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 JDK (Debian package openjdk-6-jdk): openjdk-6 is recommended though openjdk-7
100 VCS clients: svn, git, git-svn, hg, bzr
102 A keystore for holding release keys. (Safe, secure and well backed up!)
105 If you intend to use the 'Build Server' system, for secure and clean builds
106 (highly recommended), you will also need:
110 VirtualBox (debian package virtualbox)
112 Ruby (debian packages ruby and rubygems)
114 Vagrant (gem install vagrant)
116 Paramiko (debian package python-paramiko)
118 Imaging (debian package python-imaging)
120 Magic (debian package python-magic)
123 On the other hand, if you want to build the apps directly on your system
124 without the 'Build Server' system, you may need:
128 All SDK platforms requested by the apps you want to build
129 (The Android SDK is made available by Google under a proprietary license but
130 within that, the SDK platforms, support library and some other components are
131 under the Apache license and source code is provided.
132 Google APIs, used for building apps using Google Maps, are free to the extent
133 that the library comes pre-installed on the device.
134 Google Play Services, Google Admob and others are proprietary and shouldn't be
135 included in the main F-Droid repository.)
137 A version of the Android NDK
139 Ant with Contrib Tasks (Debian packages ant and ant-contrib)
141 Maven (Debian package maven)
143 JavaCC (Debian package javacc)
145 Miscellaneous packages listed in
146 buildserver/cookbooks/fdroidbuild-general/recipes/default.rb
147 of the F-Droid server repository
153 @cindex setup, installation
155 Because the tools and data will always change rapidly, you will almost
156 certainly want to work from a git clone of the tools at this stage. To
160 git clone git://gitorious.org/f-droid/fdroidserver.git
163 You now have lots of stuff in the fdroidserver directory, but the most
164 important is the 'fdroid' command script which you run to perform all tasks.
165 This script is always run from a repository data directory, so the
166 most sensible thing to do next is to put your new fdroidserver directory
171 To do anything, you'll need at least one repository data directory. It's
172 from this directory that you run the @code{fdroid} command to perform all
173 repository management tasks. You can either create a brand new one, or
174 grab a copy of the data used by the main F-Droid repository:
177 git clone git://gitorious.org/f-droid/fdroiddata.git
180 Regardless of the intended usage of the tools, you will always need to set
181 up some basic configuration details. This is done by creating a file called
182 @code{config.py} in the data directory. You should do this by copying the
183 example file (@code{config.sample.py}) from the fdroidserver project to your
184 data directory and then editing according to the instructions within.
186 Once configured in this way, all the functionality of the tools is accessed
187 by running the @code{fdroid} command. Run it on its own to get a list of the
188 available sub-commands.
190 You can follow any command with @code{--help} to get a list of additional
191 options available for that command.
198 @node Simple Binary Repository
199 @chapter Simple Binary Repository
203 If you want to maintain a simple repository hosting only binary APKs obtained
204 and compiled elsewhere, the process is quite simple:
208 Set up the server tools, as described in Setup.
210 Make a directory for your repository. This is the directory from which you
211 will do all the work with your repository. Create a config file there, called
212 @code{config.py}, by copying the @code{config.sample.py} from the server
213 project and editing it.
215 Within that, make a directory called @code{repo} and put APK files in it.
217 Run @code{fdroid update}.
219 If it reports that any metadata files are missing, you can create them
220 in the @code{metadata} directory and run it again.
222 To ease creation of metadata files, run @code{fdroid update} with the @code{-c}
223 option. It will create 'skeleton' metadata files that are missing, and you can
224 then just edit them and fill in the details.
226 Then, if you've changed things, run @code{fdroid update} again.
228 Running @code{fdroid update} adds an Icons directory into the repo directory,
229 and also creates the repository index (index.xml, and also index.jar if you've
230 configured the system to use a signed index).
232 Publish the resulting contents of the @code{repo} directory to your web server.
235 Following the above process will result in a @code{repo} directory, which you
236 simply need to push to any HTTP (or preferably HTTPS) server to make it
239 While some information about the applications (and versions thereof) is
240 retrieved directly from the APK files, most comes from the corresponding file
241 in the @code{metadata} directory. The metadata file covering ALL versions of a
242 particular application is named @code{package.id.txt} where package.id is the
243 unique identifier for that package.
245 See the Metadata chapter for details of what goes in the metadata file. All
246 fields are relevant for binary APKs, EXCEPT for 'Build Version' entries, which
250 @node Building Applications
251 @chapter Building Applications
253 Instead of (or as well as) including binary APKs from external sources in a
254 repository, you can build them directly from the source code.
256 Using this method, it is is possible to verify that the application builds
257 correctly, corresponds to the source code, and contains only free software.
258 Unforunately, in the Android world, it seems to be very common for an
259 application supplied as a binary APK to present itself as Free Software
260 when in fact some or all of the following are true:
264 The source code (either for a particular version, or even all versions!) is
265 unavailable or incomplete.
267 The source code is not capable of producing the actual binary supplied.
269 The 'source code' contains binary files of unknown origin, or with proprietary
273 For this reason, source-built applications are the preferred method for the
274 main F-Droid repository, although occasionally for technical or historical
275 reasons, exceptions are made to this policy.
277 When building applications from source, it should be noted that you will be
278 signing them (all APK files must be signed to be installable on Android) with
279 your own key. When an application is already installed on a device, it is not
280 possible to upgrade it in place to a new version signed with a different key
281 without first uninstalling the original. This may present an inconvenience to
282 users, as the process of uninstalling loses any data associated with the
283 previous installation.
