diff --git a/.github/workflows/pull_request.yml b/.github/workflows/pull_request.yml
index ed578bc6..582b2b9b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pull_request.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pull_request.yml
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ env:
 jobs:
    build:
      name: Build Docker images
+     # disabled for CI testing
+     if: false
      runs-on: ubuntu-latest
      steps:
       - name: Checkout repository
@@ -24,6 +26,8 @@ jobs:
 
    static-linux-build:
      name: Build Static Linux image
+     # disabled for CI testing
+     if: false
      runs-on: ubuntu-latest
      steps:
       - name: Checkout repository
@@ -33,7 +37,7 @@ jobs:
         run: ./build
 
    android-build:
-     name: Build Android ${{ matrix.arch }} SDK
+     name: Build Android ${{ matrix.swift-version }} ${{ matrix.arch }} SDK
      strategy:
        fail-fast: false
        matrix:
@@ -43,8 +47,18 @@ jobs:
          #arch: ['x86_64']
          # build both the quick (x86_64) and complete (aarch64,x86_64,armv7) SDKs
          arch: ['x86_64', '']
+         swift-version: ['release', 'devel', 'trunk']
      runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
      steps:
+      - name: Free Disk Space
+        run: |
+          df -h
+          # brings available space from 25G to 32G
+          # otherwise we sometimes run out of space during the build
+          sudo rm -rf /usr/share/miniconda /usr/share/az* /usr/share/glade* /usr/local/share/chromium /usr/local/share/powershell /usr/share/dotnet /opt/ghc /opt/hostedtoolcache/CodeQL
+          sudo docker image prune --all --force
+          sudo docker builder prune -a
+          df -h
       - name: Checkout repository
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
       - name: Install Dependencies
@@ -53,7 +67,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Build Android SDK
         working-directory: swift-ci/sdks/android
         run: |
-          TARGET_ARCHS=${{ matrix.arch }} ./build
+          BUILD_VERSION=${{ matrix.swift-version }} TARGET_ARCHS=${{ matrix.arch }} ./build
       - name: Get artifact info
         id: info
         shell: bash
@@ -82,28 +96,8 @@ jobs:
           # swift-6.1-RELEASE_android-0.1-x86_64.artifactbundle.tar.gz.zip
           echo "artifact-name=${ARTIFACT_NAME}" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
 
