1338809 - Attempting to run xpcshell tests on Android 5+ fails with "error: only position independent executables (PIE) are supported."

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

Description

[Jan Henning [:JanH]]

I assume this happens when you try running xpcshell tests on a physical device running Android 5.0 or newer (my phone runs 6.0.1).

Comment 1

[Geoff Brown [:gbrown]]

I think the issue is we don't build PIE versions of xpcshell (or cppunit tests).

Comment 2

[Geoff Brown [:gbrown]]

In review, PIE is required on Android 5.0 and up. PIE will not work on Android 4.0 and earlier.

It seems unlikely that anyone would be particularly interested in running xpcshell on Android 4.0, so the plan here is to just build xpcshell as PIE, dropping support for xpcshell on Android 4.0 and earlier.

Comment 3

[Geoff Brown [:gbrown]]

https://treeherder.mozilla.org/#/jobs?repo=try&revision=3b111aa2a1d3d97f0c2c1fd457cc1383502b546d

Comment 4

[Geoff Brown [:gbrown]]

Simpler: https://treeherder.mozilla.org/#/jobs?repo=try&revision=9f903aaa37d53799d9253448e8e4111c0140c612

Comment 5

[Geoff Brown [:gbrown]]

Created attachment 8844921 [details] [diff] [review]
build Android xpcshell as PIE

My intention here is to only affect xpcshell, and only on Android.

The resulting executable works for me in local tests on Android 4.3 and Android 6.0, and continues to work on try.

Comment 6

[Mike Hommey [:glandium]]

Comment on attachment 8844921 [details] [diff] [review]
build Android xpcshell as PIE

Review of attachment 8844921 [details] [diff] [review]:
-----------------------------------------------------------------

::: js/xpconnect/shell/moz.build
@@ +50,5 @@
>          'xul.dll',
>      ]
>  
> +if CONFIG['OS_TARGET'] == 'Android':
> +    LDFLAGS += ['-fPIE']

You don't need -fPIE, only -pie.

With that said, considering https://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/index.html says there's only 2% of devices with < 4.1, is there a reason we simply don't enable pie globally for android builds (and drop support for < 4.1)?

This would allow to get rid of the workaround we have in place to support both PIE and non-PIE for the plugin-container executable.

Comment 7

[Geoff Brown [:gbrown]]

:snorp - Can you comment on dropping support for < 4.1?

Comment 8

[Geoff Brown [:gbrown]]

Created attachment 8845529 [details] [diff] [review]
build Android xpcshell as PIE

Right you are - -fPIE is not needed here. Thanks.

My read of bug 1316462 with respect to dropping support for < 4.1 is that we're thinking about it, but we're not there yet, and it might happen soon, but it might not. In case it doesn't happen soon, I'd like to proceed with this patch since a few people have complained to me recently about having trouble with xpcshell on Android 5+.

Comment 9

[James Willcox (:snorp) ([e-mail])]

Yeah I think we can unconditionally build xpcshell wth PIE, but let's hold off on the other stuff for now.

Comment 10

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/mozilla-inbound/rev/9632421756fa
Build android xpcshell as position independent executable; r=glandium

Comment 11

[Wes Kocher (:KWierso)]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/9632421756fa