1 \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
3 @setfilename fdroid.info
4 @documentencoding UTF-8
5 @settitle F-Droid Server Manual
9 This manual is for the F-Droid repository server tools.
11 Copyright @copyright{} 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 Ciaran Gultnieks
13 Copyright @copyright{} 2011 Henrik Tunedal, Michael Haas, John Sullivan
15 Copyright @copyright{} 2013 David Black
17 Copyright @copyright{} 2013, 2014 Daniel MartÃ
20 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
21 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3
22 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
23 with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.
24 A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU
25 Free Documentation License".
30 @title F-Droid Server Manual
31 @author Ciaran Gultnieks and the F-Droid project
33 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
49 * System Requirements::
51 * Simple Binary Repository::
52 * Building Applications::
53 * Importing Applications::
58 * GNU Free Documentation License::
65 The F-Droid server tools provide various scripts and tools that are used
66 to maintain the main F-Droid application repository. You can use these same
67 tools to create your own additional or alternative repository for publishing,
68 or to assist in creating, testing and submitting metadata to the main
72 @node System Requirements
73 @chapter System Requirements
77 The system requirements for using the tools will vary depending on your
78 intended usage. At the very least, you'll need:
85 To be sure of being able to process all apk files without error, you need
86 2.7.7 or later. See @code{http://bugs.python.org/issue14315}.
88 The Android SDK Tools and Build-tools.
89 Note that F-Droid does not assume that you have the Android SDK in your
90 @code{PATH}: these directories will be specified in your repository
91 configuration. Recent revisions of the SDK have @code{aapt} located in
92 android-sdk/build-tools/ and it may be necessary to make a symlink to it in
93 android-sdk/platform-tools/
96 If you intend to build applications from source you'll also need most, if not
97 all, of the following:
101 JDK (Debian package openjdk-6-jdk): openjdk-6 is recommended though openjdk-7
104 VCS clients: svn, git, git-svn, hg, bzr
106 A keystore for holding release keys. (Safe, secure and well backed up!)
109 If you intend to use the 'Build Server' system, for secure and clean builds
110 (highly recommended), you will also need:
114 VirtualBox (debian package virtualbox)
116 Ruby (debian packages ruby and rubygems)
118 Vagrant (unpackaged, tested on v1.4.3)
120 Paramiko (debian package python-paramiko)
122 Imaging (debian package python-imaging)
124 Magic (debian package python-magic)
127 On the other hand, if you want to build the apps directly on your system
128 without the 'Build Server' system, you may need:
132 All SDK platforms requested by the apps you want to build
133 (The Android SDK is made available by Google under a proprietary license but
134 within that, the SDK platforms, support library and some other components are
135 under the Apache license and source code is provided.
136 Google APIs, used for building apps using Google Maps, are free to the extent
137 that the library comes pre-installed on the device.
138 Google Play Services, Google Admob and others are proprietary and shouldn't be
139 included in the main F-Droid repository.)
141 A version of the Android NDK
143 Ant with Contrib Tasks (Debian packages ant and ant-contrib)
145 Maven (Debian package maven)
147 JavaCC (Debian package javacc)
149 Miscellaneous packages listed in
150 buildserver/cookbooks/fdroidbuild-general/recipes/default.rb
151 of the F-Droid server repository
157 @cindex setup, installation
159 Because the tools and data will always change rapidly, you will almost
160 certainly want to work from a git clone of the tools at this stage. To
164 git clone https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroidserver.git
167 You now have lots of stuff in the fdroidserver directory, but the most
168 important is the 'fdroid' command script which you run to perform all tasks.
169 This script is always run from a repository data directory, so the
170 most sensible thing to do next is to put your new fdroidserver directory
175 To do anything, you'll need at least one repository data directory. It's
176 from this directory that you run the @code{fdroid} command to perform all
177 repository management tasks. You can either create a brand new one, or
178 grab a copy of the data used by the main F-Droid repository:
181 git clone https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroiddata.git
184 Regardless of the intended usage of the tools, you will always need to set
185 up some basic configuration details. This is done by creating a file called
186 @code{config.py} in the data directory. You should do this by copying the
187 example file (@code{./examples/config.py}) from the fdroidserver project to
188 your data directory and then editing according to the instructions within.
190 Once configured in this way, all the functionality of the tools is accessed
191 by running the @code{fdroid} command. Run it on its own to get a list of the
192 available sub-commands.
194 You can follow any command with @code{--help} to get a list of additional
195 options available for that command.
202 @node Simple Binary Repository
203 @chapter Simple Binary Repository
207 If you want to maintain a simple repository hosting only binary APKs obtained
208 and compiled elsewhere, the process is quite simple:
212 Set up the server tools, as described in Setup.
214 Make a directory for your repository. This is the directory from which you
215 will do all the work with your repository. Create a config file there, called
216 @code{config.py}, by copying @code{./examples/config.py} from the server
217 project and editing it.
219 Within that, make a directory called @code{repo} and put APK files in it.
221 Run @code{fdroid update}.
223 If it reports that any metadata files are missing, you can create them
224 in the @code{metadata} directory and run it again.
226 To ease creation of metadata files, run @code{fdroid update} with the @code{-c}
227 option. It will create 'skeleton' metadata files that are missing, and you can
228 then just edit them and fill in the details.
230 Then, if you've changed things, run @code{fdroid update} again.
232 Running @code{fdroid update} adds an Icons directory into the repo directory,
233 and also creates the repository index (index.xml, and also index.jar if you've
234 configured the system to use a signed index).
236 Publish the resulting contents of the @code{repo} directory to your web server.
239 Following the above process will result in a @code{repo} directory, which you
240 simply need to push to any HTTP (or preferably HTTPS) server to make it
243 While some information about the applications (and versions thereof) is
244 retrieved directly from the APK files, most comes from the corresponding file
245 in the @code{metadata} directory. The metadata file covering ALL versions of a
246 particular application is named @code{package.id.txt} where package.id is the
247 unique identifier for that package.
