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
17 Copyright @copyright{} 2013, 2014 Daniel MartÃ
20 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
21 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3
22 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
23 with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.
24 A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU
25 Free Documentation License".
30 @title F-Droid Server Manual
31 @author Ciaran Gultnieks and the F-Droid project
33 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
49 * System Requirements::
51 * Simple Binary Repository::
52 * Building Applications::
53 * Importing Applications::
58 * GNU Free Documentation License::
65 The F-Droid server tools provide various scripts and tools that are used
66 to maintain the main F-Droid application repository. You can use these same
67 tools to create your own additional or alternative repository for publishing,
68 or to assist in creating, testing and submitting metadata to the main
72 @node System Requirements
73 @chapter System Requirements
77 The system requirements for using the tools will vary depending on your
78 intended usage. At the very least, you'll need:
86 The Android SDK Tools and Build-tools.
87 Note that F-Droid does not assume that you have the Android SDK in your
88 @code{PATH}: these directories will be specified in your repository
89 configuration. Recent revisions of the SDK have @code{aapt} located in
90 android-sdk/build-tools/ and it may be necessary to make a symlink to it in
91 android-sdk/platform-tools/
94 If you intend to build applications from source you'll also need most, if not
95 all, of the following:
99 JDK (Debian package openjdk-6-jdk): openjdk-6 is recommended though openjdk-7
102 VCS clients: svn, git, git-svn, hg, bzr
104 A keystore for holding release keys. (Safe, secure and well backed up!)
107 If you intend to use the 'Build Server' system, for secure and clean builds
108 (highly recommended), you will also need:
112 VirtualBox (debian package virtualbox)
114 Ruby (debian packages ruby and rubygems)
116 Vagrant (unpackaged, tested on v1.4.3)
118 Paramiko (debian package python-paramiko)
120 Imaging (debian package python-imaging)
122 Magic (debian package python-magic)
125 On the other hand, if you want to build the apps directly on your system
126 without the 'Build Server' system, you may need:
130 All SDK platforms requested by the apps you want to build
131 (The Android SDK is made available by Google under a proprietary license but
132 within that, the SDK platforms, support library and some other components are
133 under the Apache license and source code is provided.
134 Google APIs, used for building apps using Google Maps, are free to the extent
135 that the library comes pre-installed on the device.
136 Google Play Services, Google Admob and others are proprietary and shouldn't be
137 included in the main F-Droid repository.)
139 A version of the Android NDK
141 Ant with Contrib Tasks (Debian packages ant and ant-contrib)
143 Maven (Debian package maven)
145 JavaCC (Debian package javacc)
147 Miscellaneous packages listed in
148 buildserver/cookbooks/fdroidbuild-general/recipes/default.rb
149 of the F-Droid server repository
155 @cindex setup, installation
157 Because the tools and data will always change rapidly, you will almost
158 certainly want to work from a git clone of the tools at this stage. To
162 git clone https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroidserver.git
165 You now have lots of stuff in the fdroidserver directory, but the most
166 important is the 'fdroid' command script which you run to perform all tasks.
167 This script is always run from a repository data directory, so the
168 most sensible thing to do next is to put your new fdroidserver directory
173 To do anything, you'll need at least one repository data directory. It's
174 from this directory that you run the @code{fdroid} command to perform all
175 repository management tasks. You can either create a brand new one, or
176 grab a copy of the data used by the main F-Droid repository:
179 git clone https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroiddata.git
182 Regardless of the intended usage of the tools, you will always need to set
183 up some basic configuration details. This is done by creating a file called
184 @code{config.py} in the data directory. You should do this by copying the
185 example file (@code{./examples/config.py}) from the fdroidserver project to
186 your data directory and then editing according to the instructions within.
188 Once configured in this way, all the functionality of the tools is accessed
189 by running the @code{fdroid} command. Run it on its own to get a list of the
190 available sub-commands.
192 You can follow any command with @code{--help} to get a list of additional
193 options available for that command.
200 @node Simple Binary Repository
201 @chapter Simple Binary Repository
205 If you want to maintain a simple repository hosting only binary APKs obtained
206 and compiled elsewhere, the process is quite simple:
210 Set up the server tools, as described in Setup.
212 Make a directory for your repository. This is the directory from which you
213 will do all the work with your repository. Create a config file there, called
214 @code{config.py}, by copying @code{./examples/config.py} from the server
215 project and editing it.
217 Within that, make a directory called @code{repo} and put APK files in it.
219 Run @code{fdroid update}.
221 If it reports that any metadata files are missing, you can create them
222 in the @code{metadata} directory and run it again.
224 To ease creation of metadata files, run @code{fdroid update} with the @code{-c}
225 option. It will create 'skeleton' metadata files that are missing, and you can
226 then just edit them and fill in the details.
228 Then, if you've changed things, run @code{fdroid update} again.
230 Running @code{fdroid update} adds an Icons directory into the repo directory,
231 and also creates the repository index (index.xml, and also index.jar if you've
232 configured the system to use a signed index).
234 Publish the resulting contents of the @code{repo} directory to your web server.
237 Following the above process will result in a @code{repo} directory, which you
238 simply need to push to any HTTP (or preferably HTTPS) server to make it
241 While some information about the applications (and versions thereof) is
242 retrieved directly from the APK files, most comes from the corresponding file
243 in the @code{metadata} directory. The metadata file covering ALL versions of a
244 particular application is named @code{package.id.txt} where package.id is the
245 unique identifier for that package.
247 See the Metadata chapter for details of what goes in the metadata file. All
248 fields are relevant for binary APKs, EXCEPT for @code{Build:} entries, which
252 @node Building Applications
253 @chapter Building Applications
255 Instead of (or as well as) including binary APKs from external sources in a
256 repository, you can build them directly from the source code.
258 Using this method, it is is possible to verify that the application builds
259 correctly, corresponds to the source code, and contains only free software.
