1 \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
3 @setfilename fdroid.info
4 @settitle F-Droid Server Manual
8 This manual is for the F-Droid repository server tools.
10 Copyright @copyright{} 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 Ciaran Gultnieks
12 Copyright @copyright{} 2011 Henrik Tunedal, Michael Haas, John Sullivan
14 Copyright @copyright{} 2013 David Black, Daniel Martí
17 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
18 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3
19 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
20 with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.
21 A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU
22 Free Documentation License".
27 @title F-Droid Server Manual
28 @author Ciaran Gultnieks and the F-Droid project
30 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
46 * System Requirements::
48 * Simple Binary Repository::
49 * Building Applications::
50 * Importing Applications::
55 * GNU Free Documentation License::
62 The F-Droid server tools provide various scripts and tools that are used
63 to maintain the main F-Droid application repository. You can use these same
64 tools to create your own additional or alternative repository for publishing,
65 or to assist in creating, testing and submitting metadata to the main
69 @node System Requirements
70 @chapter System Requirements
74 The system requirements for using the tools will vary depending on your
75 intended usage. At the very least, you'll need:
83 The Android SDK Tools and Build-tools.
84 Note that F-Droid does not assume that you have the Android SDK in your
85 @code{PATH}: these directories will be specified in your repository
86 configuration. Recent revisions of the SDK have @code{aapt} located in
87 android-sdk/build-tools/ and it may be necessary to make a symlink to it in
88 android-sdk/platform-tools/
91 If you intend to build applications from source you'll also need most, if not
92 all, of the following:
96 All SDK platforms requested by the apps you want to build
97 (The Android SDK is made available by Google under a proprietary license but
98 within that, the SDK platforms, support library and some other components are
99 under the Apache license and source code is provided.
100 Google APIs, used for building apps using Google Maps, are free to the extent
101 that the library comes pre-installed on the device.
102 Google Play Services, Google Admob and others are proprietary and shouldn't be
103 included in the main F-Droid repository.)
105 A version of the Android NDK
109 Ant Contrib Tasks (Debian package ant-contrib)
111 Maven (Debian package maven)
113 JavaCC (Debian package javacc)
115 JDK (Debian package openjdk-6-jdk): openjdk-6 is recommended though openjdk-7
118 VCS clients: svn, git, git-svn, hg, bzr
120 Miscellaneous packages listed in
121 buildserver/cookbooks/fdroidbuild-general/recipes/default.rb
122 of the F-Droid server repository
124 A keystore for holding release keys. (Safe, secure and well backed up!)
127 If you intend to use the 'Build Server' system, for secure and clean builds
128 (highly recommended), you will also need:
132 VirtualBox (debian package virtualbox)
134 Ruby (debian packages ruby and rubygems)
136 Vagrant (gem install vagrant)
138 Paramiko (debian package python-paramiko)
140 Imaging (debian package python-imaging)
142 Magic (debian package python-magic)
149 @cindex setup, installation
151 Because the tools and data will always change rapidly, you will almost
152 certainly want to work from a git clone of the tools at this stage. To
156 git clone git://gitorious.org/f-droid/fdroidserver.git
159 You now have lots of stuff in the fdroidserver directory, but the most
160 important is the 'fdroid' command script which you run to perform all tasks.
161 This script is always run from a repository data directory, so the
162 most sensible thing to do next is to put your new fdroidserver directory
167 To do anything, you'll need at least one repository data directory. It's
168 from this directory that you run the @code{fdroid} command to perform all
169 repository management tasks. You can either create a brand new one, or
170 grab a copy of the data used by the main F-Droid repository:
173 git clone git://gitorious.org/f-droid/fdroiddata.git
176 Regardless of the intended usage of the tools, you will always need to set
177 up some basic configuration details. This is done by creating a file called
178 @code{config.py} in the data directory. You should do this by copying the
179 example file (@code{config.sample.py}) from the fdroidserver project to your
180 data directory and then editing according to the instructions within.
182 Once configured in this way, all the functionality of the tools is accessed
183 by running the @code{fdroid} command. Run it on its own to get a list of the
184 available sub-commands.
186 You can follow any command with @code{--help} to get a list of additional
187 options available for that command.
194 @node Simple Binary Repository
195 @chapter Simple Binary Repository
199 If you want to maintain a simple repository hosting only binary APKs obtained
200 and compiled elsewhere, the process is quite simple:
204 Set up the server tools, as described in Setup.
206 Make a directory for your repository. This is the directory from which you
207 will do all the work with your repository. Create a config file there, called
208 @code{config.py}, by copying the @code{config.sample.py} from the server
209 project and editing it.
211 Within that, make a directory called @code{repo} and put APK files in it.
213 Run @code{fdroid update}.
215 If it reports that any metadata files are missing, you can create them
216 in the @code{metadata} directory and run it again.
218 To ease creation of metadata files, run @code{fdroid update} with the @code{-c}
219 option. It will create 'skeleton' metadata files that are missing, and you can
220 then just edit them and fill in the details.
222 Then, if you've changed things, run @code{fdroid update} again.
224 Running @code{fdroid update} adds an Icons directory into the repo directory,
225 and also creates the repository index (index.xml, and also index.jar if you've
226 configured the system to use a signed index).
228 Publish the resulting contents of the @code{repo} directory to your web server.
231 Following the above process will result in a @code{repo} directory, which you
232 simply need to push to any HTTP (or preferably HTTPS) server to make it
235 While some information about the applications (and versions thereof) is
236 retrieved directly from the APK files, most comes from the corresponding file
237 in the @code{metadata} directory. The metadata file covering ALL versions of a
238 particular application is named @code{package.id.txt} where package.id is the
239 unique identifier for that package.
