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 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:
86 The Android SDK Tools and Build-tools.
87 Note that F-Droid does not assume that you have the Android SDK in your
88 @code{PATH}: these directories will be specified in your repository
89 configuration. Recent revisions of the SDK have @code{aapt} located in
90 android-sdk/build-tools/ and it may be necessary to make a symlink to it in
91 android-sdk/platform-tools/
94 If you intend to build applications from source you'll also need most, if not
95 all, of the following:
99 JDK (Debian package openjdk-6-jdk): openjdk-6 is recommended though openjdk-7
102 VCS clients: svn, git, git-svn, hg, bzr
104 A keystore for holding release keys. (Safe, secure and well backed up!)
107 If you intend to use the 'Build Server' system, for secure and clean builds
108 (highly recommended), you will also need:
112 VirtualBox (debian package virtualbox)
114 Ruby (debian packages ruby and rubygems)
116 Vagrant (unpackaged) Be sure to use 1.3.x because 1.4.x is completely broken
117 (at the time of writing, the forthcoming 1.4.3 might work)
119 Paramiko (debian package python-paramiko)
121 Imaging (debian package python-imaging)
123 Magic (debian package python-magic)
126 On the other hand, if you want to build the apps directly on your system
127 without the 'Build Server' system, you may need:
131 All SDK platforms requested by the apps you want to build
132 (The Android SDK is made available by Google under a proprietary license but
133 within that, the SDK platforms, support library and some other components are
134 under the Apache license and source code is provided.
135 Google APIs, used for building apps using Google Maps, are free to the extent
136 that the library comes pre-installed on the device.
137 Google Play Services, Google Admob and others are proprietary and shouldn't be
138 included in the main F-Droid repository.)
140 A version of the Android NDK
142 Ant with Contrib Tasks (Debian packages ant and ant-contrib)
144 Maven (Debian package maven)
146 JavaCC (Debian package javacc)
148 Miscellaneous packages listed in
149 buildserver/cookbooks/fdroidbuild-general/recipes/default.rb
150 of the F-Droid server repository
156 @cindex setup, installation
158 Because the tools and data will always change rapidly, you will almost
159 certainly want to work from a git clone of the tools at this stage. To
163 git clone https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroidserver.git
166 You now have lots of stuff in the fdroidserver directory, but the most
167 important is the 'fdroid' command script which you run to perform all tasks.
168 This script is always run from a repository data directory, so the
169 most sensible thing to do next is to put your new fdroidserver directory
174 To do anything, you'll need at least one repository data directory. It's
175 from this directory that you run the @code{fdroid} command to perform all
176 repository management tasks. You can either create a brand new one, or
177 grab a copy of the data used by the main F-Droid repository:
180 git clone https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroiddata.git
183 Regardless of the intended usage of the tools, you will always need to set
184 up some basic configuration details. This is done by creating a file called
185 @code{config.py} in the data directory. You should do this by copying the
186 example file (@code{config.sample.py}) from the fdroidserver project to your
187 data directory and then editing according to the instructions within.
189 Once configured in this way, all the functionality of the tools is accessed
190 by running the @code{fdroid} command. Run it on its own to get a list of the
191 available sub-commands.
193 You can follow any command with @code{--help} to get a list of additional
194 options available for that command.
201 @node Simple Binary Repository
202 @chapter Simple Binary Repository
206 If you want to maintain a simple repository hosting only binary APKs obtained
207 and compiled elsewhere, the process is quite simple:
211 Set up the server tools, as described in Setup.
213 Make a directory for your repository. This is the directory from which you
214 will do all the work with your repository. Create a config file there, called
215 @code{config.py}, by copying the @code{config.sample.py} from the server
216 project and editing it.
218 Within that, make a directory called @code{repo} and put APK files in it.
220 Run @code{fdroid update}.
222 If it reports that any metadata files are missing, you can create them
223 in the @code{metadata} directory and run it again.
225 To ease creation of metadata files, run @code{fdroid update} with the @code{-c}
226 option. It will create 'skeleton' metadata files that are missing, and you can
227 then just edit them and fill in the details.
229 Then, if you've changed things, run @code{fdroid update} again.
231 Running @code{fdroid update} adds an Icons directory into the repo directory,
232 and also creates the repository index (index.xml, and also index.jar if you've
233 configured the system to use a signed index).
235 Publish the resulting contents of the @code{repo} directory to your web server.
238 Following the above process will result in a @code{repo} directory, which you
239 simply need to push to any HTTP (or preferably HTTPS) server to make it
242 While some information about the applications (and versions thereof) is
243 retrieved directly from the APK files, most comes from the corresponding file
244 in the @code{metadata} directory. The metadata file covering ALL versions of a
245 particular application is named @code{package.id.txt} where package.id is the
246 unique identifier for that package.
248 See the Metadata chapter for details of what goes in the metadata file. All
249 fields are relevant for binary APKs, EXCEPT for @code{Build:} entries, which
253 @node Building Applications
254 @chapter Building Applications
256 Instead of (or as well as) including binary APKs from external sources in a
257 repository, you can build them directly from the source code.
259 Using this method, it is is possible to verify that the application builds
260 correctly, corresponds to the source code, and contains only free software.
261 Unforunately, in the Android world, it seems to be very common for an
262 application supplied as a binary APK to present itself as Free Software
263 when in fact some or all of the following are true:
267 The source code (either for a particular version, or even all versions!) is
268 unavailable or incomplete.
270 The source code is not capable of producing the actual binary supplied.
272 The 'source code' contains binary files of unknown origin, or with proprietary
276 For this reason, source-built applications are the preferred method for the
277 main F-Droid repository, although occasionally for technical or historical
278 reasons, exceptions are made to this policy.
