C++ support with the Android NDK ================================ The Android platform provides a very minimal C++ runtime support library (/system/lib/libstdc++) and corresponding headers for it in the NDK. I. C++ Exceptions support: -------------------------- The NDK toolchain supports C++ exceptions, since NDK r5, however all C++ sources are compiled with -fno-exceptions support by default, for compatibility reasons with previous releases. To enable it, use the '-fexceptions' C++ compiler flag. This can be done by adding the following to every module definition in your Android.mk:     LOCAL_CPPFLAGS += -fexceptions More simply, add a single line to your Application.mk, the setting will automatically apply to all your project's NDK modules:     APP_CPPFLAGS += -fexceptions NOTE: The obsolete "arm-eabi-4.4.0" toolchain provided for backwards       compatibility with this NDK does not support exceptions! II. RTTI support: ------------------ Similarly, the NDK toolchain supports C++ RTTI (RunTime Type Information) since NDK r5, but all C++ sources are built with -fno-rtti by default for compatibility reasons. To enable it, add the following to your module declarations:     LOCAL_CPPFLAGS += -frtti Or more simply to your Application.mk:     APP_CPPFLAGS += -frtti NOTE: The obsolete "arm-eabi-4.4.0" toolchain provided for backwards       compatibility with this NDK does not support RTTI! III. Selecting the C++ Standard Library Implementation: ------------------------------------------------------- By default, the headers and libraries for the minimal C++ runtime system library (/system/lib/libstdc++.so) are used when building C++ sources. You can however select a different implementation by setting the variable APP_STL to something else in your Application.mk, for example:   APP_STL := stlport_static To select the static STLport implementation provided with this NDK. Value APP_STL values are the following:    system              -> Use the default minimal C++ runtime library.    stlport_static      -> Use STLport built as a static library.    stlport_shared      -> Use STLport built as a shared library. WARNING: IMPORTANT CAVEAT      AT THE MOMENT, OUR STLPORT IMPLEMENTATION DOES NOT SUPPORT EXCEPTIONS      AND RTTI. PLEASE BE SURE TO NOT USE -fexceptions OR -frtti IN ALL      MODULES THAT USE IT. WARNING: END OF IMPORTANT CAVEAT   "stlport_shared" is preferred if you have several shared libraries in your   project that use the C++ STL, because it avoids duplication of functions   and more importantly of global variables (e.g. std::cout) in each one of   them, which can have surprising results.   On the other hand, you will have to load it explicitely when starting your   application, as in the following example:      static {

         System.loadLibrary("stlport_shared");          System.loadLibrary("foo");          System.loadLibrary("bar");      }   Where both "libfoo.so" and "libbar.so" depend on "libstlport_shared.so".   Note that the shared library's name if "libstlport_shared.so" to avoid   naming conflicts with certain Android system images which include a   system-level libstlport.so (which happens to not be ABI-stable and   cannot be used from NDK-generated machine code).   "stlport_static" is preferred if you have only one shared library in your   project: only the STL functions and variables you actually need will be   linked to your machine code, reducing its code size, and you won't need   to load the dynamic stlport_shared at startup. IV. STLport-specific issues: ---------------------------- This NDK provides prebuilt static and shared libraries for STLport, but you can force it to be rebuilt from sources by defining the following in your environment or your Application.mk before building:     STLPORT_FORCE_REBUILD := true STLport is licensed under a BSD-style open-source license. See sources/cxx-stl/stlport/README for more details about the library. V. Future Plans: ----------------   - Make STLport compatible with C++ exceptions and RTTI   - Full GNU libstdc++ support   - uSTL support?