260 Unforunately, in the Android world, it seems to be very common for an
261 application supplied as a binary APK to present itself as Free Software
262 when in fact some or all of the following are true:
266 The source code (either for a particular version, or even all versions!) is
267 unavailable or incomplete.
269 The source code is not capable of producing the actual binary supplied.
271 The 'source code' contains binary files of unknown origin, or with proprietary
275 For this reason, source-built applications are the preferred method for the
276 main F-Droid repository, although occasionally for technical or historical
277 reasons, exceptions are made to this policy.
279 When building applications from source, it should be noted that you will be
280 signing them (all APK files must be signed to be installable on Android) with
281 your own key. When an application is already installed on a device, it is not
282 possible to upgrade it in place to a new version signed with a different key
283 without first uninstalling the original. This may present an inconvenience to
284 users, as the process of uninstalling loses any data associated with the
285 previous installation.
287 The process for managing a repository for built-from-source applications is
288 very similar to that described in the Simple Binary Repository chapter,
289 except now you need to:
293 Include Build entries in the metadata files.
295 Run @code{fdroid build} to build any applications that are not already built.
297 Run @code{fdroid publish} to finalise packaging and sign any APKs that have
302 @section More about "fdroid build"
304 When run without any parameters, @code{fdroid build} will build any and all
305 versions of applications that you don't already have in the @code{repo}
306 directory (or more accurately, the @code{unsigned} directory). There are various
307 other things you can do. As with all the tools, the @code{--help} option is
308 your friend, but a few annotated examples and discussion of the more common
311 To build a single version of a single application, you could run the
315 ./fdroid build org.fdroid.fdroid:16
318 This attempts to build version code 16 (which is version 0.25) of the F-Droid
319 client. Many of the tools recognise arguments as packages, allowing their
320 activity to be limited to just a limited set of packages.
322 If the build above was successful, two files will have been placed in the
323 @code{unsigned} directory:
326 org.fdroid.fdroid_16.apk
327 org.fdroid.fdroid_16_src.tar.gz
330 The first is the (unsigned) APK. You could sign this with a debug key and push
331 it direct to your device or an emulator for testing. The second is a source
332 tarball containing exactly the source that was used to generate the binary.
334 If you were intending to publish these files, you could then run:
340 The source tarball would move to the @code{repo} directory (which is the
341 directory you would push to your web server). A signed and zip-aligned version
342 of the APK would also appear there, and both files would be removed from the
343 @code{unsigned} directory.
345 If you're building purely for the purposes of testing, and not intending to
346 push the results to a repository, at least yet, the @code{--test} option can be
347 used to direct output to the @code{tmp} directory instead of @code{unsigned}.
348 A similar effect could by achieved by simply deleting the output files from
349 @code{unsigned} after the build, but with the risk of forgetting to do so!
351 Along similar lines (and only in conjunction with @code{--test}, you can use
352 @code{--force} to force a build of a Disabled application, where normally it
353 would be completely ignored. Similarly a version that was found to contain
354 ELFs or known non-free libraries can be forced to build. See also —
355 @code{scanignore=} and @code{scandelete=} in the @code{Build:} section.
357 If the build was unsuccessful, you can find out why by looking at the output
358 in the logs/ directory. If that isn't illuminating, try building the app the
359 regular way, step by step: android update project, ndk-build, ant debug.
361 Note that source code repositories often contain prebuilt libraries. If the
362 app is being considered for the main F-Droid repository, it is important that
363 all such prebuilts are built either via the metadata or by a reputable third
367 @section Direct Installation
369 You can also build and install directly to a connected device or emulator
370 using the @code{fdroid install} command. If you do this without passing
371 packages as arguments then all the latest built and signed version available
372 of each package will be installed . In most cases, this will not be what you
373 want to do, so execution will stop straight away. However, you can override
374 this if you're sure that's what you want, by using @code{--all}. Note that
375 currently, no sanity checks are performed with this mode, so if the files in
376 the signed output directory were modified, you won't be notified.
379 @node Importing Applications
380 @chapter Importing Applications
382 To help with starting work on including a new application, @code{fdroid import}
383 will take a URL and optionally some other parameters, and attempt to construct
384 as much information as possible by analysing the source code. Basic usage is:
387 ./fdroid import --url=http://address.of.project
390 For this to work, the URL must point to a project format that the script
391 understands. Currently this is limited to one of the following:
395 Gitorious - @code{https://gitorious.org/PROJECTNAME/REPONAME}
397 Github - @code{https://github.com/USER/PROJECT}
399 Google Code - @code{http://code.google.com/p/PROJECT/}
400 Supports git, svn and hg repos.
402 Some Google Code projects have multiple repositories, identified by a
403 dropdown list on the @code{source/checkout} page. To access one other than
404 the default, specify its name using the @code{--repo} switch.
406 Bitbucket - @code{https://bitbucket.org/USER/PROJECT/}
408 Git - @code{git://REPO}
411 Depending on the project type, more or less information may be gathered. For
412 example, the license will be retrieved from a Google Code project, but not a
413 GitHub one. A bare repo url, such as the git:// one, is the least preferable
414 optional of all, since you will have to enter much more information manually.
416 If the import is successful, a metadata file will be created. You will need to
417 edit this further to check the information, and fill in the blanks.
419 If it fails, you'll be told why. If it got as far as retrieving the source
420 code, you can inspect it further by looking in @code{tmp/importer} where a full
423 A frequent cause of initial failure is that the project directory is actually
424 a subdirectory in the repository. In this case, run the importer again using
425 the @code{--subdir} option to tell it where. It will not attempt to determine
426 this automatically, since there may be several options.
434 Information used by update.py to compile the public index comes from two
439 the APK files in the repo directory, and
441 the metadata files in the metadata directory.
444 The metadata files are simple, easy to edit text files, always named as the
445 application's package ID with '.txt' appended.
