This test is meant to test the most basic level of exception support even if you are not using a regular C++ STL. No <stdexcept> required. Normally, the only thing needed is adding -fexceptions to your LOCAL_CFLAGS and that's it. Alternatively, use it in APP_CFLAGS to add the flag to all your modules at the same time. This is really a way to check that the C++ compiler properly links against libsupc++.a without any kind of conflict, and that the try / throw / catch features do really work.