Compiling ScummVM for Android

This page describes how you build Android packages from the ScummVM source tree. For help compiling this on Windows, see the separate article, Compiling ScummVM/Android (on Windows).

Mandatory tools

Android SDK Manager from Android Studio or from Command line tools - https://developer.android.com/studio

Use the SDK Manager to install:

Platform tools
Build Tools 29.0.3
SDK Platform API 29
NDK 21.0.6113669

Set the ANDROID_SDK_ROOT environment variable to the root directory of the SDK, and ANDROID_NDK_ROOT to the root directory of the NDK - default installation: ${ANDROID_SDK_ROOT}/ndk/21.0.6113669

Optional libraries

Tremor (lowmem branch) to play .ogg audio files
MAD to play .mp3 audio files
FLAC to play lossless .flac files

Again, you have two options:

Precompiled binaries

Get this archive and extract it to e.g. /opt/android.

Build the libraries yourself

Warning: this sections is not yet updated for new Android toolchain

Here's a a simple script to set up a shell for crosscompiling for arm-v7a:

#!/bin/sh

PREFIX=${ANDROID_NDK}/toolchains/arm-linux-androideabi-4.4.3/prebuilt/linux-x86/bin/arm-linux-androideabi-
export CC=${PREFIX}gcc
export CXX=${PREFIX}g++
export AS=${PREFIX}gcc
export LD=${PREFIX}gcc
export AR=${PREFIX}ar cru
export RANLIB=${PREFIX}ranlib
export STRIP=${PREFIX}strip
export OBJCOPY=${PREFIX}objcopy
export CPP=${PREFIX}cpp

export MACHDEP="--sysroot=$ANDROID_NDK/platforms/android-4/arch-arm -g -mandroid -mthumb-interwork"

export CFLAGS="${MACHDEP} -Os -Wall -mandroid -msoft-float -march=armv5te -mtune=xscale"

export CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"
export CPPFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"

export LDFLAGS="${MACHDEP}"

echo "./configure --host=arm --prefix=/opt/android/3rd-android-4-armeabi"

Save it to a file (like android-4-eabi.sh) and run

. ./android-4-eabi.sh

in your shell. Build systems should now use the correct tools.

Tremor

Get a SVN checkout (r17852. as of this writing):

svn co http://svn.xiph.org/trunk/Tremor

configure it:

./autogen.sh --host=arm --prefix=/opt/android/3rd-android-4-armeabi --enable-low-accuracy --enable-64kHz-limit

and finally build & install it:

make
make install

MAD

Get a tarball of the latest stable version here (v0.15.1b as of this writing) and extract it.

configure it:

./autogen.sh --host=arm --prefix=/opt/android/3rd-android-4-armeabi --enable-speed --enable-fpm=arm --disable-aso

and finally build & install it:

make
make install

FLAC

Get a tarball of the latest stable version here (v1.2.1 as of this writing) and extract it.

configure it:

./configure --prefix=/opt/android/3rd-android-4-armeabi --disable-largefile --disable-thorough-tests --disable-doxygen-docs --disable-xmms-plugin --disable-cpplibs --disable-ogg --disable-oggtest --disable-rpath

and build & install the required parts:

make -C src/libFLAC
make -C src/libFLAC install
make -C include install

Compiling

The Android port can be compiled with the configure script.

The most basic way to accomplish this is to run:

./configure --host=android-arm-v7a
make

The script supports various arguments, which you can use to en- or disable features, see ./configure --help.

If you want support for additional libraries, you need cross-compiled binaries. If you followed the above description and have those libraries in /opt/android/3rd-android-4-armeabi, the configure command line would look like this:

./configure --host=android-arm-v7a --with-tremor-prefix=/opt/android/3rd-android-4-armeabi --with-mad-prefix=/opt/android/3rd-android-4-armeabi --with-flac-prefix=/opt/android/3rd-android-4-armeabi

Supported hosts:

android-arm-v7a - for older Android devices
android-arm64-v8a - for all new Android devices
android-x86 - ideal for emulator with 32bit images
android-x86_64 - ideal for emulator with 64bit images

Android Studiosetup

After compiling there in the build directory (if used) there will be a new directory called android-project, this can be opened by Android Studio. C files are not yet available , but it sis possible edit Java files and debug both Java & native code (in emulator or on a real device via adb connection). To enable debugging, after opening the android-project directory change Project configuration, under tab Debugger, set field Debug type to Dual