@qlik/react-native-helium

@qlik/react-native-helium

Skia base JSI renderer for Picasso and Nebula

Running

To build, develop and run, please see https://github.com/qlik-oss/react-native-carbon

Build Guide: Harfbuzz, ICU & Skia

This document provides instructions for building Harfbuzz, ICU and Skia for Android and iOS platforms.

⚙️ Prerequisites

Before building, ensure you have the following tools installed and correctly set up.

🔹 Common Tools

Tool	Required For	How to Check
Git	Clone repositories	git --version
Python 3	Meson build system	python3 --version
Ninja	Build system backend	ninja --version
CMake (≥3.18)	Android build	cmake --version
Meson (≥0.60)	iOS build	meson --version
pkg-config	Dependency discovery	pkg-config --version

🔹 Android Specific

Tool	Required For	How to Check
Android Studio / SDK	SDK + NDK setup	Open Android Studio > Preferences > SDK
Android NDK (≥23.1)	CMake builds	ls $ANDROID_HOME/ndk/
Java (JDK ≥11)	Gradle + build tools	java -version

👉 Set environment variables in your shell config (~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc):

export ANDROID_HOME=$HOME/Library/Android/sdk
export ANDROID_NDK=$ANDROID_HOME/ndk/23.1.7779620
export PATH=$ANDROID_HOME/emulator:$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools:$PATH

🔹 iOS Specific

Tool	Required For	How to Check
Xcode (≥14)	iOS SDKs + compilers	xcodebuild -version
Xcode Command Line Tools	clang, ar, strip	xcode-select -p
CocoaPods (optional)	Dependency mgmt	pod --version

👉 Make sure SDK paths exist:

ls /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs/
ls /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/SDKs/

If these return valid .sdk folders (e.g., iPhoneOS18.2.sdk), you’re good.

📦 Harfbuzz

🔹 Android

• Repository: harfbuzz/harfbuzz
• Branch: (Specify branch if needed)

Steps

• Checkout the branch:

  git clone https://github.com/harfbuzz/harfbuzz.git
  cd harfbuzz
  git checkout <branch>
  

• Create a bash script (e.g., build_android.sh):

  #!/bin/bash
  set -o errexit -o nounset
  cd build/android
  
  cmake ../..      -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=$ANDROID_NDK/build/cmake/android.toolchain.cmake      -DANDROID_ABI=arm64-v8a      -DANDROID_PLATFORM=android-31      -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release      -DHB_HAVE_FREETYPE=OFF      -DHB_BUILD_SHARED=OFF      -GNinja
  
  ninja install
  

• Run the script:

  bash build_android.sh
  

⚠️ Note: Building Harfbuzz for Android using Meson currently has known issues. Prefer CMake.

🔹 iOS

• Repository: harfbuzz/harfbuzz
• Branch: (Specify branch if needed)

Steps

• Checkout the branch:

  git clone https://github.com/harfbuzz/harfbuzz.git
  cd harfbuzz
  git checkout <branch>
  

• Create cross files for Simulator and Device builds.

  • Simulator Example (ios_cross_sim.txt)
    (see earlier section for full contents)

  • Device Example (ios_cross_dev.txt)
    (same structure, but with iPhoneOS.platform SDK)

• Run Meson setup:

  meson setup --cross-file ios_cross_dev.txt ios_dev_arm64 -Ddefault_library=static -Dtests="disabled"
  

• Build with Ninja:

  ninja -C ios_dev_arm64
  

📦 ICU

🔹 Android

• Repository: unicode-org/icu
• Branch: release-70-rc

Steps

• Clone the repo & checkout branch:

  git clone https://github.com/unicode-org/icu.git
  cd icu
  git checkout release-70-rc
  

• Create directories:

  icu/icu4c/android
  icu/icu4c/macOS
  

• Copy build script (build_icu_android.sh) into icu/icu4c/android.

• Run the script:

  cd icu/icu4c/android
  bash build_icu_android.sh
  

🔹 iOS

• Repository: dbquarrel/icu4c-xcframework

Steps

• Checkout the repo:

  git clone https://github.com/dbquarrel/icu4c-xcframework.git
  cd icu4c-xcframework
  git checkout <branch>
  

✅ With this, you’ll be able to build Harfbuzz and ICU for Android and iOS successfully.

📦 Skia

🔹 Android

• Repositories:

  • chromium.googlesource.com Skia
  • google/skia (GitHub)

• Branch: Yet to find (update once finalized)

Steps

• Clone the repository and checkout branch:

  git clone https://github.com/google/skia.git
  cd skia
  git checkout <branch>
  

• Sync dependencies:

  python tools/git-sync-deps
  

• Copy android_lib.sh script to the root directory of the repository.

• Run the script:

  bash android_lib.sh
  

🔹 iOS

• Repositories:

  • chromium.googlesource.com Skia
  • google/skia (GitHub)

• Branch: Yet to find (update once finalized)

Steps

• Clone the repository and checkout branch:

  git clone https://github.com/google/skia.git
  cd skia
  git checkout <branch>
  

• Sync dependencies:

  python tools/git-sync-deps
  

• Copy create-framework.sh script to the root directory of the repository.

• Run the script:

  bash create-framework.sh
  

⚠️ Notes

• Ensure the script paths in android_lib.sh and create-framework.sh are updated correctly before execution.
• The build process may require additional tools such as Python 3, Ninja, CMake, Xcode (for iOS), Android NDK (for Android).
• Some dependencies may take time to download when running git-sync-deps.

Note: where ios/headers has a copy of the skia/include folder

✅ With this guide, you can build Skia for Android and iOS.

License

MIT