249 See the Metadata chapter for details of what goes in the metadata file. All
250 fields are relevant for binary APKs, EXCEPT for @code{Build:} entries, which
254 @node Building Applications
255 @chapter Building Applications
257 Instead of (or as well as) including binary APKs from external sources in a
258 repository, you can build them directly from the source code.
260 Using this method, it is is possible to verify that the application builds
261 correctly, corresponds to the source code, and contains only free software.
262 Unforunately, in the Android world, it seems to be very common for an
263 application supplied as a binary APK to present itself as Free Software
264 when in fact some or all of the following are true:
268 The source code (either for a particular version, or even all versions!) is
269 unavailable or incomplete.
271 The source code is not capable of producing the actual binary supplied.
273 The 'source code' contains binary files of unknown origin, or with proprietary
277 For this reason, source-built applications are the preferred method for the
278 main F-Droid repository, although occasionally for technical or historical
279 reasons, exceptions are made to this policy.
281 When building applications from source, it should be noted that you will be
282 signing them (all APK files must be signed to be installable on Android) with
283 your own key. When an application is already installed on a device, it is not
284 possible to upgrade it in place to a new version signed with a different key
285 without first uninstalling the original. This may present an inconvenience to
286 users, as the process of uninstalling loses any data associated with the
287 previous installation.
289 The process for managing a repository for built-from-source applications is
290 very similar to that described in the Simple Binary Repository chapter,
291 except now you need to:
295 Include Build entries in the metadata files.
297 Run @code{fdroid build} to build any applications that are not already built.
299 Run @code{fdroid publish} to finalise packaging and sign any APKs that have
304 @section More about "fdroid build"
306 When run without any parameters, @code{fdroid build} will build any and all
307 versions of applications that you don't already have in the @code{repo}
308 directory (or more accurately, the @code{unsigned} directory). There are various
309 other things you can do. As with all the tools, the @code{--help} option is
310 your friend, but a few annotated examples and discussion of the more common
313 To build a single version of a single application, you could run the
317 ./fdroid build org.fdroid.fdroid:16
320 This attempts to build version code 16 (which is version 0.25) of the F-Droid
321 client. Many of the tools recognise arguments as packages, allowing their
322 activity to be limited to just a limited set of packages.
324 If the build above was successful, two files will have been placed in the
325 @code{unsigned} directory:
328 org.fdroid.fdroid_16.apk
329 org.fdroid.fdroid_16_src.tar.gz
332 The first is the (unsigned) APK. You could sign this with a debug key and push
333 it direct to your device or an emulator for testing. The second is a source
334 tarball containing exactly the source that was used to generate the binary.
336 If you were intending to publish these files, you could then run:
342 The source tarball would move to the @code{repo} directory (which is the
343 directory you would push to your web server). A signed and zip-aligned version
344 of the APK would also appear there, and both files would be removed from the
345 @code{unsigned} directory.
347 If you're building purely for the purposes of testing, and not intending to
348 push the results to a repository, at least yet, the @code{--test} option can be
349 used to direct output to the @code{tmp} directory instead of @code{unsigned}.
350 A similar effect could by achieved by simply deleting the output files from
351 @code{unsigned} after the build, but with the risk of forgetting to do so!
353 Along similar lines (and only in conjunction with @code{--test}, you can use
354 @code{--force} to force a build of a Disabled application, where normally it
355 would be completely ignored. Similarly a version that was found to contain
356 ELFs or known non-free libraries can be forced to build. See also —
357 @code{scanignore=} and @code{scandelete=} in the @code{Build:} section.
359 If the build was unsuccessful, you can find out why by looking at the output
360 in the logs/ directory. If that isn't illuminating, try building the app the
361 regular way, step by step: android update project, ndk-build, ant debug.
363 Note that source code repositories often contain prebuilt libraries. If the
364 app is being considered for the main F-Droid repository, it is important that
365 all such prebuilts are built either via the metadata or by a reputable third
369 @section Direct Installation
371 You can also build and install directly to a connected device or emulator
372 using the @code{fdroid install} command. If you do this without passing
373 packages as arguments then all the latest built and signed version available
374 of each package will be installed . In most cases, this will not be what you
375 want to do, so execution will stop straight away. However, you can override
376 this if you're sure that's what you want, by using @code{--all}. Note that
377 currently, no sanity checks are performed with this mode, so if the files in
378 the signed output directory were modified, you won't be notified.
381 @node Importing Applications
382 @chapter Importing Applications
384 To help with starting work on including a new application, @code{fdroid import}
385 will take a URL and optionally some other parameters, and attempt to construct
386 as much information as possible by analysing the source code. Basic usage is:
389 ./fdroid import --url=http://address.of.project
392 For this to work, the URL must point to a project format that the script
393 understands. Currently this is limited to one of the following:
397 Gitorious - @code{https://gitorious.org/PROJECTNAME/REPONAME}
399 Github - @code{https://github.com/USER/PROJECT}
401 Google Code - @code{http://code.google.com/p/PROJECT/}
402 Supports git, svn and hg repos.
404 Some Google Code projects have multiple repositories, identified by a
405 dropdown list on the @code{source/checkout} page. To access one other than
406 the default, specify its name using the @code{--repo} switch.
408 Bitbucket - @code{https://bitbucket.org/USER/PROJECT/}
410 Git - @code{git://REPO}
413 Depending on the project type, more or less information may be gathered. For
414 example, the license will be retrieved from a Google Code project, but not a
415 GitHub one. A bare repo url, such as the git:// one, is the least preferable
416 optional of all, since you will have to enter much more information manually.
418 If the import is successful, a metadata file will be created. You will need to
419 edit this further to check the information, and fill in the blanks.
421 If it fails, you'll be told why. If it got as far as retrieving the source
422 code, you can inspect it further by looking in @code{tmp/importer} where a full
425 A frequent cause of initial failure is that the project directory is actually
426 a subdirectory in the repository. In this case, run the importer again using
427 the @code{--subdir} option to tell it where. It will not attempt to determine
428 this automatically, since there may be several options.