280 When building applications from source, it should be noted that you will be
281 signing them (all APK files must be signed to be installable on Android) with
282 your own key. When an application is already installed on a device, it is not
283 possible to upgrade it in place to a new version signed with a different key
284 without first uninstalling the original. This may present an inconvenience to
285 users, as the process of uninstalling loses any data associated with the
286 previous installation.
288 The process for managing a repository for built-from-source applications is
289 very similar to that described in the Simple Binary Repository chapter,
290 except now you need to:
294 Include Build entries in the metadata files.
296 Run @code{fdroid build} to build any applications that are not already built.
298 Run @code{fdroid publish} to finalise packaging and sign any APKs that have
303 @section More about "fdroid build"
305 When run without any parameters, @code{fdroid build} will build any and all
306 versions of applications that you don't already have in the @code{repo}
307 directory (or more accurately, the @code{unsigned} directory). There are various
308 other things you can do. As with all the tools, the @code{--help} option is
309 your friend, but a few annotated examples and discussion of the more common
312 To build a single version of a single application, you could run the
316 ./fdroid build org.fdroid.fdroid:16
319 This attempts to build version code 16 (which is version 0.25) of the F-Droid
320 client. Many of the tools recognise arguments as packages, allowing their
321 activity to be limited to just a limited set of packages.
323 If the build above was successful, two files will have been placed in the
324 @code{unsigned} directory:
327 org.fdroid.fdroid_16.apk
328 org.fdroid.fdroid_16_src.tar.gz
331 The first is the (unsigned) APK. You could sign this with a debug key and push
332 it direct to your device or an emulator for testing. The second is a source
333 tarball containing exactly the source that was used to generate the binary.
335 If you were intending to publish these files, you could then run:
341 The source tarball would move to the @code{repo} directory (which is the
342 directory you would push to your web server). A signed and zip-aligned version
343 of the APK would also appear there, and both files would be removed from the
344 @code{unsigned} directory.
346 If you're building purely for the purposes of testing, and not intending to
347 push the results to a repository, at least yet, the @code{--test} option can be
348 used to direct output to the @code{tmp} directory instead of @code{unsigned}.
349 A similar effect could by achieved by simply deleting the output files from
350 @code{unsigned} after the build, but with the risk of forgetting to do so!
352 Along similar lines (and only in conjunction with @code{--test}, you can use
353 @code{--force} to force a build of a Disabled application, where normally it
354 would be completely ignored. Similarly a version that was found to contain
355 ELFs or known non-free libraries can be forced to build. See also —
356 @code{scanignore=} and @code{scandelete=} in the @code{Build:} section.
358 If the build was unsuccessful, you can find out why by looking at the output
359 in the logs/ directory. If that isn't illuminating, try building the app the
360 regular way, step by step: android update project, ndk-build, ant debug.
362 Note that source code repositories often contain prebuilt libraries. If the
363 app is being considered for the main F-Droid repository, it is important that
364 all such prebuilts are built either via the metadata or by a reputable third
368 @section Direct Installation
370 You can also build and install directly to a connected device or emulator
371 using the @code{fdroid install} command. If you do this without passing
372 packages as arguments then all the latest built and signed version available
373 of each package will be installed . In most cases, this will not be what you
374 want to do, so execution will stop straight away. However, you can override
375 this if you're sure that's what you want, by using @code{--all}. Note that
376 currently, no sanity checks are performed with this mode, so if the files in
377 the signed output directory were modified, you won't be notified.
380 @node Importing Applications
381 @chapter Importing Applications
383 To help with starting work on including a new application, @code{fdroid import}
384 will take a URL and optionally some other parameters, and attempt to construct
385 as much information as possible by analysing the source code. Basic usage is:
388 ./fdroid import --url=http://address.of.project
391 For this to work, the URL must point to a project format that the script
392 understands. Currently this is limited to one of the following:
396 Gitorious - @code{https://gitorious.org/PROJECTNAME/REPONAME}
398 Github - @code{https://github.com/USER/PROJECT}
400 Google Code - @code{http://code.google.com/p/PROJECT/}
401 Supports git, svn and hg repos.
403 Some Google Code projects have multiple repositories, identified by a
404 dropdown list on the @code{source/checkout} page. To access one other than
405 the default, specify its name using the @code{--repo} switch.
407 Bitbucket - @code{https://bitbucket.org/USER/PROJECT/}
409 Git - @code{git://REPO}
412 Depending on the project type, more or less information may be gathered. For
413 example, the license will be retrieved from a Google Code project, but not a
414 GitHub one. A bare repo url, such as the git:// one, is the least preferable
415 optional of all, since you will have to enter much more information manually.
417 If the import is successful, a metadata file will be created. You will need to
418 edit this further to check the information, and fill in the blanks.
420 If it fails, you'll be told why. If it got as far as retrieving the source
421 code, you can inspect it further by looking in @code{tmp/importer} where a full
424 A frequent cause of initial failure is that the project directory is actually
425 a subdirectory in the repository. In this case, run the importer again using
426 the @code{--subdir} option to tell it where. It will not attempt to determine
427 this automatically, since there may be several options.
435 Information used by update.py to compile the public index comes from two
440 the APK files in the repo directory, and
442 the metadata files in the metadata directory.
445 The metadata files are simple, easy to edit text files, always named as the
446 application's package ID with '.txt' appended.
448 Note that although the metadata files are designed to be easily read and
449 writable by humans, they are also processed and written by various scripts.