447 Note that although the metadata files are designed to be easily read and
448 writable by humans, they are also processed and written by various scripts.
449 They are capable of rewriting the entire file when necessary. Even so,
450 the structure and comments will be preserved correctly, although the order
451 of fields will be standardised. (In the event that the original file was
452 in a different order, comments are considered as being attached to the field
453 following them). In fact, you can standardise all the metadata in a single
454 command, without changing the functional content, by running:
457 fdroid rewritemetadata
460 The following sections describe the fields recognised within the file.
486 * Update Check Mode::
487 * Update Check Ignore::
488 * Vercode Operation::
489 * Update Check Name::
490 * Update Check Data::
493 * Current Version Code::
500 Any number of categories for the application to be placed in. There is no
501 fixed list of categories - both the client and the web site will automatically
502 show any categories that exist in any applications. However, if your metadata
503 is intended for the main F-Droid repository, you should use one of the
504 existing categories (look at the site/client), or discuss the proposal to add
507 Categories must be separated by a single comma character, ','. For backwards
508 compatibility, F-Droid will use the first category given as <category> element
509 for older clients to at least see one category.
511 This is converted to (@code{<categories>}) in the public index file.
518 The overall license for the application, or in certain cases, for the
531 GNU GPL version 2 or later
539 GNU GPL version 3 or later
543 An unspecified GPL version. Use this only as a last resort or if there is
544 some confusion over compatiblity of component licenses: particularly the use of
545 Apache libraries with GPLv2 source code.
549 Afferro GPL version 3.
561 BSD license - the original '4-clause' version.
565 BSD license - the new, or modified, version.
569 This is converted to (@code{<license>}) in the public index file.
576 The name of the application as can best be retrieved from the source code.
577 This is done so that the commitupdates script can put a familiar name in the
578 description of commits created when a new update of the application is
579 found. The Auto Name entry is generated automatically when @code{fdroid
580 checkupdates} is run.
587 The name of the application. Normally, this field should not be present since
588 the application's correct name is retrieved from the APK file. However, in a
589 situation where an APK contains a bad or missing application name, it can be
590 overridden using this. Note that this only overrides the name in the list of
591 apps presented in the client; it doesn't changed the name or application label
599 Comma-separated list of application IDs that this app provides. In other
600 words, if the user has any of these apps installed, F-Droid will show this app
601 as installed instead. It will also appear if the user clicks on urls linking
602 to the other app IDs. Useful when an app switches package name, or when you
603 want an app to act as multiple apps.
610 The URL for the application's web site. If there is no relevant web site, this
611 can be omitted (or left blank).
613 This is converted to (@code{<web>}) in the public index file.
620 The URL to view or obtain the application's source code. This should be
621 something human-friendly. Machine-readable source-code is covered in the
624 This is converted to (@code{<source>}) in the public index file.
627 @section Issue Tracker
629 @cindex Issue Tracker
631 The URL for the application's issue tracker. Optional, since not all
632 applications have one.
634 This is converted to (@code{<tracker>}) in the public index file.
641 The URL for the application's changelog. Optional, since not all
642 applications have one.
644 This is converted to (@code{<changelog>}) in the public index file.
651 The URL to donate to the project. This should be the project's donate page
654 It is possible to use a direct PayPal link here, if that is all that is
655 available. However, bear in mind that the developer may not be aware of
656 that direct link, and if they later changed to a different PayPal account,
657 or the PayPal link format changed, things could go wrong. It is always
658 best to use a link that the developer explicitly makes public, rather than
659 something that is auto-generated 'button code'.
661 This is converted to (@code{<donate>}) in the public index file.
668 The project's Flattr (http://flattr.com) ID, if it has one. This should be
669 a numeric ID, such that (for example) https://flattr.com/thing/xxxx leads
670 directly to the page to donate to the project.
672 This is converted to (@code{<flattr>}) in the public index file.
679 A bitcoin address for donating to the project.
681 This is converted to (@code{<bitcoin>}) in the public index file.
688 A litecoin address for donating to the project.
695 A brief summary of what the application is. Since the summary is only allowed
696 one line on the list of the F-Droid client, keeping it to within 50 characters
697 will ensure it fits most screens.
704 A full description of the application, relevant to the latest version.
705 This can span multiple lines (which should be kept to a maximum of 80
706 characters), and is terminated by a line containing a single '.'.
708 Basic MediaWiki-style formatting can be used. Leaving a blank line starts a
709 new paragraph. Surrounding text with @code{''} make it italic, and with
710 @code{'''} makes it bold.
712 You can link to another app in the repo by using @code{[[app.id]]}. The link
713 will be made appropriately whether in the Android client, the web repo
714 browser or the wiki. The link text will be the apps name.
716 Links to web addresses can be done using @code{[http://example.com Text]}.
718 For both of the above link formats, the entire link (from opening to closing
719 square bracket) must be on the same line.
721 Bulletted lists are done by simply starting each item with a @code{*} on
722 a new line, and numbered lists are the same but using @code{#}. There is
723 currently no support for nesting lists - you can have one level only.
725 It can be helpful to note information pertaining to updating from an
726 earlier version; whether the app contains any prebuilts built by the
727 upstream developers or whether non-free elements were removed; whether the
728 app is in rapid development or whether the latest version lags behind the
729 current version; whether the app supports multiple architectures or whether
730 there is a maximum SDK specified (such info not being recorded in the index).
732 This is converted to (@code{<desc>}) in the public index file.
734 @node Maintainer Notes
735 @section Maintainer Notes
737 @cindex Maintainer Notes
739 This is a multi-line field using the same rules and syntax as the description.
740 It's used to record notes for F-Droid maintainers to assist in maintaining and
741 updating the application in the repository.
