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, Daniel Martí
18 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
19 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3
20 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
21 with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.
22 A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU
23 Free Documentation License".
28 @title F-Droid Server Manual
29 @author Ciaran Gultnieks and the F-Droid project
31 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
47 * System Requirements::
49 * Simple Binary Repository::
50 * Building Applications::
51 * Importing Applications::
56 * GNU Free Documentation License::
63 The F-Droid server tools provide various scripts and tools that are used
64 to maintain the main F-Droid application repository. You can use these same
65 tools to create your own additional or alternative repository for publishing,
66 or to assist in creating, testing and submitting metadata to the main
70 @node System Requirements
71 @chapter System Requirements
75 The system requirements for using the tools will vary depending on your
76 intended usage. At the very least, you'll need:
84 The Android SDK Tools and Build-tools.
85 Note that F-Droid does not assume that you have the Android SDK in your
86 @code{PATH}: these directories will be specified in your repository
87 configuration. Recent revisions of the SDK have @code{aapt} located in
88 android-sdk/build-tools/ and it may be necessary to make a symlink to it in
89 android-sdk/platform-tools/
92 If you intend to build applications from source you'll also need most, if not
93 all, of the following:
97 All SDK platforms requested by the apps you want to build
98 (The Android SDK is made available by Google under a proprietary license but
99 within that, the SDK platforms, support library and some other components are
100 under the Apache license and source code is provided.
101 Google APIs, used for building apps using Google Maps, are free to the extent
102 that the library comes pre-installed on the device.
103 Google Play Services, Google Admob and others are proprietary and shouldn't be
104 included in the main F-Droid repository.)
106 A version of the Android NDK
110 Ant Contrib Tasks (Debian package ant-contrib)
112 Maven (Debian package maven)
114 JavaCC (Debian package javacc)
116 JDK (Debian package openjdk-6-jdk): openjdk-6 is recommended though openjdk-7
119 VCS clients: svn, git, git-svn, hg, bzr
121 Miscellaneous packages listed in
122 buildserver/cookbooks/fdroidbuild-general/recipes/default.rb
123 of the F-Droid server repository
125 A keystore for holding release keys. (Safe, secure and well backed up!)
128 If you intend to use the 'Build Server' system, for secure and clean builds
129 (highly recommended), you will also need:
133 VirtualBox (debian package virtualbox)
135 Ruby (debian packages ruby and rubygems)
137 Vagrant (gem install vagrant)
139 Paramiko (debian package python-paramiko)
141 Imaging (debian package python-imaging)
143 Magic (debian package python-magic)
150 @cindex setup, installation
152 Because the tools and data will always change rapidly, you will almost
153 certainly want to work from a git clone of the tools at this stage. To
157 git clone git://gitorious.org/f-droid/fdroidserver.git
160 You now have lots of stuff in the fdroidserver directory, but the most
161 important is the 'fdroid' command script which you run to perform all tasks.
162 This script is always run from a repository data directory, so the
163 most sensible thing to do next is to put your new fdroidserver directory
168 To do anything, you'll need at least one repository data directory. It's
169 from this directory that you run the @code{fdroid} command to perform all
170 repository management tasks. You can either create a brand new one, or
171 grab a copy of the data used by the main F-Droid repository:
174 git clone git://gitorious.org/f-droid/fdroiddata.git
177 Regardless of the intended usage of the tools, you will always need to set
178 up some basic configuration details. This is done by creating a file called
179 @code{config.py} in the data directory. You should do this by copying the
180 example file (@code{config.sample.py}) from the fdroidserver project to your
181 data directory and then editing according to the instructions within.
183 Once configured in this way, all the functionality of the tools is accessed
184 by running the @code{fdroid} command. Run it on its own to get a list of the
185 available sub-commands.
187 You can follow any command with @code{--help} to get a list of additional
188 options available for that command.
195 @node Simple Binary Repository
196 @chapter Simple Binary Repository
200 If you want to maintain a simple repository hosting only binary APKs obtained
201 and compiled elsewhere, the process is quite simple:
205 Set up the server tools, as described in Setup.
207 Make a directory for your repository. This is the directory from which you
208 will do all the work with your repository. Create a config file there, called
209 @code{config.py}, by copying the @code{config.sample.py} from the server
210 project and editing it.
212 Within that, make a directory called @code{repo} and put APK files in it.
214 Run @code{fdroid update}.
216 If it reports that any metadata files are missing, you can create them
217 in the @code{metadata} directory and run it again.
219 To ease creation of metadata files, run @code{fdroid update} with the @code{-c}
220 option. It will create 'skeleton' metadata files that are missing, and you can
221 then just edit them and fill in the details.
223 Then, if you've changed things, run @code{fdroid update} again.
225 Running @code{fdroid update} adds an Icons directory into the repo directory,
226 and also creates the repository index (index.xml, and also index.jar if you've
227 configured the system to use a signed index).
229 Publish the resulting contents of the @code{repo} directory to your web server.
232 Following the above process will result in a @code{repo} directory, which you
233 simply need to push to any HTTP (or preferably HTTPS) server to make it
236 While some information about the applications (and versions thereof) is
237 retrieved directly from the APK files, most comes from the corresponding file
238 in the @code{metadata} directory. The metadata file covering ALL versions of a
239 particular application is named @code{package.id.txt} where package.id is the
240 unique identifier for that package.
242 See the Metadata chapter for details of what goes in the metadata file. All
243 fields are relevant for binary APKs, EXCEPT for 'Build Version' entries, which
247 @node Building Applications
248 @chapter Building Applications
250 Instead of (or as well as) including binary APKs from external sources in a
251 repository, you can build them directly from the source code.
