[Ohrrpgce] Plan for Android 8.0 target

Fri Sep 28 19:54:13 PDT 2018

Ah, I discovered that you also have to change 'target' in
project/project.properties
Although that file has the header "This file is automatically generated by
Android Tools. Do not modify this file -- YOUR CHANGES WILL BE ERASED!",
that is false, it seems it hasn't been regenerated since it was checked
into git in 2011.

OK, it looks like that property does actually affect the Java compiler, as
I now get a bunch of compile errors about org.apache.http being missing.
I'm trying to merge the fix from that from upstream, but it's a mess
because there are divergent changes...

On Sat, 29 Sep 2018 at 05:21, James Paige <Bob at hamsterrepublic.com> wrote:

> Ah, so that means you can't fudge the target number, huh? So sounds like
> switching to r15 is still the easiest route?
>
> On Fri, Sep 28, 2018 at 10:53 AM Ralph Versteegen <teeemcee at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Oh, although the resulting .apk has a targetSdkVersion of 26 in its
>> AndroidManifest.xml, if I grep the output of build.sh I see:
>> Setting project property: target -> android-17
>> [gettarget] Project Target:   Android 4.2.2
>> [gettarget] API level:        17
>> etc
>> android-17 is actually the oldest "SDK platform" (as called in the
>> Android SDK Manage) which I have installed (as can also be seen by looking
>> in /opt/android-sdk-linux/platforms/). Although that never stopped the
>> .apks from running on my Android 2.2 phone.
>>
>> On Sat, 29 Sep 2018 at 02:38, Ralph Versteegen <teeemcee at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Well the even simpler solution is to just increase targetSdkVersion to
>>> 26 in project/AndroidManifestTemplate.xml, without changing anything else,
>>> and see whether it works. I've done so, using NDK r12 (which I already had
>>> installed) and the latest SDK. It compiles and runs fine in an Android
>>> 4.2.2 emulator. I can't get Android 8.0 to run in an emulator. Maybe
>>> because only Atom system images are available, not ARM.
>>> As far as I can tell, targetSdkVersion is an SDK version number, it
>>> might have no effect at all on the NDK build tools. As I said, it changes
>>> runtime behaviour, wguke minSdkVersion is what is compiled against.
>>> The only information that I've managed to find about the requirement for
>>> increasing it is "minSdkVersion <= targetSdkVersion <= compileSdkVersion",
>>> where compileSdkVersion is the SDK version you have installed and seems to
>>> be a setting specific to other Android build tools; that string doesn't
>>> actually appear anywhere in the commandergenius tree.
>>>
>>> Which NDK version are you using, still the one I originally linked from
>>> the wiki Compiling for Android page (r9)?
>>>
>>> Oh, and Android nightly builds never did upload - it kept failing to
>>> connect to motherhamster.org. But now all nightly builds are down again
>>> anyway :P
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, 28 Sep 2018 at 23:51, James Paige <Bob at hamsterrepublic.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Ah, so compiling with NDK r15 does sound like a better short term fix.
>>>> That might be easier, and could buy us time.
>>>>
>>>> I also really like the idea of moving our modifications to sdl_android
>>>> into Java files in the ohrrpgce code.
>>>>
>>>> On Thursday, September 27, 2018, Ralph Versteegen <teeemcee at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Changing the target SDK changes system behaviour.
>>>>> According to
>>>>> https://developer.android.com/distribute/best-practices/develop/target-sdk#prenougat,
>>>>> setting the target to API 24+ (Android 7.0+) might break our function to
>>>>> email files. I'm not really sure, because the code calls
>>>>> "FileProvider.getUriForFile"... does that count as using FileProvider
>>>>> (required), or does that count as using a file:// URI (not allowed)? I
>>>>> think it's probably OK, but will need testing.
>>>>>
>>>>> On Fri, 28 Sep 2018 at 15:48, Ralph Versteegen <teeemcee at gmail.com>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> I found something else in a roadmap:
>>>>>> "2019 onwards: Each year the targetSdkVersion requirement will
>>>>>> advance. Within one year following each Android dessert release, new apps
>>>>>> and app updates will need to target the corresponding API level or higher."
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Fri, 28 Sep 2018 at 15:17, Ralph Versteegen <teeemcee at gmail.com>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> It drives me crazy that Android and its SDK and NDK use so many
