Android NDK Linker (GStreamer) - invalid linker name -fuse-ld=gold

Question

Trying to setup GStreamer for Android using Android Studio on Windows. I'm mostly following the tutorial from their site as best I can, as well as looking at this (plus whatever I can find that helps). I get an:

Error:error: invalid linker name in argument '-fuse-ld=gold'

My Android.mk:

LOCAL_PATH := $(call my-dir)

include $(CLEAR_VARS)

LOCAL_MODULE    := app
LOCAL_SRC_FILES := app-1.c
LOCAL_SHARED_LIBRARIES := gstreamer_android
LOCAL_LDLIBS := -landroid

include $(BUILD_SHARED_LIBRARY)

ifndef GSTREAMER_ROOT
ifndef GSTREAMER_ROOT_ANDROID
$(error GSTREAMER_ROOT_ANDROID is not defined!)
endif
GSTREAMER_ROOT            := $(GSTREAMER_ROOT_ANDROID)
endif

GSTREAMER_NDK_BUILD_PATH  := $(GSTREAMER_ROOT)\share\gst-android\ndk-build
GSTREAMER_PLUGINS         := coreelements ogg theora vorbis videoconvert audioconvert audioresample playback glimagesink soup opensles
G_IO_MODULES              := gnutls
GSTREAMER_EXTRA_DEPS      := gstreamer-video-1.0

include $(GSTREAMER_NDK_BUILD_PATH)\gstreamer-1.0.mk

and app/build.gradle:

apply plugin: 'com.android.application'

android {
    compileSdkVersion 25
    buildToolsVersion "25.0.2"
    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.example.quant.icarus"
        minSdkVersion 23
        targetSdkVersion 25
        versionCode 1
        versionName "1.0"
        testInstrumentationRunner "android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner"

        externalNativeBuild {
            ndkBuild {
                def gstRoot

                if (project.hasProperty('gstAndroidRoot'))
                    gstRoot = project.gstAndroidRoot
                else
                    gstRoot = System.env.GSTREAMER_ROOT_ANDROID

                if (gstRoot == null)
                    throw new GradleException('GSTREAMER_ROOT_ANDROID must be set, or "gstAndroidRoot" must be defined in your gradle.properties in the top level directory of the unpacked universal GStreamer Android binaries')

                arguments "NDK_APPLICATION_MK=src/main/jni/Application.mk", "GSTREAMER_JAVA_SRC_DIR=src/main/java", "GSTREAMER_ROOT_ANDROID=$gstRoot", "GSTREAMER_ASSETS_DIR=src/main/assets"

                targets "app", "gstreamer_android"

                // All archs except MIPS and MIPS64 are supported
                abiFilters 'armeabi', 'armeabi-v7a', 'arm64-v8a'
            }
        }
    }
    buildTypes {
        release {
            minifyEnabled false
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
        }
    }
    externalNativeBuild {
        ndkBuild {
            path 'src/main/jni/Android.mk'
        }
    }
}

afterEvaluate {
    compileDebugJavaWithJavac.dependsOn 'externalNativeBuildDebug'
    compileReleaseJavaWithJavac.dependsOn 'externalNativeBuildRelease'
}

dependencies {
    compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])
    androidTestCompile('com.android.support.test.espresso:espresso-core:2.2.2', {
        exclude group: 'com.android.support', module: 'support-annotations'
    })
    compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:25.3.1'
    compile 'com.android.support.constraint:constraint-layout:1.0.2'
    testCompile 'junit:junit:4.12'
}

Gradle project sync runs without any problems. But Make Project produces the following:

Error:error: invalid linker name in argument '-fuse-ld=gold'

Or more verbose:

* What went wrong:
Execution failed for task ':app:externalNativeBuildDebug'.
> Build command failed.
Error while executing process C:\Users\Quant\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\ndk-bundle\ndk-build.cmd with arguments {NDK_PROJECT_PATH=null APP_BUILD_SCRIPT=C:\Users\Quant\AndroidStudioProjects\Icarus\app\src\main\jni\Android.mk NDK_APPLICATION_MK=C:\Users\Quant\AndroidStudioProjects\Icarus\app\src\main\jni\Application.mk APP_ABI=arm64-v8a NDK_ALL_ABIS=arm64-v8a NDK_DEBUG=1 APP_PLATFORM=android-23 NDK_OUT=C:/Users/Quant/AndroidStudioProjects/Icarus/app/build/intermediates/ndkBuild/debug/obj NDK_LIBS_OUT=C:\Users\Quant\AndroidStudioProjects\Icarus\app\build\intermediates\ndkBuild\debug\lib NDK_APPLICATION_MK=src/main/jni/Application.mk GSTREAMER_JAVA_SRC_DIR=src/main/java GSTREAMER_ROOT_ANDROID=C:\Users\Quant\Desktop\GStreamer\arm GSTREAMER_ASSETS_DIR=src/main/assets gst-build-arm64-v8a/libgstreamer_android.so}
GStreamer      : [GEN] => gst-build-arm64-v8a/gstreamer_android.c
GStreamer      : [COMPILE] => gst-build-arm64-v8a/gstreamer_android.c
GStreamer      : [LINK] => gst-build-arm64-v8a/libgstreamer_android.so
clang.exe: error: invalid linker name in argument '-fuse-ld=gold'
make: *** [buildsharedlibrary_arm64-v8a] Error 1

Any ideas on how to fix this? I've seen some threads that say to add flags to make it gold.exe...except no one is saying where the flags are set (and the threads didn't seem all too resolved).

I replaced the 'ld.exe' file as indicated in the gstreamer install guide, even if it seemed dated (I did that after getting the same error - so that's not causing it).

Answer 1

It is a problem with the clang.exe process that tries to link together the libraries. Note, there is no need to change the ld.exe file as in the install instructions from the link in the question.

---

Fix: you need to change two files per architecture in the GStreamer directory so that the linker gets called as gold.exe and not gold.

For each architecture you're interested in you need to go to (using arm64 as an example):

1) path\to\Gstreamer\root\arm64\share\gst-android\ndk-build\gstreamer-1.0.mk and change -fuse-ld=gold to -fuse-ld=gold.exe (it only appears once in the file).

Now go to:

2) path\to\Gstreamer\root\arm64\include\gmp.h and change -fuse-ld=gold to -fuse-ld=gold.exe (again, only one occurrence).

---

There were some minor fixes to my posted Android.mk and gradle files to get things to fully compile, but that seems outside the scope of this question (added -llog to local ldlibs and used only core plugin).