1 \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
3 @setfilename fdroid.info
4 @documentencoding UTF-8
5 @settitle F-Droid Server Manual
9 This manual is for the F-Droid repository server tools.
11 Copyright @copyright{} 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 Ciaran Gultnieks
13 Copyright @copyright{} 2011 Henrik Tunedal, Michael Haas, John Sullivan
15 Copyright @copyright{} 2013 David Black
17 Copyright @copyright{} 2013, 2014, 2015 Daniel MartÃ
19 Copyright @copyright{} 2015 Boris Kraut
22 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
23 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3
24 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
25 with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.
26 A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU
27 Free Documentation License".
32 @title F-Droid Server Manual
33 @author Ciaran Gultnieks and the F-Droid project
35 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
51 * System Requirements::
53 * Simple Binary Repository::
54 * Building Applications::
55 * Importing Applications::
60 * GNU Free Documentation License::
67 The F-Droid server tools provide various scripts and tools that are used
68 to maintain the main F-Droid application repository. You can use these same
69 tools to create your own additional or alternative repository for publishing,
70 or to assist in creating, testing and submitting metadata to the main
74 @node System Requirements
75 @chapter System Requirements
79 The system requirements for using the tools will vary depending on your
80 intended usage. At the very least, you'll need:
88 The Android SDK Tools and Build-tools.
89 Note that F-Droid does not assume that you have the Android SDK in your
90 @code{PATH}: these directories will be specified in your repository
91 configuration. Recent revisions of the SDK have @code{aapt} located in
92 android-sdk/build-tools/ and it may be necessary to make a symlink to it in
93 android-sdk/platform-tools/
96 If you intend to build applications from source you'll also need most, if not
97 all, of the following:
101 JDK (Debian package openjdk-6-jdk): openjdk-6 is recommended though openjdk-7
104 VCS clients: svn, git, git-svn, hg, bzr
106 A keystore for holding release keys. (Safe, secure and well backed up!)
109 If you intend to use the 'Build Server' system, for secure and clean builds
110 (highly recommended), you will also need:
114 VirtualBox (debian package virtualbox)
116 Ruby (debian packages ruby and rubygems)
118 Vagrant (debian package vagrant - 1.4.x or higher required)
120 vagrant-cachier plugin (unpackaged): `vagrant plugin install vagrant-cachier`
122 Paramiko (debian package python-paramiko)
124 Imaging (debian package python-imaging)
127 On the other hand, if you want to build the apps directly on your system
128 without the 'Build Server' system, you may need:
132 All SDK platforms requested by the apps you want to build
133 (The Android SDK is made available by Google under a proprietary license but
134 within that, the SDK platforms, support library and some other components are
135 under the Apache license and source code is provided.
136 Google APIs, used for building apps using Google Maps, are free to the extent
137 that the library comes pre-installed on the device.
138 Google Play Services, Google Admob and others are proprietary and shouldn't be
139 included in the main F-Droid repository.)
141 A version of the Android NDK
143 Ant with Contrib Tasks (Debian packages ant and ant-contrib)
145 Maven (Debian package maven)
147 JavaCC (Debian package javacc)
149 Miscellaneous packages listed in
150 buildserver/cookbooks/fdroidbuild-general/recipes/default.rb
151 of the F-Droid server repository
157 @cindex setup, installation
159 Because the tools and data will always change rapidly, you will almost
160 certainly want to work from a git clone of the tools at this stage. To
164 git clone https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroidserver.git
167 You now have lots of stuff in the fdroidserver directory, but the most
168 important is the 'fdroid' command script which you run to perform all tasks.
169 This script is always run from a repository data directory, so the
170 most sensible thing to do next is to put your new fdroidserver directory
175 To do anything, you'll need at least one repository data directory. It's
176 from this directory that you run the @code{fdroid} command to perform all
177 repository management tasks. You can either create a brand new one, or
178 grab a copy of the data used by the main F-Droid repository:
181 git clone https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroiddata.git
184 Regardless of the intended usage of the tools, you will always need to set
185 up some basic configuration details. This is done by creating a file called
186 @code{config.py} in the data directory. You should do this by copying the
187 example file (@code{./examples/config.py}) from the fdroidserver project to
188 your data directory and then editing according to the instructions within.
190 Once configured in this way, all the functionality of the tools is accessed
191 by running the @code{fdroid} command. Run it on its own to get a list of the
192 available sub-commands.
194 You can follow any command with @code{--help} to get a list of additional
195 options available for that command.
202 @node Simple Binary Repository
203 @chapter Simple Binary Repository
207 If you want to maintain a simple repository hosting only binary APKs obtained
208 and compiled elsewhere, the process is quite simple:
212 Set up the server tools, as described in Setup.
214 Make a directory for your repository. This is the directory from which you
215 will do all the work with your repository. Create a config file there, called
216 @code{config.py}, by copying @code{./examples/config.py} from the server
217 project and editing it.
219 Within that, make a directory called @code{repo} and put APK files in it.
221 Run @code{fdroid update}.
223 If it reports that any metadata files are missing, you can create them
224 in the @code{metadata} directory and run it again.
226 To ease creation of metadata files, run @code{fdroid update} with the @code{-c}
227 option. It will create 'skeleton' metadata files that are missing, and you can
228 then just edit them and fill in the details.
230 Then, if you've changed things, run @code{fdroid update} again.
232 Running @code{fdroid update} adds an Icons directory into the repo directory,
233 and also creates the repository index (index.xml, and also index.jar if you've
234 configured the system to use a signed index).
236 Publish the resulting contents of the @code{repo} directory to your web server.
239 Following the above process will result in a @code{repo} directory, which you
240 simply need to push to any HTTP (or preferably HTTPS) server to make it
243 While some information about the applications (and versions thereof) is
244 retrieved directly from the APK files, most comes from the corresponding file
245 in the @code{metadata} directory. The metadata file covering ALL versions of a
246 particular application is named @code{package.id.txt} where package.id is the
247 unique identifier for that package.
249 See the Metadata chapter for details of what goes in the metadata file. All
250 fields are relevant for binary APKs, EXCEPT for @code{Build:} entries, which
254 @node Building Applications
255 @chapter Building Applications
257 Instead of (or as well as) including binary APKs from external sources in a
258 repository, you can build them directly from the source code.
260 Using this method, it is is possible to verify that the application builds
261 correctly, corresponds to the source code, and contains only free software.
