What is the reason of converting java bytecode to Dalvik bytecode in android?

Question

I was experimenting something with Android native code and it needs to access a file in dalvik/vm folder from a .cpp file in frameworks/base/core/jni ... I would like to know if this is even possible through #include or some other technique. I think #include may not be the right way to do it and wold like to know if my purpose can be somehow achieved.

Answer 1

Simple answer is android does not understand .class format of Oracle JVM bytecode, it understand Dalvik byte-codes.

The .class files contain standard Oracle JVM Java byte-codes. But Android devices don’t use this byte-code format. Instead, Android has its own distinct byte-code format called Dalvik. Dalvik byte-codes, like Oracle JVM byte-codes, are machine-code instructions for a theoretical processor.

The compilation process needs to convert the .class files, and any .jar libraries into a single classes.dex file containing Dalvik byte-codes. This is done with the dx command.

Comments

How can we ensure it will not understand .class format?

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Not sure if there is a way or not...

Answer 2

Android uses Dalvik Virtual Machine (DVM) which requires a special bytecode. First of all, we have to convert Java class files into Dalvik Executable files using an Android tool called “dx”. In normal circumstances, developers will not be using this tool directly and build tools will care for the generation of DVM compatible files.