1 \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
3 @setfilename fdroid.info
4 @documentencoding UTF-8
5 @settitle F-Droid Server Manual
9 This manual is for the F-Droid repository server tools.
11 Copyright @copyright{} 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 Ciaran Gultnieks
13 Copyright @copyright{} 2011 Henrik Tunedal, Michael Haas, John Sullivan
15 Copyright @copyright{} 2013 David Black, Daniel Martí
18 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
19 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3
20 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
21 with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.
22 A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU
23 Free Documentation License".
28 @title F-Droid Server Manual
29 @author Ciaran Gultnieks and the F-Droid project
31 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
47 * System Requirements::
49 * Simple Binary Repository::
50 * Building Applications::
51 * Importing Applications::
56 * GNU Free Documentation License::
63 The F-Droid server tools provide various scripts and tools that are used
64 to maintain the main F-Droid application repository. You can use these same
65 tools to create your own additional or alternative repository for publishing,
66 or to assist in creating, testing and submitting metadata to the main
70 @node System Requirements
71 @chapter System Requirements
75 The system requirements for using the tools will vary depending on your
76 intended usage. At the very least, you'll need:
84 The Android SDK Tools and Build-tools.
85 Note that F-Droid does not assume that you have the Android SDK in your
86 @code{PATH}: these directories will be specified in your repository
87 configuration. Recent revisions of the SDK have @code{aapt} located in
88 android-sdk/build-tools/ and it may be necessary to make a symlink to it in
89 android-sdk/platform-tools/
92 If you intend to build applications from source you'll also need most, if not
93 all, of the following:
97 JDK (Debian package openjdk-6-jdk): openjdk-6 is recommended though openjdk-7
100 VCS clients: svn, git, git-svn, hg, bzr
102 A keystore for holding release keys. (Safe, secure and well backed up!)
105 If you intend to use the 'Build Server' system, for secure and clean builds
106 (highly recommended), you will also need:
110 VirtualBox (debian package virtualbox)
112 Ruby (debian packages ruby and rubygems)
114 Vagrant (gem install vagrant)
116 Paramiko (debian package python-paramiko)
118 Imaging (debian package python-imaging)
120 Magic (debian package python-magic)
123 On the other hand, if you want to build the apps directly on your system
124 without the 'Build Server' system, you may need:
128 All SDK platforms requested by the apps you want to build
129 (The Android SDK is made available by Google under a proprietary license but
130 within that, the SDK platforms, support library and some other components are
131 under the Apache license and source code is provided.
132 Google APIs, used for building apps using Google Maps, are free to the extent
133 that the library comes pre-installed on the device.
134 Google Play Services, Google Admob and others are proprietary and shouldn't be
135 included in the main F-Droid repository.)
137 A version of the Android NDK
139 Ant with Contrib Tasks (Debian packages ant and ant-contrib)
141 Maven (Debian package maven)
143 JavaCC (Debian package javacc)
145 Miscellaneous packages listed in
146 buildserver/cookbooks/fdroidbuild-general/recipes/default.rb
147 of the F-Droid server repository
153 @cindex setup, installation
155 Because the tools and data will always change rapidly, you will almost
156 certainly want to work from a git clone of the tools at this stage. To
160 git clone git://gitorious.org/f-droid/fdroidserver.git
163 You now have lots of stuff in the fdroidserver directory, but the most
164 important is the 'fdroid' command script which you run to perform all tasks.
165 This script is always run from a repository data directory, so the
166 most sensible thing to do next is to put your new fdroidserver directory
171 To do anything, you'll need at least one repository data directory. It's
172 from this directory that you run the @code{fdroid} command to perform all
173 repository management tasks. You can either create a brand new one, or
174 grab a copy of the data used by the main F-Droid repository:
177 git clone git://gitorious.org/f-droid/fdroiddata.git
180 Regardless of the intended usage of the tools, you will always need to set
181 up some basic configuration details. This is done by creating a file called
182 @code{config.py} in the data directory. You should do this by copying the
183 example file (@code{config.sample.py}) from the fdroidserver project to your
184 data directory and then editing according to the instructions within.
186 Once configured in this way, all the functionality of the tools is accessed
187 by running the @code{fdroid} command. Run it on its own to get a list of the
188 available sub-commands.
190 You can follow any command with @code{--help} to get a list of additional
191 options available for that command.
198 @node Simple Binary Repository
199 @chapter Simple Binary Repository
203 If you want to maintain a simple repository hosting only binary APKs obtained
204 and compiled elsewhere, the process is quite simple:
208 Set up the server tools, as described in Setup.
210 Make a directory for your repository. This is the directory from which you
211 will do all the work with your repository. Create a config file there, called
212 @code{config.py}, by copying the @code{config.sample.py} from the server
213 project and editing it.
215 Within that, make a directory called @code{repo} and put APK files in it.
217 Run @code{fdroid update}.
219 If it reports that any metadata files are missing, you can create them
220 in the @code{metadata} directory and run it again.
222 To ease creation of metadata files, run @code{fdroid update} with the @code{-c}
223 option. It will create 'skeleton' metadata files that are missing, and you can
224 then just edit them and fill in the details.
226 Then, if you've changed things, run @code{fdroid update} again.
228 Running @code{fdroid update} adds an Icons directory into the repo directory,
229 and also creates the repository index (index.xml, and also index.jar if you've
230 configured the system to use a signed index).
232 Publish the resulting contents of the @code{repo} directory to your web server.
235 Following the above process will result in a @code{repo} directory, which you
236 simply need to push to any HTTP (or preferably HTTPS) server to make it
239 While some information about the applications (and versions thereof) is
240 retrieved directly from the APK files, most comes from the corresponding file
241 in the @code{metadata} directory. The metadata file covering ALL versions of a
242 particular application is named @code{package.id.txt} where package.id is the
243 unique identifier for that package.