436 Information used by update.py to compile the public index comes from two
441 the APK files in the repo directory, and
443 the metadata files in the metadata directory.
446 The metadata files are simple, easy to edit text files, always named as the
447 application's package ID with '.txt' appended.
449 Note that although the metadata files are designed to be easily read and
450 writable by humans, they are also processed and written by various scripts.
451 They are capable of rewriting the entire file when necessary. Even so,
452 the structure and comments will be preserved correctly, although the order
453 of fields will be standardised. (In the event that the original file was
454 in a different order, comments are considered as being attached to the field
455 following them). In fact, you can standardise all the metadata in a single
456 command, without changing the functional content, by running:
459 fdroid rewritemetadata
462 The following sections describe the fields recognised within the file.
487 * Update Check Mode::
488 * Update Check Ignore::
489 * Vercode Operation::
490 * Update Check Name::
491 * Update Check Data::
494 * Current Version Code::
501 Any number of categories for the application to be placed in. There is no
502 fixed list of categories - both the client and the web site will automatically
503 show any categories that exist in any applications. However, if your metadata
504 is intended for the main F-Droid repository, you should use one of the
505 existing categories (look at the site/client), or discuss the proposal to add
508 Categories must be separated by a single comma character, ','. For backwards
509 compatibility, F-Droid will use the first category given as <category> element
510 for older clients to at least see one category.
512 This is converted to (@code{<categories>}) in the public index file.
519 The overall license for the application, or in certain cases, for the
532 GNU GPL version 2 or later
540 GNU GPL version 3 or later
544 An unspecified GPL version. Use this only as a last resort or if there is
545 some confusion over compatiblity of component licenses: particularly the use of
546 Apache libraries with GPLv2 source code.
550 Afferro GPL version 3.
562 BSD license - the original '4-clause' version.
566 BSD license - the new, or modified, version.
570 This is converted to (@code{<license>}) in the public index file.
577 The name of the application as can best be retrieved from the source code.
578 This is done so that the commitupdates script can put a familiar name in the
579 description of commits created when a new update of the application is
580 found. The Auto Name entry is generated automatically when @code{fdroid
581 checkupdates} is run.
588 The name of the application. Normally, this field should not be present since
589 the application's correct name is retrieved from the APK file. However, in a
590 situation where an APK contains a bad or missing application name, it can be
591 overridden using this. Note that this only overrides the name in the list of
592 apps presented in the client; it doesn't changed the name or application label
600 Comma-separated list of application IDs that this app provides. In other
601 words, if the user has any of these apps installed, F-Droid will show this app
602 as installed instead. It will also appear if the user clicks on urls linking
603 to the other app IDs. Useful when an app switches package name, or when you
604 want an app to act as multiple apps.
611 The URL for the application's web site. If there is no relevant web site, this
612 can be omitted (or left blank).
614 This is converted to (@code{<web>}) in the public index file.
621 The URL to view or obtain the application's source code. This should be
622 something human-friendly. Machine-readable source-code is covered in the
625 This is converted to (@code{<source>}) in the public index file.
628 @section Issue Tracker
630 @cindex Issue Tracker
632 The URL for the application's issue tracker. Optional, since not all
633 applications have one.
635 This is converted to (@code{<tracker>}) in the public index file.
642 The URL to donate to the project. This should be the project's donate page
645 It is possible to use a direct PayPal link here, if that is all that is
646 available. However, bear in mind that the developer may not be aware of
647 that direct link, and if they later changed to a different PayPal account,
648 or the PayPal link format changed, things could go wrong. It is always
649 best to use a link that the developer explicitly makes public, rather than
650 something that is auto-generated 'button code'.
652 This is converted to (@code{<donate>}) in the public index file.
659 The project's Flattr (http://flattr.com) ID, if it has one. This should be
660 a numeric ID, such that (for example) https://flattr.com/thing/xxxx leads
661 directly to the page to donate to the project.
663 This is converted to (@code{<flattr>}) in the public index file.
670 A bitcoin address for donating to the project.
672 This is converted to (@code{<bitcoin>}) in the public index file.
679 A litecoin address for donating to the project.
686 A brief summary of what the application is. Since the summary is only allowed
687 one line on the list of the F-Droid client, keeping it to within 50 characters
688 will ensure it fits most screens.
695 A full description of the application, relevant to the latest version.
696 This can span multiple lines (which should be kept to a maximum of 80
697 characters), and is terminated by a line containing a single '.'.
699 Basic MediaWiki-style formatting can be used. Leaving a blank line starts a
700 new paragraph. Surrounding text with @code{''} make it italic, and with
701 @code{'''} makes it bold.
703 You can link to another app in the repo by using @code{[[app.id]]}. The link
704 will be made appropriately whether in the Android client, the web repo
705 browser or the wiki. The link text will be the apps name.
707 Links to web addresses can be done using @code{[http://example.com Text]}.
709 For both of the above link formats, the entire link (from opening to closing
710 square bracket) must be on the same line.
712 Bulletted lists are done by simply starting each item with a @code{*} on
713 a new line, and numbered lists are the same but using @code{#}. There is
714 currently no support for nesting lists - you can have one level only.
716 It can be helpful to note information pertaining to updating from an
717 earlier version; whether the app contains any prebuilts built by the
718 upstream developers or whether non-free elements were removed; whether the
719 app is in rapid development or whether the latest version lags behind the
720 current version; whether the app supports multiple architectures or whether
721 there is a maximum SDK specified (such info not being recorded in the index).
723 This is converted to (@code{<desc>}) in the public index file.
725 @node Maintainer Notes
726 @section Maintainer Notes
728 @cindex Maintainer Notes
730 This is a multi-line field using the same rules and syntax as the description.
731 It's used to record notes for F-Droid maintainers to assist in maintaining and
732 updating the application in the repository.
