Set up the app for debugging with MTE

Enabling MTE in the Android project

There are different ways to enable MTE in Android projects.

For a detailed description, see Memory safety .

You can use the application manifest to enable MTE.

To open the application manifest, switch the project view to Project Files and expand app->src->main->res folders as shown in the picture below. Double-click on the AndroidManifes.xml file to open it.

Android Manifest file path.

Here is the manifest file:

    

        
        
            <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    package="com.example.mte_test">

    <application
        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:dataExtractionRules="@xml/data_extraction_rules"
        android:fullBackupContent="@xml/backup_rules"
        android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:roundIcon="@mipmap/ic_launcher_round"
        android:supportsRtl="true"
        android:theme="@style/Theme.AppCompat.Light.NoActionBar"
        tools:targetApi="31"
        android:memtagMode="sync"
        tools:ignore="MissingPrefix">
        <activity
            android:name=".MainActivity"
            android:exported="true">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
    </application>
</manifest>
        
    

The line below enables MTE in sync mode in the application.

    

        
        
            android:memtagMode="sync"
        
    

The attribute memTagMode can have the following values: off, sync, async, and asymm.

If the android:memtagMode attribute is not specified, then MTE is disabled.

This Learning Path demonstrates the sync value of memtagMode attribute.

In synchronous mode (sync), a mismatch between the tag in the address and the tag in memory causes the processor to abort execution immediately. It terminates the process with SIGSEGV (code SEGV_MTESERR), which is a synchronous exception. This identifies the precise instruction and address that caused the failure.

Sync mode is recommended when debugging your application.

You can find detailed information on MTE modes in the MTE Guide for Android OS .

The last step is to enable MTE in the phone settings.

For this, follow the indications provided in the Learning Path Memory Tagging Extension on Google Pixel 8 .