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 Martí
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) Be sure to use 1.3.x because 1.4.x is completely broken
117 (at the time of writing, the forthcoming 1.4.3 might work)
119 Paramiko (debian package python-paramiko)
121 Imaging (debian package python-imaging)
123 Magic (debian package python-magic)
126 On the other hand, if you want to build the apps directly on your system
127 without the 'Build Server' system, you may need:
131 All SDK platforms requested by the apps you want to build
132 (The Android SDK is made available by Google under a proprietary license but
133 within that, the SDK platforms, support library and some other components are
134 under the Apache license and source code is provided.
135 Google APIs, used for building apps using Google Maps, are free to the extent
136 that the library comes pre-installed on the device.
137 Google Play Services, Google Admob and others are proprietary and shouldn't be
138 included in the main F-Droid repository.)
140 A version of the Android NDK
142 Ant with Contrib Tasks (Debian packages ant and ant-contrib)
144 Maven (Debian package maven)
146 JavaCC (Debian package javacc)
148 Miscellaneous packages listed in
149 buildserver/cookbooks/fdroidbuild-general/recipes/default.rb
150 of the F-Droid server repository
156 @cindex setup, installation
158 Because the tools and data will always change rapidly, you will almost
159 certainly want to work from a git clone of the tools at this stage. To
163 git clone git://gitorious.org/f-droid/fdroidserver.git
166 You now have lots of stuff in the fdroidserver directory, but the most
167 important is the 'fdroid' command script which you run to perform all tasks.
168 This script is always run from a repository data directory, so the
169 most sensible thing to do next is to put your new fdroidserver directory
174 To do anything, you'll need at least one repository data directory. It's
175 from this directory that you run the @code{fdroid} command to perform all
176 repository management tasks. You can either create a brand new one, or
177 grab a copy of the data used by the main F-Droid repository:
180 git clone git://gitorious.org/f-droid/fdroiddata.git
183 Regardless of the intended usage of the tools, you will always need to set
184 up some basic configuration details. This is done by creating a file called
185 @code{config.py} in the data directory. You should do this by copying the
186 example file (@code{config.sample.py}) from the fdroidserver project to your
187 data directory and then editing according to the instructions within.
189 Once configured in this way, all the functionality of the tools is accessed
190 by running the @code{fdroid} command. Run it on its own to get a list of the
191 available sub-commands.
193 You can follow any command with @code{--help} to get a list of additional
194 options available for that command.
201 @node Simple Binary Repository
202 @chapter Simple Binary Repository
206 If you want to maintain a simple repository hosting only binary APKs obtained
207 and compiled elsewhere, the process is quite simple:
211 Set up the server tools, as described in Setup.
213 Make a directory for your repository. This is the directory from which you
214 will do all the work with your repository. Create a config file there, called
215 @code{config.py}, by copying the @code{config.sample.py} from the server
216 project and editing it.
218 Within that, make a directory called @code{repo} and put APK files in it.
220 Run @code{fdroid update}.
222 If it reports that any metadata files are missing, you can create them
223 in the @code{metadata} directory and run it again.
225 To ease creation of metadata files, run @code{fdroid update} with the @code{-c}
226 option. It will create 'skeleton' metadata files that are missing, and you can
227 then just edit them and fill in the details.
229 Then, if you've changed things, run @code{fdroid update} again.
231 Running @code{fdroid update} adds an Icons directory into the repo directory,
232 and also creates the repository index (index.xml, and also index.jar if you've
233 configured the system to use a signed index).
235 Publish the resulting contents of the @code{repo} directory to your web server.
238 Following the above process will result in a @code{repo} directory, which you
239 simply need to push to any HTTP (or preferably HTTPS) server to make it
242 While some information about the applications (and versions thereof) is
243 retrieved directly from the APK files, most comes from the corresponding file
244 in the @code{metadata} directory. The metadata file covering ALL versions of a
245 particular application is named @code{package.id.txt} where package.id is the
246 unique identifier for that package.
248 See the Metadata chapter for details of what goes in the metadata file. All
249 fields are relevant for binary APKs, EXCEPT for @code{Build:} entries, which
253 @node Building Applications
254 @chapter Building Applications
256 Instead of (or as well as) including binary APKs from external sources in a
257 repository, you can build them directly from the source code.
259 Using this method, it is is possible to verify that the application builds
260 correctly, corresponds to the source code, and contains only free software.
261 Unforunately, in the Android world, it seems to be very common for an
262 application supplied as a binary APK to present itself as Free Software
263 when in fact some or all of the following are true:
267 The source code (either for a particular version, or even all versions!) is
268 unavailable or incomplete.
270 The source code is not capable of producing the actual binary supplied.
272 The 'source code' contains binary files of unknown origin, or with proprietary
276 For this reason, source-built applications are the preferred method for the
277 main F-Droid repository, although occasionally for technical or historical
278 reasons, exceptions are made to this policy.
280 When building applications from source, it should be noted that you will be
281 signing them (all APK files must be signed to be installable on Android) with
282 your own key. When an application is already installed on a device, it is not
283 possible to upgrade it in place to a new version signed with a different key
284 without first uninstalling the original. This may present an inconvenience to
285 users, as the process of uninstalling loses any data associated with the
286 previous installation.
