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, 2015 Daniel MartÃ
19 Copyright @copyright{} 2015 Boris Kraut
22 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
23 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3
24 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
25 with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.
26 A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU
27 Free Documentation License".
32 @title F-Droid Server Manual
33 @author Ciaran Gultnieks and the F-Droid project
35 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
51 * System Requirements::
53 * Simple Binary Repository::
54 * Building Applications::
55 * Importing Applications::
60 * GNU Free Documentation License::
67 The F-Droid server tools provide various scripts and tools that are used
68 to maintain the main F-Droid application repository. You can use these same
69 tools to create your own additional or alternative repository for publishing,
70 or to assist in creating, testing and submitting metadata to the main
74 @node System Requirements
75 @chapter System Requirements
79 The system requirements for using the tools will vary depending on your
80 intended usage. At the very least, you'll need:
87 To be sure of being able to process all apk files without error, you need
88 2.7.7 or later. See @code{http://bugs.python.org/issue14315}.
90 The Android SDK Tools and Build-tools.
91 Note that F-Droid does not assume that you have the Android SDK in your
92 @code{PATH}: these directories will be specified in your repository
93 configuration. Recent revisions of the SDK have @code{aapt} located in
94 android-sdk/build-tools/ and it may be necessary to make a symlink to it in
95 android-sdk/platform-tools/
98 If you intend to build applications from source you'll also need most, if not
99 all, of the following:
103 JDK (Debian package openjdk-6-jdk): openjdk-6 is recommended though openjdk-7
106 VCS clients: svn, git, git-svn, hg, bzr
108 A keystore for holding release keys. (Safe, secure and well backed up!)
111 If you intend to use the 'Build Server' system, for secure and clean builds
112 (highly recommended), you will also need:
116 VirtualBox (debian package virtualbox)
118 Ruby (debian packages ruby and rubygems)
120 Vagrant (unpackaged, tested on v1.4.3)
122 vagrant-cachier plugin (unpackaged): `vagrant plugin install vagrant-cachier`
124 Paramiko (debian package python-paramiko)
126 Imaging (debian package python-imaging)
129 On the other hand, if you want to build the apps directly on your system
130 without the 'Build Server' system, you may need:
134 All SDK platforms requested by the apps you want to build
135 (The Android SDK is made available by Google under a proprietary license but
136 within that, the SDK platforms, support library and some other components are
137 under the Apache license and source code is provided.
138 Google APIs, used for building apps using Google Maps, are free to the extent
139 that the library comes pre-installed on the device.
140 Google Play Services, Google Admob and others are proprietary and shouldn't be
141 included in the main F-Droid repository.)
143 A version of the Android NDK
145 Ant with Contrib Tasks (Debian packages ant and ant-contrib)
147 Maven (Debian package maven)
149 JavaCC (Debian package javacc)
151 Miscellaneous packages listed in
152 buildserver/cookbooks/fdroidbuild-general/recipes/default.rb
153 of the F-Droid server repository
159 @cindex setup, installation
161 Because the tools and data will always change rapidly, you will almost
162 certainly want to work from a git clone of the tools at this stage. To
166 git clone https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroidserver.git
169 You now have lots of stuff in the fdroidserver directory, but the most
170 important is the 'fdroid' command script which you run to perform all tasks.
171 This script is always run from a repository data directory, so the
172 most sensible thing to do next is to put your new fdroidserver directory
177 To do anything, you'll need at least one repository data directory. It's
178 from this directory that you run the @code{fdroid} command to perform all
179 repository management tasks. You can either create a brand new one, or
180 grab a copy of the data used by the main F-Droid repository:
183 git clone https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroiddata.git
186 Regardless of the intended usage of the tools, you will always need to set
187 up some basic configuration details. This is done by creating a file called
188 @code{config.py} in the data directory. You should do this by copying the
189 example file (@code{./examples/config.py}) from the fdroidserver project to
190 your data directory and then editing according to the instructions within.
192 Once configured in this way, all the functionality of the tools is accessed
193 by running the @code{fdroid} command. Run it on its own to get a list of the
194 available sub-commands.
196 You can follow any command with @code{--help} to get a list of additional
197 options available for that command.
204 @node Simple Binary Repository
205 @chapter Simple Binary Repository
209 If you want to maintain a simple repository hosting only binary APKs obtained
210 and compiled elsewhere, the process is quite simple:
214 Set up the server tools, as described in Setup.
216 Make a directory for your repository. This is the directory from which you
217 will do all the work with your repository. Create a config file there, called
218 @code{config.py}, by copying @code{./examples/config.py} from the server
219 project and editing it.
221 Within that, make a directory called @code{repo} and put APK files in it.
223 Run @code{fdroid update}.
225 If it reports that any metadata files are missing, you can create them
226 in the @code{metadata} directory and run it again.
228 To ease creation of metadata files, run @code{fdroid update} with the @code{-c}
229 option. It will create 'skeleton' metadata files that are missing, and you can
230 then just edit them and fill in the details.
232 Then, if you've changed things, run @code{fdroid update} again.
234 Running @code{fdroid update} adds an Icons directory into the repo directory,
235 and also creates the repository index (index.xml, and also index.jar if you've
236 configured the system to use a signed index).
238 Publish the resulting contents of the @code{repo} directory to your web server.
241 Following the above process will result in a @code{repo} directory, which you
242 simply need to push to any HTTP (or preferably HTTPS) server to make it
245 While some information about the applications (and versions thereof) is
246 retrieved directly from the APK files, most comes from the corresponding file
247 in the @code{metadata} directory. The metadata file covering ALL versions of a
248 particular application is named @code{package.id.txt} where package.id is the
249 unique identifier for that package.
251 See the Metadata chapter for details of what goes in the metadata file. All
252 fields are relevant for binary APKs, EXCEPT for @code{Build:} entries, which
256 @node Building Applications
257 @chapter Building Applications
259 Instead of (or as well as) including binary APKs from external sources in a
260 repository, you can build them directly from the source code.
262 Using this method, it is is possible to verify that the application builds
263 correctly, corresponds to the source code, and contains only free software.
264 Unforunately, in the Android world, it seems to be very common for an
265 application supplied as a binary APK to present itself as Free Software
266 when in fact some or all of the following are true:
270 The source code (either for a particular version, or even all versions!) is
271 unavailable or incomplete.