743 This information is also published to the wiki.
750 The type of repository - for automatic building from source. If this is not
751 specified, automatic building is disabled for this application. Possible
773 The repository location. Usually a git: or svn: URL, for example.
775 The git-svn option connects to an SVN repository, and you specify the URL in
776 exactly the same way, but git is used as a back-end. This is preferable for
777 performance reasons, and also because a local copy of the entire history is
778 available in case the upstream repository disappears. (It happens!). In
779 order to use Tags as update check mode for this VCS type, the URL must have
780 the tags= special argument set. Likewise, if you intend to use the
781 RepoManifest/branch scheme, you would want to specify branches= as well.
782 Finally, trunk= can also be added. All these special arguments will be passed
783 to "git svn" in order, and their values must be relative paths to the svn repo
785 Here's an example of a complex git-svn Repo URL:
786 http://svn.code.sf.net/p/project/code/svn;trunk=trunk;tags=tags;branches=branches
788 For a Subversion repo that requires authentication, you can precede the repo
789 URL with username:password@ and those parameters will be passed as @option{--username}
790 and @option{--password} to the SVN checkout command. (This now works for both
793 If the Repo Type is @code{srclib}, then you must specify the name of the
794 according srclib .txt file. For example if @code{scrlibs/FooBar.txt} exist
795 and you want to use this srclib, then you have to set Repo to
803 Any number of these fields can be present, each specifying a version to
804 automatically build from source. The value is a comma-separated list.
809 The above specifies to build version 1.2, which has a version code of 12.
810 The @code{commit=} parameter specifies the tag, commit or revision number from
811 which to build it in the source repository. It is the only mandatory flag,
812 which in this case could for example be @code{commit=v1.2}.
814 In addition to the three, always required, parameters described above,
815 further parameters can be added (in name=value format) to apply further
816 configuration to the build. These are (roughly in order of application):
820 @item disable=<message>
821 Disables this build, giving a reason why. (For backwards compatibility, this
822 can also be achieved by starting the commit ID with '!')
824 The purpose of this feature is to allow non-buildable releases (e.g. the source
825 is not published) to be flagged, so the scripts don't generate repeated
826 messages about them. (And also to record the information for review later).
827 If an apk has already been built, disabling causes it to be deleted once
828 @code{fdroid update} is run; this is the procedure if ever a version has to
832 Specifies to build from a subdirectory of the checked out source code.
833 Normally this directory is changed to before building,
836 Use if the project (git only) has submodules - causes @code{git submodule
837 update --init --recursive} to be executed after the source is cloned.
838 Submodules are reset and cleaned like the main app repository itself before
842 As for 'prebuild', but runs on the source code BEFORE any other processing
845 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
846 android SDK and NDK directories, and maven 3 executable respectively.
849 The sdk location in the repo is in an old format, or the build.xml is
850 expecting such. The 'new' format is sdk.dir while the VERY OLD format
851 is sdk-location. Typically, if you get a message along the lines of:
852 "com.android.ant.SetupTask cannot be found" when trying to build, then
853 try enabling this option.
855 @item target=<target>
856 Specifies a particular SDK target for compilation, overriding the value
857 defined in the code by upstream. This has different effects depending on what
858 build system used — this flag currently affects Ant, Maven and Gradle projects
859 only. Note that this does not change the target SDK in the
860 AndroidManifest.xml, which determines the level of features that can be
861 included in the build.
863 In the case of an Ant project, it modifies project.properties of the app and
864 possibly sub-projects. This is likely to cause the whole build.xml to be
865 rewritten, which is fine if it's a 'standard' android file or doesn't already
866 exist, but not a good idea if it's heavily customised.
868 @item update=<auto/dirs>
869 By default, 'android update' is used in Ant builds to generate or update the
870 project and all its referenced projects. Specifying update=no bypasses that.
871 Note that this is useless in builds that don't use Ant.
873 Default value is '@code{auto}', which recursively uses the paths in
874 project.properties to find all the subprojects to update.
876 Otherwise, the value can be a comma-separated list of directories in which to
877 run 'android update' relative to the application directory.
880 Adds a java.encoding property to local.properties with the given
881 value. Generally the value will be 'utf-8'. This is picked up by the
882 SDK's ant rules, and forces the Java compiler to interpret source
883 files with this encoding. If you receive warnings during the compile
884 about character encodings, you probably need this.
886 @item forceversion=yes
887 If specified, the package version in AndroidManifest.xml is replaced
888 with the version name for the build as specified in the metadata.
890 This is useful for cases when upstream repo failed to update it for
891 specific tag; to build an arbitrary revision; to make it apparent that
892 the version differs significantly from upstream; or to make it apparent
893 which architecture or platform the apk is designed to run on.
895 @item forcevercode=yes
896 If specified, the package version code in the AndroidManifest.xml is
897 replaced with the version code for the build. See also forceversion.
899 @item rm=<path1>[,<path2>,...]
900 Specifies the relative paths of files or directories to delete before
901 the build is done. The paths are relative to the base of the build
902 directory - i.e. the root of the directory structure checked out from
903 the source respository - not necessarily the directory that contains
906 Multiple files/directories can be specified by separating them with ','.
907 Directories will be recursively deleted.
909 @item extlibs=<lib1>[,<lib2>,...]
910 Comma-separated list of external libraries (jar files) from the
911 @code{build/extlib} library, which will be placed in the @code{libs} directory
914 @item srclibs=[n:]a@@r,[n:]b@@r1,...
915 Comma-separated list of source libraries or Android projects. Each item is of
916 the form name@@rev where name is the predefined source library name and rev is
917 the revision or tag to use in the respective source control.
919 For Ant projects, you can optionally append a number with a colon at the
920 beginning of a srclib item to automatically place it in project.properties as
921 a library under the specified number. For example, if you specify
922 @code{1:somelib@@1.0}, f-droid will automatically do the equivalent of the
923 legacy practice @code{prebuild=echo "android.library.reference.1=$$somelib$$"
924 >> project.properties}.