245 See the Metadata chapter for details of what goes in the metadata file. All
246 fields are relevant for binary APKs, EXCEPT for 'Build Version' entries, which
250 @node Building Applications
251 @chapter Building Applications
253 Instead of (or as well as) including binary APKs from external sources in a
254 repository, you can build them directly from the source code.
256 Using this method, it is is possible to verify that the application builds
257 correctly, corresponds to the source code, and contains only free software.
258 Unforunately, in the Android world, it seems to be very common for an
259 application supplied as a binary APK to present itself as Free Software
260 when in fact some or all of the following are true:
264 The source code (either for a particular version, or even all versions!) is
265 unavailable or incomplete.
267 The source code is not capable of producing the actual binary supplied.
269 The 'source code' contains binary files of unknown origin, or with proprietary
273 For this reason, source-built applications are the preferred method for the
274 main F-Droid repository, although occasionally for technical or historical
275 reasons, exceptions are made to this policy.
277 When building applications from source, it should be noted that you will be
278 signing them (all APK files must be signed to be installable on Android) with
279 your own key. When an application is already installed on a device, it is not
280 possible to upgrade it in place to a new version signed with a different key
281 without first uninstalling the original. This may present an inconvenience to
282 users, as the process of uninstalling loses any data associated with the
283 previous installation.
285 The process for managing a repository for built-from-source applications is
286 very similar to that described in the Simple Binary Repository chapter,
287 except now you need to:
291 Include Build Version entries in the metadata files.
293 Run @code{fdroid build} to build any applications that are not already built.
295 Run @code{fdroid publish} to finalise packaging and sign any APKs that have
300 @section More about "fdroid build"
302 When run without any parameters, @code{fdroid build} will build any and all
303 versions of applications that you don't already have in the @code{repo}
304 directory (or more accurately, the @code{unsigned} directory). There are various
305 other things you can do. As with all the tools, the @code{--help} option is
306 your friend, but a few annotated examples and discussion of the more common
309 To build a single version of a single application, you could run the
313 ./fdroid build org.fdroid.fdroid:16
316 This attempts to build version code 16 (which is version 0.25) of the F-Droid
317 client. Many of the tools recognise arguments as packages, allowing their
318 activity to be limited to just a limited set of packages.
320 If the build above was successful, two files will have been placed in the
321 @code{unsigned} directory:
324 org.fdroid.fdroid_16.apk
325 org.fdroid.fdroid_16_src.tar.gz
328 The first is the (unsigned) APK. You could sign this with a debug key and push
329 it direct to your device or an emulator for testing. The second is a source
330 tarball containing exactly the source that was used to generate the binary.
332 If you were intending to publish these files, you could then run:
338 The source tarball would move to the @code{repo} directory (which is the
339 directory you would push to your web server). A signed and zip-aligned version
340 of the APK would also appear there, and both files would be removed from the
341 @code{unsigned} directory.
343 If you're building purely for the purposes of testing, and not intending to
344 push the results to a repository, at least yet, the @code{--test} option can be
345 used to direct output to the @code{tmp} directory instead of @code{unsigned}.
346 A similar effect could by achieved by simply deleting the output files from
347 @code{unsigned} after the build, but with the risk of forgetting to do so!
349 Along similar lines (and only in conjunction with @code{--test}, you can use
350 @code{--force} to force a build of a Disabled application, where normally it
351 would be completely ignored. Similarly a version that was found to contain
352 ELFs or known non-free libraries can be forced to build. See also —
353 scanignore= and scandelete= in the Build Version section.
355 If the build was unsuccessful, you can find out why by looking at the output
356 in the logs/ directory. If that isn't illuminating, try building the app the
357 regular way, step by step: android update project, ndk-build, ant debug.
359 Note that source code repositories often contain prebuilt libraries. If the
360 app is being considered for the main F-Droid repository, it is important that
361 all such prebuilts are built either via the metadata or by a reputable third
365 @section Direct Installation
367 You can also build and install directly to a connected device or emulator
368 using the @code{fdroid install} command. If you do this without passing
369 packages as arguments then all the latest built and signed version available
370 of each package will be installed . In most cases, this will not be what you
371 want to do, so execution will stop straight away. However, you can override
372 this if you're sure that's what you want, by using @code{--all}. Note that
373 currently, no sanity checks are performed with this mode, so if the files in
374 the signed output directory were modified, you won't be notified.
377 @node Importing Applications
378 @chapter Importing Applications
380 To help with starting work on including a new application, @code{fdroid import}
381 will take a URL and optionally some other parameters, and attempt to construct
382 as much information as possible by analysing the source code. Basic usage is:
385 ./fdroid import --url=http://address.of.project
388 For this to work, the URL must point to a project format that the script
389 understands. Currently this is limited to one of the following:
393 Gitorious - @code{https://gitorious.org/PROJECTNAME/REPONAME}
395 Github - @code{https://github.com/USER/PROJECT}
397 Google Code - @code{http://code.google.com/p/PROJECT/}
398 Supports git, svn and hg repos.
400 Some Google Code projects have multiple repositories, identified by a
401 dropdown list on the @code{source/checkout} page. To access one other than
402 the default, specify its name using the @code{--repo} switch.
404 Bitbucket - @code{https://bitbucket.org/USER/PROJECT/}
406 Git - @code{git://REPO}
409 Depending on the project type, more or less information may be gathered. For
410 example, the license will be retrieved from a Google Code project, but not a
411 GitHub one. A bare repo url, such as the git:// one, is the least preferable
412 optional of all, since you will have to enter much more information manually.