273 The source code is not capable of producing the actual binary supplied.
275 The 'source code' contains binary files of unknown origin, or with proprietary
279 For this reason, source-built applications are the preferred method for the
280 main F-Droid repository, although occasionally for technical or historical
281 reasons, exceptions are made to this policy.
283 When building applications from source, it should be noted that you will be
284 signing them (all APK files must be signed to be installable on Android) with
285 your own key. When an application is already installed on a device, it is not
286 possible to upgrade it in place to a new version signed with a different key
287 without first uninstalling the original. This may present an inconvenience to
288 users, as the process of uninstalling loses any data associated with the
289 previous installation.
291 The process for managing a repository for built-from-source applications is
292 very similar to that described in the Simple Binary Repository chapter,
293 except now you need to:
297 Include Build entries in the metadata files.
299 Run @code{fdroid build} to build any applications that are not already built.
301 Run @code{fdroid publish} to finalise packaging and sign any APKs that have
306 @section More about "fdroid build"
308 When run without any parameters, @code{fdroid build} will build any and all
309 versions of applications that you don't already have in the @code{repo}
310 directory (or more accurately, the @code{unsigned} directory). There are various
311 other things you can do. As with all the tools, the @code{--help} option is
312 your friend, but a few annotated examples and discussion of the more common
315 To build a single version of a single application, you could run the
319 ./fdroid build org.fdroid.fdroid:16
322 This attempts to build version code 16 (which is version 0.25) of the F-Droid
323 client. Many of the tools recognise arguments as packages, allowing their
324 activity to be limited to just a limited set of packages.
326 If the build above was successful, two files will have been placed in the
327 @code{unsigned} directory:
330 org.fdroid.fdroid_16.apk
331 org.fdroid.fdroid_16_src.tar.gz
334 The first is the (unsigned) APK. You could sign this with a debug key and push
335 it direct to your device or an emulator for testing. The second is a source
336 tarball containing exactly the source that was used to generate the binary.
338 If you were intending to publish these files, you could then run:
344 The source tarball would move to the @code{repo} directory (which is the
345 directory you would push to your web server). A signed and zip-aligned version
346 of the APK would also appear there, and both files would be removed from the
347 @code{unsigned} directory.
349 If you're building purely for the purposes of testing, and not intending to
350 push the results to a repository, at least yet, the @code{--test} option can be
351 used to direct output to the @code{tmp} directory instead of @code{unsigned}.
352 A similar effect could by achieved by simply deleting the output files from
353 @code{unsigned} after the build, but with the risk of forgetting to do so!
355 Along similar lines (and only in conjunction with @code{--test}, you can use
356 @code{--force} to force a build of a Disabled application, where normally it
357 would be completely ignored. Similarly a version that was found to contain
358 ELFs or known non-free libraries can be forced to build. See also —
359 @code{scanignore=} and @code{scandelete=} in the @code{Build:} section.
361 If the build was unsuccessful, you can find out why by looking at the output
362 in the logs/ directory. If that isn't illuminating, try building the app the
363 regular way, step by step: android update project, ndk-build, ant debug.
365 Note that source code repositories often contain prebuilt libraries. If the
366 app is being considered for the main F-Droid repository, it is important that
367 all such prebuilts are built either via the metadata or by a reputable third
371 @section Direct Installation
373 You can also build and install directly to a connected device or emulator
374 using the @code{fdroid install} command. If you do this without passing
375 packages as arguments then all the latest built and signed version available
376 of each package will be installed . In most cases, this will not be what you
377 want to do, so execution will stop straight away. However, you can override
378 this if you're sure that's what you want, by using @code{--all}. Note that
379 currently, no sanity checks are performed with this mode, so if the files in
380 the signed output directory were modified, you won't be notified.
383 @node Importing Applications
384 @chapter Importing Applications
386 To help with starting work on including a new application, @code{fdroid import}
387 will take a URL and optionally some other parameters, and attempt to construct
388 as much information as possible by analysing the source code. Basic usage is:
391 ./fdroid import --url=http://address.of.project
394 For this to work, the URL must point to a project format that the script
395 understands. Currently this is limited to one of the following:
399 Gitorious - @code{https://gitorious.org/PROJECTNAME/REPONAME}
401 Github - @code{https://github.com/USER/PROJECT}
403 Google Code - @code{http://code.google.com/p/PROJECT/}
404 Supports git, svn and hg repos.
406 Some Google Code projects have multiple repositories, identified by a
407 dropdown list on the @code{source/checkout} page. To access one other than
408 the default, specify its name using the @code{--repo} switch.
410 Bitbucket - @code{https://bitbucket.org/USER/PROJECT/}
412 Git - @code{git://REPO}
415 Depending on the project type, more or less information may be gathered. For
416 example, the license will be retrieved from a Google Code project, but not a
417 GitHub one. A bare repo url, such as the git:// one, is the least preferable
418 optional of all, since you will have to enter much more information manually.
420 If the import is successful, a metadata file will be created. You will need to
421 edit this further to check the information, and fill in the blanks.
423 If it fails, you'll be told why. If it got as far as retrieving the source
424 code, you can inspect it further by looking in @code{tmp/importer} where a full
427 A frequent cause of initial failure is that the project directory is actually
428 a subdirectory in the repository. In this case, run the importer again using
429 the @code{--subdir} option to tell it where. It will not attempt to determine
430 this automatically, since there may be several options.
438 Information used by update.py to compile the public index comes from two
443 the APK files in the repo directory, and
445 the metadata files in the metadata directory.
448 The original metadata files are simple, easy to edit text files,
449 always named as the application's package ID with '.txt' appended.
450 Additionally, you can use JSON, XML, or YAML for app metadata, using
451 the same fields as the original '.txt' format.
453 Note that although the metadata files are designed to be easily read
454 and writable by humans, they are also processed and written by various
455 scripts. The original '.txt' format can be automatically cleaned up
456 when necessary. The structure and comments will be preserved
457 correctly, although the order of fields will be standardised. (In the
458 event that the original file was in a different order, comments are
459 considered as being attached to the field following them). In fact,
460 you can standardise all the '.txt' metadata in a single command,
461 without changing the functional content, by running:
467 Or just run it on a specific app:
470 fdroid rewritemeta org.adaway
473 The following sections describe the fields recognised within the file.
502 * Update Check Mode::
503 * Update Check Ignore::
504 * Vercode Operation::
505 * Update Check Name::
506 * Update Check Data::
509 * Current Version Code::
516 Any number of categories for the application to be placed in. There is no
517 fixed list of categories - both the client and the web site will automatically
518 show any categories that exist in any applications. However, if your metadata
519 is intended for the main F-Droid repository, you should use one of the
520 existing categories (look at the site/client), or discuss the proposal to add
523 Categories must be separated by a single comma character, ','. For backwards
524 compatibility, F-Droid will use the first category given as <category> element
525 for older clients to at least see one category.
