Looking for OpenAL libs on Android

[raysan5]

When trying to compile for Android, despite defining MAL_NO_OPENAL, it looks for <AL/al.h> libraries.

If those libraries are not available, it fails compilation.

[mackron]

How are you defining MAL_NO_OPENAL? I took a quick look over the code but couldn't see any obvious issues with it (my Android Studio is uninstalled at this very moment so can't test just yet).

I'm wondering if it's even worth the maintenance cost of supporting OpenAL on Android since I've already got the OpenSL|ES backend implemented...

Update: I got it compiling with Android Studio and I'm not able to reproduce. Any other info you could provide to help me reproduce this?

[raysan5]

Hi @mackron!

How are you defining MAL_NO_OPENAL?

Just #define MAL_NO_OPENAL before #include "mini_al.h".

I'm wondering if it's even worth the maintenance cost of supporting OpenAL on Android since I've already got the OpenSL|ES backend implemented...

In my opinion, doesn't worth maintaining it. Actually, I feel mini_al should be a replacement for OpenAL, not a layer over it. I can understand that some platforms are not yet fully supported by mini_al and so the OpenAL backend... but in the long term I'd remove that backend. Just my personal opinion. Also thinking the same about SDL, as said, mini_al operates at a lower level, directly with "standard" audio libraries for each platform.

[r-lyeh-archived]

I find cute that the library is able to operate not only on low-level OS layer but also on high-level OAL/SDL2 layers too. More freedom for the final developer IMHO.

[mackron]

You need to define MAL_NO_OPENAL before the implementation of mini_al - is that how you're doing it? In any case, I've made a change that now excludes OpenAL if the compiler can't find the headers, but it depends on compiler support. That will be in the dev branch soon.

The original intent for OpenAL was to act as a fallback for platforms that I haven't yet got around to fully supporting, such as Mac. I'll keep it around for now but will reassess when the Core Audio backend for macOS and iOS is implemented.

[raysan5]

You need to define MAL_NO_OPENAL before the implementation of mini_al - is that how you're doing it?

Yeah, actually it's what I'm doing... don't know, maybe I mixed some code... I'll try it again more carefully.

The original intent for OpenAL was to act as a fallback for platforms that I haven't yet got around to fully supporting, such as Mac. I'll keep it around for now but will reassess when the Core Audio backend for macOS and iOS is implemented.

Agree.

[mackron]

You need to define MAL_NO_OPENAL before the implementation of mini_al - is that how you're doing it? In any case, I've made a change that now excludes OpenAL if the compiler can't find the headers, but it depends on compiler support. That will be in the dev branch soon.

This is in the dev branch now.

[mackron]

@raysan5 Did this change work for you? If so I'll go ahead and close this issue.

[raysan5]

Hi @mackron! Yes, it worked! Thank you very much! 👍