262 Unforunately, in the Android world, it seems to be very common for an
263 application supplied as a binary APK to present itself as Free Software
264 when in fact some or all of the following are true:
268 The source code (either for a particular version, or even all versions!) is
269 unavailable or incomplete.
271 The source code is not capable of producing the actual binary supplied.
273 The 'source code' contains binary files of unknown origin, or with proprietary
277 For this reason, source-built applications are the preferred method for the
278 main F-Droid repository, although occasionally for technical or historical
279 reasons, exceptions are made to this policy.
281 When building applications from source, it should be noted that you will be
282 signing them (all APK files must be signed to be installable on Android) with
283 your own key. When an application is already installed on a device, it is not
284 possible to upgrade it in place to a new version signed with a different key
285 without first uninstalling the original. This may present an inconvenience to
286 users, as the process of uninstalling loses any data associated with the
287 previous installation.
289 The process for managing a repository for built-from-source applications is
290 very similar to that described in the Simple Binary Repository chapter,
291 except now you need to:
295 Include Build entries in the metadata files.
297 Run @code{fdroid build} to build any applications that are not already built.
299 Run @code{fdroid publish} to finalise packaging and sign any APKs that have
304 @section More about "fdroid build"
306 When run without any parameters, @code{fdroid build} will build any and all
307 versions of applications that you don't already have in the @code{repo}
308 directory (or more accurately, the @code{unsigned} directory). There are various
309 other things you can do. As with all the tools, the @code{--help} option is
310 your friend, but a few annotated examples and discussion of the more common
313 To build a single version of a single application, you could run the
317 ./fdroid build org.fdroid.fdroid:16
320 This attempts to build version code 16 (which is version 0.25) of the F-Droid
321 client. Many of the tools recognise arguments as packages, allowing their
322 activity to be limited to just a limited set of packages.
324 If the build above was successful, two files will have been placed in the
325 @code{unsigned} directory:
328 org.fdroid.fdroid_16.apk
329 org.fdroid.fdroid_16_src.tar.gz
332 The first is the (unsigned) APK. You could sign this with a debug key and push
333 it direct to your device or an emulator for testing. The second is a source
334 tarball containing exactly the source that was used to generate the binary.
336 If you were intending to publish these files, you could then run:
342 The source tarball would move to the @code{repo} directory (which is the
343 directory you would push to your web server). A signed and zip-aligned version
344 of the APK would also appear there, and both files would be removed from the
345 @code{unsigned} directory.
347 If you're building purely for the purposes of testing, and not intending to
348 push the results to a repository, at least yet, the @code{--test} option can be
349 used to direct output to the @code{tmp} directory instead of @code{unsigned}.
350 A similar effect could by achieved by simply deleting the output files from
351 @code{unsigned} after the build, but with the risk of forgetting to do so!
353 Along similar lines (and only in conjunction with @code{--test}, you can use
354 @code{--force} to force a build of a Disabled application, where normally it
355 would be completely ignored. Similarly a version that was found to contain
356 ELFs or known non-free libraries can be forced to build. See also —
357 @code{scanignore=} and @code{scandelete=} in the @code{Build:} section.
359 If the build was unsuccessful, you can find out why by looking at the output
360 in the logs/ directory. If that isn't illuminating, try building the app the
361 regular way, step by step: android update project, ndk-build, ant debug.
363 Note that source code repositories often contain prebuilt libraries. If the
364 app is being considered for the main F-Droid repository, it is important that
365 all such prebuilts are built either via the metadata or by a reputable third
369 @section Direct Installation
371 You can also build and install directly to a connected device or emulator
372 using the @code{fdroid install} command. If you do this without passing
373 packages as arguments then all the latest built and signed version available
374 of each package will be installed . In most cases, this will not be what you
375 want to do, so execution will stop straight away. However, you can override
376 this if you're sure that's what you want, by using @code{--all}. Note that
377 currently, no sanity checks are performed with this mode, so if the files in
378 the signed output directory were modified, you won't be notified.
381 @node Importing Applications
382 @chapter Importing Applications
384 To help with starting work on including a new application, @code{fdroid import}
385 will take a URL and optionally some other parameters, and attempt to construct
386 as much information as possible by analysing the source code. Basic usage is:
389 ./fdroid import --url=http://address.of.project
392 For this to work, the URL must point to a project format that the script
393 understands. Currently this is limited to one of the following:
397 Gitorious - @code{https://gitorious.org/PROJECTNAME/REPONAME}
399 Github - @code{https://github.com/USER/PROJECT}
401 Google Code - @code{http://code.google.com/p/PROJECT/}
402 Supports git, svn and hg repos.
404 Some Google Code projects have multiple repositories, identified by a
405 dropdown list on the @code{source/checkout} page. To access one other than
406 the default, specify its name using the @code{--repo} switch.
408 Bitbucket - @code{https://bitbucket.org/USER/PROJECT/}
410 Git - @code{git://REPO}
413 Depending on the project type, more or less information may be gathered. For
414 example, the license will be retrieved from a Google Code project, but not a
415 GitHub one. A bare repo url, such as the git:// one, is the least preferable
416 optional of all, since you will have to enter much more information manually.
418 If the import is successful, a metadata file will be created. You will need to
419 edit this further to check the information, and fill in the blanks.
421 If it fails, you'll be told why. If it got as far as retrieving the source
422 code, you can inspect it further by looking in @code{tmp/importer} where a full
425 A frequent cause of initial failure is that the project directory is actually
426 a subdirectory in the repository. In this case, run the importer again using
427 the @code{--subdir} option to tell it where. It will not attempt to determine
428 this automatically, since there may be several options.
436 Information used by update.py to compile the public index comes from two
441 the APK files in the repo directory, and
443 the metadata files in the metadata directory.
446 The original metadata files are simple, easy to edit text files,
447 always named as the application's package ID with '.txt' appended.
448 Additionally, you can use JSON, XML, or YAML for app metadata, using
449 the same fields as the original '.txt' format.
