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How to read the code

Top level structure​

The src folder is the most important one, it contains all the Rust code.

Other important folders are:

  • assets: App logo, and pre-built libraries are put here for the APK to pick up. Non bundled static assets such as screenshots for README.md also go here.
  • patches: Temporary patches for dependencies like smithay and xbuild. These patches allows us to experiment with the dependencies, and we will contribute back to the upstream when we think the changes are good enough.
  • scripts: Miscellaneous automation scripts, such as the script to check for 16 KB ELF alignment.
  • tests: Rust integration tests.
  • target: Your build artifacts go here.

Source code structure​

  • lib.rs: This file behaves more like a contact book. You only register the modules here, no actual logic goes here.
  • android_main.rs: Did you see that #[no_mangle] android_main function? Android apps do not have a main function, instead:
    • When you open an Android app (by clicking the app icon), Android will launch an activity.
    • An activity is a Java class that extends android.app.Activity. Local Desktop is written in pure Rust, so we registered a special NativeActivity.
    • The NativeActivity will load the android_main inside libpolar_bear.so (the object into which all of our Rust code is compiled). That's why we need the #[no_mangle] annotation, to prevent Rust compiler from changing the function name.

So android_main.rs is the genesis of all the spaghetti code. In case you got lost, just put a breakpoint at the beginning of this function and follow the execution flow.

We will comeback to explaining other folders later.

Execution flow​