285 The process for managing a repository for built-from-source applications is
286 very similar to that described in the Simple Binary Repository chapter,
287 except now you need to:
291 Include Build Version entries in the metadata files.
293 Run @code{fdroid build} to build any applications that are not already built.
295 Run @code{fdroid publish} to finalise packaging and sign any APKs that have
300 @section More about "fdroid build"
302 When run without any parameters, @code{fdroid build} will build any and all
303 versions of applications that you don't already have in the @code{repo}
304 directory (or more accurately, the @code{unsigned} directory). There are various
305 other things you can do. As with all the tools, the @code{--help} option is
306 your friend, but a few annotated examples and discussion of the more common
309 To build a single version of a single application, you could run the
313 ./fdroid build org.fdroid.fdroid:16
316 This attempts to build version code 16 (which is version 0.25) of the F-Droid
317 client. Many of the tools recognise arguments as packages, allowing their
318 activity to be limited to just a limited set of packages.
320 If the build above was successful, two files will have been placed in the
321 @code{unsigned} directory:
324 org.fdroid.fdroid_16.apk
325 org.fdroid.fdroid_16_src.tar.gz
328 The first is the (unsigned) APK. You could sign this with a debug key and push
329 it direct to your device or an emulator for testing. The second is a source
330 tarball containing exactly the source that was used to generate the binary.
332 If you were intending to publish these files, you could then run:
338 The source tarball would move to the @code{repo} directory (which is the
339 directory you would push to your web server). A signed and zip-aligned version
340 of the APK would also appear there, and both files would be removed from the
341 @code{unsigned} directory.
343 If you're building purely for the purposes of testing, and not intending to
344 push the results to a repository, at least yet, the @code{--test} option can be
345 used to direct output to the @code{tmp} directory instead of @code{unsigned}.
346 A similar effect could by achieved by simply deleting the output files from
347 @code{unsigned} after the build, but with the risk of forgetting to do so!
349 Along similar lines (and only in conjunction with @code{--test}, you can use
350 @code{--force} to force a build of a Disabled application, where normally it
351 would be completely ignored. Similarly a version that was found to contain
352 ELFs or known non-free libraries can be forced to build. See also —
353 scanignore= and scandelete= in the Build Version section.
355 If the build was unsuccessful, you can find out why by looking at the output
356 in the logs/ directory. If that isn't illuminating, try building the app the
357 regular way, step by step: android update project, ndk-build, ant debug.
359 Note that source code repositories often contain prebuilt libraries. If the
360 app is being considered for the main F-Droid repository, it is important that
361 all such prebuilts are built either via the metadata or by a reputable third
365 @section Direct Installation
367 You can also build and install directly to a connected device or emulator
368 using the @code{fdroid install} command. If you do this without passing
369 packages as arguments then all the latest built and signed version available
370 of each package will be installed . In most cases, this will not be what you
371 want to do, so execution will stop straight away. However, you can override
372 this if you're sure that's what you want, by using @code{--all}. Note that
373 currently, no sanity checks are performed with this mode, so if the files in
374 the signed output directory were modified, you won't be notified.
377 @node Importing Applications
378 @chapter Importing Applications
380 To help with starting work on including a new application, @code{fdroid import}
381 will take a URL and optionally some other parameters, and attempt to construct
382 as much information as possible by analysing the source code. Basic usage is:
385 ./fdroid import --url=http://address.of.project
388 For this to work, the URL must point to a project format that the script
389 understands. Currently this is limited to one of the following:
393 Gitorious - @code{https://gitorious.org/PROJECTNAME/REPONAME}
395 Github - @code{https://github.com/USER/PROJECT}
397 Google Code - @code{http://code.google.com/p/PROJECT/}
398 Supports git, svn and hg repos.
400 Some Google Code projects have multiple repositories, identified by a
401 dropdown list on the @code{source/checkout} page. To access one other than
402 the default, specify its name using the @code{--repo} switch.
404 Bitbucket - @code{https://bitbucket.org/USER/PROJECT/}
406 Git - @code{git://REPO}
409 Depending on the project type, more or less information may be gathered. For
410 example, the license will be retrieved from a Google Code project, but not a
411 GitHub one. A bare repo url, such as the git:// one, is the least preferable
412 optional of all, since you will have to enter much more information manually.
414 If the import is successful, a metadata file will be created. You will need to
415 edit this further to check the information, and fill in the blanks.
417 If it fails, you'll be told why. If it got as far as retrieving the source
418 code, you can inspect it further by looking in @code{tmp/importer} where a full
421 A frequent cause of initial failure is that the project directory is actually
422 a subdirectory in the repository. In this case, run the importer again using
423 the @code{--subdir} option to tell it where. It will not attempt to determine
424 this automatically, since there may be several options.
432 Information used by update.py to compile the public index comes from two
437 the APK files in the repo directory, and
439 the metadata files in the metadata directory.
442 The metadata files are simple, easy to edit text files, always named as the
443 application's package ID with '.txt' appended.
445 Note that although the metadata files are designed to be easily read and
446 writable by humans, they are also processed and written by various scripts.
