How-to use a shared library in native-activity

Question

I have an Android project with a native activity. This native activity uses a shared library named "main" (libmain.so file) for starting. ( with the code of ndk/samples/native-activity )

This app works fine.

the "main" module Android.mk file :

LOCAL_PATH := $(call my-dir)
include $(CLEAR_VARS)

LOCAL_MODULE    := main
LOCAL_SRC_FILES := main.cpp

LOCAL_LDLIBS := -llog -landroid -lEGL -lGLESv1_CM

LOCAL_STATIC_LIBRARIES := android_native_app_glue game

include $(BUILD_SHARED_LIBRARY)

$(call import-module,android/native_app_glue)

Now I want to add another shared library (for example a game engine) used by "main" library. I have built a "game" module (libgame.so).

But when I link the "main" with the "game", like this :

LOCAL_PATH := $(call my-dir)
include $(CLEAR_VARS)

LOCAL_MODULE    := main
LOCAL_SRC_FILES := main.cpp

LOCAL_C_INCLUDES := $(LOCAL_PATH)/../../../game

LOCAL_LDLIBS := -llog -landroid -lEGL -lGLESv1_CM
LOCAL_LDLIBS += $(LOCAL_PATH)/../../libs/$(TARGET_ARCH_ABI)/libgame.so

LOCAL_STATIC_LIBRARIES := android_native_app_glue game

include $(BUILD_SHARED_LIBRARY)

$(call import-module,android/native_app_glue)

with code no changes !
the app doesn't start anymore and I have this error in Logcat :

java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start activity ComponentInfo{com.mycompany.myproject/android.app.NativeActivity}: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Unable to load native library: /data/data/com.mycompany.myproject/lib/libmain.so

This crash is due to adding link to a shared library ...

Why linking to a shared library make the app not loading (crash) ?
How can I use a shared library in a native android project (no-java / native-activity) ?
(I suppose it can be possible ... otherwise the native activity is quite limited ...)

Thanks ! :)

Kovach

Answer 1

I believe you must list all your shared libraries in AndroidManifest.xml file:

<meta-data android:name="android.app.lib_name" android:value="game" />
<meta-data android:name="android.app.lib_name" android:value="main" />

Not sure about the order of libraries. Try change the order if it doesn't work.

Enwrap

Thanks ! But, are you sure ? Have you already tried this ? I have tried this and changing the order ... the problem is the same (crash) http://pastie.org/3308037 – Kovach

I am having the exact same issue as you. This did not fix it. – Sulphurbottom

Yes, my answer was incorrect. This considered as a bug: code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=28329 Simple workaround would be subclass NativeActivity with empty activity that has only System.loadLibrary() calls to load all needed libraries. – Kreegar

that does seem odd, since this does get past linking issues and can load the other libraries, but it doesn't seem to actually make it work. Even though it's not a full solution, you get my upvote. – Warison