253 Using this method, it is is possible to verify that the application builds
254 correctly, corresponds to the source code, and contains only free software.
255 Unforunately, in the Android world, it seems to be very common for an
256 application supplied as a binary APK to present itself as Free Software
257 when in fact some or all of the following are true:
261 The source code (either for a particular version, or even all versions!) is
262 unavailable or incomplete.
264 The source code is not capable of producing the actual binary supplied.
266 The 'source code' contains binary files of unknown origin, or with proprietary
270 For this reason, source-built applications are the preferred method for the
271 main F-Droid repository, although occasionally for technical or historical
272 reasons, exceptions are made to this policy.
274 When building applications from source, it should be noted that you will be
275 signing them (all APK files must be signed to be installable on Android) with
276 your own key. When an application is already installed on a device, it is not
277 possible to upgrade it in place to a new version signed with a different key
278 without first uninstalling the original. This may present an inconvenience to
279 users, as the process of uninstalling loses any data associated with the
280 previous installation.
282 The process for managing a repository for built-from-source applications is
283 very similar to that described in the Simple Binary Repository chapter,
284 except now you need to:
288 Include Build Version entries in the metadata files.
290 Run @code{fdroid build} to build any applications that are not already built.
292 Run @code{fdroid publish} to finalise packaging and sign any APKs that have
297 @section More about "fdroid build"
299 When run without any parameters, @code{fdroid build} will build any and all
300 versions of applications that you don't already have in the @code{repo}
301 directory (or more accurately, the @code{unsigned} directory). There are various
302 other things you can do. As with all the tools, the @code{--help} option is
303 your friend, but a few annotated examples and discussion of the more common
306 To build a single version of a single application, you could run the
310 ./fdroid build org.fdroid.fdroid:16
313 This attempts to build version code 16 (which is version 0.25) of the F-Droid
314 client. Many of the tools recognise arguments as packages, allowing their
315 activity to be limited to just a limited set of packages.
317 If the build above was successful, two files will have been placed in the
318 @code{unsigned} directory:
321 org.fdroid.fdroid_16.apk
322 org.fdroid.fdroid_16_src.tar.gz
325 The first is the (unsigned) APK. You could sign this with a debug key and push
326 it direct to your device or an emulator for testing. The second is a source
327 tarball containing exactly the source that was used to generate the binary.
329 If you were intending to publish these files, you could then run:
335 The source tarball would move to the @code{repo} directory (which is the
336 directory you would push to your web server). A signed and zip-aligned version
337 of the APK would also appear there, and both files would be removed from the
338 @code{unsigned} directory.
340 If you're building purely for the purposes of testing, and not intending to
341 push the results to a repository, at least yet, the @code{--test} option can be
342 used to direct output to the @code{tmp} directory instead of @code{unsigned}.
343 A similar effect could by achieved by simply deleting the output files from
344 @code{unsigned} after the build, but with the risk of forgetting to do so!
346 Along similar lines (and only in conjunction with @code{--test}, you can use
347 @code{--force} to force a build of a Disabled application, where normally it
348 would be completely ignored. Similarly a version that was found to contain
349 ELFs or known non-free libraries can be forced to build. See also —
350 scanignore= and scandelete= in the Build Version section.
352 If the build was unsuccessful, you can find out why by looking at the output
353 in the logs/ directory. If that isn't illuminating, try building the app the
354 regular way, step by step: android update project, ndk-build, ant debug.
356 Note that source code repositories often contain prebuilt libraries. If the
357 app is being considered for the main F-Droid repository, it is important that
358 all such prebuilts are built either via the metadata or by a reputable third
362 @section Direct Installation
364 You can also build and install directly to a connected device or emulator
365 using the @code{fdroid install} command. If you do this without passing
366 packages as arguments then all the latest built and signed version available
367 of each package will be installed . In most cases, this will not be what you
368 want to do, so execution will stop straight away. However, you can override
369 this if you're sure that's what you want, by using @code{--all}. Note that
370 currently, no sanity checks are performed with this mode, so if the files in
371 the signed output directory were modified, you won't be notified.
374 @node Importing Applications
375 @chapter Importing Applications
377 To help with starting work on including a new application, @code{fdroid import}
378 will take a URL and optionally some other parameters, and attempt to construct
379 as much information as possible by analysing the source code. Basic usage is:
382 ./fdroid import --url=http://address.of.project
385 For this to work, the URL must point to a project format that the script
386 understands. Currently this is limited to one of the following:
390 Gitorious - @code{https://gitorious.org/PROJECTNAME/REPONAME}
392 Github - @code{https://github.com/USER/PROJECT}
394 Google Code - @code{http://code.google.com/p/PROJECT/}
395 Supports git, svn and hg repos.
397 Some Google Code projects have multiple repositories, identified by a
398 dropdown list on the @code{source/checkout} page. To access one other than
399 the default, specify its name using the @code{--repo} switch.
401 Bitbucket - @code{https://bitbucket.org/USER/PROJECT/}
403 Git - @code{git://REPO}
406 Depending on the project type, more or less information may be gathered. For
407 example, the license will be retrieved from a Google Code project, but not a
408 GitHub one. A bare repo url, such as the git:// one, is the least preferable
409 optional of all, since you will have to enter much more information manually.
411 If the import is successful, a metadata file will be created. You will need to
412 edit this further to check the information, and fill in the blanks.
414 If it fails, you'll be told why. If it got as far as retrieving the source
415 code, you can inspect it further by looking in @code{tmp/importer} where a full
418 A frequent cause of initial failure is that the project directory is actually
419 a subdirectory in the repository. In this case, run the importer again using
420 the @code{--subdir} option to tell it where. It will not attempt to determine
421 this automatically, since there may be several options.
