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      1 Google Breakpad for Android
      2 ===========================
      3 
      4 This document explains how to use the Google Breakpad client library
      5 on Android, and later generate valid stack traces from the minidumps
      6 it generates.
      7 
      8 This release supports ARM, x86 and MIPS based Android systems.
      9 This release requires NDK release r10c or higher.
     10 
     11 I. Building the client library:
     12 ===============================
     13 
     14 The Android client is built as a static library that you can
     15 link into your own Android native code. There are two ways to
     16 build it:
     17 
     18 I.1. Building with ndk-build:
     19 -----------------------------
     20 
     21 If you're using the ndk-build build system, you can follow
     22 these simple steps:
     23 
     24   1/ Include android/google_breakpad/Android.mk from your own
     25      project's Android.mk
     26 
     27      This can be done either directly, or using ndk-build's
     28      import-module feature.
     29 
     30   2/ Link the library to one of your modules by using:
     31 
     32      LOCAL_STATIC_LIBRARIES += breakpad_client
     33 
     34 NOTE: The client library requires a C++ STL implementation,
     35       which you can select with APP_STL in your Application.mk
     36 
     37       It has been tested succesfully with both STLport and GNU libstdc++
     38 
     39 
     40 I.2. Building with a standalone Android toolchain:
     41 --------------------------------------------------
     42 
     43 All you need to do is configure your build with the right 'host'
     44 value, and disable the processor and tools, as in:
     45 
     46   $GOOGLE_BREAKPAD_PATH/configure --host=arm-linux-androideabi \
     47                                   --disable-processor \
     48                                   --disable-tools
     49   make -j4
     50 
     51 The library will be under src/client/linux/libbreakpad_client.a
     52 
     53 You can also use 'make check' to run the test suite on a connected
     54 Android device. This requires the Android 'adb' tool to be in your
     55 path.
     56 
     57 II. Using the client library in Android:
     58 ========================================
     59 
     60 The usage instructions are very similar to the Linux ones that are
     61 found at http://code.google.com/p/google-breakpad/wiki/LinuxStarterGuide
     62 
     63 1/ You need to include "client/linux/handler/exception_handler.h" from a C++
     64    source file.
     65 
     66 2/ If you're not using ndk-build, you also need to:
     67 
     68    - add the following to your compiler include search paths:
     69        $GOOGLE_BREAKPAD_PATH/src
     70        $GOOGLE_BREAKPAD_PATH/src/common/android/include
     71 
     72    - add -llog to your linker flags
     73 
     74    Note that ndk-build does that for your automatically.
     75 
     76 3/ Keep in mind that there is no /tmp directory on Android.
     77 
     78    If you use the library from a regular Android applications, specify a
     79    path under your app-specific storage directory. An alternative is to
     80    store them on the SDCard, but this requires a specific permission.
     81 
     82 For a concrete example, see the sample test application under
     83 android/sample_app. See its README for more information.
     84 
     85 
     86 III. Getting a stack trace on the host:
     87 =======================================
     88 
     89 This process is similar to other platforms, but here's a quick example:
     90 
     91 1/ Retrieve the minidumps on your development machine.
     92 
     93 2/ Dump the symbols for your native libraries with the 'dump_syms' tool.
     94    This first requires building the host version of Google Breakpad, then
     95    calling:
     96 
     97       dump_syms $PROJECT_PATH/obj/local/$ABI/libfoo.so > libfoo.so.sym
     98 
     99 3/ Create the symbol directory hierarchy.
    100 
    101    The first line of the generated libfoo.so.sym will have a "MODULE"
    102    entry that carries a hexadecimal version number, e.g.:
    103 
    104      MODULE Linux arm D51B4A5504974FA6ECC1869CAEE3603B0 test_google_breakpad
    105 
    106    Note: The second field could be either 'Linux' or 'Android'.
    107 
    108    Extract the version number, and a 'symbol' directory, for example:
    109 
    110       $PROJECT_PATH/symbols/libfoo.so/$VERSION/
    111 
    112    Copy/Move your libfoo.sym file there.
    113 
    114 4/ Invoke minidump_stackwalk to create the stack trace:
    115 
    116      minidump_stackwalk $MINIDUMP_FILE $PROJECT_PATH/symbols
    117 
    118 Note that various helper scripts can be found on the web to automate these
    119 steps.
    120 
    121 IV. Verifying the Android build library:
    122 ========================================
    123 
    124 If you modify Google Breakpad and want to check that it still works correctly
    125 on Android, please run the android/run-checks.sh script which will do all
    126 necessary verifications for you. This includes:
    127 
    128   - Rebuilding the full host binaries.
    129   - Rebuilding the full Android binaries with configure/make.
    130   - Rebuilding the client library unit tests, and running them on a device.
    131   - Rebuilding the client library with ndk-build.
    132   - Building, installing and running a test crasher program on a device.
    133   - Extracting the corresponding minidump, dumping the test program symbols
    134     and generating a stack trace.
    135   - Checking the generated stack trace for valid source locations.
    136 
    137 For more details, please run:
    138 
    139   android/run-checks.sh --help-all
    140