451 Note that although the metadata files are designed to be easily read
452 and writable by humans, they are also processed and written by various
453 scripts. The original '.txt' format can be automatically cleaned up
454 when necessary. The structure and comments will be preserved
455 correctly, although the order of fields will be standardised. (In the
456 event that the original file was in a different order, comments are
457 considered as being attached to the field following them). In fact,
458 you can standardise all the '.txt' metadata in a single command,
459 without changing the functional content, by running:
465 Or just run it on a specific app:
468 fdroid rewritemeta org.adaway
471 The following sections describe the fields recognised within the file.
500 * Update Check Mode::
501 * Update Check Ignore::
502 * Vercode Operation::
503 * Update Check Name::
504 * Update Check Data::
507 * Current Version Code::
514 Any number of categories for the application to be placed in. There is no
515 fixed list of categories - both the client and the web site will automatically
516 show any categories that exist in any applications. However, if your metadata
517 is intended for the main F-Droid repository, you should use one of the
518 existing categories (look at the site/client), or discuss the proposal to add
521 Categories must be separated by a single comma character, ','. For backwards
522 compatibility, F-Droid will use the first category given as <category> element
523 for older clients to at least see one category.
525 This is converted to (@code{<categories>}) in the public index file.
532 The name of the author, either full, abbreviated or pseudonym. If
533 present, it should represent the name(s) as published by upstream,
534 e.g. in their copyright or authors file. This can be omitted (or left
537 This is converted to (@code{<author>}) in the public index file.
540 @section Author Email
544 The e-mail address of the author(s). This can be omitted (or left
547 This is converted to (@code{<email>}) in the public index file.
554 The overall license for the application, or in certain cases, for the
567 GNU GPL version 2 or later
575 GNU GPL version 3 or later
579 An unspecified GPL version. Use this only as a last resort or if there is
580 some confusion over compatiblity of component licenses: particularly the use of
581 Apache libraries with GPLv2 source code.
585 Afferro GPL version 3.
597 BSD license - the original '4-clause' version.
601 BSD license - the new, or modified, version.
605 This is converted to (@code{<license>}) in the public index file.
612 The name of the application as can best be retrieved from the source code.
613 This is done so that the commitupdates script can put a familiar name in the
614 description of commits created when a new update of the application is
615 found. The Auto Name entry is generated automatically when @code{fdroid
616 checkupdates} is run.
623 The name of the application. Normally, this field should not be present since
624 the application's correct name is retrieved from the APK file. However, in a
625 situation where an APK contains a bad or missing application name, it can be
626 overridden using this. Note that this only overrides the name in the list of
627 apps presented in the client; it doesn't changed the name or application label
635 Comma-separated list of application IDs that this app provides. In other
636 words, if the user has any of these apps installed, F-Droid will show this app
637 as installed instead. It will also appear if the user clicks on urls linking
638 to the other app IDs. Useful when an app switches package name, or when you
639 want an app to act as multiple apps.
646 The URL for the application's web site. If there is no relevant web site, this
647 can be omitted (or left blank).
649 This is converted to (@code{<web>}) in the public index file.
656 The URL to view or obtain the application's source code. This should be
657 something human-friendly. Machine-readable source-code is covered in the
660 This is converted to (@code{<source>}) in the public index file.
663 @section Issue Tracker
665 @cindex Issue Tracker
667 The URL for the application's issue tracker. Optional, since not all
668 applications have one.
670 This is converted to (@code{<tracker>}) in the public index file.
677 The URL for the application's changelog. Optional, since not all
678 applications have one.
680 This is converted to (@code{<changelog>}) in the public index file.
687 The URL to donate to the project. This should be the project's donate page
690 It is possible to use a direct PayPal link here, if that is all that is
691 available. However, bear in mind that the developer may not be aware of
692 that direct link, and if they later changed to a different PayPal account,
693 or the PayPal link format changed, things could go wrong. It is always
694 best to use a link that the developer explicitly makes public, rather than
695 something that is auto-generated 'button code'.
697 This is converted to (@code{<donate>}) in the public index file.
704 The project's Flattr (http://flattr.com) ID, if it has one. This should be
705 a numeric ID, such that (for example) https://flattr.com/thing/xxxx leads
706 directly to the page to donate to the project.
708 This is converted to (@code{<flattr>}) in the public index file.
715 A bitcoin address for donating to the project.
717 This is converted to (@code{<bitcoin>}) in the public index file.
724 A litecoin address for donating to the project.
731 A brief summary of what the application is. Since the summary is only allowed
732 one line on the list of the F-Droid client, keeping it to within 80 characters
733 will ensure it fits most screens.
740 A full description of the application, relevant to the latest version.
741 This can span multiple lines (which should be kept to a maximum of 80
742 characters), and is terminated by a line containing a single '.'.
744 Basic MediaWiki-style formatting can be used. Leaving a blank line starts a
745 new paragraph. Surrounding text with @code{''} make it italic, and with
746 @code{'''} makes it bold.
748 You can link to another app in the repo by using @code{[[app.id]]}. The link
749 will be made appropriately whether in the Android client, the web repo
750 browser or the wiki. The link text will be the apps name.
752 Links to web addresses can be done using @code{[http://example.com Text]}.
754 For both of the above link formats, the entire link (from opening to closing
755 square bracket) must be on the same line.
757 Bulletted lists are done by simply starting each item with a @code{*} on
758 a new line, and numbered lists are the same but using @code{#}. There is
759 currently no support for nesting lists - you can have one level only.
761 It can be helpful to note information pertaining to updating from an
762 earlier version; whether the app contains any prebuilts built by the
763 upstream developers or whether non-free elements were removed; whether the
764 app is in rapid development or whether the latest version lags behind the
765 current version; whether the app supports multiple architectures or whether
766 there is a maximum SDK specified (such info not being recorded in the index).
768 This is converted to (@code{<desc>}) in the public index file.
770 @node Maintainer Notes
771 @section Maintainer Notes
773 @cindex Maintainer Notes
775 This is a multi-line field using the same rules and syntax as the description.
776 It's used to record notes for F-Droid maintainers to assist in maintaining and
777 updating the application in the repository.
779 This information is also published to the wiki.
786 The type of repository - for automatic building from source. If this is not
787 specified, automatic building is disabled for this application. Possible
810 The repository location. Usually a git: or svn: URL, for example.
812 The git-svn option connects to an SVN repository, and you specify the URL in
813 exactly the same way, but git is used as a back-end. This is preferable for
814 performance reasons, and also because a local copy of the entire history is
815 available in case the upstream repository disappears. (It happens!). In
816 order to use Tags as update check mode for this VCS type, the URL must have
817 the tags= special argument set. Likewise, if you intend to use the
818 RepoManifest/branch scheme, you would want to specify branches= as well.
819 Finally, trunk= can also be added. All these special arguments will be passed
820 to "git svn" in order, and their values must be relative paths to the svn repo
822 Here's an example of a complex git-svn Repo URL:
823 http://svn.code.sf.net/p/project/code/svn;trunk=trunk;tags=tags;branches=branches
825 If the Repo Type is @code{srclib}, then you must specify the name of the
826 according srclib .txt file. For example if @code{scrlibs/FooBar.txt} exist
827 and you want to use this srclib, then you have to set Repo to
835 The location of binaries used in verification process.
837 If specified, F-Droid will verify the output apk file of a build against the
838 one specified. You can use %v and %c to point to the version name and version
839 code of the current build. To verify the F-Droid client itself you could use:
840 @code{Binaries:https://f-droid.org/repo/org.fdroid.fdroid_%c.apk}
842 F-Droid will use upstream binaries if the verification succeeded.
849 Any number of these fields can be present, each specifying a version to
850 automatically build from source. The value is a comma-separated list.