429 Information used by update.py to compile the public index comes from two
434 the APK files in the repo directory, and
436 the metadata files in the metadata directory.
439 The metadata files are simple, easy to edit text files, always named as the
440 application's package ID with '.txt' appended.
442 Note that although the metadata files are designed to be easily read and
443 writable by humans, they are also processed and written by various scripts.
444 They are capable of rewriting the entire file when necessary. Even so,
445 the structure and comments will be preserved correctly, although the order
446 of fields will be standardised. (In the event that the original file was
447 in a different order, comments are considered as being attached to the field
448 following them). In fact, you can standardise all the metadata in a single
449 command, without changing the functional content, by running:
452 fdroid rewritemetadata
455 The following sections describe the fields recognised within the file.
479 * Update Check Mode::
480 * Vercode Operation::
481 * Update Check Data::
484 * Current Version Code::
491 Any number of categories for the application to be placed in. There is no
492 fixed list of categories - both the client and the web site will automatically
493 show any categories that exist in any applications. However, if your metadata
494 is intended for the main F-Droid repository, you should use one of the
495 existing categories (look at the site/client), or discuss the proposal to add
498 Categories must be separated by a single comma character, ','. For backwards
499 compatibility, F-Droid will use the first category given as <category> element
500 for older clients to at least see one category.
502 This is converted to (@code{<categories>}) in the public index file.
509 The overall license for the application, or in certain cases, for the
522 GNU GPL version 2 or later
530 GNU GPL version 3 or later
534 An unspecified GPL version. Use this only as a last resort or if there is
535 some confusion over compatiblity of component licenses: particularly the use of
536 Apache libraries with GPLv2 source code.
540 Afferro GPL version 3.
552 BSD license - the original '4-clause' version.
556 BSD license - the new, or modified, version.
560 This is converted to (@code{<license>}) in the public index file.
567 The name of the application as can best be retrieved from the source code.
568 This is done so that the commitupdates script can put a familiar name in the
569 description of commits created when a new update of the application is
570 found. The Auto Name entry is generated automatically when @code{fdroid
571 checkupdates} is run.
578 The name of the application. Normally, this field should not be present since
579 the application's correct name is retrieved from the APK file. However, in a
580 situation where an APK contains a bad or missing application name, it can be
581 overridden using this. Note that this only overrides the name in the list of
582 apps presented in the client; it doesn't changed the name or application label
590 The URL for the application's web site.
592 This is converted to (@code{<web>}) in the public index file.
599 The URL to view or obtain the application's source code. This should be
600 something human-friendly. Machine-readable source-code is covered in the
603 This is converted to (@code{<source>}) in the public index file.
606 @section Issue Tracker
608 @cindex Issue Tracker
610 The URL for the application's issue tracker. Optional, since not all
611 applications have one.
613 This is converted to (@code{<tracker>}) in the public index file.
620 The URL to donate to the project. This should be the project's donate page
623 It is possible to use a direct PayPal link here, if that is all that is
624 available. However, bear in mind that the developer may not be aware of
625 that direct link, and if they later changed to a different PayPal account,
626 or the PayPal link format changed, things could go wrong. It is always
627 best to use a link that the developer explicitly makes public, rather than
628 something that is auto-generated 'button code'.
630 This is converted to (@code{<donate>}) in the public index file.
637 The project's Flattr (http://flattr.com) ID, if it has one. This should be
638 a numeric ID, such that (for example) https://flattr.com/thing/xxxx leads
639 directly to the page to donate to the project.
641 This is converted to (@code{<flattr>}) in the public index file.
648 A bitcoin address for donating to the project.
650 This is converted to (@code{<bitcoin>}) in the public index file.
657 A litecoin address for donating to the project.
664 A brief summary of what the application is. Since the summary is only allowed
665 one line on the list of the F-Droid client, keeping it to within 32 characters
666 will ensure it fits even on the smallest screens.
673 A full description of the application, relevant to the latest version.
674 This can span multiple lines (which should be kept to a maximum of 80
675 characters), and is terminated by a line containing a single '.'.
677 Basic MediaWiki-style formatting can be used. Leaving a blank line starts a
678 new paragraph. Surrounding text with @code{''} make it italic, and with
679 @code{'''} makes it bold.
681 You can link to another app in the repo by using @code{[[app.id]]}. The link
682 will be made appropriately whether in the Android client, the web repo
683 browser or the wiki. The link text will be the apps name.
685 Links to web addresses can be done using @code{[http://example.com Text]}.
687 For both of the above link formats, the entire link (from opening to closing
688 square bracket) must be on the same line.
690 Bulletted lists are done by simply starting each item with a @code{*} on
691 a new line, and numbered lists are the same but using @code{#}. There is
692 currently no support for nesting lists - you can have one level only.
694 It can be helpful to note information pertaining to updating from an
695 earlier version; whether the app contains any prebuilts built by the
696 upstream developers or whether non-free elements were removed; whether the
697 app is in rapid development or whether the latest version lags behind the
698 current version; whether the app supports multiple architectures or whether
699 there is a maximum SDK specified (such info not being recorded in the index).
701 This is converted to (@code{<desc>}) in the public index file.
703 @node Maintainer Notes
704 @section Maintainer Notes
706 @cindex Maintainer Notes
708 This is a multi-line field using the same rules and syntax as the description.
709 It's used to record notes for F-Droid maintainers to assist in maintaining and
710 updating the application in the repository.
