docs(android): an arm64 image will not run on an x86_64 host

Emulator 37 refuses cross-architecture emulation outright -- "Avd's CPU
Architecture 'arm64' is not supported by the QEMU2 emulator on x86_64
host" -- and there is no flag for it. Google dropped it.

That matters because the previous commit's finding points at arm64 as
the ABI that works, so the obvious next move is to boot an arm64 AVD,
and the obvious next move costs a 3.8 GB download before it fails.
Written down so the next session does not spend it.

The consequence is stated rather than hidden: the claim that arm64
avoids the seccomp trap rests on reading modernc's two code paths, not
on having run it. Verifying it needs an arm64 host, a physical device
or adb connect.

.pi/skills/yellowjacket-dev/references/android-tier.md

@@ -96,34 +96,71 @@ command. The emulator is addressed by its saved pid in
 
 ## The current state of the build
 
-`make android-smoke` **fails today, and the cause is known.**
+**The app starts. The x86_64 emulator cannot run it, and that is not a
-`backend/system`'s `buildUserDirPath` switches on `runtime.GOOS` with
+bug in the app.**
-cases for darwin, linux and windows, and a `default:` that returns
-`errUnsupportedOS`. `runtime.GOOS` is `"android"`, so it takes the
-default, `NewYellowJacketApp` fails, and `main()` calls `os.Exit(1)` —
-about 6 ms after the bridge initialises, which is exactly the signature
-described above.
 
-**The fix is a documented Wails API and needs no build tags.**
+`modernc.org/libc` — which `modernc.org/sqlite`, and therefore the whole
-`application.Mobile.StoragePath()` returns the app's private files
+database layer, sits on — issues a **raw `lstat` syscall on
-directory and returns `""` on desktop (`mobile_stub.go`), and
+linux/amd64** (`libc_linux_amd64.go`'s `Xlstat64` calls
-`resolveUserDirPath` already lets `YJ_HOME` override the path on every
+`unix.Syscall(unix.SYS_LSTAT, …)`). Android's seccomp policy forbids
-OS — so setting that override from `StoragePath()` early in `main()`,
+syscall 6 on x86_64, because bionic never issues it, so the process
-when it is non-empty, is the whole change. Do *not* import
+takes `SIGSYS` the first time anything touches the database:
-`pkg/application` into `backend/system`: that package is deliberately
-Wails-free, which is what the `indexbuild` tag split is protecting.
 
-It is the *first* thing that stops it, not the only one. MPRIS is
+```
-compiled in (`android` implies the `linux` build tag, so
+F/libc: Fatal signal 31 (SIGSYS), code 1 (SYS_SECCOMP), syscall 6
-`mpris_linux.go` is in the build and will look for a session bus that
+F/DEBUG: Cause: seccomp prevented call to disallowed x86_64 system call 6
-does not exist), and the desktop shell is still a desktop shell. Fixing
+```
-one and re-running the smoke is how you find the next.
 