241 See the Metadata chapter for details of what goes in the metadata file. All
242 fields are relevant for binary APKs, EXCEPT for 'Build Version' entries, which
246 @node Building Applications
247 @chapter Building Applications
249 Instead of (or as well as) including binary APKs from external sources in a
250 repository, you can build them directly from the source code.
252 Using this method, it is is possible to verify that the application builds
253 correctly, corresponds to the source code, and contains only free software.
254 Unforunately, in the Android world, it seems to be very common for an
255 application supplied as a binary APK to present itself as Free Software
256 when in fact some or all of the following are true:
260 The source code (either for a particular version, or even all versions!) is
261 unavailable or incomplete.
263 The source code is not capable of producing the actual binary supplied.
265 The 'source code' contains binary files of unknown origin, or with proprietary
269 For this reason, source-built applications are the preferred method for the
270 main F-Droid repository, although occasionally for technical or historical
271 reasons, exceptions are made to this policy.
273 When building applications from source, it should be noted that you will be
274 signing them (all APK files must be signed to be installable on Android) with
275 your own key. When an application is already installed on a device, it is not
276 possible to upgrade it in place to a new version signed with a different key
277 without first uninstalling the original. This may present an inconvenience to
278 users, as the process of uninstalling loses any data associated with the
279 previous installation.
281 The process for managing a repository for built-from-source applications is
282 very similar to that described in the Simple Binary Repository chapter,
283 except now you need to:
287 Include Build Version entries in the metadata files.
289 Run @code{fdroid build} to build any applications that are not already built.
291 Run @code{fdroid publish} to finalise packaging and sign any APKs that have
296 @section More about "fdroid build"
298 When run without any parameters, @code{fdroid build} will build any and all
299 versions of applications that you don't already have in the @code{repo}
300 directory (or more accurately, the @code{unsigned} directory). There are various
301 other things you can do. As with all the tools, the @code{--help} option is
302 your friend, but a few annotated examples and discussion of the more common
305 To build a single version of a single application, you could run the
309 ./fdroid build --package=org.fdroid.fdroid --vercode 16
312 This attempts to build version code 16 (which is version 0.25) of the F-Droid
313 client. Many of the tools recognise this @code{--package} parameter, allowing
314 their activity to be limited to just a single package.
316 If the build above was successful, two files will have been placed in the
317 @code{unsigned} directory:
320 org.fdroid.fdroid_16.apk
321 org.fdroid.fdroid_16_src.tar.gz
324 The first is the (unsigned) APK. You could sign this with a debug key and push
325 it direct to your device or an emulator for testing. The second is a source
326 tarball containing exactly the source that was used to generate the binary.
328 If you were intending to publish these files, you could then run:
334 The source tarball would move to the @code{repo} directory (which is the
335 directory you would push to your web server). A signed and zip-aligned version
336 of the APK would also appear there, and both files would be removed from the
337 @code{unsigned} directory.
339 If you're building purely for the purposes of testing, and not intending to
340 push the results to a repository, at least yet, the @code{--test} option can be
341 used to direct output to the @code{tmp} directory instead of @code{unsigned}.
342 A similar effect could by achieved by simply deleting the output files from
343 @code{unsigned} after the build, but with the risk of forgetting to do so!
345 Along similar lines (and only in conjunction with @code{--test}, you can use
346 @code{--force} to force a build of a Disabled application, where normally it
347 would be completely ignored. Similarly a version that was found to contain
348 ELFs or known non-free libraries can be forced to build. See also —
349 scanignore= in the Build Version section.
351 If the build was unsuccessful, you can find out why by looking at the output
352 in the logs/ directory. If that isn't illuminating, try building the app the
353 regular way, step by step: android update project, ndk-build, ant debug.
355 Note that source code repositories often contain prebuilt libraries. If the
356 app is being considered for the main F-Droid repository, it is important that
357 all such prebuilts are built either via the metadata or by a reputable third
361 @section Direct Installation
363 You can also build and install directly to a connected device or emulator using
364 the @code{--install} switch. If you do this without using @code{--package} and
365 @code{--vercode} then all versions of all packages will be installed (with each
366 individual version overwriting the previous!). In most cases, this will not be
367 what you want to do, so execution will stop straight away. However, you can
368 override this if you're sure that's what you want, by using @code{--all}.
369 Note that currently, no sanity checks are performed with this mode, so that if
370 the version is incorrect or that if the package name is different, you won't
374 @node Importing Applications
375 @chapter Importing Applications
377 To help with starting work on including a new application, @code{fdroid import}
378 will take a URL and optionally some other parameters, and attempt to construct
379 as much information as possible by analysing the source code. Basic usage is:
382 ./fdroid import --url=http://address.of.project
385 For this to work, the URL must point to a project format that the script
386 understands. Currently this is limited to one of the following:
390 Gitorious - @code{https://gitorious.org/PROJECTNAME/REPONAME}
392 Github - @code{https://github.com/USER/PROJECT}
394 Google Code - @code{http://code.google.com/p/PROJECT/}
395 Supports git, svn and hg repos.
397 Some Google Code projects have multiple repositories, identified by a
398 dropdown list on the @code{source/checkout} page. To access one other than
399 the default, specify its name using the @code{--repo} switch.
