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Recreating Linux traceroute for an Android app

I am extremely new the Android app development and Stack Overflow. I am trying to recreate traceroute in an Android app since Android devices do not come with traceroute by default. I've encountered a couple stack overflow posts talking about solutions to this, but I have still run into challenges.
Traceroute on android - the top post on this thread links an Android Studio project that implements traceroute using ping. If I understand the algorithm correctly, it continually pings the destination IP, incrementing the time-to-live field to obtain information about intermediary routers. I've tried to recreate this behavior, but for certain values of TTL, the ping stalls and doesn't retrieve any router information. I'm not really sure why this happens. Here's a quick demo function I spun up... at some point in the loop the pings stall.
public static void smallTracerouteDemoShowingThatTheProgramStallsAtCertainTTLs() {
try {
String host = "google.com";
int maxTTL = 20;
for (int i = 1; i < maxTTL; i++) {
// Create a process that executes the ping command
Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("ping -c 1 -t " + i + " " + host);
// Get a buffered reader with the information returned by the ping
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(p.getInputStream()));
// Convert the BufferedReader to a string
String dataReturnedByPing = "";
for (String line; (line = br.readLine()) != null; dataReturnedByPing += "\n"+line);
// Print out information about each TTL
System.out.println("TTL = " + i + " out of " + maxTTL);
System.out.println(dataReturnedByPing);
System.out.println("========================================");
}
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
how to run traceroute command through your application? - The solution on this thread suggests using BusyBox. I've not used BusyBox as yet, but it seems like I would have to embed BusyBox into my app to get things to work. After doing some research it looks like BusyBox provides numerous Linux commands through one executable. I'm a bit hesitant to explore this option because I really only need the traceroute command. In addition, I know that Android targets a few different CPU architectures, and I'm not sure if one executable will support them all.
I've also run into a github repository that takes another approach to running traceroute:
https://github.com/wangjing53406/traceroute-for-android - In this repository the author embeds the traceroute source code into the project and uses the NDK to build the source code along with the rest of his app. I really like this approach because it feels the most "correct." It uses a built traceroute instead of a Java-based implementation, so you can't find yourself in a situation where the Java implementation gives you one thing and the actual traceroute gives you another. When I open this project to experiment with it, my build fails. The top line says:
org.gradle.initialization.ReportedException: org.gradle.internal.exceptions.LocationAwareException: A problem occurred configuring root project 'traceroute-for-android-master'.
Any help on why this happens or ways to troubleshoot it would be fantastic.
For reference, the minimum SDK I am targeting is API 21 and I am running on Android Studio 3.3.0.
So, at this point I'm stumped. If you were trying to make an app that would let you execute traceroute commands, how would you do it? I really like the NDK approach because it guarantees you're getting true traceroute behavior. If you have any guides to getting that set up for my Android version/SDK, I would appreciate if you would post them. If you'd take another approach I'd to hear about it as well.
Thank you in advance.

How to execute Python codes from Java code in Android Studio?

I am building an Android application in Android studio with Java. I want to use Speech to text and Text to speech and some Machine Learning based python programs that I had already written.
Is it possible to do this? What is the technology stack that I need to accomplish this?
I came across various solutions like using sl4A, Jython, QPython and running the python code on the server.I have also gone through the following but I haven't found a solution yet
Execute python script from android App in Java
How to execute Python script from Java code in Android
Execute python script from android App in Java
Please explain with an example. As an example if I want to use the following python code (Speech to Text conversion using Google Speech recognition API) to run in my android app:
import speech_recognition as sr
r = sr.Recognizer()
with sr.Microphone() as src:
print("speak....")
audio = r.listen(src, 2)
print("over")
try:
print("you said: "+r.recognize_google(audio))
except:
print("cannot recognize")
What steps am I supposed to follow? What is the best way to achieve it?
Thank you in advance.
EDIT 1: Can it be achieved using azure services?

I've been using JEP as a bridge between java and python, I've never actually tried this on android apps, only webapps. (in the FAQS of the project they state that it could work)
private RunOutputModel run(RunInputModel model, String path) throws Exception {
RunOutputModel retVal = new RunOutputModel();
try (SharedInterpreter jep = new SharedInterpreter()) {
jep.eval("import sys");
jep.eval("sys.path.append('" + path + "')");
jep.eval("import master_main");
jep.set("well", model.getWell());
jep.set("startDate", model.getStartDate());
jep.set("endDate", model.getEndDate());
//other vars
jep.eval("objClass = master_main.master()");
jep.eval("x = objClass.main(path, well, startDate, endDate,/*vars*/)");
Object result1 = jep.getValue("x");
//manager result
}
} catch (Exception e) {
retVal.setStatus(e.getMessage());
Utils.log("error", e.getMessage(), path);
}
return retVal;
}
And here's python:
class master:
def __init__(self):
self.SETVARIABLES = ''
def main(self, path, well, startDate, endDate):
#stuff
By searching I've found this, they even have project examples of mixed source code app (both python and java).

