StoryMaker™

Apparently, the upcoming Android5/L is going to require that -fPIE is set on all native builds of executables, or they won't be able to run. The pisser is that executables compiled with -fPIE will not run on platforms older than Android 4.1 (android-16). From android-ndk-r9d/docs/APPLICATION-MK.html:

APP_PIE

Starting from Jelly Bean (4.1), Android's dynamic linker supports position-independent executables (PIE), which are built with -fPIE. This flag makes it harder to exploit memory corruption bugs by randomization the location of the code. By default, ndk-build will automatically set this value to 'true' if your project targets android-16 or higher. You may set it manually to either 'true' or 'false'.

IMPORTANT: PIE executables cannot run on Android releases prior to 4.1.

Note that this only applies to executables. It has no effect when building shared or static libraries.

• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24818902/running-a-native-library-on-android-l-error-only-position-independent-executab
• https://www.duosecurity.com/blog/exploit-mitigations-in-android-jelly-bean-4-1