401 Bitbucket - @code{https://bitbucket.org/USER/PROJECT/}
403 Git - @code{git://REPO}
406 Depending on the project type, more or less information may be gathered. For
407 example, the license will be retrieved from a Google Code project, but not a
408 GitHub one. A bare repo url, such as the git:// one, is the least preferable
409 optional of all, since you will have to enter much more information manually.
411 If the import is successful, a metadata file will be created. You will need to
412 edit this further to check the information, and fill in the blanks.
414 If it fails, you'll be told why. If it got as far as retrieving the source
415 code, you can inspect it further by looking in @code{tmp/importer} where a full
418 A frequent cause of initial failure is that the project directory is actually
419 a subdirectory in the repository. In this case, run the importer again using
420 the @code{--subdir} option to tell it where. It will not attempt to determine
421 this automatically, since there may be several options.
429 Information used by update.py to compile the public index comes from two
434 the APK files in the repo directory, and
436 the metadata files in the metadata directory.
439 The metadata files are simple, easy to edit text files, always named as the
440 application's package ID with '.txt' appended.
442 Note that although the metadata files are designed to be easily read and
443 writable by humans, they are also processed and written by various scripts.
444 They are capable of rewriting the entire file when necessary. Even so,
445 the structure and comments will be preserved correctly, although the order
446 of fields will be standardised. (In the event that the original file was
447 in a different order, comments are considered as being attached to the field
448 following them). In fact, you can standardise all the metadata in a single
449 command, without changing the functional content, by running:
452 fdroid rewritemetadata
455 The following sections describe the fields recognised within the file.
478 * Update Check Mode::
479 * Update Check Data::
482 * Current Version Code::
489 A single category for the application to be placed in. There is no fixed list
490 of categories - both the client and the web site will automatically show any
491 categories that exist in any applications. However, if your metadata is
492 intended for the main F-Droid repository, you should use one of the existing
493 categories (look at the site/client), or discuss the proposal to add
496 Additional categories can be specified, by using ';' as a separator. In this
497 case the first is the primary category, and the only one that will be seen by
498 clients that only understand one.
505 The overall license for the application, or in certain cases, for the
518 GNU GPL version 2 or later
526 GNU GPL version 3 or later
530 An unspecified GPL version. Use this only as a last resort or if there is
531 some confusion over compatiblity of component licenses: particularly the use of
532 Apache libraries with GPLv2 source code.
536 Afferro GPL version 3.
548 BSD license - the original '4-clause' version.
552 BSD license - the new, or modified, version.
561 The name of the application as can best be retrieved from the source code.
562 This is done so that the commitupdates script can put a familiar name in the
563 description of commits created when a new update of the application is
564 found. The Auto Name entry is generated automatically when @code{fdroid
565 checkupdates} is run.
572 The name of the application. Normally, this field should not be present since
573 the application's correct name is retrieved from the APK file. However, in a
574 situation where an APK contains a bad or missing application name, it can be
575 overridden using this. Note that this only overrides the name in the list of
576 apps presented in the client; it doesn't changed the name or application label
584 The URL for the application's web site.
591 The URL to view or obtain the application's source code. This should be
592 something human-friendly. Machine-readable source-code is covered in the
596 @section Issue Tracker
598 @cindex Issue Tracker
600 The URL for the application's issue tracker. Optional, since not all
601 applications have one.
608 The URL to donate to the project. This should be the project's donate page
611 It is possible to use a direct PayPal link here, if that is all that is
612 available. However, bear in mind that the developer may not be aware of
613 that direct link, and if they later changed to a different PayPal account,
614 or the PayPal link format changed, things could go wrong. It is always
615 best to use a link that the developer explicitly makes public, rather than
616 something that is auto-generated 'button code'.
623 The project's Flattr (http://flattr.com) ID, if it has one. This should be
624 a numeric ID, such that (for example) https://flattr.com/thing/xxxx leads
625 directly to the page to donate to the project.
632 A bitcoin address for donating to the project.
639 A litecoin address for donating to the project.
646 A brief summary of what the application is. Since the summary is only allowed
647 one line on the list of the F-Droid client, keeping it to within 32 characters
648 will ensure it fits even on the smallest screens.
655 A full description of the application, relevant to the latest version.
656 This can span multiple lines (which should be kept to a maximum of 80
657 characters), and is terminated by a line containing a single '.'.
659 Basic MediaWiki-style formatting can be used. Leaving a blank line starts a
660 new paragraph. Surrounding text with @code{''} make it italic, and with
661 @code{'''} makes it bold.
663 You can link to another app in the repo by using @code{[[app.id]]}. The link
664 will be made appropriately whether in the Android client, the web repo
665 browser or the wiki. The link text will be the apps name.
667 Links to web addresses can be done using @code{[http://example.com Text]}.
669 Bulletted lists are done by simply starting each item with a @code{*} on
670 a new line, and numbered lists are the same but using @code{#}. There is
671 currently no support for nesting lists - you can have one level only.
673 It can be helpful to note information pertaining to updating from an
674 earlier version; whether the app contains any prebuilts built by the
675 upstream developers or whether non-free elements were removed; whether the
676 app is in rapid development or whether the latest version lags behind the
677 current version; whether the app supports multiple architectures or whether
678 there is a maximum SDK specified (such info not being recorded in the index).