855 The above specifies to build version 1.2, which has a version code of 12.
856 The @code{commit=} parameter specifies the tag, commit or revision number from
857 which to build it in the source repository. It is the only mandatory flag,
858 which in this case could for example be @code{commit=v1.2}.
860 In addition to the three, always required, parameters described above,
861 further parameters can be added (in name=value format) to apply further
862 configuration to the build. These are (roughly in order of application):
866 @item disable=<message>
867 Disables this build, giving a reason why. (For backwards compatibility, this
868 can also be achieved by starting the commit ID with '!')
870 The purpose of this feature is to allow non-buildable releases (e.g. the source
871 is not published) to be flagged, so the scripts don't generate repeated
872 messages about them. (And also to record the information for review later).
873 If an apk has already been built, disabling causes it to be deleted once
874 @code{fdroid update} is run; this is the procedure if ever a version has to
878 Specifies to build from a subdirectory of the checked out source code.
879 Normally this directory is changed to before building,
882 Use if the project (git only) has submodules - causes @code{git submodule
883 update --init --recursive} to be executed after the source is cloned.
884 Submodules are reset and cleaned like the main app repository itself before
888 As for 'prebuild', but runs on the source code BEFORE any other processing
891 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
892 android SDK and NDK directories, and maven 3 executable respectively. The
893 following per-build variables are available likewise: $$VERSION$$,
894 $$VERCODE$$ and $$COMMIT$$.
897 The sdk location in the repo is in an old format, or the build.xml is
898 expecting such. The 'new' format is sdk.dir while the VERY OLD format
899 is sdk-location. Typically, if you get a message along the lines of:
900 "com.android.ant.SetupTask cannot be found" when trying to build, then
901 try enabling this option.
903 @item target=<target>
904 Specifies a particular SDK target for compilation, overriding the value
905 defined in the code by upstream. This has different effects depending on what
906 build system used — this flag currently affects Ant, Maven and Gradle projects
907 only. Note that this does not change the target SDK in the
908 AndroidManifest.xml, which determines the level of features that can be
909 included in the build.
911 In the case of an Ant project, it modifies project.properties of the app and
912 possibly sub-projects. This is likely to cause the whole build.xml to be
913 rewritten, which is fine if it's a 'standard' android file or doesn't already
914 exist, but not a good idea if it's heavily customised.
916 @item update=<auto/dirs>
917 By default, 'android update' is used in Ant builds to generate or update the
918 project and all its referenced projects. Specifying update=no bypasses that.
919 Note that this is useless in builds that don't use Ant.
921 Default value is '@code{auto}', which recursively uses the paths in
922 project.properties to find all the subprojects to update.
924 Otherwise, the value can be a comma-separated list of directories in which to
925 run 'android update' relative to the application directory.
928 Adds a java.encoding property to local.properties with the given
929 value. Generally the value will be 'utf-8'. This is picked up by the
930 SDK's ant rules, and forces the Java compiler to interpret source
931 files with this encoding. If you receive warnings during the compile
932 about character encodings, you probably need this.
934 @item forceversion=yes
935 If specified, the package version in AndroidManifest.xml is replaced
936 with the version name for the build as specified in the metadata.
938 This is useful for cases when upstream repo failed to update it for
939 specific tag; to build an arbitrary revision; to make it apparent that
940 the version differs significantly from upstream; or to make it apparent
941 which architecture or platform the apk is designed to run on.
943 @item forcevercode=yes
944 If specified, the package version code in the AndroidManifest.xml is
945 replaced with the version code for the build. See also forceversion.
947 @item rm=<path1>[,<path2>,...]
948 Specifies the relative paths of files or directories to delete before
949 the build is done. The paths are relative to the base of the build
950 directory - i.e. the root of the directory structure checked out from
951 the source respository - not necessarily the directory that contains
954 Multiple files/directories can be specified by separating them with ','.
955 Directories will be recursively deleted.
957 @item extlibs=<lib1>[,<lib2>,...]
958 Comma-separated list of external libraries (jar files) from the
959 @code{build/extlib} library, which will be placed in the @code{libs} directory
962 @item srclibs=[n:]a@@r,[n:]b@@r1,...
963 Comma-separated list of source libraries or Android projects. Each item is of
964 the form name@@rev where name is the predefined source library name and rev is
965 the revision or tag to use in the respective source control.
967 For Ant projects, you can optionally append a number with a colon at the
968 beginning of a srclib item to automatically place it in project.properties as
969 a library under the specified number. For example, if you specify
970 @code{1:somelib@@1.0}, F-Droid will automatically do the equivalent of the
971 legacy practice @code{prebuild=echo "android.library.reference.1=$$somelib$$"
972 >> project.properties}.
974 Each srclib has a metadata file under srclibs/ in the repository directory,
975 and the source code is stored in build/srclib/.
976 Repo Type: and Repo: are specified in the same way as for apps; Subdir: can be
977 a comma separated list, for when directories are renamed by upstream; Update
978 Project: updates the projects in the working directory and one level down;
979 Prepare: can be used for any kind of preparation: in particular if you need to
980 update the project with a particular target. You can then also use $$name$$ in
981 the init/prebuild/build command to substitute the relative path to the library
982 directory, but it could need tweaking if you've changed into another directory.
984 Currently srclibs are necessary when upstream uses jar files or pulls
985 dependencies from non-trusted repositories. While there is no guarantee that
986 those binaries are free and correspondent to the source code, F-Droid allows
987 the following known repositories until a source-built alternative is available:
992 @samp{mavenCentral} - the original repo, hardcoded in Maven and Gradle.
995 @samp{jCenter} - hardcoded in Gradle, this repo by Bintray tries to provide
996 easier handling. It should sync with mavenCentral from time to time.