288 The process for managing a repository for built-from-source applications is
289 very similar to that described in the Simple Binary Repository chapter,
290 except now you need to:
294 Include Build entries in the metadata files.
296 Run @code{fdroid build} to build any applications that are not already built.
298 Run @code{fdroid publish} to finalise packaging and sign any APKs that have
303 @section More about "fdroid build"
305 When run without any parameters, @code{fdroid build} will build any and all
306 versions of applications that you don't already have in the @code{repo}
307 directory (or more accurately, the @code{unsigned} directory). There are various
308 other things you can do. As with all the tools, the @code{--help} option is
309 your friend, but a few annotated examples and discussion of the more common
312 To build a single version of a single application, you could run the
316 ./fdroid build org.fdroid.fdroid:16
319 This attempts to build version code 16 (which is version 0.25) of the F-Droid
320 client. Many of the tools recognise arguments as packages, allowing their
321 activity to be limited to just a limited set of packages.
323 If the build above was successful, two files will have been placed in the
324 @code{unsigned} directory:
327 org.fdroid.fdroid_16.apk
328 org.fdroid.fdroid_16_src.tar.gz
331 The first is the (unsigned) APK. You could sign this with a debug key and push
332 it direct to your device or an emulator for testing. The second is a source
333 tarball containing exactly the source that was used to generate the binary.
335 If you were intending to publish these files, you could then run:
341 The source tarball would move to the @code{repo} directory (which is the
342 directory you would push to your web server). A signed and zip-aligned version
343 of the APK would also appear there, and both files would be removed from the
344 @code{unsigned} directory.
346 If you're building purely for the purposes of testing, and not intending to
347 push the results to a repository, at least yet, the @code{--test} option can be
348 used to direct output to the @code{tmp} directory instead of @code{unsigned}.
349 A similar effect could by achieved by simply deleting the output files from
350 @code{unsigned} after the build, but with the risk of forgetting to do so!
352 Along similar lines (and only in conjunction with @code{--test}, you can use
353 @code{--force} to force a build of a Disabled application, where normally it
354 would be completely ignored. Similarly a version that was found to contain
355 ELFs or known non-free libraries can be forced to build. See also —
356 @code{scanignore=} and @code{scandelete=} in the @code{Build:} section.
358 If the build was unsuccessful, you can find out why by looking at the output
359 in the logs/ directory. If that isn't illuminating, try building the app the
360 regular way, step by step: android update project, ndk-build, ant debug.
362 Note that source code repositories often contain prebuilt libraries. If the
363 app is being considered for the main F-Droid repository, it is important that
364 all such prebuilts are built either via the metadata or by a reputable third
368 @section Direct Installation
370 You can also build and install directly to a connected device or emulator
371 using the @code{fdroid install} command. If you do this without passing
372 packages as arguments then all the latest built and signed version available
373 of each package will be installed . In most cases, this will not be what you
374 want to do, so execution will stop straight away. However, you can override
375 this if you're sure that's what you want, by using @code{--all}. Note that
376 currently, no sanity checks are performed with this mode, so if the files in
377 the signed output directory were modified, you won't be notified.
380 @node Importing Applications
381 @chapter Importing Applications
383 To help with starting work on including a new application, @code{fdroid import}
384 will take a URL and optionally some other parameters, and attempt to construct
385 as much information as possible by analysing the source code. Basic usage is:
388 ./fdroid import --url=http://address.of.project
391 For this to work, the URL must point to a project format that the script
392 understands. Currently this is limited to one of the following:
396 Gitorious - @code{https://gitorious.org/PROJECTNAME/REPONAME}
398 Github - @code{https://github.com/USER/PROJECT}
400 Google Code - @code{http://code.google.com/p/PROJECT/}
401 Supports git, svn and hg repos.
403 Some Google Code projects have multiple repositories, identified by a
404 dropdown list on the @code{source/checkout} page. To access one other than
405 the default, specify its name using the @code{--repo} switch.
407 Bitbucket - @code{https://bitbucket.org/USER/PROJECT/}
409 Git - @code{git://REPO}
412 Depending on the project type, more or less information may be gathered. For
413 example, the license will be retrieved from a Google Code project, but not a
414 GitHub one. A bare repo url, such as the git:// one, is the least preferable
415 optional of all, since you will have to enter much more information manually.
417 If the import is successful, a metadata file will be created. You will need to
418 edit this further to check the information, and fill in the blanks.
420 If it fails, you'll be told why. If it got as far as retrieving the source
421 code, you can inspect it further by looking in @code{tmp/importer} where a full
424 A frequent cause of initial failure is that the project directory is actually
425 a subdirectory in the repository. In this case, run the importer again using
426 the @code{--subdir} option to tell it where. It will not attempt to determine
427 this automatically, since there may be several options.
435 Information used by update.py to compile the public index comes from two
440 the APK files in the repo directory, and
442 the metadata files in the metadata directory.
445 The metadata files are simple, easy to edit text files, always named as the
446 application's package ID with '.txt' appended.
448 Note that although the metadata files are designed to be easily read and
449 writable by humans, they are also processed and written by various scripts.
450 They are capable of rewriting the entire file when necessary. Even so,
451 the structure and comments will be preserved correctly, although the order
452 of fields will be standardised. (In the event that the original file was
453 in a different order, comments are considered as being attached to the field
454 following them). In fact, you can standardise all the metadata in a single
455 command, without changing the functional content, by running:
458 fdroid rewritemetadata
461 The following sections describe the fields recognised within the file.
486 * Update Check Mode::
487 * Vercode Operation::
488 * Update Check Data::
491 * Current Version Code::
498 Any number of categories for the application to be placed in. There is no
499 fixed list of categories - both the client and the web site will automatically
500 show any categories that exist in any applications. However, if your metadata
501 is intended for the main F-Droid repository, you should use one of the
502 existing categories (look at the site/client), or discuss the proposal to add
505 Categories must be separated by a single comma character, ','. For backwards
506 compatibility, F-Droid will use the first category given as <category> element
507 for older clients to at least see one category.