-          # validate some required paths in the artifactbundle
-          pushd ${ARTIFACT_BUILD}/*/*/usr
-            ls lib/swift/android
-            ls lib/swift/android/*
-            ls lib/swift/android/*/swiftrt.o
-            ls lib/*-linux-android/*/crtbegin_dynamic.o
-
-            ls lib/swift_static-*
-            ls lib/swift_static-*/android
-            ls lib/swift_static-*/android/libFoundationEssentials.a
-
-            ls lib/*-linux-android/libFoundationEssentials.so
-            ls lib/*-linux-android/libFoundationNetworking.so
-            ls lib/*-linux-android/libFoundationInternationalization.so
-            ls lib/*-linux-android/lib_FoundationICU.so
-            ls lib/*-linux-android/libFoundationXML.so
-            ls lib/*-linux-android/libTesting.so
-
-            ls lib/swift/clang/lib
-            ls lib/swift/clang/lib/linux
-            ls lib/swift/clang/lib/linux/*/libunwind.a
-          popd
+          # show an abridged tree
+          tree ${ARTIFACT_BUILD} --filesfirst --prune -P 'Android.swiftmodule' -P 'libswiftAndroid.*' -P 'libFoundation.*' -P 'swiftrt.o' -P 'swift*.json' -P 'info.json' -P 'api-level.h' -P 'android.modulemap' -P 'SwiftAndroidNDK.h' -P 'bridging.modulemap' -P 'linux' -P 'libclang*.a' -P 'libunwind.a' -P 'libclang_rt.builtins-*-android.a'
       - name: Upload SDK artifactbundle
         uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
         with:
@@ -113,7 +107,9 @@ jobs:
       - name: Cleanup
         run: |
           # need to free up some space or else when installing we get: No space left on device
+          df -h
           rm -rf ${{ runner.temp }}/swift-android-sdk/{build,src}
+          df -h
       - name: Install artifactbundle
         shell: bash
         run: |
@@ -138,10 +134,10 @@ jobs:
           echo 'import Dispatch' >> Sources/DemoProject/DemoProject.swift
           echo 'import Android' >> Sources/DemoProject/DemoProject.swift
       - name: Test Demo Project on Android
-        uses: skiptools/swift-android-action@v2
+        uses: skiptools/swift-android-action@main
         with:
           # only test for the complete arch SDK build to speed up CI
-          run-tests: ${{ matrix.arch == '' }}
+          #run-tests: ${{ matrix.arch == '' }}
           package-path: ${{ runner.temp }}/DemoProject
           installed-sdk: ${{ steps.info.outputs.sdk-id }}
           installed-swift: ${{ steps.info.outputs.swift-root }}
@@ -152,7 +148,7 @@ jobs:
           repository: apple/swift-algorithms
           path: swift-algorithms
       - name: Test swift-algorithms
-        uses: skiptools/swift-android-action@v2
+        uses: skiptools/swift-android-action@main
         with:
           run-tests: ${{ matrix.arch == '' }}
           package-path: swift-algorithms
diff --git a/swift-ci/sdks/android/build b/swift-ci/sdks/android/build
index e35bd431..20b9fce0 100755
--- a/swift-ci/sdks/android/build
+++ b/swift-ci/sdks/android/build
@@ -13,12 +13,28 @@ mkdir -p ${SDKROOT}
 # Install a Swift host toolchain if it isn't already present
 SWIFT_ROOT=${SDKROOT}/host-toolchain
 HOST_OS=ubuntu$(lsb_release -sr)
-SWIFT_VERSION=6.1
-SWIFT_TAG="swift-${SWIFT_VERSION}-RELEASE"
-SWIFT_BRANCH="swift-$(echo $SWIFT_TAG | cut -d- -f2)-release"
+
+#BUILD_VERSION='release'
+#BUILD_VERSION='trunk'
+BUILD_VERSION=${BUILD_VERSION:-'devel'}
+
+if [ "${BUILD_VERSION}" = 'release' ]; then
+    LATEST_TOOLCHAIN_VERSION=$(curl -sL https://github.com/apple/swift/releases | grep -m1 swift-6.1 | cut -d- -f2)
+    SWIFT_TAG="swift-${LATEST_TOOLCHAIN_VERSION}-RELEASE"
+    SWIFT_BRANCH="swift-$(echo $SWIFT_TAG | cut -d- -f2)-release"
+elif [ "${BUILD_VERSION}" = 'devel' ]; then
+    LATEST_TOOLCHAIN_VERSION=$(curl -sL https://github.com/apple/swift/tags | grep -m1 swift-6.2-DEV | cut -d- -f8-10)
+    SWIFT_TAG="swift-6.2-DEVELOPMENT-SNAPSHOT-${LATEST_TOOLCHAIN_VERSION}-a"
+    SWIFT_BRANCH="swift-$(echo $SWIFT_TAG | cut -d- -f2)-branch"
+else
+    LATEST_TOOLCHAIN_VERSION=$(curl -sL https://github.com/apple/swift/tags | grep -m1 swift-DEV | cut -d- -f7-9)
+    SWIFT_TAG="swift-DEVELOPMENT-SNAPSHOT-${LATEST_TOOLCHAIN_VERSION}-a"
+    SWIFT_BRANCH="development"
+fi
+
 SWIFT_BASE=$SWIFT_TAG-$HOST_OS
 
-if [[ ! -d $SWIFT_ROOT ]]; then
+if [[ ! -d "$SWIFT_ROOT/$SWIFT_BASE" ]]; then
     mkdir -p $SWIFT_ROOT
     pushd $SWIFT_ROOT
 
@@ -75,7 +91,11 @@ if [[ ! -d ${PATCHDIR} ]]; then
         # swift-android-ci.patch is not needed, since it is only used for llbuild, etc.
         #git apply -C1 $PATCHDIR/swift-android-ci.patch
         #git apply -v $PATCHDIR/swift-android-ci-release.patch
-        git apply -v $PATCHDIR/swift-android-testing-release.patch
+        if [ "${BUILD_VERSION}" = 'release' ]; then
+            git apply -v $PATCHDIR/swift-android-testing-release.patch
+        else
+            git apply -v $PATCHDIR/swift-android-testing-except-release.patch
+        fi
 
         perl -pi -e 's%String\(cString: getpass%\"fake\" //%' swiftpm/Sources/PackageRegistryCommand/PackageRegistryCommand+Auth.swift
         # disable backtrace() for Android (needs either API33+ or libandroid-execinfo, or to manually add in backtrace backport)
diff --git a/swift-ci/sdks/android/scripts/build.sh b/swift-ci/sdks/android/scripts/build.sh
index 843ff2db..a592b2b4 100755
--- a/swift-ci/sdks/android/scripts/build.sh
+++ b/swift-ci/sdks/android/scripts/build.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 # Swift SDK for Android: Build Script
-set -e
+set -ex
+
+# temporary for splitting out NDK installation from the rest of the SDK
+#NDK_LOCATION=${NDK_LOCATION:-"merged"}
+NDK_LOCATION=${NDK_LOCATION:-"external"}
 