414 If the import is successful, a metadata file will be created. You will need to
415 edit this further to check the information, and fill in the blanks.
417 If it fails, you'll be told why. If it got as far as retrieving the source
418 code, you can inspect it further by looking in @code{tmp/importer} where a full
421 A frequent cause of initial failure is that the project directory is actually
422 a subdirectory in the repository. In this case, run the importer again using
423 the @code{--subdir} option to tell it where. It will not attempt to determine
424 this automatically, since there may be several options.
432 Information used by update.py to compile the public index comes from two
437 the APK files in the repo directory, and
439 the metadata files in the metadata directory.
442 The metadata files are simple, easy to edit text files, always named as the
443 application's package ID with '.txt' appended.
445 Note that although the metadata files are designed to be easily read and
446 writable by humans, they are also processed and written by various scripts.
447 They are capable of rewriting the entire file when necessary. Even so,
448 the structure and comments will be preserved correctly, although the order
449 of fields will be standardised. (In the event that the original file was
450 in a different order, comments are considered as being attached to the field
451 following them). In fact, you can standardise all the metadata in a single
452 command, without changing the functional content, by running:
455 fdroid rewritemetadata
458 The following sections describe the fields recognised within the file.
482 * Update Check Mode::
483 * Vercode Operation::
484 * Update Check Data::
487 * Current Version Code::
494 Any number of categories for the application to be placed in. There is no
495 fixed list of categories - both the client and the web site will automatically
496 show any categories that exist in any applications. However, if your metadata
497 is intended for the main F-Droid repository, you should use one of the
498 existing categories (look at the site/client), or discuss the proposal to add
501 Categories must be separated by a single comma character, ','. For backwards
502 compatibility, F-Droid will use the first category given as <category> element
503 for older clients to at least see one category.
505 This is converted to (@code{<categories>}) in the public index file.
512 The overall license for the application, or in certain cases, for the
525 GNU GPL version 2 or later
533 GNU GPL version 3 or later
537 An unspecified GPL version. Use this only as a last resort or if there is
538 some confusion over compatiblity of component licenses: particularly the use of
539 Apache libraries with GPLv2 source code.
543 Afferro GPL version 3.
555 BSD license - the original '4-clause' version.
559 BSD license - the new, or modified, version.
563 This is converted to (@code{<license>}) in the public index file.
570 The name of the application as can best be retrieved from the source code.
571 This is done so that the commitupdates script can put a familiar name in the
572 description of commits created when a new update of the application is
573 found. The Auto Name entry is generated automatically when @code{fdroid
574 checkupdates} is run.
581 The name of the application. Normally, this field should not be present since
582 the application's correct name is retrieved from the APK file. However, in a
583 situation where an APK contains a bad or missing application name, it can be
584 overridden using this. Note that this only overrides the name in the list of
585 apps presented in the client; it doesn't changed the name or application label
593 The URL for the application's web site.
595 This is converted to (@code{<web>}) in the public index file.
602 The URL to view or obtain the application's source code. This should be
603 something human-friendly. Machine-readable source-code is covered in the
606 This is converted to (@code{<source>}) in the public index file.
609 @section Issue Tracker
611 @cindex Issue Tracker
613 The URL for the application's issue tracker. Optional, since not all
614 applications have one.
616 This is converted to (@code{<tracker>}) in the public index file.
623 The URL to donate to the project. This should be the project's donate page
626 It is possible to use a direct PayPal link here, if that is all that is
627 available. However, bear in mind that the developer may not be aware of
628 that direct link, and if they later changed to a different PayPal account,
629 or the PayPal link format changed, things could go wrong. It is always
630 best to use a link that the developer explicitly makes public, rather than
631 something that is auto-generated 'button code'.
633 This is converted to (@code{<donate>}) in the public index file.
640 The project's Flattr (http://flattr.com) ID, if it has one. This should be
641 a numeric ID, such that (for example) https://flattr.com/thing/xxxx leads
642 directly to the page to donate to the project.
644 This is converted to (@code{<flattr>}) in the public index file.
651 A bitcoin address for donating to the project.
653 This is converted to (@code{<bitcoin>}) in the public index file.
660 A litecoin address for donating to the project.
667 A brief summary of what the application is. Since the summary is only allowed
668 one line on the list of the F-Droid client, keeping it to within 32 characters
669 will ensure it fits even on the smallest screens.
676 A full description of the application, relevant to the latest version.
677 This can span multiple lines (which should be kept to a maximum of 80
678 characters), and is terminated by a line containing a single '.'.
680 Basic MediaWiki-style formatting can be used. Leaving a blank line starts a
681 new paragraph. Surrounding text with @code{''} make it italic, and with
682 @code{'''} makes it bold.
684 You can link to another app in the repo by using @code{[[app.id]]}. The link
685 will be made appropriately whether in the Android client, the web repo
686 browser or the wiki. The link text will be the apps name.
688 Links to web addresses can be done using @code{[http://example.com Text]}.
690 For both of the above link formats, the entire link (from opening to closing
691 square bracket) must be on the same line.
693 Bulletted lists are done by simply starting each item with a @code{*} on
694 a new line, and numbered lists are the same but using @code{#}. There is
695 currently no support for nesting lists - you can have one level only.
697 It can be helpful to note information pertaining to updating from an
698 earlier version; whether the app contains any prebuilts built by the
699 upstream developers or whether non-free elements were removed; whether the
700 app is in rapid development or whether the latest version lags behind the
701 current version; whether the app supports multiple architectures or whether
702 there is a maximum SDK specified (such info not being recorded in the index).