>>>>>>> different version numbers and names, which don't match up in any way!
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> A week ago there was this commit to pelya's port:
>>>>>>> "SDL: support for NDK r18, set minimum API level to 16 (Android
>>>>>>> 4.1), which is the minimum level NDK r18 supports"
>>>>>>> Switching to r18 is a big change because it gets rid of GCC and
>>>>>>> libstdc++. That's why so a bunch of work has been required in the SDL port.
>>>>>>> But if we can continue to use an older NDK then we don't need all these
>>>>>>> upstream changes from the SDL port.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> NDK r18+ supports Android 4.1+ (API 16+)
>>>>>>> NDK r15-17 support Android 4.0.0+ (API 14+)
>>>>>>> NDK r12-14 support Android 2.3+ (API 9+)
>>>>>>> Also, NDK r17 removed ARMv5 (armeabi) support, which is what we
>>>>>>> build for by default. Various deprecations as well.
>>>>>>> NDK r15 *(July 2017) *added Android 8.0 native APIs.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> So clearly NDK r15 can be used with Android 8.0 as the target, and
>>>>>>> it might even be possible to target Android 8.0 with earlier NDKs and SDKs.
>>>>>>> So I recommend we try to build with r15.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Of course it would be nice to not be stuck on a years-old fork of
>>>>>>> pelya's port.
>>>>>>> Many of our additions to pelya's SDL 1.2 port should be moved to
>>>>>>> .java files contained in the OHRRPGCE source code rather than mixed in with
>>>>>>> unrelated code in project/java/Video.java
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Oh, also I just found this:
>>>>>>> "The Play Store will require 64-bit support when uploading an APK
>>>>>>> beginning in August 2019" "*32-bit support is not going away. Apps
>>>>>>> that include a 32-bit library just need to have a 64-bit version too"*
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Fri, 28 Sep 2018 at 12:43, James Paige <Bob at hamsterrepublic.com>
>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Oh, and I forgot to mention.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Android 8.0 is the "target" but the apk files will still run on
>>>>>>>> older versions of android too.
>>>>>>>> The current "minimum" version supported by pelya's commadergenius
>>>>>>>> sdl_android is Android version 4.1
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> (I looked up statistics, and apparently the percentage of android
>>>>>>>> devices running versions older than 4.1 is something like half of 1%)
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> On Thu, Sep 27, 2018 at 8:31 PM James Paige <
>>>>>>>> Bob at hamsterrepublic.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> So starting pretty soon, only android apks that target Android
>>>>>>>>> version 8.0 will be allowed in Google play.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> I have done a little research, and I learned that pelya has done a
>>>>>>>>> lot of recent work on updating the commandergenius sdl for android port to
>>>>>>>>> work with the latest Android NDK.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> So here is my current plan:
>>>>>>>>> * I will clone a new fork of pelya's source
>>>>>>>>> * I will patch in or re-implement all the modifications that the
>>>>>>>>> ohrrpgce needs (this is mostly gamepad stuff and a few platform-detection
>>>>>>>>> functions. The ouya store purchase stuff can be removed completely)
>>>>>>>>> * I should be able to re-build the games that I have already
>>>>>>>>> packaged as apks
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> I am glad I have a plan now, I was worried about that part-- but
>>>>>>>>> the bad news is that this plan is a lot of work, and my current free time
>>>>>>>>> is very limited right now.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> I am budgeting my time and so one hour each Thursday evening is
>>>>>>>>> "OHRRPGCE time" for the foreseeable future.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Persons wondering how they can help without knowing how to comb
>>>>>>>>> through git commits and patch them onto a newer tree can help by sending me
>>>>>>>>> kind words and encouragement via e-mail on Thursday mornings to get me
>>>>>>>>> hyped up ;)
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>>>>> ohrrpgce at lists.motherhamster.org
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> http://lists.motherhamster.org/listinfo.cgi/ohrrpgce-motherhamster.org
>>>>>>>>
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