-**And one that no amount of porting will fix:** open-*directory*
+**arm64 is unaffected, and structurally so.** There is no `lstat`
-dialogs return an error on Android — the Storage Access Framework gives
+syscall on arm64 at all, so `ccgo_linux_arm64.go`'s `Xlstat` is
-tree URIs, not filesystem paths — as do save-file dialogs. This app's
+`Xfstatat(…, AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW)` → `SYS_newfstatat` (79), which
-first run is "choose your music folder" and its library model is
+Android permits. `grep -c SYS_LSTAT ccgo_linux_arm64.go` is 0. Go's own
-filesystem paths, so that is a design question, not a port.
+`syscall` package already uses `fstatat` on both architectures, which
+is why this is *only* the modernc path.
+
+So: **verify on arm64, and on this machine that means a real device.**
+`make android-smoke` on an x86_64 AVD reports a `SIGSYS` tombstone that
+says nothing about your change.
+
+**Do not reach for an arm64 system image — it will not run here, and
+finding that out costs a 3.8 GB download.** Emulator 37 refuses
+outright:
+
+```
+FATAL | Avd's CPU Architecture 'arm64' is not supported by the QEMU2
+        emulator on x86_64 host. System image must match the host
+        architecture.
+```
+
+Google dropped cross-architecture emulation; there is no flag. The
+options are an arm64 host, a physical device, or `adb connect` to one.
+
+Two consequences worth holding onto. The x86_64 half of the fat APK is
+*only* useful for emulators, and cannot work on any Android until
+modernc fixes this — including x86 Chromebooks. And the tombstone is at
+least honest: unlike the `os.Exit` that came before it, this one leaves
+a real crash record with a backtrace.
+
+### What was fixed to get here
+
+`backend/system`'s `buildUserDirPath` switched on `runtime.GOOS` with a
+`default:` returning `errUnsupportedOS`, so Android failed at startup
+and `main()` called `os.Exit(1)` six milliseconds after the bridge came
+up. `main()` now calls `system.UseHomeOverride(application.Mobile.
+StoragePath())` before anything asks for a path — a documented,
+build-tag-free API that returns `""` on desktop, where the setter is a
+no-op. `backend/system` gained no import of the Wails application
+package, which matters for the same reason `backend/events` is split by
+the `indexbuild` tag.
+
+### What is still not done
+
+MPRIS is compiled in (`android` implies the `linux` build tag), the
+shell is still a desktop shell, and — the largest one — open-*directory*
+dialogs return an error on Android, because the Storage Access Framework
+yields tree URIs rather than filesystem paths. This app's first run is
+"choose your music folder" and its library model is filesystem paths, so
+that is a design question rather than a port.
 
 ## The scaffold's own tasks
 

.planning/NOTES.md

@@ -2587,3 +2587,75 @@ under the `Wails` tag and are inspectable from `chrome://inspect`;
 production builds compile that out — so a debug APK is the more
 informative one when something is wrong. And the docs recommend
 `build-tools;35.0.0`; 34.0.0 is what is installed here and builds fine.
+
+## The app starts on Android; x86_64 Android cannot run it (2026-08-16)
+
+Two findings, and the second is the one with consequences.
+
+**The startup bug is fixed.** `backend/system`'s `buildUserDirPath`
+switched on `runtime.GOOS` and Android took the `default:` branch, so
+`main()` called `os.Exit(1)` six milliseconds after the JNI bridge came
+up. `main()` now calls
+`system.UseHomeOverride(application.Mobile.StoragePath())` before
+anything asks for a path. `StoragePath()` is `getFilesDir()` on
+Android, Application Support on iOS and `""` on desktop — where
+`UseHomeOverride` is a no-op — so the change needs no build tag and
+alters nothing off mobile. `backend/system` gained no import of the
+Wails application package, deliberately: that is the same constraint
+the `indexbuild` split protects in `backend/events`.
+
+**And then it takes SIGSYS on the x86_64 emulator.**
+
+```
+F/libc: Fatal signal 31 (SIGSYS), code 1 (SYS_SECCOMP), syscall 6
+F/DEBUG: Cause: seccomp prevented call to disallowed x86_64 system call 6
+```
+
+Syscall 6 on x86_64 is `lstat`, and the caller is **not our code and
+not Go's**. Go's `syscall` package already routes both `Stat` and
+`Lstat` through `fstatat` on amd64 *and* arm64. The caller is
+`modernc.org/libc`, which `modernc.org/sqlite` sits on and therefore
+the entire database layer: `libc_linux_amd64.go`'s `Xlstat64` issues
+`unix.Syscall(unix.SYS_LSTAT, …)` directly. Android's seccomp filter
+forbids it because bionic never issues it.
+
+**arm64 is unaffected, structurally rather than by luck.** arm64 has no
+`lstat` syscall at all, so `ccgo_linux_arm64.go`'s `Xlstat` is
+`Xfstatat(…, AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW)` → `SYS_newfstatat` (79), which is
+permitted. `grep -c SYS_LSTAT ccgo_linux_arm64.go` returns 0 against 1
+for amd64.
+
+Three consequences:
+
+- **The default emulator cannot verify this app.** `make android-smoke`
+  on an x86_64 AVD reports a tombstone that says nothing about your
+  change. Verification needs an `arm64-v8a` image (full software
+  emulation on an x86_64 host, so slow) or a real device.
+- **The x86_64 half of the fat APK is dead weight on every Android**,
+  not just emulators — an x86 Chromebook would hit exactly this. It is
+  31 MB of a 27 MB compressed artifact. Dropping it is a real option;
+  keeping it costs size and buys an emulator target that does not work.
+  Not decided here.
+- The failure is at least *legible*. Unlike the `os.Exit` it replaced,
+  SIGSYS leaves a tombstone with a backtrace into `libwails.so`, which
+  is how it was identified in one pass.
+
+Worth knowing for anything else that reaches for a pure-Go C library:
+this class of bug is invisible to every build and every desktop test,
+and appears only under a platform's syscall filter.
+
+### …and the arm64 emulator is not an option on an x86_64 host
+
+Emulator 37.1.11 refuses outright, after the 3.8 GB image download:
+
+```
+FATAL | Avd's CPU Architecture 'arm64' is not supported by the QEMU2
+        emulator on x86_64 host. System image must match the host
+        architecture.
+```
+
+Google dropped cross-architecture emulation and there is no flag for
+it. So the arm64 claim above rests on reading modernc's two code paths,
+not on having run it: verifying the shipped ABI needs an arm64 host, a
+physical device, or `adb connect` to one. The image was deleted again;
+do not re-download it.

