New build instructions for Android builds

Karl_S · June 30, 2025, 12:05am

Hi,
after being able to successfully build from source in the past, I’ve been trying recently without success.
Have all the kids for Android setup and confirmed within Qt, but it keeps failing simple test compile, no matter what I try.
There seems to be an additional build step required which is nowhere described and as building from source was done differently in older versions of QGC, can’t follow those older build instructions either.
Tried different version Qt, after initially recommended version failed, tried different NDK versions,…

Has any non professional developer had success building an Android version since QGC 5.0.0. was introduced?
…If so, any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Yet Linux builds are working fine.

JulianOes · July 1, 2025, 9:24pm

You would need to post actually errors for anyone to help you. “Failing”, “errors” are not descriptive enough.

That being said, the source of truth on how to build QGC is how it is built in CI, so for Android check:

github.com/mavlink/qgroundcontrol

.github/workflows/android-linux.yml

31e9b811b

name: Android-Linux

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - master
      - 'Stable*'
    tags:
      - 'v*'
    paths-ignore:
      - 'docs/**' # Do not trigger for any changes under docs
  pull_request:
    paths:
      - '.github/workflows/android-linux.yml'
      - 'deploy/android/**'
      - 'src/**'
      - 'android/**'
      - 'CMakeLists.txt'
      - 'cmake/**'
      - 'translations/*'

This file has been truncated. show original

Karl_S · July 2, 2025, 12:12am

@JulianOes
Thanks for that.

Just within the last two days I’ve got the Android build working on a Windows11 machine.
Yet on Ubuntu 24.04 it will not work no matter what.
Keep getting “The C compiler is not able to compile a simple test program.” Also mentions “segmentation fault” in Qt. - Yet Linux builds are working fine.
Also unable to do a sample build using supplied excamples as QGC requires Qt 6.8.3 yet the samples appear to require later versions of Qt.
Got plenty of memory available, added all the additional libraries required on Ubuntu,…At least based on all info I could find on setting up Qt for Android builds on Ubuntu.
I guess now that I got it working on Windows11, I will have to go through the tedious task of comparing settings on both machines step by step.
Also not helpful:
The link regarding detailed configuration for Android - in the docs- doesn’t work.

Was wondring myself if I shouldn’t try CI instead, but couldn’t find clear instructions for that.
Thanks for providing yours.

JulianOes · July 3, 2025, 2:24am

Pull requests to fix the 404 welcome:

github.com/mavlink/qgroundcontrol

docs/en/qgc-dev-guide/getting_started/index.md

4ae36ba90

---
qt_version: 6.8.3
---

# Getting Started with Source and Builds

This topic explains how to get the _QGroundControl_ source code and build it either natively or within a _Vagrant_ environment.
It also provides information about optional or OS specific functionality.

## Daily Builds

If you just want to test (and not debug) a recent build of _QGroundControl_ you can use the [Daily Build](../../qgc-user-guide/releases/daily_builds.md).
Versions are provided for all platforms.

## Source Code

Source code for _QGroundControl_ is kept on GitHub here: https://github.com/mavlink/qgroundcontrol.
It is [dual-licensed under Apache 2.0 and GPLv3](https://github.com/mavlink/qgroundcontrol/blob/master/.github/COPYING.md).

To get the source files:

This file has been truncated. show original

What does your Android kit in QtCreator look like? Or if you’re doing it from the command line, what is your cmake configure line.

Karl_S · July 3, 2025, 5:10am

So, after re-installing JDK17, also command line tools and comparing the kits with the working setup on a Windows11 machine, I’m still no closer to solving this.

Here is the fault:

[cmake] Running /home/karl/Qt/Tools/CMake/bin/cmake -S /home/karl/Qt/qgroundcontrol -B /home/karl/Qt/qgroundcontrol/build/Android_Qt_6_8_3_android_arm64_v8a_Clang_arm64_v8a-Debug -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE:FILEPATH=/home/karl/Android/Sdk/ndk/25.1.8937393/build/cmake/android.toolchain.cmake -DANDROID_NDK:PATH=/home/karl/Android/Sdk/ndk/25.1.8937393 -DQT_MAINTENANCE_TOOL:FILEPATH=/home/karl/Qt/MaintenanceTool -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER:FILEPATH=/home/karl/Android/Sdk/ndk/25.1.8937393/toolchains/llvm/prebuilt/linux-x86_64/bin/clang++ -DCMAKE_GENERATOR:STRING=Ninja -DQT_USE_TARGET_ANDROID_BUILD_DIR:BOOL=ON -DQT_NO_GLOBAL_APK_TARGET_PART_OF_ALL:BOOL=ON -DQT_QMAKE_EXECUTABLE:FILEPATH=/home/karl/Qt/6.8.3/android_arm64_v8a/bin/qmake -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH:PATH=/home/karl/Qt/6.8.3/android_arm64_v8a -DQT_HOST_PATH:PATH=/home/karl/Qt/6.8.3/gcc_64 -DANDROID_PLATFORM:STRING=android-23 -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE:STRING=Debug -DANDROID_SDK_ROOT:PATH=/home/karl/Android/Sdk -DANDROID_STL:STRING=c++_shared -DCMAKE_PROJECT_INCLUDE_BEFORE:FILEPATH=/home/karl/Qt/qgroundcontrol/build/Android_Qt_6_8_3_android_arm64_v8a_Clang_arm64_v8a-Debug/.qtc/package-manager/auto-setup.cmake -DCMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH:PATH=/home/karl/Qt/6.8.3/android_arm64_v8a -DCMAKE_COLOR_DIAGNOSTICS:BOOL=ON -DANDROID_USE_LEGACY_TOOLCHAIN_FILE:BOOL=OFF -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER:FILEPATH=/home/karl/Android/Sdk/ndk/25.1.8937393/toolchains/llvm/prebuilt/linux-x86_64/bin/clang -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_INIT:STRING=-DQT_QML_DEBUG -DANDROID_ABI:STRING=arm64-v8a in /home/karl/Qt/qgroundcontrol/build/Android_Qt_6_8_3_android_arm64_v8a_Clang_arm64_v8a-Debug.
[cmake] – Found Git: /usr/bin/git (found version “2.43.0”)
[cmake] – QGC: Using ccache /usr/bin/ccache
[cmake] – Android: Targeting API ‘23’ with architecture ‘arm64’, ABI ‘arm64-v8a’, and processor ‘aarch64’
[cmake] – Android: Selected unified Clang toolchain
[cmake] – The C compiler identification is unknown
[cmake] – The CXX compiler identification is unknown
[cmake] – Detecting C compiler ABI info
[cmake] – Detecting C compiler ABI info - failed
[cmake] – Check for working C compiler: /home/karl/Android/Sdk/ndk/25.1.8937393/toolchains/llvm/prebuilt/linux-x86_64/bin/clang
[cmake] – Check for working C compiler: /home/karl/Android/Sdk/ndk/25.1.8937393/toolchains/llvm/prebuilt/linux-x86_64/bin/clang - broken
[cmake] CMake Error at /home/karl/Qt/Tools/CMake/share/cmake-3.30/Modules/CMakeTestCCompiler.cmake:67 (message):
[cmake] The C compiler
[cmake]
[cmake] “/home/karl/Android/Sdk/ndk/25.1.8937393/toolchains/llvm/prebuilt/linux-x86_64/bin/clang”
[cmake]
[cmake] is not able to compile a simple test program.
[cmake]
[cmake] It fails with the following output:
[cmake]
[cmake] Change Dir: ‘/home/karl/Qt/qgroundcontrol/build/Android_Qt_6_8_3_android_arm64_v8a_Clang_arm64_v8a-Debug/CMakeFiles/CMakeScratch/TryCompile-TUE6nM’
[cmake]
[cmake] Run Build Command(s): /usr/bin/ninja -v cmTC_869f9
[cmake] [1/2] /home/karl/Android/Sdk/ndk/25.1.8937393/toolchains/llvm/prebuilt/linux-x86_64/bin/clang -o CMakeFiles/cmTC_869f9.dir/testCCompiler.c.o -c /home/karl/Qt/qgroundcontrol/build/Android_Qt_6_8_3_android_arm64_v8a_Clang_arm64_v8a-Debug/CMakeFiles/CMakeScratch/TryCompile-TUE6nM/testCCompiler.c
[cmake] FAILED: CMakeFiles/cmTC_869f9.dir/testCCompiler.c.o