450 They are capable of rewriting the entire file when necessary. Even so,
451 the structure and comments will be preserved correctly, although the order
452 of fields will be standardised. (In the event that the original file was
453 in a different order, comments are considered as being attached to the field
454 following them). In fact, you can standardise all the metadata in a single
455 command, without changing the functional content, by running:
458 fdroid rewritemetadata
461 The following sections describe the fields recognised within the file.
486 * Update Check Mode::
487 * Update Check Ignore::
488 * Vercode Operation::
489 * Update Check Data::
492 * Current Version Code::
499 Any number of categories for the application to be placed in. There is no
500 fixed list of categories - both the client and the web site will automatically
501 show any categories that exist in any applications. However, if your metadata
502 is intended for the main F-Droid repository, you should use one of the
503 existing categories (look at the site/client), or discuss the proposal to add
506 Categories must be separated by a single comma character, ','. For backwards
507 compatibility, F-Droid will use the first category given as <category> element
508 for older clients to at least see one category.
510 This is converted to (@code{<categories>}) in the public index file.
517 The overall license for the application, or in certain cases, for the
530 GNU GPL version 2 or later
538 GNU GPL version 3 or later
542 An unspecified GPL version. Use this only as a last resort or if there is
543 some confusion over compatiblity of component licenses: particularly the use of
544 Apache libraries with GPLv2 source code.
548 Afferro GPL version 3.
560 BSD license - the original '4-clause' version.
564 BSD license - the new, or modified, version.
568 This is converted to (@code{<license>}) in the public index file.
575 The name of the application as can best be retrieved from the source code.
576 This is done so that the commitupdates script can put a familiar name in the
577 description of commits created when a new update of the application is
578 found. The Auto Name entry is generated automatically when @code{fdroid
579 checkupdates} is run.
586 The name of the application. Normally, this field should not be present since
587 the application's correct name is retrieved from the APK file. However, in a
588 situation where an APK contains a bad or missing application name, it can be
589 overridden using this. Note that this only overrides the name in the list of
590 apps presented in the client; it doesn't changed the name or application label
598 Comma-separated list of application IDs that this app provides. In other
599 words, if the user has any of these apps installed, F-Droid will show this app
600 as installed instead. It will also appear if the user clicks on urls linking
601 to the other app IDs. Useful when an app switches package name, or when you
602 want an app to act as multiple apps.
609 The URL for the application's web site. If there is no relevant web site, this
610 can be omitted (or left blank).
612 This is converted to (@code{<web>}) in the public index file.
619 The URL to view or obtain the application's source code. This should be
620 something human-friendly. Machine-readable source-code is covered in the
623 This is converted to (@code{<source>}) in the public index file.
626 @section Issue Tracker
628 @cindex Issue Tracker
630 The URL for the application's issue tracker. Optional, since not all
631 applications have one.
633 This is converted to (@code{<tracker>}) in the public index file.
640 The URL to donate to the project. This should be the project's donate page
643 It is possible to use a direct PayPal link here, if that is all that is
644 available. However, bear in mind that the developer may not be aware of
645 that direct link, and if they later changed to a different PayPal account,
646 or the PayPal link format changed, things could go wrong. It is always
647 best to use a link that the developer explicitly makes public, rather than
648 something that is auto-generated 'button code'.
650 This is converted to (@code{<donate>}) in the public index file.
657 The project's Flattr (http://flattr.com) ID, if it has one. This should be
658 a numeric ID, such that (for example) https://flattr.com/thing/xxxx leads
659 directly to the page to donate to the project.
661 This is converted to (@code{<flattr>}) in the public index file.
668 A bitcoin address for donating to the project.
670 This is converted to (@code{<bitcoin>}) in the public index file.
677 A litecoin address for donating to the project.
684 A brief summary of what the application is. Since the summary is only allowed
685 one line on the list of the F-Droid client, keeping it to within 50 characters
686 will ensure it fits most screens.
693 A full description of the application, relevant to the latest version.
694 This can span multiple lines (which should be kept to a maximum of 80
695 characters), and is terminated by a line containing a single '.'.
697 Basic MediaWiki-style formatting can be used. Leaving a blank line starts a
698 new paragraph. Surrounding text with @code{''} make it italic, and with
699 @code{'''} makes it bold.
701 You can link to another app in the repo by using @code{[[app.id]]}. The link
702 will be made appropriately whether in the Android client, the web repo
703 browser or the wiki. The link text will be the apps name.
705 Links to web addresses can be done using @code{[http://example.com Text]}.
707 For both of the above link formats, the entire link (from opening to closing
708 square bracket) must be on the same line.
710 Bulletted lists are done by simply starting each item with a @code{*} on
711 a new line, and numbered lists are the same but using @code{#}. There is
712 currently no support for nesting lists - you can have one level only.
714 It can be helpful to note information pertaining to updating from an
715 earlier version; whether the app contains any prebuilts built by the
716 upstream developers or whether non-free elements were removed; whether the
717 app is in rapid development or whether the latest version lags behind the
718 current version; whether the app supports multiple architectures or whether
719 there is a maximum SDK specified (such info not being recorded in the index).
721 This is converted to (@code{<desc>}) in the public index file.
723 @node Maintainer Notes
724 @section Maintainer Notes
726 @cindex Maintainer Notes
728 This is a multi-line field using the same rules and syntax as the description.
729 It's used to record notes for F-Droid maintainers to assist in maintaining and
730 updating the application in the repository.
