diff --git a/java/src/com/android/inputmethod/latin/makedict/BinaryDictInputOutput.java b/java/src/com/android/inputmethod/latin/makedict/BinaryDictInputOutput.java
index a54661058..a33cddb49 100644
--- a/java/src/com/android/inputmethod/latin/makedict/BinaryDictInputOutput.java
+++ b/java/src/com/android/inputmethod/latin/makedict/BinaryDictInputOutput.java
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import com.android.inputmethod.latin.makedict.FusionDictionary.CharGroup;
 import com.android.inputmethod.latin.makedict.FusionDictionary.DictionaryOptions;
 import com.android.inputmethod.latin.makedict.FusionDictionary.Node;
 import com.android.inputmethod.latin.makedict.FusionDictionary.WeightedString;
+import com.android.inputmethod.latin.utils.JniUtils;
 
 import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
 import java.io.File;
@@ -48,6 +49,13 @@ public final class BinaryDictInputOutput {
 
     private static final boolean DBG = MakedictLog.DBG;
 
+    static {
+        JniUtils.loadNativeLibrary();
+    }
+
+    // TODO: implement something sensical instead of just a phony method
+    private static native int doNothing();
+
     // Arbitrary limit to how much passes we consider address size compression should
     // terminate in. At the time of this writing, our largest dictionary completes
     // compression in five passes.
diff --git a/native/jni/Android.mk b/native/jni/Android.mk
index 6e1d765b3..8d51a2f26 100644
--- a/native/jni/Android.mk
+++ b/native/jni/Android.mk
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ LATIN_IME_JNI_SRC_FILES := \
     com_android_inputmethod_keyboard_ProximityInfo.cpp \
     com_android_inputmethod_latin_BinaryDictionary.cpp \
     com_android_inputmethod_latin_DicTraverseSession.cpp \
+    com_android_inputmethod_latin_makedict_BinaryDictInputOutput.cpp \
     jni_common.cpp
 
 LATIN_IME_CORE_SRC_FILES := \
diff --git a/native/jni/com_android_inputmethod_latin_makedict_BinaryDictInputOutput.cpp b/native/jni/com_android_inputmethod_latin_makedict_BinaryDictInputOutput.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f78883c2d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/native/jni/com_android_inputmethod_latin_makedict_BinaryDictInputOutput.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2013 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+#define LOG_TAG "LatinIME: jni: BinaryDictInputOutput"
+
+#include "com_android_inputmethod_latin_makedict_BinaryDictInputOutput.h"
+
+#include "defines.h"
+#include "jni.h"
+#include "jni_common.h"
+
+namespace latinime {
+static int latinime_BinaryDictInputOutput_doNothing(JNIEnv *env, jclass clazz) {
+    // This is a phony method for test - it does nothing. It just returns some value
+    // unlikely to be in memory by chance for testing purposes.
+    // TODO: remove this method.
+    return 2097;
+}
+
+static const JNINativeMethod sMethods[] = {
+    {
+        // TODO: remove this entry when we have one useful method in here
+        const_cast<char *>("doNothing"),
+        const_cast<char *>("()I"),
+        reinterpret_cast<void *>(latinime_BinaryDictInputOutput_doNothing)
+    },
+};
+
+int register_BinaryDictInputOutput(JNIEnv *env) {
+    const char *const kClassPathName =
+            "com/android/inputmethod/latin/makedict/BinaryDictInputOutput";
+    return registerNativeMethods(env, kClassPathName, sMethods, NELEMS(sMethods));
+}
+} // namespace latinime
diff --git a/native/jni/com_android_inputmethod_latin_makedict_BinaryDictInputOutput.h b/native/jni/com_android_inputmethod_latin_makedict_BinaryDictInputOutput.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e622ed4ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/native/jni/com_android_inputmethod_latin_makedict_BinaryDictInputOutput.h
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2013 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+#ifndef _COM_ANDROID_INPUTMETHOD_LATIN_MAKEDICT_BINARYDICTINPUTOUTPUT_H
+#define _COM_ANDROID_INPUTMETHOD_LATIN_MAKEDICT_BINARYDICTINPUTOUTPUT_H
+
+#include "jni.h"
+
+namespace latinime {
+int register_BinaryDictInputOutput(JNIEnv *env);
+} // namespace latinime
+#endif // _COM_ANDROID_INPUTMETHOD_LATIN_MAKEDICT_BINARYDICTINPUTOUTPUT_H
diff --git a/native/jni/jni_common.cpp b/native/jni/jni_common.cpp
index f2867d7c3..733e15f73 100644
--- a/native/jni/jni_common.cpp
+++ b/native/jni/jni_common.cpp
@@ -18,9 +18,12 @@
 
 #include "jni_common.h"
 