685 The type of repository - for automatic building from source. If this is not
686 specified, automatic building is disabled for this application. Possible
708 The repository location. Usually a git: or svn: URL, for example.
710 The git-svn option connects to an SVN repository, and you specify the URL in
711 exactly the same way, but git is used as a back-end. This is preferable for
712 performance reasons, and also because a local copy of the entire history is
713 available in case the upstream repository disappears. (It happens!). In
714 order to use Tags as update check mode for this VCS type, the URL must have
715 the tags= special argument set. Likewise, if you intend to use the
716 RepoManifest/branch scheme, you would want to specify branches= as well.
717 Finally, trunk= can also be added. All these special arguments will be passed
718 to "git svn" in order, and their values must be relative paths to the svn repo
720 Here's an example of a complex git-svn Repo URL:
721 http://svn.code.sf.net/p/project/code/svn;trunk=trunk;tags=tags;branches=branches
723 For a Subversion repo that requires authentication, you can precede the repo
724 URL with username:password@ and those parameters will be passed as @option{--username}
725 and @option{--password} to the SVN checkout command. (This now works for both
728 If the Repo Type is @code{srclib}, then you must specify the name of the
729 according srclib .txt file. For example if @code{scrlibs/FooBar.txt} exist
730 and you want to use this srclib, then you have to set Repo to
734 @section Build Version
736 @cindex Build Version
738 Any number of these fields can be present, each specifying a version to
739 automatically build from source. The value is a comma-separated list.
742 @samp{Build Version:0.12,3,651696a49be2cd7db5ce6a2fa8185e31f9a20035}
744 The above specifies to build version 0.12, which has a version code of 3.
745 The third parameter specifies the tag, commit or revision number from
746 which to build it in the source repository.
748 In addition to the three, always required, parameters described above,
749 further parameters can be added (in name=value format) to apply further
750 configuration to the build. These are (roughly in order of application):
754 @item disable=<message>
755 Disables this build, giving a reason why. (For backwards compatibility, this
756 can also be achieved by starting the commit ID with '!')
758 The purpose of this feature is to allow non-buildable releases (e.g. the source
759 is not published) to be flagged, so the scripts don't generate repeated
760 messages about them. (And also to record the information for review later).
761 If an apk has already been built, disabling causes it to be deleted once
762 @code{fdroid update} is run; this is the procedure if ever a version has to
766 Specifies to build from a subdirectory of the checked out source code.
767 Normally this directory is changed to before building,
770 Use if the project (git only) has submodules - causes git submodule
771 init and update to be executed after the source is cloned.
774 As for 'prebuild', but runs on the source code BEFORE any other processing
777 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
778 android SDK and NDK directories, and maven 3 executable respectively.
781 The sdk location in the repo is in an old format, or the build.xml is
782 expecting such. The 'new' format is sdk.dir while the VERY OLD format
783 is sdk-location. Typically, if you get a message along the lines of:
784 "com.android.ant.SetupTask cannot be found" when trying to build, then
785 try enabling this option.
787 @item target=<target>
788 Specifies a particular SDK target for compilation, overriding the
789 project.properties of the app and possibly sub-projects. Note that this does
790 not change the target SDK in the AndroidManifest.xml — the level of features
791 that can be included in the build. This is likely to cause the whole build.xml
792 to be rewritten, which is fine if it's a 'standard' android file or doesn't
793 already exist, but not a good idea if it's heavily customised. If you get an
794 error about invalid target, first try @code{init=rm -rf bin/}; otherwise this
795 parameter should do the trick.
797 Please note that gradle builds should be using compilesdk=.
799 @item compilesdk=<level>
800 Practically accomplishes the same that target= does when used in ant and maven
801 projects. compilesdk= is used rather than target= so as to not cause any more
802 confusion. It only takes effect on gradle builds in the build.gradle file,
803 thus using it in any other case is not wise.
806 By default, 'android update project' is used to generate or update the
807 build.xml file. Specifying update=no bypasses that.
809 Specifiying update=force forces rebuilding of the build.xml file at the
810 same time - this is frequently needed with r14 of the Android platform
811 tools. Be aware of any customisations in build.xml when using
814 Otherwise, value can be a semicolon-separated list of directories in
815 which to run 'android update project' relative to the main
816 application directory (which may include '@code{subdir}' parameter).
817 Default value is '@code{.}', and passing non-default value may be
818 useful for multi-component projects. Note that @code{--subprojects}
819 switch is automatically passed to 'android update project', so using
820 explicit list may be needed only for peculiar source layouts.
823 Adds a java.encoding property to local.properties with the given
824 value. Generally the value will be 'utf-8'. This is picked up by the
825 SDK's ant rules, and forces the Java compiler to interpret source
826 files with this encoding. If you receive warnings during the compile
827 about character encodings, you probably need this.
829 @item forceversion=yes
830 If specified, the package version in AndroidManifest.xml is replaced
831 with the version name for the build as specified in the metadata.
833 This is useful for cases when upstream repo failed to update it for
834 specific tag; to build an arbitrary revision; to make it apparent that
835 the version differs significantly from upstream; or to make it apparent
836 which architecture or platform the apk is designed to run on.
838 @item forcevercode=yes
839 If specified, the package version code in the AndroidManifest.xml is
840 replaced with the version code for the build. See also forceversion.
842 @item rm=<relpath1;relpath2;...>
843 Specifies the relative paths of files or directories to delete before
844 the build is done. The paths are relative to the base of the build
845 directory - i.e. the root of the directory structure checked out from
846 the source respository - not necessarily the directory that contains
849 Multiple files/directories can be specified by separating them with ';'.
850 Directories will be recursively deleted.
853 Modifies any instances of string resources that use multiple
854 formatting arguments, but don't use positional notation. For example,
855 "Hello %s, %d" becomes "Hello %1$s, %2$d". Newer versions of the
856 Android platform tools enforce this sensible standard. If you get
857 error messages relating to that, you need to enable this.