712 This information is also published to the wiki.
719 The type of repository - for automatic building from source. If this is not
720 specified, automatic building is disabled for this application. Possible
742 The repository location. Usually a git: or svn: URL, for example.
744 The git-svn option connects to an SVN repository, and you specify the URL in
745 exactly the same way, but git is used as a back-end. This is preferable for
746 performance reasons, and also because a local copy of the entire history is
747 available in case the upstream repository disappears. (It happens!). In
748 order to use Tags as update check mode for this VCS type, the URL must have
749 the tags= special argument set. Likewise, if you intend to use the
750 RepoManifest/branch scheme, you would want to specify branches= as well.
751 Finally, trunk= can also be added. All these special arguments will be passed
752 to "git svn" in order, and their values must be relative paths to the svn repo
754 Here's an example of a complex git-svn Repo URL:
755 http://svn.code.sf.net/p/project/code/svn;trunk=trunk;tags=tags;branches=branches
757 For a Subversion repo that requires authentication, you can precede the repo
758 URL with username:password@ and those parameters will be passed as @option{--username}
759 and @option{--password} to the SVN checkout command. (This now works for both
762 If the Repo Type is @code{srclib}, then you must specify the name of the
763 according srclib .txt file. For example if @code{scrlibs/FooBar.txt} exist
764 and you want to use this srclib, then you have to set Repo to
768 @section Build Version
770 @cindex Build Version
772 Any number of these fields can be present, each specifying a version to
773 automatically build from source. The value is a comma-separated list.
776 @samp{Build Version:0.12,3,651696a49be2cd7db5ce6a2fa8185e31f9a20035}
778 The above specifies to build version 0.12, which has a version code of 3.
779 The third parameter specifies the tag, commit or revision number from
780 which to build it in the source repository.
782 In addition to the three, always required, parameters described above,
783 further parameters can be added (in name=value format) to apply further
784 configuration to the build. These are (roughly in order of application):
788 @item disable=<message>
789 Disables this build, giving a reason why. (For backwards compatibility, this
790 can also be achieved by starting the commit ID with '!')
792 The purpose of this feature is to allow non-buildable releases (e.g. the source
793 is not published) to be flagged, so the scripts don't generate repeated
794 messages about them. (And also to record the information for review later).
795 If an apk has already been built, disabling causes it to be deleted once
796 @code{fdroid update} is run; this is the procedure if ever a version has to
800 Specifies to build from a subdirectory of the checked out source code.
801 Normally this directory is changed to before building,
804 Use if the project (git only) has submodules - causes git submodule
805 init and update to be executed after the source is cloned.
808 As for 'prebuild', but runs on the source code BEFORE any other processing
811 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
812 android SDK and NDK directories, and maven 3 executable respectively.
815 The sdk location in the repo is in an old format, or the build.xml is
816 expecting such. The 'new' format is sdk.dir while the VERY OLD format
817 is sdk-location. Typically, if you get a message along the lines of:
818 "com.android.ant.SetupTask cannot be found" when trying to build, then
819 try enabling this option.
821 @item target=<target>
822 Specifies a particular SDK target for compilation, overriding the
823 project.properties of the app and possibly sub-projects. Note that this does
824 not change the target SDK in the AndroidManifest.xml — the level of features
825 that can be included in the build. This is likely to cause the whole build.xml
826 to be rewritten, which is fine if it's a 'standard' android file or doesn't
827 already exist, but not a good idea if it's heavily customised. If you get an
828 error about invalid target, first try @code{init=rm -rf bin/}; otherwise this
829 parameter should do the trick.
831 Please note that gradle builds should be using compilesdk=.
833 @item compilesdk=<level>
834 Practically accomplishes the same that target= does when used in ant and maven
835 projects. compilesdk= is used rather than target= so as to not cause any more
836 confusion. It only takes effect on gradle builds in the build.gradle file,
837 thus using it in any other case is not wise.
840 By default, 'android update project' is used to generate or update the
841 project and all its referenced projects. Specifying update=no bypasses that.
843 Specifiying update=force forces rebuilding of the build.xml file at the
844 same time - this is frequently needed with r14 of the Android platform
845 tools. Be aware of any customisations in build.xml when using
848 Default value is '@code{auto}', which uses the paths used in the
849 project.properties file to find out what project paths to update.
851 Otherwise, value can be a semicolon-separated list of directories in
852 which to run 'android update project' relative to the main
853 application directory (which may include '@code{subdir}' parameter).
856 Adds a java.encoding property to local.properties with the given
857 value. Generally the value will be 'utf-8'. This is picked up by the
858 SDK's ant rules, and forces the Java compiler to interpret source
859 files with this encoding. If you receive warnings during the compile
860 about character encodings, you probably need this.
862 @item forceversion=yes
863 If specified, the package version in AndroidManifest.xml is replaced
864 with the version name for the build as specified in the metadata.
866 This is useful for cases when upstream repo failed to update it for
867 specific tag; to build an arbitrary revision; to make it apparent that
868 the version differs significantly from upstream; or to make it apparent
869 which architecture or platform the apk is designed to run on.
871 @item forcevercode=yes
872 If specified, the package version code in the AndroidManifest.xml is
873 replaced with the version code for the build. See also forceversion.
875 @item rm=<relpath1;relpath2;...>
876 Specifies the relative paths of files or directories to delete before
877 the build is done. The paths are relative to the base of the build
878 directory - i.e. the root of the directory structure checked out from
879 the source respository - not necessarily the directory that contains
882 Multiple files/directories can be specified by separating them with ';'.
883 Directories will be recursively deleted.
886 Modifies any instances of string resources that use multiple
887 formatting arguments, but don't use positional notation. For example,
888 "Hello %s, %d" becomes "Hello %1$s, %2$d". Newer versions of the
889 Android platform tools enforce this sensible standard. If you get
890 error messages relating to that, you need to enable this.
