Apache Cordova is an open-source mobile development framework. It allows you to use standard web technologies such as HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript for cross-platform development, avoiding each mobile platform’s native development language. Apache Cordova command-line requires Node.js to run and is available on NPM.
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This tutorial will help you to Install and Use Apache Cordova on Debian 11, Debian 10 Buster, and Debian 9 Stretch Linux systems.
1. Install Node.js and NPM
Your Debian system must have installed NPM and Node.js. Add the PPA for node.js to your system. After that update, your all attached PPA and last command will install Node.js and NPM on your system.
You can visit our tutorial to install latest Node.js on Ubuntu and debian systems.
sudo apt-get install python-software-properties curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_16.x | sudo -E bash - sudo apt install nodejs
2. Install Cordova with NPM
Now use the following command to install Cordova on your system using the npm command. It will install all other required node modules on your system.
sudo npm install -g cordova
3. Test Cordova Version
After successful installation of Cordova on your system, Use the following command to check the Cordova version.
cordova --version 8.0.0
4. Create Application using Cordova
Use the Cordova command to create your Application. Execute the below command to create an application with name myapp. You can change the name on yours.
cordova create myapp
Now add the required platform in your application. This will create required files for the corresponding platform under the platforms/android and platforms/ios directories.
cordova platform add ios cordova platform add android
Use the below command to list the installed and available platforms for the Cordova application.
cordova platform -ls Installed platforms: android 7.0.0 ios 4.5.4 Available platforms: browser ~5.0.1 osx ~4.0.1 windows ~5.0.0 www ^3.12.0
If you accidentally added any platform which you no longer need, just remove that using commands like below.
cordova platform remove ios cordova platform remove android
5. How to Build Cordova Application
Before building a Cordova application, make sure that the system fulfills all the requirements for your build environment.
cordova requirements
On all requirements completed successfully run the build command to build your application.
cordova build ## Build all added platforms cordova build android ## Build for specific platform