diff --git a/android/mkp4a.common b/android/mkp4a.common
index 46e05f7f..99c25f6e 100644
--- a/android/mkp4a.common
+++ b/android/mkp4a.common
@@ -11,6 +11,9 @@ cardsets_file="${cardsets_dir}.tar.xz"
 sdkdir="${HOME}/.cache/sdk-for-p4a/sdk"
 ndkdir="${HOME}/.cache/sdk-for-p4a/android-ndk-r17c"
 
+# gradle may need this.
+export TERM="xterm"
+
 p4a_options="\
   --sdk-dir ${sdkdir} \
   --ndk-dir ${ndkdir} \
diff --git a/android/mkp4a.init b/android/mkp4a.init
index 2cb81d4f..0aae5b0b 100755
--- a/android/mkp4a.init
+++ b/android/mkp4a.init
@@ -20,6 +20,21 @@ rm -rf ${tmpdir}
 cp -a .. ${tmpdir}
 rm -rf ${tmpdir}/android
 rm -rf ${tmpdir}/src
+
+# remove useless load from the app
+rm -rf ${tmpdir}/.git
+rm -rf ${tmpdir}/.gitignore
+rm -rf ${tmpdir}/Screenshots
+rm -rf ${tmpdir}/build
+rm -rf ${tmpdir}/contrib
+rm -rf ${tmpdir}/dist
+rm -rf ${tmpdir}/runtests.pl
+rm -rf ${tmpdir}/tests
+rm -rf ${tmpdir}/Brewfile
+rm -rf ${tmpdir}/.appveyor.yml
+rm -rf ${tmpdir}/.perltidyrc
+rm -rf ${tmpdir}/.travis.yml
+
 cp -a main.py ${tmpdir}
 mkdir -p ${tmpdir}/data/images/cards/bottoms/trumps-only
 echo "" > ${tmpdir}/data/images/cards/bottoms/trumps-only/.keep