893 Like fixtrans, but deals with an even older issue relating to
894 'unescaped apostrophes' in translation strings.
897 Specifies a list of external libraries (jar files) from the
898 @code{build/extlib} library, which will be placed in the @code{libs} directory
899 of the project. Separate items with semicolons.
901 @item srclibs=a@@r;b@@r1;
902 Specifies a list of source libraries or Android projects. Separate items with
903 semicolons, and each item is of the form name@@rev where name is the predefined
904 source library name and rev is the revision or tag in source control to use.
906 Each srclib has a metadata file under srclibs/ in the repository directory,
907 and the source code is stored in build/srclib/.
908 Repo Type: and Repo: are specified in the same way as for apps; Subdir: can be
909 a comma separated list, for when directories are renamed by upstream; Update
910 Project: updates the projects in the working directory and one level down;
911 Prepare: can be used for any kind of preparation: in particular if you need to
912 update the project with a particular target. You can then also use $$name$$ in
913 the init/prebuild/build command to substitute the relative path to the library
914 directory, but it could need tweaking if you've changed into another directory.
917 Apply patch(es). 'x' names one (or more - comma-seperated)
918 files within a directory below the metadata, with the same
919 name as the metadata file but without the extension. Each of
920 these patches is applied to the code in turn.
923 Specifies a shell command (or commands - chain with &&) to run before
924 the build takes place. Backslash can be used as an escape character to
925 insert literal commas, or as the last character on a line to join that
926 line with the next. It has no special meaning in other contexts; in
927 particular, literal backslashes should not be escaped.
929 The command runs using bash.
931 Note that nothing should be build during this prebuild phase - scanning
932 of the code and building of the source tarball, for example, take place
933 after this. For custom actions that actually build things, use 'build'
936 You can use $$name$$ to substitute the path to a referenced srclib - see
937 the @code{srclib} directory for details of this.
939 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
940 android SDK and NDK directories, and maven 3 executable respectively e.g.
941 for when you need to run @code{android update project} explicitly.
943 @item scanignore=path1;path2;...
944 Enables one or more files/paths to be exlcuded from the scan process.
945 This should only be used where there is a very good reason, and
946 probably accompanied by a comment explaining why it is necessary.
948 When scanning the source tree for problems, matching files whose relative
949 paths start with any of the paths given here are ignored.
951 @item scandelete=path1;path2;...
952 Similar to scanignore=, but instead of ignoring files under the given paths,
953 it tells f-droid to delete the matching files directly.
956 As for 'prebuild', but runs during the actual build phase (but before the
957 main ant/maven build). Use this only for actions that do actual building.
958 Any prepartion of the source code should be done using 'init' or 'prebuild'.
960 Any building that takes place before build= will be ignored, as either ant,
961 mvn or gradle will be executed to clean the build environment right before
962 build= (or the final build) is run.
964 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
965 android SDK and NDK directories, and maven 3 executable respectively.
967 @item buildjni=[yes|no|<dir list>]
968 Enables building of native code via the ndk-build script before doing
969 the main ant build. The value may be a list of directories relative
970 to the main application directory in which to run ndk-build, or 'yes'
971 which corresponds to '.' . Using explicit list may be useful to build
972 multi-component projects.
974 The build and scan processes will complain (refuse to build) if this
975 parameter is not defined, but there is a @code{jni} directory present.
976 If the native code is being built by other means, you can specify
977 @code{no} here to avoid that. However, if the native code is actually
978 not required, remove the directory instead (using @code{prebuild} for
981 @item gradle=<flavour>[@@<dir>]
982 Build with gradle instead of ant, specifying what flavour to assemble.
983 If <flavour> is 'yes', 'main' or empty, no flavour will be used. Note
984 that this will not work on projects with flavours, since it will build
985 all flavours and there will be no 'main' build.
986 If @@<dir> is attached to <flavour>, then the gradle tasks will be run in that
987 directory. This might be necessary if gradle needs to be run in the parent
988 directory, in which case one would use 'gradle=<flavour>@..'.
990 @item maven=yes[@@<dir>]
991 Build with maven instead of ant. Like gradle, an extra @@<dir> tells f-droid
992 to run maven inside that relative subdirectory.
994 @item preassemble=<task1> <task2>
995 Space-separated list of gradle tasks to be run before the assemble task
996 in a gradle project build.
999 Normally the build output (apk) is expected to be in the bin
1000 subdirectory below the ant build files. If the project is configured
1001 to put it elsewhere, that can be specified here, relative to the base
1002 of the checked out repo. Not yet implemented for gradle.
1004 @item antcommand=xxx
1005 Specify an alternate ant command (target) instead of the default
1006 'release'. It can't be given any flags, such as the path to a build.xml.
1009 Don't check that the version name and code in the resulting apk are
1010 correct by looking at the build output - assume the metadata is
1011 correct. This takes away a useful level of sanity checking, and should
1012 only be used if the values can't be extracted.
1016 Another example, using extra parameters:
1018 @samp{Build Version:1.09.03,10903,45,subdir=Timeriffic,oldsdkloc=yes}
1021 @section AntiFeatures
1023 @cindex AntiFeatures
1025 This is optional - if present, it contains a comma-separated list of any of
1026 the following values, describing an anti-feature the application has.
1027 Even though such apps won't be displayed unless a settings box is ticked,
1028 it is a good idea to mention the reasons for the anti-feature(s) in the
1034 @samp{Ads} - the application contains advertising.
1037 @samp{Tracking} - the application tracks and reports your activity to
1038 somewhere without your consent. It's commonly used for when developers
1039 obtain crash logs without the user's consent, or when an app is useless
1040 without some kind of authentication.