732 This information is also published to the wiki.
739 The type of repository - for automatic building from source. If this is not
740 specified, automatic building is disabled for this application. Possible
762 The repository location. Usually a git: or svn: URL, for example.
764 The git-svn option connects to an SVN repository, and you specify the URL in
765 exactly the same way, but git is used as a back-end. This is preferable for
766 performance reasons, and also because a local copy of the entire history is
767 available in case the upstream repository disappears. (It happens!). In
768 order to use Tags as update check mode for this VCS type, the URL must have
769 the tags= special argument set. Likewise, if you intend to use the
770 RepoManifest/branch scheme, you would want to specify branches= as well.
771 Finally, trunk= can also be added. All these special arguments will be passed
772 to "git svn" in order, and their values must be relative paths to the svn repo
774 Here's an example of a complex git-svn Repo URL:
775 http://svn.code.sf.net/p/project/code/svn;trunk=trunk;tags=tags;branches=branches
777 For a Subversion repo that requires authentication, you can precede the repo
778 URL with username:password@ and those parameters will be passed as @option{--username}
779 and @option{--password} to the SVN checkout command. (This now works for both
782 If the Repo Type is @code{srclib}, then you must specify the name of the
783 according srclib .txt file. For example if @code{scrlibs/FooBar.txt} exist
784 and you want to use this srclib, then you have to set Repo to
792 Any number of these fields can be present, each specifying a version to
793 automatically build from source. The value is a comma-separated list.
798 The above specifies to build version 1.2, which has a version code of 12.
799 The @code{commit=} parameter specifies the tag, commit or revision number from
800 which to build it in the source repository. It is the only mandatory flag,
801 which in this case could for example be @code{commit=v1.2}.
803 In addition to the three, always required, parameters described above,
804 further parameters can be added (in name=value format) to apply further
805 configuration to the build. These are (roughly in order of application):
809 @item disable=<message>
810 Disables this build, giving a reason why. (For backwards compatibility, this
811 can also be achieved by starting the commit ID with '!')
813 The purpose of this feature is to allow non-buildable releases (e.g. the source
814 is not published) to be flagged, so the scripts don't generate repeated
815 messages about them. (And also to record the information for review later).
816 If an apk has already been built, disabling causes it to be deleted once
817 @code{fdroid update} is run; this is the procedure if ever a version has to
821 Specifies to build from a subdirectory of the checked out source code.
822 Normally this directory is changed to before building,
825 Use if the project (git only) has submodules - causes @code{git submodule
826 update --init --recursive} to be executed after the source is cloned.
827 Submodules are reset and cleaned like the main app repository itself before
831 As for 'prebuild', but runs on the source code BEFORE any other processing
834 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
835 android SDK and NDK directories, and maven 3 executable respectively.
838 The sdk location in the repo is in an old format, or the build.xml is
839 expecting such. The 'new' format is sdk.dir while the VERY OLD format
840 is sdk-location. Typically, if you get a message along the lines of:
841 "com.android.ant.SetupTask cannot be found" when trying to build, then
842 try enabling this option.
844 @item target=<target>
845 Specifies a particular SDK target for compilation, overriding the value
846 defined in the code by upstream. This has different effects depending on what
847 build system used — this flag currently affects ant, maven and gradle projects
848 only. Note that this does not change the target SDK in the
849 AndroidManifest.xml, which determines the level of features that can be
850 included in the build.
852 In the case of an ant project, it modifies project.properties of the app and
853 possibly sub-projects. This is likely to cause the whole build.xml to be
854 rewritten, which is fine if it's a 'standard' android file or doesn't already
855 exist, but not a good idea if it's heavily customised.
857 @item update=<auto/dirs>
858 By default, 'android update project' is used to generate or update the
859 project and all its referenced projects. Specifying update=no bypasses that.
860 Note that this only matters in ant build recipes.
862 Default value is '@code{auto}', which uses the paths used in the
863 project.properties file to find out what project paths to update.
865 Otherwise, value can be a comma-separated list of directories in
866 which to run 'android update project' relative to the main
867 application directory (which may include '@code{subdir}' parameter).
870 Adds a java.encoding property to local.properties with the given
871 value. Generally the value will be 'utf-8'. This is picked up by the
872 SDK's ant rules, and forces the Java compiler to interpret source
873 files with this encoding. If you receive warnings during the compile
874 about character encodings, you probably need this.
876 @item forceversion=yes
877 If specified, the package version in AndroidManifest.xml is replaced
878 with the version name for the build as specified in the metadata.
880 This is useful for cases when upstream repo failed to update it for
881 specific tag; to build an arbitrary revision; to make it apparent that
882 the version differs significantly from upstream; or to make it apparent
883 which architecture or platform the apk is designed to run on.
885 @item forcevercode=yes
886 If specified, the package version code in the AndroidManifest.xml is
887 replaced with the version code for the build. See also forceversion.
889 @item rm=relpath1,relpath2,...
890 Specifies the relative paths of files or directories to delete before
891 the build is done. The paths are relative to the base of the build
892 directory - i.e. the root of the directory structure checked out from
893 the source respository - not necessarily the directory that contains
896 Multiple files/directories can be specified by separating them with ','.
897 Directories will be recursively deleted.
899 @item extlibs=a,b,...
900 Comma-separated list of external libraries (jar files) from the
901 @code{build/extlib} library, which will be placed in the @code{libs} directory
904 @item srclibs=[n:]a@@r,[n:]b@@r1,...
905 Comma-separated list of source libraries or Android projects. Each item is of
906 the form name@@rev where name is the predefined source library name and rev is
907 the revision or tag to use in the respective source control.
909 For ant projects, you can optionally append a number with a colon at the
910 beginning of a srclib item to automatically place it in project.properties as
911 a library under the specified number. For example, if you specify
912 @code{1:somelib@@1.0}, f-droid will automatically do the equivalent of the
913 legacy practice @code{prebuild=echo "android.library.reference.1=$$somelib$$"
914 >> project.properties}.
