Force the native libraries compression for NativeActivity-based applications targeting an Android 6.0 device

[ghost]

Description
Installing an application that has the installLocation manifest attribute set to internalOnly using splits APKs extracted from an Android App Bundle highlights an issue. The bundletool command line tool decides to leave the native libraries uncompressed and set the extractNativeLibs manifest attribute to false based on the fact of the connected device is running Android 6.0 and the application has the installLocation manifest attribute set to internalOnly. Please the result is that the application crashes at startup on an Android 6.0 device.

Please this bug report is about considering to change the bundletool command line tool in order to detect that the application is based on the NativeActivity class (for example, detecting if the launcher activity has similar declaration to <meta-data android:name="android.app.lib_name" android:value="native-activity" />) and force the native libraries compression if the target device is running Android 6.0.

Bundletool version affected
Version: 0.10.3

Stacktrace

11-28 11:27:48.377 31847-31847/? E/AndroidRuntime: FATAL EXCEPTION: main
    Process: com.example.native_activity, PID: 31847
    java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start activity ComponentInfo{com.example.native_activity/android.app.NativeActivity}: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Unable to find native library: native-activity
        at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2426)
        at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2490)
        at android.app.ActivityThread.-wrap11(ActivityThread.java)
        at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1354)
        at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:102)
        at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:148)
        at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:5443)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
        at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:728)
        at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:618)
     Caused by: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Unable to find native library: native-activity
        at android.app.NativeActivity.onCreate(NativeActivity.java:170)
        at android.app.Activity.performCreate(Activity.java:6245)
        at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:1130)
        at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2379)
        at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2490) 
        at android.app.ActivityThread.-wrap11(ActivityThread.java) 
        at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1354) 
        at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:102) 
        at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:148) 
        at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:5443) 
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method) 
        at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:728) 
        at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:618) 

To Reproduce

• Download the native-activity sample application from the ndk-samples repository.
• Launch the Android Studio.
• Open the native-activity project.
• Open the AndroidManifest.xml file.
• Set the extractNativeLibs manifest attribute to false.

Expected behavior
The application succeeds to launch.

Actual behavior
The application fails to launch due to:
java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start activity ComponentInfo{com.example.native_activity/android.app.NativeActivity}: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Unable to find native library: native-activity

Known workaround
Setting the installLocation manifest attribute to auto or preferExternal causes the bundletool command line tool to compress the native libraries and the reported issue is no longer reproducible.

Environment:

• Android Studio 4.0 Canary 4 / Windows 10 May 2019 Update
• Motorola G2 / Android 6.0

[ghost]

I created a similar bug report in the ndk-samples respository:
android/ndk-samples#668

[ghost]

Hello @plecesne,

I apologize for pinging you. I also reported this issue in https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/145315585. Please that can help you to decide how to address better this bug report.

Thankfully,
Horácio Filho

[plecesne]

While this is being investigated, consider adding android.bundle.enableUncompressedNativeLibs=false to the gradle properties of your project which will force bundletool to compress the native libraries in the generated APKs.

[ghost]

Hello @plecesne

Thank you for the suggestion. I didn't mention the fact that I use a custom build system, in this case, setting the uncompressNativeLibraries config to false in the specified BundleConfig.json file addresses the reported issue. Unfortunately, this has the negative effect of affecting all Android versions.

Thankfully,
Horácio Filho

[plecesne]

Thanks, yes, we're discussing this issue internally to find the best solution.

[ghost]

Hello @plecesne,

That is pretty lovely to hear. Thank you very much and sorry for any inconvenience.

Thankfully,
Horácio Filho

[ymakhno]

Should be fixed in 0.13.3

[ghost]

Thank you very much for addressing this issue.