926 Each srclib has a metadata file under srclibs/ in the repository directory,
927 and the source code is stored in build/srclib/.
928 Repo Type: and Repo: are specified in the same way as for apps; Subdir: can be
929 a comma separated list, for when directories are renamed by upstream; Update
930 Project: updates the projects in the working directory and one level down;
931 Prepare: can be used for any kind of preparation: in particular if you need to
932 update the project with a particular target. You can then also use $$name$$ in
933 the init/prebuild/build command to substitute the relative path to the library
934 directory, but it could need tweaking if you've changed into another directory.
937 Apply patch(es). 'x' names one (or more - comma-seperated) files within a
938 directory below the metadata, with the same name as the metadata file but
939 without the extension. Each of these patches is applied to the code in turn.
942 Specifies a shell command (or commands - chain with &&) to run before the
943 build takes place. Backslash can be used as an escape character to insert
944 literal commas, or as the last character on a line to join that line with the
945 next. It has no special meaning in other contexts; in particular, literal
946 backslashes should not be escaped.
948 The command runs using bash.
950 Note that nothing should be built during this prebuild phase - scanning of the
951 code and building of the source tarball, for example, take place after this.
952 For custom actions that actually build things or produce binaries, use 'build'
955 You can use $$name$$ to substitute the path to a referenced srclib - see
956 the @code{srclib} directory for details of this.
958 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
959 android SDK and NDK directories, and Maven 3 executable respectively e.g.
960 for when you need to run @code{android update project} explicitly.
962 @item scanignore=<path1>[,<path2>,...]
963 Enables one or more files/paths to be excluded from the scan process.
964 This should only be used where there is a very good reason, and
965 probably accompanied by a comment explaining why it is necessary.
967 When scanning the source tree for problems, matching files whose relative
968 paths start with any of the paths given here are ignored.
970 @item scandelete=<path1>[,<path2>,...]
971 Similar to scanignore=, but instead of ignoring files under the given paths,
972 it tells f-droid to delete the matching files directly.
975 As for 'prebuild', but runs during the actual build phase (but before the
976 main Ant/Maven build). Use this only for actions that do actual building.
977 Any prepartion of the source code should be done using 'init' or 'prebuild'.
979 Any building that takes place before build= will be ignored, as either Ant,
980 mvn or gradle will be executed to clean the build environment right before
981 build= (or the final build) is run.
983 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
984 android SDK and NDK directories, and Maven 3 executable respectively.
986 @item buildjni=[yes|no|<dir list>]
987 Enables building of native code via the ndk-build script before doing
988 the main Ant build. The value may be a list of directories relative
989 to the main application directory in which to run ndk-build, or 'yes'
990 which corresponds to '.' . Using explicit list may be useful to build
991 multi-component projects.
993 The build and scan processes will complain (refuse to build) if this
994 parameter is not defined, but there is a @code{jni} directory present.
995 If the native code is being built by other means like a Gradle task, you
996 can specify @code{no} here to avoid that. However, if the native code is
997 actually not required or used, remove the directory instead (using
998 @code{rm=jni} for example). Using @code{buildjni=no} when the jni code
999 isn't used nor built will result in an error saying that native
1000 libraries were expected in the resulting package.
1003 Version of the NDK to use in this build. Defaults to the latest NDK release
1004 that included legacy toolchains, so as to not break builds that require
1005 toolchains no longer included in current versions of the NDK.
1007 The buildserver supports r9b with its legacy toolchains and the latest release
1008 as of writing this document, r10d. You may add support for more versions by
1009 adding them to 'ndk_paths' in your config file.
1011 @item gradle=<flavour1>[,<flavour2>,...]
1012 Build with Gradle instead of Ant, specifying what flavours to use. Flavours
1013 are case sensitive since the path to the output apk is as well.
1015 If only one flavour is given and it is 'yes' or 'main', no flavour will be
1016 used. Note that for projects with flavours, you must specify at least one
1017 valid flavour since 'yes' or 'main' will build all of them separately.
1019 @item maven=yes[@@<dir>]
1020 Build with Maven instead of Ant. An extra @@<dir> tells f-droid to run Maven
1021 inside that relative subdirectory. Sometimes it is needed to use @@.. so that
1022 builds happen correctly.
1024 @item preassemble=<task1>[,<task2>,...]
1025 List of Gradle tasks to be run before the assemble task in a Gradle project
1028 @item antcommands=<target1>[,<target2>,...]
1029 Specify an alternate set of Ant commands (target) instead of the default
1030 'release'. It can't be given any flags, such as the path to a build.xml.
1032 @item output=path/to/output.apk
1033 To be used when app is built with a tool other than the ones natively
1034 supported, like GNU Make. The given path will be where the build= set of
1035 commands should produce the final unsigned release apk.
1038 Don't check that the version name and code in the resulting apk are
1039 correct by looking at the build output - assume the metadata is
1040 correct. This takes away a useful level of sanity checking, and should
1041 only be used if the values can't be extracted.
1045 Another example, using extra parameters:
1047 @samp{Build Version:1.09.03,10903,45,subdir=Timeriffic,oldsdkloc=yes}
1050 @section AntiFeatures
1052 @cindex AntiFeatures
1054 This is optional - if present, it contains a comma-separated list of any of
1055 the following values, describing an anti-feature the application has.
1056 Even though such apps won't be displayed unless a settings box is ticked,
1057 it is a good idea to mention the reasons for the anti-feature(s) in the
1063 @samp{Ads} - the application contains advertising.
1066 @samp{Tracking} - the application tracks and reports your activity to
1067 somewhere without your consent. It's commonly used for when developers
1068 obtain crash logs without the user's consent, or when an app is useless
1069 without some kind of authentication.
1072 @samp{NonFreeNet} - the application relies on computational services that
1073 are impossible to replace or that the replacement cannot be connected to
1074 without major changes to the app.
