Why is raylib Release build for Android larger than Debug build?

[OussamaTeyib]

I built Raylib for Android using CMake and noticed a large size difference between debug and release builds. The Debug build is around 7 MB, while the Release build is 12 MB.

Here’s the command I used:

rm -rf Build
cmake -B Build -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=%ANDROID_NDK_HOME%\build\cmake\android.toolchain.cmake -DPLATFORM=Android -DANDROID_ABI=arm64-v8a -DANDROID_PLATFORM=android-21 -DBUILD_EXAMPLES=OFF -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release/Debug -G Ninja
cmake --build Build

Is it normal for the Release build to be nearly twice the size of the Debug build? Any tips on reducing the release build size?

[jestarray]

@OussamaTeyib Wait, is that a working cmake command for cross compiling to android?

[OussamaTeyib]

I never built raylib exemples for Android. But if you want a way to turn them into an Android app, u can use the cmake file in this repository with minimal changes.
It is a simple Android app built entirely in C. So, just replace the code in main.c with the code of the exemple, and use cmake command to compile the native code and to create the apk package.

[jestarray]

Cool, I cloned that repo and got an app working on my phone. Do you know how to load textures and such? Trying to put it in the res folder and then specifying LoadTexture("res/bunny.png") but its not working

[OussamaTeyib]

In Android, LoadTexture("res/bunny.png") won’t work because the res folder is not accessible at runtime. Instead:

1. Place the asset in the assets folder (not res).

2. Use LoadTexture("bunny.png") to load the asset from the assets folder.

2. Use `AAssetManager` from the Android NDK to open assets at runtime.

3. Load the image with LoadImageFromMemory and create a texture with LoadTextureFromImage.

Use raylib's GetAndroidApp to retrieve the Android App instance needed to access the asset manager.

[jestarray]

Ahh I see, I'm new to android so I didn't now it couldn't just read from directory. Where should the assets folder located? in src/assets? or res/assets? Also is that it? No need to specify the assets folder in any of the xml files?

[OussamaTeyib]

Yes, you don't need any XML configuration. The assets folder is typically placed alongside the res folder.
Remember to modify the create_apk target in the CMake file to include the assets in the final APK package by using the -A flag.

[OussamaTeyib]

For Android, you should use MinSizeRel instead of Release. However, the NDK's CMake toolchain always includes debug symbols in all build variants, which is why your release build ends up being large. You should ensure that your packaging tools strip these symbols from the libraries before including them in the APK (AGP do this by default).