860 Like fixtrans, but deals with an even older issue relating to
861 'unescaped apostrophes' in translation strings.
864 Specifies a list of external libraries (jar files) from the
865 @code{build/extlib} library, which will be placed in the @code{libs} directory
866 of the project. Separate items with semicolons.
868 @item srclibs=a@@r;b@@r1;
869 Specifies a list of source libraries or Android projects. Separate items with
870 semicolons, and each item is of the form name@@rev where name is the predefined
871 source library name and rev is the revision or tag in source control to use.
873 Each srclib has a metadata file under srclibs/ in the repository directory,
874 and the source code is stored in build/srclib/.
875 Repo Type: and Repo: are specified in the same way as for apps; Subdir: can be
876 a comma separated list, for when directories are renamed by upstream; Update
877 Project: updates the projects in the working directory and one level down;
878 Prepare: can be used for any kind of preparation: in particular if you need to
879 update the project with a particular target. You can then also use $$name$$ in
880 the init/prebuild/build command to substitute the relative path to the library
881 directory, but it could need tweaking if you've changed into another directory.
884 Apply patch(es). 'x' names one (or more - comma-seperated)
885 files within a directory below the metadata, with the same
886 name as the metadata file but without the extension. Each of
887 these patches is applied to the code in turn.
890 Specifies a shell command (or commands - chain with &&) to run before
891 the build takes place. Backslash can be used as an escape character to
892 insert literal commas, or as the last character on a line to join that
893 line with the next. It has no special meaning in other contexts; in
894 particular, literal backslashes should not be escaped.
896 The command runs using bash.
898 Note that nothing should be build during this prebuild phase - scanning
899 of the code and building of the source tarball, for example, take place
900 after this. For custom actions that actually build things, use 'build'
903 You can use $$name$$ to substitute the path to a referenced srclib - see
904 the @code{srclib} directory for details of this.
906 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
907 android SDK and NDK directories, and maven 3 executable respectively e.g.
908 for when you need to run @code{android update project} explicitly.
911 Enables a selection of mad hacks to make com.funambol.android build.
912 Probably not useful for any other application.
914 @item scanignore=path1;path2;...
915 Enables one or more files/paths to be exlcuded from the scan process.
916 This should only be used where there is a very good reason, and
917 probably accompanied by a comment explaining why it is necessary.
919 When scanning, files whose relative paths start with any of the paths
920 given here are ignored.
923 As for 'prebuild', but runs during the actual build phase (but before the
924 main ant/maven build). Use this only for actions that do actual building.
925 Any prepartion of the source code should be done using 'init' or 'prebuild'.
927 Any building that takes place before build= will be ignored, as either ant,
928 mvn or gradle will be executed to clean the build environment right before
929 build= (or the final build) is run.
931 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
932 android SDK and NDK directories, and maven 3 executable respectively.
934 @item buildjni=[yes|no|<dir list>]
935 Enables building of native code via the ndk-build script before doing
936 the main ant build. The value may be a list of directories relative
937 to the main application directory in which to run ndk-build, or 'yes'
938 which corresponds to '.' . Using explicit list may be useful to build
939 multi-component projects.
941 The build and scan processes will complain (refuse to build) if this
942 parameter is not defined, but there is a @code{jni} directory present.
943 If the native code is being built by other means, you can specify
944 @code{no} here to avoid that. However, if the native code is actually
945 not required, remove the directory instead (using @code{prebuild} for
948 @item gradle=<flavour>[@@<dir>]
949 Build with gradle instead of ant, specifying what flavour to assemble.
950 If <flavour> is 'yes', 'main' or empty, no flavour will be used. Note
951 that this will not work on projects with flavours, since it will build
952 all flavours and there will be no 'main' build.
953 If @@<dir> is attached to <flavour>, then the gradle tasks will be run in that
954 directory. This might be necessary if gradle needs to be run in the parent
955 directory, in which case one would use 'gradle=<flavour>@..'.
957 @item maven=yes[@@<dir>]
958 Build with maven instead of ant. Like gradle, an extra @@<dir> tells f-droid
959 to run maven inside that relative subdirectory.
961 @item preassemble=<task1> <task2>
962 Space-separated list of gradle tasks to be run before the assemble task
963 in a gradle project build.
966 Normally the build output (apk) is expected to be in the bin
967 subdirectory below the ant build files. If the project is configured
968 to put it elsewhere, that can be specified here, relative to the base
969 of the checked out repo. Not yet implemented for gradle.
972 Specify an alternate ant command (target) instead of the default
973 'release'. It can't be given any flags, such as the path to a build.xml.
976 Don't check that the version name and code in the resulting apk are
977 correct by looking at the build output - assume the metadata is
978 correct. This takes away a useful level of sanity checking, and should
979 only be used if the values can't be extracted.
983 Another example, using extra parameters:
985 @samp{Build Version:1.09.03,10903,45,subdir=Timeriffic,oldsdkloc=yes}
988 @section AntiFeatures
992 This is optional - if present, it contains a comma-separated list of any of
993 the following values, describing an anti-feature the application has.
994 Even though such apps won't be displayed unless a settings box is ticked,
995 it is a good idea to mention the reasons for the anti-feature(s) in the
1001 @samp{Ads} - the application contains advertising.
