Feature Request: Add support for building Android wheels

As per PEP 738, Android is an officially supported platform for Python. Python 3.14 releases includes official android embeddable packages.

It would be really appreciated if meson-python adds support for Android too, just as iOS support added recently.

@ankith26

@ankith26 thanks for the request. Could you add some details, like how it currently fails? And I assume there are Beeware patches that do make things work for meson-python that need upstreaming?

For testing, I am using my very minimal sample/boilerplate repo (https://github.com/ankith26/python-c-extension-boilerplate).

I am relying on cibuildwheel to set up the build environment and manage the build. I first setup android-sdk as outlined in https://cibuildwheel.pypa.io/en/stable/platforms/#android. The command I ran

ANDROID_HOME="/home/ankith/mount2/softwares/android-sdk" CIBW_PLATFORM=android CIBW_BUILD="cp314-android_x86_64" cibuildwheel

produces output

     _ _       _ _   _       _           _
 ___|_| |_ _ _|_| |_| |_ _ _| |_ ___ ___| |
|  _| | . | | | | | . | | | |   | -_| -_| |
|___|_|___|___|_|_|___|_____|_|_|___|___|_|

cibuildwheel version 3.2.1

Build options:
  platform: android
  allow_empty: False
  architectures: x86_64
  build_selector: 
    build_config: cp314-android_x86_64
    skip_config: 
    requires_python: >=3.8
    enable: []
  output_dir: /home/ankith/mount/gitstuff/personal/ankith26/python-c-extension-boilerplate/wheelhouse
  package_dir: /home/ankith/mount/gitstuff/personal/ankith26/python-c-extension-boilerplate
  test_selector: 
    skip_config:
  before_all: 
  before_build: 
  before_test: 
  build_frontend: build
  build_verbosity: 0
  config_settings: 
  container_engine: docker
  dependency_constraints: pinned
  environment: 
  manylinux_images: None
  musllinux_images: None
  pyodide_version: None
  repair_command: 
  test_command: 
  test_environment: 
  test_extras: 
  test_groups: 
  test_requires: 
  test_sources: 
  xbuild_tools: None

Cache folder: /home/ankith/.cache/cibuildwheel

Here we go!


Building cp314-android_x86_64 wheel
CPython 3.14 Android x86_64

Installing target Python...


                                                              ✓ 0.69s
Setting up build environment...