backend/system/userdata.go

@@ -29,6 +29,29 @@ const (
 // without touching the current user's real config.toml or yj.db.
 const envHomeOverride = "YJ_HOME"
 
+// UseHomeOverride points every config and data path at base, by setting
+// the same override a development sandbox uses.
+//
+// It exists for mobile, where the switch in buildUserDirPath has no
+// answer: there is no home directory and no XDG, only a per-app private
+// directory the OS hands out at runtime. The caller is main(), which is
+// the only place that can ask the platform for it — deliberately, so
+// this package stays free of the Wails application package that knows
+// (see backend/events' indexbuild split for why that matters).
+//
+// Two rules. An empty base is a no-op, because that is exactly what
+// application.Mobile.StoragePath() returns on desktop. And an override
+// that is already set wins, so YJ_HOME on the command line still
+// relocates a sandbox on a platform that would otherwise decide for
+// itself.
+func UseHomeOverride(base string) {
+	if base == "" || os.Getenv(envHomeOverride) != "" {
+		return
+	}
+
+	_ = os.Setenv(envHomeOverride, base)
+}
+
 // getUserDirPath returns and creates the path for a user directory.
 func getUserDirPath(dt dirType) (string, error) {
 	path, err := resolveUserDirPath(dt)

backend/system/userdata_test.go

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package system
 
 import (
+	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
@@ -50,3 +51,39 @@ func TestResolveUserDirPath_NoOverrideUsesOSPath(t *testing.T) {
 		)
 	}
 }
+
+// UseHomeOverride carries two rules that a mobile launch depends on and
+// that nothing else would notice breaking: an empty base must do
+// nothing, because that is precisely what StoragePath() returns on
+// desktop, and an override already set must win, or YJ_HOME would stop
+// relocating a sandbox on the platform that decides for itself.
+func TestUseHomeOverride(t *testing.T) {
+	const (
+		storage = "/data/user/0/app.yellowjacket/files"
+		sandbox = "/tmp/sandbox"
+	)
+
+	tests := []struct {
+		name    string
+		already string
+		base    string
+		want    string
+	}{
+		{name: "empty base is a no-op", already: "", base: "", want: ""},
+		{name: "sets the override when unset", already: "", base: storage, want: storage},
+		{name: "an existing override wins", already: sandbox, base: storage, want: sandbox},
+		{name: "empty base keeps an existing override", already: sandbox, base: "", want: sandbox},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			t.Setenv(envHomeOverride, tt.already)
+
+			UseHomeOverride(tt.base)
+
+			if got := os.Getenv(envHomeOverride); got != tt.want {
+				t.Errorf("%s = %q, want %q", envHomeOverride, got, tt.want)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}

main.go

@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import (
 	"yellowjacket/backend/assets"
 	"yellowjacket/backend/config"
 	"yellowjacket/backend/profiling"
+	"yellowjacket/backend/system"
 	"yellowjacket/internal/dev"
 )
 