527 This is converted to (@code{<categories>}) in the public index file.
534 The name of the author, either full, abbreviated or pseudonym. If
535 present, it should represent the name(s) as published by upstream,
536 e.g. in their copyright or authors file. This can be omitted (or left
539 This is converted to (@code{<author>}) in the public index file.
542 @section Author Email
546 The e-mail address of the author(s). This can be omitted (or left
549 This is converted to (@code{<email>}) in the public index file.
556 The overall license for the application, or in certain cases, for the
569 GNU GPL version 2 or later
577 GNU GPL version 3 or later
581 An unspecified GPL version. Use this only as a last resort or if there is
582 some confusion over compatiblity of component licenses: particularly the use of
583 Apache libraries with GPLv2 source code.
587 Afferro GPL version 3.
599 BSD license - the original '4-clause' version.
603 BSD license - the new, or modified, version.
607 This is converted to (@code{<license>}) in the public index file.
614 The name of the application as can best be retrieved from the source code.
615 This is done so that the commitupdates script can put a familiar name in the
616 description of commits created when a new update of the application is
617 found. The Auto Name entry is generated automatically when @code{fdroid
618 checkupdates} is run.
625 The name of the application. Normally, this field should not be present since
626 the application's correct name is retrieved from the APK file. However, in a
627 situation where an APK contains a bad or missing application name, it can be
628 overridden using this. Note that this only overrides the name in the list of
629 apps presented in the client; it doesn't changed the name or application label
637 Comma-separated list of application IDs that this app provides. In other
638 words, if the user has any of these apps installed, F-Droid will show this app
639 as installed instead. It will also appear if the user clicks on urls linking
640 to the other app IDs. Useful when an app switches package name, or when you
641 want an app to act as multiple apps.
648 The URL for the application's web site. If there is no relevant web site, this
649 can be omitted (or left blank).
651 This is converted to (@code{<web>}) in the public index file.
658 The URL to view or obtain the application's source code. This should be
659 something human-friendly. Machine-readable source-code is covered in the
662 This is converted to (@code{<source>}) in the public index file.
665 @section Issue Tracker
667 @cindex Issue Tracker
669 The URL for the application's issue tracker. Optional, since not all
670 applications have one.
672 This is converted to (@code{<tracker>}) in the public index file.
679 The URL for the application's changelog. Optional, since not all
680 applications have one.
682 This is converted to (@code{<changelog>}) in the public index file.
689 The URL to donate to the project. This should be the project's donate page
692 It is possible to use a direct PayPal link here, if that is all that is
693 available. However, bear in mind that the developer may not be aware of
694 that direct link, and if they later changed to a different PayPal account,
695 or the PayPal link format changed, things could go wrong. It is always
696 best to use a link that the developer explicitly makes public, rather than
697 something that is auto-generated 'button code'.
699 This is converted to (@code{<donate>}) in the public index file.
706 The project's Flattr (http://flattr.com) ID, if it has one. This should be
707 a numeric ID, such that (for example) https://flattr.com/thing/xxxx leads
708 directly to the page to donate to the project.
710 This is converted to (@code{<flattr>}) in the public index file.
717 A bitcoin address for donating to the project.
719 This is converted to (@code{<bitcoin>}) in the public index file.
726 A litecoin address for donating to the project.
733 A brief summary of what the application is. Since the summary is only allowed
734 one line on the list of the F-Droid client, keeping it to within 80 characters
735 will ensure it fits most screens.
742 A full description of the application, relevant to the latest version.
743 This can span multiple lines (which should be kept to a maximum of 80
744 characters), and is terminated by a line containing a single '.'.
746 Basic MediaWiki-style formatting can be used. Leaving a blank line starts a
747 new paragraph. Surrounding text with @code{''} make it italic, and with
748 @code{'''} makes it bold.
750 You can link to another app in the repo by using @code{[[app.id]]}. The link
751 will be made appropriately whether in the Android client, the web repo
752 browser or the wiki. The link text will be the apps name.
754 Links to web addresses can be done using @code{[http://example.com Text]}.
756 For both of the above link formats, the entire link (from opening to closing
757 square bracket) must be on the same line.
759 Bulletted lists are done by simply starting each item with a @code{*} on
760 a new line, and numbered lists are the same but using @code{#}. There is
761 currently no support for nesting lists - you can have one level only.
763 It can be helpful to note information pertaining to updating from an
764 earlier version; whether the app contains any prebuilts built by the
765 upstream developers or whether non-free elements were removed; whether the
766 app is in rapid development or whether the latest version lags behind the
767 current version; whether the app supports multiple architectures or whether
768 there is a maximum SDK specified (such info not being recorded in the index).
770 This is converted to (@code{<desc>}) in the public index file.
772 @node Maintainer Notes
773 @section Maintainer Notes
775 @cindex Maintainer Notes
777 This is a multi-line field using the same rules and syntax as the description.
778 It's used to record notes for F-Droid maintainers to assist in maintaining and
779 updating the application in the repository.
781 This information is also published to the wiki.
788 The type of repository - for automatic building from source. If this is not
789 specified, automatic building is disabled for this application. Possible
812 The repository location. Usually a git: or svn: URL, for example.
814 The git-svn option connects to an SVN repository, and you specify the URL in
815 exactly the same way, but git is used as a back-end. This is preferable for
816 performance reasons, and also because a local copy of the entire history is
817 available in case the upstream repository disappears. (It happens!). In
818 order to use Tags as update check mode for this VCS type, the URL must have
819 the tags= special argument set. Likewise, if you intend to use the
820 RepoManifest/branch scheme, you would want to specify branches= as well.
821 Finally, trunk= can also be added. All these special arguments will be passed
822 to "git svn" in order, and their values must be relative paths to the svn repo
824 Here's an example of a complex git-svn Repo URL:
825 http://svn.code.sf.net/p/project/code/svn;trunk=trunk;tags=tags;branches=branches
827 If the Repo Type is @code{srclib}, then you must specify the name of the
828 according srclib .txt file. For example if @code{scrlibs/FooBar.txt} exist
829 and you want to use this srclib, then you have to set Repo to
837 The location of binaries used in verification process.
839 If specified, F-Droid will verify the output apk file of a build against the
840 one specified. You can use %v and %c to point to the version name and version
841 code of the current build. To verify the F-Droid client itself you could use:
842 @code{Binaries:https://f-droid.org/repo/org.fdroid.fdroid_%c.apk}
844 F-Droid will use upstream binaries if the verification succeeded.
851 Any number of these fields can be present, each specifying a version to
852 automatically build from source. The value is a comma-separated list.
