Android NDK Build Dependency

Android NDK Build Dependency 
Ref: The Android Game Developer's Handbook
By: Avisekhar Roy
Publisher: Packt Publishing
Pub. Date: August 19, 2016
Web ISBN-13: 978-1-78588-666-9
Print ISBN-13: 978-1-78588-586-0

Android SDK is capable of building and packaging an Android application project into an APK file with the support of Java. However, the NDK is not sufficient to build and package APK files. Here are the dependencies for creating an Android application APK other than the NDK:

• Android SDK
• C++ compiler
• Python
• Gradle
• Cygwin
• Java

Android SDK

Android applications are basically Java applications. Hence, it is absolute necessary to have Android SDK in order to create an Android application package.

C++ compiler

A native Android application is written in C++, so a C++ compiler is required to compile the code base on the development platform. C++ compilers are platform dependent, so it may not be the same C++ compiler on each platform.
For example, on a Windows machine, the C++11 compiler is used currently in the development industry, whereas the GC++ compiler is used on Linux machines.
These may create different code bases for the actual development project in terms of syntax and API calls.

Python

Python is a separate development language. It can be used to create applications for Android and can support multiple platforms by converting the source into native language. In the case of Android NDK development, Python is used for the conversion of C++ code to native binary.

Gradle

Gradle is used by the build script and the Android native build tool to convert native code to a shared library. It also provides a virtual Unix environment to make application packages.

Cygwin

Android requires a Unix environment to build an NDK application project. The Windows system does not have a Unix environment. Cygwin is required to provide a virtual Unix environment to support the building platform.

Java

Last but not least is the requirement of Java to create an Android application package. However, Java is always required for any type of Android development.

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