CEGUI (Crazy Eddie's GUI) Forums

Hello forum.

I'm trying to build CEGUI for Android under Linux (with OGRE Renderer). I already managed to build Ogre 1.10 for Android and have bunch of static libs. If only OgreRenderer is going to be built then there is no need for Epoxy or other libs (just TinyXML for config reading and OIS for input). I want to build CEGUI as a static lib for later use. I've noticed that in project root there's an 'android' directory - with some shell scripts and configs - I didn't find any README on the matter so I'm trying to build CEGUI from command line instead.


I'm also setting environment variable OGRE_HOME/SDK so it points to the location where Ogre libs and include files are installed (the CMake script in cmake/FindOGRE.cmake uses it). But configuration process still couldn't find Ogre.h or OgreBuildSettings.h. I already knew that something is off because file $OGRE_HOME/include/OGRE/Ogre.h exists! So cmake function find_path should find it...
Anyway I still tried to run make in the build folder because I was curious...


I just don't know what to try next.

How to build CEGUI for Android? With or without OGRE. Is there a manual? I couldn't find any specific info. BTW, I'm using Arch Linux, Android NDK r11c and cmake 3.5.2. Thanks in advance for any info on the matter.

@calmengineer: Sorry, Android support is still a work in progress. I'll try to help u though.

Let's start with Iconv. The official (Google's NDK) lacks Iconv. The simple solution is to use Crystax NDK, which has more features and less bugs. Otherwise, you'll have to download Iconv's source and cross-compile it for Android. You'll have to override "config.sub" and "config.guess" with the official ones from here, and apply this patch:



Let's 1st get that working, then tackle the other problems..

Have you tried to use cmake-gui to set up the build files? There should be something related to Android since we check for android things in CMakeLists.txt.

@lucebac: A simple glance at "CMakeLists.txt" shows there isn't any cmake option related to android.

@YaronCT: Thanks for the information - it allowed me to move forward. Building iconv for Android was not an easy task, but I succeeded in making libiconv.so (note, that libiconv is under LGPL license so one needs to link to it dynamically). I didn't use patch that you mentioned earlier. Instead I used ndk-build and custom Application.mk and Android.mk configs. First I ran ./configure to generate iconv.h header. Next, I modified libcharset/config.h so it wouldn't include <langinfo.h> (nl_langinfo won't be available anyway). After that I manually copied headers and shared library to /opt/android-ndk/toolchains/arm-linux-androideabi-4.9/prebuilt/linux-x86_64/user (folders 'lib' and 'include').

Next, I installed previously built Ogre 1.10 to /opt/android-ndk/toolchains/arm-linux-androideabi-4.9/prebuilt/linux-x86_64/user - I've noticed that CMake with Android Toolchain automatically searches this paths for headers and libraries (also this is the default CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX when configuring project with Android Toolchain - at least on my system). I also installed ogre dependencies there (OIS, zzip, freetype, FreeImage). This allowed cmake to find Ogre along other dependencies.

But I also wanted to build only core CEGUI libraries (static) without samples and CEGUIOgreRenderer. I needed to change cegui/src/CMakeLists.txt, cmake/CEGUIMacros.make and cmake/FindOgre.cmake to achieve this. This should really be option to build only static libs. The 'CEGUI_BUILD_STATIC_CONFIGURATION' causes to build static libraries along with shared ones.

CMake configuration command:

Diff for cmake/FindOgre.cmake (this is so cmake won't complain about X11/XAW dependencies):

Diff for cmake/CEGUIMacros.cmake (so only static libraries are being added as targets in CEGUI):

Diff for cegui/src/CMakeLists.txt:

Please note that I made these changes to build only static CEGUI libraries for Android (with Ogre renderer component). Better would be to add option like 'CEGUI_BUILD_STATIC_ONLY' or something similar. In the end:

It builds without errors. But does it work? I haven't tested it yet - that's a different story (need to build Android application and link these static libs). Thanks again @YaronCT for pointing me in the right direction.

@calmengineer: Any reason y u didn't build iconv simply using autotools and the instructions I gave u? It has worked for me..

Disabling build of shared libs is definitely an option that should b added, you're right.

If you'd like to submit any of the changes you've made, contributions r always welcome!

I'm glad you've eventually managed to build everything. If u have any problems when running it, or with building and using any of the dependencies, or any other questions, feel free to ask.

YaronCT wrote:@calmengineer: Any reason y u didn't build iconv simply using autotools and the instructions I gave u? It has worked for me..

Well I thought that using ndk-build would be easier. ndk-build was also mentioned on number of sites when I was searching for info on "libiconv android build" I was curious and tried the method that you mentioned - copied new config.sub and config.guess to both build-aux and libcharset/build-aux + updated lib/Makefile.in.
Bam! It worked. Thanks. The output size differs though - but that's probably because APP_OPTIM := debug was set in Application.mk.

YaronCT wrote:If you'd like to submit any of the changes you've made, contributions r always welcome!

Let me just mention that most of the changes that I've made now were to bruteforce static only build. I would need to change it further...
Btw, Is libiconv really necessary? Is there a way to avoid this dependency?

@calmengineer:

Btw, Is libiconv really necessary? Is there a way to avoid this dependency?

It's used for some string transcoding. You're welcome to inherit "CEGUI::StringTranscoder" and provide other implementations other than Iconv 1, e.g. using ICU, Java or implementing it yourself..

Perhaps u don't even need it - just try a dummy "CEGUI::StringTranscoder" implementation (e.g. make all methods throw an exception) and c if it works for u.. I don't know where it's used anyway.

@clamengineer:

Next, I installed previously built Ogre 1.10 to /opt/android-ndk/toolchains/arm-linux-androideabi-4.9/prebuilt/linux-x86_64/user - I've noticed that CMake with Android Toolchain automatically searches this paths for headers and libraries (also this is the default CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX when configuring project with Android Toolchain - at least on my system). I also installed ogre dependencies there (OIS, zzip, freetype, FreeImage). This allowed cmake to find Ogre along other dependencies.

Even though it works, installing your own stuff to the compiler directory is definitely not the way that should work.. To control where CMake looks for packages, u adjust CMake variables (u usually specify them on the cmake invocation), mainly "CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH" or, for finer control, "CMAKE_INCLUDE_PATH" and "CMAKE_LIBRARY_PATH". However, when the cmake variable "CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH" is non-empty (which is usually the case when cross-compiling) it specifies one or more directories to be prepended to all other search directories. This effectively “re-roots” the entire search under given locations. In our case that variable is set in the toolchain file - look for it there and adjust it as needed. See cmake doc for "find_path" and "find_library" for more info.