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Introduction

AdbOrc is a tool that makes it easy to create a psuedo-distributed network of Android devices for testing and development purposes. It is a simple wrapper around the adb command line tool that allows you to easily share devices with other users on the network.

Overview​

There are three modes of operation for a network node in AdbOrc:

  1. Supplier - A machine on the network that has one or more android devices attached to it. Supplier, as the name implies, supplies devices to the network. There can be any number of Suppliers on the network.

  2. Consumer - A machine on the network that wants to use one or more android devices. Consumer, as the name implies, consumes devices from the network. There can be any number of Consumers on the network.

  3. MarketMaker - A machine on the network that acts as a middleman between Suppliers and Consumers. MarketMaker is responsible for matching Suppliers and Consumers and handling all the metadata of the network. There is exactly one MarketMaker on the network. For Suppliers and Consumers, MarketMaker serves as a proxy for the network.

A system on the network can be operating in any combination of the above modes. For example, a system can be a Supplier and a Consumer at the same time. It can also be a MarketMaker and a Consumer at the same time.

Supplying devices to the network is as simple as joining the network as a Supplier and choosing the devices you wish to supply.

To use devices from the network, you need to join the network as a Consumer and list the available devices within the network. You can then choose the devices you wish to use and ask MarketMaker to reserve them for you. Once you are done using the devices, you can release them back to the network.

All reserved devices are available for use only to the Consumer that reserved them. The devices are available directly via adb. Device screen mirroring for reserved devices is also supported directly by AdbOrc via scrcpy.