Blackberry Android runtime vs. NDK

Question

I'm trying to repackage an Android app for Blackberry, as suggested here. The app has a native (NDK/JNI) library in it. When I try to build for the App World, I get several errors of the following kind:

uses-access-native:impact=5:com.myapp.MyClass

So on the face, it looks like NDK is not compatible with Blackberry, period. However, I could not find any official word on that. The list of known issues says that Google APIs are not supported, but not a word about NDK. What's the official line, please? Did anyone ever repackage an app with an NDK library?

Answer 1

There is a note here: https://bdsc.webapps.blackberry.com/android/apisupport

Under 'Unsupported Software Features'

•Apps that utilize native code bundled into their APK file

Answer 2

My understanding is that it's not possible to do this - as per the link paulkayuk posted, and also:

http://developer.blackberry.com/native/documentation/bb10/porting_from_android_ndk.html

However this story popped up in the news this morning:

http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/07/skype-blackberry-android/

which references:

https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA10251/is-skype-available-for-blackberry-devices?frompage=search&q=blackberry&fromSearchFirstPage=false

which says:

If you have a new BlackBerry smartphone powered by the BlackBerry 10 platform, you will soon be able to download and run Skype on these devices. We are working closely with BlackBerry to ensure the Skype for Android app runs great in the BlackBerry 10 environment.

My understanding is that Skype on Android has a big native library accessed via NDK, so you presume for this port to have happened they are in the process of opening up a way for Android apps running on blackberry to access native code. ie. sit tight and watch this space :-)