title: Hosting an executable within Android application
body: <p>I am working on an Android application that depends on an ELF binary: 
  our Java code interacts with this binary to get things done. This 
  runtime needs to be started and terminated on Application startup and 
  application exit / on demand.  </p>
  
  <p><strong>Questions:</strong>   </p>
  
  <ol>
  <li><p>I am assuming that we will be able to execute this binary using the 
  Runtime.exec() API. Is there any constraints as to where I 
  need to be putting my library in the folder structure? How would the system runtime locate this executable? Is there some sort of class path setting?   </p></li>
  <li><p>Since the application has dependencies on this Runtime, I was 
  thinking of wrapping it around a service so that it can be started or 
  stopped as required. What is the best way to handle such executables 
  in Android project?</p></li>
  <li><p>What are other alternatives, assuming that I do not have source code for this executable?</p></li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>Please advice.</p>
  
  <p>Thanks.</p>