509 This is converted to (@code{<categories>}) in the public index file.
516 The overall license for the application, or in certain cases, for the
529 GNU GPL version 2 or later
537 GNU GPL version 3 or later
541 An unspecified GPL version. Use this only as a last resort or if there is
542 some confusion over compatiblity of component licenses: particularly the use of
543 Apache libraries with GPLv2 source code.
547 Afferro GPL version 3.
559 BSD license - the original '4-clause' version.
563 BSD license - the new, or modified, version.
567 This is converted to (@code{<license>}) in the public index file.
574 The name of the application as can best be retrieved from the source code.
575 This is done so that the commitupdates script can put a familiar name in the
576 description of commits created when a new update of the application is
577 found. The Auto Name entry is generated automatically when @code{fdroid
578 checkupdates} is run.
585 The name of the application. Normally, this field should not be present since
586 the application's correct name is retrieved from the APK file. However, in a
587 situation where an APK contains a bad or missing application name, it can be
588 overridden using this. Note that this only overrides the name in the list of
589 apps presented in the client; it doesn't changed the name or application label
597 Comma-separated list of application IDs that this app provides. In other
598 words, if the user has any of these apps installed, F-Droid will show this app
599 as installed instead. It will also appear if the user clicks on urls linking
600 to the other app IDs. Useful when an app switches package name, or when you
601 want an app to act as multiple apps.
608 The URL for the application's web site. If there is no relevant web site, this
609 can be omitted (or left blank).
611 This is converted to (@code{<web>}) in the public index file.
618 The URL to view or obtain the application's source code. This should be
619 something human-friendly. Machine-readable source-code is covered in the
622 This is converted to (@code{<source>}) in the public index file.
625 @section Issue Tracker
627 @cindex Issue Tracker
629 The URL for the application's issue tracker. Optional, since not all
630 applications have one.
632 This is converted to (@code{<tracker>}) in the public index file.
639 The URL to donate to the project. This should be the project's donate page
642 It is possible to use a direct PayPal link here, if that is all that is
643 available. However, bear in mind that the developer may not be aware of
644 that direct link, and if they later changed to a different PayPal account,
645 or the PayPal link format changed, things could go wrong. It is always
646 best to use a link that the developer explicitly makes public, rather than
647 something that is auto-generated 'button code'.
649 This is converted to (@code{<donate>}) in the public index file.
656 The project's Flattr (http://flattr.com) ID, if it has one. This should be
657 a numeric ID, such that (for example) https://flattr.com/thing/xxxx leads
658 directly to the page to donate to the project.
660 This is converted to (@code{<flattr>}) in the public index file.
667 A bitcoin address for donating to the project.
669 This is converted to (@code{<bitcoin>}) in the public index file.
676 A litecoin address for donating to the project.
683 A brief summary of what the application is. Since the summary is only allowed
684 one line on the list of the F-Droid client, keeping it to within 32 characters
685 will ensure it fits even on the smallest screens.
692 A full description of the application, relevant to the latest version.
693 This can span multiple lines (which should be kept to a maximum of 80
694 characters), and is terminated by a line containing a single '.'.
696 Basic MediaWiki-style formatting can be used. Leaving a blank line starts a
697 new paragraph. Surrounding text with @code{''} make it italic, and with
698 @code{'''} makes it bold.
700 You can link to another app in the repo by using @code{[[app.id]]}. The link
701 will be made appropriately whether in the Android client, the web repo
702 browser or the wiki. The link text will be the apps name.
704 Links to web addresses can be done using @code{[http://example.com Text]}.
706 For both of the above link formats, the entire link (from opening to closing
707 square bracket) must be on the same line.
709 Bulletted lists are done by simply starting each item with a @code{*} on
710 a new line, and numbered lists are the same but using @code{#}. There is
711 currently no support for nesting lists - you can have one level only.
713 It can be helpful to note information pertaining to updating from an
714 earlier version; whether the app contains any prebuilts built by the
715 upstream developers or whether non-free elements were removed; whether the
716 app is in rapid development or whether the latest version lags behind the
717 current version; whether the app supports multiple architectures or whether
718 there is a maximum SDK specified (such info not being recorded in the index).
720 This is converted to (@code{<desc>}) in the public index file.
722 @node Maintainer Notes
723 @section Maintainer Notes
725 @cindex Maintainer Notes
727 This is a multi-line field using the same rules and syntax as the description.
728 It's used to record notes for F-Droid maintainers to assist in maintaining and
729 updating the application in the repository.
731 This information is also published to the wiki.
738 The type of repository - for automatic building from source. If this is not
739 specified, automatic building is disabled for this application. Possible
761 The repository location. Usually a git: or svn: URL, for example.
763 The git-svn option connects to an SVN repository, and you specify the URL in
764 exactly the same way, but git is used as a back-end. This is preferable for
765 performance reasons, and also because a local copy of the entire history is
766 available in case the upstream repository disappears. (It happens!). In
767 order to use Tags as update check mode for this VCS type, the URL must have
768 the tags= special argument set. Likewise, if you intend to use the
769 RepoManifest/branch scheme, you would want to specify branches= as well.
770 Finally, trunk= can also be added. All these special arguments will be passed
771 to "git svn" in order, and their values must be relative paths to the svn repo
773 Here's an example of a complex git-svn Repo URL:
774 http://svn.code.sf.net/p/project/code/svn;trunk=trunk;tags=tags;branches=branches
776 For a Subversion repo that requires authentication, you can precede the repo
777 URL with username:password@ and those parameters will be passed as @option{--username}
778 and @option{--password} to the SVN checkout command. (This now works for both
781 If the Repo Type is @code{srclib}, then you must specify the name of the
782 according srclib .txt file. For example if @code{scrlibs/FooBar.txt} exist
783 and you want to use this srclib, then you have to set Repo to
791 Any number of these fields can be present, each specifying a version to
792 automatically build from source. The value is a comma-separated list.
