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Compile Boost for Android
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boost-android.md

Compiling Boost for Android

  1. Download Boost and cd to base directory.

  2. Create Android toolchains for desired architectures by running a script as below:

    NDK=/opt/android-sdk/ndk-bundle/
TOOLCHAINS="$PWD/toolchains/"
rm -rf $TOOLCHAINS
mkdir $TOOLCHAINS

$NDK/build/tools/make_standalone_toolchain.py --arch arm64 --stl=libc++ --install-dir $TOOLCHAINS/android-toolchain-arm64

$NDK/build/tools/make_standalone_toolchain.py --arch arm --stl=libc++ --api=21 --install-dir $TOOLCHAINS/android-toolchain-arm

$NDK/build/tools/make_standalone_toolchain.py --arch x86 --stl=libc++ --api=21 --install-dir $TOOLCHAINS/android-toolchain-x86

$NDK/build/tools/make_standalone_toolchain.py --arch x86_64 --stl=libc++ --install-dir $TOOLCHAINS/android-toolchain-x86_64

  3. Create a user-config.jam file, run bootstrap.sh followed by the bootstrap created b2.sh script for each architecture as in the script below: (Remember to update the boost modules to build in the ./bootstrap.sh line near the bottom, remembering that header only libraries should not go in the list eg coroutine2). Also check that you don't have a user-config.jam in your home directory which would override the local one.

    ARM64=1
ARM32_7A=1
ARM32=1
X86_64=1
# Note I can't get context's asm to work for 32 bit x86 so context and
# dependencies such as fiber and coroutine1/2 will probably not work.
X86=1

BUILD_DIR=android-build
BUILD_TYPE=debug # or release
LINK_TYPE=static # or shared
#See http://www.boost.org/build/doc/html/bbv2/overview/invocation.html for other b2 properties

#TODO: Some of the compiler options for gcc give warnings for clang.

cat > tools/build/src/user-config.jam << 'EOF'
# ------------------
# Android configurations.
# ------------------

import os ;

local NDK_ROOT = /opt/android-sdk/ndk-bundle/ ;

#================================================================================

local ANDROID_TOOLCHAIN_ARM64 = android-toolchain-arm64 ;

using clang : arm64_v8a
:
toolchains/android-toolchain-arm64/bin/aarch64-linux-android-clang++
:
<archiver>toolchains/android-toolchain-arm64/bin/aarch64-linux-android-ar
#<assembler>toolchains/android-toolchain-arm64/bin/aarch64-linux-android-as
<compileflags>-fexceptions
<compileflags>-frtti
<compileflags>-fpic
<compileflags>-ffunction-sections
<compileflags>-funwind-tables
<compileflags>-fstack-protector
#<compileflags>-Wno-psabi
<compileflags>-march=armv8-a
<compileflags>-mtune=cortex-a53
<linkflags>-march=armv8-a
<compileflags>-Os
<compileflags>-fno-short-enums
<compileflags>-fomit-frame-pointer
<compileflags>-fno-strict-aliasing
#<compileflags>-finline-limit=64
<compileflags>-DANDROID
<compileflags>-D__ANDROID__
<compileflags>-DNDEBUG
<compileflags>-O2
<compileflags>-g
<root>toolchains/android-toolchain-arm64/sysroot
# @Moss - Above are the 'official' android flags
<architecture>arm
<compileflags>-fvisibility=hidden
<compileflags>-fvisibility-inlines-hidden
<compileflags>-fdata-sections
<cxxflags>-D_REENTRANT
<cxxflags>-D_GLIBCXX__PTHREADS
<compileflags>-Wno-long-long
<compileflags>-Wno-missing-field-initializers
<compileflags>-Wno-unused-variable
;

#---------------------------------------------------------------------
# --------------------------------------------------------------------