916 Each srclib has a metadata file under srclibs/ in the repository directory,
917 and the source code is stored in build/srclib/.
918 Repo Type: and Repo: are specified in the same way as for apps; Subdir: can be
919 a comma separated list, for when directories are renamed by upstream; Update
920 Project: updates the projects in the working directory and one level down;
921 Prepare: can be used for any kind of preparation: in particular if you need to
922 update the project with a particular target. You can then also use $$name$$ in
923 the init/prebuild/build command to substitute the relative path to the library
924 directory, but it could need tweaking if you've changed into another directory.
927 Apply patch(es). 'x' names one (or more - comma-seperated) files within a
928 directory below the metadata, with the same name as the metadata file but
929 without the extension. Each of these patches is applied to the code in turn.
932 Specifies a shell command (or commands - chain with &&) to run before the
933 build takes place. Backslash can be used as an escape character to insert
934 literal commas, or as the last character on a line to join that line with the
935 next. It has no special meaning in other contexts; in particular, literal
936 backslashes should not be escaped.
938 The command runs using bash.
940 Note that nothing should be built during this prebuild phase - scanning of the
941 code and building of the source tarball, for example, take place after this.
942 For custom actions that actually build things or produce binaries, use 'build'
945 You can use $$name$$ to substitute the path to a referenced srclib - see
946 the @code{srclib} directory for details of this.
948 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
949 android SDK and NDK directories, and maven 3 executable respectively e.g.
950 for when you need to run @code{android update project} explicitly.
952 @item scanignore=path1,path2,...
953 Enables one or more files/paths to be excluded from the scan process.
954 This should only be used where there is a very good reason, and
955 probably accompanied by a comment explaining why it is necessary.
957 When scanning the source tree for problems, matching files whose relative
958 paths start with any of the paths given here are ignored.
960 @item scandelete=path1,path2,...
961 Similar to scanignore=, but instead of ignoring files under the given paths,
962 it tells f-droid to delete the matching files directly.
965 As for 'prebuild', but runs during the actual build phase (but before the
966 main ant/maven build). Use this only for actions that do actual building.
967 Any prepartion of the source code should be done using 'init' or 'prebuild'.
969 Any building that takes place before build= will be ignored, as either ant,
970 mvn or gradle will be executed to clean the build environment right before
971 build= (or the final build) is run.
973 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
974 android SDK and NDK directories, and maven 3 executable respectively.
976 @item buildjni=[yes|no|<dir list>]
977 Enables building of native code via the ndk-build script before doing
978 the main ant build. The value may be a list of directories relative
979 to the main application directory in which to run ndk-build, or 'yes'
980 which corresponds to '.' . Using explicit list may be useful to build
981 multi-component projects.
983 The build and scan processes will complain (refuse to build) if this
984 parameter is not defined, but there is a @code{jni} directory present.
985 If the native code is being built by other means like a gradle task, you
986 can specify @code{no} here to avoid that. However, if the native code is
987 actually not required or used, remove the directory instead (using
988 @code{rm=jni} for example). Using @code{buildjni=no} when the jni code
989 isn't used nor built will result in an error saying that native
990 libraries were expected in the resulting package.
992 @item gradle=<flavour>
993 Build with gradle instead of ant, specifying what flavour to assemble.
994 If <flavour> is 'yes' or 'main', no flavour will be used. Note
995 that this will not work on projects with flavours, since it will build
996 all flavours and there will be no 'main' build.
998 @item maven=yes[@@<dir>]
999 Build with maven instead of ant. An extra @@<dir> tells f-droid to run maven
1000 inside that relative subdirectory. Sometimes it is needed to use @@.. so that
1001 builds happen correctly.
1003 @item preassemble=<task1> <task2>
1004 Space-separated list of gradle tasks to be run before the assemble task
1005 in a gradle project build.
1007 @item antcommand=xxx
1008 Specify an alternate ant command (target) instead of the default
1009 'release'. It can't be given any flags, such as the path to a build.xml.
1011 @item output=path/to/output.apk
1012 To be used when app is built with a tool other than the ones natively
1013 supported, like GNU Make. The given path will be where the build= set of
1014 commands should produce the final unsigned release apk.
1017 Don't check that the version name and code in the resulting apk are
1018 correct by looking at the build output - assume the metadata is
1019 correct. This takes away a useful level of sanity checking, and should
1020 only be used if the values can't be extracted.
1024 Another example, using extra parameters:
1026 @samp{Build Version:1.09.03,10903,45,subdir=Timeriffic,oldsdkloc=yes}
1029 @section AntiFeatures
1031 @cindex AntiFeatures
1033 This is optional - if present, it contains a comma-separated list of any of
1034 the following values, describing an anti-feature the application has.
1035 Even though such apps won't be displayed unless a settings box is ticked,
1036 it is a good idea to mention the reasons for the anti-feature(s) in the
1042 @samp{Ads} - the application contains advertising.
1045 @samp{Tracking} - the application tracks and reports your activity to
1046 somewhere without your consent. It's commonly used for when developers
1047 obtain crash logs without the user's consent, or when an app is useless
1048 without some kind of authentication.
1051 @samp{NonFreeNet} - the application relies on computational services that
1052 are impossible to replace or that the replacement cannot be connected to
1053 without major changes to the app.
1056 @samp{NonFreeAdd} - the application promotes non-Free add-ons, such that the
1057 app is effectively an advert for other non-free software and such software is
1058 not clearly labelled as such.
1061 @samp{NonFreeDep} - the application depends on a non-Free application (e.g.