797 The above specifies to build version 1.2, which has a version code of 12.
798 The @code{commit=} parameter specifies the tag, commit or revision number from
799 which to build it in the source repository. It is the only mandatory flag,
800 which in this case could for example be @code{commit=v1.2}.
802 In addition to the three, always required, parameters described above,
803 further parameters can be added (in name=value format) to apply further
804 configuration to the build. These are (roughly in order of application):
808 @item disable=<message>
809 Disables this build, giving a reason why. (For backwards compatibility, this
810 can also be achieved by starting the commit ID with '!')
812 The purpose of this feature is to allow non-buildable releases (e.g. the source
813 is not published) to be flagged, so the scripts don't generate repeated
814 messages about them. (And also to record the information for review later).
815 If an apk has already been built, disabling causes it to be deleted once
816 @code{fdroid update} is run; this is the procedure if ever a version has to
820 Specifies to build from a subdirectory of the checked out source code.
821 Normally this directory is changed to before building,
824 Use if the project (git only) has submodules - causes @code{git submodule
825 update --init --recursive} to be executed after the source is cloned.
826 Submodules are reset and cleaned like the main app repository itself before
830 As for 'prebuild', but runs on the source code BEFORE any other processing
833 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
834 android SDK and NDK directories, and maven 3 executable respectively.
837 The sdk location in the repo is in an old format, or the build.xml is
838 expecting such. The 'new' format is sdk.dir while the VERY OLD format
839 is sdk-location. Typically, if you get a message along the lines of:
840 "com.android.ant.SetupTask cannot be found" when trying to build, then
841 try enabling this option.
843 @item target=<target>
844 Specifies a particular SDK target for compilation, overriding the value
845 defined in the code by upstream. This has different effects depending on what
846 build system used — this flag currently affects ant, maven and gradle projects
847 only. Note that this does not change the target SDK in the
848 AndroidManifest.xml, which determines the level of features that can be
849 included in the build.
851 In the case of an ant project, it modifies project.properties of the app and
852 possibly sub-projects. This is likely to cause the whole build.xml to be
853 rewritten, which is fine if it's a 'standard' android file or doesn't already
854 exist, but not a good idea if it's heavily customised.
856 @item update=<auto/dirs>
857 By default, 'android update project' is used to generate or update the
858 project and all its referenced projects. Specifying update=no bypasses that.
859 Note that this only matters in ant build recipes.
861 Default value is '@code{auto}', which uses the paths used in the
862 project.properties file to find out what project paths to update.
864 Otherwise, value can be a comma-separated list of directories in
865 which to run 'android update project' relative to the main
866 application directory (which may include '@code{subdir}' parameter).
869 Adds a java.encoding property to local.properties with the given
870 value. Generally the value will be 'utf-8'. This is picked up by the
871 SDK's ant rules, and forces the Java compiler to interpret source
872 files with this encoding. If you receive warnings during the compile
873 about character encodings, you probably need this.
875 @item forceversion=yes
876 If specified, the package version in AndroidManifest.xml is replaced
877 with the version name for the build as specified in the metadata.
879 This is useful for cases when upstream repo failed to update it for
880 specific tag; to build an arbitrary revision; to make it apparent that
881 the version differs significantly from upstream; or to make it apparent
882 which architecture or platform the apk is designed to run on.
884 @item forcevercode=yes
885 If specified, the package version code in the AndroidManifest.xml is
886 replaced with the version code for the build. See also forceversion.
888 @item rm=relpath1,relpath2,...
889 Specifies the relative paths of files or directories to delete before
890 the build is done. The paths are relative to the base of the build
891 directory - i.e. the root of the directory structure checked out from
892 the source respository - not necessarily the directory that contains
895 Multiple files/directories can be specified by separating them with ','.
896 Directories will be recursively deleted.
898 @item extlibs=a,b,...
899 Comma-separated list of external libraries (jar files) from the
900 @code{build/extlib} library, which will be placed in the @code{libs} directory
903 @item srclibs=[n:]a@@r,[n:]b@@r1,...
904 Comma-separated list of source libraries or Android projects. Each item is of
905 the form name@@rev where name is the predefined source library name and rev is
906 the revision or tag to use in the respective source control.
908 For ant projects, you can optionally append a number with a colon at the
909 beginning of a srclib item to automatically place it in project.properties as
910 a library under the specified number. For example, if you specify
911 @code{1:somelib@@1.0}, f-droid will automatically do the equivalent of the
912 legacy practice @code{prebuild=echo "android.library.reference.1=$$somelib$$"
913 >> project.properties}.
915 Each srclib has a metadata file under srclibs/ in the repository directory,
916 and the source code is stored in build/srclib/.
