What is resources.ap_ and why does it have a tendency to be absent?

Question

From time to time, building an Eclipse with borked is driven to the lack of this file with a simple fix to clean up the build, or sometimes deeper into project metadata. I can live with this state of affairs, but the curious side should ask me why.

Searching for it on developer.android.com does not appear anywhere :(, and a search on Google causes different threads when people wonder why their assembly is broken.

This guy is the closest I have found to explain the thing itself. Hope some good patient guru can shed some light on the basics here, without this noob digging the source too far :)

Answer 1

Resource.ap_ is all the resources for your file that are encrypted. All of the backups, asset folders, and manifest file.

An apk file added to class.dex (all your compiled code) and any related .so (native code).

Both of these files are in .zip format. They can be easily viewed by changing the extension to .zip and opening them.

Answer 2

The .ap_ file is probably your apk before it is signed with your certificate (by default, the debug certificate created by ADT in your home directory.)