Bazel demo app is crashing at startup on API 34

[pablo-guardiola]

I'm building the Bazel demo app using $> ./bazelw mobile-install --fat_apk_cpu=arm64-v8a --config=android :android_app (after getting it working #13 (comment)), the app gets generated and deployed to the connected device but when I open it, it crashes 💥

Unable to instantiate appComponentFactory
java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: Didn't find class "androidx.core.app.CoreComponentFactory" on path: DexPathList[[zip file "/data/app/~~wZbw6NKzRqj9th9Rtukf-A==/io.bitdrift.capture.helloworld-EkpwOd-TE_FE6PLK4wj9kA==/base.apk"],nativeLibraryDirectories=[/data/app/~~wZbw6NKzRqj9th9Rtukf-A==/io.bitdrift.capture.helloworld-EkpwOd-TE_FE6PLK4wj9kA==/lib/arm64, /data/app/~~wZbw6NKzRqj9th9Rtukf-A==/io.bitdrift.capture.helloworld-EkpwOd-TE_FE6PLK4wj9kA==/base.apk!/lib/arm64-v8a, /system/lib64, /system_ext/lib64]]
	at dalvik.system.BaseDexClassLoader.findClass(BaseDexClassLoader.java:259)
	at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:379)
	at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:312)
	at android.app.LoadedApk.createAppFactory(LoadedApk.java:273)
	at android.app.LoadedApk.createOrUpdateClassLoaderLocked(LoadedApk.java:1039)
	at android.app.LoadedApk.getClassLoader(LoadedApk.java:1126)
	at android.app.LoadedApk.getResources(LoadedApk.java:1374)
	at android.app.ContextImpl.createAppContext(ContextImpl.java:3324)
	at android.app.ContextImpl.createAppContext(ContextImpl.java:3316)
	at android.app.ActivityThread.handleBindApplication(ActivityThread.java:6879)
	at android.app.ActivityThread.-$$Nest$mhandleBindApplication(Unknown Source:0)
	at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:2236)
	at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:106)
	at android.os.Looper.loopOnce(Looper.java:205)
	at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:294)
	at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:8177)
	at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
	at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:552)
	at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:971)

and

FATAL EXCEPTION: main
Process: io.bitdrift.capture.helloworld, PID: 19154
java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to instantiate application com.google.devtools.build.android.incrementaldeployment.StubApplication package io.bitdrift.capture.helloworld: java.lang.SecurityException: Writable dex file '/data/local/tmp/incrementaldeployment/io.bitdrift.capture.helloworld/dex/incremental_classes1.dex' is not allowed.
	at android.app.LoadedApk.makeApplicationInner(LoadedApk.java:1555)
	at android.app.LoadedApk.makeApplicationInner(LoadedApk.java:1484)
	at android.app.ActivityThread.handleBindApplication(ActivityThread.java:7666)
	at android.app.ActivityThread.-$$Nest$mhandleBindApplication(Unknown Source:0)
	at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:2478)
	at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:106)
	at android.os.Looper.loopOnce(Looper.java:230)
	at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:319)
	at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:8934)
	at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
	at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:578)
	at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:1103)
Caused by: java.lang.SecurityException: Writable dex file '/data/local/tmp/incrementaldeployment/io.bitdrift.capture.helloworld/dex/incremental_classes1.dex' is not allowed.
	at dalvik.system.DexFile.openDexFileNative(Native Method)
	at dalvik.system.DexFile.openDexFile(DexFile.java:406)
	at dalvik.system.DexFile.<init>(DexFile.java:128)
	at dalvik.system.DexFile.<init>(DexFile.java:101)
	at dalvik.system.DexPathList.loadDexFile(DexPathList.java:438)
	at dalvik.system.DexPathList.makeDexElements(DexPathList.java:387)
	at dalvik.system.DexPathList.<init>(DexPathList.java:166)
	at dalvik.system.BaseDexClassLoader.<init>(BaseDexClassLoader.java:160)
	at dalvik.system.BaseDexClassLoader.<init>(BaseDexClassLoader.java:105)
	at com.google.devtools.build.android.incrementaldeployment.IncrementalClassLoader$DelegateClassLoader.<init>(IncrementalClassLoader.java:57)
	at com.google.devtools.build.android.incrementaldeployment.IncrementalClassLoader$DelegateClassLoader.<init>(IncrementalClassLoader.java:54)
	at com.google.devtools.build.android.incrementaldeployment.IncrementalClassLoader.createDelegateClassLoader(IncrementalClassLoader.java:96)
	at com.google.devtools.build.android.incrementaldeployment.IncrementalClassLoader.<init>(IncrementalClassLoader.java:38)
	at com.google.devtools.build.android.incrementaldeployment.IncrementalClassLoader.inject(IncrementalClassLoader.java:113)
	at com.google.devtools.build.android.incrementaldeployment.StubApplication.instantiateRealApplication(StubApplication.java:338)
	at com.google.devtools.build.android.incrementaldeployment.StubApplication.attachBaseContext(StubApplication.java:546)
	at android.app.Application.attach(Application.java:365)
	at android.app.Instrumentation.newApplication(Instrumentation.java:1283)
	at android.app.LoadedApk.makeApplicationInner(LoadedApk.java:1547)
	at android.app.LoadedApk.makeApplicationInner(LoadedApk.java:1484) 
	at android.app.ActivityThread.handleBindApplication(ActivityThread.java:7666) 
	at android.app.ActivityThread.-$$Nest$mhandleBindApplication(Unknown Source:0) 
	at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:2478) 
	at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:106) 
	at android.os.Looper.loopOnce(Looper.java:230) 
	at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:319) 
	at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:8934) 
	at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method) 
	at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:578) 
	at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:1103) 

It seems like an issue with the mobile-install toolchain.

cc @murki @mattklein123

[murki]

Thanks for your report, I was able to repro and it does indeed look like an issue between bazel's mobile-install and the packaging of androidx.core.app.CoreComponentFactory which was added in API 28. May be related to this bazel issue: bazelbuild/bazel#17481

Here are some workarounds for now while we investigate:

1. The app should run fine in devices or emulators with API < 28 (Android 9).
2. Running the app via the bazel plugin directly from Android Studio as described in the README should work for all API levels.

[snowp]

I dug into this a little bit and I suspect that androidx.core.app.CoreComponentFactory is a red herring and that the issue is really due to

Caused by: java.lang.SecurityException: Writable dex file '/data/local/tmp/incrementaldeployment/io.bitdrift.capture.helloworld/dex/incremental_classes1.dex' is not allowed.

CoreComponentFactory is potentially just the first class loaded that hits this issue.

This seems to come down to a change in API 34 to not allow writeable dex files as part of the security posture, so it seems likely that some part of the toolchain is erroneously including a writeable file.

Next steps on our end is likely to try updating the rules_android toolchain since we are running an older version, then spend some more time trying to figure out what part of the toolchain is doing the wrong thing

[murki]

Can confirm that the app also installs and runs fine for me on an emulator with API 33

[pablo-guardiola]

Can confirm that the app also installs and runs fine for me on an emulator with API 33

Can confirm as well, tested on a Pixel 3 with API 31 👀






Running the app via the bazel plugin directly from Android Studio as described in the README should work for all API levels.

I can't quickly test that because the Bazel for Android Studio plugin doesn't work on Android Studio Koala | 2024.1.1 Patch 2