1043 @samp{NonFreeNet} - the application relies on computational services that
1044 are impossible to replace or that the replacement cannot be connected to
1045 without major changes to the app.
1048 @samp{NonFreeAdd} - the application promotes non-Free add-ons, such that the
1049 app is effectively an advert for other non-free software and such software is
1050 not clearly labelled as such.
1053 @samp{NonFreeDep} - the application depends on a non-Free application (e.g.
1054 Google Maps) - i.e. it requires it to be installed on the device, but does not
1064 If this field is present, the application does not get put into the public
1065 index. This allows metadata to be retained while an application is temporarily
1066 disabled from being published. The value should be a description of why the
1067 application is disabled. No apks or source code archives are deleted: to purge
1068 an apk see the Build Version section or delete manually for developer builds.
1069 The field is therefore used when an app has outlived it's usefulness, because
1070 the source tarball is retained.
1073 @section Requires Root
1075 @cindex Requires Root
1077 Set this optional field to "Yes" if the application requires root
1078 privileges to be usable. This lets the client filter it out if the
1079 user so desires. Whether root is required or not, it is good to give
1080 a paragraph in the description to the conditions on which root may be
1081 asked for and the reason for it.
1083 @node Update Check Mode
1084 @section Update Check Mode
1086 @cindex Update Check Mode
1088 This determines the method using for determining when new releases are
1089 available - in other words, the updating of the Current Version and Current
1090 Version Code fields in the metadata by the @code{fdroid checkupdates} process.
1096 @code{None} - No checking is done because there's no appropriate automated way
1097 of doing so. Updates should be checked for manually. Use this, for example,
1098 when deploying betas or patched versions; when builds are done in a directory
1099 different to where the AndroidManifest.xml is; if the developers use the
1100 gradle build system and store version info in a separate file; if the
1101 developers make a new branch for each release and don't make tags; or if you've
1102 changed the package name or version code logic.
1104 @code{Static} - No checking is done - either development has ceased or new versions
1105 are not desired. This method is also used when there is no other checking method
1106 available and the upstream developer keeps us posted on new versions.
1108 @code{RepoManifest} - At the most recent commit, the AndroidManifest.xml file
1109 is looked for in the directory where it was found in the the most recent build.
1110 The appropriateness of this method depends on the development process used by
1111 the application's developers. You should not specify this method unless you're
1112 sure it's appropriate. For example, some developers bump the version when
1113 commencing development instead of when publishing.
1114 It will return an error if the AndroidManifest.xml has moved to a different
1115 directory or if the package name has changed.
1116 The current version that it gives may not be accurate, since not all
1117 versions are fit to be published. Therefore, before building, it is often
1118 necessary to check if the current version has been published somewhere by the
1119 upstream developers, either by checking for apks that they distribute or for
1120 tags in the source code repository.
1122 It currently works for every repository type to different extents, except
1123 the srclib repo type. For git, git-svn and hg repo types, you may use
1124 "RepoManifest/yourbranch" as UCM so that "yourbranch" would be the branch used
1125 in place of the default one. The default values are "master" for git,
1126 "default" for hg and none for git-svn (it stays in the same branch).
1127 On the other hand, branch support hasn't been implemented yet in bzr and svn,
1128 but RepoManifest may still be used without it.
1130 @code{RepoTrunk} - For svn and git-svn repositories, especially those who
1131 don't have a bundled AndroidManifest.xml file, the Tags and RepoManifest
1132 checks will not work, since there is no version information to obtain. But,
1133 for those apps who automate their build process with the commit ref that HEAD
1134 points to, RepoTrunk will set the Current Version and Current Version Code to
1137 @code{Tags} - The AndroidManifest.xml file in all tagged revisions in the
1138 source repository is checked, looking for the highest version code. The
1139 appropriateness of this method depends on the development process used by the
1140 application's developers. You should not specify this method unless you're sure
1141 it's appropriate. It shouldn't be used if the developers like to tag betas or
1142 are known to forget to tag releases. Like RepoManifest, it will not return the
1143 correct value if the directory containing the AndroidManifest.xml has moved.
1144 Despite these caveats, it is the often the favourite update check mode.
1146 It currently only works for git, hg, bzr and git-svn repositories. In the case
1147 of the latter, the repo URL must encode the path to the trunk and tags or else
1148 no tags will be found.
1150 @code{HTTP} - HTTP requests are used to determine the current version code and
1151 version name. This is controlled by the @code{Update Check Data} field, which
1152 is of the form @code{urlcode|excode|urlver|exver}.
1154 Firstly, if @code{urlcode} is non-empty, the document from that URL is
1155 retrieved, and matched against the regular expression @code{excode}, with the
1156 first group becoming the version code.
1158 Secondly, if @code{urlver} is non-empty, the document from that URL is
1159 retrieved, and matched against the regular expression @code{exver}, with the
1160 first group becoming the version name. The @code{urlver} field can be set to
1161 simply '.' which says to use the same document returned for the version code
1162 again, rather than retrieving a different one.
1165 @node Update Check Data
1166 @section Update Check Data
1168 @cindex Update Check Data
1170 Used in conjunction with @code{Update Check Mode} for certain modes.
1172 @node Vercode Operation
1173 @section Vercode Operation
1175 @cindex Vercode Operation
1177 Operation to be applied to the vercode obtained by the defined @code{Update
1178 Check Mode}. @code{%c} will be replaced by the actual vercode, and the whole
1179 string will be passed to python's @code{eval} function.