857 The above specifies to build version 1.2, which has a version code of 12.
858 The @code{commit=} parameter specifies the tag, commit or revision number from
859 which to build it in the source repository. It is the only mandatory flag,
860 which in this case could for example be @code{commit=v1.2}.
862 In addition to the three, always required, parameters described above,
863 further parameters can be added (in name=value format) to apply further
864 configuration to the build. These are (roughly in order of application):
868 @item disable=<message>
869 Disables this build, giving a reason why. (For backwards compatibility, this
870 can also be achieved by starting the commit ID with '!')
872 The purpose of this feature is to allow non-buildable releases (e.g. the source
873 is not published) to be flagged, so the scripts don't generate repeated
874 messages about them. (And also to record the information for review later).
875 If an apk has already been built, disabling causes it to be deleted once
876 @code{fdroid update} is run; this is the procedure if ever a version has to
880 Specifies to build from a subdirectory of the checked out source code.
881 Normally this directory is changed to before building,
884 Use if the project (git only) has submodules - causes @code{git submodule
885 update --init --recursive} to be executed after the source is cloned.
886 Submodules are reset and cleaned like the main app repository itself before
890 As for 'prebuild', but runs on the source code BEFORE any other processing
893 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
894 android SDK and NDK directories, and maven 3 executable respectively. The
895 following per-build variables are available likewise: $$VERSION$$,
896 $$VERCODE$$ and $$COMMIT$$.
899 The sdk location in the repo is in an old format, or the build.xml is
900 expecting such. The 'new' format is sdk.dir while the VERY OLD format
901 is sdk-location. Typically, if you get a message along the lines of:
902 "com.android.ant.SetupTask cannot be found" when trying to build, then
903 try enabling this option.
905 @item target=<target>
906 Specifies a particular SDK target for compilation, overriding the value
907 defined in the code by upstream. This has different effects depending on what
908 build system used — this flag currently affects Ant, Maven and Gradle projects
909 only. Note that this does not change the target SDK in the
910 AndroidManifest.xml, which determines the level of features that can be
911 included in the build.
913 In the case of an Ant project, it modifies project.properties of the app and
914 possibly sub-projects. This is likely to cause the whole build.xml to be
915 rewritten, which is fine if it's a 'standard' android file or doesn't already
916 exist, but not a good idea if it's heavily customised.
918 @item update=<auto/dirs>
919 By default, 'android update' is used in Ant builds to generate or update the
920 project and all its referenced projects. Specifying update=no bypasses that.
921 Note that this is useless in builds that don't use Ant.
923 Default value is '@code{auto}', which recursively uses the paths in
924 project.properties to find all the subprojects to update.
926 Otherwise, the value can be a comma-separated list of directories in which to
927 run 'android update' relative to the application directory.
930 Adds a java.encoding property to local.properties with the given
931 value. Generally the value will be 'utf-8'. This is picked up by the
932 SDK's ant rules, and forces the Java compiler to interpret source
933 files with this encoding. If you receive warnings during the compile
934 about character encodings, you probably need this.
936 @item forceversion=yes
937 If specified, the package version in AndroidManifest.xml is replaced
938 with the version name for the build as specified in the metadata.
940 This is useful for cases when upstream repo failed to update it for
941 specific tag; to build an arbitrary revision; to make it apparent that
942 the version differs significantly from upstream; or to make it apparent
943 which architecture or platform the apk is designed to run on.
945 @item forcevercode=yes
946 If specified, the package version code in the AndroidManifest.xml is
947 replaced with the version code for the build. See also forceversion.
949 @item rm=<path1>[,<path2>,...]
950 Specifies the relative paths of files or directories to delete before
951 the build is done. The paths are relative to the base of the build
952 directory - i.e. the root of the directory structure checked out from
953 the source respository - not necessarily the directory that contains
956 Multiple files/directories can be specified by separating them with ','.
957 Directories will be recursively deleted.
959 @item extlibs=<lib1>[,<lib2>,...]
960 Comma-separated list of external libraries (jar files) from the
961 @code{build/extlib} library, which will be placed in the @code{libs} directory
964 @item srclibs=[n:]a@@r,[n:]b@@r1,...
965 Comma-separated list of source libraries or Android projects. Each item is of
966 the form name@@rev where name is the predefined source library name and rev is
967 the revision or tag to use in the respective source control.
969 For Ant projects, you can optionally append a number with a colon at the
970 beginning of a srclib item to automatically place it in project.properties as
971 a library under the specified number. For example, if you specify
972 @code{1:somelib@@1.0}, F-Droid will automatically do the equivalent of the
973 legacy practice @code{prebuild=echo "android.library.reference.1=$$somelib$$"
974 >> project.properties}.
976 Each srclib has a metadata file under srclibs/ in the repository directory,
977 and the source code is stored in build/srclib/.
978 Repo Type: and Repo: are specified in the same way as for apps; Subdir: can be
979 a comma separated list, for when directories are renamed by upstream; Update
980 Project: updates the projects in the working directory and one level down;
981 Prepare: can be used for any kind of preparation: in particular if you need to
982 update the project with a particular target. You can then also use $$name$$ in
983 the init/prebuild/build command to substitute the relative path to the library
984 directory, but it could need tweaking if you've changed into another directory.
986 Currently srclibs are necessary when upstream uses jar files or pulls
987 dependencies from non-trusted repositories. While there is no guarantee that
988 those binaries are free and correspondent to the source code, F-Droid allows
989 the following known repositories until a source-built alternative is available:
994 @samp{mavenCentral} - the original repo, hardcoded in Maven and Gradle.
997 @samp{jCenter} - hardcoded in Gradle, this repo by Bintray tries to provide
998 easier handling. It should sync with mavenCentral from time to time.
