Build error on Mac: no archive symbol table (run ranlib)

[artwyman]

I'm trying to package a Kivy hello world app on Mac., and it's failing during the NDK build indicating that several SDL2 libraries are invalid: no archive symbol table (run ranlib).

I installed python-for-android 0.4 via pip. I'm on Mac OS 10.11.6, using NDK r11c with GCC 4.9. Here's the command I'm running:

p4a apk --private . --package=org.example.HelloKivy --name "Hello Kivy" --version 0.1 --bootstrap=sdl2 --requirements=python2,kivy --sdk_dir $ANDROID_HOME --ndk_dir $ANDROID_NDK_HOME --android_api 16 --ndk_ver "r11c" --debug

And the full errors:

/Users/atwyman/Library/Android/ndk/toolchains/arm-linux-androideabi-4.9/prebuilt/darwin-x86_64/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-linux-androideabi/4.9/../../../../arm-linux-androideabi/bin/ld: error: SDL2_ttf: no archive symbol table (run ranlib)
/Users/atwyman/Library/Android/ndk/toolchains/arm-linux-androideabi-4.9/prebuilt/darwin-x86_64/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-linux-androideabi/4.9/../../../../arm-linux-androideabi/bin/ld: error: SDL2_image: no archive symbol table (run ranlib)
/Users/atwyman/Library/Android/ndk/toolchains/arm-linux-androideabi-4.9/prebuilt/darwin-x86_64/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-linux-androideabi/4.9/../../../../arm-linux-androideabi/bin/ld: error: SDL2_mixer: no archive symbol table (run ranlib)
/Users/atwyman/Library/Android/ndk/toolchains/arm-linux-androideabi-4.9/prebuilt/darwin-x86_64/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-linux-androideabi/4.9/../../../../arm-linux-androideabi/bin/ld: error: SDL2: no archive symbol table (run ranlib)
collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status

Googling similar issues suggested this might be a case of the local version of ar being used rather than the NDK version. I tried overriding via environment variables in various combinations, working up to the full set listed here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/13751560/android-ndk-no-archive-symbol-table

Setting those variables for the a full clean package breaks the local parts of the Python build. Setting them on a retry (which skips the already-done steps) or in the ndk-build script results in the same error.

Any clue what's going on? Am I wrong to assume that python-for-android is expected to work on Mac vs. Linux?

[inclement]

You're right that python-for-android is supposed to work on OS X/macOS, but I'm afraid I don't recognise these errors. I'm not sure what to try to debug it.

Do these errors occur during the sdl2 build step?

[artwyman]

They seem to happen when linking a later library which uses the SDL2_* libraries, though if the explanation around using the wrong version of ar is correct, it may be that happened at an earlier stage, then manifested when its result was used.

I've attached a full dump of the log output of a clean build with --debug, so you can identify steps as you wish. I'm not sure what boundaries you want to look for.
p4a-output.txt

[gobftald1]

the problem is in pythonforandroid/build.py:695

the code fragment beggining there makes a unique_args list removing redundant "-L directories" form the "biglinking" command of libpymodules.so

but it starts at the end of the original args list and removes the
"-L ...../.python-for-android/build/bootstrap_builds/sdl2-python2/obj/local/armeabi-v7a" directory -- where the libSDL2xxx.so shared object libraries were placed -- from the beginning of the list of searched libraries

so replace the

while args:
a = args.pop()
if a in ('-L', ):
continue
if a not in unique_args:
unique_args.insert(0, a)

code fragment with the simple

for a in args:
if a not in unique_args:
unique_args.append(a)

code and the linking phase then the whole building procedure will be OK

[learnforpractice]

replace

    while args:
        a = args.pop()
        if a in ('-L', ):
            continue
        if a not in unique_args:
            unique_args.insert(0, a)

with

    unique_args = []
    for a in args:
        if a not in unique_args:
            unique_args.append(a)

works for me

[inclement]

Closing as this code seems to have been replaced.