How to use the Renderscript Support Library with Gradle

Following Tim's hint, I was able to get v8 support working with Gradle, here is my project layout:

I created libs folder, and copied files Tim mentioned under the SDK folder. And here is my build.gradle changes:

dependencies {
    compile files('libs/renderscript-v8.jar')
}

android {

    tasks.withType(com.android.build.gradle.tasks.PackageApplication) {
        pkgTask -> pkgTask.jniFolders = new HashSet<File>();
            pkgTask.jniFolders.add(new File(projectDir, 'libs'));
    }
}

After that, I can import android.support.v8.renderscript.* and use the intrinsics.

Gradle for Android has now Renderscript v8 support with only 2 lines in your build script. See answer by Austyn Mahoney. Keeping the original answer for historical purpose.

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Old Answer:

Gradle supports native RS compilation, but not the RS support library. The reason is that the RS support library is hugely complicated compared to any other support library. The RS support library is actually a Java support library, a set of native libraries backing that Java lib, additional native libraries for every script you compile, and an alternate toolchain for generating both the standard LLVM bitcode and the native libraries for your scripts. Right now, only ADT and Ant support that; Gradle isn't there yet.

However, it's possible to use some parts of the RS support library from Gradle already. If you want to use the RS intrinsics, you can link the Java part of the support library (sdk/build-tools/android-4.3/lib/renderscript/renderscript-v8.jar) and the native components (sdk/build-tools/android-4.3/lib/renderscript/packaged/< arch >/*.so), and then you'll be set.

I know Gradle support for the support library is coming at some point in the not too distant future, but I don't have a firm ETA that I can share.

I know this has been already answered, but I thought I'd share my experience with Android-Studio and Renderscript support with Build-tools 21.1.0. This is what I found in build-system changelog lines 26-32:

• Renamed a few properties to make things more consistent.
  • BuildType.runProguard -> minifyEnabled
  • BuildType.zipAlign -> zipAlignEnabled
  • BuildType.jniDebugBuild -> jniDebuggable
  • BuildType.renderscriptDebug -> renderscriptDebuggable
  • ProductFlavor.renderscriptSupportMode -> renderscriptSupportModeEnabled
  • ProductFlavor.renderscriptNdkMode -> renderscriptNdkModeEnabled

So you see, they have changed the properties name. I just updated build.gradle to use:

renderscriptSupportModeEnabled true

Now the libraries are added to the project and you don't need to manually add them to your lib folder.

Using Android Studio:

Add the following values to build.gradle for android gradle plugin v0.14+

android {
    ...
    defaultConfig {
        ...
        renderscriptTargetApi 19
        renderscriptSupportModeEnabled true
    }
    ...
}

For older versions of the android gradle plugin v0.13.3 and below

android {
        ...
        defaultConfig {
            ...
            renderscriptTargetApi 19
            renderscriptSupportMode true
        }
        ...
    }

Once that is done, use android.support.v8.renderscript. anywhere in your app. The library jar and binaries are included automatically.