1 \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
3 @setfilename fdroid.info
4 @documentencoding UTF-8
5 @settitle F-Droid Server Manual
9 This manual is for the F-Droid repository server tools.
11 Copyright @copyright{} 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 Ciaran Gultnieks
13 Copyright @copyright{} 2011 Henrik Tunedal, Michael Haas, John Sullivan
15 Copyright @copyright{} 2013 David Black, Daniel Martí
18 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
19 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3
20 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
21 with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.
22 A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU
23 Free Documentation License".
28 @title F-Droid Server Manual
29 @author Ciaran Gultnieks and the F-Droid project
31 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
47 * System Requirements::
49 * Simple Binary Repository::
50 * Building Applications::
51 * Importing Applications::
56 * GNU Free Documentation License::
63 The F-Droid server tools provide various scripts and tools that are used
64 to maintain the main F-Droid application repository. You can use these same
65 tools to create your own additional or alternative repository for publishing,
66 or to assist in creating, testing and submitting metadata to the main
70 @node System Requirements
71 @chapter System Requirements
75 The system requirements for using the tools will vary depending on your
76 intended usage. At the very least, you'll need:
84 The Android SDK Tools and Build-tools.
85 Note that F-Droid does not assume that you have the Android SDK in your
86 @code{PATH}: these directories will be specified in your repository
87 configuration. Recent revisions of the SDK have @code{aapt} located in
88 android-sdk/build-tools/ and it may be necessary to make a symlink to it in
89 android-sdk/platform-tools/
92 If you intend to build applications from source you'll also need most, if not
93 all, of the following:
97 All SDK platforms requested by the apps you want to build
98 (The Android SDK is made available by Google under a proprietary license but
99 within that, the SDK platforms, support library and some other components are
100 under the Apache license and source code is provided.
101 Google APIs, used for building apps using Google Maps, are free to the extent
102 that the library comes pre-installed on the device.
103 Google Play Services, Google Admob and others are proprietary and shouldn't be
104 included in the main F-Droid repository.)
106 A version of the Android NDK
110 Ant Contrib Tasks (Debian package ant-contrib)
112 Maven (Debian package maven)
114 JavaCC (Debian package javacc)
116 JDK (Debian package openjdk-6-jdk): openjdk-6 is recommended though openjdk-7
119 VCS clients: svn, git, git-svn, hg, bzr
121 Miscellaneous packages listed in
122 buildserver/cookbooks/fdroidbuild-general/recipes/default.rb
123 of the F-Droid server repository
125 A keystore for holding release keys. (Safe, secure and well backed up!)
128 If you intend to use the 'Build Server' system, for secure and clean builds
129 (highly recommended), you will also need:
133 VirtualBox (debian package virtualbox)
135 Ruby (debian packages ruby and rubygems)
137 Vagrant (gem install vagrant)
139 Paramiko (debian package python-paramiko)
141 Imaging (debian package python-imaging)
143 Magic (debian package python-magic)
150 @cindex setup, installation
152 Because the tools and data will always change rapidly, you will almost
153 certainly want to work from a git clone of the tools at this stage. To
157 git clone git://gitorious.org/f-droid/fdroidserver.git
160 You now have lots of stuff in the fdroidserver directory, but the most
161 important is the 'fdroid' command script which you run to perform all tasks.
162 This script is always run from a repository data directory, so the
163 most sensible thing to do next is to put your new fdroidserver directory
168 To do anything, you'll need at least one repository data directory. It's
169 from this directory that you run the @code{fdroid} command to perform all
170 repository management tasks. You can either create a brand new one, or
171 grab a copy of the data used by the main F-Droid repository:
174 git clone git://gitorious.org/f-droid/fdroiddata.git
177 Regardless of the intended usage of the tools, you will always need to set
178 up some basic configuration details. This is done by creating a file called
179 @code{config.py} in the data directory. You should do this by copying the
180 example file (@code{config.sample.py}) from the fdroidserver project to your
181 data directory and then editing according to the instructions within.
183 Once configured in this way, all the functionality of the tools is accessed
184 by running the @code{fdroid} command. Run it on its own to get a list of the
185 available sub-commands.
187 You can follow any command with @code{--help} to get a list of additional
188 options available for that command.
195 @node Simple Binary Repository
196 @chapter Simple Binary Repository
200 If you want to maintain a simple repository hosting only binary APKs obtained
201 and compiled elsewhere, the process is quite simple:
205 Set up the server tools, as described in Setup.
207 Make a directory for your repository. This is the directory from which you
208 will do all the work with your repository. Create a config file there, called
209 @code{config.py}, by copying the @code{config.sample.py} from the server
210 project and editing it.
