Use System.loadLibrary() to load the payload. This is what JNI sample apps use.

Line 64:
https://android.googlesource.com/platform/development/+/android-4.4.4_r2/ndk/samples/hello-jni/src/com/example/hellojni/HelloJni.java

This makes RubyMotion work on older Android versions (such as API 8).

Patch by Mark Villacampa.

lib/motion/project/template/android.rb

@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ EOS
 
   # Compile and link payload library.
   libs_abi_subpath = "lib/#{App.config.armeabi_directory_name}"
-  libpayload_subpath = "#{libs_abi_subpath}/#{App.config.payload_library_name}"
+  libpayload_subpath = "#{libs_abi_subpath}/#{App.config.payload_library_filename}"
   libpayload_path = "#{app_build_dir}/#{libpayload_subpath}"
   if !File.exist?(libpayload_path) \
       or ruby_objs_changed \
@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@ EOS
       java_file_txt << "\t#{method}\n"
     end
     if name == App.config.main_activity
-      java_file_txt << "\tstatic {\n\t\tSystem.load(\"#{App.config.payload_library_name}\");\n\t}\n"
+      java_file_txt << "\tstatic {\n\t\tSystem.loadLibrary(\"#{App.config.payload_library_name}\");\n\t}\n"
     end
     java_file_txt << "}\n"
     java_file = File.join(java_app_package_dir, name + '.java')

lib/motion/project/template/android/config.rb

@@ -150,12 +150,16 @@ module Motion; module Project;
       "#{cflags} -I\"#{ndk_path}/sources/cxx-stl/stlport/stlport\""
     end
 
+    def payload_library_filename
+      "lib#{payload_library_name}.so"
+    end
+
     def payload_library_name
-      'libpayload.so'
+      'payload'
     end
 
     def ldflags
-      "-Wl,-soname,#{payload_library_name} -shared --sysroot=\"#{ndk_path}/platforms/android-#{api_version}/arch-arm\" -lgcc  -gcc-toolchain \"#{ndk_path}/toolchains/arm-linux-androideabi-4.8/prebuilt/darwin-x86_64\" -no-canonical-prefixes -target #{arch}-none-linux-androideabi  -Wl,--no-undefined -Wl,-z,noexecstack -Wl,-z,relro -Wl,-z,now"  
+      "-Wl,-soname,#{payload_library_filename} -shared --sysroot=\"#{ndk_path}/platforms/android-#{api_version}/arch-arm\" -lgcc  -gcc-toolchain \"#{ndk_path}/toolchains/arm-linux-androideabi-4.8/prebuilt/darwin-x86_64\" -no-canonical-prefixes -target #{arch}-none-linux-androideabi  -Wl,--no-undefined -Wl,-z,noexecstack -Wl,-z,relro -Wl,-z,now"
     end
 
     def versioned_datadir