ndk-build gets stuck/hangs when building large project

Question

I am trying to compile the webp 4.0 library as a module for Android. The makefile gets stuck/freezes/hangs on the ndk-build step. I don't know that it has anything to do with the webp library itself, because I have had this happen before on other projects.

The problem is not consistent but seems to happen quite frequently with this project in particular. In other words, sometimes all I have to do is start the build again and it does fine - picking up where it left off.

So the workarounds for now are trying the build again and/or deleting the .o and .o.d file in the obj directory where ndk-build got stuck, then running it again, sometimes it works the second time but then it gets stuck at a later point in the build and I have to repeat.

It is frustrating also that it totally freezes my cmd prompt and I have to close it and reopen, cd into the dir, etc. I figure it is time to post this question since I have not seen it answered anywhere.

As a side note, I just finished compiling the entire webp library for both armeabi and armeabi-v7a after about 30 re-launches and 5 or so .o and .o.d files deleted.

I am on Windows 7 Pro 64bit using Cygwin 32bit with NDK 9c 64bit

Application.mk:

APP_ABI := armeabi armeabi-v7a
APP_STL := gnustl_static

Answer 1

Some versions of make included with MSYS or Cygwin sometimes hang during a parallel build (-j). If your build is using that make, you may have to switch to a 'good' version of make, such as the one included with the NDK. Check your PATH and makefiles.