Java 8 os.version does not contain entire Windows version

For Windows 10, Java 8 returns os.version=10.0 from System Properties, while the Windows 'ver' command returns 10.0.14393.
Is there any way to get the full windows version from java without running an external command?
Why is Java truncating the Windows version?

The answer is, as ever, in the code - it's not that it's truncating it; it just never populates the build number.
Looking at the jdk8 source, they only populated dwMajorVersion and dwMinorVersion:
sprintf(buf, "%d.%d", ver.dwMajorVersion, ver.dwMinorVersion);
sprops.os_version = _strdup(buf);
It's been this way since at least the jdk6.
Now, if you want to get a full windows version, including the build, then you can use JNA - the classes/interfaces you're looking for is com.sun.jna.platform.win32.WinNT, which contains the VERSIONINFOEX structure, and com.sun.jna.platform.win32.Kernel32 for the GetVersionEx function. I don't have a copy of windows to stub out the code for you; but it should be relatively easy to do (maybe something like this? I can't even try to test this out):
import com.sun.jna.platform.win32.*;
import java.text.MessageFormat;
public static void main(String args[]) {
Kernel32 kernel = Kernel32.INSTANCE;
WinNT.OSVERSIONINFOEX vex = new WinNT.OSVERSIONINFOEX();
if (kernel.GetVersionEx(vex)) {
System.out.println(MessageFormat.format("{0}.{1}.{2}",
vex.dwMajorVersion.toString(),
vex.dwMinorVersion.toString(),
vex.dwBuildNumber.toString()));
}
}
Asking for a rationale for this; it's pretty simple really - it never really mattered before windows 10 - you had strong delineations of behaviour based on the major and minor version of the OS; with the introduction of features by build for windows 10 it's complicated things.

Android System Version

On my Moto Maxx & Moto Razr HD (probably all Moto devices), there is an entry in the About Phone settings that states System version. I am writing an app that pulls this info from the phone but I cannot find where Motorola is pulling that info from. All the Build.VERSION, Build.DISPLAY, etc do not contain it. I have even read in the "/proc/version" from the Linux system, which doesn't contain it as well. Thoughts?
UPDATE: With everyone's help it pushed me in the right direction. My solution was:
private String getDeviceBuildVersion() {
//Get Moto Info
String line = "Note sure...";
try {
Process ifc = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("getprop " + "ro.build.version.full");
BufferedReader bis = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(ifc.getInputStream()));
line = bis.readLine();
ifc.destroy();
} catch (java.io.IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
return line;
}

It's most likely stored as an Android system property.
Assuming you're connected to the phone through adb, run this command:
adb shell getprop
This will list all of the system properties set in the system. Look for that system version string and you'll see which property it's stored as. Then when you know the name of the property it's stored as, you can use System.getProperty() to grab it programmatically.
If it's not there, Motorola is probably hiding the string somewhere in their modified source and unfortunately you won't be able to get to it.

Have a look at android.os.Build.VERSION.
CODENAME : The current development codename, or the string "REL" if this is a release build.
INCREMENTAL : The internal value used by the underlying source control to represent this build.
RELEASE : The user-visible version string.

Pinning a Java application to the Windows 7 taskbar

I use Launch4j as a wrapper for my Java application under Windows 7, which, to my understanding, in essence forks an instance of javaw.exe that in turn interprets the Java code. As a result, when attempting to pin my application to the task bar, Windows instead pins javaw.exe. Without the required command line, my application will then not run.
As you can see, Windows also does not realize that Java is the host application: the application itself is described as "Java(TM) Platform SE binary".
I have tried altering the registry key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\javaw.exe to add the value IsHostApp. This alters the behavior by disabling pinning of my application altogether; clearly not what I want.
After reading about how Windows interprets instances of a single application (and a phenomenon discussed in this question), I became interested in embedding a Application User Model ID (AppUserModelID) into my Java application.
I believe that I can resolve this by passing a unique AppUserModelID to Windows. There is a shell32 method for this, SetCurrentProcessExplicitAppUserModelID. Following Gregory Pakosz suggestion, I implemented it in an attempt to have my application recognized as a separate instance of javaw.exe:
NativeLibrary lib;
try {
lib = NativeLibrary.getInstance("shell32");
} catch (Error e) {
Logger.out.error("Could not load Shell32 library.");
return;
}
Object[] args = { "Vendor.MyJavaApplication" };
String functionName = "SetCurrentProcessExplicitAppUserModelID";
try {
Function function = lib.getFunction(functionName);
int ret = function.invokeInt(args);
if (ret != 0) {
Logger.out.error(function.getName() + " returned error code "
+ ret + ".");
}
} catch (UnsatisfiedLinkError e) {
Logger.out.error(functionName + " was not found in "
+ lib.getFile().getName() + ".");
// Function not supported
}
This appears to have no effect, but the function returns without error. Diagnosing why is something of a mystery to me. Any suggestions?
Working implementation
The final implementation that worked is the answer to my follow-up question concerning how to pass the AppID using JNA.
I had awarded the bounty to Gregory Pakosz' brilliant answer for JNI that set me on the right track.
For reference, I believe using this technique opens the possibility of using any of the APIs discussed in this article in a Java application.