734 This information is also published to the wiki.
741 The type of repository - for automatic building from source. If this is not
742 specified, automatic building is disabled for this application. Possible
764 The repository location. Usually a git: or svn: URL, for example.
766 The git-svn option connects to an SVN repository, and you specify the URL in
767 exactly the same way, but git is used as a back-end. This is preferable for
768 performance reasons, and also because a local copy of the entire history is
769 available in case the upstream repository disappears. (It happens!). In
770 order to use Tags as update check mode for this VCS type, the URL must have
771 the tags= special argument set. Likewise, if you intend to use the
772 RepoManifest/branch scheme, you would want to specify branches= as well.
773 Finally, trunk= can also be added. All these special arguments will be passed
774 to "git svn" in order, and their values must be relative paths to the svn repo
776 Here's an example of a complex git-svn Repo URL:
777 http://svn.code.sf.net/p/project/code/svn;trunk=trunk;tags=tags;branches=branches
779 If the Repo Type is @code{srclib}, then you must specify the name of the
780 according srclib .txt file. For example if @code{scrlibs/FooBar.txt} exist
781 and you want to use this srclib, then you have to set Repo to
789 Any number of these fields can be present, each specifying a version to
790 automatically build from source. The value is a comma-separated list.
795 The above specifies to build version 1.2, which has a version code of 12.
796 The @code{commit=} parameter specifies the tag, commit or revision number from
797 which to build it in the source repository. It is the only mandatory flag,
798 which in this case could for example be @code{commit=v1.2}.
800 In addition to the three, always required, parameters described above,
801 further parameters can be added (in name=value format) to apply further
802 configuration to the build. These are (roughly in order of application):
806 @item disable=<message>
807 Disables this build, giving a reason why. (For backwards compatibility, this
808 can also be achieved by starting the commit ID with '!')
810 The purpose of this feature is to allow non-buildable releases (e.g. the source
811 is not published) to be flagged, so the scripts don't generate repeated
812 messages about them. (And also to record the information for review later).
813 If an apk has already been built, disabling causes it to be deleted once
814 @code{fdroid update} is run; this is the procedure if ever a version has to
818 Specifies to build from a subdirectory of the checked out source code.
819 Normally this directory is changed to before building,
822 Use if the project (git only) has submodules - causes @code{git submodule
823 update --init --recursive} to be executed after the source is cloned.
824 Submodules are reset and cleaned like the main app repository itself before
828 As for 'prebuild', but runs on the source code BEFORE any other processing
831 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
832 android SDK and NDK directories, and maven 3 executable respectively.
835 The sdk location in the repo is in an old format, or the build.xml is
836 expecting such. The 'new' format is sdk.dir while the VERY OLD format
837 is sdk-location. Typically, if you get a message along the lines of:
838 "com.android.ant.SetupTask cannot be found" when trying to build, then
839 try enabling this option.
841 @item target=<target>
842 Specifies a particular SDK target for compilation, overriding the value
843 defined in the code by upstream. This has different effects depending on what
844 build system used — this flag currently affects Ant, Maven and Gradle projects
845 only. Note that this does not change the target SDK in the
846 AndroidManifest.xml, which determines the level of features that can be
847 included in the build.
849 In the case of an Ant project, it modifies project.properties of the app and
850 possibly sub-projects. This is likely to cause the whole build.xml to be
851 rewritten, which is fine if it's a 'standard' android file or doesn't already
852 exist, but not a good idea if it's heavily customised.
854 @item update=<auto/dirs>
855 By default, 'android update' is used in Ant builds to generate or update the
856 project and all its referenced projects. Specifying update=no bypasses that.
857 Note that this is useless in builds that don't use Ant.
859 Default value is '@code{auto}', which recursively uses the paths in
860 project.properties to find all the subprojects to update.
862 Otherwise, the value can be a comma-separated list of directories in which to
863 run 'android update' relative to the application directory.
866 Adds a java.encoding property to local.properties with the given
867 value. Generally the value will be 'utf-8'. This is picked up by the
868 SDK's ant rules, and forces the Java compiler to interpret source
869 files with this encoding. If you receive warnings during the compile
870 about character encodings, you probably need this.
872 @item forceversion=yes
873 If specified, the package version in AndroidManifest.xml is replaced
874 with the version name for the build as specified in the metadata.
876 This is useful for cases when upstream repo failed to update it for
877 specific tag; to build an arbitrary revision; to make it apparent that
878 the version differs significantly from upstream; or to make it apparent
879 which architecture or platform the apk is designed to run on.
881 @item forcevercode=yes
882 If specified, the package version code in the AndroidManifest.xml is
883 replaced with the version code for the build. See also forceversion.
885 @item rm=<path1>[,<path2>,...]
886 Specifies the relative paths of files or directories to delete before
887 the build is done. The paths are relative to the base of the build
888 directory - i.e. the root of the directory structure checked out from
889 the source respository - not necessarily the directory that contains
892 Multiple files/directories can be specified by separating them with ','.
893 Directories will be recursively deleted.
895 @item extlibs=<lib1>[,<lib2>,...]
896 Comma-separated list of external libraries (jar files) from the
897 @code{build/extlib} library, which will be placed in the @code{libs} directory
900 @item srclibs=[n:]a@@r,[n:]b@@r1,...
901 Comma-separated list of source libraries or Android projects. Each item is of
902 the form name@@rev where name is the predefined source library name and rev is
903 the revision or tag to use in the respective source control.
905 For Ant projects, you can optionally append a number with a colon at the
906 beginning of a srclib item to automatically place it in project.properties as
907 a library under the specified number. For example, if you specify
908 @code{1:somelib@@1.0}, f-droid will automatically do the equivalent of the
909 legacy practice @code{prebuild=echo "android.library.reference.1=$$somelib$$"
910 >> project.properties}.
912 Each srclib has a metadata file under srclibs/ in the repository directory,
913 and the source code is stored in build/srclib/.
914 Repo Type: and Repo: are specified in the same way as for apps; Subdir: can be
915 a comma separated list, for when directories are renamed by upstream; Update
916 Project: updates the projects in the working directory and one level down;
917 Prepare: can be used for any kind of preparation: in particular if you need to
918 update the project with a particular target. You can then also use $$name$$ in
919 the init/prebuild/build command to substitute the relative path to the library
920 directory, but it could need tweaking if you've changed into another directory.