917 Repo Type: and Repo: are specified in the same way as for apps; Subdir: can be
918 a comma separated list, for when directories are renamed by upstream; Update
919 Project: updates the projects in the working directory and one level down;
920 Prepare: can be used for any kind of preparation: in particular if you need to
921 update the project with a particular target. You can then also use $$name$$ in
922 the init/prebuild/build command to substitute the relative path to the library
923 directory, but it could need tweaking if you've changed into another directory.
926 Apply patch(es). 'x' names one (or more - comma-seperated) files within a
927 directory below the metadata, with the same name as the metadata file but
928 without the extension. Each of these patches is applied to the code in turn.
931 Specifies a shell command (or commands - chain with &&) to run before the
932 build takes place. Backslash can be used as an escape character to insert
933 literal commas, or as the last character on a line to join that line with the
934 next. It has no special meaning in other contexts; in particular, literal
935 backslashes should not be escaped.
937 The command runs using bash.
939 Note that nothing should be build during this prebuild phase - scanning of the
940 code and building of the source tarball, for example, take place after this.
941 For custom actions that actually build things or produce binaries, use 'build'
944 You can use $$name$$ to substitute the path to a referenced srclib - see
945 the @code{srclib} directory for details of this.
947 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
948 android SDK and NDK directories, and maven 3 executable respectively e.g.
949 for when you need to run @code{android update project} explicitly.
951 @item scanignore=path1,path2,...
952 Enables one or more files/paths to be excluded from the scan process.
953 This should only be used where there is a very good reason, and
954 probably accompanied by a comment explaining why it is necessary.
956 When scanning the source tree for problems, matching files whose relative
957 paths start with any of the paths given here are ignored.
959 @item scandelete=path1,path2,...
960 Similar to scanignore=, but instead of ignoring files under the given paths,
961 it tells f-droid to delete the matching files directly.
964 As for 'prebuild', but runs during the actual build phase (but before the
965 main ant/maven build). Use this only for actions that do actual building.
966 Any prepartion of the source code should be done using 'init' or 'prebuild'.
968 Any building that takes place before build= will be ignored, as either ant,
969 mvn or gradle will be executed to clean the build environment right before
970 build= (or the final build) is run.
972 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
973 android SDK and NDK directories, and maven 3 executable respectively.
975 @item buildjni=[yes|no|<dir list>]
976 Enables building of native code via the ndk-build script before doing
977 the main ant build. The value may be a list of directories relative
978 to the main application directory in which to run ndk-build, or 'yes'
979 which corresponds to '.' . Using explicit list may be useful to build
980 multi-component projects.
982 The build and scan processes will complain (refuse to build) if this
983 parameter is not defined, but there is a @code{jni} directory present.
984 If the native code is being built by other means like a gradle task, you
985 can specify @code{no} here to avoid that. However, if the native code is
986 actually not required or used, remove the directory instead (using
987 @code{rm=jni} for example). Using @code{buildjni=no} when the jni code
988 isn't used nor built will result in an error saying that native
989 libraries were expected in the resulting package.
991 @item gradle=<flavour>[@@<dir>]
992 Build with gradle instead of ant, specifying what flavour to assemble.
993 If <flavour> is 'yes', 'main' or empty, no flavour will be used. Note
994 that this will not work on projects with flavours, since it will build
995 all flavours and there will be no 'main' build.
996 If @@<dir> is attached to <flavour>, then the gradle tasks will be run
997 in that directory. This might be necessary if gradle needs to be run in
998 the parent directory, in which case one would use
999 'gradle=<flavour>@@..'.
1001 @item maven=yes[@@<dir>]
1002 Build with maven instead of ant. Like gradle, an extra @@<dir> tells f-droid
1003 to run maven inside that relative subdirectory.
1005 @item preassemble=<task1> <task2>
1006 Space-separated list of gradle tasks to be run before the assemble task
1007 in a gradle project build.
1009 @item antcommand=xxx
1010 Specify an alternate ant command (target) instead of the default
1011 'release'. It can't be given any flags, such as the path to a build.xml.
1013 @item output=path/to/output.apk
1014 To be used when app is built with a tool other than the ones natively
1015 supported, like GNU Make. The given path will be where the build= set of
1016 commands should produce the final unsigned release apk.
1019 Don't check that the version name and code in the resulting apk are
1020 correct by looking at the build output - assume the metadata is
1021 correct. This takes away a useful level of sanity checking, and should
1022 only be used if the values can't be extracted.
1026 Another example, using extra parameters:
1028 @samp{Build Version:1.09.03,10903,45,subdir=Timeriffic,oldsdkloc=yes}
1031 @section AntiFeatures
1033 @cindex AntiFeatures
1035 This is optional - if present, it contains a comma-separated list of any of
1036 the following values, describing an anti-feature the application has.
1037 Even though such apps won't be displayed unless a settings box is ticked,
1038 it is a good idea to mention the reasons for the anti-feature(s) in the
1044 @samp{Ads} - the application contains advertising.
1047 @samp{Tracking} - the application tracks and reports your activity to
1048 somewhere without your consent. It's commonly used for when developers
1049 obtain crash logs without the user's consent, or when an app is useless
1050 without some kind of authentication.
1053 @samp{NonFreeNet} - the application relies on computational services that
1054 are impossible to replace or that the replacement cannot be connected to
1055 without major changes to the app.
1058 @samp{NonFreeAdd} - the application promotes non-Free add-ons, such that the
1059 app is effectively an advert for other non-free software and such software is
1060 not clearly labelled as such.
1063 @samp{NonFreeDep} - the application depends on a non-Free application (e.g.