447 They are capable of rewriting the entire file when necessary. Even so,
448 the structure and comments will be preserved correctly, although the order
449 of fields will be standardised. (In the event that the original file was
450 in a different order, comments are considered as being attached to the field
451 following them). In fact, you can standardise all the metadata in a single
452 command, without changing the functional content, by running:
455 fdroid rewritemetadata
458 The following sections describe the fields recognised within the file.
483 * Update Check Mode::
484 * Vercode Operation::
485 * Update Check Data::
488 * Current Version Code::
495 Any number of categories for the application to be placed in. There is no
496 fixed list of categories - both the client and the web site will automatically
497 show any categories that exist in any applications. However, if your metadata
498 is intended for the main F-Droid repository, you should use one of the
499 existing categories (look at the site/client), or discuss the proposal to add
502 Categories must be separated by a single comma character, ','. For backwards
503 compatibility, F-Droid will use the first category given as <category> element
504 for older clients to at least see one category.
506 This is converted to (@code{<categories>}) in the public index file.
513 The overall license for the application, or in certain cases, for the
526 GNU GPL version 2 or later
534 GNU GPL version 3 or later
538 An unspecified GPL version. Use this only as a last resort or if there is
539 some confusion over compatiblity of component licenses: particularly the use of
540 Apache libraries with GPLv2 source code.
544 Afferro GPL version 3.
556 BSD license - the original '4-clause' version.
560 BSD license - the new, or modified, version.
564 This is converted to (@code{<license>}) in the public index file.
571 The name of the application as can best be retrieved from the source code.
572 This is done so that the commitupdates script can put a familiar name in the
573 description of commits created when a new update of the application is
574 found. The Auto Name entry is generated automatically when @code{fdroid
575 checkupdates} is run.
582 The name of the application. Normally, this field should not be present since
583 the application's correct name is retrieved from the APK file. However, in a
584 situation where an APK contains a bad or missing application name, it can be
585 overridden using this. Note that this only overrides the name in the list of
586 apps presented in the client; it doesn't changed the name or application label
594 Comma-separated list of application IDs that this app provides. In other
595 words, if the user has any of these apps installed, F-Droid will show this app
596 as installed instead. It will also appear if the user clicks on urls linking
597 to the other app IDs. Useful when an app switches package name, or when you
598 want an app to act as multiple apps.
605 The URL for the application's web site.
607 This is converted to (@code{<web>}) in the public index file.
614 The URL to view or obtain the application's source code. This should be
615 something human-friendly. Machine-readable source-code is covered in the
618 This is converted to (@code{<source>}) in the public index file.
621 @section Issue Tracker
623 @cindex Issue Tracker
625 The URL for the application's issue tracker. Optional, since not all
626 applications have one.
628 This is converted to (@code{<tracker>}) in the public index file.
635 The URL to donate to the project. This should be the project's donate page
638 It is possible to use a direct PayPal link here, if that is all that is
639 available. However, bear in mind that the developer may not be aware of
640 that direct link, and if they later changed to a different PayPal account,
641 or the PayPal link format changed, things could go wrong. It is always
642 best to use a link that the developer explicitly makes public, rather than
643 something that is auto-generated 'button code'.
645 This is converted to (@code{<donate>}) in the public index file.
652 The project's Flattr (http://flattr.com) ID, if it has one. This should be
653 a numeric ID, such that (for example) https://flattr.com/thing/xxxx leads
654 directly to the page to donate to the project.
656 This is converted to (@code{<flattr>}) in the public index file.
663 A bitcoin address for donating to the project.
665 This is converted to (@code{<bitcoin>}) in the public index file.
672 A litecoin address for donating to the project.
679 A brief summary of what the application is. Since the summary is only allowed
680 one line on the list of the F-Droid client, keeping it to within 32 characters
681 will ensure it fits even on the smallest screens.
688 A full description of the application, relevant to the latest version.
689 This can span multiple lines (which should be kept to a maximum of 80
690 characters), and is terminated by a line containing a single '.'.
692 Basic MediaWiki-style formatting can be used. Leaving a blank line starts a
693 new paragraph. Surrounding text with @code{''} make it italic, and with
694 @code{'''} makes it bold.
696 You can link to another app in the repo by using @code{[[app.id]]}. The link
697 will be made appropriately whether in the Android client, the web repo
698 browser or the wiki. The link text will be the apps name.
700 Links to web addresses can be done using @code{[http://example.com Text]}.
702 For both of the above link formats, the entire link (from opening to closing
703 square bracket) must be on the same line.
705 Bulletted lists are done by simply starting each item with a @code{*} on
706 a new line, and numbered lists are the same but using @code{#}. There is
707 currently no support for nesting lists - you can have one level only.
709 It can be helpful to note information pertaining to updating from an
710 earlier version; whether the app contains any prebuilts built by the
711 upstream developers or whether non-free elements were removed; whether the
712 app is in rapid development or whether the latest version lags behind the
713 current version; whether the app supports multiple architectures or whether
714 there is a maximum SDK specified (such info not being recorded in the index).
716 This is converted to (@code{<desc>}) in the public index file.
718 @node Maintainer Notes
719 @section Maintainer Notes
721 @cindex Maintainer Notes
723 This is a multi-line field using the same rules and syntax as the description.
724 It's used to record notes for F-Droid maintainers to assist in maintaining and
725 updating the application in the repository.