1062 Google Maps) - i.e. it requires it to be installed on the device, but does not
1072 If this field is present, the application does not get put into the public
1073 index. This allows metadata to be retained while an application is temporarily
1074 disabled from being published. The value should be a description of why the
1075 application is disabled. No apks or source code archives are deleted: to purge
1076 an apk see the Build Version section or delete manually for developer builds.
1077 The field is therefore used when an app has outlived it's usefulness, because
1078 the source tarball is retained.
1081 @section Requires Root
1083 @cindex Requires Root
1085 Set this optional field to "Yes" if the application requires root
1086 privileges to be usable. This lets the client filter it out if the
1087 user so desires. Whether root is required or not, it is good to give
1088 a paragraph in the description to the conditions on which root may be
1089 asked for and the reason for it.
1091 @node Archive Policy
1092 @section Archive Policy
1094 @cindex Archive Policy
1096 This determines the policy for moving old versions of an app to the archive
1097 repo, if one is configured. The configuration sets a default maximum number
1098 of versions kept in the main repo, after which older ones are moved to the
1099 archive. This app-specific policy setting can override that.
1101 Currently the only supported format is "n versions", where n is the number
1102 of versions to keep.
1104 @node Update Check Mode
1105 @section Update Check Mode
1107 @cindex Update Check Mode
1109 This determines the method using for determining when new releases are
1110 available - in other words, the updating of the Current Version and Current
1111 Version Code fields in the metadata by the @code{fdroid checkupdates} process.
1117 @code{None} - No checking is done because there's no appropriate automated way
1118 of doing so. Updates should be checked for manually. Use this, for example,
1119 when deploying betas or patched versions; when builds are done in a directory
1120 different to where the AndroidManifest.xml is; if the developers use the
1121 gradle build system and store version info in a separate file; if the
1122 developers make a new branch for each release and don't make tags; or if you've
1123 changed the package name or version code logic.
1125 @code{Static} - No checking is done - either development has ceased or new versions
1126 are not desired. This method is also used when there is no other checking method
1127 available and the upstream developer keeps us posted on new versions.
1129 @code{RepoManifest} - At the most recent commit, the AndroidManifest.xml file
1130 is looked for in the directory where it was found in the the most recent build.
1131 The appropriateness of this method depends on the development process used by
1132 the application's developers. You should not specify this method unless you're
1133 sure it's appropriate. For example, some developers bump the version when
1134 commencing development instead of when publishing.
1135 It will return an error if the AndroidManifest.xml has moved to a different
1136 directory or if the package name has changed.
1137 The current version that it gives may not be accurate, since not all
1138 versions are fit to be published. Therefore, before building, it is often
1139 necessary to check if the current version has been published somewhere by the
1140 upstream developers, either by checking for apks that they distribute or for
1141 tags in the source code repository.
1143 It currently works for every repository type to different extents, except
1144 the srclib repo type. For git, git-svn and hg repo types, you may use
1145 "RepoManifest/yourbranch" as UCM so that "yourbranch" would be the branch used
1146 in place of the default one. The default values are "master" for git,
1147 "default" for hg and none for git-svn (it stays in the same branch).
1148 On the other hand, branch support hasn't been implemented yet in bzr and svn,
1149 but RepoManifest may still be used without it.
1151 @code{RepoTrunk} - For svn and git-svn repositories, especially those who
1152 don't have a bundled AndroidManifest.xml file, the Tags and RepoManifest
1153 checks will not work, since there is no version information to obtain. But,
1154 for those apps who automate their build process with the commit ref that HEAD
1155 points to, RepoTrunk will set the Current Version and Current Version Code to
1158 @code{Tags} - The AndroidManifest.xml file in all tagged revisions in the
1159 source repository is checked, looking for the highest version code. The
1160 appropriateness of this method depends on the development process used by the
1161 application's developers. You should not specify this method unless you're sure
1162 it's appropriate. It shouldn't be used if the developers like to tag betas or
1163 are known to forget to tag releases. Like RepoManifest, it will not return the
1164 correct value if the directory containing the AndroidManifest.xml has moved.
1165 Despite these caveats, it is the often the favourite update check mode.
1167 It currently only works for git, hg, bzr and git-svn repositories. In the case
1168 of the latter, the repo URL must contain the path to the trunk and tags or
1169 else no tags will be found.
1171 Optionally append a regex pattern at the end - separated with a space - to
1172 only check the tags matching said pattern. Useful when apps tag non-release
1173 versions such as X.X-alpha, so you can filter them out with something like
1174 @code{.*[0-9]$} which requires tag names to end with a digit.
1176 @code{HTTP} - HTTP requests are used to determine the current version code and
1177 version name. This is controlled by the @code{Update Check Data} field, which
1178 is of the form @code{urlcode|excode|urlver|exver}.
1180 Firstly, if @code{urlcode} is non-empty, the document from that URL is
1181 retrieved, and matched against the regular expression @code{excode}, with the
1182 first group becoming the version code.
1184 Secondly, if @code{urlver} is non-empty, the document from that URL is
1185 retrieved, and matched against the regular expression @code{exver}, with the
1186 first group becoming the version name. The @code{urlver} field can be set to
1187 simply '.' which says to use the same document returned for the version code
1188 again, rather than retrieving a different one.
1191 @node Vercode Operation
1192 @section Vercode Operation
1194 @cindex Vercode Operation
1196 Operation to be applied to the vercode obtained by the defined @code{Update
1197 Check Mode}. @code{%c} will be replaced by the actual vercode, and the whole
1198 string will be passed to python's @code{eval} function.