@@ -28,6 +29,20 @@ var (
 var frontendDistAssets embed.FS
 
 func main() {
+	// **Mobile has no home directory, and this must run before anything
+	// asks for a path.** backend/system resolves config and data from
+	// $HOME or the OS equivalent, and on Android there is neither: its
+	// switch on runtime.GOOS took the default branch and returned
+	// errUnsupportedOS, so NewYellowJacketApp failed and main() exited
+	// six milliseconds after the JNI bridge came up -- with no panic and
+	// no tombstone, because os.Exit is not a crash.
+	//
+	// StoragePath() is the platform's own answer (getFilesDir() on
+	// Android, Application Support on iOS) and returns "" on desktop,
+	// where UseHomeOverride is then a no-op -- so this needs no build
+	// tag and changes nothing off mobile.
+	system.UseHomeOverride(application.Mobile.StoragePath())
+
 	// WebKitGTK's DMABuf renderer crashes on NVIDIA GPUs under Wayland.
 	// Only disable it for that specific combo so AMD/Intel and X11 users
 	// keep full hardware-accelerated buffer sharing.  Users can also

scripts/android-emulator.sh

@@ -162,7 +162,42 @@ cmd_install() {
 	need_sdk
 	[ -f bin/yellowjacket.apk ] || die "no bin/yellowjacket.apk — run 'make android' first"
 	"$ADB" get-state >/dev/null 2>&1 || die "no device — run 'make android-emulator' first"
-	"$ADB" install -r bin/yellowjacket.apk
+
+	# The two ways this fails are both about identity rather than the
+	# build, and neither error says what to do about it.
+	#
+	# A *downgrade* is the versionCode rule working as designed: a bare
+	# `make android` produces versionCode 1, so it will not install over
+	# anything a versioned build left behind.  A *signature* mismatch is
+	# the rule this whole pipeline exists for — a debug-signed local
+	# build cannot replace a release-signed one.
+	#
+	# Both are fixed by uninstalling, and on a throwaway emulator that
+	# costs nothing, so say so rather than making someone read the
+	# constant name.
+	out=$("$ADB" install -r bin/yellowjacket.apk 2>&1) || {
+		printf '%s\n' "$out"
+		case "$out" in
+		*INSTALL_FAILED_VERSION_DOWNGRADE*)
+			echo
+			echo "The installed copy has a higher versionCode than this build."
+			echo "A bare 'make android' builds versionCode 1; a versioned one"
+			echo "builds e.g. 10301.  Either uninstall:"
+			echo "    $ADB uninstall $PKG"
+			echo "or build with a version:"
+			echo "    YJ_VERSION=1.3.1 YJ_VERSION_CODE=10301 make android"
+			;;
+		*INSTALL_FAILED_UPDATE_INCOMPATIBLE* | *signatures do not match*)
+			echo
+			echo "The installed copy was signed with a different key.  Android"
+			echo "never allows that as an update — which is exactly why CI"
+			echo "refuses to publish a debug-signed APK.  Uninstall:"
+			echo "    $ADB uninstall $PKG"
+			;;
+		esac
+		return 1
+	}
+	printf '%s\n' "$out"
 }
 
 cmd_launch() {
@@ -190,11 +225,17 @@ cmd_smoke() {
 
 	cmd_launch
 	sleep 3
-	local first
+	# **`|| true` is load-bearing.** `pidof` exits 1 when it finds
-	first=$("$ADB" shell pidof "$PKG" 2>/dev/null | tr -d '\r' | awk '{print $1}')
+	# nothing, and under `set -e` a failing command substitution kills
+	# the script -- silently, before it can print why. That is invisible
+	# for as long as the app crash-*loops*, because there is always some
+	# pid; it appears the moment the app dies for good and ActivityManager
+	# stops respawning it, which is exactly the run you most want output
+	# from.
+	local first second
+	first=$("$ADB" shell pidof "$PKG" 2>/dev/null | tr -d '\r' | awk '{print $1}' || true)
 	sleep "$wait_s"
-	local second
+	second=$("$ADB" shell pidof "$PKG" 2>/dev/null | tr -d '\r' | awk '{print $1}' || true)
-	second=$("$ADB" shell pidof "$PKG" 2>/dev/null | tr -d '\r' | awk '{print $1}')
 
 	if [ -n "$first" ] && [ "$first" = "$second" ]; then
 		echo "PASS: $PKG alive as pid $first after ${wait_s}s"