1004 @samp{Tracking} - the application tracks and reports your activity to
1005 somewhere without your consent. It's commonly used for when developers
1006 obtain crash logs without the user's consent, or when an app is useless
1007 without some kind of authentication.
1010 @samp{NonFreeNet} - the application relies on computational services that
1011 are impossible to replace or that the replacement cannot be connected to
1012 without major changes to the app.
1015 @samp{NonFreeAdd} - the application promotes non-Free add-ons, such that the
1016 app is effectively an advert for other non-free software and such software is
1017 not clearly labelled as such.
1020 @samp{NonFreeDep} - the application depends on a non-Free application (e.g.
1021 Google Maps) - i.e. it requires it to be installed on the device, but does not
1031 If this field is present, the application does not get put into the public
1032 index. This allows metadata to be retained while an application is temporarily
1033 disabled from being published. The value should be a description of why the
1034 application is disabled. No apks or source code archives are deleted: to purge
1035 an apk see the Build Version section or delete manually for developer builds.
1036 The field is therefore used when an app has outlived it's usefulness, because
1037 the source tarball is retained.
1040 @section Requires Root
1042 @cindex Requires Root
1044 Set this optional field to "Yes" if the application requires root
1045 privileges to be usable. This lets the client filter it out if the
1046 user so desires. Whether root is required or not, it is good to give
1047 a paragraph in the description to the conditions on which root may be
1048 asked for and the reason for it.
1050 @node Update Check Mode
1051 @section Update Check Mode
1053 @cindex Update Check Mode
1055 This determines the method using for determining when new releases are
1056 available - in other words, the updating of the Current Version and Current
1057 Version Code fields in the metadata by the @code{fdroid checkupdates} process.
1063 @code{None} - No checking is done because there's no appropriate automated way
1064 of doing so. Updates should be checked for manually. Use this, for example,
1065 when deploying betas or patched versions; when builds are done in a directory
1066 different to where the AndroidManifest.xml is; if the developers use the
1067 gradle build system and store version info in a separate file; if the
1068 developers make a new branch for each release and don't make tags; or if you've
1069 changed the package name or version code logic.
1071 @code{Static} - No checking is done - either development has ceased or new versions
1072 are not desired. This method is also used when there is no other checking method
1073 available and the upstream developer keeps us posted on new versions.
1075 @code{RepoManifest} - At the most recent commit, the AndroidManifest.xml file
1076 is looked for in the directory where it was found in the the most recent build.
1077 The appropriateness of this method depends on the development process used by
1078 the application's developers. You should not specify this method unless you're
1079 sure it's appropriate. For example, some developers bump the version when
1080 commencing development instead of when publishing.
1081 It will return an error if the AndroidManifest.xml has moved to a different
1082 directory or if the package name has changed.
1083 The current version that it gives may not be accurate, since not all
1084 versions are fit to be published. Therefore, before building, it is often
1085 necessary to check if the current version has been published somewhere by the
1086 upstream developers, either by checking for apks that they distribute or for
1087 tags in the source code repository.
1089 It currently works for every repository type to different extents, except
1090 the srclib repo type. For git, git-svn and hg repo types, you may use
1091 "RepoManifest/yourbranch" as UCM so that "yourbranch" would be the branch used
1092 in place of the default one. The default values are "master" for git,
1093 "default" for hg and none for git-svn (it stays in the same branch).
1094 On the other hand, branch support hasn't been implemented yet in bzr and svn,
1095 but RepoManifest may still be used without it.
1097 @code{RepoTrunk} - For svn and git-svn repositories, especially those who
1098 don't have a bundled AndroidManifest.xml file, the Tags and RepoManifest
1099 checks will not work, since there is no version information to obtain. But,
1100 for those apps who automate their build process with the commit ref that HEAD
1101 points to, RepoTrunk will set the Current Version and Current Version Code to
1104 @code{Tags} - The AndroidManifest.xml file in all tagged revisions in the
1105 source repository is checked, looking for the highest version code. The
1106 appropriateness of this method depends on the development process used by the
1107 application's developers. You should not specify this method unless you're sure
1108 it's appropriate. It shouldn't be used if the developers like to tag betas or
1109 are known to forget to tag releases. Like RepoManifest, it will not return the
1110 correct value if the directory containing the AndroidManifest.xml has moved.
1111 Despite these caveats, it is the often the favourite update check mode.
1113 It currently only works for git, hg, bzr and git-svn repositories. In the case
1114 of the latter, the repo URL must encode the path to the trunk and tags or else
1115 no tags will be found.
1117 @code{HTTP} - HTTP requests are used to determine the current version code and
1118 version name. This is controlled by the @code{Update Check Data} field, which
1119 is of the form @code{urlcode|excode|urlver|exver}.
1121 Firstly, if @code{urlcode} is non-empty, the document from that URL is
1122 retrieved, and matched against the regular expression @code{excode}, with the
1123 first group becoming the version code.
1125 Secondly, if @code{urlver} is non-empty, the document from that URL is
1126 retrieved, and matched against the regular expression @code{exver}, with the
1127 first group becoming the version name. The @code{urlver} field can be set to
1128 simply '.' which says to use the same document returned for the version code
1129 again, rather than retrieving a different one.