Creating python-build-standalone environment: version=3.14
Detected platform: arch='x86_64', platform='unknown-linux', libc='gnu'
Looking for file with pattern cpython-3.14.*-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu-install_only.tar.gz
Using python-build-standalone release: 20251010
Using cached python_build_standalone: /home/ankith/.cache/cibuildwheel/cpython-3.14.0+20251010-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu-install_only.tar.gz
Found python executable: /tmp/cibw-run-qzzf88jt/cp314-android_x86_64/pbs/python/bin/python
+ /home/ankith/.pyenv/versions/3.14.0/bin/python3 -sS /home/ankith/.cache/cibuildwheel/virtualenv-20.35.2.pyz --activators= --no-periodic-update --pip=25.2 --no-setuptools --symlink-app-data --python /tmp/cibw-run-qzzf88jt/cp314-android_x86_64/pbs/python/bin/python3.14 /tmp/cibw-run-qzzf88jt/cp314-android_x86_64/venv
created virtual environment CPython3.14.0.final.0-64 in 275ms
  creator CPython3Posix(dest=/tmp/cibw-run-qzzf88jt/cp314-android_x86_64/venv, clear=False, no_vcs_ignore=False, global=False)
  seeder FromAppData(download=False, pip=25.2, via=symlink, app_data_dir=/home/ankith/snap/code/211/.local/share/virtualenv)
    added seed packages: pip==25.2
+ which python
+ python --version
Python 3.14.0
+ which pip
+ pip --version
pip 25.2 from /tmp/cibw-run-qzzf88jt/cp314-android_x86_64/venv/lib/python3.14/site-packages/pip (python 3.14)
+ /tmp/cibw-run-qzzf88jt/cp314-android_x86_64/python/android.py env
export AR=/home/ankith/mount2/softwares/android-sdk/ndk/27.3.13750724/toolchains/llvm/prebuilt/linux-x86_64/bin/llvm-ar
export AS=/home/ankith/mount2/softwares/android-sdk/ndk/27.3.13750724/toolchains/llvm/prebuilt/linux-x86_64/bin/llvm-as
export CC=/home/ankith/mount2/softwares/android-sdk/ndk/27.3.13750724/toolchains/llvm/prebuilt/linux-x86_64/bin/x86_64-linux-android24-clang
export CFLAGS='-D__BIONIC_NO_PAGE_SIZE_MACRO -I/tmp/cibw-run-qzzf88jt/cp314-android_x86_64/python/prefix/include -DNDEBUG -O3 -Wall'
export CIBW_HOST_TRIPLET=x86_64-linux-android
export CMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=/tmp/cibw-run-qzzf88jt/cp314-android_x86_64/toolchain.cmake
export CPU_COUNT=8
export CXX=/home/ankith/mount2/softwares/android-sdk/ndk/27.3.13750724/toolchains/llvm/prebuilt/linux-x86_64/bin/x86_64-linux-android24-clang++
export CXXFLAGS='-D__BIONIC_NO_PAGE_SIZE_MACRO -I/tmp/cibw-run-qzzf88jt/cp314-android_x86_64/python/prefix/include -DNDEBUG -O3 -Wall'
export LD=/home/ankith/mount2/softwares/android-sdk/ndk/27.3.13750724/toolchains/llvm/prebuilt/linux-x86_64/bin/ld
export LDFLAGS='-Wl,--build-id=sha1 -Wl,--no-rosegment -Wl,-z,max-page-size=16384 -Wl,--no-undefined -lm -L/tmp/cibw-run-qzzf88jt/cp314-android_x86_64/python/prefix/lib'
export NM=/home/ankith/mount2/softwares/android-sdk/ndk/27.3.13750724/toolchains/llvm/prebuilt/linux-x86_64/bin/llvm-nm
export PATH=/tmp/cibw-run-qzzf88jt/cp314-android_x86_64/venv/bin:/home/ankith/.pyenv/versions/3.14.0/bin:/home/ankith/.pyenv/libexec:/home/ankith/.pyenv/plugins/python-build/bin:/home/ankith/.pyenv/plugins/pyenv-virtualenv/bin:/home/ankith/.pyenv/plugins/pyenv-update/bin:/home/ankith/.pyenv/plugins/pyenv-doctor/bin:/home/ankith/.pyenv/shims:/home/ankith/.pyenv/bin:/home/ankith/.pyenv/bin:/home/ankith/.local/bin:/home/ankith/.pyenv/bin:/usr/share/pyenv/bin:/home/ankith/.local/bin:/usr/share/pyenv/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/snap/bin:/snap/bin:/home/ankith/.vscode/extensions/ms-python.debugpy-2025.14.1-linux-x64/bundled/scripts/noConfigScripts
export PIP_DISABLE_PIP_VERSION_CHECK=1
export PKG_CONFIG='pkg-config --define-prefix'
export PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR=/tmp/cibw-run-qzzf88jt/cp314-android_x86_64/python/prefix/lib/pkgconfig
export RANLIB=/home/ankith/mount2/softwares/android-sdk/ndk/27.3.13750724/toolchains/llvm/prebuilt/linux-x86_64/bin/llvm-ranlib
export READELF=/home/ankith/mount2/softwares/android-sdk/ndk/27.3.13750724/toolchains/llvm/prebuilt/linux-x86_64/bin/llvm-readelf
export STRIP=/home/ankith/mount2/softwares/android-sdk/ndk/27.3.13750724/toolchains/llvm/prebuilt/linux-x86_64/bin/llvm-strip
export VIRTUAL_ENV=/tmp/cibw-run-qzzf88jt/cp314-android_x86_64/venv
+ pip install build -c file:///home/ankith/.pyenv/versions/3.14.0/lib/python3.14/site-packages/cibuildwheel/resources/constraints-python314.txt
Collecting build
  Using cached build-1.3.0-py3-none-any.whl.metadata (5.6 kB)
Collecting packaging>=19.1 (from build)
  Using cached packaging-25.0-py3-none-any.whl.metadata (3.3 kB)
Collecting pyproject_hooks (from build)
  Using cached pyproject_hooks-1.2.0-py3-none-any.whl.metadata (1.3 kB)
Using cached build-1.3.0-py3-none-any.whl (23 kB)
Using cached packaging-25.0-py3-none-any.whl (66 kB)
Using cached pyproject_hooks-1.2.0-py3-none-any.whl (10 kB)
Installing collected packages: pyproject_hooks, packaging, build
Successfully installed build-1.3.0 packaging-25.0 pyproject_hooks-1.2.0
+ pip install meson-python
Collecting meson-python
  Using cached meson_python-0.18.0-py3-none-any.whl.metadata (2.8 kB)
Collecting meson>=1.2.3 (from meson-python)
  Using cached meson-1.9.1-py3-none-any.whl.metadata (1.8 kB)
Requirement already satisfied: packaging>=23.2 in /tmp/cibw-run-qzzf88jt/cp314-android_x86_64/venv/lib/python3.14/site-packages (from meson-python) (25.0)
Collecting pyproject-metadata>=0.9.0 (from meson-python)
  Using cached pyproject_metadata-0.9.1-py3-none-any.whl.metadata (7.0 kB)
Using cached meson_python-0.18.0-py3-none-any.whl (28 kB)
Using cached meson-1.9.1-py3-none-any.whl (1.0 MB)
Using cached pyproject_metadata-0.9.1-py3-none-any.whl (18 kB)
Installing collected packages: pyproject-metadata, meson, meson-python
Successfully installed meson-1.9.1 meson-python-0.18.0 pyproject-metadata-0.9.1

