[CMake] CMake + Gradle for Android

[Robert Dailey]

Right now I have custom targets set to execute the "ant release"
command after my native targets are built. Part of that command
involves copying *.so files to the libs/armeabi-v7a directory so they
get packaged in an APK.

When switching to gradle, I have two options:

1. Gradle drives CMake: This means using Android Studio and being
locked down to Google's fork of CMake which is a few major releases
behind. I see that as a negative.

2. CMake drives Gradle: This would be the same or similar to what I'm
already doing: The custom targets I have would execute gradle as a
separate build step, instead of running ant commands. I'm not too
familiar with Gradle, so I'm not sure how you tell it where your
shared libraries are for the APK packaging steps.

Which does everyone recommend? Is anyone using one of these setups
successfully? The downside to option 2 is probably no on-device native
debugging since Android Studio probably can't handle gradle projects
without any external CMake builds set up.

Would like some general direction & advice before I move away from
ANT. Thanks in advance.