727 This information is also published to the wiki.
734 The type of repository - for automatic building from source. If this is not
735 specified, automatic building is disabled for this application. Possible
757 The repository location. Usually a git: or svn: URL, for example.
759 The git-svn option connects to an SVN repository, and you specify the URL in
760 exactly the same way, but git is used as a back-end. This is preferable for
761 performance reasons, and also because a local copy of the entire history is
762 available in case the upstream repository disappears. (It happens!). In
763 order to use Tags as update check mode for this VCS type, the URL must have
764 the tags= special argument set. Likewise, if you intend to use the
765 RepoManifest/branch scheme, you would want to specify branches= as well.
766 Finally, trunk= can also be added. All these special arguments will be passed
767 to "git svn" in order, and their values must be relative paths to the svn repo
769 Here's an example of a complex git-svn Repo URL:
770 http://svn.code.sf.net/p/project/code/svn;trunk=trunk;tags=tags;branches=branches
772 For a Subversion repo that requires authentication, you can precede the repo
773 URL with username:password@ and those parameters will be passed as @option{--username}
774 and @option{--password} to the SVN checkout command. (This now works for both
777 If the Repo Type is @code{srclib}, then you must specify the name of the
778 according srclib .txt file. For example if @code{scrlibs/FooBar.txt} exist
779 and you want to use this srclib, then you have to set Repo to
783 @section Build Version
785 @cindex Build Version
787 Any number of these fields can be present, each specifying a version to
788 automatically build from source. The value is a comma-separated list.
791 @samp{Build Version:0.12,3,651696a49be2cd7db5ce6a2fa8185e31f9a20035}
793 The above specifies to build version 0.12, which has a version code of 3.
794 The third parameter specifies the tag, commit or revision number from
795 which to build it in the source repository.
797 In addition to the three, always required, parameters described above,
798 further parameters can be added (in name=value format) to apply further
799 configuration to the build. These are (roughly in order of application):
803 @item disable=<message>
804 Disables this build, giving a reason why. (For backwards compatibility, this
805 can also be achieved by starting the commit ID with '!')
807 The purpose of this feature is to allow non-buildable releases (e.g. the source
808 is not published) to be flagged, so the scripts don't generate repeated
809 messages about them. (And also to record the information for review later).
810 If an apk has already been built, disabling causes it to be deleted once
811 @code{fdroid update} is run; this is the procedure if ever a version has to
815 Specifies to build from a subdirectory of the checked out source code.
816 Normally this directory is changed to before building,
819 Use if the project (git only) has submodules - causes git submodule
820 init and update to be executed after the source is cloned.
823 As for 'prebuild', but runs on the source code BEFORE any other processing
826 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
827 android SDK and NDK directories, and maven 3 executable respectively.
830 The sdk location in the repo is in an old format, or the build.xml is
831 expecting such. The 'new' format is sdk.dir while the VERY OLD format
832 is sdk-location. Typically, if you get a message along the lines of:
833 "com.android.ant.SetupTask cannot be found" when trying to build, then
834 try enabling this option.
836 @item target=<target>
837 Specifies a particular SDK target for compilation, overriding the
838 project.properties of the app and possibly sub-projects. Note that this does
839 not change the target SDK in the AndroidManifest.xml — the level of features
840 that can be included in the build. This is likely to cause the whole build.xml
841 to be rewritten, which is fine if it's a 'standard' android file or doesn't
842 already exist, but not a good idea if it's heavily customised. If you get an
843 error about invalid target, first try @code{init=rm -rf bin/}; otherwise this
844 parameter should do the trick.
846 Please note that gradle builds should be using compilesdk=.
848 @item compilesdk=<level>
849 Practically accomplishes the same that target= does when used in ant and maven
850 projects. compilesdk= is used rather than target= so as to not cause any more
851 confusion. It only takes effect on gradle builds in the build.gradle file,
852 thus using it in any other case is not wise.
855 By default, 'android update project' is used to generate or update the
856 project and all its referenced projects. Specifying update=no bypasses that.
858 Specifiying update=force forces rebuilding of the build.xml file at the
859 same time - this is frequently needed with r14 of the Android platform
860 tools. Be aware of any customisations in build.xml when using
863 Default value is '@code{auto}', which uses the paths used in the
864 project.properties file to find out what project paths to update.
866 Otherwise, value can be a semicolon-separated list of directories in
867 which to run 'android update project' relative to the main
868 application directory (which may include '@code{subdir}' parameter).
871 Adds a java.encoding property to local.properties with the given
872 value. Generally the value will be 'utf-8'. This is picked up by the
873 SDK's ant rules, and forces the Java compiler to interpret source
874 files with this encoding. If you receive warnings during the compile
875 about character encodings, you probably need this.
877 @item forceversion=yes
878 If specified, the package version in AndroidManifest.xml is replaced
879 with the version name for the build as specified in the metadata.
881 This is useful for cases when upstream repo failed to update it for
882 specific tag; to build an arbitrary revision; to make it apparent that
883 the version differs significantly from upstream; or to make it apparent
884 which architecture or platform the apk is designed to run on.
886 @item forcevercode=yes
887 If specified, the package version code in the AndroidManifest.xml is
888 replaced with the version code for the build. See also forceversion.
890 @item rm=<relpath1;relpath2;...>
891 Specifies the relative paths of files or directories to delete before
892 the build is done. The paths are relative to the base of the build
893 directory - i.e. the root of the directory structure checked out from
894 the source respository - not necessarily the directory that contains
897 Multiple files/directories can be specified by separating them with ';'.
898 Directories will be recursively deleted.
901 Modifies any instances of string resources that use multiple
902 formatting arguments, but don't use positional notation. For example,
903 "Hello %s, %d" becomes "Hello %1$s, %2$d". Newer versions of the
904 Android platform tools enforce this sensible standard. If you get
905 error messages relating to that, you need to enable this.
908 Like fixtrans, but deals with an even older issue relating to
909 'unescaped apostrophes' in translation strings.
912 Specifies a list of external libraries (jar files) from the
913 @code{build/extlib} library, which will be placed in the @code{libs} directory
914 of the project. Separate items with semicolons.