1132 @node Update Check Data
1133 @section Update Check Data
1135 @cindex Update Check Data
1137 Used in conjunction with @code{Update Check Mode} for certain modes.
1139 @node Archive Policy
1140 @section Archive Policy
1142 @cindex Archive Policy
1144 This determines the policy for moving old versions of an app to the archive
1145 repo, if one is configured. The configuration sets a default maximum number
1146 of versions kept in the main repo, after which older ones are moved to the
1147 archive. This app-specific policy setting can override that.
1149 Currently the only supported format is "n versions", where n is the number
1150 of versions to keep.
1152 @node Auto Update Mode
1153 @section Auto Update Mode
1155 @cindex Auto Update Mode
1157 This determines the method using for auto-generating new builds when new
1158 releases are available - in other words, adding a new Build Version line to the
1160 This happens in conjunction with the 'Update Check Mode' functionality - i.e.
1161 when an update is detected by that, it is also processed by this.
1167 @code{None} - No auto-updating is done
1169 @code{Version} - Identifies the target commit (i.e. tag) for the new build based
1170 on the given version specification, which is simply text in which %v and %c are
1171 replaced with the required version name and version code respectively.
1173 For example, if an app always has a tag "2.7.2" corresponding to version 2.7.2,
1174 you would simply specify "Version %v". If an app always has a tag "ver_1234"
1175 for a version with version code 1234, you would specify "Version ver_%c".
1177 Additionally, a suffix can be added to the version name at this stage, to
1178 differentiate F-Droid's build from the original. Continuing the first example
1179 above, you would specify that as "Version +-fdroid %v" - "-fdroid" is the suffix.
1183 @node Current Version
1184 @section Current Version
1186 @cindex Current Version
1188 The name of the version that is current. There may be newer versions of the
1189 application than this (e.g. betas), and there will almost certainly be older
1190 ones. This should be the one that is recommended for general use.
1191 In the event that there is no source code for the current version, or that
1192 non-free libraries are being used, this would ideally be the latest
1193 version that is still free, though it may still be expedient to
1194 retain the automatic update check — see No Source Since.
1196 This field is normally automatically updated - see Update Check Mode.
1198 @node Current Version Code
1199 @section Current Version Code
1201 @cindex Current Version Code
1203 The version code corresponding to the Current Version field. Both these fields
1204 must be correct and matching although it's the current version code that's
1205 used by Android to determine version order and by F-Droid client to determine
1206 which version should be recommended.
1208 This field is normally automatically updated - see Update Check Mode.
1210 @node No Source Since
1211 @section No Source Since
1213 @cindex No Source Since
1215 In case we are missing the source code for the Current Version reported by
1216 Upstream, or that non-free elements have been introduced, this defines the
1217 first version that began to miss source code.
1218 Apps that are missing source code for just one or a few versions, but provide
1219 source code for newer ones are not to be considered here - this field is
1220 intended to illustrate which apps do not currently distribute source code, and
1221 since when have they been doing so.
1223 @node Update Processing
1224 @chapter Update Processing
1228 There are various mechanisms in place for automatically detecting that updates
1229 are available for applications, with the @code{Update Check Mode} field in the
1230 metadata determining which method is used for a particular application.
1232 Running the @code{fdroid checkupdates} command will apply this method to each
1233 application in the repository and update the @code{Current Version} and
1234 @code{Current Version Code} fields in the metadata accordingly.
1236 As usual, the @code{-p} option can be used with this, to restrict processing
1237 to a particular application.
1239 Note that this only updates the metadata such that we know what the current
1240 published/recommended version is. It doesn't make that version available in
1241 the repository - for that, see the next section.
1245 Adding updates (i.e. new versions of applications already included in the
1246 repository) happens in two ways. The simple case is applications where the
1247 APK files are binaries, retrieved from a developer's published build. In this
1248 case, all that's required is to place the new binary in the @code{Repo}
1249 directory, and the next run of @code{fdroid update} will pick it up.
1251 For applications built from source, it is necessary to add a new
1252 @code{Build Version} line to the metadata file. At the very least, the version
1253 name, version code and commit will be different. It is also possible that the
1254 additional build flags will change between versions.
1256 For processing multiple updates in the metadata at once, it can be useful to
1257 run @code{fdroid update --interactive}. This will check all the applications
1258 in the repository, and where updates are required you will be prompted to
1259 [E]dit the metadata, [I]gnore the update, or [Q]uit altogether.
1262 @chapter Build Server
1264 The Build Server system isolates the builds for each package within a clean,
1265 isolated and secure throwaway virtual machine environment.
1269 Building applications in this manner on a large scale, especially with the
1270 involvement of automated and/or unattended processes, could be considered
1271 a dangerous pastime from a security perspective. This is even more the case
1272 when the products of the build are also distributed widely and in a
1273 semi-automated ("you have updates available") fashion.
1275 Assume that an upstream source repository is compromised. A small selection
1276 of things that an attacker could do in such a situation:
1280 Use custom ant build steps to execute virtually anything as the user doing
1283 Access the keystore.
1285 Modify the built apk files or source tarballs for other applications in the
1288 Modify the metadata (which includes build scripts, which again, also includes
1289 the ability to execute anything) for other applications in the repository.
1292 Through complete isolation, the repurcussions are at least limited to the
1293 application in question. Not only is the build environment fresh for each
1294 build, and thrown away afterwards, but it is also isolated from the signing
1297 Aside from security issues, there are some applications which have strange
1298 requirements such as custom versions of the NDK. It would be impractical (or
1299 at least extremely messy) to start modifying and restoring the SDK on a
1300 multi-purpose system, but within the confines of a throwaway single-use
1301 virtual machine, anything is possible.