1077 @samp{NonFreeAdd} - the application promotes non-Free add-ons, such that the
1078 app is effectively an advert for other non-free software and such software is
1079 not clearly labelled as such.
1082 @samp{NonFreeDep} - the application depends on a non-Free application (e.g.
1083 Google Maps) - i.e. it requires it to be installed on the device, but does not
1093 If this field is present, the application does not get put into the public
1094 index. This allows metadata to be retained while an application is temporarily
1095 disabled from being published. The value should be a description of why the
1096 application is disabled. No apks or source code archives are deleted: to purge
1097 an apk see the Build Version section or delete manually for developer builds.
1098 The field is therefore used when an app has outlived it's usefulness, because
1099 the source tarball is retained.
1102 @section Requires Root
1104 @cindex Requires Root
1106 Set this optional field to "Yes" if the application requires root
1107 privileges to be usable. This lets the client filter it out if the
1108 user so desires. Whether root is required or not, it is good to give
1109 a paragraph in the description to the conditions on which root may be
1110 asked for and the reason for it.
1112 @node Archive Policy
1113 @section Archive Policy
1115 @cindex Archive Policy
1117 This determines the policy for moving old versions of an app to the archive
1118 repo, if one is configured. The configuration sets a default maximum number
1119 of versions kept in the main repo, after which older ones are moved to the
1120 archive. This app-specific policy setting can override that.
1122 Currently the only supported format is "n versions", where n is the number
1123 of versions to keep.
1125 @node Update Check Mode
1126 @section Update Check Mode
1128 @cindex Update Check Mode
1130 This determines the method using for determining when new releases are
1131 available - in other words, the updating of the Current Version and Current
1132 Version Code fields in the metadata by the @code{fdroid checkupdates} process.
1138 @code{None} - No checking is done because there's no appropriate automated way
1139 of doing so. Updates should be checked for manually. Use this, for example,
1140 when deploying betas or patched versions; when builds are done in a directory
1141 different to where the AndroidManifest.xml is; if the developers use the
1142 Gradle build system and store version info in a separate file; if the
1143 developers make a new branch for each release and don't make tags; or if you've
1144 changed the package name or version code logic.
1146 @code{Static} - No checking is done - either development has ceased or new versions
1147 are not desired. This method is also used when there is no other checking method
1148 available and the upstream developer keeps us posted on new versions.
1150 @code{RepoManifest} - At the most recent commit, the AndroidManifest.xml file
1151 is looked for in the directory where it was found in the the most recent build.
1152 The appropriateness of this method depends on the development process used by
1153 the application's developers. You should not specify this method unless you're
1154 sure it's appropriate. For example, some developers bump the version when
1155 commencing development instead of when publishing.
1156 It will return an error if the AndroidManifest.xml has moved to a different
1157 directory or if the package name has changed.
1158 The current version that it gives may not be accurate, since not all
1159 versions are fit to be published. Therefore, before building, it is often
1160 necessary to check if the current version has been published somewhere by the
1161 upstream developers, either by checking for apks that they distribute or for
1162 tags in the source code repository.
1164 It currently works for every repository type to different extents, except
1165 the srclib repo type. For git, git-svn and hg repo types, you may use
1166 "RepoManifest/yourbranch" as UCM so that "yourbranch" would be the branch used
1167 in place of the default one. The default values are "master" for git,
1168 "default" for hg and none for git-svn (it stays in the same branch).
1169 On the other hand, branch support hasn't been implemented yet in bzr and svn,
1170 but RepoManifest may still be used without it.
1172 @code{RepoTrunk} - For svn and git-svn repositories, especially those who
1173 don't have a bundled AndroidManifest.xml file, the Tags and RepoManifest
1174 checks will not work, since there is no version information to obtain. But,
1175 for those apps who automate their build process with the commit ref that HEAD
1176 points to, RepoTrunk will set the Current Version and Current Version Code to
1179 @code{Tags} - The AndroidManifest.xml file in all tagged revisions in the
1180 source repository is checked, looking for the highest version code. The
1181 appropriateness of this method depends on the development process used by the
1182 application's developers. You should not specify this method unless you're sure
1183 it's appropriate. It shouldn't be used if the developers like to tag betas or
1184 are known to forget to tag releases. Like RepoManifest, it will not return the
1185 correct value if the directory containing the AndroidManifest.xml has moved.
1186 Despite these caveats, it is the often the favourite update check mode.
1188 It currently only works for git, hg, bzr and git-svn repositories. In the case
1189 of the latter, the repo URL must contain the path to the trunk and tags or
1190 else no tags will be found.
1192 Optionally append a regex pattern at the end - separated with a space - to
1193 only check the tags matching said pattern. Useful when apps tag non-release
1194 versions such as X.X-alpha, so you can filter them out with something like
1195 @code{.*[0-9]$} which requires tag names to end with a digit.
1197 @code{HTTP} - HTTP requests are used to determine the current version code and
1198 version name. This is controlled by the @code{Update Check Data} field, which
1199 is of the form @code{urlcode|excode|urlver|exver}.
1201 Firstly, if @code{urlcode} is non-empty, the document from that URL is
1202 retrieved, and matched against the regular expression @code{excode}, with the
1203 first group becoming the version code.
1205 Secondly, if @code{urlver} is non-empty, the document from that URL is
1206 retrieved, and matched against the regular expression @code{exver}, with the
1207 first group becoming the version name. The @code{urlver} field can be set to
1208 simply '.' which says to use the same document returned for the version code
1209 again, rather than retrieving a different one.
1212 @node Vercode Operation
1213 @section Vercode Operation
1215 @cindex Vercode Operation
1217 Operation to be applied to the vercode obtained by the defined @code{Update
1218 Check Mode}. @code{%c} will be replaced by the actual vercode, and the whole
1219 string will be passed to python's @code{eval} function.