999 @samp{OSS Sonatype} - maintained by the people behind mavenCentral, this
1000 repository focuses on hosting services for open source project binaries.
1003 @samp{JitPack.io} - builds directly from Github repositories. However,
1004 they do not provide any option to reproduce or verify the resulting
1005 binaries. Builds pre-release versions in some cases.
1008 @samp{Clojars} - Clojure libraries repo.
1011 @samp{CommonsWare} - repo holding a collection of open-source libs.
1016 Apply patch(es). 'x' names one (or more - comma-seperated) files within a
1017 directory below the metadata, with the same name as the metadata file but
1018 without the extension. Each of these patches is applied to the code in turn.
1021 Specifies a shell command (or commands - chain with &&) to run before the
1022 build takes place. Backslash can be used as an escape character to insert
1023 literal commas, or as the last character on a line to join that line with the
1024 next. It has no special meaning in other contexts; in particular, literal
1025 backslashes should not be escaped.
1027 The command runs using bash.
1029 Note that nothing should be built during this prebuild phase - scanning of the
1030 code and building of the source tarball, for example, take place after this.
1031 For custom actions that actually build things or produce binaries, use 'build'
1034 You can use $$name$$ to substitute the path to a referenced srclib - see
1035 the @code{srclib} directory for details of this.
1037 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
1038 android SDK and NDK directories, and Maven 3 executable respectively e.g.
1039 for when you need to run @code{android update project} explicitly. The
1040 following per-build variables are available likewise: $$VERSION$$, $$VERCODE$$
1043 @item scanignore=<path1>[,<path2>,...]
1044 Enables one or more files/paths to be excluded from the scan process.
1045 This should only be used where there is a very good reason, and
1046 probably accompanied by a comment explaining why it is necessary.
1048 When scanning the source tree for problems, matching files whose relative
1049 paths start with any of the paths given here are ignored.
1051 @item scandelete=<path1>[,<path2>,...]
1052 When running the scan process, any files that trigger errors - like binaries -
1053 will be removed. It acts just like scanignore=, but instead of ignoring the
1054 files, it removes them.
1056 Useful when a source code repository includes binaries or other unwanted files
1057 which are not needed for the build. Instead of removing them manually via rm=,
1058 using scandelete= is easier.
1061 As for 'prebuild', but runs during the actual build phase (but before the
1062 main Ant/Maven build). Use this only for actions that do actual building.
1063 Any prepartion of the source code should be done using 'init' or 'prebuild'.
1065 Any building that takes place before build= will be ignored, as either Ant,
1066 mvn or gradle will be executed to clean the build environment right before
1067 build= (or the final build) is run.
1069 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
1070 android SDK and NDK directories, and maven 3 executable respectively. The
1071 following per-build variables are available likewise: $$VERSION$$,
1072 $$VERCODE$$ and $$COMMIT$$.
1074 @item buildjni=[yes|no|<dir list>]
1075 Enables building of native code via the ndk-build script before doing
1076 the main Ant build. The value may be a list of directories relative
1077 to the main application directory in which to run ndk-build, or 'yes'
1078 which corresponds to '.' . Using explicit list may be useful to build
1079 multi-component projects.
1081 The build and scan processes will complain (refuse to build) if this
1082 parameter is not defined, but there is a @code{jni} directory present.
1083 If the native code is being built by other means like a Gradle task, you
1084 can specify @code{no} here to avoid that. However, if the native code is
1085 actually not required or used, remove the directory instead (using
1086 @code{rm=jni} for example). Using @code{buildjni=no} when the jni code
1087 isn't used nor built will result in an error saying that native
1088 libraries were expected in the resulting package.
1091 Version of the NDK to use in this build. Defaults to the latest NDK release
1092 that included legacy toolchains, so as to not break builds that require
1093 toolchains no longer included in current versions of the NDK.
1095 The buildserver supports r9b with its legacy toolchains and the latest release
1096 as of writing this document, r10e. You may add support for more versions by
1097 adding them to 'ndk_paths' in your config file.
1099 @item gradle=<flavour1>[,<flavour2>,...]
1100 Build with Gradle instead of Ant, specifying what flavours to use. Flavours
1101 are case sensitive since the path to the output apk is as well.
1103 If only one flavour is given and it is 'yes', no flavour will be used.
1104 Note that for projects with flavours, you must specify at least one
1105 valid flavour since 'yes' will build all of them separately.
1107 @item maven=yes[@@<dir>]
1108 Build with Maven instead of Ant. An extra @@<dir> tells F-Droid to run Maven
1109 inside that relative subdirectory. Sometimes it is needed to use @@.. so that
1110 builds happen correctly.
1112 @item preassemble=<task1>[,<task2>,...]
1113 List of Gradle tasks to be run before the assemble task in a Gradle project
1116 @item gradleprops=<prop1>[,<prop2>,...]
1117 List of Gradle properties to pass via the command line to Gradle. A property
1118 can be of the form @code{foo} or of the form @code{key=value}.
1120 For example: @code{gradleprops=enableFoo,someSetting=bar} will result in
1121 @code{gradle -PenableFoo -PsomeSetting=bar}.
1123 @item antcommands=<target1>[,<target2>,...]
1124 Specify an alternate set of Ant commands (target) instead of the default
1125 'release'. It can't be given any flags, such as the path to a build.xml.
1127 @item output=glob/to/output.apk
1128 Specify a glob path where the resulting unsigned release apk from the
1129 build should be. This can be used in combination with build methods like
1130 @code{gradle=yes} or @code{maven=yes}, but if no build method is
1131 specified, the build is manual. You should run your build commands, such
1132 as @code{make}, in @code{build=}.
1135 Don't check that the version name and code in the resulting apk are
1136 correct by looking at the build output - assume the metadata is
1137 correct. This takes away a useful level of sanity checking, and should
1138 only be used if the values can't be extracted.
1142 Another example, using extra parameters:
1144 @samp{Build Version:1.09.03,10903,45,subdir=Timeriffic,oldsdkloc=yes}
1147 @section AntiFeatures
1149 @cindex AntiFeatures
1151 This is optional - if present, it contains a comma-separated list of any of
1152 the following values, describing an anti-feature the application has.
1153 It is a good idea to mention the reasons for the anti-feature(s) in the
1159 @samp{Ads} - the application contains advertising.