1303 All this is in addition to the obvious advantage of having a standardised
1304 and completely reproducible environment in which builds are made. Additionally,
1305 it allows for specialised custom build environments for particular
1308 @section Setting up a build server
1310 In addition to the basic setup previously described, you will also need
1311 a Vagrant-compatible Ubuntu Raring base box called 'raring32' (or raring64
1312 for a 64-bit VM, if you want it to be much slower, and require more disk
1315 You can use a different version or distro for the base box, so long as you
1316 don't expect any help making it work. One thing to be aware of is that
1317 working copies of source trees are moved from the host to the guest, so
1318 for example, having subversion v1.6 on the host and v1.7 on the guest
1321 Unless you're very trusting. you should create one of these for yourself
1322 from verified standard Ubuntu installation media. However, you could skip
1323 over the next few paragraphs (and sacrifice some security) by downloading
1324 @url{https://f-droid.org/raring32.box} or @url{https://f-droid.org/raring64.box}.
1326 Documentation for creating a base box can be found at
1327 @url{http://docs.vagrantup.com/v1/docs/base_boxes.html}.
1329 In addition to carefully following the steps described there, you should
1330 consider the following:
1334 It is advisable to disable udev network device persistence, otherwise any
1335 movement of the VM between machines, or reconfiguration, will result in
1338 For a Debian/Ubuntu default install, just
1339 @code{touch /etc/udev/rules.d/75-persistent-net-generator.rules} to turn
1340 off rule generation, and at the same time, get rid of any rules it's
1341 already created in @code{/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules}.
1343 Unless you want the VM to become totally inaccessible following a failed
1344 boot, you need to set @code{GRUB_RECORDFAIL_TIMEOUT} to a value other than
1345 -1 in @code{/etc/grub/default} and then run @code{update-grub}.
1348 You may also want to edit @code{buildserver/Vagrantfile} - in particular
1349 there is a path for retrieving the base box if it doesn't exist, and an
1350 apt proxy definition, both of which may need customising for your
1353 With this base box available, you should then create @code{makebs.config.py},
1354 using @code{makebs.config.sample.py} as a reference - look at the settings and
1355 documentation there to decide if any need changing to suit your environment.
1356 You can then go to the @code{fdroidserver} directory and run this:
1359 ./makebuildserver.py
1362 This will take a long time, and use a lot of bandwidth - most of it spent
1363 installing the necessary parts of the Android SDK for all the various
1364 platforms. Luckily you only need to do it occasionally. Once you have a
1365 working build server image, if the recipes change (e.g. when packages need
1366 to be added) you can just run that script again and the existing one will
1367 be updated in place.
1369 The main sdk/ndk downloads will automatically be cached to speed things
1370 up the next time, but there's no easy way of doing this for the longer
1371 sections which use the SDK's @code{android} tool to install platforms,
1372 add-ons and tools. However, instead of allowing automatic caching, you
1373 can supply a pre-populated cache directory which includes not only these
1374 downloads, but also .tar.gz files for all the relevant additions. If the
1375 provisioning scripts detect these, they will be used in preference to
1376 running the android tools. For example, if you have
1377 @code{buildserver/addons/cache/platforms/android-15.tar.gz} that will be
1378 used when installing the android-15 platform, instead of re-downloading it
1379 using @code{android update sdk --no-ui -t android-15}.
1381 Once it's complete you'll have a new base box called 'buildserver' which is
1382 what's used for the actual builds. You can then build packages as normal,
1383 but with the addition of the @code{--server} flag to @code{fdroid build} to
1384 instruct it to do all the hard work within the virtual machine.
1386 The first time a build is done, a new virtual machine is created using the
1387 'buildserver' box as a base. A snapshot of this clean machine state is saved
1388 for use in future builds, to improve performance. You can force discarding
1389 of this snapshot and rebuilding from scratch using the @code{--resetserver}
1390 switch with @code{fdroid build}.
1395 There are two kinds of signing involved in running a repository - the signing
1396 of the APK files generated from source builds, and the signing of the repo
1397 index itself. The latter is optional, but very strongly recommended.
1399 @section Repo Index Signing
1401 When setting up the repository, one of the first steps should be to generate
1402 a signing key for the repository index. This will also create a keystore, which
1403 is a file that can be used to hold this and all other keys used. Consider the
1404 location, security and backup status of this file carefully, then create it as
1407 @code{keytool -genkey -v -keystore my.keystore -alias repokey -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000}
1409 In the above, replace 'my.keystore' with the name of the keystore file to be
1410 created, and 'repokey' with a name to identify the repo index key by.
1412 You'll be asked for a password for the keystore, AND a password for the key.
1413 They shouldn't be the same. In between, you'll be asked for some identifying
1414 details which will go in the certificate.
1416 The two passwords entered go into @code{config.py}, as @code{keystorepass} and
1417 @code{keypass} respectively. The path to the keystore file, and the alias you
1418 chose for the key also go into that file, as @code{keystore} and
1419 @code{repo_keyalias} respectively.
1421 @section Package Signing
1423 With the repo index signing configured, all that remains to be done for package
1424 signing to work is to set the @code{keydname} field in @code{config.py} to
1425 contain the same identifying details you entered before.
1427 A new key will be generated using these details, for each application that is
1428 built. (If a specific key is required for a particular application, this system
1429 can be overridden using the @code{keyaliases} config settings.
1432 @node GNU Free Documentation License
1433 @appendix GNU Free Documentation License