916 @item srclibs=a@@r;b@@r1;
917 Specifies a list of source libraries or Android projects. Separate items with
918 semicolons, and each item is of the form name@@rev where name is the predefined
919 source library name and rev is the revision or tag in source control to use.
921 Each srclib has a metadata file under srclibs/ in the repository directory,
922 and the source code is stored in build/srclib/.
923 Repo Type: and Repo: are specified in the same way as for apps; Subdir: can be
924 a comma separated list, for when directories are renamed by upstream; Update
925 Project: updates the projects in the working directory and one level down;
926 Prepare: can be used for any kind of preparation: in particular if you need to
927 update the project with a particular target. You can then also use $$name$$ in
928 the init/prebuild/build command to substitute the relative path to the library
929 directory, but it could need tweaking if you've changed into another directory.
932 Apply patch(es). 'x' names one (or more - comma-seperated)
933 files within a directory below the metadata, with the same
934 name as the metadata file but without the extension. Each of
935 these patches is applied to the code in turn.
938 Specifies a shell command (or commands - chain with &&) to run before
939 the build takes place. Backslash can be used as an escape character to
940 insert literal commas, or as the last character on a line to join that
941 line with the next. It has no special meaning in other contexts; in
942 particular, literal backslashes should not be escaped.
944 The command runs using bash.
946 Note that nothing should be build during this prebuild phase - scanning
947 of the code and building of the source tarball, for example, take place
948 after this. For custom actions that actually build things, use 'build'
951 You can use $$name$$ to substitute the path to a referenced srclib - see
952 the @code{srclib} directory for details of this.
954 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
955 android SDK and NDK directories, and maven 3 executable respectively e.g.
956 for when you need to run @code{android update project} explicitly.
958 @item scanignore=path1;path2;...
959 Enables one or more files/paths to be exlcuded from the scan process.
960 This should only be used where there is a very good reason, and
961 probably accompanied by a comment explaining why it is necessary.
963 When scanning the source tree for problems, matching files whose relative
964 paths start with any of the paths given here are ignored.
966 @item scandelete=path1;path2;...
967 Similar to scanignore=, but instead of ignoring files under the given paths,
968 it tells f-droid to delete the matching files directly.
971 As for 'prebuild', but runs during the actual build phase (but before the
972 main ant/maven build). Use this only for actions that do actual building.
973 Any prepartion of the source code should be done using 'init' or 'prebuild'.
975 Any building that takes place before build= will be ignored, as either ant,
976 mvn or gradle will be executed to clean the build environment right before
977 build= (or the final build) is run.
979 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
980 android SDK and NDK directories, and maven 3 executable respectively.
982 @item buildjni=[yes|no|<dir list>]
983 Enables building of native code via the ndk-build script before doing
984 the main ant build. The value may be a list of directories relative
985 to the main application directory in which to run ndk-build, or 'yes'
986 which corresponds to '.' . Using explicit list may be useful to build
987 multi-component projects.
989 The build and scan processes will complain (refuse to build) if this
990 parameter is not defined, but there is a @code{jni} directory present.
991 If the native code is being built by other means, you can specify
992 @code{no} here to avoid that. However, if the native code is actually
993 not required, remove the directory instead (using @code{prebuild} for
996 @item gradle=<flavour>[@@<dir>]
997 Build with gradle instead of ant, specifying what flavour to assemble.
998 If <flavour> is 'yes', 'main' or empty, no flavour will be used. Note
999 that this will not work on projects with flavours, since it will build
1000 all flavours and there will be no 'main' build.
1001 If @@<dir> is attached to <flavour>, then the gradle tasks will be run in that
1002 directory. This might be necessary if gradle needs to be run in the parent
1003 directory, in which case one would use 'gradle=<flavour>@..'.
1005 @item maven=yes[@@<dir>]
1006 Build with maven instead of ant. Like gradle, an extra @@<dir> tells f-droid
1007 to run maven inside that relative subdirectory.
1009 @item preassemble=<task1> <task2>
1010 Space-separated list of gradle tasks to be run before the assemble task
1011 in a gradle project build.
1014 Normally the build output (apk) is expected to be in the bin
1015 subdirectory below the ant build files. If the project is configured
1016 to put it elsewhere, that can be specified here, relative to the base
1017 of the checked out repo. Not yet implemented for gradle.
1019 @item antcommand=xxx
1020 Specify an alternate ant command (target) instead of the default
1021 'release'. It can't be given any flags, such as the path to a build.xml.
1024 Don't check that the version name and code in the resulting apk are
1025 correct by looking at the build output - assume the metadata is
1026 correct. This takes away a useful level of sanity checking, and should
1027 only be used if the values can't be extracted.
1031 Another example, using extra parameters:
1033 @samp{Build Version:1.09.03,10903,45,subdir=Timeriffic,oldsdkloc=yes}
1036 @section AntiFeatures
1038 @cindex AntiFeatures
1040 This is optional - if present, it contains a comma-separated list of any of
1041 the following values, describing an anti-feature the application has.
1042 Even though such apps won't be displayed unless a settings box is ticked,
1043 it is a good idea to mention the reasons for the anti-feature(s) in the
1049 @samp{Ads} - the application contains advertising.
1052 @samp{Tracking} - the application tracks and reports your activity to
1053 somewhere without your consent. It's commonly used for when developers
1054 obtain crash logs without the user's consent, or when an app is useless
1055 without some kind of authentication.
1058 @samp{NonFreeNet} - the application relies on computational services that
1059 are impossible to replace or that the replacement cannot be connected to
1060 without major changes to the app.