923 Apply patch(es). 'x' names one (or more - comma-seperated) files within a
924 directory below the metadata, with the same name as the metadata file but
925 without the extension. Each of these patches is applied to the code in turn.
928 Specifies a shell command (or commands - chain with &&) to run before the
929 build takes place. Backslash can be used as an escape character to insert
930 literal commas, or as the last character on a line to join that line with the
931 next. It has no special meaning in other contexts; in particular, literal
932 backslashes should not be escaped.
934 The command runs using bash.
936 Note that nothing should be built during this prebuild phase - scanning of the
937 code and building of the source tarball, for example, take place after this.
938 For custom actions that actually build things or produce binaries, use 'build'
941 You can use $$name$$ to substitute the path to a referenced srclib - see
942 the @code{srclib} directory for details of this.
944 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
945 android SDK and NDK directories, and Maven 3 executable respectively e.g.
946 for when you need to run @code{android update project} explicitly.
948 @item scanignore=<path1>[,<path2>,...]
949 Enables one or more files/paths to be excluded from the scan process.
950 This should only be used where there is a very good reason, and
951 probably accompanied by a comment explaining why it is necessary.
953 When scanning the source tree for problems, matching files whose relative
954 paths start with any of the paths given here are ignored.
956 @item scandelete=<path1>[,<path2>,...]
957 Similar to scanignore=, but instead of ignoring files under the given paths,
958 it tells f-droid to delete the matching files directly.
961 As for 'prebuild', but runs during the actual build phase (but before the
962 main Ant/Maven build). Use this only for actions that do actual building.
963 Any prepartion of the source code should be done using 'init' or 'prebuild'.
965 Any building that takes place before build= will be ignored, as either Ant,
966 mvn or gradle will be executed to clean the build environment right before
967 build= (or the final build) is run.
969 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
970 android SDK and NDK directories, and Maven 3 executable respectively.
972 @item buildjni=[yes|no|<dir list>]
973 Enables building of native code via the ndk-build script before doing
974 the main Ant build. The value may be a list of directories relative
975 to the main application directory in which to run ndk-build, or 'yes'
976 which corresponds to '.' . Using explicit list may be useful to build
977 multi-component projects.
979 The build and scan processes will complain (refuse to build) if this
980 parameter is not defined, but there is a @code{jni} directory present.
981 If the native code is being built by other means like a Gradle task, you
982 can specify @code{no} here to avoid that. However, if the native code is
983 actually not required or used, remove the directory instead (using
984 @code{rm=jni} for example). Using @code{buildjni=no} when the jni code
985 isn't used nor built will result in an error saying that native
986 libraries were expected in the resulting package.
989 Version of the NDK to use in this build. Defaults to the latest NDK release
990 that included legacy toolchains, so as to not break builds that require
991 toolchains no longer included in current versions of the NDK.
993 The buildserver supports r9b with its legacy toolchains and the latest release
994 as of writing this document, r10d. You may add support for more versions by
995 adding them to 'ndk_paths' in your config file.
997 @item gradle=<flavour1>[,<flavour2>,...]
998 Build with Gradle instead of Ant, specifying what flavours to use. Flavours
999 are case sensitive since the path to the output apk is as well.
1001 If only one flavour is given and it is 'yes' or 'main', no flavour will be
1002 used. Note that for projects with flavours, you must specify at least one
1003 valid flavour since 'yes' or 'main' will build all of them separately.
1005 @item maven=yes[@@<dir>]
1006 Build with Maven instead of Ant. An extra @@<dir> tells f-droid to run Maven
1007 inside that relative subdirectory. Sometimes it is needed to use @@.. so that
1008 builds happen correctly.
1010 @item preassemble=<task1>[,<task2>,...]
1011 List of Gradle tasks to be run before the assemble task in a Gradle project
1014 @item antcommands=<target1>[,<target2>,...]
1015 Specify an alternate set of Ant commands (target) instead of the default
1016 'release'. It can't be given any flags, such as the path to a build.xml.
1018 @item output=path/to/output.apk
1019 To be used when app is built with a tool other than the ones natively
1020 supported, like GNU Make. The given path will be where the build= set of
1021 commands should produce the final unsigned release apk.
1024 Don't check that the version name and code in the resulting apk are
1025 correct by looking at the build output - assume the metadata is
1026 correct. This takes away a useful level of sanity checking, and should
1027 only be used if the values can't be extracted.
1031 Another example, using extra parameters:
1033 @samp{Build Version:1.09.03,10903,45,subdir=Timeriffic,oldsdkloc=yes}
1036 @section AntiFeatures
1038 @cindex AntiFeatures
1040 This is optional - if present, it contains a comma-separated list of any of
1041 the following values, describing an anti-feature the application has.
1042 It is a good idea to mention the reasons for the anti-feature(s) in the
1048 @samp{Ads} - the application contains advertising.
1051 @samp{Tracking} - the application tracks and reports your activity to
1052 somewhere without your consent. It's commonly used for when developers
1053 obtain crash logs without the user's consent, or when an app is useless
1054 without some kind of authentication.
1057 @samp{NonFreeNet} - the application relies on computational services that
1058 are impossible to replace or that the replacement cannot be connected to
1059 without major changes to the app.
1062 @samp{NonFreeAdd} - the application promotes non-free add-ons, such that the
1063 app is effectively an advert for other non-free software and such software is
1064 not clearly labelled as such.
1067 @samp{NonFreeDep} - the application depends on a non-free application (e.g.
1068 Google Maps) - i.e. it requires it to be installed on the device, but does not
1072 @samp{UpstreamNonFree} - the application is or depends on non-free software.
1073 This does not mean that non-free software is included with the app: Most
1074 likely, it has been patched in some way to remove the non-free code. However,
1075 functionality may be missing.
