Android NDK Apple SiliconM1 run into: Unknown host CPU architecture arm64

Issue

There are two kinds to build Android with NDK

cmake

externalNativeBuild {
    cmake {
        path "../sharedCode/CMakeLists.txt"
    }
}

This works fine with Apple Silicon M1 👍

ndk-build

externalNativeBuild {
    ndkBuild {
        path "src/main/jni/Android.mk"
    }
}

On a Apple Silicon M1 I run into

Unknown host CPU architecture arm64

The question is to solve this ?

Solution

To solve this on a Apple Silicon M1 I found three options

A

Use NDK 24

android {
    ndkVersion "24.0.7956693" // beta 2
    ...
}

You can install it with

echo "y" | sudo ${ANDROID_HOME}/tools/bin/sdkmanager --install 'ndk;24.0.7956693' --channel=3 1>/dev/null

B

convert your ndk-build into a cmake build

C

Change your ndk-build to use Rosetta x86. Search for your installed ndk with

find ~ -name ndk-build 2>/dev/null

eg

vi ~/Library/Android/sdk/ndk/22.1.7171670/ndk-build

and change

DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")" && pwd)"
$DIR/build/ndk-build "$@

to

DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")" && pwd)"
arch -x86_64 /bin/bash $DIR/build/ndk-build "$@

D

Use a x86 Android Studio version. But this is slow

Answered By - hannes ach