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To compile a Rust crate for Android on Windows using cross-compilation, you will need to follow these steps:

  1. Install the Android NDK by downloading it from the official website and adding the path to the NDK directory to your system environment variables.

  2. Install Rust and the Android target platform by running the following command in your terminal:

rustup target add arm-linux-androideabi
  1. Install the cargo-apk package by running the following command in your terminal:
cargo install cargo-apk
  1. Create a new Rust project by running the following command in your terminal:
cargo new myapp --bin
  1. Cd into your project directory and create a new build.rs file with the following content:
use std::env;

fn main() {
    // Set the target architecture to ARMv7 (32-bit)
    env::set_var("CARGO_CFG_TARGET_ARCH", "armv7");

    // Set the target OS to Android
    env::set_var("CARGO_CFG_TARGET_OS", "android");

    // Set the target triple for cross-compilation
    env::set_var("CARGO_CFG_TARGET_TRIPLE", "arm-linux-androideabi");

    // Set the path to the Android NDK toolchain
    env::set_var("PATH", "path/to/ndk-toolchain/bin:$PATH");
}

Replace path/to/ndk-toolchain with the path to your Android NDK toolchain directory.

  1. Add the following dependencies to your Cargo.toml file:
[dependencies]
jni = "0.19.0"
android-ndk-sys = "21.3.6528147"
  1. Create a new jni directory in your project root and add a new Android.mk file with the following content:
LOCAL_PATH := $(call my-dir)
include $(CLEAR_VARS)
LOCAL_MODULE := myapp
LOCAL_SRC_FILES := libmyapp.so
include $(PREBUILT_SHARED_LIBRARY)
  1. Modify the build.gradle file in your project to include the following:
android {
    defaultConfig {
        ndk {
            abiFilters "armeabi-v7a", "x86"
        }
    }
    externalNativeBuild {
        ndkBuild {
            path 'jni/Android.mk'
        }
    }
}
  1. Build your Rust project for Android by running the following command in your terminal:
cargo apk build --target=arm-linux-androideabi
  1. Your compiled Android APK file will be available in the target/android-artifacts directory.

Note: You may encounter issues during the build process, such as missing Rust dependencies or linking errors. These can usually be resolved by tweaking the build configurations and consulting the official Rust and Android documentations.