1084 If this field is present, the application does not get put into the public
1085 index. This allows metadata to be retained while an application is temporarily
1086 disabled from being published. The value should be a description of why the
1087 application is disabled. No apks or source code archives are deleted: to purge
1088 an apk see the Build Version section or delete manually for developer builds.
1089 The field is therefore used when an app has outlived it's usefulness, because
1090 the source tarball is retained.
1093 @section Requires Root
1095 @cindex Requires Root
1097 Set this optional field to "Yes" if the application requires root
1098 privileges to be usable. This lets the client filter it out if the
1099 user so desires. Whether root is required or not, it is good to give
1100 a paragraph in the description to the conditions on which root may be
1101 asked for and the reason for it.
1103 @node Archive Policy
1104 @section Archive Policy
1106 @cindex Archive Policy
1108 This determines the policy for moving old versions of an app to the archive
1109 repo, if one is configured. The configuration sets a default maximum number
1110 of versions kept in the main repo, after which older ones are moved to the
1111 archive. This app-specific policy setting can override that.
1113 Currently the only supported format is "n versions", where n is the number
1114 of versions to keep.
1116 @node Update Check Mode
1117 @section Update Check Mode
1119 @cindex Update Check Mode
1121 This determines the method using for determining when new releases are
1122 available - in other words, the updating of the Current Version and Current
1123 Version Code fields in the metadata by the @code{fdroid checkupdates} process.
1129 @code{None} - No checking is done because there's no appropriate automated way
1130 of doing so. Updates should be checked for manually. Use this, for example,
1131 when deploying betas or patched versions; when builds are done in a directory
1132 different to where the AndroidManifest.xml is; if the developers use the
1133 Gradle build system and store version info in a separate file; if the
1134 developers make a new branch for each release and don't make tags; or if you've
1135 changed the package name or version code logic.
1137 @code{Static} - No checking is done - either development has ceased or new versions
1138 are not desired. This method is also used when there is no other checking method
1139 available and the upstream developer keeps us posted on new versions.
1141 @code{RepoManifest} - At the most recent commit, the AndroidManifest.xml file
1142 is looked for in the directory where it was found in the the most recent build.
1143 The appropriateness of this method depends on the development process used by
1144 the application's developers. You should not specify this method unless you're
1145 sure it's appropriate. For example, some developers bump the version when
1146 commencing development instead of when publishing.
1147 It will return an error if the AndroidManifest.xml has moved to a different
1148 directory or if the package name has changed.
1149 The current version that it gives may not be accurate, since not all
1150 versions are fit to be published. Therefore, before building, it is often
1151 necessary to check if the current version has been published somewhere by the
1152 upstream developers, either by checking for apks that they distribute or for
1153 tags in the source code repository.
1155 It currently works for every repository type to different extents, except
1156 the srclib repo type. For git, git-svn and hg repo types, you may use
1157 "RepoManifest/yourbranch" as UCM so that "yourbranch" would be the branch used
1158 in place of the default one. The default values are "master" for git,
1159 "default" for hg and none for git-svn (it stays in the same branch).
1160 On the other hand, branch support hasn't been implemented yet in bzr and svn,
1161 but RepoManifest may still be used without it.
1163 @code{RepoTrunk} - For svn and git-svn repositories, especially those who
1164 don't have a bundled AndroidManifest.xml file, the Tags and RepoManifest
1165 checks will not work, since there is no version information to obtain. But,
1166 for those apps who automate their build process with the commit ref that HEAD
1167 points to, RepoTrunk will set the Current Version and Current Version Code to
1170 @code{Tags} - The AndroidManifest.xml file in all tagged revisions in the
1171 source repository is checked, looking for the highest version code. The
1172 appropriateness of this method depends on the development process used by the
1173 application's developers. You should not specify this method unless you're sure
1174 it's appropriate. It shouldn't be used if the developers like to tag betas or
1175 are known to forget to tag releases. Like RepoManifest, it will not return the
1176 correct value if the directory containing the AndroidManifest.xml has moved.
1177 Despite these caveats, it is the often the favourite update check mode.
1179 It currently only works for git, hg, bzr and git-svn repositories. In the case
1180 of the latter, the repo URL must contain the path to the trunk and tags or
1181 else no tags will be found.
1183 Optionally append a regex pattern at the end - separated with a space - to
1184 only check the tags matching said pattern. Useful when apps tag non-release
1185 versions such as X.X-alpha, so you can filter them out with something like
1186 @code{.*[0-9]$} which requires tag names to end with a digit.
1188 @code{HTTP} - HTTP requests are used to determine the current version code and
1189 version name. This is controlled by the @code{Update Check Data} field, which
1190 is of the form @code{urlcode|excode|urlver|exver}.
1192 Firstly, if @code{urlcode} is non-empty, the document from that URL is
1193 retrieved, and matched against the regular expression @code{excode}, with the
1194 first group becoming the version code.
1196 Secondly, if @code{urlver} is non-empty, the document from that URL is
1197 retrieved, and matched against the regular expression @code{exver}, with the
1198 first group becoming the version name. The @code{urlver} field can be set to
1199 simply '.' which says to use the same document returned for the version code
1200 again, rather than retrieving a different one.
1203 @node Vercode Operation
1204 @section Vercode Operation
1206 @cindex Vercode Operation
1208 Operation to be applied to the vercode obtained by the defined @code{Update
1209 Check Mode}. @code{%c} will be replaced by the actual vercode, and the whole
1210 string will be passed to python's @code{eval} function.
1212 Especially useful with apps that we want to compile for different ABIs, but
1213 whose vercodes don't always have trailing zeros. For example, with
1214 @code{Vercode Operation} set at something like @code{%c*10 + 4}, we will be
1215 able to track updates and build up to four different versions of every
1218 @node Update Check Ignore
1219 @section Update Check Ignore
1221 @cindex Update Check Ignore
1223 When checking for updates (via @code{Update Check Mode}) this can be used to
1224 specify a regex which, if matched against the version name, causes that version
1225 to be ignored. For example, 'beta' could be specified to ignore version names
1226 that include that text.
