Re: [boost] RFC/patch: compile boost on Android for platform development

Subject: Re: [boost] RFC/patch: compile boost on Android for platform development
From: Wagner, David (david.wagner_at_[hidden])
Date: 2014-11-17 09:20:20

On 13/11/2014 07:33, Antony Polukhin wrote:
> 2014-11-12 17:30 GMT+04:00 Wagner, David <david.wagner_at_[hidden]>:
>
>>          Hi,
>>
>>
>> We are evaluating the pros and cons of using Boost for platform
>> development on Android. We have successfully built and run Asio's "chat"
>> server and client examples on an Android device running Lollipop.
>>
>
> I've been using Boost on Andriod for a long time and can tell you that the
> major part of Boost libraries work perfectly on Android platforms, even on
> the ancient ones (like 2.3).
>
> I've been doing some work to run all the regression tests on Andriod, see
> https://github.com/apolukhin/regression_android But unfortunately I had not
> enough time to finish the work. That repo could be a good point to start
> with. Running regression tests is essential for a formal support of Android
> platform.
>
> You may also take a look at this thread, it describes the situation with
> android http://lists.boost.org/Archives/boost/2014/01/210885.php
>

According to the readme on your github repository and the mail you pointed me 
to, this is intended for Native development using the NDK (libraries to be used 
by Android applications). What I'm talking about is Platform development (below 
the Android framework level); if you'd look at the Android architecture diagram 
[1], this would be the green part whereas NDK is the topmost part.

The environment for Platform development is sometimes referred to as "PDK" and 
the makefiles in this environment have their own flavor (they look like the ones 
in the NDK but the build system is different). While you could theoretically 
call bjam in these makefiles, the common practice is to rewrite the makefiles in 
the Android flavor. For instance, if boost is ever to be officially integrated 
in the PDK, I highly doubt that using bjam would be an option for Google.

A common pattern used by Google in projects part of the PDK is to drop a stable 
version of the code into a new git repository and develop android-specific 
patches such as the Android makefile on top of it. See the ping6 utility git 
history in android [3] as an example. Also, they are using there own "git 
repository aggregation" tool, called "repo". This tool uses an XML file mapping 
remote git repositories to locations in the filesystem. Adding boost in its 
current modular form would mean adding 110+ projects to the manifest which may 
be a bit hard to swallow. These are the reasons why I wrote the makefiles 
attached in the original post.

One last thing: you don't have access to the GNU stl in the PDK. Before Lollipop 
you only had "STLPort" [2] which isn't maintained upstream anymore and C++03; 
with Lollipop you now have clang's stl and C++11 :)

David

[1] 
<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Android-System-Architecture.svg#mediaviewer/File:Android-System-Architecture.svg>
[2] <http://www.stlport.org/>
[3] <https://android.googlesource.com/platform/external/ping6/>
-- 
David Wagner
PEG->IPG->EIG->Audio CoE
complex != complicated
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Intel Corporation SAS (French simplified joint stock company)
Registered headquarters: "Les Montalets"- 2, rue de Paris, 
92196 Meudon Cedex, France
Registration Number:  302 456 199 R.C.S. NANTERRE
Capital: 4,572,000 Euros
This e-mail and any attachments may contain confidential material for
the sole use of the intended recipient(s). Any review or distribution
by others is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended
recipient, please contact the sender and delete all copies.