1200 Especially useful with apps that we want to compile for different ABIs, but
1201 whose vercodes don't always have trailing zeros. For example, with
1202 @code{Vercode Operation} set at something like @code{%c*10 + 4}, we will be
1203 able to track updates and build up to four different versions of every
1206 @node Update Check Ignore
1207 @section Update Check Ignore
1209 When checking for updates (via @code{Update Check Mode}) this can be used to
1210 specify a regex which, if matched against the version name, causes that version
1211 to be ignored. For example, 'beta' could be specified to ignore version names
1212 that include that text.
1214 @node Update Check Data
1215 @section Update Check Data
1217 @cindex Update Check Data
1219 Used in conjunction with @code{Update Check Mode} for certain modes.
1221 @node Auto Update Mode
1222 @section Auto Update Mode
1224 @cindex Auto Update Mode
1226 This determines the method using for auto-generating new builds when new
1227 releases are available - in other words, adding a new Build Version line to the
1229 This happens in conjunction with the 'Update Check Mode' functionality - i.e.
1230 when an update is detected by that, it is also processed by this.
1236 @code{None} - No auto-updating is done
1238 @code{Version} - Identifies the target commit (i.e. tag) for the new build based
1239 on the given version specification, which is simply text in which %v and %c are
1240 replaced with the required version name and version code respectively.
1242 For example, if an app always has a tag "2.7.2" corresponding to version 2.7.2,
1243 you would simply specify "Version %v". If an app always has a tag "ver_1234"
1244 for a version with version code 1234, you would specify "Version ver_%c".
1246 Additionally, a suffix can be added to the version name at this stage, to
1247 differentiate F-Droid's build from the original. Continuing the first example
1248 above, you would specify that as "Version +-fdroid %v" - "-fdroid" is the suffix.
1252 @node Current Version
1253 @section Current Version
1255 @cindex Current Version
1257 The name of the version that is current. There may be newer versions of the
1258 application than this (e.g. betas), and there will almost certainly be older
1259 ones. This should be the one that is recommended for general use.
1260 In the event that there is no source code for the current version, or that
1261 non-free libraries are being used, this would ideally be the latest
1262 version that is still free, though it may still be expedient to
1263 retain the automatic update check — see No Source Since.
1265 This field is normally automatically updated - see Update Check Mode.
1267 This is converted to (@code{<marketversion>}) in the public index file.
1269 @node Current Version Code
1270 @section Current Version Code
1272 @cindex Current Version Code
1274 The version code corresponding to the Current Version field. Both these fields
1275 must be correct and matching although it's the current version code that's
1276 used by Android to determine version order and by F-Droid client to determine
1277 which version should be recommended.
1279 This field is normally automatically updated - see Update Check Mode.
1281 This is converted to (@code{<marketvercode>}) in the public index file.
1283 @node No Source Since
1284 @section No Source Since
1286 @cindex No Source Since
1288 In case we are missing the source code for the Current Version reported by
1289 Upstream, or that non-free elements have been introduced, this defines the
1290 first version that began to miss source code.
1291 Apps that are missing source code for just one or a few versions, but provide
1292 source code for newer ones are not to be considered here - this field is
1293 intended to illustrate which apps do not currently distribute source code, and
1294 since when have they been doing so.
1296 @node Update Processing
1297 @chapter Update Processing
1301 There are various mechanisms in place for automatically detecting that updates
1302 are available for applications, with the @code{Update Check Mode} field in the
1303 metadata determining which method is used for a particular application.
1305 Running the @code{fdroid checkupdates} command will apply this method to each
1306 application in the repository and update the @code{Current Version} and
1307 @code{Current Version Code} fields in the metadata accordingly.
1309 As usual, the @code{-p} option can be used with this, to restrict processing
1310 to a particular application.
1312 Note that this only updates the metadata such that we know what the current
1313 published/recommended version is. It doesn't make that version available in
1314 the repository - for that, see the next section.
1318 Adding updates (i.e. new versions of applications already included in the
1319 repository) happens in two ways. The simple case is applications where the
1320 APK files are binaries, retrieved from a developer's published build. In this
1321 case, all that's required is to place the new binary in the @code{Repo}
1322 directory, and the next run of @code{fdroid update} will pick it up.
1324 For applications built from source, it is necessary to add a new
1325 @code{Build Version} line to the metadata file. At the very least, the version
1326 name, version code and commit will be different. It is also possible that the
1327 additional build flags will change between versions.
1329 For processing multiple updates in the metadata at once, it can be useful to
1330 run @code{fdroid update --interactive}. This will check all the applications
1331 in the repository, and where updates are required you will be prompted to
1332 [E]dit the metadata, [I]gnore the update, or [Q]uit altogether.
1335 @chapter Build Server
1337 The Build Server system isolates the builds for each package within a clean,
1338 isolated and secure throwaway virtual machine environment.
1342 Building applications in this manner on a large scale, especially with the
1343 involvement of automated and/or unattended processes, could be considered
1344 a dangerous pastime from a security perspective. This is even more the case
1345 when the products of the build are also distributed widely and in a
1346 semi-automated ("you have updates available") fashion.
1348 Assume that an upstream source repository is compromised. A small selection
1349 of things that an attacker could do in such a situation:
1353 Use custom ant build steps to execute virtually anything as the user doing
1356 Access the keystore.
1358 Modify the built apk files or source tarballs for other applications in the
1361 Modify the metadata (which includes build scripts, which again, also includes
1362 the ability to execute anything) for other applications in the repository.