                                                              ✓ 6.02s
Building wheel...

+ python -m build /home/ankith/mount/gitstuff/personal/ankith26/python-c-extension-boilerplate --wheel --no-isolation --skip-dependency-check --outdir=/tmp/cibw-run-qzzf88jt/cp314-android_x86_64/built_wheel
* Building wheel...
+ meson setup /home/ankith/mount/gitstuff/personal/ankith26/python-c-extension-boilerplate /home/ankith/mount/gitstuff/personal/ankith26/python-c-extension-boilerplate/.mesonpy-n7htu2dp -Dbuildtype=release -Db_ndebug=if-release -Db_vscrt=md --native-file=/home/ankith/mount/gitstuff/personal/ankith26/python-c-extension-boilerplate/.mesonpy-n7htu2dp/meson-python-native-file.ini
The Meson build system
Version: 1.9.1
Source dir: /home/ankith/mount/gitstuff/personal/ankith26/python-c-extension-boilerplate
Build dir: /home/ankith/mount/gitstuff/personal/ankith26/python-c-extension-boilerplate/.mesonpy-n7htu2dp
Build type: native build
Project name: math_example
Project version: 1.0.0

../meson.build:1:0: ERROR: Could not invoke sanity check executable: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/home/ankith/mount/gitstuff/personal/ankith26/python-c-extension-boilerplate/.mesonpy-n7htu2dp/meson-private/sanitycheckc.exe'.

A full log can be found at /home/ankith/mount/gitstuff/personal/ankith26/python-c-extension-boilerplate/.mesonpy-n7htu2dp/meson-logs/meson-log.txt

ERROR Backend subprocess exited when trying to invoke build_wheel

                                                              ✕ 0.88s
cibuildwheel: error: Command ['/tmp/cibw-run-qzzf88jt/cp314-android_x86_64/venv/bin/python', '-m', 'build', '/home/ankith/mount/gitstuff/personal/ankith26/python-c-extension-boilerplate', '--wheel', '--no-isolation', '--skip-dependency-check', '--outdir=/tmp/cibw-run-qzzf88jt/cp314-android_x86_64/built_wheel'] failed with code 1.

From what I can tell, the native-file that meson-python is passing right now is not correct for android. I think that meson-python should prepare and pass an android cross file that uses the environment variables that cibuildwheel has already set.

@ankith26

Thanks @ankith26, that is helpful. Assuming it's similar to iOS in complexity, I don't see a problem with adding support.

There are working NumPy and SciPy builds at https://chaquo.com/chaquopy/, so let's ask the expert where the relevant patches are - @mhsmith, could you comment on this?

This https://nibblestew.blogspot.com/2025/10/building-android-apps-with-native-code.html may be relevant. It seems that it could be possible to rely on meson env2mfile to generate a machine file.

There are working NumPy and SciPy builds at https://chaquo.com/chaquopy/,

AFAICT, Chaquopy supports only "old" versions on NumPy and SciPy that use setuptools as build system.

That's correct: the patches are here, but I haven't tried to build anything for Android with Meson yet.

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Feature Request: Add support for building Android wheels #810

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Feature Request: Add support for building Android wheels #810

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rgommers commented on Oct 31, 2025

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rgommers commented on Oct 31, 2025

dnicolodi commented on Oct 31, 2025

dnicolodi commented on Nov 2, 2025

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rgommers commented on Feb 8, 2026

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