I don't have Windows 7 but here is something that might get you started:
On the Java side:
package com.stackoverflow.homework;
public class MyApplication
{
static native boolean setAppUserModelID();
static
{
System.loadLibrary("MyApplicationJNI");
setAppUserModelID();
}
}
And on the native side, in the source code of the `MyApplicationJNI.dll library:
JNIEXPORT jboolean JNICALL Java_com_stackoverflow_homework_MyApplication_setAppUserModelID(JNIEnv* env)
{
LPCWSTR id = L"com.stackoverflow.homework.MyApplication";
HRESULT hr = SetCurrentProcessExplicitAppUserModelID(id);
return hr == S_OK;
}
Your question explicitly asked for a JNI solution. However, since your application doesn't need any other native method, jna is another solution which will save you from writing native code just for the sake of forwarding to the windows api. If you decide to go jna, pay attention to the fact that SetCurrentProcessExplicitAppUserModelID() is expecting a UTF-16 string.
When it works in your sandbox, the next step is to add operating system detection in your application as SetCurrentProcessExplicitAppUserModelID() is obviously only available in Windows 7:
you may do that from the Java side by checking that System.getProperty("os.name"); returns "Windows 7".
if you build from the little JNI snippet I gave, you can enhance it by dynamically loading the shell32.dll library using LoadLibrary then getting back the SetCurrentProcessExplicitAppUserModelID function pointer using GetProcAddress. If GetProcAddress returns NULL, it means the symbol is not present in shell32 hence it's not Windows 7.
EDIT: JNA Solution.
References:
The JNI book for more JNI examples
Java Native Access (JNA)

There is a Java library providing the new Windows 7 features for Java. It's called J7Goodies by Strix Code. Applications using it can be properly pinned to the Windows 7 taskbar. You can also create your own jump lists, etc.

I have implemented access to the SetCurrentProcessExplicitAppUserModelID method using JNA and it works quite well when used as the MSDN documentation suggests. I've never used the JNA api in the way you have in your code snippet. My implementation follows the typical JNA usage instead.
First the Shell32 interface definition:
interface Shell32 extends StdCallLibrary {
int SetCurrentProcessExplicitAppUserModelID( WString appID );
}
Then using JNA to load Shell32 and call the function:
final Map<String, Object> WIN32API_OPTIONS = new HashMap<String, Object>() {
{
put(Library.OPTION_FUNCTION_MAPPER, W32APIFunctionMapper.UNICODE);
put(Library.OPTION_TYPE_MAPPER, W32APITypeMapper.UNICODE);
}
};
Shell32 shell32 = (Shell32) Native.loadLibrary("shell32", Shell32.class,
WIN32API_OPTIONS);
WString wAppId = new WString( "Vendor.MyJavaApplication" );
shell32.SetCurrentProcessExplicitAppUserModelID( wAppId );
Many of the API's in the last article you mentioned make use of Windows COM which is quite difficult to use directly with JNA. I have had some success creating a custom DLL to call these API's (eg. using the SHGetPropertyStoreForWindow to set a different app ID for a submodule window) which I then use JNA to access at runtime.

Try to use JSmooth. I use always this one. In JSmooth is there an option under Skeleton by Windowed Wrapper called
Lauch java app in exe process
See on this image.
(source: andrels.com)
Also command line arguments can be passed.
I think this can be a solution for you.
Martijn

SetCurrentProcessExplicitAppUserModelID (or SetAppID()) would in fact do what you're trying to do. However, it might be easier to modify your installer to set the AppUserModel.ID property on your shortcut - quoting from the Application User Model ID document mentioned above:
In the System.AppUserModel.ID property of the application's shortcut file. A shortcut (as an IShellLink, CLSID_ShellLink, or a .lnk file) supports properties through IPropertyStore and other property-setting mechanisms used throughout the Shell. This allows the taskbar to identify the proper shortcut to pin and ensures that windows belonging to the process are appropriately associated with that taskbar button.
Note: The System.AppUserModel.ID property should be applied to a shortcut when that shortcut is created. When using the Microsoft Windows Installer (MSI) to install the application, the MsiShortcutProperty table allows the AppUserModelID to be applied to the shortcut when it is created during installation.

The latest jna-platform library now includes JNA bindings for SetCurrentProcessExplicitAppUserModelID:
https://github.com/java-native-access/jna/pull/680

I fixed mine without any ID settings.
There is an option in Launch4J if you are using it and you say you do then...
You can change the header to JNI Gui and then wrap it around the jar with the JRE.
The good thing is that it runs .exe in the process now instead on running javaw.exe with your jar. It probably does it under the hood (not sure).
Also I have noticed also that it takes around 40-50% less CPU resource which is even better!
And the pinning works fine and all that window features are enabled.
I hope it helps to someone as I spent nearly 2 days trying to solve that issue with my undecorated javafx app.