704 This is converted to (@code{<desc>}) in the public index file.
706 @node Maintainer Notes
707 @section Maintainer Notes
709 @cindex Maintainer Notes
711 This is a multi-line field using the same rules and syntax as the description.
712 It's used to record notes for F-Droid maintainers to assist in maintaining and
713 updating the application in the repository.
715 This information is also published to the wiki.
722 The type of repository - for automatic building from source. If this is not
723 specified, automatic building is disabled for this application. Possible
745 The repository location. Usually a git: or svn: URL, for example.
747 The git-svn option connects to an SVN repository, and you specify the URL in
748 exactly the same way, but git is used as a back-end. This is preferable for
749 performance reasons, and also because a local copy of the entire history is
750 available in case the upstream repository disappears. (It happens!). In
751 order to use Tags as update check mode for this VCS type, the URL must have
752 the tags= special argument set. Likewise, if you intend to use the
753 RepoManifest/branch scheme, you would want to specify branches= as well.
754 Finally, trunk= can also be added. All these special arguments will be passed
755 to "git svn" in order, and their values must be relative paths to the svn repo
757 Here's an example of a complex git-svn Repo URL:
758 http://svn.code.sf.net/p/project/code/svn;trunk=trunk;tags=tags;branches=branches
760 For a Subversion repo that requires authentication, you can precede the repo
761 URL with username:password@ and those parameters will be passed as @option{--username}
762 and @option{--password} to the SVN checkout command. (This now works for both
765 If the Repo Type is @code{srclib}, then you must specify the name of the
766 according srclib .txt file. For example if @code{scrlibs/FooBar.txt} exist
767 and you want to use this srclib, then you have to set Repo to
771 @section Build Version
773 @cindex Build Version
775 Any number of these fields can be present, each specifying a version to
776 automatically build from source. The value is a comma-separated list.
779 @samp{Build Version:0.12,3,651696a49be2cd7db5ce6a2fa8185e31f9a20035}
781 The above specifies to build version 0.12, which has a version code of 3.
782 The third parameter specifies the tag, commit or revision number from
783 which to build it in the source repository.
785 In addition to the three, always required, parameters described above,
786 further parameters can be added (in name=value format) to apply further
787 configuration to the build. These are (roughly in order of application):
791 @item disable=<message>
792 Disables this build, giving a reason why. (For backwards compatibility, this
793 can also be achieved by starting the commit ID with '!')
795 The purpose of this feature is to allow non-buildable releases (e.g. the source
796 is not published) to be flagged, so the scripts don't generate repeated
797 messages about them. (And also to record the information for review later).
798 If an apk has already been built, disabling causes it to be deleted once
799 @code{fdroid update} is run; this is the procedure if ever a version has to
803 Specifies to build from a subdirectory of the checked out source code.
804 Normally this directory is changed to before building,
807 Use if the project (git only) has submodules - causes git submodule
808 init and update to be executed after the source is cloned.
811 As for 'prebuild', but runs on the source code BEFORE any other processing
814 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
815 android SDK and NDK directories, and maven 3 executable respectively.
818 The sdk location in the repo is in an old format, or the build.xml is
819 expecting such. The 'new' format is sdk.dir while the VERY OLD format
820 is sdk-location. Typically, if you get a message along the lines of:
821 "com.android.ant.SetupTask cannot be found" when trying to build, then
822 try enabling this option.
824 @item target=<target>
825 Specifies a particular SDK target for compilation, overriding the
826 project.properties of the app and possibly sub-projects. Note that this does
827 not change the target SDK in the AndroidManifest.xml — the level of features
828 that can be included in the build. This is likely to cause the whole build.xml
829 to be rewritten, which is fine if it's a 'standard' android file or doesn't
830 already exist, but not a good idea if it's heavily customised. If you get an
831 error about invalid target, first try @code{init=rm -rf bin/}; otherwise this
832 parameter should do the trick.
834 Please note that gradle builds should be using compilesdk=.
836 @item compilesdk=<level>
837 Practically accomplishes the same that target= does when used in ant and maven
838 projects. compilesdk= is used rather than target= so as to not cause any more
839 confusion. It only takes effect on gradle builds in the build.gradle file,
840 thus using it in any other case is not wise.
843 By default, 'android update project' is used to generate or update the
844 project and all its referenced projects. Specifying update=no bypasses that.
846 Specifiying update=force forces rebuilding of the build.xml file at the
847 same time - this is frequently needed with r14 of the Android platform
848 tools. Be aware of any customisations in build.xml when using
851 Default value is '@code{auto}', which uses the paths used in the
852 project.properties file to find out what project paths to update.
854 Otherwise, value can be a semicolon-separated list of directories in
855 which to run 'android update project' relative to the main
856 application directory (which may include '@code{subdir}' parameter).
859 Adds a java.encoding property to local.properties with the given
860 value. Generally the value will be 'utf-8'. This is picked up by the
861 SDK's ant rules, and forces the Java compiler to interpret source
862 files with this encoding. If you receive warnings during the compile
863 about character encodings, you probably need this.
865 @item forceversion=yes
866 If specified, the package version in AndroidManifest.xml is replaced
867 with the version name for the build as specified in the metadata.
869 This is useful for cases when upstream repo failed to update it for
870 specific tag; to build an arbitrary revision; to make it apparent that
871 the version differs significantly from upstream; or to make it apparent
872 which architecture or platform the apk is designed to run on.
874 @item forcevercode=yes
875 If specified, the package version code in the AndroidManifest.xml is
876 replaced with the version code for the build. See also forceversion.