1063 @samp{NonFreeAdd} - the application promotes non-Free add-ons, such that the
1064 app is effectively an advert for other non-free software and such software is
1065 not clearly labelled as such.
1068 @samp{NonFreeDep} - the application depends on a non-Free application (e.g.
1069 Google Maps) - i.e. it requires it to be installed on the device, but does not
1079 If this field is present, the application does not get put into the public
1080 index. This allows metadata to be retained while an application is temporarily
1081 disabled from being published. The value should be a description of why the
1082 application is disabled. No apks or source code archives are deleted: to purge
1083 an apk see the Build Version section or delete manually for developer builds.
1084 The field is therefore used when an app has outlived it's usefulness, because
1085 the source tarball is retained.
1088 @section Requires Root
1090 @cindex Requires Root
1092 Set this optional field to "Yes" if the application requires root
1093 privileges to be usable. This lets the client filter it out if the
1094 user so desires. Whether root is required or not, it is good to give
1095 a paragraph in the description to the conditions on which root may be
1096 asked for and the reason for it.
1098 @node Update Check Mode
1099 @section Update Check Mode
1101 @cindex Update Check Mode
1103 This determines the method using for determining when new releases are
1104 available - in other words, the updating of the Current Version and Current
1105 Version Code fields in the metadata by the @code{fdroid checkupdates} process.
1111 @code{None} - No checking is done because there's no appropriate automated way
1112 of doing so. Updates should be checked for manually. Use this, for example,
1113 when deploying betas or patched versions; when builds are done in a directory
1114 different to where the AndroidManifest.xml is; if the developers use the
1115 gradle build system and store version info in a separate file; if the
1116 developers make a new branch for each release and don't make tags; or if you've
1117 changed the package name or version code logic.
1119 @code{Static} - No checking is done - either development has ceased or new versions
1120 are not desired. This method is also used when there is no other checking method
1121 available and the upstream developer keeps us posted on new versions.
1123 @code{RepoManifest} - At the most recent commit, the AndroidManifest.xml file
1124 is looked for in the directory where it was found in the the most recent build.
1125 The appropriateness of this method depends on the development process used by
1126 the application's developers. You should not specify this method unless you're
1127 sure it's appropriate. For example, some developers bump the version when
1128 commencing development instead of when publishing.
1129 It will return an error if the AndroidManifest.xml has moved to a different
1130 directory or if the package name has changed.
1131 The current version that it gives may not be accurate, since not all
1132 versions are fit to be published. Therefore, before building, it is often
1133 necessary to check if the current version has been published somewhere by the
1134 upstream developers, either by checking for apks that they distribute or for
1135 tags in the source code repository.
1137 It currently works for every repository type to different extents, except
1138 the srclib repo type. For git, git-svn and hg repo types, you may use
1139 "RepoManifest/yourbranch" as UCM so that "yourbranch" would be the branch used
1140 in place of the default one. The default values are "master" for git,
1141 "default" for hg and none for git-svn (it stays in the same branch).
1142 On the other hand, branch support hasn't been implemented yet in bzr and svn,
1143 but RepoManifest may still be used without it.
1145 @code{RepoTrunk} - For svn and git-svn repositories, especially those who
1146 don't have a bundled AndroidManifest.xml file, the Tags and RepoManifest
1147 checks will not work, since there is no version information to obtain. But,
1148 for those apps who automate their build process with the commit ref that HEAD
1149 points to, RepoTrunk will set the Current Version and Current Version Code to
1152 @code{Tags} - The AndroidManifest.xml file in all tagged revisions in the
1153 source repository is checked, looking for the highest version code. The
1154 appropriateness of this method depends on the development process used by the
1155 application's developers. You should not specify this method unless you're sure
1156 it's appropriate. It shouldn't be used if the developers like to tag betas or
1157 are known to forget to tag releases. Like RepoManifest, it will not return the
1158 correct value if the directory containing the AndroidManifest.xml has moved.
1159 Despite these caveats, it is the often the favourite update check mode.
1161 It currently only works for git, hg, bzr and git-svn repositories. In the case
1162 of the latter, the repo URL must encode the path to the trunk and tags or else
1163 no tags will be found.
1165 @code{HTTP} - HTTP requests are used to determine the current version code and
1166 version name. This is controlled by the @code{Update Check Data} field, which
1167 is of the form @code{urlcode|excode|urlver|exver}.
1169 Firstly, if @code{urlcode} is non-empty, the document from that URL is
1170 retrieved, and matched against the regular expression @code{excode}, with the
1171 first group becoming the version code.
1173 Secondly, if @code{urlver} is non-empty, the document from that URL is
1174 retrieved, and matched against the regular expression @code{exver}, with the
1175 first group becoming the version name. The @code{urlver} field can be set to
1176 simply '.' which says to use the same document returned for the version code
1177 again, rather than retrieving a different one.
1180 @node Update Check Data
1181 @section Update Check Data
1183 @cindex Update Check Data
1185 Used in conjunction with @code{Update Check Mode} for certain modes.
1187 @node Vercode Operation
1188 @section Vercode Operation
1190 @cindex Vercode Operation
1192 Operation to be applied to the vercode obtained by the defined @code{Update
1193 Check Mode}. @code{%c} will be replaced by the actual vercode, and the whole
1194 string will be passed to python's @code{eval} function.
1196 Especially useful with apps that we want to compile for different ABIs, but
1197 whose vercodes don't always have trailing zeros. With @code{Vercode Operation}
1198 set at something like @code{%c*10 + 4}, we will be able to track updates and
1199 build three different versions of every upstream version.