1064 Google Maps) - i.e. it requires it to be installed on the device, but does not
1074 If this field is present, the application does not get put into the public
1075 index. This allows metadata to be retained while an application is temporarily
1076 disabled from being published. The value should be a description of why the
1077 application is disabled. No apks or source code archives are deleted: to purge
1078 an apk see the Build Version section or delete manually for developer builds.
1079 The field is therefore used when an app has outlived it's usefulness, because
1080 the source tarball is retained.
1083 @section Requires Root
1085 @cindex Requires Root
1087 Set this optional field to "Yes" if the application requires root
1088 privileges to be usable. This lets the client filter it out if the
1089 user so desires. Whether root is required or not, it is good to give
1090 a paragraph in the description to the conditions on which root may be
1091 asked for and the reason for it.
1093 @node Archive Policy
1094 @section Archive Policy
1096 @cindex Archive Policy
1098 This determines the policy for moving old versions of an app to the archive
1099 repo, if one is configured. The configuration sets a default maximum number
1100 of versions kept in the main repo, after which older ones are moved to the
1101 archive. This app-specific policy setting can override that.
1103 Currently the only supported format is "n versions", where n is the number
1104 of versions to keep.
1106 @node Update Check Mode
1107 @section Update Check Mode
1109 @cindex Update Check Mode
1111 This determines the method using for determining when new releases are
1112 available - in other words, the updating of the Current Version and Current
1113 Version Code fields in the metadata by the @code{fdroid checkupdates} process.
1119 @code{None} - No checking is done because there's no appropriate automated way
1120 of doing so. Updates should be checked for manually. Use this, for example,
1121 when deploying betas or patched versions; when builds are done in a directory
1122 different to where the AndroidManifest.xml is; if the developers use the
1123 gradle build system and store version info in a separate file; if the
1124 developers make a new branch for each release and don't make tags; or if you've
1125 changed the package name or version code logic.
1127 @code{Static} - No checking is done - either development has ceased or new versions
1128 are not desired. This method is also used when there is no other checking method
1129 available and the upstream developer keeps us posted on new versions.
1131 @code{RepoManifest} - At the most recent commit, the AndroidManifest.xml file
1132 is looked for in the directory where it was found in the the most recent build.
1133 The appropriateness of this method depends on the development process used by
1134 the application's developers. You should not specify this method unless you're
1135 sure it's appropriate. For example, some developers bump the version when
1136 commencing development instead of when publishing.
1137 It will return an error if the AndroidManifest.xml has moved to a different
1138 directory or if the package name has changed.
1139 The current version that it gives may not be accurate, since not all
1140 versions are fit to be published. Therefore, before building, it is often
1141 necessary to check if the current version has been published somewhere by the
1142 upstream developers, either by checking for apks that they distribute or for
1143 tags in the source code repository.
1145 It currently works for every repository type to different extents, except
1146 the srclib repo type. For git, git-svn and hg repo types, you may use
1147 "RepoManifest/yourbranch" as UCM so that "yourbranch" would be the branch used
1148 in place of the default one. The default values are "master" for git,
1149 "default" for hg and none for git-svn (it stays in the same branch).
1150 On the other hand, branch support hasn't been implemented yet in bzr and svn,
1151 but RepoManifest may still be used without it.
1153 @code{RepoTrunk} - For svn and git-svn repositories, especially those who
1154 don't have a bundled AndroidManifest.xml file, the Tags and RepoManifest
1155 checks will not work, since there is no version information to obtain. But,
1156 for those apps who automate their build process with the commit ref that HEAD
1157 points to, RepoTrunk will set the Current Version and Current Version Code to
1160 @code{Tags} - The AndroidManifest.xml file in all tagged revisions in the
1161 source repository is checked, looking for the highest version code. The
1162 appropriateness of this method depends on the development process used by the
1163 application's developers. You should not specify this method unless you're sure
1164 it's appropriate. It shouldn't be used if the developers like to tag betas or
1165 are known to forget to tag releases. Like RepoManifest, it will not return the
1166 correct value if the directory containing the AndroidManifest.xml has moved.
1167 Despite these caveats, it is the often the favourite update check mode.
1169 It currently only works for git, hg, bzr and git-svn repositories. In the case
1170 of the latter, the repo URL must contain the path to the trunk and tags or
1171 else no tags will be found.
1173 Optionally append a regex pattern at the end - separated with a space - to
1174 only check the tags matching said pattern. Useful when apps tag non-release
1175 versions such as X.X-alpha, so you can filter them out with something like
1176 @code{.*[0-9]$} which requires tag names to end with a digit.
1178 @code{HTTP} - HTTP requests are used to determine the current version code and
1179 version name. This is controlled by the @code{Update Check Data} field, which
1180 is of the form @code{urlcode|excode|urlver|exver}.
1182 Firstly, if @code{urlcode} is non-empty, the document from that URL is
1183 retrieved, and matched against the regular expression @code{excode}, with the
1184 first group becoming the version code.
1186 Secondly, if @code{urlver} is non-empty, the document from that URL is
1187 retrieved, and matched against the regular expression @code{exver}, with the
1188 first group becoming the version name. The @code{urlver} field can be set to
1189 simply '.' which says to use the same document returned for the version code
1190 again, rather than retrieving a different one.
1193 @node Vercode Operation
1194 @section Vercode Operation
1196 @cindex Vercode Operation
1198 Operation to be applied to the vercode obtained by the defined @code{Update
1199 Check Mode}. @code{%c} will be replaced by the actual vercode, and the whole
1200 string will be passed to python's @code{eval} function.