1221 Especially useful with apps that we want to compile for different ABIs, but
1222 whose vercodes don't always have trailing zeros. For example, with
1223 @code{Vercode Operation} set at something like @code{%c*10 + 4}, we will be
1224 able to track updates and build up to four different versions of every
1227 @node Update Check Ignore
1228 @section Update Check Ignore
1230 @cindex Update Check Ignore
1232 When checking for updates (via @code{Update Check Mode}) this can be used to
1233 specify a regex which, if matched against the version name, causes that version
1234 to be ignored. For example, 'beta' could be specified to ignore version names
1235 that include that text.
1237 @node Update Check Name
1238 @section Update Check Name
1240 @cindex Update Check Name
1242 When checking for updates (via @code{Update Check Mode}) this can be used to
1243 specify the package name to search for. Useful when apps have a static package
1244 name but change it programmatically in some app flavors, by e.g. appending
1245 ".open" or ".free" at the end of the package name.
1247 @node Update Check Data
1248 @section Update Check Data
1250 @cindex Update Check Data
1252 Used in conjunction with @code{Update Check Mode} for certain modes.
1254 @node Auto Update Mode
1255 @section Auto Update Mode
1257 @cindex Auto Update Mode
1259 This determines the method using for auto-generating new builds when new
1260 releases are available - in other words, adding a new Build Version line to the
1262 This happens in conjunction with the 'Update Check Mode' functionality - i.e.
1263 when an update is detected by that, it is also processed by this.
1269 @code{None} - No auto-updating is done
1271 @code{Version} - Identifies the target commit (i.e. tag) for the new build based
1272 on the given version specification, which is simply text in which %v and %c are
1273 replaced with the required version name and version code respectively.
1275 For example, if an app always has a tag "2.7.2" corresponding to version 2.7.2,
1276 you would simply specify "Version %v". If an app always has a tag "ver_1234"
1277 for a version with version code 1234, you would specify "Version ver_%c".
1279 Additionally, a suffix can be added to the version name at this stage, to
1280 differentiate F-Droid's build from the original. Continuing the first example
1281 above, you would specify that as "Version +-fdroid %v" - "-fdroid" is the suffix.
1285 @node Current Version
1286 @section Current Version
1288 @cindex Current Version
1290 The name of the version that is current. There may be newer versions of the
1291 application than this (e.g. betas), and there will almost certainly be older
1292 ones. This should be the one that is recommended for general use.
1293 In the event that there is no source code for the current version, or that
1294 non-free libraries are being used, this would ideally be the latest
1295 version that is still free, though it may still be expedient to
1296 retain the automatic update check — see No Source Since.
1298 This field is normally automatically updated - see Update Check Mode.
1300 This is converted to (@code{<marketversion>}) in the public index file.
1302 @node Current Version Code
1303 @section Current Version Code
1305 @cindex Current Version Code
1307 The version code corresponding to the Current Version field. Both these fields
1308 must be correct and matching although it's the current version code that's
1309 used by Android to determine version order and by F-Droid client to determine
1310 which version should be recommended.
1312 This field is normally automatically updated - see Update Check Mode.
1314 This is converted to (@code{<marketvercode>}) in the public index file.
1316 @node No Source Since
1317 @section No Source Since
1319 @cindex No Source Since
1321 In case we are missing the source code for the Current Version reported by
1322 Upstream, or that non-free elements have been introduced, this defines the
1323 first version that began to miss source code.
1324 Apps that are missing source code for just one or a few versions, but provide
1325 source code for newer ones are not to be considered here - this field is
1326 intended to illustrate which apps do not currently distribute source code, and
1327 since when have they been doing so.
1329 @node Update Processing
1330 @chapter Update Processing
1334 There are various mechanisms in place for automatically detecting that updates
1335 are available for applications, with the @code{Update Check Mode} field in the
1336 metadata determining which method is used for a particular application.
1338 Running the @code{fdroid checkupdates} command will apply this method to each
1339 application in the repository and update the @code{Current Version} and
1340 @code{Current Version Code} fields in the metadata accordingly.
1342 As usual, the @code{-p} option can be used with this, to restrict processing
1343 to a particular application.
1345 Note that this only updates the metadata such that we know what the current
1346 published/recommended version is. It doesn't make that version available in
1347 the repository - for that, see the next section.
1351 Adding updates (i.e. new versions of applications already included in the
1352 repository) happens in two ways. The simple case is applications where the
1353 APK files are binaries, retrieved from a developer's published build. In this
1354 case, all that's required is to place the new binary in the @code{Repo}
1355 directory, and the next run of @code{fdroid update} will pick it up.
1357 For applications built from source, it is necessary to add a new
1358 @code{Build Version} line to the metadata file. At the very least, the version
1359 name, version code and commit will be different. It is also possible that the
1360 additional build flags will change between versions.
1362 For processing multiple updates in the metadata at once, it can be useful to
1363 run @code{fdroid update --interactive}. This will check all the applications
1364 in the repository, and where updates are required you will be prompted to
1365 [E]dit the metadata, [I]gnore the update, or [Q]uit altogether.
1368 @chapter Build Server
1370 The Build Server system isolates the builds for each package within a clean,
1371 isolated and secure throwaway virtual machine environment.
1375 Building applications in this manner on a large scale, especially with the
1376 involvement of automated and/or unattended processes, could be considered
1377 a dangerous pastime from a security perspective. This is even more the case
1378 when the products of the build are also distributed widely and in a
1379 semi-automated ("you have updates available") fashion.
1381 Assume that an upstream source repository is compromised. A small selection
1382 of things that an attacker could do in such a situation:
1386 Use custom Ant build steps to execute virtually anything as the user doing
1389 Access the keystore.
1391 Modify the built apk files or source tarballs for other applications in the
1394 Modify the metadata (which includes build scripts, which again, also includes
1395 the ability to execute anything) for other applications in the repository.
