v-atamanenko / FalsoJNI

Simple fake JVM/JNI interface in C. Created to make JNI-heavy Android→PSVita ports easier

Setup • Implementing Methods • Implementing Fields • Tips • TODO • Credits • License

FalsoJNI (falso as in fake) is a simple, zero-dependency fake JVM/JNI interface written in C.

It is created mainly to make JNI-heavy Android→PSVita ports easier, but probably could be used for other purposes as well.

Setup

Since there are no dependencies, FalsoJNI is not supplied with a Makefile of its own, so to get started just include in your own Makefile/CMakeLists.txt all the source files:

FalsoJNI/FalsoJni.c
FalsoJNI/FalsoJni_ImplBridge.c
FalsoJNI/FalsoJni_Logger.c

Second thing you need to do, is to create your own FalsoJNI_Impl file. You will use it later to provide implementations for custom JNI Methods (the ones called with jni->CallVoidMethodV and similars) and Fields.

To do this, from FalsoJNI_ImplSample.h copy the definitions between COPY STARTING FROM HERE! and COPY UP TO HERE! to your project in any .c file (you could also divide it into several files if you need to).

After that, you already init FalsoJNI and supply JNIEnv and JavaVM objects to your client application, like this:

#include "FalsoJNI.h"

int main() {
    // ...
    
    jni_init(); // Initializes jvm and jni objects

    int (*JNI_OnLoad)(JavaVM* jvm) = (void*)so_symbol(&so_mod,"JNI_OnLoad");
    JNI_OnLoad(&jvm);

    // ...
}

That's it for the basic setup. In a theoretical situation where your client application doesn't use any Methods or Fields, you're done here. Otherwise, read on.

Implementing Methods

Step 1. Create functions

The easiest way to figure out which methods you need to implement is to run the app as-is and look for FalsoJNI's errors in logs, particularly with GetMethodID / GetStaticMethodID functions:

[ERROR][/tmp/soloader/FalsoJNI.c:295][GetMethodID] [JNI] GetMethodID(env, 0x83561570, "SetShiftEnabled", "(Z)V"): not found
[ERROR][/tmp/soloader/FalsoJNI.c:295][GetMethodID] [JNI] GetMethodID(env, 0x83561570, "Shutdown", "()V"): not found

Two important things you get from this log are the method name ("SetShiftEnabled") and the method signature ("(Z)V").

You can learn what each symbol in Java type signature means here.

To cut on the long details, here are a few self-explanatory examples of how Java method signatures are translated into FalsoJNI-compatible implementations:

// FalsoJNI always passes arguments as a va_list to be able to make single
// function implementation no matter how is it called (i.e. CallMethod,
// CallMethodV, or CallMethodA ).

// "SetShiftEnabled", "(Z)V"
void SetShiftEnabled(jmethodID id, va_list args) { // V (ret type) is a void
    jboolean arg = va_arg(args, jboolean); // Z is a boolean
    // do something
}

// "GetDisplayOrientationLock", "()I"
jint GetDisplayOrientationLock(jmethodID id, va_list args) { // I (ret type) is an integer
    // no arguments here
    return 0;
}

// "read", "([BII)I"
jint InputStream_read(jmethodID id, va_list args) { // I (ret type) is an integer
    jbyteArray _b = va_arg(args, char*); // [B is a byte array.
    jint off = va_arg(args, int); // I is an int
    jint len = va_arg(args, int); // I is an int

    // Before accessing/changing the array elements, we have to do the following:
    JavaDynArray * jda = jda_find(_b);
    if (!jda) {
        log_error("[java.io.InputStream.read()] Provided buffer is not a valid JDA.");
        return 0;
    }

    char * b = jda->array; // Now this array we can work with
}

Pay great attention to the last example. Java arrays are notably different from C arrays by always having the array size information with them, so FalsoJNI mimics Java arrays behavior with a special struct, JavaDynArray (or jda in short).

Every time you receive an array of any kind as an argument, you have to get the "real", underlying array from it like shown in the example. You can also use jda_sizeof(JavaDynArr *) function to get the length of the array you are operating on.

If you need to return an array in Java method implementation, — likewise. Work with jda->array, return jda.

Step 2. Put them in relevant arrays

Now that you have your implementations in place, the only thing left to do to allow the client application to use them is to fill in the arrays in the implementation file you copied from FalsoJNI_ImplSample.h earlier.

You just need to figure out the return types for your methods and come up with any (unique!) method IDs you like. Example of filling the arrays for methods from Step 1:

NameToMethodID nameToMethodId[] = {
    { 100, "SetShiftEnabled", METHOD_TYPE_VOID },
    { 101, "GetDisplayOrientationLock", METHOD_TYPE_INT },
    { 102, "read", METHOD_TYPE_INT },
};

MethodsVoid methodsVoid[] = {
    { 100, SetShiftEnabled }
};

MethodsInt methodsInt[] = {
    { 101, GetDisplayOrientationLock },
    { 102, InputStream_read }
};

Implementing Fields

With Fields, it's basically the same thing. Run your app, look for the errors in GetFieldID, GetStaticFieldID to figure out the needed Fields names and signatures (well, just types in this case).

When you know them, fill in the arrays in the same fashion:

NameToFieldID nameToFieldId[] = {
    { 8, "screenWidth",            FIELD_TYPE_INT },
    { 9, "screenHeight",           FIELD_TYPE_INT },
    { 10, "is_licensed",           FIELD_TYPE_BOOLEAN }
};

FieldsBoolean fieldsBoolean[] = {
    { 10, JNI_TRUE }
};

FieldsInt fieldsInt[] = {
    { 8, 960 },
    { 9, 544 },
};

Everything else will be taken care of by FalsoJNI.

Tips

1. There is a very verbose logging in this lib to debug difficult situations. Either define FALSOJNI_DEBUGLEVEL or edit FalsoJNI.h if you need to change the verbosity level:

#define FALSOJNI_DEBUG_NO    4
#define FALSOJNI_DEBUG_ERROR 3
#define FALSOJNI_DEBUG_WARN  2
#define FALSOJNI_DEBUG_INFO  1
#define FALSOJNI_DEBUG_ALL   0

#ifndef FALSOJNI_DEBUGLEVEL
#define FALSOJNI_DEBUGLEVEL FALSOJNI_DEBUG_WARN
#endif

2. There are things in JNI that can not be implemented without some terrible overengineering. If you come across one of them, the library will throw a warning-level log at you.

3. I tried to keep the code as clean and self-explanatory as possible, but didn't have time yet to write a proper documentation. As a direction for further info, look at FalsoJNI_ImplBridge.h header for common type definitions and JDA functions.

4. Oracle JNI spec is your friend.

TODO

1. Exception handling. They are completely ignored now.
2. GetArrayLength for ObjectField values. (if needed?)
3. MonitorEnter/MonitorExit (per-javaobject semaphores).
4. DirectByteBuffers.
5. Keep track of references and destroy objects when there aren't any left.
6. Dry Run mode that would record methods/fields definitions to FalsoJNI_Impl.c for you.

Credits

• TheFloW and Rinnegatamante for fake JNI interfaces implementations in gtasa_vita that served as inspiration and basis for this lib.

License

This software may be modified and distributed under the terms of the MIT license. See the LICENSE file for details.

Contains parts of Dalvik implementation of JNI interfaces, Copyright (C) 2008 The Android Open Source Project

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.