OS X versioning dance.

[perl5.git] / README.android

diff --git a/README.android b/README.android
index cc6d7ed..b774d9f 100644 (file)
--- a/README.android
+++ b/README.android
@@ -8,19 +8,29 @@ perlandroid - Perl under Android
 
 =head1 SYNOPSIS
 
-These are instructions for cross-compiling Perl for Android 2.0 and later.
-
-As of the writing of this document, Google only provides NDKs for
-a 64-bit versions of Linux and OS X, and we assume that you will be
-using those as the host OS; Google also provides an NDK for Windows,
-but the instructions below will not work there, although using
-Windows to cross-compile to Android should be possible through
-different means.
+The first portions of this documents contains instructions
+to cross-compile Perl for Android 2.0 and later, using the
+binaries provided by Google.  The latter portion describes how to build
+perl native using one of the toolchains available on the Play Store.
 
 =head1 DESCRIPTION
 
 This document describes how to set up your host environment when
-attempting to cross-compile Perl for Android.
+attempting to build Perl for Android.
+
+=head1 Cross-compilation
+
+These instructions assume an Unixish build environment on your host system;
+they've been tested on Linux and OS X, and may work on Cygwin and MSYS.
+While Google also provides an NDK for Windows, these steps won't work
+native there, although it may be possible to cross-compile through different
+means.
+
+If your host system's architecture is 32 bits, remember to change the
+C<x86_64>'s below to C<x86>'s.  On a similar vein, the examples below
+use the 4.8 toolchain; if you want to use something older or newer (for
+example, the 4.4.3 toolchain included in the 8th revision of the NDK), just
+change those to the relevant version.
 
 =head2 Get the Android Native Development Kit (NDK)
 
@@ -35,7 +45,7 @@ As of 2014, most Android devices run on ARM, so that is generally a safe bet.
 
 With those two in hand, you should add
 
-$ANDROID_NDK/toolchains/$TARGETARCH-4.4.3/prebuilt/`uname | tr '[A-Z]' '[a-z]'`-x86_64/bin
+$ANDROID_NDK/toolchains/$TARGETARCH-4.8/prebuilt/`uname | tr '[A-Z]' '[a-z]'`-x86_64/bin
 
 to your PATH, where $ANDROID_NDK is the location where you unpacked the
 NDK, and $TARGETARCH is your target's architecture.
@@ -50,17 +60,21 @@ This creates a working sysroot that we can feed to Configure later.
             --platform=android-9 \
             --install-dir=$ANDROID_TOOLCHAIN \
             --system=`uname | tr '[A-Z]' '[a-z]'`-x86_64 \
-            --toolchain=$TARGETARCH-4.4.3
+            --toolchain=$TARGETARCH-4.8
 
 =head2 adb or ssh?
 
 adb is the Android Debug Bridge.  For our purposes, it's basically a way
-of establishing an ssh connection to an Android device using USB.
+of establishing an ssh connection to an Android device without having to
+install anything on the device itself, as long as the device is either on
+the same local network as the host, or it is connected to the host through
+USB.
 Perl can be cross-compiled using either adb or a normal ssh connection;
 in general, if you can connect your device to the host using a USB port,
+or if you don't feel like installing an sshd app on your device,
 you may want to use adb, although you may be forced to switch to ssh if
 your device is not rooted and you're unlucky -- more on that later.
-Alternatively, if you're cross-compiling for an emulator, you'll have to
+Alternatively, if you're cross-compiling to an emulator, you'll have to
 use adb.
 
 =head3 adb
@@ -103,7 +117,7 @@ device.  Either try rooting it, or go for the ssh route.
 
 To use ssh, you'll need to install and run a sshd app and set it up
 properly.  There are several paid and free apps that do this rather
-easily, so you should be able to spot one easily.
+easily, so you should be able to spot one on the store.
 Remember that Perl requires a passwordless connection, so set up a 
 public key.
 
@@ -161,6 +175,25 @@ itself off once, and then back on again.
 
 =back
 
+=head1 Native Builds
+
+While Google doesn't provide a native toolchain for Android,
+you can still get one from the Play Store; for example, there's the CCTools
+app which you can get for free.
+Keep in mind that you want a full
+toolchain; some apps tend to default to installing only a barebones
+version without some important utilities, like ar or nm.
+
+Once you have the toolchain set up properly, the only
+remaining hurdle is actually locating where in the device it was installed
+in.  For example, CCTools installs its toolchain in 
+/data/data/com.pdaxrom.cctools/root/cctools.  With the path in hand,
+compiling perl is little more than:
+
+ export SYSROOT=<location of the native toolchain>
+ export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="$SYSROOT/lib:`pwd`:`pwd`/lib:`pwd`/lib/auto:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH"
+ sh Configure -des -Dsysroot=$SYSROOT -Alibpth="/system/lib /vendor/lib"
+
 =head1 AUTHOR
 
 Brian Fraser <fraserbn@gmail.com>