1001 @samp{OSS Sonatype} - maintained by the people behind mavenCentral, this
1002 repository focuses on hosting services for open source project binaries.
1005 @samp{JitPack.io} - builds directly from Github repositories. However,
1006 they do not provide any option to reproduce or verify the resulting
1007 binaries. Builds pre-release versions in some cases.
1012 Apply patch(es). 'x' names one (or more - comma-seperated) files within a
1013 directory below the metadata, with the same name as the metadata file but
1014 without the extension. Each of these patches is applied to the code in turn.
1017 Specifies a shell command (or commands - chain with &&) to run before the
1018 build takes place. Backslash can be used as an escape character to insert
1019 literal commas, or as the last character on a line to join that line with the
1020 next. It has no special meaning in other contexts; in particular, literal
1021 backslashes should not be escaped.
1023 The command runs using bash.
1025 Note that nothing should be built during this prebuild phase - scanning of the
1026 code and building of the source tarball, for example, take place after this.
1027 For custom actions that actually build things or produce binaries, use 'build'
1030 You can use $$name$$ to substitute the path to a referenced srclib - see
1031 the @code{srclib} directory for details of this.
1033 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
1034 android SDK and NDK directories, and Maven 3 executable respectively e.g.
1035 for when you need to run @code{android update project} explicitly. The
1036 following per-build variables are available likewise: $$VERSION$$, $$VERCODE$$
1039 @item scanignore=<path1>[,<path2>,...]
1040 Enables one or more files/paths to be excluded from the scan process.
1041 This should only be used where there is a very good reason, and
1042 probably accompanied by a comment explaining why it is necessary.
1044 When scanning the source tree for problems, matching files whose relative
1045 paths start with any of the paths given here are ignored.
1047 @item scandelete=<path1>[,<path2>,...]
1048 When running the scan process, any files that trigger errors - like binaries -
1049 will be removed. It acts just like scanignore=, but instead of ignoring the
1050 files, it removes them.
1052 Useful when a source code repository includes binaries or other unwanted files
1053 which are not needed for the build. Instead of removing them manually via rm=,
1054 using scandelete= is easier.
1057 As for 'prebuild', but runs during the actual build phase (but before the
1058 main Ant/Maven build). Use this only for actions that do actual building.
1059 Any prepartion of the source code should be done using 'init' or 'prebuild'.
1061 Any building that takes place before build= will be ignored, as either Ant,
1062 mvn or gradle will be executed to clean the build environment right before
1063 build= (or the final build) is run.
1065 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
1066 android SDK and NDK directories, and maven 3 executable respectively. The
1067 following per-build variables are available likewise: $$VERSION$$,
1068 $$VERCODE$$ and $$COMMIT$$.
1070 @item buildjni=[yes|no|<dir list>]
1071 Enables building of native code via the ndk-build script before doing
1072 the main Ant build. The value may be a list of directories relative
1073 to the main application directory in which to run ndk-build, or 'yes'
1074 which corresponds to '.' . Using explicit list may be useful to build
1075 multi-component projects.
1077 The build and scan processes will complain (refuse to build) if this
1078 parameter is not defined, but there is a @code{jni} directory present.
1079 If the native code is being built by other means like a Gradle task, you
1080 can specify @code{no} here to avoid that. However, if the native code is
1081 actually not required or used, remove the directory instead (using
1082 @code{rm=jni} for example). Using @code{buildjni=no} when the jni code
1083 isn't used nor built will result in an error saying that native
1084 libraries were expected in the resulting package.
1087 Version of the NDK to use in this build. Defaults to the latest NDK release
1088 that included legacy toolchains, so as to not break builds that require
1089 toolchains no longer included in current versions of the NDK.
1091 The buildserver supports r9b with its legacy toolchains and the latest release
1092 as of writing this document, r10e. You may add support for more versions by
1093 adding them to 'ndk_paths' in your config file.
1095 @item gradle=<flavour1>[,<flavour2>,...]
1096 Build with Gradle instead of Ant, specifying what flavours to use. Flavours
1097 are case sensitive since the path to the output apk is as well.
1099 If only one flavour is given and it is 'yes', no flavour will be used.
1100 Note that for projects with flavours, you must specify at least one
1101 valid flavour since 'yes' will build all of them separately.
1103 @item maven=yes[@@<dir>]
1104 Build with Maven instead of Ant. An extra @@<dir> tells F-Droid to run Maven
1105 inside that relative subdirectory. Sometimes it is needed to use @@.. so that
1106 builds happen correctly.
1108 @item preassemble=<task1>[,<task2>,...]
1109 List of Gradle tasks to be run before the assemble task in a Gradle project
1112 @item gradleprops=<prop1>[,<prop2>,...]
1113 List of Gradle properties to pass via the command line to Gradle. A property
1114 can be of the form @code{foo} or of the form @code{key=value}.
1116 For example: @code{gradleprops=enableFoo,someSetting=bar} will result in
1117 @code{gradle -PenableFoo -PsomeSetting=bar}.
1119 @item antcommands=<target1>[,<target2>,...]
1120 Specify an alternate set of Ant commands (target) instead of the default
1121 'release'. It can't be given any flags, such as the path to a build.xml.
1123 @item output=path/to/output.apk
1124 To be used when app is built with a tool other than the ones natively
1125 supported, like GNU Make. The given path will be where the build= set of
1126 commands should produce the final unsigned release apk.
1129 Don't check that the version name and code in the resulting apk are
1130 correct by looking at the build output - assume the metadata is
1131 correct. This takes away a useful level of sanity checking, and should
1132 only be used if the values can't be extracted.
1136 Another example, using extra parameters:
1138 @samp{Build Version:1.09.03,10903,45,subdir=Timeriffic,oldsdkloc=yes}
1141 @section AntiFeatures
1143 @cindex AntiFeatures
1145 This is optional - if present, it contains a comma-separated list of any of
1146 the following values, describing an anti-feature the application has.
1147 It is a good idea to mention the reasons for the anti-feature(s) in the
1153 @samp{Ads} - the application contains advertising.
1156 @samp{Tracking} - the application tracks and reports your activity to
1157 somewhere without your consent. It's commonly used for when developers
1158 obtain crash logs without the user's consent, or when an app is useless
1159 without some kind of authentication.