1181 Especially useful with apps that we want to compile for different ABIs, but
1182 whose vercodes don't always have trailing zeros. With @code{Vercode Operation}
1183 set at something like @code{%c*10 + 4}, we will be able to track updates and
1184 build three different versions of every upstream version.
1186 @node Archive Policy
1187 @section Archive Policy
1189 @cindex Archive Policy
1191 This determines the policy for moving old versions of an app to the archive
1192 repo, if one is configured. The configuration sets a default maximum number
1193 of versions kept in the main repo, after which older ones are moved to the
1194 archive. This app-specific policy setting can override that.
1196 Currently the only supported format is "n versions", where n is the number
1197 of versions to keep.
1199 @node Auto Update Mode
1200 @section Auto Update Mode
1202 @cindex Auto Update Mode
1204 This determines the method using for auto-generating new builds when new
1205 releases are available - in other words, adding a new Build Version line to the
1207 This happens in conjunction with the 'Update Check Mode' functionality - i.e.
1208 when an update is detected by that, it is also processed by this.
1214 @code{None} - No auto-updating is done
1216 @code{Version} - Identifies the target commit (i.e. tag) for the new build based
1217 on the given version specification, which is simply text in which %v and %c are
1218 replaced with the required version name and version code respectively.
1220 For example, if an app always has a tag "2.7.2" corresponding to version 2.7.2,
1221 you would simply specify "Version %v". If an app always has a tag "ver_1234"
1222 for a version with version code 1234, you would specify "Version ver_%c".
1224 Additionally, a suffix can be added to the version name at this stage, to
1225 differentiate F-Droid's build from the original. Continuing the first example
1226 above, you would specify that as "Version +-fdroid %v" - "-fdroid" is the suffix.
1230 @node Current Version
1231 @section Current Version
1233 @cindex Current Version
1235 The name of the version that is current. There may be newer versions of the
1236 application than this (e.g. betas), and there will almost certainly be older
1237 ones. This should be the one that is recommended for general use.
1238 In the event that there is no source code for the current version, or that
1239 non-free libraries are being used, this would ideally be the latest
1240 version that is still free, though it may still be expedient to
1241 retain the automatic update check — see No Source Since.
1243 This field is normally automatically updated - see Update Check Mode.
1245 This is converted to (@code{<marketversion>}) in the public index file.
1247 @node Current Version Code
1248 @section Current Version Code
1250 @cindex Current Version Code
1252 The version code corresponding to the Current Version field. Both these fields
1253 must be correct and matching although it's the current version code that's
1254 used by Android to determine version order and by F-Droid client to determine
1255 which version should be recommended.
1257 This field is normally automatically updated - see Update Check Mode.
1259 This is converted to (@code{<marketvercode>}) in the public index file.
1261 @node No Source Since
1262 @section No Source Since
1264 @cindex No Source Since
1266 In case we are missing the source code for the Current Version reported by
1267 Upstream, or that non-free elements have been introduced, this defines the
1268 first version that began to miss source code.
1269 Apps that are missing source code for just one or a few versions, but provide
1270 source code for newer ones are not to be considered here - this field is
1271 intended to illustrate which apps do not currently distribute source code, and
1272 since when have they been doing so.
1274 @node Update Processing
1275 @chapter Update Processing
1279 There are various mechanisms in place for automatically detecting that updates
1280 are available for applications, with the @code{Update Check Mode} field in the
1281 metadata determining which method is used for a particular application.
1283 Running the @code{fdroid checkupdates} command will apply this method to each
1284 application in the repository and update the @code{Current Version} and
1285 @code{Current Version Code} fields in the metadata accordingly.
1287 As usual, the @code{-p} option can be used with this, to restrict processing
1288 to a particular application.
1290 Note that this only updates the metadata such that we know what the current
1291 published/recommended version is. It doesn't make that version available in
1292 the repository - for that, see the next section.
1296 Adding updates (i.e. new versions of applications already included in the
1297 repository) happens in two ways. The simple case is applications where the
1298 APK files are binaries, retrieved from a developer's published build. In this
1299 case, all that's required is to place the new binary in the @code{Repo}
1300 directory, and the next run of @code{fdroid update} will pick it up.
1302 For applications built from source, it is necessary to add a new
1303 @code{Build Version} line to the metadata file. At the very least, the version
1304 name, version code and commit will be different. It is also possible that the
1305 additional build flags will change between versions.
1307 For processing multiple updates in the metadata at once, it can be useful to
1308 run @code{fdroid update --interactive}. This will check all the applications
1309 in the repository, and where updates are required you will be prompted to
1310 [E]dit the metadata, [I]gnore the update, or [Q]uit altogether.
1313 @chapter Build Server
1315 The Build Server system isolates the builds for each package within a clean,
1316 isolated and secure throwaway virtual machine environment.
1320 Building applications in this manner on a large scale, especially with the
1321 involvement of automated and/or unattended processes, could be considered
1322 a dangerous pastime from a security perspective. This is even more the case
1323 when the products of the build are also distributed widely and in a
1324 semi-automated ("you have updates available") fashion.
1326 Assume that an upstream source repository is compromised. A small selection
1327 of things that an attacker could do in such a situation:
1331 Use custom ant build steps to execute virtually anything as the user doing
1334 Access the keystore.
1336 Modify the built apk files or source tarballs for other applications in the
1339 Modify the metadata (which includes build scripts, which again, also includes
1340 the ability to execute anything) for other applications in the repository.
1343 Through complete isolation, the repurcussions are at least limited to the
1344 application in question. Not only is the build environment fresh for each
1345 build, and thrown away afterwards, but it is also isolated from the signing
1348 Aside from security issues, there are some applications which have strange
1349 requirements such as custom versions of the NDK. It would be impractical (or
1350 at least extremely messy) to start modifying and restoring the SDK on a
1351 multi-purpose system, but within the confines of a throwaway single-use
1352 virtual machine, anything is possible.
