How to get device (AOSP) Build Number in Android d

Question

From within an Android Application, how can the hosting device's Build Number, as displayed in System Settings -> About Tablet -> Build Number be obtained programmatically for use within a Java Android application?

Currently, I'm using "android.os.Build".

Answer 1

To get only the Build Number value as shown on the "About Device" in settings, we can use the following static method:

/**
 * This method returns Build Number of the device from the OS Build fingerprint
 * @return osBuildNumber - human entered name of the device
 */
public static String getOSBuildNumber() {
    String osBuildNumber = Build.FINGERPRINT;  //"google/shamu/shamu:5.1.1/LMY48Y/2364368:user/release-keys”
    final String forwardSlash = "/";
    String osReleaseVersion = Build.VERSION.RELEASE + forwardSlash;
    try {
        osBuildNumber = osBuildNumber.substring(osBuildNumber.indexOf(osReleaseVersion));  //"5.1.1/LMY48Y/2364368:user/release-keys”
        osBuildNumber = osBuildNumber.replace(osReleaseVersion, "");  //"LMY48Y/2364368:user/release-keys”
        osBuildNumber = osBuildNumber.substring(0, osBuildNumber.indexOf(forwardSlash)); //"LMY48Y"
    } catch (Exception e) {
        Log.e("getOSBuildNumber", "Exception while parsing - " + e.getMessage());
    }

    return osBuildNumber;
}

This will just return the exact value of the build number. Please keep in mind that Android SDK refrains from doing this. Check the following snippet in BUILD class:

/** A string that uniquely identifies this build.  Do not attempt to parse this value. */
public static final String FINGERPRINT = deriveFingerprint();

/**
 * Some devices split the fingerprint components between multiple
 * partitions, so we might derive the fingerprint at runtime.
 */
private static String deriveFingerprint() {
    String finger = SystemProperties.get("ro.build.fingerprint");
    if (TextUtils.isEmpty(finger)) {
        finger = getString("ro.product.brand") + '/' +
                getString("ro.product.name") + '/' +
                getString("ro.product.device") + ':' +
                getString("ro.build.version.release") + '/' +
                getString("ro.build.id") + '/' +
                getString("ro.build.version.incremental") + ':' +
                getString("ro.build.type") + '/' +
                getString("ro.build.tags");
    }
    return finger;
}

The above method is just reverse engineering the data provided in the "deriveFingerprint()" method.