local ANDROID_TOOLCHAIN_ARM = android-toolchain-arm ;
using clang : armeabi
:
toolchains/android-toolchain-arm/bin/arm-linux-androideabi-clang++
:
<archiver>toolchains/android-toolchain-arm/bin/arm-linux-androideabi-ar
<compileflags>-fexceptions
<compileflags>-frtti
<compileflags>-fpic
<compileflags>-ffunction-sections
<compileflags>-funwind-tables
<compileflags>-D__ARM_ARCH_5__
<compileflags>-D__ARM_ARCH_5T__
<compileflags>-D__ARM_ARCH_5E__
<compileflags>-D__ARM_ARCH_5TE__
#<compileflags>-Wno-psabi
<compileflags>-march=armv5te
<compileflags>-mtune=xscale
<compileflags>-msoft-float
<compileflags>-mthumb
<linkflags>-march=armv5te
<compileflags>-Os
<compileflags>-fomit-frame-pointer
<compileflags>-fno-strict-aliasing
#<compileflags>-finline-limit=64
<compileflags>-Wa,--noexecstack
<compileflags>-DANDROID
<compileflags>-D__ANDROID__
<compileflags>-DNDEBUG
<compileflags>-O2
<compileflags>-g
<root>toolchains/android-toolchain-arm/sysroot
# @Moss - Above are the 'official' android flags
<architecture>arm
<compileflags>-fvisibility=hidden
<compileflags>-fvisibility-inlines-hidden
<compileflags>-fdata-sections
<cxxflags>-D_REENTRANT
<cxxflags>-D_GLIBCXX__PTHREADS
<compileflags>-Wno-long-long
<compileflags>-Wno-missing-field-initializers
<compileflags>-Wno-unused-variable
;

#---------------------------------------------------------------------
# --------------------------------------------------------------------
using clang : armeabi_v7a
:
toolchains/android-toolchain-arm/bin/arm-linux-androideabi-clang++
:
<archiver>toolchains/android-toolchain-arm/bin/arm-linux-androideabi-ar
<compileflags>-fexceptions
<compileflags>-frtti
<compileflags>-fpic
<compileflags>-ffunction-sections
<compileflags>-funwind-tables
#<compileflags>-Wno-psabi
<compileflags>-march=armv7-a
<compileflags>-msoft-float
<compileflags>-mfpu=neon
<compileflags>-mthumb
<linkflags>-march=armv7-a
<linkflags>-Wl,--fix-cortex-a8
<compileflags>-Os
<compileflags>-fomit-frame-pointer
<compileflag>-fno-strict-aliasing
#<compileflags>-finline-limit=64
<compileflags>-Wa,--noexecstack
<compileflags>-DANDROID
<compileflags>-D__ANDROID__
<compileflags>-DNDEBUG
<compileflags>-O2
<compileflags>-g
<root>toolchains/android-toolchain-arm/sysroot
# @Moss - Above are the 'official' android flags
<architecture>arm
<compileflags>-fvisibility=hidden
<compileflags>-fvisibility-inlines-hidden
<compileflags>-fdata-sections
<cxxflags>-D__arm__
<cxxflags>-D_REENTRANT
<cxxflags>-D_GLIBCXX__PTHREADS
<compileflags>-Wno-long-long
<compileflags>-Wno-missing-field-initializers
<compileflags>-Wno-unused-variable
;

# --------------------------------------------------------------------

local ANDROID_TOOLCHAIN_x86_64 = android-toolchain-x86_64 ;

using clang : x86_64
:
toolchains/android-toolchain-x86_64/bin/x86_64-linux-android-clang++
:
<archiver>toolchains/android-toolchain-x86_64/bin/x86_64-linux-android-ar
<compileflags>-fexceptions
<compileflags>-frtti
<compileflags>-fpic
<compileflags>-ffunction-sections
<compileflags>-funwind-tables
#<compileflags>-Wno-psabi
<compileflags>-Wno-missing-field-initializers
<compileflags>-no-canonical-prefixes
<linkflags>-no-canonical-prefixes
<compileflags>-Os
<compileflags>-fomit-frame-pointer
<compileflags>-fno-strict-aliasing
#<compileflags>-funswitch-loops
#<compileflags>-finline-limit=300
<compileflags>-Wa,--noexecstack
<compileflags>-DANDROID
<compileflags>-D__ANDROID__
<compileflags>-DNDEBUG
<compileflags>-O2
<compileflags>-g
<root>toolchains/android-toolchain-x86_64/sysroot
# @Moss - Above are the 'official' android flags
<architecture>x86
<compileflags>-fvisibility=hidden
<compileflags>-fvisibility-inlines-hidden
<compileflags>-fdata-sections
<cxxflags>-D_REENTRANT
<cxxflags>-D_GLIBCXX__PTHREADS
<compileflags>-Wno-long-long
<compileflags>-Wno-missing-field-initializers
<compileflags>-Wno-unused-variable
;