878 @item rm=<relpath1;relpath2;...>
879 Specifies the relative paths of files or directories to delete before
880 the build is done. The paths are relative to the base of the build
881 directory - i.e. the root of the directory structure checked out from
882 the source respository - not necessarily the directory that contains
885 Multiple files/directories can be specified by separating them with ';'.
886 Directories will be recursively deleted.
889 Modifies any instances of string resources that use multiple
890 formatting arguments, but don't use positional notation. For example,
891 "Hello %s, %d" becomes "Hello %1$s, %2$d". Newer versions of the
892 Android platform tools enforce this sensible standard. If you get
893 error messages relating to that, you need to enable this.
896 Like fixtrans, but deals with an even older issue relating to
897 'unescaped apostrophes' in translation strings.
900 Specifies a list of external libraries (jar files) from the
901 @code{build/extlib} library, which will be placed in the @code{libs} directory
902 of the project. Separate items with semicolons.
904 @item srclibs=a@@r;b@@r1;
905 Specifies a list of source libraries or Android projects. Separate items with
906 semicolons, and each item is of the form name@@rev where name is the predefined
907 source library name and rev is the revision or tag in source control to use.
909 Each srclib has a metadata file under srclibs/ in the repository directory,
910 and the source code is stored in build/srclib/.
911 Repo Type: and Repo: are specified in the same way as for apps; Subdir: can be
912 a comma separated list, for when directories are renamed by upstream; Update
913 Project: updates the projects in the working directory and one level down;
914 Prepare: can be used for any kind of preparation: in particular if you need to
915 update the project with a particular target. You can then also use $$name$$ in
916 the init/prebuild/build command to substitute the relative path to the library
917 directory, but it could need tweaking if you've changed into another directory.
920 Apply patch(es). 'x' names one (or more - comma-seperated)
921 files within a directory below the metadata, with the same
922 name as the metadata file but without the extension. Each of
923 these patches is applied to the code in turn.
926 Specifies a shell command (or commands - chain with &&) to run before
927 the build takes place. Backslash can be used as an escape character to
928 insert literal commas, or as the last character on a line to join that
929 line with the next. It has no special meaning in other contexts; in
930 particular, literal backslashes should not be escaped.
932 The command runs using bash.
934 Note that nothing should be build during this prebuild phase - scanning
935 of the code and building of the source tarball, for example, take place
936 after this. For custom actions that actually build things, use 'build'
939 You can use $$name$$ to substitute the path to a referenced srclib - see
940 the @code{srclib} directory for details of this.
942 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
943 android SDK and NDK directories, and maven 3 executable respectively e.g.
944 for when you need to run @code{android update project} explicitly.
946 @item scanignore=path1;path2;...
947 Enables one or more files/paths to be exlcuded from the scan process.
948 This should only be used where there is a very good reason, and
949 probably accompanied by a comment explaining why it is necessary.
951 When scanning the source tree for problems, matching files whose relative
952 paths start with any of the paths given here are ignored.
954 @item scandelete=path1;path2;...
955 Similar to scanignore=, but instead of ignoring files under the given paths,
956 it tells f-droid to delete the matching files directly.
959 As for 'prebuild', but runs during the actual build phase (but before the
960 main ant/maven build). Use this only for actions that do actual building.
961 Any prepartion of the source code should be done using 'init' or 'prebuild'.
963 Any building that takes place before build= will be ignored, as either ant,
964 mvn or gradle will be executed to clean the build environment right before
965 build= (or the final build) is run.
967 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
968 android SDK and NDK directories, and maven 3 executable respectively.
970 @item buildjni=[yes|no|<dir list>]
971 Enables building of native code via the ndk-build script before doing
972 the main ant build. The value may be a list of directories relative
973 to the main application directory in which to run ndk-build, or 'yes'
974 which corresponds to '.' . Using explicit list may be useful to build
975 multi-component projects.
977 The build and scan processes will complain (refuse to build) if this
978 parameter is not defined, but there is a @code{jni} directory present.
979 If the native code is being built by other means, you can specify
980 @code{no} here to avoid that. However, if the native code is actually
981 not required, remove the directory instead (using @code{prebuild} for
984 @item gradle=<flavour>[@@<dir>]
985 Build with gradle instead of ant, specifying what flavour to assemble.
986 If <flavour> is 'yes', 'main' or empty, no flavour will be used. Note
987 that this will not work on projects with flavours, since it will build
988 all flavours and there will be no 'main' build.
989 If @@<dir> is attached to <flavour>, then the gradle tasks will be run in that
990 directory. This might be necessary if gradle needs to be run in the parent
991 directory, in which case one would use 'gradle=<flavour>@..'.
993 @item maven=yes[@@<dir>]
994 Build with maven instead of ant. Like gradle, an extra @@<dir> tells f-droid
995 to run maven inside that relative subdirectory.
997 @item preassemble=<task1> <task2>
998 Space-separated list of gradle tasks to be run before the assemble task
999 in a gradle project build.
1002 Normally the build output (apk) is expected to be in the bin
1003 subdirectory below the ant build files. If the project is configured
1004 to put it elsewhere, that can be specified here, relative to the base
1005 of the checked out repo. Not yet implemented for gradle.
1007 @item antcommand=xxx
1008 Specify an alternate ant command (target) instead of the default
1009 'release'. It can't be given any flags, such as the path to a build.xml.
1012 Don't check that the version name and code in the resulting apk are
1013 correct by looking at the build output - assume the metadata is
1014 correct. This takes away a useful level of sanity checking, and should
1015 only be used if the values can't be extracted.
1019 Another example, using extra parameters:
1021 @samp{Build Version:1.09.03,10903,45,subdir=Timeriffic,oldsdkloc=yes}
1024 @section AntiFeatures
1026 @cindex AntiFeatures
1028 This is optional - if present, it contains a comma-separated list of any of
1029 the following values, describing an anti-feature the application has.