1398 Through complete isolation, the repurcussions are at least limited to the
1399 application in question. Not only is the build environment fresh for each
1400 build, and thrown away afterwards, but it is also isolated from the signing
1403 Aside from security issues, there are some applications which have strange
1404 requirements such as custom versions of the NDK. It would be impractical (or
1405 at least extremely messy) to start modifying and restoring the SDK on a
1406 multi-purpose system, but within the confines of a throwaway single-use
1407 virtual machine, anything is possible.
1409 All this is in addition to the obvious advantage of having a standardised
1410 and completely reproducible environment in which builds are made. Additionally,
1411 it allows for specialised custom build environments for particular
1414 @section Setting up a build server
1416 In addition to the basic setup previously described, you will also need
1417 a Vagrant-compatible Debian Testing base box called 'testing32' (or testing64
1418 for a 64-bit VM, if you want it to be much slower, and require more disk
1421 You can use a different version or distro for the base box, so long as you
1422 don't expect any help making it work. One thing to be aware of is that
1423 working copies of source trees are moved from the host to the guest, so
1424 for example, having subversion v1.6 on the host and v1.7 on the guest
1427 @subsection Creating the Debian base box
1429 The output of this step is a minimal Debian VM that has support for remote
1430 login and provisioning.
1432 Unless you're very trusting, you should create one of these for yourself
1433 from verified standard Debian installation media. However, by popular
1434 demand, the @code{makebuildserver} script will automatically download a
1435 prebuilt image unless instructed otherwise. If you choose to use the
1436 prebuilt image, you may safely skip the rest of this section.
1438 Documentation for creating a base box can be found at
1439 @url{http://docs.vagrantup.com/v1/docs/base_boxes.html}.
1441 In addition to carefully following the steps described there, you should
1442 consider the following:
1446 It is advisable to disable udev network device persistence, otherwise any
1447 movement of the VM between machines, or reconfiguration, will result in
1450 For a Debian/Ubuntu default install, just
1451 @code{touch /etc/udev/rules.d/75-persistent-net-generator.rules} to turn
1452 off rule generation, and at the same time, get rid of any rules it's
1453 already created in @code{/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules}.
1455 Unless you want the VM to become totally inaccessible following a failed
1456 boot, you need to set @code{GRUB_RECORDFAIL_TIMEOUT} to a value other than
1457 -1 in @code{/etc/grub/default} and then run @code{update-grub}.
1460 @subsection Creating the F-Droid base box
1462 The next step in the process is to create @code{makebs.config.py},
1463 using @code{./examples/makebs.config.py} as a reference - look at the settings and
1464 documentation there to decide if any need changing to suit your environment.
1465 There is a path for retrieving the base box if it doesn't exist, and an apt
1466 proxy definition, both of which may need customising for your environment.
1467 You can then go to the @code{fdroidserver} directory and run this:
1473 This will take a long time, and use a lot of bandwidth - most of it spent
1474 installing the necessary parts of the Android SDK for all the various
1475 platforms. Luckily you only need to do it occasionally. Once you have a
1476 working build server image, if the recipes change (e.g. when packages need
1477 to be added) you can just run that script again and the existing one will
1478 be updated in place.
1480 The main sdk/ndk downloads will automatically be cached to speed things
1481 up the next time, but there's no easy way of doing this for the longer
1482 sections which use the SDK's @code{android} tool to install platforms,
1483 add-ons and tools. However, instead of allowing automatic caching, you
1484 can supply a pre-populated cache directory which includes not only these
1485 downloads, but also .tar.gz files for all the relevant additions. If the
1486 provisioning scripts detect these, they will be used in preference to
1487 running the android tools. For example, if you have
1488 @code{buildserver/addons/cache/platforms/android-19.tar.gz} that will be
1489 used when installing the android-19 platform, instead of re-downloading it
1490 using @code{android update sdk --no-ui -t android-19}.
1492 Once it's complete you'll have a new base box called 'buildserver' which is
1493 what's used for the actual builds. You can then build packages as normal,
1494 but with the addition of the @code{--server} flag to @code{fdroid build} to
1495 instruct it to do all the hard work within the virtual machine.
1497 The first time a build is done, a new virtual machine is created using the
1498 'buildserver' box as a base. A snapshot of this clean machine state is saved
1499 for use in future builds, to improve performance. You can force discarding
1500 of this snapshot and rebuilding from scratch using the @code{--resetserver}
1501 switch with @code{fdroid build}.
1506 There are two kinds of signing involved in running a repository - the signing
1507 of the APK files generated from source builds, and the signing of the repo
1508 index itself. The latter is optional, but very strongly recommended.
1510 @section Repo Index Signing
1512 When setting up the repository, one of the first steps should be to generate
1513 a signing key for the repository index. This will also create a keystore, which
1514 is a file that can be used to hold this and all other keys used. Consider the
1515 location, security and backup status of this file carefully, then create it as
1518 @code{keytool -genkey -v -keystore my.keystore -alias repokey -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000}
1520 In the above, replace 'my.keystore' with the name of the keystore file to be
1521 created, and 'repokey' with a name to identify the repo index key by.
1523 You'll be asked for a password for the keystore, AND a password for the key.
1524 They shouldn't be the same. In between, you'll be asked for some identifying
1525 details which will go in the certificate.
1527 The two passwords entered go into @code{config.py}, as @code{keystorepass} and
1528 @code{keypass} respectively. The path to the keystore file, and the alias you
1529 chose for the key also go into that file, as @code{keystore} and
1530 @code{repo_keyalias} respectively.
1532 @section Package Signing
1534 With the repo index signing configured, all that remains to be done for package
1535 signing to work is to set the @code{keydname} field in @code{config.py} to
1536 contain the same identifying details you entered before.
1538 A new key will be generated using these details, for each application that is
1539 built. (If a specific key is required for a particular application, this system
1540 can be overridden using the @code{keyaliases} config settings.
1543 @node GNU Free Documentation License
1544 @appendix GNU Free Documentation License