1365 Through complete isolation, the repurcussions are at least limited to the
1366 application in question. Not only is the build environment fresh for each
1367 build, and thrown away afterwards, but it is also isolated from the signing
1370 Aside from security issues, there are some applications which have strange
1371 requirements such as custom versions of the NDK. It would be impractical (or
1372 at least extremely messy) to start modifying and restoring the SDK on a
1373 multi-purpose system, but within the confines of a throwaway single-use
1374 virtual machine, anything is possible.
1376 All this is in addition to the obvious advantage of having a standardised
1377 and completely reproducible environment in which builds are made. Additionally,
1378 it allows for specialised custom build environments for particular
1381 @section Setting up a build server
1383 In addition to the basic setup previously described, you will also need
1384 a Vagrant-compatible Debian Testing base box called 'testing32' (or testing64
1385 for a 64-bit VM, if you want it to be much slower, and require more disk
1388 You can use a different version or distro for the base box, so long as you
1389 don't expect any help making it work. One thing to be aware of is that
1390 working copies of source trees are moved from the host to the guest, so
1391 for example, having subversion v1.6 on the host and v1.7 on the guest
1394 Unless you're very trusting. you should create one of these for yourself
1395 from verified standard Debian installation media. However, you could skip
1396 over the next few paragraphs (and sacrifice some security) by downloading
1397 @url{https://f-droid.org/testing32.box}.
1399 Documentation for creating a base box can be found at
1400 @url{http://docs.vagrantup.com/v1/docs/base_boxes.html}.
1402 In addition to carefully following the steps described there, you should
1403 consider the following:
1407 It is advisable to disable udev network device persistence, otherwise any
1408 movement of the VM between machines, or reconfiguration, will result in
1411 For a Debian/Ubuntu default install, just
1412 @code{touch /etc/udev/rules.d/75-persistent-net-generator.rules} to turn
1413 off rule generation, and at the same time, get rid of any rules it's
1414 already created in @code{/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules}.
1416 Unless you want the VM to become totally inaccessible following a failed
1417 boot, you need to set @code{GRUB_RECORDFAIL_TIMEOUT} to a value other than
1418 -1 in @code{/etc/grub/default} and then run @code{update-grub}.
1422 With this base box available, you should then create @code{makebs.config.py},
1423 using @code{makebs.config.sample.py} as a reference - look at the settings and
1424 documentation there to decide if any need changing to suit your environment.
1425 There is a path for retrieving the base box if it doesn't exist, and an apt
1426 proxy definition, both of which may need customising for your environment.
1427 You can then go to the @code{fdroidserver} directory and run this:
1433 This will take a long time, and use a lot of bandwidth - most of it spent
1434 installing the necessary parts of the Android SDK for all the various
1435 platforms. Luckily you only need to do it occasionally. Once you have a
1436 working build server image, if the recipes change (e.g. when packages need
1437 to be added) you can just run that script again and the existing one will
1438 be updated in place.
1440 The main sdk/ndk downloads will automatically be cached to speed things
1441 up the next time, but there's no easy way of doing this for the longer
1442 sections which use the SDK's @code{android} tool to install platforms,
1443 add-ons and tools. However, instead of allowing automatic caching, you
1444 can supply a pre-populated cache directory which includes not only these
1445 downloads, but also .tar.gz files for all the relevant additions. If the
1446 provisioning scripts detect these, they will be used in preference to
1447 running the android tools. For example, if you have
1448 @code{buildserver/addons/cache/platforms/android-19.tar.gz} that will be
1449 used when installing the android-19 platform, instead of re-downloading it
1450 using @code{android update sdk --no-ui -t android-19}.
1452 Once it's complete you'll have a new base box called 'buildserver' which is
1453 what's used for the actual builds. You can then build packages as normal,
1454 but with the addition of the @code{--server} flag to @code{fdroid build} to
1455 instruct it to do all the hard work within the virtual machine.
1457 The first time a build is done, a new virtual machine is created using the
1458 'buildserver' box as a base. A snapshot of this clean machine state is saved
1459 for use in future builds, to improve performance. You can force discarding
1460 of this snapshot and rebuilding from scratch using the @code{--resetserver}
1461 switch with @code{fdroid build}.
1466 There are two kinds of signing involved in running a repository - the signing
1467 of the APK files generated from source builds, and the signing of the repo
1468 index itself. The latter is optional, but very strongly recommended.
1470 @section Repo Index Signing
1472 When setting up the repository, one of the first steps should be to generate
1473 a signing key for the repository index. This will also create a keystore, which
1474 is a file that can be used to hold this and all other keys used. Consider the
1475 location, security and backup status of this file carefully, then create it as
1478 @code{keytool -genkey -v -keystore my.keystore -alias repokey -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000}
1480 In the above, replace 'my.keystore' with the name of the keystore file to be
1481 created, and 'repokey' with a name to identify the repo index key by.
1483 You'll be asked for a password for the keystore, AND a password for the key.
1484 They shouldn't be the same. In between, you'll be asked for some identifying
1485 details which will go in the certificate.
1487 The two passwords entered go into @code{config.py}, as @code{keystorepass} and
1488 @code{keypass} respectively. The path to the keystore file, and the alias you
1489 chose for the key also go into that file, as @code{keystore} and
1490 @code{repo_keyalias} respectively.
1492 @section Package Signing
1494 With the repo index signing configured, all that remains to be done for package
1495 signing to work is to set the @code{keydname} field in @code{config.py} to
1496 contain the same identifying details you entered before.
1498 A new key will be generated using these details, for each application that is
1499 built. (If a specific key is required for a particular application, this system
1500 can be overridden using the @code{keyaliases} config settings.
1503 @node GNU Free Documentation License
1504 @appendix GNU Free Documentation License