1030 Even though such apps won't be displayed unless a settings box is ticked,
1031 it is a good idea to mention the reasons for the anti-feature(s) in the
1037 @samp{Ads} - the application contains advertising.
1040 @samp{Tracking} - the application tracks and reports your activity to
1041 somewhere without your consent. It's commonly used for when developers
1042 obtain crash logs without the user's consent, or when an app is useless
1043 without some kind of authentication.
1046 @samp{NonFreeNet} - the application relies on computational services that
1047 are impossible to replace or that the replacement cannot be connected to
1048 without major changes to the app.
1051 @samp{NonFreeAdd} - the application promotes non-Free add-ons, such that the
1052 app is effectively an advert for other non-free software and such software is
1053 not clearly labelled as such.
1056 @samp{NonFreeDep} - the application depends on a non-Free application (e.g.
1057 Google Maps) - i.e. it requires it to be installed on the device, but does not
1067 If this field is present, the application does not get put into the public
1068 index. This allows metadata to be retained while an application is temporarily
1069 disabled from being published. The value should be a description of why the
1070 application is disabled. No apks or source code archives are deleted: to purge
1071 an apk see the Build Version section or delete manually for developer builds.
1072 The field is therefore used when an app has outlived it's usefulness, because
1073 the source tarball is retained.
1076 @section Requires Root
1078 @cindex Requires Root
1080 Set this optional field to "Yes" if the application requires root
1081 privileges to be usable. This lets the client filter it out if the
1082 user so desires. Whether root is required or not, it is good to give
1083 a paragraph in the description to the conditions on which root may be
1084 asked for and the reason for it.
1086 @node Update Check Mode
1087 @section Update Check Mode
1089 @cindex Update Check Mode
1091 This determines the method using for determining when new releases are
1092 available - in other words, the updating of the Current Version and Current
1093 Version Code fields in the metadata by the @code{fdroid checkupdates} process.
1099 @code{None} - No checking is done because there's no appropriate automated way
1100 of doing so. Updates should be checked for manually. Use this, for example,
1101 when deploying betas or patched versions; when builds are done in a directory
1102 different to where the AndroidManifest.xml is; if the developers use the
1103 gradle build system and store version info in a separate file; if the
1104 developers make a new branch for each release and don't make tags; or if you've
1105 changed the package name or version code logic.
1107 @code{Static} - No checking is done - either development has ceased or new versions
1108 are not desired. This method is also used when there is no other checking method
1109 available and the upstream developer keeps us posted on new versions.
1111 @code{RepoManifest} - At the most recent commit, the AndroidManifest.xml file
1112 is looked for in the directory where it was found in the the most recent build.
1113 The appropriateness of this method depends on the development process used by
1114 the application's developers. You should not specify this method unless you're
1115 sure it's appropriate. For example, some developers bump the version when
1116 commencing development instead of when publishing.
1117 It will return an error if the AndroidManifest.xml has moved to a different
1118 directory or if the package name has changed.
1119 The current version that it gives may not be accurate, since not all
1120 versions are fit to be published. Therefore, before building, it is often
1121 necessary to check if the current version has been published somewhere by the
1122 upstream developers, either by checking for apks that they distribute or for
1123 tags in the source code repository.
1125 It currently works for every repository type to different extents, except
1126 the srclib repo type. For git, git-svn and hg repo types, you may use
1127 "RepoManifest/yourbranch" as UCM so that "yourbranch" would be the branch used
1128 in place of the default one. The default values are "master" for git,
1129 "default" for hg and none for git-svn (it stays in the same branch).
1130 On the other hand, branch support hasn't been implemented yet in bzr and svn,
1131 but RepoManifest may still be used without it.
1133 @code{RepoTrunk} - For svn and git-svn repositories, especially those who
1134 don't have a bundled AndroidManifest.xml file, the Tags and RepoManifest
1135 checks will not work, since there is no version information to obtain. But,
1136 for those apps who automate their build process with the commit ref that HEAD
1137 points to, RepoTrunk will set the Current Version and Current Version Code to
1140 @code{Tags} - The AndroidManifest.xml file in all tagged revisions in the
1141 source repository is checked, looking for the highest version code. The
1142 appropriateness of this method depends on the development process used by the
1143 application's developers. You should not specify this method unless you're sure
1144 it's appropriate. It shouldn't be used if the developers like to tag betas or
1145 are known to forget to tag releases. Like RepoManifest, it will not return the
1146 correct value if the directory containing the AndroidManifest.xml has moved.
1147 Despite these caveats, it is the often the favourite update check mode.
1149 It currently only works for git, hg, bzr and git-svn repositories. In the case
1150 of the latter, the repo URL must encode the path to the trunk and tags or else
1151 no tags will be found.
1153 @code{HTTP} - HTTP requests are used to determine the current version code and
1154 version name. This is controlled by the @code{Update Check Data} field, which
1155 is of the form @code{urlcode|excode|urlver|exver}.
1157 Firstly, if @code{urlcode} is non-empty, the document from that URL is
1158 retrieved, and matched against the regular expression @code{excode}, with the
1159 first group becoming the version code.
1161 Secondly, if @code{urlver} is non-empty, the document from that URL is
1162 retrieved, and matched against the regular expression @code{exver}, with the
1163 first group becoming the version name. The @code{urlver} field can be set to
1164 simply '.' which says to use the same document returned for the version code
1165 again, rather than retrieving a different one.
1168 @node Update Check Data
1169 @section Update Check Data
1171 @cindex Update Check Data
1173 Used in conjunction with @code{Update Check Mode} for certain modes.
1175 @node Vercode Operation
1176 @section Vercode Operation
1178 @cindex Vercode Operation
1180 Operation to be applied to the vercode obtained by the defined @code{Update
1181 Check Mode}. @code{%c} will be replaced by the actual vercode, and the whole
1182 string will be passed to python's @code{eval} function.