1162 @samp{NonFreeNet} - the application relies on computational services that
1163 are impossible to replace or that the replacement cannot be connected to
1164 without major changes to the app.
1167 @samp{NonFreeAdd} - the application promotes non-free add-ons, such that the
1168 app is effectively an advert for other non-free software and such software is
1169 not clearly labelled as such.
1172 @samp{NonFreeDep} - the application depends on a non-free application (e.g.
1173 Google Maps) - i.e. it requires it to be installed on the device, but does not
1177 @samp{UpstreamNonFree} - the application is or depends on non-free software.
1178 This does not mean that non-free software is included with the app: Most
1179 likely, it has been patched in some way to remove the non-free code. However,
1180 functionality may be missing.
1183 @samp{NonFreeAssets} - the application contains and makes use of non-free
1184 assets. The most common case is apps using artwork - images, sounds, music,
1185 etc - under a non-commercial license.
1194 If this field is present, the application does not get put into the public
1195 index. This allows metadata to be retained while an application is temporarily
1196 disabled from being published. The value should be a description of why the
1197 application is disabled. No apks or source code archives are deleted: to purge
1198 an apk see the Build Version section or delete manually for developer builds.
1199 The field is therefore used when an app has outlived it's usefulness, because
1200 the source tarball is retained.
1203 @section Requires Root
1205 @cindex Requires Root
1207 Set this optional field to "Yes" if the application requires root
1208 privileges to be usable. This lets the client filter it out if the
1209 user so desires. Whether root is required or not, it is good to give
1210 a paragraph in the description to the conditions on which root may be
1211 asked for and the reason for it.
1213 @node Archive Policy
1214 @section Archive Policy
1216 @cindex Archive Policy
1218 This determines the policy for moving old versions of an app to the archive
1219 repo, if one is configured. The configuration sets a default maximum number
1220 of versions kept in the main repo, after which older ones are moved to the
1221 archive. This app-specific policy setting can override that.
1223 Currently the only supported format is "n versions", where n is the number
1224 of versions to keep.
1226 @node Update Check Mode
1227 @section Update Check Mode
1229 @cindex Update Check Mode
1231 This determines the method using for determining when new releases are
1232 available - in other words, the updating of the Current Version and Current
1233 Version Code fields in the metadata by the @code{fdroid checkupdates} process.
1239 @code{None} - No checking is done because there's no appropriate automated way
1240 of doing so. Updates should be checked for manually. Use this, for example,
1241 when deploying betas or patched versions; when builds are done in a directory
1242 different to where the AndroidManifest.xml is; if the developers use the
1243 Gradle build system and store version info in a separate file; if the
1244 developers make a new branch for each release and don't make tags; or if you've
1245 changed the package name or version code logic.
1247 @code{Static} - No checking is done - either development has ceased or new versions
1248 are not desired. This method is also used when there is no other checking method
1249 available and the upstream developer keeps us posted on new versions.
1251 @code{RepoManifest} - At the most recent commit, the AndroidManifest.xml file
1252 is looked for in the directory where it was found in the the most recent build.
1253 The appropriateness of this method depends on the development process used by
1254 the application's developers. You should not specify this method unless you're
1255 sure it's appropriate. For example, some developers bump the version when
1256 commencing development instead of when publishing.
1257 It will return an error if the AndroidManifest.xml has moved to a different
1258 directory or if the package name has changed.
1259 The current version that it gives may not be accurate, since not all
1260 versions are fit to be published. Therefore, before building, it is often
1261 necessary to check if the current version has been published somewhere by the
1262 upstream developers, either by checking for apks that they distribute or for
1263 tags in the source code repository.
1265 It currently works for every repository type to different extents, except
1266 the srclib repo type. For git, git-svn and hg repo types, you may use
1267 "RepoManifest/yourbranch" as UCM so that "yourbranch" would be the branch used
1268 in place of the default one. The default values are "master" for git,
1269 "default" for hg and none for git-svn (it stays in the same branch).
1270 On the other hand, branch support hasn't been implemented yet in bzr and svn,
1271 but RepoManifest may still be used without it.
1273 @code{RepoTrunk} - For svn and git-svn repositories, especially those who
1274 don't have a bundled AndroidManifest.xml file, the Tags and RepoManifest
1275 checks will not work, since there is no version information to obtain. But,
1276 for those apps who automate their build process with the commit ref that HEAD
1277 points to, RepoTrunk will set the Current Version and Current Version Code to
1280 @code{Tags} - The AndroidManifest.xml file in all tagged revisions in the
1281 source repository is checked, looking for the highest version code. The
1282 appropriateness of this method depends on the development process used by the
1283 application's developers. You should not specify this method unless you're sure
1284 it's appropriate. It shouldn't be used if the developers like to tag betas or
1285 are known to forget to tag releases. Like RepoManifest, it will not return the
1286 correct value if the directory containing the AndroidManifest.xml has moved.
1287 Despite these caveats, it is the often the favourite update check mode.
1289 It currently only works for git, hg, bzr and git-svn repositories. In the case
1290 of the latter, the repo URL must contain the path to the trunk and tags or
1291 else no tags will be found.
1293 Optionally append a regex pattern at the end - separated with a space - to
1294 only check the tags matching said pattern. Useful when apps tag non-release
1295 versions such as X.X-alpha, so you can filter them out with something like
1296 @code{.*[0-9]$} which requires tag names to end with a digit.
1298 @code{HTTP} - HTTP requests are used to determine the current version code and
1299 version name. This is controlled by the @code{Update Check Data} field, which
1300 is of the form @code{urlcode|excode|urlver|exver}.
1302 Firstly, if @code{urlcode} is non-empty, the document from that URL is
1303 retrieved, and matched against the regular expression @code{excode}, with the
1304 first group becoming the version code.
1306 Secondly, if @code{urlver} is non-empty, the document from that URL is
1307 retrieved, and matched against the regular expression @code{exver}, with the
1308 first group becoming the version name. The @code{urlver} field can be set to
1309 simply '.' which says to use the same document returned for the version code
1310 again, rather than retrieving a different one.
1313 @node Vercode Operation
1314 @section Vercode Operation
1316 @cindex Vercode Operation
1318 Operation to be applied to the vercode obtained by the defined @code{Update
1319 Check Mode}. @code{%c} will be replaced by the actual vercode, and the whole
1320 string will be passed to python's @code{eval} function.