1228 @node Update Check Name
1229 @section Update Check Name
1231 @cindex Update Check Name
1233 When checking for updates (via @code{Update Check Mode}) this can be used to
1234 specify the package name to search for. Useful when apps have a static package
1235 name but change it programmatically in some app flavors, by e.g. appending
1236 ".open" or ".free" at the end of the package name.
1238 @node Update Check Data
1239 @section Update Check Data
1241 @cindex Update Check Data
1243 Used in conjunction with @code{Update Check Mode} for certain modes.
1245 @node Auto Update Mode
1246 @section Auto Update Mode
1248 @cindex Auto Update Mode
1250 This determines the method using for auto-generating new builds when new
1251 releases are available - in other words, adding a new Build Version line to the
1253 This happens in conjunction with the 'Update Check Mode' functionality - i.e.
1254 when an update is detected by that, it is also processed by this.
1260 @code{None} - No auto-updating is done
1262 @code{Version} - Identifies the target commit (i.e. tag) for the new build based
1263 on the given version specification, which is simply text in which %v and %c are
1264 replaced with the required version name and version code respectively.
1266 For example, if an app always has a tag "2.7.2" corresponding to version 2.7.2,
1267 you would simply specify "Version %v". If an app always has a tag "ver_1234"
1268 for a version with version code 1234, you would specify "Version ver_%c".
1270 Additionally, a suffix can be added to the version name at this stage, to
1271 differentiate F-Droid's build from the original. Continuing the first example
1272 above, you would specify that as "Version +-fdroid %v" - "-fdroid" is the suffix.
1276 @node Current Version
1277 @section Current Version
1279 @cindex Current Version
1281 The name of the version that is current. There may be newer versions of the
1282 application than this (e.g. betas), and there will almost certainly be older
1283 ones. This should be the one that is recommended for general use.
1284 In the event that there is no source code for the current version, or that
1285 non-free libraries are being used, this would ideally be the latest
1286 version that is still free, though it may still be expedient to
1287 retain the automatic update check — see No Source Since.
1289 This field is normally automatically updated - see Update Check Mode.
1291 This is converted to (@code{<marketversion>}) in the public index file.
1293 @node Current Version Code
1294 @section Current Version Code
1296 @cindex Current Version Code
1298 The version code corresponding to the Current Version field. Both these fields
1299 must be correct and matching although it's the current version code that's
1300 used by Android to determine version order and by F-Droid client to determine
1301 which version should be recommended.
1303 This field is normally automatically updated - see Update Check Mode.
1305 This is converted to (@code{<marketvercode>}) in the public index file.
1307 @node No Source Since
1308 @section No Source Since
1310 @cindex No Source Since
1312 In case we are missing the source code for the Current Version reported by
1313 Upstream, or that non-free elements have been introduced, this defines the
1314 first version that began to miss source code.
1315 Apps that are missing source code for just one or a few versions, but provide
1316 source code for newer ones are not to be considered here - this field is
1317 intended to illustrate which apps do not currently distribute source code, and
1318 since when have they been doing so.
1320 @node Update Processing
1321 @chapter Update Processing
1325 There are various mechanisms in place for automatically detecting that updates
1326 are available for applications, with the @code{Update Check Mode} field in the
1327 metadata determining which method is used for a particular application.
1329 Running the @code{fdroid checkupdates} command will apply this method to each
1330 application in the repository and update the @code{Current Version} and
1331 @code{Current Version Code} fields in the metadata accordingly.
1333 As usual, the @code{-p} option can be used with this, to restrict processing
1334 to a particular application.
1336 Note that this only updates the metadata such that we know what the current
1337 published/recommended version is. It doesn't make that version available in
1338 the repository - for that, see the next section.
1342 Adding updates (i.e. new versions of applications already included in the
1343 repository) happens in two ways. The simple case is applications where the
1344 APK files are binaries, retrieved from a developer's published build. In this
1345 case, all that's required is to place the new binary in the @code{Repo}
1346 directory, and the next run of @code{fdroid update} will pick it up.
1348 For applications built from source, it is necessary to add a new
1349 @code{Build Version} line to the metadata file. At the very least, the version
1350 name, version code and commit will be different. It is also possible that the
1351 additional build flags will change between versions.
1353 For processing multiple updates in the metadata at once, it can be useful to
1354 run @code{fdroid update --interactive}. This will check all the applications
1355 in the repository, and where updates are required you will be prompted to
1356 [E]dit the metadata, [I]gnore the update, or [Q]uit altogether.
1359 @chapter Build Server
1361 The Build Server system isolates the builds for each package within a clean,
1362 isolated and secure throwaway virtual machine environment.
1366 Building applications in this manner on a large scale, especially with the
1367 involvement of automated and/or unattended processes, could be considered
1368 a dangerous pastime from a security perspective. This is even more the case
1369 when the products of the build are also distributed widely and in a
1370 semi-automated ("you have updates available") fashion.
1372 Assume that an upstream source repository is compromised. A small selection
1373 of things that an attacker could do in such a situation:
1377 Use custom Ant build steps to execute virtually anything as the user doing
1380 Access the keystore.
1382 Modify the built apk files or source tarballs for other applications in the
1385 Modify the metadata (which includes build scripts, which again, also includes
1386 the ability to execute anything) for other applications in the repository.
1389 Through complete isolation, the repurcussions are at least limited to the
1390 application in question. Not only is the build environment fresh for each
1391 build, and thrown away afterwards, but it is also isolated from the signing
1394 Aside from security issues, there are some applications which have strange
1395 requirements such as custom versions of the NDK. It would be impractical (or
1396 at least extremely messy) to start modifying and restoring the SDK on a
1397 multi-purpose system, but within the confines of a throwaway single-use
1398 virtual machine, anything is possible.
