build android with clang instead of gcc ? and the clang stl lib instead of gnustl lib?

Question

Am trying to build an android ndk app using clang instead of gcc, for know i have tried this in the Android.mk

NDK_TOOLCHAIN_VERSION := clang
LOCAL_CLANG :=true
LOCAL_LDLIBS := -lc++_static
LOCAL_CFLAGS := -std=c++11

and in the Application.mk

APP_PLATFORM    := android-9
APP_STL         := libc++_static
APP_CPPFLAGS    := -fexceptions -frtti
APP_ABI         := armeabi-v7a

but it always give me link errors with the std library.

Any help is appreciated !

Answer 1

There are several mistakes in your *.mk files:

libc++_static isn't a proper value for APP_STL, it should be c++_static here.

NDK_TOOLCHAIN_VERSION has no effect when set inside Android.mk, it should be set inside Application.mk

LOCAL_CLANG is a variable used inside system modules from AOSP, not when using the NDK.

Since you're setting APP_STL as c++_static, the NDK toolchain will correctly tell the linker what lib to use, you shouldn't add LOCAL_LDLIBS := -lc++_static.

Also, you set APP_ABI to only armeabi-v7a, is it on purpose ? Android runs on other architectures as well and you'll get better performance on these if you also compile your libraries accordingly. You can either set APP_ABI to all or to a list of architectures armeabi-v7a x86...

In summary:

Android.mk

LOCAL_CFLAGS := -std=c++11

Application.mk

NDK_TOOLCHAIN_VERSION := clang

APP_PLATFORM    := android-9
APP_STL         := c++_static
APP_CPPFLAGS    := -fexceptions -frtti
APP_ABI         := all

If you continue having some troubles compiling your code, please show the exact errors you're getting.