How to use the Android NDK to build ArmNN

Introduction

These are step by step instructions for using the Android NDK to build ArmNN. They have been tested on a clean install of Ubuntu 18.04, and should also work with other OS versions. The instructions show how to build the ArmNN core library and the optional TensorFlow parser. All downloaded or generated files will be saved inside the ~/armnn-devenv directory.

Download the Android NDK and make a standalone toolchain

  • Download the Android NDK from the official website:

    mkdir -p ~/armnn-devenv/toolchains
cd ~/armnn-devenv/toolchains
# For Mac OS, change the NDK download link accordingly.
wget https://dl.google.com/android/repository/android-ndk-r17b-linux-x86_64.zip
unzip android-ndk-r17b-linux-x86_64.zip
export NDK=~/armnn-devenv/toolchains/android-ndk-r17b

    You may want to append export NDK=~/armnn-devenv/toolchains/android-ndk-r17b to your ~/.bashrc (or ~/.bash_profile in Mac OS).

  • Make a standalone toolchain:

    (Requires python if not previously installed: sudo apt install python)

    # Create an arm64 API 26 libc++ toolchain.
$NDK/build/tools/make_standalone_toolchain.py \
    --arch arm64 \
    --api 26 \
    --stl=libc++ \
    --install-dir=$HOME/armnn-devenv/toolchains/aarch64-android-r17b
export PATH=$HOME/armnn-devenv/toolchains/aarch64-android-r17b/bin:$PATH

    You may want to append export PATH=$HOME/armnn-devenv/toolchains/aarch64-android-r17b/bin:$PATH to your ~/.bashrc (or ~/.bash_profile in Mac OS).

Build the Boost C++ libraries

  • Download Boost version 1.64:

    mkdir ~/armnn-devenv/boost
cd ~/armnn-devenv/boost
wget https://dl.bintray.com/boostorg/release/1.64.0/source/boost_1_64_0.tar.bz2
tar xvf boost_1_64_0.tar.bz2

  • Build:

    (Requires gcc if not previously installed: sudo apt install gcc)

    	echo "using gcc : arm : aarch64-linux-android-clang++ ;" > $HOME/armnn-devenv/boost/user-config.jam
	cd ~/armnn-devenv/boost/boost_1_64_0
	./bootstrap.sh --prefix=$HOME/armnn-devenv/boost/install
	./b2 install --user-config=$HOME/armnn-devenv/boost/user-config.jam \
 toolset=gcc-arm link=static cxxflags=-fPIC --with-filesystem \
	 --with-test --with-log --with-program_options -j16

Build the Compute Library

  • Clone the Compute Library:

    (Requires Git if not previously installed: sudo apt install git)

    	cd ~/armnn-devenv
	git clone https://github.com/ARM-software/ComputeLibrary.git

  • Build:

    (Requires SCons if not previously installed: sudo apt install scons)

    	cd ComputeLibrary
	scons arch=arm64-v8a neon=1 opencl=1 embed_kernels=1 extra_cxx_flags="-fPIC" \
	 benchmark_tests=0 validation_tests=0 os=android -j16

Build Google's Protobuf library

  • Clone protobuf:

    	mkdir ~/armnn-devenv/google
	cd ~/armnn-devenv/google
	git clone https://github.com/google/protobuf.git
	cd protobuf
	git checkout -b v3.5.2 v3.5.2

  • Build a native (x86) version of the protobuf libraries and compiler (protoc):

    (Requires cUrl, autoconf, llibtool, and other build dependencies if not previously installed: sudo apt install curl autoconf libtool build-essential g++)

    	./autogen.sh
	mkdir x86_build
	cd x86_build
	../configure --prefix=$HOME/armnn-devenv/google/x86_pb_install
	make install -j16
	cd ..

  • Build the arm64 version of the protobuf libraries:

    	mkdir arm64_build
	cd arm64_build
	CC=aarch64-linux-android-clang \
	  CXX=aarch64-linux-android-clang++ \
	  CFLAGS="-fPIE -fPIC" LDFLAGS="-pie -llog" \
    ../configure --host=aarch64-linux-android \
    --prefix=$HOME/armnn-devenv/google/arm64_pb_install \
    --with-protoc=$HOME/armnn-devenv/google/x86_pb_install/bin/protoc
	make install -j16
	cd ..

Download TensorFlow

  • Clone TensorFlow source code:

    	cd ~/armnn-devenv/google/
	git clone https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow.git

Build ArmNN

  • Clone ArmNN source code:

    	cd ~/armnn-devenv/
	git clone https://github.com/ARM-software/armnn.git

  • Generate TensorFlow protobuf definitions:

    	cd ~/armnn-devenv/google/tensorflow
	~/armnn-devenv/armnn/scripts/generate_tensorflow_protobuf.sh \
	 $HOME/armnn-devenv/google/tf_pb $HOME/armnn-devenv/google/x86_pb_install

  • Build ArmNN:

    (Requires CMake if not previously installed: sudo apt install cmake)

    	mkdir ~/armnn-devenv/armnn/build
	cd ~/armnn-devenv/armnn/build
	CXX=aarch64-linux-android-clang++ \
	 CC=aarch64-linux-android-clang \
	 CXX_FLAGS="-fPIE -fPIC" \
	 cmake .. \
  -DCMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME=Android \
  -DCMAKE_ANDROID_ARCH_ABI=arm64-v8a \
  -DCMAKE_ANDROID_STANDALONE_TOOLCHAIN=$HOME/armnn-devenv/toolchains/aarch64-android-r17b/ \
  -DCMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS="-pie -llog" \
  -DARMCOMPUTE_ROOT=$HOME/armnn-devenv/ComputeLibrary/ \
  -DARMCOMPUTE_BUILD_DIR=$HOME/armnn-devenv/ComputeLibrary/build \
  -DBOOST_ROOT=$HOME/armnn-devenv/boost/install/ \
  -DARMCOMPUTENEON=1 -DARMCOMPUTECL=1 \
  -DTF_GENERATED_SOURCES=$HOME/armnn-devenv/google/tf_pb/ -DBUILD_TF_PARSER=1 \
  -DPROTOBUF_ROOT=$HOME/armnn-devenv/google/arm64_pb_install/
	make -j16

Run the ArmNN unit tests on an Android device

  • Push the build results to an Android device and make symbolic links for shared libraries:

    	adb push libarmnnTfParser.so /data/local/tmp/
	adb push libarmnn.so /data/local/tmp/
	adb push UnitTests /data/local/tmp/
	adb push $NDK/sources/cxx-stl/llvm-libc++/libs/arm64-v8a/libc++_shared.so /data/local/tmp/
	adb push $HOME/armnn-devenv/google/arm64_pb_install/lib/libprotobuf.so /data/local/tmp/libprotobuf.so.15.0.1
	adb shell 'ln -s libprotobuf.so.15.0.1 /data/local/tmp/libprotobuf.so.15'
	adb shell 'ln -s libprotobuf.so.15.0.1 /data/local/tmp/libprotobuf.so'

  • Run ArmNN unit tests:

    	adb shell 'LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/data/local/tmp /data/local/tmp/UnitTests'

    If libarmnnUtils.a is present in ~/armnn-devenv/armnn/build/ and the unit tests run without failure then the build was successful.