1184 Especially useful with apps that we want to compile for different ABIs, but
1185 whose vercodes don't always have trailing zeros. With @code{Vercode Operation}
1186 set at something like @code{%c*10 + 4}, we will be able to track updates and
1187 build three different versions of every upstream version.
1189 @node Archive Policy
1190 @section Archive Policy
1192 @cindex Archive Policy
1194 This determines the policy for moving old versions of an app to the archive
1195 repo, if one is configured. The configuration sets a default maximum number
1196 of versions kept in the main repo, after which older ones are moved to the
1197 archive. This app-specific policy setting can override that.
1199 Currently the only supported format is "n versions", where n is the number
1200 of versions to keep.
1202 @node Auto Update Mode
1203 @section Auto Update Mode
1205 @cindex Auto Update Mode
1207 This determines the method using for auto-generating new builds when new
1208 releases are available - in other words, adding a new Build Version line to the
1210 This happens in conjunction with the 'Update Check Mode' functionality - i.e.
1211 when an update is detected by that, it is also processed by this.
1217 @code{None} - No auto-updating is done
1219 @code{Version} - Identifies the target commit (i.e. tag) for the new build based
1220 on the given version specification, which is simply text in which %v and %c are
1221 replaced with the required version name and version code respectively.
1223 For example, if an app always has a tag "2.7.2" corresponding to version 2.7.2,
1224 you would simply specify "Version %v". If an app always has a tag "ver_1234"
1225 for a version with version code 1234, you would specify "Version ver_%c".
1227 Additionally, a suffix can be added to the version name at this stage, to
1228 differentiate F-Droid's build from the original. Continuing the first example
1229 above, you would specify that as "Version +-fdroid %v" - "-fdroid" is the suffix.
1233 @node Current Version
1234 @section Current Version
1236 @cindex Current Version
1238 The name of the version that is current. There may be newer versions of the
1239 application than this (e.g. betas), and there will almost certainly be older
1240 ones. This should be the one that is recommended for general use.
1241 In the event that there is no source code for the current version, or that
1242 non-free libraries are being used, this would ideally be the latest
1243 version that is still free, though it may still be expedient to
1244 retain the automatic update check — see No Source Since.
1246 This field is normally automatically updated - see Update Check Mode.
1248 This is converted to (@code{<marketversion>}) in the public index file.
1250 @node Current Version Code
1251 @section Current Version Code
1253 @cindex Current Version Code
1255 The version code corresponding to the Current Version field. Both these fields
1256 must be correct and matching although it's the current version code that's
1257 used by Android to determine version order and by F-Droid client to determine
1258 which version should be recommended.
1260 This field is normally automatically updated - see Update Check Mode.
1262 This is converted to (@code{<marketvercode>}) in the public index file.
1264 @node No Source Since
1265 @section No Source Since
1267 @cindex No Source Since
1269 In case we are missing the source code for the Current Version reported by
1270 Upstream, or that non-free elements have been introduced, this defines the
1271 first version that began to miss source code.
1272 Apps that are missing source code for just one or a few versions, but provide
1273 source code for newer ones are not to be considered here - this field is
1274 intended to illustrate which apps do not currently distribute source code, and
1275 since when have they been doing so.
1277 @node Update Processing
1278 @chapter Update Processing
1282 There are various mechanisms in place for automatically detecting that updates
1283 are available for applications, with the @code{Update Check Mode} field in the
1284 metadata determining which method is used for a particular application.
1286 Running the @code{fdroid checkupdates} command will apply this method to each
1287 application in the repository and update the @code{Current Version} and
1288 @code{Current Version Code} fields in the metadata accordingly.
1290 As usual, the @code{-p} option can be used with this, to restrict processing
1291 to a particular application.
1293 Note that this only updates the metadata such that we know what the current
1294 published/recommended version is. It doesn't make that version available in
1295 the repository - for that, see the next section.
1299 Adding updates (i.e. new versions of applications already included in the
1300 repository) happens in two ways. The simple case is applications where the
1301 APK files are binaries, retrieved from a developer's published build. In this
1302 case, all that's required is to place the new binary in the @code{Repo}
1303 directory, and the next run of @code{fdroid update} will pick it up.
1305 For applications built from source, it is necessary to add a new
1306 @code{Build Version} line to the metadata file. At the very least, the version
1307 name, version code and commit will be different. It is also possible that the
1308 additional build flags will change between versions.
1310 For processing multiple updates in the metadata at once, it can be useful to
1311 run @code{fdroid update --interactive}. This will check all the applications
1312 in the repository, and where updates are required you will be prompted to
1313 [E]dit the metadata, [I]gnore the update, or [Q]uit altogether.
1316 @chapter Build Server
1318 The Build Server system isolates the builds for each package within a clean,
1319 isolated and secure throwaway virtual machine environment.
1323 Building applications in this manner on a large scale, especially with the
1324 involvement of automated and/or unattended processes, could be considered
1325 a dangerous pastime from a security perspective. This is even more the case
1326 when the products of the build are also distributed widely and in a
1327 semi-automated ("you have updates available") fashion.
1329 Assume that an upstream source repository is compromised. A small selection
1330 of things that an attacker could do in such a situation:
1334 Use custom ant build steps to execute virtually anything as the user doing
1337 Access the keystore.
1339 Modify the built apk files or source tarballs for other applications in the
1342 Modify the metadata (which includes build scripts, which again, also includes
1343 the ability to execute anything) for other applications in the repository.