# --------------------------------------------------------------------

local ANDROID_TOOLCHAIN_x86 = android-toolchain-x86 ;

using clang : x86 : "toolchains/android-toolchain-x86/bin/i686-linux-android-clang++"
:
<archiver>toolchains/android-toolchain-x86/bin/i686-linux-android-ar
<compileflags>-fexceptions
<compileflags>-frtti
<compileflags>-fpic
<compileflags>-ffunction-sections
<compileflags>-funwind-tables
#<compileflags>-Wno-psabi
<compileflags>-Wno-missing-field-initializers
<compileflags>-no-canonical-prefixes
<linkflags>-no-canonical-prefixes
<compileflags>-Os
<compileflags>-fomit-frame-pointer
<compileflags>-fno-strict-aliasing
#<compileflags>-funswitch-loops
#<compileflags>-finline-limit=300
<compileflags>-Wa,--noexecstack
<compileflags>-DANDROID
<compileflags>-D__ANDROID__
<compileflags>-DNDEBUG
<compileflags>-O2
<compileflags>-g
<root>toolchains/android-toolchain-x86/sysroot/
# @Moss - Above are the 'official' android flags
<architecture>x86
<compileflags>-fvisibility=hidden
<compileflags>-fvisibility-inlines-hidden
<compileflags>-fdata-sections
<cxxflags>-D_REENTRANT
<cxxflags>-D_GLIBCXX__PTHREADS
<compileflags>-Wno-long-long
<compileflags>-Wno-missing-field-initializers
<compileflags>-Wno-unused-variable
;

EOF

rm -f user-config.jam
ln -s tools/build/src/user-config.jam

# bootstrap
# ./bootstrap.sh --with-libraries=atomic,chrono,date_time,exception,filesystem,graph,iostreams,math,program_options,random,regex,serialization,signals,system,test,thread,wave

./bootstrap.sh --with-libraries=system,filesystem,thread,context,coroutine,fiber,serialization,iostreams

rm -rf $BUILD_DIR

#abi "aapcs" "eabi" "ms" "n32" "n64" "o32" "o64" "sysv" "x32"
#architecture "x86" "ia64" "sparc" "power" "mips1" "mips2" "mips3" "mips4" "mips32" "mips32r2" "mips64" "parisc" "arm" "combined" "combined-x86-power"

if [ $ARM64 -eq 1 ]
   then
./b2 -j8 --build-dir=$BUILD_DIR --stagedir=$BUILD_DIR/arm64-v8a toolset=clang-arm64_v8a variant=$BUILD_TYPE \
 target-os=android architecture=arm abi=aapcs binary-format=elf address-model=64 threading=multi link=$LINK_TYPE stage
fi

if [ $ARM32_7A -eq 1 ]
   then
./b2 -j8 --build-dir=$BUILD_DIR --stagedir=$BUILD_DIR/armeabi-v7a toolset=clang-armeabi_v7a variant=$BUILD_TYPE \
target-os=android architecture=arm abi=aapcs binary-format=elf address-model=32 threading=multi link=$LINK_TYPE stage
fi

if [ $ARM32 -eq 1 ]
   then
./b2 -j8 --build-dir=$BUILD_DIR --stagedir=$BUILD_DIR/armeabi toolset=clang-armeabi variant=$BUILD_TYPE \
target-os=android architecture=arm abi=aapcs binary-format=elf address-model=32 threading=multi link=$LINK_TYPE stage
fi

if [ $X86_64 -eq 1 ]
then
./b2 -j8 --build-dir=$BUILD_DIR --stagedir=$BUILD_DIR/x86_64 toolset=clang-x86_64 variant=$BUILD_TYPE \
target-os=android architecture=x86 abi=x32 binary-format=elf address-model=64 threading=multi link=$LINK_TYPE stage
fi

if [ $X86 -eq 1 ]
then
./b2 -j8 --build-dir=$BUILD_DIR --stagedir=$BUILD_DIR/x86 toolset=clang-x86 variant=$BUILD_TYPE \
target-os=android architecture=x86 abi=x32 binary-format=elf address-model=32 threading=multi link=$LINK_TYPE stage
fi

# create link for include folder
cd $BUILD_DIR
mkdir -p include
cd include
ln -s ../../boost .

  4. After a successful build the libraries should be in android-build/{architecture}. To check the architecture:

    mkdir x
cd  x
../toolchains/android-toolchain-arm64/bin/aarch64-linux-android-ar -x ../android-build/arm64-v8a/lib/libboost_system.a
file error_code.o
error_code.o: ELF 64-bit LSB relocatable, ARM aarch64, version 1 (SYSV), with debug_info, not stripped

  5. Boost filesystem seems to have (undocumented) dependencies on both system and threads, the latter of which is particularly tiresome as modern C++ (>= 11) have all the thread primitives. https://github.com/bin-build/filesystem (forked from https://github.com/wjakob/filesystem) are lightweight alternatives with similar functionality.

  6. Note the Android project should also link with the libc++ STL eg

    externalNativeBuild
{
   cmake
   {   cppFlags "-std=c++14 -fexceptions"
       arguments "-DANDROID_STL=c++_shared"
   }
 }
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