How to cross-compile and run on Android. Please read to the end, since there are important details further down regarding crash avoidance and GPU support. These notes were last updated on 4 Nov 2014, for Valgrind SVN revision 14689/2987. These instructions are known to work, or have worked at some time in the past, 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 arm64: Android 4.5 (?) running on ARM Juno 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. Toolchain: For arm32, x86 and mips32 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 For arm64 (aarch64) you need the android-ndk-r10c NDK, from http://dl.google.com/android/ndk/android-ndk-r10c-linux-x86_64.bin Install the NDK somewhere. Doesn't matter where. Then: # 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-r # 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=$NDKROOT/toolchains/mipsel-linux-android-4.8/prebuilt/linux-x86_64/bin/mipsel-linux-android-gcc # For ARM64 (AArch64) export AR=$NDKROOT/toolchains/aarch64-linux-android-4.9/prebuilt/linux-x86_64/bin/aarch64-linux-android-ar export LD=$NDKROOT/toolchains/aarch64-linux-android-4.9/prebuilt/linux-x86_64/bin/aarch64-linux-android-ld export CC=$NDKROOT/toolchains/aarch64-linux-android-4.9/prebuilt/linux-x86_64/bin/aarch64-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=$NDKROOT/platforms/android-3/arch-arm" \ CFLAGS="--sysroot=$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=$NDKROOT/platforms/android-9/arch-x86" \ CFLAGS="--sysroot=$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=$NDKROOT/platforms/android-18/arch-mips" \ CFLAGS="--sysroot=$NDKROOT/platforms/android-18/arch-mips" \ ./configure --prefix=/data/local/Inst \ --host=mipsel-linux-android --target=mipsel-linux-android \ --with-tmpdir=/sdcard # for ARM64 (AArch64) CPPFLAGS="--sysroot=$NDKROOT/platforms/android-21/arch-arm64" \ CFLAGS="--sysroot=$NDKROOT/platforms/android-21/arch-arm64" \ ./configure --prefix=/data/local/Inst \ --host=aarch64-unknown-linux --target=aarch64-unknown-linux \ --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 # # For ARM64 (AArch64): # Platform variant: android # Primary -DVGPV string: -DVGPV_arm64_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 -j4 make -j4 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). There are two things you need to consider: # # (1) if you are running on the Android emulator, Valgrind may crash # at startup. This is because the emulator (for ARM) may not be # simulating a hardware TLS register. To get around this, run # Valgrind with: # --kernel-variant=android-no-hw-tls # # (2) if you are running a real device, you need to tell Valgrind # what GPU it has, so Valgrind knows how to handle custom GPU # ioctls. You can choose one of the following: # --kernel-variant=android-gpu-sgx5xx # PowerVR SGX 5XX series # --kernel-variant=android-gpu-adreno3xx # Qualcomm Adreno 3XX series # If you don't choose one, the program will still run, but Memcheck # may report false errors after the program performs GPU-specific ioctls. # # Anyway: to run on the device: # /data/local/Inst/bin/valgrind [kernel variant args] [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.