1162 @samp{Tracking} - the application tracks and reports your activity to
1163 somewhere without your consent. It's commonly used for when developers
1164 obtain crash logs without the user's consent, or when an app is useless
1165 without some kind of authentication.
1168 @samp{NonFreeNet} - the application relies on computational services that
1169 are impossible to replace or that the replacement cannot be connected to
1170 without major changes to the app.
1173 @samp{NonFreeAdd} - the application promotes non-free add-ons, such that the
1174 app is effectively an advert for other non-free software and such software is
1175 not clearly labelled as such.
1178 @samp{NonFreeDep} - the application depends on a non-free application (e.g.
1179 Google Maps) - i.e. it requires it to be installed on the device, but does not
1183 @samp{UpstreamNonFree} - the application is or depends on non-free software.
1184 This does not mean that non-free software is included with the app: Most
1185 likely, it has been patched in some way to remove the non-free code. However,
1186 functionality may be missing.
1189 @samp{NonFreeAssets} - the application contains and makes use of non-free
1190 assets. The most common case is apps using artwork - images, sounds, music,
1191 etc - under a non-commercial license.
1200 If this field is present, the application does not get put into the public
1201 index. This allows metadata to be retained while an application is temporarily
1202 disabled from being published. The value should be a description of why the
1203 application is disabled. No apks or source code archives are deleted: to purge
1204 an apk see the Build Version section or delete manually for developer builds.
1205 The field is therefore used when an app has outlived it's usefulness, because
1206 the source tarball is retained.
1209 @section Requires Root
1211 @cindex Requires Root
1213 Set this optional field to "Yes" if the application requires root
1214 privileges to be usable. This lets the client filter it out if the
1215 user so desires. Whether root is required or not, it is good to give
1216 a paragraph in the description to the conditions on which root may be
1217 asked for and the reason for it.
1219 @node Archive Policy
1220 @section Archive Policy
1222 @cindex Archive Policy
1224 This determines the policy for moving old versions of an app to the archive
1225 repo, if one is configured. The configuration sets a default maximum number
1226 of versions kept in the main repo, after which older ones are moved to the
1227 archive. This app-specific policy setting can override that.
1229 Currently the only supported format is "n versions", where n is the number
1230 of versions to keep.
1232 @node Update Check Mode
1233 @section Update Check Mode
1235 @cindex Update Check Mode
1237 This determines the method using for determining when new releases are
1238 available - in other words, the updating of the Current Version and Current
1239 Version Code fields in the metadata by the @code{fdroid checkupdates} process.
1245 @code{None} - No checking is done because there's no appropriate automated way
1246 of doing so. Updates should be checked for manually. Use this, for example,
1247 when deploying betas or patched versions; when builds are done in a directory
1248 different to where the AndroidManifest.xml is; if the developers use the
1249 Gradle build system and store version info in a separate file; if the
1250 developers make a new branch for each release and don't make tags; or if you've
1251 changed the package name or version code logic.
1253 @code{Static} - No checking is done - either development has ceased or new versions
1254 are not desired. This method is also used when there is no other checking method
1255 available and the upstream developer keeps us posted on new versions.
1257 @code{RepoManifest} - At the most recent commit, the AndroidManifest.xml file
1258 is looked for in the directory where it was found in the the most recent build.
1259 The appropriateness of this method depends on the development process used by
1260 the application's developers. You should not specify this method unless you're
1261 sure it's appropriate. For example, some developers bump the version when
1262 commencing development instead of when publishing.
1263 It will return an error if the AndroidManifest.xml has moved to a different
1264 directory or if the package name has changed.
1265 The current version that it gives may not be accurate, since not all
1266 versions are fit to be published. Therefore, before building, it is often
1267 necessary to check if the current version has been published somewhere by the
1268 upstream developers, either by checking for apks that they distribute or for
1269 tags in the source code repository.
1271 It currently works for every repository type to different extents, except
1272 the srclib repo type. For git, git-svn and hg repo types, you may use
1273 "RepoManifest/yourbranch" as UCM so that "yourbranch" would be the branch used
1274 in place of the default one. The default values are "master" for git,
1275 "default" for hg and none for git-svn (it stays in the same branch).
1276 On the other hand, branch support hasn't been implemented yet in bzr and svn,
1277 but RepoManifest may still be used without it.
1279 @code{RepoTrunk} - For svn and git-svn repositories, especially those who
1280 don't have a bundled AndroidManifest.xml file, the Tags and RepoManifest
1281 checks will not work, since there is no version information to obtain. But,
1282 for those apps who automate their build process with the commit ref that HEAD
1283 points to, RepoTrunk will set the Current Version and Current Version Code to
1286 @code{Tags} - The AndroidManifest.xml file in all tagged revisions in the
1287 source repository is checked, looking for the highest version code. The
1288 appropriateness of this method depends on the development process used by the
1289 application's developers. You should not specify this method unless you're sure
1290 it's appropriate. It shouldn't be used if the developers like to tag betas or
1291 are known to forget to tag releases. Like RepoManifest, it will not return the
1292 correct value if the directory containing the AndroidManifest.xml has moved.
1293 Despite these caveats, it is the often the favourite update check mode.
1295 It currently only works for git, hg, bzr and git-svn repositories. In the case
1296 of the latter, the repo URL must contain the path to the trunk and tags or
1297 else no tags will be found.
1299 Optionally append a regex pattern at the end - separated with a space - to
1300 only check the tags matching said pattern. Useful when apps tag non-release
1301 versions such as X.X-alpha, so you can filter them out with something like
1302 @code{.*[0-9]$} which requires tag names to end with a digit.
1304 @code{HTTP} - HTTP requests are used to determine the current version code and
1305 version name. This is controlled by the @code{Update Check Data} field, which
1306 is of the form @code{urlcode|excode|urlver|exver}.
1308 Firstly, if @code{urlcode} is non-empty, the document from that URL is
1309 retrieved, and matched against the regular expression @code{excode}, with the
1310 first group becoming the version code.
1312 Secondly, if @code{urlver} is non-empty, the document from that URL is
1313 retrieved, and matched against the regular expression @code{exver}, with the
1314 first group becoming the version name. The @code{urlver} field can be set to
1315 simply '.' which says to use the same document returned for the version code
1316 again, rather than retrieving a different one.
1319 @node Vercode Operation
1320 @section Vercode Operation
1322 @cindex Vercode Operation
1324 Operation to be applied to the vercode obtained by the defined @code{Update
1325 Check Mode}. @code{%c} will be replaced by the actual vercode, and the whole
1326 string will be passed to python's @code{eval} function.