+#ifndef HOST_TOOL
 #include "com_android_inputmethod_keyboard_ProximityInfo.h"
 #include "com_android_inputmethod_latin_BinaryDictionary.h"
 #include "com_android_inputmethod_latin_DicTraverseSession.h"
+#endif
+#include "com_android_inputmethod_latin_makedict_BinaryDictInputOutput.h"
 #include "defines.h"
 
 /*
@@ -38,6 +41,7 @@ jint JNI_OnLoad(JavaVM *vm, void *reserved) {
         AKLOGE("ERROR: JNIEnv is invalid");
         return -1;
     }
+#ifndef HOST_TOOL
     if (!latinime::register_BinaryDictionary(env)) {
         AKLOGE("ERROR: BinaryDictionary native registration failed");
         return -1;
@@ -50,6 +54,11 @@ jint JNI_OnLoad(JavaVM *vm, void *reserved) {
         AKLOGE("ERROR: ProximityInfo native registration failed");
         return -1;
     }
+#endif
+    if (!latinime::register_BinaryDictInputOutput(env)) {
+        AKLOGE("ERROR: BinaryDictInputOutput native registration failed");
+        return -1;
+    }
     /* success -- return valid version number */
     return JNI_VERSION_1_6;
 }
diff --git a/tools/dicttool/Android.mk b/tools/dicttool/Android.mk
index d06be58a7..f076ef277 100644
--- a/tools/dicttool/Android.mk
+++ b/tools/dicttool/Android.mk
@@ -13,27 +13,34 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-LOCAL_PATH := $(call my-dir)
+LATINIME_DICTTOOL_AOSP_LOCAL_PATH := $(call my-dir)
+LOCAL_PATH := $(LATINIME_DICTTOOL_AOSP_LOCAL_PATH)
+LATINIME_HOST_NATIVE_LIBNAME := liblatinime-aosp-dicttool-host
+include $(LOCAL_PATH)/NativeLib.mk
+
+######################################
+LOCAL_PATH := $(LATINIME_DICTTOOL_AOSP_LOCAL_PATH)
 include $(CLEAR_VARS)
 
-BUILD_TOP := ../../../../..
-LATINIME_DIR := $(BUILD_TOP)/packages/inputmethods/LatinIME
-LATINIME_BASE_SOURCE_DIRECTORY := $(LATINIME_DIR)/java/src/com/android/inputmethod
-LATINIME_CORE_SOURCE_DIRECTORY := $(LATINIME_BASE_SOURCE_DIRECTORY)/latin
+LATINIME_LOCAL_DIR := ../..
+LATINIME_BASE_SOURCE_DIRECTORY := $(LATINIME_LOCAL_DIR)/java/src/com/android/inputmethod
 LATINIME_ANNOTATIONS_SOURCE_DIRECTORY := $(LATINIME_BASE_SOURCE_DIRECTORY)/annotations
+LATINIME_CORE_SOURCE_DIRECTORY := $(LATINIME_BASE_SOURCE_DIRECTORY)/latin
 MAKEDICT_CORE_SOURCE_DIRECTORY := $(LATINIME_CORE_SOURCE_DIRECTORY)/makedict
-DICTTOOL_COMPAT_TESTS_DIRECTORY := compat
-DICTTOOL_ONDEVICE_TESTS_DIRECTORY := \
-        $(LATINIME_DIR)/tests/src/com/android/inputmethod/latin/makedict/
-
 USED_TARGETTED_UTILS := \
         $(LATINIME_CORE_SOURCE_DIRECTORY)/utils/ByteArrayWrapper.java \
-        $(LATINIME_CORE_SOURCE_DIRECTORY)/utils/CollectionUtils.java
+        $(LATINIME_CORE_SOURCE_DIRECTORY)/utils/CollectionUtils.java \
+        $(LATINIME_CORE_SOURCE_DIRECTORY)/utils/JniUtils.java
+
+DICTTOOL_ONDEVICE_TESTS_DIRECTORY := \
+        $(LATINIME_LOCAL_DIR)/tests/src/com/android/inputmethod/latin/makedict/
+DICTTOOL_COMPAT_TESTS_DIRECTORY := compat
 
 LOCAL_MAIN_SRC_FILES := $(call all-java-files-under, $(MAKEDICT_CORE_SOURCE_DIRECTORY))
 LOCAL_TOOL_SRC_FILES := $(call all-java-files-under, src)
 LOCAL_ANNOTATIONS_SRC_FILES := \
         $(call all-java-files-under, $(LATINIME_ANNOTATIONS_SOURCE_DIRECTORY))
+
 LOCAL_SRC_FILES := $(LOCAL_TOOL_SRC_FILES) \
         $(filter-out $(addprefix %/, $(notdir $(LOCAL_TOOL_SRC_FILES))), $(LOCAL_MAIN_SRC_FILES)) \
         $(LOCAL_ANNOTATIONS_SRC_FILES) \
@@ -44,9 +51,13 @@ LOCAL_SRC_FILES := $(LOCAL_TOOL_SRC_FILES) \
         $(USED_TARGETTED_UTILS)
 
