[Android] aarch64 build crashes on Android 16 (SDK 36) — SIGSEGV in font_driver_init_first

[AntoineMontane]

Description

The aarch64 RetroArch build (com.retroarch.aarch64) crashes immediately on startup with SIGSEGV on Android 16 (API 36). The 32-bit build (com.retroarch, armeabi-v7a) works fine on the same device.

This is likely related to #17675 — a user there also reports RetroArch "won't open" on a Pixel 9 Pro running Android 16.

Device

• Model: Samsung Galaxy S23 (SM-S911U1, Snapdragon 8 Gen 2)
• OS: Android 16 (API 36)
• Build: samsung/dm1quew/dm1q:16/BP2A.250605.031.A3/S911U1UES7EZB6:user/release-keys
• Kernel: Linux 5.15.178-android13-8 (4KB page size)
• ABI: arm64-v8a

RetroArch version

• aarch64 nightly from buildbot (1.22.2) — crashes
• 32-bit nightly from buildbot (1.22.2) — works

Tombstone

signal 11 (SIGSEGV), code 2 (SEGV_ACCERR), fault addr 0x0000007280c9b03b
tagged_addr_ctrl: 0000000000000001 (PR_TAGGED_ADDR_ENABLE)
pac_enabled_keys: 000000000000000f (PR_PAC_APIAKEY, PR_PAC_APIBKEY, PR_PAC_APDAKEY, PR_PAC_APDBKEY)

backtrace:
  #00 pc 0x0e6e284  libretroarch-activity.so
  #01 pc 0x0bfeec0  libretroarch-activity.so
  #02 pc 0x0bf3fd8  libretroarch-activity.so
  #03 pc 0x0bfebf4  libretroarch-activity.so (font_driver_init_first+184)
  #04 pc 0x0f32868  libretroarch-activity.so
  #05 pc 0x0f324c0  libretroarch-activity.so
  #06 pc 0x0d89ea4  libretroarch-activity.so
  #07 pc 0x0c6fb58  libretroarch-activity.so (drivers_init+1588)
  #08 pc 0x0c888e8  libretroarch-activity.so (retroarch_main_init+8556)
  #11 pc 0x0c855d8  libretroarch-activity.so (rarch_main+528)

BuildId: 177a70d08f24cd5a4ce7ec9338c0dbe062cd9723

Notes

• Crash occurs during early init: retroarch_main_init → drivers_init → font_driver_init_first
• SEGV_ACCERR with PAC and tagged addresses enabled suggests possible pointer authentication or memory tagging issue on newer ARM cores
• Memory near the fault shows RetroArch config strings ("nul", "false", "true", "Quitter"), suggesting the crash is in config/font parsing code
• The 32-bit build avoids the issue entirely (no PAC/MTE in 32-bit mode)

Steps to reproduce

1. Install RetroArch_aarch64.apk from buildbot nightly on an Android 16 device
2. Launch the app
3. App crashes immediately (within ~1 second)