1328 Especially useful with apps that we want to compile for different ABIs, but
1329 whose vercodes don't always have trailing zeros. For example, with
1330 @code{Vercode Operation} set at something like @code{%c*10 + 4}, we will be
1331 able to track updates and build up to four different versions of every
1334 @node Update Check Ignore
1335 @section Update Check Ignore
1337 @cindex Update Check Ignore
1339 When checking for updates (via @code{Update Check Mode}) this can be used to
1340 specify a regex which, if matched against the version name, causes that version
1341 to be ignored. For example, 'beta' could be specified to ignore version names
1342 that include that text.
1344 @node Update Check Name
1345 @section Update Check Name
1347 @cindex Update Check Name
1349 When checking for updates (via @code{Update Check Mode}) this can be used to
1350 specify the package name to search for. Useful when apps have a static package
1351 name but change it programmatically in some app flavors, by e.g. appending
1352 ".open" or ".free" at the end of the package name.
1354 You can also use @code{Ignore} to ignore package name searching. This should
1355 only be used in some specific cases, for example if the app's build.gradle
1356 file does not contain the package name.
1358 @node Update Check Data
1359 @section Update Check Data
1361 @cindex Update Check Data
1363 Used in conjunction with @code{Update Check Mode} for certain modes.
1365 @node Auto Update Mode
1366 @section Auto Update Mode
1368 @cindex Auto Update Mode
1370 This determines the method using for auto-generating new builds when new
1371 releases are available - in other words, adding a new Build Version line to the
1373 This happens in conjunction with the 'Update Check Mode' functionality - i.e.
1374 when an update is detected by that, it is also processed by this.
1380 @code{None} - No auto-updating is done
1382 @code{Version} - Identifies the target commit (i.e. tag) for the new build based
1383 on the given version specification, which is simply text in which %v and %c are
1384 replaced with the required version name and version code respectively.
1386 For example, if an app always has a tag "2.7.2" corresponding to version 2.7.2,
1387 you would simply specify "Version %v". If an app always has a tag "ver_1234"
1388 for a version with version code 1234, you would specify "Version ver_%c".
1390 Additionally, a suffix can be added to the version name at this stage, to
1391 differentiate F-Droid's build from the original. Continuing the first example
1392 above, you would specify that as "Version +-fdroid %v" - "-fdroid" is the suffix.
1396 @node Current Version
1397 @section Current Version
1399 @cindex Current Version
1401 The name of the version that is current. There may be newer versions of the
1402 application than this (e.g. betas), and there will almost certainly be older
1403 ones. This should be the one that is recommended for general use.
1404 In the event that there is no source code for the current version, or that
1405 non-free libraries are being used, this would ideally be the latest
1406 version that is still free, though it may still be expedient to
1407 retain the automatic update check — see No Source Since.
1409 This field is normally automatically updated - see Update Check Mode.
1411 This is converted to (@code{<marketversion>}) in the public index file.
1413 @node Current Version Code
1414 @section Current Version Code
1416 @cindex Current Version Code
1418 The version code corresponding to the Current Version field. Both these fields
1419 must be correct and matching although it's the current version code that's
1420 used by Android to determine version order and by F-Droid client to determine
1421 which version should be recommended.
1423 This field is normally automatically updated - see Update Check Mode.
1425 If not set or set to @code{0}, clients will recommend the highest version they
1426 can, as if the @code{Current Version Code} was infinite.
1428 This is converted to (@code{<marketvercode>}) in the public index file.
1430 @node No Source Since
1431 @section No Source Since
1433 @cindex No Source Since
1435 In case we are missing the source code for the Current Version reported by
1436 Upstream, or that non-free elements have been introduced, this defines the
1437 first version that began to miss source code.
1438 Apps that are missing source code for just one or a few versions, but provide
1439 source code for newer ones are not to be considered here - this field is
1440 intended to illustrate which apps do not currently distribute source code, and
1441 since when have they been doing so.
1443 @node Update Processing
1444 @chapter Update Processing
1448 There are various mechanisms in place for automatically detecting that updates
1449 are available for applications, with the @code{Update Check Mode} field in the
1450 metadata determining which method is used for a particular application.
1452 Running the @code{fdroid checkupdates} command will apply this method to each
1453 application in the repository and update the @code{Current Version} and
1454 @code{Current Version Code} fields in the metadata accordingly.
1456 As usual, the @code{-p} option can be used with this, to restrict processing
1457 to a particular application.
1459 Note that this only updates the metadata such that we know what the current
1460 published/recommended version is. It doesn't make that version available in
1461 the repository - for that, see the next section.
1465 Adding updates (i.e. new versions of applications already included in the
1466 repository) happens in two ways. The simple case is applications where the
1467 APK files are binaries, retrieved from a developer's published build. In this
1468 case, all that's required is to place the new binary in the @code{Repo}
1469 directory, and the next run of @code{fdroid update} will pick it up.
1471 For applications built from source, it is necessary to add a new
1472 @code{Build Version} line to the metadata file. At the very least, the version
1473 name, version code and commit will be different. It is also possible that the
1474 additional build flags will change between versions.
1476 For processing multiple updates in the metadata at once, it can be useful to
1477 run @code{fdroid update --interactive}. This will check all the applications
1478 in the repository, and where updates are required you will be prompted to
1479 [E]dit the metadata, [I]gnore the update, or [Q]uit altogether.
1482 @chapter Build Server
1484 The Build Server system isolates the builds for each package within a clean,
1485 isolated and secure throwaway virtual machine environment.
1489 Building applications in this manner on a large scale, especially with the
1490 involvement of automated and/or unattended processes, could be considered
1491 a dangerous pastime from a security perspective. This is even more the case
1492 when the products of the build are also distributed widely and in a
1493 semi-automated ("you have updates available") fashion.
1495 Assume that an upstream source repository is compromised. A small selection
1496 of things that an attacker could do in such a situation:
1500 Use custom Ant build steps to execute virtually anything as the user doing
1503 Access the keystore.
1505 Modify the built apk files or source tarballs for other applications in the
1508 Modify the metadata (which includes build scripts, which again, also includes
1509 the ability to execute anything) for other applications in the repository.