1201 @node Archive Policy
1202 @section Archive Policy
1204 @cindex Archive Policy
1206 This determines the policy for moving old versions of an app to the archive
1207 repo, if one is configured. The configuration sets a default maximum number
1208 of versions kept in the main repo, after which older ones are moved to the
1209 archive. This app-specific policy setting can override that.
1211 Currently the only supported format is "n versions", where n is the number
1212 of versions to keep.
1214 @node Auto Update Mode
1215 @section Auto Update Mode
1217 @cindex Auto Update Mode
1219 This determines the method using for auto-generating new builds when new
1220 releases are available - in other words, adding a new Build Version line to the
1222 This happens in conjunction with the 'Update Check Mode' functionality - i.e.
1223 when an update is detected by that, it is also processed by this.
1229 @code{None} - No auto-updating is done
1231 @code{Version} - Identifies the target commit (i.e. tag) for the new build based
1232 on the given version specification, which is simply text in which %v and %c are
1233 replaced with the required version name and version code respectively.
1235 For example, if an app always has a tag "2.7.2" corresponding to version 2.7.2,
1236 you would simply specify "Version %v". If an app always has a tag "ver_1234"
1237 for a version with version code 1234, you would specify "Version ver_%c".
1239 Additionally, a suffix can be added to the version name at this stage, to
1240 differentiate F-Droid's build from the original. Continuing the first example
1241 above, you would specify that as "Version +-fdroid %v" - "-fdroid" is the suffix.
1245 @node Current Version
1246 @section Current Version
1248 @cindex Current Version
1250 The name of the version that is current. There may be newer versions of the
1251 application than this (e.g. betas), and there will almost certainly be older
1252 ones. This should be the one that is recommended for general use.
1253 In the event that there is no source code for the current version, or that
1254 non-free libraries are being used, this would ideally be the latest
1255 version that is still free, though it may still be expedient to
1256 retain the automatic update check — see No Source Since.
1258 This field is normally automatically updated - see Update Check Mode.
1260 This is converted to (@code{<marketversion>}) in the public index file.
1262 @node Current Version Code
1263 @section Current Version Code
1265 @cindex Current Version Code
1267 The version code corresponding to the Current Version field. Both these fields
1268 must be correct and matching although it's the current version code that's
1269 used by Android to determine version order and by F-Droid client to determine
1270 which version should be recommended.
1272 This field is normally automatically updated - see Update Check Mode.
1274 This is converted to (@code{<marketvercode>}) in the public index file.
1276 @node No Source Since
1277 @section No Source Since
1279 @cindex No Source Since
1281 In case we are missing the source code for the Current Version reported by
1282 Upstream, or that non-free elements have been introduced, this defines the
1283 first version that began to miss source code.
1284 Apps that are missing source code for just one or a few versions, but provide
1285 source code for newer ones are not to be considered here - this field is
1286 intended to illustrate which apps do not currently distribute source code, and
1287 since when have they been doing so.
1289 @node Update Processing
1290 @chapter Update Processing
1294 There are various mechanisms in place for automatically detecting that updates
1295 are available for applications, with the @code{Update Check Mode} field in the
1296 metadata determining which method is used for a particular application.
1298 Running the @code{fdroid checkupdates} command will apply this method to each
1299 application in the repository and update the @code{Current Version} and
1300 @code{Current Version Code} fields in the metadata accordingly.
1302 As usual, the @code{-p} option can be used with this, to restrict processing
1303 to a particular application.
1305 Note that this only updates the metadata such that we know what the current
1306 published/recommended version is. It doesn't make that version available in
1307 the repository - for that, see the next section.
1311 Adding updates (i.e. new versions of applications already included in the
1312 repository) happens in two ways. The simple case is applications where the
1313 APK files are binaries, retrieved from a developer's published build. In this
1314 case, all that's required is to place the new binary in the @code{Repo}
1315 directory, and the next run of @code{fdroid update} will pick it up.
1317 For applications built from source, it is necessary to add a new
1318 @code{Build Version} line to the metadata file. At the very least, the version
1319 name, version code and commit will be different. It is also possible that the
1320 additional build flags will change between versions.
1322 For processing multiple updates in the metadata at once, it can be useful to
1323 run @code{fdroid update --interactive}. This will check all the applications
1324 in the repository, and where updates are required you will be prompted to
1325 [E]dit the metadata, [I]gnore the update, or [Q]uit altogether.
1328 @chapter Build Server
1330 The Build Server system isolates the builds for each package within a clean,
1331 isolated and secure throwaway virtual machine environment.
1335 Building applications in this manner on a large scale, especially with the
1336 involvement of automated and/or unattended processes, could be considered
1337 a dangerous pastime from a security perspective. This is even more the case
1338 when the products of the build are also distributed widely and in a
1339 semi-automated ("you have updates available") fashion.
1341 Assume that an upstream source repository is compromised. A small selection
1342 of things that an attacker could do in such a situation:
1346 Use custom ant build steps to execute virtually anything as the user doing
1349 Access the keystore.
1351 Modify the built apk files or source tarballs for other applications in the
1354 Modify the metadata (which includes build scripts, which again, also includes
1355 the ability to execute anything) for other applications in the repository.
