How to cross-compile for Android. These notes were last updated on 17 Feb 2012, for Valgrind SVN revision 12390/2257. This is known to work at least for : ARM: Android 4.0.3 running on a (rooted, AOSP build) Nexus S. Android 4.0.3 running on Motorola Xoom. Android 4.0.3 running on android arm emulator. Android 4.1 running on android emulator. Android 2.3.4 on Nexus S worked at some time in the past. x86: Android 4.0.3 running on android x86 emulator. mips32: Android 4.1.2 running on android mips emulator. Android 4.2.2 running on android mips emulator. Android 4.3 running on android mips emulator. Android 4.0.4 running on BROADCOM bcm7425 On android-arm, GDBserver might insert breaks at wrong addresses. Feedback on this welcome. Other configurations and toolchains might work, but haven't been tested. Feedback is welcome. You need the android-ndk-r6 native development kit. r6b and r7 give a non-completely-working build; see http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=23203 For the android emulator, the versions needed and how to install them are described in README.android_emulator. You can get android-ndk-r6 from http://dl.google.com/android/ndk/android-ndk-r6-linux-x86.tar.bz2 Install it somewhere. Doesn't matter where. Then do this: # Modify this (obviously). Note, this "export" command is only done # so as to reduce the amount of typing required. None of the commands # below read it as part of their operation. # export NDKROOT=/path/to/android-ndk-r6 # Modify this too. Tell the build system which Android hardware you # are building for. It needs to know this so it can compile in # support for the right Android-hw-specific ioctls. (sigh.) As with # NDKROOT above, this is merely to avoid repeated typing; none of the # commands read it. # # Currently the supported values are: nexus_s pandaboard # So choose one of the below: # export HWKIND=nexus_s # Samsung Nexus S; also Xoom (for now) export HWKIND=generic # A generic Android device. eg, Pandaboard export HWKIND=emulator # Android emulator # Then cd to the root of your Valgrind source tree. # cd /path/to/valgrind/source/tree # After this point, you don't need to modify anything; just copy and # paste the commands below. # Set up toolchain paths. # # For ARM export AR=$NDKROOT/toolchains/arm-linux-androideabi-4.4.3/prebuilt/linux-x86/bin/arm-linux-androideabi-ar export LD=$NDKROOT/toolchains/arm-linux-androideabi-4.4.3/prebuilt/linux-x86/bin/arm-linux-androideabi-ld export CC=$NDKROOT/toolchains/arm-linux-androideabi-4.4.3/prebuilt/linux-x86/bin/arm-linux-androideabi-gcc # For x86 export AR=$NDKROOT/toolchains/x86-4.4.3/prebuilt/linux-x86/bin/i686-android-linux-ar export LD=$NDKROOT/toolchains/x86-4.4.3/prebuilt/linux-x86/bin/i686-android-linux-ld export CC=$NDKROOT/toolchains/x86-4.4.3/prebuilt/linux-x86/bin/i686-android-linux-gcc # For MIPS32 export AR=$NDKROOT/toolchains/mipsel-linux-android-4.8/prebuilt/linux-x86_64/bin/mipsel-linux-android-ar export LD=$NDKROOT/toolchains/mipsel-linux-android-4.8/prebuilt/linux-x86_64/bin/mipsel-linux-android-ld export CC=$NDKROOT/toolchains/mipsel-linux-android-4.8/prebuilt/linux-x86_64/bin/mipsel-linux-android-gcc # Do configuration stuff. Don't mess with the --prefix in the # configure command below, even if you think it's wrong. # You may need to set the --with-tmpdir path to something # different if /sdcard doesn't work on the device -- this is # a known cause of difficulties. # The below re-generates configure, Makefiles, ... # This is not needed if you start from a release tarball. ./autogen.sh # for ARM CPPFLAGS="--sysroot=$NDKROOT/platforms/android-3/arch-arm -DANDROID_HARDWARE_$HWKIND" \ CFLAGS="--sysroot=$NDKROOT/platforms/android-3/arch-arm" \ ./configure --prefix=/data/local/Inst \ --host=armv7-unknown-linux --target=armv7-unknown-linux \ --with-tmpdir=/sdcard # note: on android emulator, android-14 platform was also tested and works. # It is not clear what this platform nr really is. # for x86 CPPFLAGS="--sysroot=$NDKROOT/platforms/android-9/arch-x86 -DANDROID_HARDWARE_$HWKIND" \ CFLAGS="--sysroot=$NDKROOT/platforms/android-9/arch-x86 -fno-pic" \ ./configure --prefix=/data/local/Inst \ --host=i686-android-linux --target=i686-android-linux \ --with-tmpdir=/sdcard # for MIPS32 CPPFLAGS="--sysroot=$NDKROOT/platforms/android-18/arch-mips -DANDROID_HARDWARE_$HWKIND" \ CFLAGS="--sysroot=$NDKROOT/platforms/android-18/arch-mips" \ ./configure --prefix=/data/local/Inst \ --host=mipsel-linux-android --target=mipsel-linux-android \ --with-tmpdir=/sdcard # At the end of the configure run, a few lines of details # are printed. Make sure that you see these two lines: # # For ARM: # Platform variant: android # Primary -DVGPV string: -DVGPV_arm_linux_android=1 # # For x86: # Platform variant: android # Primary -DVGPV string: -DVGPV_x86_linux_android=1 # # For mips32: # Platform variant: android # Primary -DVGPV string: -DVGPV_mips32_linux_android=1 # # If you see anything else at this point, something is wrong, and # either the build will fail, or will succeed but you'll get something # which won't work. # Build, and park the install tree in `pwd`/Inst # make -j2 make -j2 install DESTDIR=`pwd`/Inst # To get the install tree onto the device: # (I don't know why it's not "adb push Inst /data/local", but this # formulation does appear to put the result in /data/local/Inst.) # adb push Inst / # To run (on the device) /data/local/Inst/bin/valgrind [the usual args etc] # Once you're up and running, a handy modify-V-rebuild-reinstall # command line (on the host, of course) is # mq -j2 && mq -j2 install DESTDIR=`pwd`/Inst && adb push Inst / # # where 'mq' is an alias for 'make --quiet'. # One common cause of runs failing at startup is the inability of # Valgrind to find a suitable temporary directory. On the device, # there doesn't seem to be any one location which we always have # permission to write to. The instructions above use /sdcard. If # that doesn't work for you, and you're Valgrinding one specific # application which is already installed, you could try using its # temporary directory, in /data/data, for example # /data/data/org.mozilla.firefox_beta. # # Using /system/bin/logcat on the device is helpful for diagnosing # these kinds of problems.