Interoperability with Java

Java can load shared objects via Java Native Interface (JNI). The jni crate allows you to create a compatible library.

First, we create a Rust function to export to Java:

interoperability/java/src/lib.rs:

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
//! Rust <-> Java FFI demo.

use jni::objects::{JClass, JString};
use jni::sys::jstring;
use jni::JNIEnv;

/// HelloWorld::hello method implementation.
// SAFETY: There is no other global function of this name.
#[unsafe(no_mangle)]
pub extern "system" fn Java_HelloWorld_hello(
    mut env: JNIEnv,
    _class: JClass,
    name: JString,
) -> jstring {
    let input: String = env.get_string(&name).unwrap().into();
    let greeting = format!("Hello, {input}!");
    let output = env.new_string(greeting).unwrap();
    output.into_raw()
}
}

interoperability/java/Android.bp:

rust_ffi_shared {
    name: "libhello_jni",
    crate_name: "hello_jni",
    srcs: ["src/lib.rs"],
    rustlibs: ["libjni"],
}

We then call this function from Java:

interoperability/java/HelloWorld.java:

class HelloWorld {
    private static native String hello(String name);

    static {
        System.loadLibrary("hello_jni");
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String output = HelloWorld.hello("Alice");
        System.out.println(output);
    }
}

interoperability/java/Android.bp:

java_binary {
    name: "helloworld_jni",
    srcs: ["HelloWorld.java"],
    main_class: "HelloWorld",
    required: ["libhello_jni"],
}

Finally, you can build, sync, and run the binary:

m helloworld_jni
adb sync  # requires adb root && adb remount
adb shell /system/bin/helloworld_jni
  • The unsafe(no_mangle) attribute instructs Rust to emit the Java_HelloWorld_hello symbol exactly as written. This is important so that Java can recognize the symbol as a hello method on the HelloWorld class.

    • By default, Rust will mangle (rename) symbols so that a binary can link in two versions of the same Rust crate.