[cmake] /home/karl/Android/Sdk/ndk/25.1.8937393/toolchains/llvm/prebuilt/linux-x86_64/bin/clang -o CMakeFiles/cmTC_869f9.dir/testCCompiler.c.o -c /home/karl/Qt/qgroundcontrol/build/Android_Qt_6_8_3_android_arm64_v8a_Clang_arm64_v8a-Debug/CMakeFiles/CMakeScratch/TryCompile-TUE6nM/testCCompiler.c
[cmake] Segmentation fault (core dumped)
[cmake] ninja: build stopped: subcommand failed.
[cmake]
[cmake]
[cmake]
[cmake]
[cmake]
[cmake] CMake will not be able to correctly generate this project.
[cmake] Call Stack (most recent call first):
[cmake] CMakeLists.txt:52 (project)
[cmake]
[cmake]
[cmake] – Configuring incomplete, errors occurred!
[cmake]
[cmake] The command “/home/karl/Qt/Tools/CMake/bin/cmake -S /home/karl/Qt/qgroundcontrol -B /home/karl/Qt/qgroundcontrol/build/Android_Qt_6_8_3_android_arm64_v8a_Clang_arm64_v8a-Debug -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE:FILEPATH=/home/karl/Android/Sdk/ndk/25.1.8937393/build/cmake/android.toolchain.cmake -DANDROID_NDK:PATH=/home/karl/Android/Sdk/ndk/25.1.8937393 -DQT_MAINTENANCE_TOOL:FILEPATH=/home/karl/Qt/MaintenanceTool -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER:FILEPATH=/home/karl/Android/Sdk/ndk/25.1.8937393/toolchains/llvm/prebuilt/linux-x86_64/bin/clang++ -DCMAKE_GENERATOR:STRING=Ninja -DQT_USE_TARGET_ANDROID_BUILD_DIR:BOOL=ON -DQT_NO_GLOBAL_APK_TARGET_PART_OF_ALL:BOOL=ON -DQT_QMAKE_EXECUTABLE:FILEPATH=/home/karl/Qt/6.8.3/android_arm64_v8a/bin/qmake -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH:PATH=/home/karl/Qt/6.8.3/android_arm64_v8a -DQT_HOST_PATH:PATH=/home/karl/Qt/6.8.3/gcc_64 -DANDROID_PLATFORM:STRING=android-23 -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE:STRING=Debug -DANDROID_SDK_ROOT:PATH=/home/karl/Android/Sdk -DANDROID_STL:STRING=c++_shared -DCMAKE_PROJECT_INCLUDE_BEFORE:FILEPATH=/home/karl/Qt/qgroundcontrol/build/Android_Qt_6_8_3_android_arm64_v8a_Clang_arm64_v8a-Debug/.qtc/package-manager/auto-setup.cmake -DCMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH:PATH=/home/karl/Qt/6.8.3/android_arm64_v8a -DCMAKE_COLOR_DIAGNOSTICS:BOOL=ON -DANDROID_USE_LEGACY_TOOLCHAIN_FILE:BOOL=OFF -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER:FILEPATH=/home/karl/Android/Sdk/ndk/25.1.8937393/toolchains/llvm/prebuilt/linux-x86_64/bin/clang -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_INIT:STRING=-DQT_QML_DEBUG -DANDROID_ABI:STRING=arm64-v8a” terminated with exit code 1.
[cmake]
[cmake] Elapsed time: 00:44.

Karl_S · July 3, 2025, 5:13am

JulianOes · July 3, 2025, 11:01pm

It all looks ok. Not sure. I’d try without ccache, just to make sure it has nothing to do with it.

JulianOes · July 3, 2025, 11:04pm

Not sure if Claude helps: https://claude.ai/share/c8c315cb-a510-4427-a26b-bfa5faf9b2c6

Karl_S · July 3, 2025, 11:28pm

@JulianOes
Thanks for that.
Yes, have seen recommendation to use NDK26r, but given that build instructions call for NDK25 not sure if that won’t introduce other problems.

I had a little more succes by going into “Build Settings”, down to “Build Environment” and then selecting “Clear System Environment”.
This re-configured project. Then I’ve deselected that option. It once again re-configures project. After that suddenly got much further. - I.e. go a sample build done.
But going back to NDK 25 and problems are mostly back.

I suspect it’s related to an installation issue. As some other reports out there of similar nature got fixed after a re-install.
Might do that too after a full purge of Qt.

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New build instructions for Android builds

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