1322 Especially useful with apps that we want to compile for different ABIs, but
1323 whose vercodes don't always have trailing zeros. For example, with
1324 @code{Vercode Operation} set at something like @code{%c*10 + 4}, we will be
1325 able to track updates and build up to four different versions of every
1328 @node Update Check Ignore
1329 @section Update Check Ignore
1331 @cindex Update Check Ignore
1333 When checking for updates (via @code{Update Check Mode}) this can be used to
1334 specify a regex which, if matched against the version name, causes that version
1335 to be ignored. For example, 'beta' could be specified to ignore version names
1336 that include that text.
1338 @node Update Check Name
1339 @section Update Check Name
1341 @cindex Update Check Name
1343 When checking for updates (via @code{Update Check Mode}) this can be used to
1344 specify the package name to search for. Useful when apps have a static package
1345 name but change it programmatically in some app flavors, by e.g. appending
1346 ".open" or ".free" at the end of the package name.
1348 You can also use @code{Ignore} to ignore package name searching. This should
1349 only be used in some specific cases, for example if the app's build.gradle
1350 file does not contain the package name.
1352 @node Update Check Data
1353 @section Update Check Data
1355 @cindex Update Check Data
1357 Used in conjunction with @code{Update Check Mode} for certain modes.
1359 @node Auto Update Mode
1360 @section Auto Update Mode
1362 @cindex Auto Update Mode
1364 This determines the method using for auto-generating new builds when new
1365 releases are available - in other words, adding a new Build Version line to the
1367 This happens in conjunction with the 'Update Check Mode' functionality - i.e.
1368 when an update is detected by that, it is also processed by this.
1374 @code{None} - No auto-updating is done
1376 @code{Version} - Identifies the target commit (i.e. tag) for the new build based
1377 on the given version specification, which is simply text in which %v and %c are
1378 replaced with the required version name and version code respectively.
1380 For example, if an app always has a tag "2.7.2" corresponding to version 2.7.2,
1381 you would simply specify "Version %v". If an app always has a tag "ver_1234"
1382 for a version with version code 1234, you would specify "Version ver_%c".
1384 Additionally, a suffix can be added to the version name at this stage, to
1385 differentiate F-Droid's build from the original. Continuing the first example
1386 above, you would specify that as "Version +-fdroid %v" - "-fdroid" is the suffix.
1390 @node Current Version
1391 @section Current Version
1393 @cindex Current Version
1395 The name of the version that is current. There may be newer versions of the
1396 application than this (e.g. betas), and there will almost certainly be older
1397 ones. This should be the one that is recommended for general use.
1398 In the event that there is no source code for the current version, or that
1399 non-free libraries are being used, this would ideally be the latest
1400 version that is still free, though it may still be expedient to
1401 retain the automatic update check — see No Source Since.
1403 This field is normally automatically updated - see Update Check Mode.
1405 This is converted to (@code{<marketversion>}) in the public index file.
1407 @node Current Version Code
1408 @section Current Version Code
1410 @cindex Current Version Code
1412 The version code corresponding to the Current Version field. Both these fields
1413 must be correct and matching although it's the current version code that's
1414 used by Android to determine version order and by F-Droid client to determine
1415 which version should be recommended.
1417 This field is normally automatically updated - see Update Check Mode.
1419 If not set or set to @code{0}, clients will recommend the highest version they
1420 can, as if the @code{Current Version Code} was infinite.
1422 This is converted to (@code{<marketvercode>}) in the public index file.
1424 @node No Source Since
1425 @section No Source Since
1427 @cindex No Source Since
1429 In case we are missing the source code for the Current Version reported by
1430 Upstream, or that non-free elements have been introduced, this defines the
1431 first version that began to miss source code.
1432 Apps that are missing source code for just one or a few versions, but provide
1433 source code for newer ones are not to be considered here - this field is
1434 intended to illustrate which apps do not currently distribute source code, and
1435 since when have they been doing so.
1437 @node Update Processing
1438 @chapter Update Processing
1442 There are various mechanisms in place for automatically detecting that updates
1443 are available for applications, with the @code{Update Check Mode} field in the
1444 metadata determining which method is used for a particular application.
1446 Running the @code{fdroid checkupdates} command will apply this method to each
1447 application in the repository and update the @code{Current Version} and
1448 @code{Current Version Code} fields in the metadata accordingly.
1450 As usual, the @code{-p} option can be used with this, to restrict processing
1451 to a particular application.
1453 Note that this only updates the metadata such that we know what the current
1454 published/recommended version is. It doesn't make that version available in
1455 the repository - for that, see the next section.
1459 Adding updates (i.e. new versions of applications already included in the
1460 repository) happens in two ways. The simple case is applications where the
1461 APK files are binaries, retrieved from a developer's published build. In this
1462 case, all that's required is to place the new binary in the @code{Repo}
1463 directory, and the next run of @code{fdroid update} will pick it up.
1465 For applications built from source, it is necessary to add a new
1466 @code{Build Version} line to the metadata file. At the very least, the version
1467 name, version code and commit will be different. It is also possible that the
1468 additional build flags will change between versions.
1470 For processing multiple updates in the metadata at once, it can be useful to
1471 run @code{fdroid update --interactive}. This will check all the applications
1472 in the repository, and where updates are required you will be prompted to
1473 [E]dit the metadata, [I]gnore the update, or [Q]uit altogether.
1476 @chapter Build Server
1478 The Build Server system isolates the builds for each package within a clean,
1479 isolated and secure throwaway virtual machine environment.
1483 Building applications in this manner on a large scale, especially with the
1484 involvement of automated and/or unattended processes, could be considered
1485 a dangerous pastime from a security perspective. This is even more the case
1486 when the products of the build are also distributed widely and in a
1487 semi-automated ("you have updates available") fashion.
1489 Assume that an upstream source repository is compromised. A small selection
1490 of things that an attacker could do in such a situation:
1494 Use custom Ant build steps to execute virtually anything as the user doing
1497 Access the keystore.
1499 Modify the built apk files or source tarballs for other applications in the
1502 Modify the metadata (which includes build scripts, which again, also includes
1503 the ability to execute anything) for other applications in the repository.
1506 Through complete isolation, the repurcussions are at least limited to the
1507 application in question. Not only is the build environment fresh for each
1508 build, and thrown away afterwards, but it is also isolated from the signing
1511 Aside from security issues, there are some applications which have strange
1512 requirements such as custom versions of the NDK. It would be impractical (or
1513 at least extremely messy) to start modifying and restoring the SDK on a
1514 multi-purpose system, but within the confines of a throwaway single-use
1515 virtual machine, anything is possible.