 # Docker sets TERM to xterm if using a pty; we probably want
 # xterm-256color, otherwise we only get eight colors
@@ -188,7 +192,7 @@ if [[ $swift_version == swift-* ]]; then
 fi
 
 if [[ -z "$sdk_name" ]]; then
-    sdk_name=swift-${swift_version}_android-${android_sdk_version}
+    sdk_name=swift-${swift_version}-android-${android_sdk_version}
 fi
 
 libxml2_version=$(versionFromTag ${source_dir}/libxml2)
@@ -212,14 +216,13 @@ header "Swift Android SDK build script"
 swift_dir=$(realpath $(dirname "$swiftc")/..)
 HOST=linux-x86_64
 #HOST=$(uname -s -m | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]' | tr ' ' '-')
-ndk_toolchain=$ndk_home/toolchains/llvm/prebuilt/$HOST
-
+ndk_installation=$ndk_home/toolchains/llvm/prebuilt/$HOST
 
 echo "Swift found at ${swift_dir}"
 echo "Host toolchain found at ${host_toolchain}"
 ${host_toolchain}/bin/swift --version
 echo "Android NDK found at ${ndk_home}"
-${ndk_toolchain}/bin/clang --version
+${ndk_installation}/bin/clang --version
 echo "Building for ${archs}"
 echo "Sources are in ${source_dir}"
 echo "Build will happen in ${build_dir}"
@@ -387,7 +390,7 @@ for arch in $archs; do
         # need to remove symlink that gets created in the NDK to the previous arch's build
         # or else we get errors like:
         # error: could not find module '_Builtin_float' for target 'x86_64-unknown-linux-android'; found: aarch64-unknown-linux-android, at: /home/runner/work/_temp/swift-android-sdk/ndk/android-ndk-r27c/toolchains/llvm/prebuilt/linux-x86_64/sysroot/usr/lib/swift/android/_Builtin_float.swiftmodule
-        rm -f $ndk_toolchain/sysroot/usr/lib/swift
+        rm -f $ndk_installation/sysroot/usr/lib/swift
     quiet_popd
     groupend
 done
@@ -425,12 +428,22 @@ EOF
 mkdir -p $sdk_base
 quiet_pushd $sdk_base
 
-#sysroot_path="ndk-sysroot"
-#sysroot_path="android-27c-sysroot"
-sysroot_path="sysroot"
-cp -a ${ndk_toolchain}/sysroot ${sysroot_path}
+cp -a ${build_dir}/sdk_root ${sdk_staging}
+
+if [ "${NDK_LOCATION}" = "external" ]; then
+    swift_res_root="swift-resources"
+    ndk_sysroot="ndk-sysroot"
+    cp -a ${ndk_installation}/sysroot ${ndk_sysroot}
+else
+    merged_sysroot_path="sysroot"
+    swift_res_root=${merged_sysroot_path}
+    ndk_sysroot=${merged_sysroot_path}
+    cp -a ${ndk_installation}/sysroot ${ndk_sysroot}
+fi
 
-cat > $sysroot_path/SDKSettings.json <<EOF
+mkdir -p ${swift_res_root}
+
+cat > $swift_res_root/SDKSettings.json <<EOF
 {
   "DisplayName": "Swift Android SDK",
   "Version": "${android_sdk_version}",
@@ -439,10 +452,10 @@ cat > $sysroot_path/SDKSettings.json <<EOF
 }
 EOF
 
-cp -a ${build_dir}/sdk_root ${sdk_staging}
 # Copy necessary headers and libraries from the toolchain and NDK clang resource directories
-mkdir -p $sysroot_path/usr/lib/swift/clang/lib
-cp -r $host_toolchain/lib/clang/*/include $sysroot_path/usr/lib/swift/clang
+mkdir -p $swift_res_root/usr/lib/swift/clang/lib
+cp -r $host_toolchain/lib/clang/*/include $swift_res_root/usr/lib/swift/clang
+
 
 for arch in $archs; do
     quiet_pushd ${sdk_staging}/${arch}/usr
@@ -455,26 +468,50 @@ for arch in $archs; do
             arch_triple="arm-linux-androideabi"
         fi
 