1202 Especially useful with apps that we want to compile for different ABIs, but
1203 whose vercodes don't always have trailing zeros. For example, with
1204 @code{Vercode Operation} set at something like @code{%c*10 + 4}, we will be
1205 able to track updates and build up to four different versions of every
1208 @node Update Check Data
1209 @section Update Check Data
1211 @cindex Update Check Data
1213 Used in conjunction with @code{Update Check Mode} for certain modes.
1215 @node Auto Update Mode
1216 @section Auto Update Mode
1218 @cindex Auto Update Mode
1220 This determines the method using for auto-generating new builds when new
1221 releases are available - in other words, adding a new Build Version line to the
1223 This happens in conjunction with the 'Update Check Mode' functionality - i.e.
1224 when an update is detected by that, it is also processed by this.
1230 @code{None} - No auto-updating is done
1232 @code{Version} - Identifies the target commit (i.e. tag) for the new build based
1233 on the given version specification, which is simply text in which %v and %c are
1234 replaced with the required version name and version code respectively.
1236 For example, if an app always has a tag "2.7.2" corresponding to version 2.7.2,
1237 you would simply specify "Version %v". If an app always has a tag "ver_1234"
1238 for a version with version code 1234, you would specify "Version ver_%c".
1240 Additionally, a suffix can be added to the version name at this stage, to
1241 differentiate F-Droid's build from the original. Continuing the first example
1242 above, you would specify that as "Version +-fdroid %v" - "-fdroid" is the suffix.
1246 @node Current Version
1247 @section Current Version
1249 @cindex Current Version
1251 The name of the version that is current. There may be newer versions of the
1252 application than this (e.g. betas), and there will almost certainly be older
1253 ones. This should be the one that is recommended for general use.
1254 In the event that there is no source code for the current version, or that
1255 non-free libraries are being used, this would ideally be the latest
1256 version that is still free, though it may still be expedient to
1257 retain the automatic update check — see No Source Since.
1259 This field is normally automatically updated - see Update Check Mode.
1261 This is converted to (@code{<marketversion>}) in the public index file.
1263 @node Current Version Code
1264 @section Current Version Code
1266 @cindex Current Version Code
1268 The version code corresponding to the Current Version field. Both these fields
1269 must be correct and matching although it's the current version code that's
1270 used by Android to determine version order and by F-Droid client to determine
1271 which version should be recommended.
1273 This field is normally automatically updated - see Update Check Mode.
1275 This is converted to (@code{<marketvercode>}) in the public index file.
1277 @node No Source Since
1278 @section No Source Since
1280 @cindex No Source Since
1282 In case we are missing the source code for the Current Version reported by
1283 Upstream, or that non-free elements have been introduced, this defines the
1284 first version that began to miss source code.
1285 Apps that are missing source code for just one or a few versions, but provide
1286 source code for newer ones are not to be considered here - this field is
1287 intended to illustrate which apps do not currently distribute source code, and
1288 since when have they been doing so.
1290 @node Update Processing
1291 @chapter Update Processing
1295 There are various mechanisms in place for automatically detecting that updates
1296 are available for applications, with the @code{Update Check Mode} field in the
1297 metadata determining which method is used for a particular application.
1299 Running the @code{fdroid checkupdates} command will apply this method to each
1300 application in the repository and update the @code{Current Version} and
1301 @code{Current Version Code} fields in the metadata accordingly.
1303 As usual, the @code{-p} option can be used with this, to restrict processing
1304 to a particular application.
1306 Note that this only updates the metadata such that we know what the current
1307 published/recommended version is. It doesn't make that version available in
1308 the repository - for that, see the next section.
1312 Adding updates (i.e. new versions of applications already included in the
1313 repository) happens in two ways. The simple case is applications where the
1314 APK files are binaries, retrieved from a developer's published build. In this
1315 case, all that's required is to place the new binary in the @code{Repo}
1316 directory, and the next run of @code{fdroid update} will pick it up.
1318 For applications built from source, it is necessary to add a new
1319 @code{Build Version} line to the metadata file. At the very least, the version
1320 name, version code and commit will be different. It is also possible that the
1321 additional build flags will change between versions.
1323 For processing multiple updates in the metadata at once, it can be useful to
1324 run @code{fdroid update --interactive}. This will check all the applications
1325 in the repository, and where updates are required you will be prompted to
1326 [E]dit the metadata, [I]gnore the update, or [Q]uit altogether.
1329 @chapter Build Server
1331 The Build Server system isolates the builds for each package within a clean,
1332 isolated and secure throwaway virtual machine environment.
1336 Building applications in this manner on a large scale, especially with the
1337 involvement of automated and/or unattended processes, could be considered
1338 a dangerous pastime from a security perspective. This is even more the case
1339 when the products of the build are also distributed widely and in a
1340 semi-automated ("you have updates available") fashion.
1342 Assume that an upstream source repository is compromised. A small selection
1343 of things that an attacker could do in such a situation:
1347 Use custom ant build steps to execute virtually anything as the user doing
1350 Access the keystore.
1352 Modify the built apk files or source tarballs for other applications in the
1355 Modify the metadata (which includes build scripts, which again, also includes
1356 the ability to execute anything) for other applications in the repository.
1359 Through complete isolation, the repurcussions are at least limited to the
1360 application in question. Not only is the build environment fresh for each
1361 build, and thrown away afterwards, but it is also isolated from the signing
1364 Aside from security issues, there are some applications which have strange
1365 requirements such as custom versions of the NDK. It would be impractical (or
1366 at least extremely messy) to start modifying and restoring the SDK on a
1367 multi-purpose system, but within the confines of a throwaway single-use
1368 virtual machine, anything is possible.
