NOTES.ANDROID revision 1.1 1 1.1 christos
2 1.1 christos NOTES FOR ANDROID PLATFORMS
3 1.1 christos ===========================
4 1.1 christos
5 1.1 christos Requirement details
6 1.1 christos -------------------
7 1.1 christos
8 1.1 christos Beside basic tools like perl and make you'll need to download the Android
9 1.1 christos NDK. It's available for Linux, macOS and Windows, but only Linux
10 1.1 christos version was actually tested. There is no reason to believe that macOS
11 1.1 christos wouldn't work. And as for Windows, it's unclear which "shell" would be
12 1.1 christos suitable, MSYS2 might have best chances. NDK version should play lesser
13 1.1 christos role, the goal is to support a range of most recent versions.
14 1.1 christos
15 1.1 christos Configuration
16 1.1 christos -------------
17 1.1 christos
18 1.1 christos Android is a naturally cross-compiled target and you can't use ./config.
19 1.1 christos You have to use ./Configure and name your target explicitly; there are
20 1.1 christos android-arm, android-arm64, android-mips, android-mip64, android-x86
21 1.1 christos and android-x86_64 (*MIPS targets are no longer supported with NDK R20+).
22 1.1 christos Do not pass --cross-compile-prefix (as you might be tempted), as it will
23 1.1 christos be "calculated" automatically based on chosen platform. Though you still
24 1.1 christos need to know the prefix to extend your PATH, in order to invoke
25 1.1 christos $(CROSS_COMPILE)clang [*gcc on NDK 19 and lower] and company. (Configure
26 1.1 christos will fail and give you a hint if you get it wrong.) Apart from PATH
27 1.1 christos adjustment you need to set ANDROID_NDK_HOME environment to point at the
28 1.1 christos NDK directory. If you're using a side-by-side NDK the path will look
29 1.1 christos something like /some/where/android-sdk/ndk/<ver>, and for a standalone
30 1.1 christos NDK the path will be something like /some/where/android-ndk-<ver>.
31 1.1 christos Both variables are significant at both configuration and compilation times.
32 1.1 christos The NDK customarily supports multiple Android API levels, e.g. android-14,
33 1.1 christos android-21, etc. By default latest API level is chosen. If you need to
34 1.1 christos target an older platform pass the argument -D__ANDROID_API__=N to Configure,
35 1.1 christos with N being the numerical value of the target platform version. For example,
36 1.1 christos to compile for Android 10 arm64 with a side-by-side NDK r20.0.5594570
37 1.1 christos
38 1.1 christos export ANDROID_NDK_HOME=/home/whoever/Android/android-sdk/ndk/20.0.5594570
39 1.1 christos PATH=$ANDROID_NDK_HOME/toolchains/llvm/prebuilt/linux-x86_64/bin:$ANDROID_NDK_HOME/toolchains/arm-linux-androideabi-4.9/prebuilt/linux-x86_64/bin:$PATH
40 1.1 christos ./Configure android-arm64 -D__ANDROID_API__=29
41 1.1 christos make
42 1.1 christos
43 1.1 christos Older versions of the NDK have GCC under their common prebuilt tools directory, so the bin path
44 1.1 christos will be slightly different. EG: to compile for ICS on ARM with NDK 10d:
45 1.1 christos
46 1.1 christos export ANDROID_NDK_HOME=/some/where/android-ndk-10d
47 1.1 christos PATH=$ANDROID_NDK_HOME/toolchains/arm-linux-androideabi-4.8/prebuilt/linux-x86_64/bin:$PATH
48 1.1 christos ./Configure android-arm -D__ANDROID_API__=14
49 1.1 christos make
50 1.1 christos
51 1.1 christos Caveat lector! Earlier OpenSSL versions relied on additional CROSS_SYSROOT
52 1.1 christos variable set to $ANDROID_NDK_HOME/platforms/android-<api>/arch-<arch> to
53 1.1 christos appoint headers-n-libraries' location. It's still recognized in order
54 1.1 christos to facilitate migration from older projects. However, since API level
55 1.1 christos appears in CROSS_SYSROOT value, passing -D__ANDROID_API__=N can be in
56 1.1 christos conflict, and mixing the two is therefore not supported. Migration to
57 1.1 christos CROSS_SYSROOT-less setup is recommended.
58 1.1 christos
59 1.1 christos One can engage clang by adjusting PATH to cover same NDK's clang. Just
60 1.1 christos keep in mind that if you miss it, Configure will try to use gcc...
61 1.1 christos Also, PATH would need even further adjustment to cover unprefixed, yet
62 1.1 christos target-specific, ar and ranlib. It's possible that you don't need to
63 1.1 christos bother, if binutils-multiarch is installed on your Linux system.
64 1.1 christos
65 1.1 christos Another option is to create so called "standalone toolchain" tailored
66 1.1 christos for single specific platform including Android API level, and assign its
67 1.1 christos location to ANDROID_NDK_HOME. In such case you have to pass matching
68 1.1 christos target name to Configure and shouldn't use -D__ANDROID_API__=N. PATH
69 1.1 christos adjustment becomes simpler, $ANDROID_NDK_HOME/bin:$PATH suffices.
70 1.1 christos
71 1.1 christos Running tests (on Linux)
72 1.1 christos ------------------------
73 1.1 christos
74 1.1 christos This is not actually supported. Notes are meant rather as inspiration.
75 1.1 christos
76 1.1 christos Even though build output targets alien system, it's possible to execute
77 1.1 christos test suite on Linux system by employing qemu-user. The trick is static
78 1.1 christos linking. Pass -static to Configure, then edit generated Makefile and
79 1.1 christos remove occurrences of -ldl and -pie flags. You would also need to pick
80 1.1 christos API version that comes with usable static libraries, 42/2=21 used to
81 1.1 christos work. Once built, you should be able to
82 1.1 christos
83 1.1 christos env EXE_SHELL=qemu-<arch> make test
84 1.1 christos
85 1.1 christos If you need to pass additional flag to qemu, quotes are your friend, e.g.
86 1.1 christos
87 1.1 christos env EXE_SHELL="qemu-mips64el -cpu MIPS64R6-generic" make test
88