Xamarin.Android 12.1 Release Notes

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Installing

Xamarin.Android 12.1 releases are distributed as part of Visual Studio 2022 17.0.

• Visual Studio 2022 version 17.0 — Visual Studio Installer (release notes)
• Visual Studio 2022 for Mac Preview — Visual Studio for Mac Installer (release notes)

What's new in Xamarin.Android 12.1

Xamarin.Android 12.1 releases

• Xamarin.Android 12.1.0.5 in Visual Studio 2022 version 17.0

Xamarin.Android version 12.1.0.5

Released November 8, 2021, included in Visual Studio 2022 version 17.0.

• Application and library build and deployment
• Application behavior on device and emulator
• .NET 6 Changes
• Notable Issues Fixed

Application and library build and deployment

• The default value of $(LintToolPath) will now use lint from the cmdline-tools package. (#6293)

• The AOT profiles used when $(AndroidEnableProfiledAot)=true have been updated. (#6247)n

• NDK r23 is now supported. (#6073)

• SQLite v3.36.0 is now bundled. (#6038)

• Prevent an INSTALL_FAILED_INVALID_APK error when //application/@android:useEmbeddedDex is true. (#5925, #6042)

• Fix fast deployment for large assemblies. (#6113, #6133)

• Fix XAAAS7001 / NullReferenceException from <AndroidApkSigner/> task when KeyPass or StorePass values are null. (#6124, #6126)

• Fix CS1003 and related errors when building Android Binding Projects in certain locales. (#6271, #879)

• The version of the bundletool executable included in Xamarin.Android has been updated from 1.4.0 to 1.8.1, bringing in several improvements and bug fixes. (#6354, #6358)

• The version of the D8 dexer and R8 shrinker included in Xamarin.Android has been updated from 2.1.75 to 2.2.64. (#6149))

Application behavior on device and emulator

• Ongoing attempts to optimize process startup (#6188, #6159)

• Fix ArgumentException from the <GenerateCompressedAssembliesNativeSourceFiles/> task. (#6023)

• Fix SIGSEGV when using Java.Util.Concurrent.Executors. (#6211, #6223)

.NET 6 Changes

• Support C#10 features by default. (#6075, #6076, #6118)

• The minimum supported JDK version is 11.0. See also: https://aka.ms/vs2019-and-jdk-11 (#6228)

• Fix linker warnings in Mono.Android.dll. (#6270, #6216)

.NET 6 API Changes

• The [Android.LinkerSafe] and [System.Preserve] attributes are obsolete. (#5639, #6054, #5664, #6129)

.NET 6 Build Changes

• Add a new $(AndroidGenerateResourceDesigner) MSBuild property. (#6198, #6224)

• Condtionally add generator\**\*.cs to @(Compile). (#6280, #6291)

• When both $(ApplicationId) and the /manifest/@package attribute within AndroidManifest.xml values are specified, the AndroidManifest.xml value takes priority. (#6302, #6304)

• Rework $(ApplicationVersion) and $(ApplicationDisplayVersion) semantics. (#6139)

• Fix binding generator for implicitly added .jar files. (#6281)

• Add support for AOT. (#6052, #5539)

• Add support for consuming AOT profiles. (#6053, #6171)

• Add support for using LLVM with AOT. (#6157)

• Release builds default to creating .aab files. (#6059, #6087)

• Set $(UseSystemResourceKeys)=true only when linking. (#6185, #6181)

• Allow the $(SupportedPlatformOSVersion) MSBuild property to set //uses-sdk/@android:minSdkVersion. (#6111)

• Set $(EnableSingleFileAnalyzer)=True by default. (#5943, #5989)

• Support *.runtimeconfig.json files. (#6009)

• Fix support for using @(PackageReference) with System.* packages. (#6043)

• Binding projects enable C#8 features by default. (#4657, #6066)

• When $(UserInterpreter)=true, DOTNET_MODIFIABLE_ASSEMBLIES=Debug is set. (#6016, #6027)

• Fix XAGJS7009 / InvalidOperationException from the <GenerateJavaStubs/> task when ActivityAttribute.Exported is true. (#6284, #6290)

.NET 6 Runtime Changes

• EventPipe Tracing is now supported (#6022).

• Support [Java.Interop.ExportAttribute]. (#6235)

• Add support for AssemblyLoadContext. (#5940)

• XA_TLS_PROVIDER environment variable is no longer set. (#6140, #6182)

Notable Issues Fixed

• GitHub Issue 854: Properly hide Kotlin internal types.
• GitHub Issue 863: *Invoker types should contain [SupportedOSPlatformAttribute] in .NET 6. Reduces occurrence of CA1416 warnings.
• GitHub Issue 6091: Fix dotnet build on Apple M1 CPUs.

Thank you

A big Thank You! to community members who contributed improvements in this release

Feedback welcome

Your feedback is important to us. If there are any problems with this release, check our GitHub Issues, Xamarin.Android Community Forums and Visual Studio Developer Community for existing issues. For new issues within the Xamarin.Android SDK, please report a GitHub Issue. For general Xamarin.Android experience issues, let us know via the Report a Problem option found in your favorite IDE under Help > Report a Problem.

Open source

Xamarin.Android 12.1 is based on the open-source Xamarin.Android repositories:

• Core JNI interaction logic is in the Java.Interop repo.
• Android bindings and MSBuild tooling are in the xamarin-android repo.
• Chat is in the #android channel on the DotNetEvolution Discord server.