1370 All this is in addition to the obvious advantage of having a standardised
1371 and completely reproducible environment in which builds are made. Additionally,
1372 it allows for specialised custom build environments for particular
1375 @section Setting up a build server
1377 In addition to the basic setup previously described, you will also need
1378 a Vagrant-compatible Debian Testing base box called 'testing32' (or testing64
1379 for a 64-bit VM, if you want it to be much slower, and require more disk
1382 You can use a different version or distro for the base box, so long as you
1383 don't expect any help making it work. One thing to be aware of is that
1384 working copies of source trees are moved from the host to the guest, so
1385 for example, having subversion v1.6 on the host and v1.7 on the guest
1388 Unless you're very trusting. you should create one of these for yourself
1389 from verified standard Debian installation media. However, you could skip
1390 over the next few paragraphs (and sacrifice some security) by downloading
1391 @url{https://f-droid.org/testing32.box}.
1393 Documentation for creating a base box can be found at
1394 @url{http://docs.vagrantup.com/v1/docs/base_boxes.html}.
1396 In addition to carefully following the steps described there, you should
1397 consider the following:
1401 It is advisable to disable udev network device persistence, otherwise any
1402 movement of the VM between machines, or reconfiguration, will result in
1405 For a Debian/Ubuntu default install, just
1406 @code{touch /etc/udev/rules.d/75-persistent-net-generator.rules} to turn
1407 off rule generation, and at the same time, get rid of any rules it's
1408 already created in @code{/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules}.
1410 Unless you want the VM to become totally inaccessible following a failed
1411 boot, you need to set @code{GRUB_RECORDFAIL_TIMEOUT} to a value other than
1412 -1 in @code{/etc/grub/default} and then run @code{update-grub}.
1416 With this base box available, you should then create @code{makebs.config.py},
1417 using @code{makebs.config.sample.py} as a reference - look at the settings and
1418 documentation there to decide if any need changing to suit your environment.
1419 There is a path for retrieving the base box if it doesn't exist, and an apt
1420 proxy definition, both of which may need customising for your environment.
1421 You can then go to the @code{fdroidserver} directory and run this:
1427 This will take a long time, and use a lot of bandwidth - most of it spent
1428 installing the necessary parts of the Android SDK for all the various
1429 platforms. Luckily you only need to do it occasionally. Once you have a
1430 working build server image, if the recipes change (e.g. when packages need
1431 to be added) you can just run that script again and the existing one will
1432 be updated in place.
1434 The main sdk/ndk downloads will automatically be cached to speed things
1435 up the next time, but there's no easy way of doing this for the longer
1436 sections which use the SDK's @code{android} tool to install platforms,
1437 add-ons and tools. However, instead of allowing automatic caching, you
1438 can supply a pre-populated cache directory which includes not only these
1439 downloads, but also .tar.gz files for all the relevant additions. If the
1440 provisioning scripts detect these, they will be used in preference to
1441 running the android tools. For example, if you have
1442 @code{buildserver/addons/cache/platforms/android-19.tar.gz} that will be
1443 used when installing the android-19 platform, instead of re-downloading it
1444 using @code{android update sdk --no-ui -t android-19}.
1446 Once it's complete you'll have a new base box called 'buildserver' which is
1447 what's used for the actual builds. You can then build packages as normal,
1448 but with the addition of the @code{--server} flag to @code{fdroid build} to
1449 instruct it to do all the hard work within the virtual machine.
1451 The first time a build is done, a new virtual machine is created using the
1452 'buildserver' box as a base. A snapshot of this clean machine state is saved
1453 for use in future builds, to improve performance. You can force discarding
1454 of this snapshot and rebuilding from scratch using the @code{--resetserver}
1455 switch with @code{fdroid build}.
1460 There are two kinds of signing involved in running a repository - the signing
1461 of the APK files generated from source builds, and the signing of the repo
1462 index itself. The latter is optional, but very strongly recommended.
1464 @section Repo Index Signing
1466 When setting up the repository, one of the first steps should be to generate
1467 a signing key for the repository index. This will also create a keystore, which
1468 is a file that can be used to hold this and all other keys used. Consider the
1469 location, security and backup status of this file carefully, then create it as
1472 @code{keytool -genkey -v -keystore my.keystore -alias repokey -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000}
1474 In the above, replace 'my.keystore' with the name of the keystore file to be
1475 created, and 'repokey' with a name to identify the repo index key by.
1477 You'll be asked for a password for the keystore, AND a password for the key.
1478 They shouldn't be the same. In between, you'll be asked for some identifying
1479 details which will go in the certificate.
1481 The two passwords entered go into @code{config.py}, as @code{keystorepass} and
1482 @code{keypass} respectively. The path to the keystore file, and the alias you
1483 chose for the key also go into that file, as @code{keystore} and
1484 @code{repo_keyalias} respectively.
1486 @section Package Signing
1488 With the repo index signing configured, all that remains to be done for package
1489 signing to work is to set the @code{keydname} field in @code{config.py} to
1490 contain the same identifying details you entered before.
1492 A new key will be generated using these details, for each application that is
1493 built. (If a specific key is required for a particular application, this system
1494 can be overridden using the @code{keyaliases} config settings.
1497 @node GNU Free Documentation License
1498 @appendix GNU Free Documentation License