1354 All this is in addition to the obvious advantage of having a standardised
1355 and completely reproducible environment in which builds are made. Additionally,
1356 it allows for specialised custom build environments for particular
1359 @section Setting up a build server
1361 In addition to the basic setup previously described, you will also need
1362 a Vagrant-compatible Ubuntu Raring base box called 'raring32' (or raring64
1363 for a 64-bit VM, if you want it to be much slower, and require more disk
1366 You can use a different version or distro for the base box, so long as you
1367 don't expect any help making it work. One thing to be aware of is that
1368 working copies of source trees are moved from the host to the guest, so
1369 for example, having subversion v1.6 on the host and v1.7 on the guest
1372 Unless you're very trusting. you should create one of these for yourself
1373 from verified standard Ubuntu installation media. However, you could skip
1374 over the next few paragraphs (and sacrifice some security) by downloading
1375 @url{https://f-droid.org/raring32.box} or @url{https://f-droid.org/raring64.box}.
1377 Documentation for creating a base box can be found at
1378 @url{http://docs.vagrantup.com/v1/docs/base_boxes.html}.
1380 In addition to carefully following the steps described there, you should
1381 consider the following:
1385 It is advisable to disable udev network device persistence, otherwise any
1386 movement of the VM between machines, or reconfiguration, will result in
1389 For a Debian/Ubuntu default install, just
1390 @code{touch /etc/udev/rules.d/75-persistent-net-generator.rules} to turn
1391 off rule generation, and at the same time, get rid of any rules it's
1392 already created in @code{/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules}.
1394 Unless you want the VM to become totally inaccessible following a failed
1395 boot, you need to set @code{GRUB_RECORDFAIL_TIMEOUT} to a value other than
1396 -1 in @code{/etc/grub/default} and then run @code{update-grub}.
1399 You may also want to edit @code{buildserver/Vagrantfile} - in particular
1400 there is a path for retrieving the base box if it doesn't exist, and an
1401 apt proxy definition, both of which may need customising for your
1404 With this base box available, you should then create @code{makebs.config.py},
1405 using @code{makebs.config.sample.py} as a reference - look at the settings and
1406 documentation there to decide if any need changing to suit your environment.
1407 You can then go to the @code{fdroidserver} directory and run this:
1410 ./makebuildserver.py
1413 This will take a long time, and use a lot of bandwidth - most of it spent
1414 installing the necessary parts of the Android SDK for all the various
1415 platforms. Luckily you only need to do it occasionally. Once you have a
1416 working build server image, if the recipes change (e.g. when packages need
1417 to be added) you can just run that script again and the existing one will
1418 be updated in place.
1420 The main sdk/ndk downloads will automatically be cached to speed things
1421 up the next time, but there's no easy way of doing this for the longer
1422 sections which use the SDK's @code{android} tool to install platforms,
1423 add-ons and tools. However, instead of allowing automatic caching, you
1424 can supply a pre-populated cache directory which includes not only these
1425 downloads, but also .tar.gz files for all the relevant additions. If the
1426 provisioning scripts detect these, they will be used in preference to
1427 running the android tools. For example, if you have
1428 @code{buildserver/addons/cache/platforms/android-15.tar.gz} that will be
1429 used when installing the android-15 platform, instead of re-downloading it
1430 using @code{android update sdk --no-ui -t android-15}.
1432 Once it's complete you'll have a new base box called 'buildserver' which is
1433 what's used for the actual builds. You can then build packages as normal,
1434 but with the addition of the @code{--server} flag to @code{fdroid build} to
1435 instruct it to do all the hard work within the virtual machine.
1437 The first time a build is done, a new virtual machine is created using the
1438 'buildserver' box as a base. A snapshot of this clean machine state is saved
1439 for use in future builds, to improve performance. You can force discarding
1440 of this snapshot and rebuilding from scratch using the @code{--resetserver}
1441 switch with @code{fdroid build}.
1446 There are two kinds of signing involved in running a repository - the signing
1447 of the APK files generated from source builds, and the signing of the repo
1448 index itself. The latter is optional, but very strongly recommended.
1450 @section Repo Index Signing
1452 When setting up the repository, one of the first steps should be to generate
1453 a signing key for the repository index. This will also create a keystore, which
1454 is a file that can be used to hold this and all other keys used. Consider the
1455 location, security and backup status of this file carefully, then create it as
1458 @code{keytool -genkey -v -keystore my.keystore -alias repokey -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000}
1460 In the above, replace 'my.keystore' with the name of the keystore file to be
1461 created, and 'repokey' with a name to identify the repo index key by.
1463 You'll be asked for a password for the keystore, AND a password for the key.
1464 They shouldn't be the same. In between, you'll be asked for some identifying
1465 details which will go in the certificate.
1467 The two passwords entered go into @code{config.py}, as @code{keystorepass} and
1468 @code{keypass} respectively. The path to the keystore file, and the alias you
1469 chose for the key also go into that file, as @code{keystore} and
1470 @code{repo_keyalias} respectively.
1472 @section Package Signing
1474 With the repo index signing configured, all that remains to be done for package
1475 signing to work is to set the @code{keydname} field in @code{config.py} to
1476 contain the same identifying details you entered before.
1478 A new key will be generated using these details, for each application that is
1479 built. (If a specific key is required for a particular application, this system
1480 can be overridden using the @code{keyaliases} config settings.
1483 @node GNU Free Documentation License
1484 @appendix GNU Free Documentation License