This document describes how to cross compile Erlang/OTP to Android/Rasberry Pi platforms.
https://developer.android.com/ndk
$ export NDK_ROOT=/path/to/android-ndk
$ export PATH=$NDK_ROOT/toolchains/llvm/prebuilt/linux-x86_64/bin:$PATH
$ # export PATH=$NDK_ROOT/toolchains/lvvm/prebuilt/darwin-x86_64/bin:$PATH
If you are building Erlang/OTP from git, you will need to run this to generate the configure scripts.
$ ./otp_build autoconf
Use the following when compiling a 64-bit version.
$ export NDK_ABI_PLAT=android21 # When targeting Android 5.0 Lollipop
$ ./otp_build configure \
--xcomp-conf=./xcomp/erl-xcomp-arm64-android.conf \
--without-ssl
Use the following instead when compiling a 32-bit version.
$ export NDK_ABI_PLAT=androideabi16 # When targeting Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
$ ./otp_build configure \
--xcomp-conf=./xcomp/erl-xcomp-arm-android.conf \
--without-ssl
$ make noboot [-j4]
or
$ make [-j4]
$ make RELEASE_ROOT=/path/to/release/erlang_23.0_arm release
Make a tarball out of /path/to/release/erlang_23.0_arm and copy it to target device. Extract it and install.
$ ./Install /usr/local/erlang_23.0_arm
The adb tool from the Android SDK can be used to deploy Erlang/OTP to a target Android device, for testing purpose mainly, as the /data/local/tmp path used for installation below is executable only from the adb shell command, but not from other local applications due to Android sandbox security model.
$ cd /path/to/release/erlang_23.0_arm
$ # For testing purpose, configure the Erlang/OTP scripts to use the target
$ # installation path in /data/local/tmp which is executable from adb shell
$ ./Install -cross -minimal /data/local/tmp/erlang_23.0
To properly integrate into an Android application, the installation would have to target /data/data/[your/app/package/name]/files/[erlang/dir/once/unpacked] as shown in https://github.com/JeromeDeBretagne/erlanglauncher as an example.
WARNING: adb has issues with symlinks (and java.util.zip too). There is only one symlink for epmd in recent Erlang/OTP releases (20 to master-based 23) so it has to be removed before using adb push, and then recreated manually on the target device itself if needed (or epmd can simply be duplicated instead).
$ # Make sure that the epmd symlink is not present before adb push
$ rm bin/epmd
$ cp erts-X.Y.Z/bin/epmd bin/epmd
$ cd ..
$ # The release can now be deployed in the pre-configured target directory
$ adb push erlang_23.0_arm /data/local/tmp/erlang_23.0
Start an interactive shell onto the target Android device, and launch erl.
$ adb shell
:/ $ /data/local/tmp/erlang_23.0/bin/erl
Eshel VX.Y.Z (abort with ^G)
1> q().
ok
2> :/ $ # Erlang/OTP is running on Android, congratulations! :-)
- native inet:gethostbyname/1 return {error, nxdomain} on Raspberry PI. Use dns resolver to by-pass the issue (see http://www.erlang.org/doc/apps/erts/inet_cfg.html)
The port derives some solutions from https://code.google.com/p/erlang4android/