-        mkdir lib/${arch_triple}
-        mv lib/pkgconfig lib/swift/android/lib*.{a,so} lib/${arch_triple}
+        rm -r lib/swift{,_static}/clang
+        if [ "${NDK_LOCATION}" = "external" ]; then
+            #mkdir lib/swift-$arch
+            #mv lib/pkgconfig lib/swift/android/lib*.{a,so} lib/swift-$arch
+            mv lib/swift lib/swift-$arch
+            ln -s ../swift/clang lib/swift-$arch/clang
+        else
+            mkdir lib/${arch_triple}
+            mv lib/pkgconfig lib/swift/android/lib*.{a,so} lib/${arch_triple}
+        fi
 
         mv lib/swift_static lib/swift_static-$arch
         mv lib/lib*.a lib/swift_static-$arch/android
 
-        rm -r lib/swift{,_static-$arch}/clang
+        ln -sv ../swift/clang lib/swift_static-$arch/clang
 
-        mkdir -p lib/swift/clang/lib
-        cp -a ${ndk_toolchain}/lib/clang/*/lib/linux lib/swift/clang/lib
-        ln -s ../swift/clang lib/swift_static-$arch/clang
+        # copy the clang libraries that we need to build for each architecture
+        aarch=${arch/armv7/arm}
+        mkdir -p lib/swift/clang/lib/linux/${aarch}
+
+        # match clang version 21, 22, etc.
+        cp -av ${ndk_installation}/lib/clang/[0-9]*/lib/linux/libclang_rt.builtins-${aarch}-android.a lib/swift/clang/lib/linux/
+        cp -av ${ndk_installation}/lib/clang/[0-9]*/lib/linux/${aarch}/libunwind.a lib/swift/clang/lib/linux/${aarch}/
     quiet_popd
 
-    # now sync the massaged sdk_root into the sysroot_path
-    rsync -a ${sdk_staging}/${arch}/usr ${sysroot_path}
+    # now sync the massaged sdk_root into the swift_res_root
+    rsync -a ${sdk_staging}/${arch}/usr ${swift_res_root}
 done
 
-rm -r ${sysroot_path}/usr/share/{doc,man}
-rm -r ${sysroot_path}/usr/{include,lib}/{i686,riscv64}-linux-android
-rm -r ${sysroot_path}/usr/lib/swift/clang/lib/linux/*{i[36]86,riscv64}*
+if [ "${NDK_LOCATION}" = "external" ]; then
+    # need to manually copy over swiftrt.o or else:
+    # error: link command failed with exit code 1 (use -v to see invocation)
+    # clang: error: no such file or directory: '${HOME}/.swiftpm/swift-sdks/swift-6.2-DEVELOPMENT-SNAPSHOT-2025-04-24-a-android-0.1.artifactbundle/swift-android/ndk-sysroot/usr/lib/swift/android/x86_64/swiftrt.o'
+    # see: https://github.com/swiftlang/swift-driver/pull/1822#issuecomment-2762811807
+    for arch in $archs; do
+        mkdir -p ${ndk_sysroot}/usr/lib/swift/android/${arch}
+        ln -srv ${swift_res_root}/usr/lib/swift-${arch}/android/${arch}/swiftrt.o ${ndk_sysroot}/usr/lib/swift/android/${arch}/swiftrt.o
+    done
+else
+    rm -r ${swift_res_root}/usr/{include,lib}/{i686,riscv64}-linux-android
+    rm -r ${swift_res_root}/usr/lib/swift/clang/lib/linux/*{i[36]86,riscv64}*
+fi
+
+rm -r ${swift_res_root}/usr/share/{doc,man}
 rm -r ${sdk_staging}
 
 cat > swift-sdk.json <<EOF
@@ -497,13 +534,23 @@ for api in $(eval echo "{$android_api..36}"); do
     },
 EOF
         fi
+
+        if [ "${NDK_LOCATION}" = "external" ]; then
+            SWIFT_RES_DIR="swift-${arch}"
+        else
+            SWIFT_RES_DIR="swift"
+        fi
+        SWIFT_STATIC_RES_DIR="swift_static-${arch}"
+
         cat >> swift-sdk.json <<EOF
     "${arch}-unknown-linux-android${api}": {
-      "sdkRootPath": "${sysroot_path}",
-      "swiftResourcesPath": "${sysroot_path}/usr/lib/swift",
-      "swiftStaticResourcesPath": "${sysroot_path}/usr/lib/swift_static-${arch}",
+      "sdkRootPath": "${ndk_sysroot}",
+      "swiftResourcesPath": "${swift_res_root}/usr/lib/${SWIFT_RES_DIR}",
+      "swiftStaticResourcesPath": "${swift_res_root}/usr/lib/${SWIFT_STATIC_RES_DIR}",
       "toolsetPaths": [ "swift-toolset.json" ]
 EOF
+      #"librarySearchPaths": [ "${swift_res_root}/usr/lib/swift-x86_64/android/x86_64" ],
+      #"includeSearchPaths": [ "${ndk_sysroot}/usr/include" ],
     done
 done