Classes.jar and AndroidRuntime.jar

Open Source Development Extension Development
1

I was looking at how extensions were crafted in AI when I saw that two jar files are being included in the .aix (and .aia as well) file: classes.jar and files/AndroidRuntime.jar. Well, actually it is not the first time I see them, but while checking appinventor-sources could not find any explanation to this:
Why are both files included, when just classes.jar could be in there?

Checking the compiled sources of a few extensions, both .jar files contain the same classes (although in size they are not the same, there is a small difference).
So, my question is, what is the difference between both of them, and why both of them are needed?

3 Likes
3

Yes, but also in .aia, as they are then included in aia files

4

classes.jar contains .class bytecode (used for compiling APK), while AndroidRuntime.jar contains .dex bytecode (used while running code on companion dynamically)

11 Likes