1358 Through complete isolation, the repurcussions are at least limited to the
1359 application in question. Not only is the build environment fresh for each
1360 build, and thrown away afterwards, but it is also isolated from the signing
1363 Aside from security issues, there are some applications which have strange
1364 requirements such as custom versions of the NDK. It would be impractical (or
1365 at least extremely messy) to start modifying and restoring the SDK on a
1366 multi-purpose system, but within the confines of a throwaway single-use
1367 virtual machine, anything is possible.
1369 All this is in addition to the obvious advantage of having a standardised
1370 and completely reproducible environment in which builds are made. Additionally,
1371 it allows for specialised custom build environments for particular
1374 @section Setting up a build server
1376 In addition to the basic setup previously described, you will also need
1377 a Vagrant-compatible Debian Testing base box called 'testing32' (or testing64
1378 for a 64-bit VM, if you want it to be much slower, and require more disk
1381 You can use a different version or distro for the base box, so long as you
1382 don't expect any help making it work. One thing to be aware of is that
1383 working copies of source trees are moved from the host to the guest, so
1384 for example, having subversion v1.6 on the host and v1.7 on the guest
1387 Unless you're very trusting. you should create one of these for yourself
1388 from verified standard Debian installation media. However, you could skip
1389 over the next few paragraphs (and sacrifice some security) by downloading
1390 @url{https://f-droid.org/testing32.box}.
1392 Documentation for creating a base box can be found at
1393 @url{http://docs.vagrantup.com/v1/docs/base_boxes.html}.
1395 In addition to carefully following the steps described there, you should
1396 consider the following:
1400 It is advisable to disable udev network device persistence, otherwise any
1401 movement of the VM between machines, or reconfiguration, will result in
1404 For a Debian/Ubuntu default install, just
1405 @code{touch /etc/udev/rules.d/75-persistent-net-generator.rules} to turn
1406 off rule generation, and at the same time, get rid of any rules it's
1407 already created in @code{/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules}.
1409 Unless you want the VM to become totally inaccessible following a failed
1410 boot, you need to set @code{GRUB_RECORDFAIL_TIMEOUT} to a value other than
1411 -1 in @code{/etc/grub/default} and then run @code{update-grub}.
1415 With this base box available, you should then create @code{makebs.config.py},
1416 using @code{makebs.config.sample.py} as a reference - look at the settings and
1417 documentation there to decide if any need changing to suit your environment.
1418 There is a path for retrieving the base box if it doesn't exist, and an apt
1419 proxy definition, both of which may need customising for your environment.
1420 You can then go to the @code{fdroidserver} directory and run this:
1426 This will take a long time, and use a lot of bandwidth - most of it spent
1427 installing the necessary parts of the Android SDK for all the various
1428 platforms. Luckily you only need to do it occasionally. Once you have a
1429 working build server image, if the recipes change (e.g. when packages need
1430 to be added) you can just run that script again and the existing one will
1431 be updated in place.
1433 The main sdk/ndk downloads will automatically be cached to speed things
1434 up the next time, but there's no easy way of doing this for the longer
1435 sections which use the SDK's @code{android} tool to install platforms,
1436 add-ons and tools. However, instead of allowing automatic caching, you
1437 can supply a pre-populated cache directory which includes not only these
1438 downloads, but also .tar.gz files for all the relevant additions. If the
1439 provisioning scripts detect these, they will be used in preference to
1440 running the android tools. For example, if you have
1441 @code{buildserver/addons/cache/platforms/android-19.tar.gz} that will be
1442 used when installing the android-19 platform, instead of re-downloading it
1443 using @code{android update sdk --no-ui -t android-19}.
1445 Once it's complete you'll have a new base box called 'buildserver' which is
1446 what's used for the actual builds. You can then build packages as normal,
1447 but with the addition of the @code{--server} flag to @code{fdroid build} to
1448 instruct it to do all the hard work within the virtual machine.
1450 The first time a build is done, a new virtual machine is created using the
1451 'buildserver' box as a base. A snapshot of this clean machine state is saved
1452 for use in future builds, to improve performance. You can force discarding
1453 of this snapshot and rebuilding from scratch using the @code{--resetserver}
1454 switch with @code{fdroid build}.
1459 There are two kinds of signing involved in running a repository - the signing
1460 of the APK files generated from source builds, and the signing of the repo
1461 index itself. The latter is optional, but very strongly recommended.
1463 @section Repo Index Signing
1465 When setting up the repository, one of the first steps should be to generate
1466 a signing key for the repository index. This will also create a keystore, which
1467 is a file that can be used to hold this and all other keys used. Consider the
1468 location, security and backup status of this file carefully, then create it as
1471 @code{keytool -genkey -v -keystore my.keystore -alias repokey -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000}
1473 In the above, replace 'my.keystore' with the name of the keystore file to be
1474 created, and 'repokey' with a name to identify the repo index key by.
1476 You'll be asked for a password for the keystore, AND a password for the key.
1477 They shouldn't be the same. In between, you'll be asked for some identifying
1478 details which will go in the certificate.
1480 The two passwords entered go into @code{config.py}, as @code{keystorepass} and
1481 @code{keypass} respectively. The path to the keystore file, and the alias you
1482 chose for the key also go into that file, as @code{keystore} and
1483 @code{repo_keyalias} respectively.
1485 @section Package Signing
1487 With the repo index signing configured, all that remains to be done for package
1488 signing to work is to set the @code{keydname} field in @code{config.py} to
1489 contain the same identifying details you entered before.
1491 A new key will be generated using these details, for each application that is
1492 built. (If a specific key is required for a particular application, this system
1493 can be overridden using the @code{keyaliases} config settings.
1496 @node GNU Free Documentation License
1497 @appendix GNU Free Documentation License