1517 All this is in addition to the obvious advantage of having a standardised
1518 and completely reproducible environment in which builds are made. Additionally,
1519 it allows for specialised custom build environments for particular
1522 @section Setting up a build server
1524 In addition to the basic setup previously described, you will also need
1525 a Vagrant-compatible Debian Testing base box called 'jessie32' (or jessie64
1526 for a 64-bit VM, if you want it to be much slower, and require more disk
1529 You can use a different version or distro for the base box, so long as you
1530 don't expect any help making it work. One thing to be aware of is that
1531 working copies of source trees are moved from the host to the guest, so
1532 for example, having subversion v1.6 on the host and v1.7 on the guest
1535 @subsection Creating the Debian base box
1537 The output of this step is a minimal Debian VM that has support for remote
1538 login and provisioning.
1540 Unless you're very trusting, you should create one of these for yourself
1541 from verified standard Debian installation media. However, by popular
1542 demand, the @code{makebuildserver} script will automatically download a
1543 prebuilt image unless instructed otherwise. If you choose to use the
1544 prebuilt image, you may safely skip the rest of this section.
1546 Documentation for creating a base box can be found at
1547 @url{http://docs.vagrantup.com/v1/docs/base_boxes.html}.
1549 In addition to carefully following the steps described there, you should
1550 consider the following:
1554 It is advisable to disable udev network device persistence, otherwise any
1555 movement of the VM between machines, or reconfiguration, will result in
1558 For a Debian/Ubuntu default install, just
1559 @code{touch /etc/udev/rules.d/75-persistent-net-generator.rules} to turn
1560 off rule generation, and at the same time, get rid of any rules it's
1561 already created in @code{/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules}.
1563 Unless you want the VM to become totally inaccessible following a failed
1564 boot, you need to set @code{GRUB_RECORDFAIL_TIMEOUT} to a value other than
1565 -1 in @code{/etc/grub/default} and then run @code{update-grub}.
1568 @subsection Creating the F-Droid base box
1570 The next step in the process is to create @code{makebs.config.py},
1571 using @code{./examples/makebs.config.py} as a reference - look at the settings and
1572 documentation there to decide if any need changing to suit your environment.
1573 There is a path for retrieving the base box if it doesn't exist, and an apt
1574 proxy definition, both of which may need customising for your environment.
1575 You can then go to the @code{fdroidserver} directory and run this:
1581 This will take a long time, and use a lot of bandwidth - most of it spent
1582 installing the necessary parts of the Android SDK for all the various
1583 platforms. Luckily you only need to do it occasionally. Once you have a
1584 working build server image, if the recipes change (e.g. when packages need
1585 to be added) you can just run that script again and the existing one will
1586 be updated in place.
1588 The main sdk/ndk downloads will automatically be cached to speed things
1589 up the next time, but there's no easy way of doing this for the longer
1590 sections which use the SDK's @code{android} tool to install platforms,
1591 add-ons and tools. However, instead of allowing automatic caching, you
1592 can supply a pre-populated cache directory which includes not only these
1593 downloads, but also .tar.gz files for all the relevant additions. If the
1594 provisioning scripts detect these, they will be used in preference to
1595 running the android tools. For example, if you have
1596 @code{buildserver/addons/cache/platforms/android-19.tar.gz} that will be
1597 used when installing the android-19 platform, instead of re-downloading it
1598 using @code{android update sdk --no-ui -t android-19}. It is possible to
1599 create the cache files of this additions from a local installation of the
1600 SDK including these:
1603 cd /path/to/android-sdk/platforms
1604 tar czf android-19.tar.gz android-19
1605 mv android-19.tar.gz /path/to/buildserver/addons/cache/platforms/
1608 If you have already built a buildserver it is also possible to get this
1609 files directly from the buildserver:
1612 vagrant ssh -- -C 'tar -C ~/android-sdk/platforms czf android-19.tar.gz android-19'
1613 vagrant ssh -- -C 'cat ~/android-sdk/platforms/android-19.tar.gz' > /path/to/fdroidserver/buildserver/cache/platforms/android19.tar.gz
1616 Once it's complete you'll have a new base box called 'buildserver' which is
1617 what's used for the actual builds. You can then build packages as normal,
1618 but with the addition of the @code{--server} flag to @code{fdroid build} to
1619 instruct it to do all the hard work within the virtual machine.
1621 The first time a build is done, a new virtual machine is created using the
1622 'buildserver' box as a base. A snapshot of this clean machine state is saved
1623 for use in future builds, to improve performance. You can force discarding
1624 of this snapshot and rebuilding from scratch using the @code{--resetserver}
1625 switch with @code{fdroid build}.
1630 There are two kinds of signing involved in running a repository - the signing
1631 of the APK files generated from source builds, and the signing of the repo
1632 index itself. The latter is optional, but very strongly recommended.
1634 @section Repo Index Signing
1636 When setting up the repository, one of the first steps should be to generate
1637 a signing key for the repository index. This will also create a keystore, which
1638 is a file that can be used to hold this and all other keys used. Consider the
1639 location, security and backup status of this file carefully, then create it as
1642 @code{keytool -genkey -v -keystore my.keystore -alias repokey -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000}
1644 In the above, replace 'my.keystore' with the name of the keystore file to be
1645 created, and 'repokey' with a name to identify the repo index key by.
1647 You'll be asked for a password for the keystore, AND a password for the key.
1648 They shouldn't be the same. In between, you'll be asked for some identifying
1649 details which will go in the certificate.
1651 The two passwords entered go into @code{config.py}, as @code{keystorepass} and
1652 @code{keypass} respectively. The path to the keystore file, and the alias you
1653 chose for the key also go into that file, as @code{keystore} and
1654 @code{repo_keyalias} respectively.
1656 @section Package Signing
1658 With the repo index signing configured, all that remains to be done for package
1659 signing to work is to set the @code{keydname} field in @code{config.py} to
1660 contain the same identifying details you entered before.
1662 A new key will be generated using these details, for each application that is
1663 built. (If a specific key is required for a particular application, this system
1664 can be overridden using the @code{keyaliases} config settings.
1667 @node GNU Free Documentation License
1668 @appendix GNU Free Documentation License