[nativeaot] Next steps for the NAOT runtime #10476
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Pull Request Overview
This PR implements compatibility improvements for the NativeAOT runtime to align it more closely with MonoVM and CoreCLR runtime hosts. It adds support for setting environment variables via <AndroidEnvironment> MSBuild items and local system properties, while also optimizing package size and startup performance by switching from shared to static libc++.
Key changes include:
- Unified environment variable and system property handling across runtime hosts
- Infrastructure for NativeAOT to process environment files and system properties
- Static linking of libc++ instead of shared library to reduce package size (~9MB) and improve startup
Reviewed Changes
Copilot reviewed 16 out of 17 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.
Show a summary per file
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| src/native/nativeaot/runtime-base/android-system.cc | Updates system property lookup to use shared HostEnvironment implementation |
| src/native/nativeaot/include/host/host-environment-naot.hh | Adds NativeAOT-specific environment structure declarations and extern symbols |
| src/native/nativeaot/include/host/host-environment.hh | Removes old NativeAOT-only environment class (file deleted) |
| src/native/nativeaot/host/host.cc | Updates include to use new NativeAOT-specific header |
| src/native/nativeaot/host/host-environment.cc | Refactors environment initialization to use templated approach for both variables and properties |
| src/native/clr/xamarin-app-stub/application_dso_stub.cc | Updates system properties structure and adds JNI library flags to DSO cache entries |
| src/native/clr/runtime-base/android-system.cc | Refactors to use shared HostEnvironment methods for setting variables and properties |
| src/native/clr/include/xamarin-app.hh | Changes system properties from string array to AppEnvironmentVariable structure |
| src/native/clr/include/host/host-environment.hh | Adds new shared HostEnvironment class with templated setter methods |
| src/native/clr/include/host/host-environment-clr.hh | Minimal header to include CLR-specific environment dependencies |
| src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Utilities/NativeAotEnvironmentNativeAssemblyGenerator.cs | Adds system property generation using same structure as environment variables |
| src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Utilities/ApplicationConfigNativeAssemblyGeneratorCLR.cs | Refactors CLR system property generation to use unified structure |
| src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Microsoft.Android.Sdk/targets/Microsoft.Android.Sdk.NativeAOT.targets | Switches from shared libc++ to static linking and removes conflicting libraries |
| samples/NativeAOT/run.sh | Uncomments debug logging for testing |
| samples/NativeAOT/environment.txt | Adds test system property |
| samples/NativeAOT/NativeAOT.csproj | Includes environment.txt as AndroidEnvironment item |
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/azp run |
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Azure Pipelines successfully started running 1 pipeline(s). |
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Tested on our app and it still launches. The size decrease is ~2Mb (for single RID; compressed size). Before: com.emclient.mailclient-Signed.apk 71998960 (-9MB for the uncompressed |
Builds, installs, does nothing yet.
Linking seems to work, not tested yet
NativeAOT sample now links without errors about missing symbols (added linker options for it to fail if missing symbols are detected)
Need to have a think about it next week
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filipnavara
approved these changes
Sep 18, 2025
jonathanpeppers
approved these changes
Sep 18, 2025
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Context: # 8000 10461
A follow up to #10461 which adds some more compatibility with the "standard"
MonoVM and CoreCLR runtime hosts, namely:
(
<AndroidEnvironment>MSBuild item)level) system properties
In addition to the above, it makes NativeAOT use static libc++ instead of the
shared one, which not only shrinks the package size (
libc++_shared.soisaround 9mb), but it also makes startup slightly faster.