1512 Through complete isolation, the repurcussions are at least limited to the
1513 application in question. Not only is the build environment fresh for each
1514 build, and thrown away afterwards, but it is also isolated from the signing
1517 Aside from security issues, there are some applications which have strange
1518 requirements such as custom versions of the NDK. It would be impractical (or
1519 at least extremely messy) to start modifying and restoring the SDK on a
1520 multi-purpose system, but within the confines of a throwaway single-use
1521 virtual machine, anything is possible.
1523 All this is in addition to the obvious advantage of having a standardised
1524 and completely reproducible environment in which builds are made. Additionally,
1525 it allows for specialised custom build environments for particular
1528 @section Setting up a build server
1530 In addition to the basic setup previously described, you will also need
1531 a Vagrant-compatible Debian Testing base box called 'jessie32' (or jessie64
1532 for a 64-bit VM, if you want it to be much slower, and require more disk
1535 You can use a different version or distro for the base box, so long as you
1536 don't expect any help making it work. One thing to be aware of is that
1537 working copies of source trees are moved from the host to the guest, so
1538 for example, having subversion v1.6 on the host and v1.7 on the guest
1541 @subsection Creating the Debian base box
1543 The output of this step is a minimal Debian VM that has support for remote
1544 login and provisioning.
1546 Unless you're very trusting, you should create one of these for yourself
1547 from verified standard Debian installation media. However, by popular
1548 demand, the @code{makebuildserver} script will automatically download a
1549 prebuilt image unless instructed otherwise. If you choose to use the
1550 prebuilt image, you may safely skip the rest of this section.
1552 Documentation for creating a base box can be found at
1553 @url{http://docs.vagrantup.com/v1/docs/base_boxes.html}.
1555 In addition to carefully following the steps described there, you should
1556 consider the following:
1560 It is advisable to disable udev network device persistence, otherwise any
1561 movement of the VM between machines, or reconfiguration, will result in
1564 For a Debian/Ubuntu default install, just
1565 @code{touch /etc/udev/rules.d/75-persistent-net-generator.rules} to turn
1566 off rule generation, and at the same time, get rid of any rules it's
1567 already created in @code{/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules}.
1569 Unless you want the VM to become totally inaccessible following a failed
1570 boot, you need to set @code{GRUB_RECORDFAIL_TIMEOUT} to a value other than
1571 -1 in @code{/etc/grub/default} and then run @code{update-grub}.
1574 @subsection Creating the F-Droid base box
1576 The next step in the process is to create @code{makebs.config.py},
1577 using @code{./examples/makebs.config.py} as a reference - look at the settings and
1578 documentation there to decide if any need changing to suit your environment.
1579 There is a path for retrieving the base box if it doesn't exist, and an apt
1580 proxy definition, both of which may need customising for your environment.
1581 You can then go to the @code{fdroidserver} directory and run this:
1587 This will take a long time, and use a lot of bandwidth - most of it spent
1588 installing the necessary parts of the Android SDK for all the various
1589 platforms. Luckily you only need to do it occasionally. Once you have a
1590 working build server image, if the recipes change (e.g. when packages need
1591 to be added) you can just run that script again and the existing one will
1592 be updated in place.
1594 The main sdk/ndk downloads will automatically be cached to speed things
1595 up the next time, but there's no easy way of doing this for the longer
1596 sections which use the SDK's @code{android} tool to install platforms,
1597 add-ons and tools. However, instead of allowing automatic caching, you
1598 can supply a pre-populated cache directory which includes not only these
1599 downloads, but also .tar.gz files for all the relevant additions. If the
1600 provisioning scripts detect these, they will be used in preference to
1601 running the android tools. For example, if you have
1602 @code{buildserver/addons/cache/platforms/android-19.tar.gz} that will be
1603 used when installing the android-19 platform, instead of re-downloading it
1604 using @code{android update sdk --no-ui -t android-19}. It is possible to
1605 create the cache files of this additions from a local installation of the
1606 SDK including these:
1609 cd /path/to/android-sdk/platforms
1610 tar czf android-19.tar.gz android-19
1611 mv android-19.tar.gz /path/to/buildserver/addons/cache/platforms/
1614 If you have already built a buildserver it is also possible to get this
1615 files directly from the buildserver:
1618 vagrant ssh -- -C 'tar -C ~/android-sdk/platforms czf android-19.tar.gz android-19'
1619 vagrant ssh -- -C 'cat ~/android-sdk/platforms/android-19.tar.gz' > /path/to/fdroidserver/buildserver/cache/platforms/android19.tar.gz
1622 Once it's complete you'll have a new base box called 'buildserver' which is
1623 what's used for the actual builds. You can then build packages as normal,
1624 but with the addition of the @code{--server} flag to @code{fdroid build} to
1625 instruct it to do all the hard work within the virtual machine.
1627 The first time a build is done, a new virtual machine is created using the
1628 'buildserver' box as a base. A snapshot of this clean machine state is saved
1629 for use in future builds, to improve performance. You can force discarding
1630 of this snapshot and rebuilding from scratch using the @code{--resetserver}
1631 switch with @code{fdroid build}.
1636 There are two kinds of signing involved in running a repository - the signing
1637 of the APK files generated from source builds, and the signing of the repo
1638 index itself. The latter is optional, but very strongly recommended.
1640 @section Repo Index Signing
1642 When setting up the repository, one of the first steps should be to generate
1643 a signing key for the repository index. This will also create a keystore, which
1644 is a file that can be used to hold this and all other keys used. Consider the
1645 location, security and backup status of this file carefully, then create it as
1648 @code{keytool -genkey -v -keystore my.keystore -alias repokey -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000}
1650 In the above, replace 'my.keystore' with the name of the keystore file to be
1651 created, and 'repokey' with a name to identify the repo index key by.
1653 You'll be asked for a password for the keystore, AND a password for the key.
1654 They shouldn't be the same. In between, you'll be asked for some identifying
1655 details which will go in the certificate.
1657 The two passwords entered go into @code{config.py}, as @code{keystorepass} and
1658 @code{keypass} respectively. The path to the keystore file, and the alias you
1659 chose for the key also go into that file, as @code{keystore} and
1660 @code{repo_keyalias} respectively.
1662 @section Package Signing
1664 With the repo index signing configured, all that remains to be done for package
1665 signing to work is to set the @code{keydname} field in @code{config.py} to
1666 contain the same identifying details you entered before.
1668 A new key will be generated using these details, for each application that is
1669 built. (If a specific key is required for a particular application, this system
1670 can be overridden using the @code{keyaliases} config settings.
1673 @node GNU Free Documentation License
1674 @appendix GNU Free Documentation License