, set android_test_host: default instead. Device Farm then selects a test host that is compatible with the Android version of the device under test, and routes tests on future Android versions to a supported test host. If your tests require a specific software version, we recommend that you select the test host explicitly, because a newer test host might not offer an older version. With either selection type, select software versions explicitly with devicefarm-cli so that a change in default versions doesn't affect your tests. For the mapping of Android versions to test hosts, see Let Device Farm choose.

Upgrading from Amazon Linux 2 to Amazon Linux 2023

To upgrade existing Android tests from the amazon_linux_2 (Amazon Linux 2) test host to the recommended amazon_linux_2023 (Amazon Linux 2023) test host, set android_test_host: amazon_linux_2023 in your test spec file. The upgrade changes the following:

  • Supported devices – Each test host supports a different range of Android versions. For the devices that each test host supports, see Available test hosts for custom test environments.

  • App re-signing – By default, Device Farm installs your Android app and test package as you uploaded them, instead of re-signing them. For more information, see Re-signing apps.

  • VPC endpoint connectivity – The amazon_linux_2023 test host doesn't support VPC endpoint (VPCE) connectivity. If your tests reach private resources through VPCE, switch to VPC-ENI before you change test hosts. For more information, see VPC-ENI in AWS Device Farm.

  • ADB – The amazon_linux_2023 test host provides a newer release of the Android SDK Platform-Tools, with adb version 1.0.41. The amazon_linux_2 test host provides adb version 1.0.39. To print the adb version that your test run uses, add adb version to a phase of your test spec file. If your tests depend on the behavior of a specific adb version, verify them on the amazon_linux_2023 test host.

  • Selectable software – The amazon_linux_2023 test host offers newer versions of Java, Node.js, and Python, but not every older version that the amazon_linux_2 test host offers, such as Appium 1. For the versions on each test host, see Supported software within custom test environments.

For more information about Amazon Linux 2023, see What is Amazon Linux 2023? and Comparing AL2 and AL2023 in the Amazon Linux 2023 User Guide.