1346 Through complete isolation, the repurcussions are at least limited to the
1347 application in question. Not only is the build environment fresh for each
1348 build, and thrown away afterwards, but it is also isolated from the signing
1351 Aside from security issues, there are some applications which have strange
1352 requirements such as custom versions of the NDK. It would be impractical (or
1353 at least extremely messy) to start modifying and restoring the SDK on a
1354 multi-purpose system, but within the confines of a throwaway single-use
1355 virtual machine, anything is possible.
1357 All this is in addition to the obvious advantage of having a standardised
1358 and completely reproducible environment in which builds are made. Additionally,
1359 it allows for specialised custom build environments for particular
1362 @section Setting up a build server
1364 In addition to the basic setup previously described, you will also need
1365 a Vagrant-compatible Ubuntu Raring base box called 'raring32' (or raring64
1366 for a 64-bit VM, if you want it to be much slower, and require more disk
1369 You can use a different version or distro for the base box, so long as you
1370 don't expect any help making it work. One thing to be aware of is that
1371 working copies of source trees are moved from the host to the guest, so
1372 for example, having subversion v1.6 on the host and v1.7 on the guest
1375 Unless you're very trusting. you should create one of these for yourself
1376 from verified standard Ubuntu installation media. However, you could skip
1377 over the next few paragraphs (and sacrifice some security) by downloading
1378 @url{https://f-droid.org/raring32.box} or @url{https://f-droid.org/raring64.box}.
1380 Documentation for creating a base box can be found at
1381 @url{http://docs.vagrantup.com/v1/docs/base_boxes.html}.
1383 In addition to carefully following the steps described there, you should
1384 consider the following:
1388 It is advisable to disable udev network device persistence, otherwise any
1389 movement of the VM between machines, or reconfiguration, will result in
1392 For a Debian/Ubuntu default install, just
1393 @code{touch /etc/udev/rules.d/75-persistent-net-generator.rules} to turn
1394 off rule generation, and at the same time, get rid of any rules it's
1395 already created in @code{/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules}.
1397 Unless you want the VM to become totally inaccessible following a failed
1398 boot, you need to set @code{GRUB_RECORDFAIL_TIMEOUT} to a value other than
1399 -1 in @code{/etc/grub/default} and then run @code{update-grub}.
1403 With this base box available, you should then create @code{makebs.config.py},
1404 using @code{makebs.config.sample.py} as a reference - look at the settings and
1405 documentation there to decide if any need changing to suit your environment.
1406 There is a path for retrieving the base box if it doesn't exist, and an apt
1407 proxy definition, both of which may need customising for your environment.
1408 You can then go to the @code{fdroidserver} directory and run this:
1411 ./makebuildserver.py
1414 This will take a long time, and use a lot of bandwidth - most of it spent
1415 installing the necessary parts of the Android SDK for all the various
1416 platforms. Luckily you only need to do it occasionally. Once you have a
1417 working build server image, if the recipes change (e.g. when packages need
1418 to be added) you can just run that script again and the existing one will
1419 be updated in place.
1421 The main sdk/ndk downloads will automatically be cached to speed things
1422 up the next time, but there's no easy way of doing this for the longer
1423 sections which use the SDK's @code{android} tool to install platforms,
1424 add-ons and tools. However, instead of allowing automatic caching, you
1425 can supply a pre-populated cache directory which includes not only these
1426 downloads, but also .tar.gz files for all the relevant additions. If the
1427 provisioning scripts detect these, they will be used in preference to
1428 running the android tools. For example, if you have
1429 @code{buildserver/addons/cache/platforms/android-19.tar.gz} that will be
1430 used when installing the android-19 platform, instead of re-downloading it
1431 using @code{android update sdk --no-ui -t android-19}.
1433 Once it's complete you'll have a new base box called 'buildserver' which is
1434 what's used for the actual builds. You can then build packages as normal,
1435 but with the addition of the @code{--server} flag to @code{fdroid build} to
1436 instruct it to do all the hard work within the virtual machine.
1438 The first time a build is done, a new virtual machine is created using the
1439 'buildserver' box as a base. A snapshot of this clean machine state is saved
1440 for use in future builds, to improve performance. You can force discarding
1441 of this snapshot and rebuilding from scratch using the @code{--resetserver}
1442 switch with @code{fdroid build}.
1447 There are two kinds of signing involved in running a repository - the signing
1448 of the APK files generated from source builds, and the signing of the repo
1449 index itself. The latter is optional, but very strongly recommended.
1451 @section Repo Index Signing
1453 When setting up the repository, one of the first steps should be to generate
1454 a signing key for the repository index. This will also create a keystore, which
1455 is a file that can be used to hold this and all other keys used. Consider the
1456 location, security and backup status of this file carefully, then create it as
1459 @code{keytool -genkey -v -keystore my.keystore -alias repokey -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000}
1461 In the above, replace 'my.keystore' with the name of the keystore file to be
1462 created, and 'repokey' with a name to identify the repo index key by.
1464 You'll be asked for a password for the keystore, AND a password for the key.
1465 They shouldn't be the same. In between, you'll be asked for some identifying
1466 details which will go in the certificate.
1468 The two passwords entered go into @code{config.py}, as @code{keystorepass} and
1469 @code{keypass} respectively. The path to the keystore file, and the alias you
1470 chose for the key also go into that file, as @code{keystore} and
1471 @code{repo_keyalias} respectively.
1473 @section Package Signing
1475 With the repo index signing configured, all that remains to be done for package
1476 signing to work is to set the @code{keydname} field in @code{config.py} to
1477 contain the same identifying details you entered before.
1479 A new key will be generated using these details, for each application that is
1480 built. (If a specific key is required for a particular application, this system
1481 can be overridden using the @code{keyaliases} config settings.
1484 @node GNU Free Documentation License
1485 @appendix GNU Free Documentation License