1400 All this is in addition to the obvious advantage of having a standardised
1401 and completely reproducible environment in which builds are made. Additionally,
1402 it allows for specialised custom build environments for particular
1405 @section Setting up a build server
1407 In addition to the basic setup previously described, you will also need
1408 a Vagrant-compatible Debian Testing base box called 'testing32' (or testing64
1409 for a 64-bit VM, if you want it to be much slower, and require more disk
1412 You can use a different version or distro for the base box, so long as you
1413 don't expect any help making it work. One thing to be aware of is that
1414 working copies of source trees are moved from the host to the guest, so
1415 for example, having subversion v1.6 on the host and v1.7 on the guest
1418 @subsection Creating the Debian base box
1420 The output of this step is a minimal Debian VM that has support for remote
1421 login and provisioning.
1423 Unless you're very trusting, you should create one of these for yourself
1424 from verified standard Debian installation media. However, by popular
1425 demand, the @code{makebuildserver} script will automatically download a
1426 prebuilt image unless instructed otherwise. If you choose to use the
1427 prebuilt image, you may safely skip the rest of this section.
1429 Documentation for creating a base box can be found at
1430 @url{http://docs.vagrantup.com/v1/docs/base_boxes.html}.
1432 In addition to carefully following the steps described there, you should
1433 consider the following:
1437 It is advisable to disable udev network device persistence, otherwise any
1438 movement of the VM between machines, or reconfiguration, will result in
1441 For a Debian/Ubuntu default install, just
1442 @code{touch /etc/udev/rules.d/75-persistent-net-generator.rules} to turn
1443 off rule generation, and at the same time, get rid of any rules it's
1444 already created in @code{/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules}.
1446 Unless you want the VM to become totally inaccessible following a failed
1447 boot, you need to set @code{GRUB_RECORDFAIL_TIMEOUT} to a value other than
1448 -1 in @code{/etc/grub/default} and then run @code{update-grub}.
1451 @subsection Creating the F-Droid base box
1453 The next step in the process is to create @code{makebs.config.py},
1454 using @code{./examples/makebs.config.py} as a reference - look at the settings and
1455 documentation there to decide if any need changing to suit your environment.
1456 There is a path for retrieving the base box if it doesn't exist, and an apt
1457 proxy definition, both of which may need customising for your environment.
1458 You can then go to the @code{fdroidserver} directory and run this:
1464 This will take a long time, and use a lot of bandwidth - most of it spent
1465 installing the necessary parts of the Android SDK for all the various
1466 platforms. Luckily you only need to do it occasionally. Once you have a
1467 working build server image, if the recipes change (e.g. when packages need
1468 to be added) you can just run that script again and the existing one will
1469 be updated in place.
1471 The main sdk/ndk downloads will automatically be cached to speed things
1472 up the next time, but there's no easy way of doing this for the longer
1473 sections which use the SDK's @code{android} tool to install platforms,
1474 add-ons and tools. However, instead of allowing automatic caching, you
1475 can supply a pre-populated cache directory which includes not only these
1476 downloads, but also .tar.gz files for all the relevant additions. If the
1477 provisioning scripts detect these, they will be used in preference to
1478 running the android tools. For example, if you have
1479 @code{buildserver/addons/cache/platforms/android-19.tar.gz} that will be
1480 used when installing the android-19 platform, instead of re-downloading it
1481 using @code{android update sdk --no-ui -t android-19}. It is possible to
1482 create the cache files of this additions from a local installation of the
1483 SDK including these:
1486 cd /path/to/android-sdk/platforms
1487 tar czf android-19.tar.gz android-19
1488 mv android-19.tar.gz /path/to/buildserver/addons/cache/platforms/}
1491 If you have already built a buildserver it is also possible to get this
1492 files directly from the buildserver:
1495 vagrant ssh -- -C 'tar -C ~/android-sdk/platforms czf android-19.tar.gz android-19'
1496 vagrant ssh -- -C 'cat ~/android-sdk/platforms/android-19.tar.gz' > /path/to/fdroidserver/buildserver/cache/platforms/android19.tar.gz
1499 Once it's complete you'll have a new base box called 'buildserver' which is
1500 what's used for the actual builds. You can then build packages as normal,
1501 but with the addition of the @code{--server} flag to @code{fdroid build} to
1502 instruct it to do all the hard work within the virtual machine.
1504 The first time a build is done, a new virtual machine is created using the
1505 'buildserver' box as a base. A snapshot of this clean machine state is saved
1506 for use in future builds, to improve performance. You can force discarding
1507 of this snapshot and rebuilding from scratch using the @code{--resetserver}
1508 switch with @code{fdroid build}.
1513 There are two kinds of signing involved in running a repository - the signing
1514 of the APK files generated from source builds, and the signing of the repo
1515 index itself. The latter is optional, but very strongly recommended.
1517 @section Repo Index Signing
1519 When setting up the repository, one of the first steps should be to generate
1520 a signing key for the repository index. This will also create a keystore, which
1521 is a file that can be used to hold this and all other keys used. Consider the
1522 location, security and backup status of this file carefully, then create it as
1525 @code{keytool -genkey -v -keystore my.keystore -alias repokey -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000}
1527 In the above, replace 'my.keystore' with the name of the keystore file to be
1528 created, and 'repokey' with a name to identify the repo index key by.
1530 You'll be asked for a password for the keystore, AND a password for the key.
1531 They shouldn't be the same. In between, you'll be asked for some identifying
1532 details which will go in the certificate.
1534 The two passwords entered go into @code{config.py}, as @code{keystorepass} and
1535 @code{keypass} respectively. The path to the keystore file, and the alias you
1536 chose for the key also go into that file, as @code{keystore} and
1537 @code{repo_keyalias} respectively.
1539 @section Package Signing
1541 With the repo index signing configured, all that remains to be done for package
1542 signing to work is to set the @code{keydname} field in @code{config.py} to
1543 contain the same identifying details you entered before.
1545 A new key will be generated using these details, for each application that is
1546 built. (If a specific key is required for a particular application, this system
1547 can be overridden using the @code{keyaliases} config settings.
1550 @node GNU Free Documentation License
1551 @appendix GNU Free Documentation License