 LOCAL_JAVA_LIBRARIES := junit
-
+LOCAL_ADDITIONAL_DEPENDENCIES := $(LATINIME_HOST_NATIVE_LIBNAME)
 LOCAL_JAR_MANIFEST := etc/manifest.txt
 LOCAL_MODULE := dicttool_aosp
 
 include $(BUILD_HOST_JAVA_LIBRARY)
 include $(LOCAL_PATH)/etc/Android.mk
+
+# Clear our private variables
+LATINIME_DICTTOOL_AOSP_LOCAL_PATH :=
+LATINIME_LOCAL_DIR :=
diff --git a/tools/dicttool/NativeLib.mk b/tools/dicttool/NativeLib.mk
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..eeae003fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/dicttool/NativeLib.mk
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2013 The Android Open Source Project
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+LOCAL_PATH := $(call my-dir)
+include $(CLEAR_VARS)
+
+# Need to define the name of the library in the caller in LATINIME_HOST_NATIVE_LIBNAME
+
+LATINIME_DIR_RELATIVE_TO_DICTTOOL := ../..
+
+ifneq ($(strip $(HOST_JDK_IS_64BIT_VERSION)),)
+LOCAL_CFLAGS += -m64
+LOCAL_LDFLAGS += -m64
+endif #HOST_JDK_IS_64BIT_VERSION
+
+LOCAL_CFLAGS += -DHOST_TOOL -fPIC
+LOCAL_NO_DEFAULT_COMPILER_FLAGS := true
+
+LATINIME_NATIVE_JNI_DIR := $(LATINIME_DIR_RELATIVE_TO_DICTTOOL)/native/jni
+LATINIME_NATIVE_SRC_DIR := $(LATINIME_DIR_RELATIVE_TO_DICTTOOL)/native/jni/src
+LOCAL_C_INCLUDES := $(LOCAL_PATH)/$(LATINIME_NATIVE_SRC_DIR)
+# Used in jni_common.cpp to avoid registering useless methods.
+
+LATIN_IME_JNI_SRC_FILES := \
+    com_android_inputmethod_latin_makedict_BinaryDictInputOutput.cpp \
+    jni_common.cpp
+
+LATIN_IME_CORE_SRC_FILES :=
+
+LOCAL_SRC_FILES := \
+    $(addprefix $(LATINIME_NATIVE_JNI_DIR)/, $(LATIN_IME_JNI_SRC_FILES)) \
+    $(addprefix $(LATINIME_NATIVE_SRC_DIR)/, $(LATIN_IME_CORE_SRC_FILES))
+
+LOCAL_MODULE := $(LATINIME_HOST_NATIVE_LIBNAME)
+
+include $(BUILD_HOST_SHARED_LIBRARY)
+
+# Clear our private variables
+LATINIME_DIR_RELATIVE_TO_DICTTOOL := ../..
diff --git a/tools/dicttool/compat/android/util/Log.java b/tools/dicttool/compat/android/util/Log.java
index d9df3a4ae..b3b6dd847 100644
--- a/tools/dicttool/compat/android/util/Log.java
+++ b/tools/dicttool/compat/android/util/Log.java
@@ -25,13 +25,13 @@ public class Log {
     public static void d(final String tag, final String message) {
         System.out.println(tag + " : " + message);
     }
-    public static void d(final String tag, final String message, final Exception e) {
+    public static void d(final String tag, final String message, final Throwable e) {
         System.out.println(tag + " : " + message + " : " + e);
     }
     public static void e(final String tag, final String message) {
         d(tag, message);
     }
-    public static void e(final String tag, final String message, final Exception e) {
-        e(tag, message, e);
+    public static void e(final String tag, final String message, final Throwable e) {
+        d(tag, message, e);
     }
 }
diff --git a/tools/dicttool/compat/com/android/inputmethod/latin/define/JniLibName.java b/tools/dicttool/compat/com/android/inputmethod/latin/define/JniLibName.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c68bdaabf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/dicttool/compat/com/android/inputmethod/latin/define/JniLibName.java
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2013 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package com.android.inputmethod.latin.define;
+
+public final class JniLibName {
+    private JniLibName() {
+        // This class is not publicly instantiable.
+    }
+
+    public static final String JNI_LIB_NAME = "latinime-dicttool-host";
+}
diff --git a/tools/dicttool/etc/dicttool_aosp b/tools/dicttool/etc/dicttool_aosp
index cc7111a2c..65a1c3a1c 100755
--- a/tools/dicttool/etc/dicttool_aosp
+++ b/tools/dicttool/etc/dicttool_aosp
@@ -69,4 +69,4 @@ else
 fi
 
 # might need more memory, e.g. -Xmx128M
-exec java -ea -classpath "$libpath":"$jarpath" "$classname" "$@"
+exec java -ea -classpath "$libpath":"$jarpath" -Djava.library.path="$libdir" "$classname" "$@"