212 Within that, make a directory called @code{repo} and put APK files in it.
214 Run @code{fdroid update}.
216 If it reports that any metadata files are missing, you can create them
217 in the @code{metadata} directory and run it again.
219 To ease creation of metadata files, run @code{fdroid update} with the @code{-c}
220 option. It will create 'skeleton' metadata files that are missing, and you can
221 then just edit them and fill in the details.
223 Then, if you've changed things, run @code{fdroid update} again.
225 Running @code{fdroid update} adds an Icons directory into the repo directory,
226 and also creates the repository index (index.xml, and also index.jar if you've
227 configured the system to use a signed index).
229 Publish the resulting contents of the @code{repo} directory to your web server.
232 Following the above process will result in a @code{repo} directory, which you
233 simply need to push to any HTTP (or preferably HTTPS) server to make it
236 While some information about the applications (and versions thereof) is
237 retrieved directly from the APK files, most comes from the corresponding file
238 in the @code{metadata} directory. The metadata file covering ALL versions of a
239 particular application is named @code{package.id.txt} where package.id is the
240 unique identifier for that package.
242 See the Metadata chapter for details of what goes in the metadata file. All
243 fields are relevant for binary APKs, EXCEPT for 'Build Version' entries, which
247 @node Building Applications
248 @chapter Building Applications
250 Instead of (or as well as) including binary APKs from external sources in a
251 repository, you can build them directly from the source code.
253 Using this method, it is is possible to verify that the application builds
254 correctly, corresponds to the source code, and contains only free software.
255 Unforunately, in the Android world, it seems to be very common for an
256 application supplied as a binary APK to present itself as Free Software
257 when in fact some or all of the following are true:
261 The source code (either for a particular version, or even all versions!) is
262 unavailable or incomplete.
264 The source code is not capable of producing the actual binary supplied.
266 The 'source code' contains binary files of unknown origin, or with proprietary
270 For this reason, source-built applications are the preferred method for the
271 main F-Droid repository, although occasionally for technical or historical
272 reasons, exceptions are made to this policy.
274 When building applications from source, it should be noted that you will be
275 signing them (all APK files must be signed to be installable on Android) with
276 your own key. When an application is already installed on a device, it is not
277 possible to upgrade it in place to a new version signed with a different key
278 without first uninstalling the original. This may present an inconvenience to
279 users, as the process of uninstalling loses any data associated with the
280 previous installation.
282 The process for managing a repository for built-from-source applications is
283 very similar to that described in the Simple Binary Repository chapter,
284 except now you need to:
288 Include Build Version entries in the metadata files.
290 Run @code{fdroid build} to build any applications that are not already built.
292 Run @code{fdroid publish} to finalise packaging and sign any APKs that have
297 @section More about "fdroid build"
299 When run without any parameters, @code{fdroid build} will build any and all
300 versions of applications that you don't already have in the @code{repo}
301 directory (or more accurately, the @code{unsigned} directory). There are various
302 other things you can do. As with all the tools, the @code{--help} option is
303 your friend, but a few annotated examples and discussion of the more common
306 To build a single version of a single application, you could run the
310 ./fdroid build --package=org.fdroid.fdroid --vercode 16
313 This attempts to build version code 16 (which is version 0.25) of the F-Droid
314 client. Many of the tools recognise this @code{--package} parameter, allowing
315 their activity to be limited to just a single package.
317 If the build above was successful, two files will have been placed in the
318 @code{unsigned} directory:
321 org.fdroid.fdroid_16.apk
322 org.fdroid.fdroid_16_src.tar.gz
325 The first is the (unsigned) APK. You could sign this with a debug key and push
326 it direct to your device or an emulator for testing. The second is a source
327 tarball containing exactly the source that was used to generate the binary.
329 If you were intending to publish these files, you could then run:
335 The source tarball would move to the @code{repo} directory (which is the
336 directory you would push to your web server). A signed and zip-aligned version
337 of the APK would also appear there, and both files would be removed from the
338 @code{unsigned} directory.
340 If you're building purely for the purposes of testing, and not intending to
341 push the results to a repository, at least yet, the @code{--test} option can be
342 used to direct output to the @code{tmp} directory instead of @code{unsigned}.
343 A similar effect could by achieved by simply deleting the output files from
344 @code{unsigned} after the build, but with the risk of forgetting to do so!
346 Along similar lines (and only in conjunction with @code{--test}, you can use
347 @code{--force} to force a build of a Disabled application, where normally it
348 would be completely ignored. Similarly a version that was found to contain
349 ELFs or known non-free libraries can be forced to build. See also —
350 scanignore= and scandelete= in the Build Version section.
352 If the build was unsuccessful, you can find out why by looking at the output
353 in the logs/ directory. If that isn't illuminating, try building the app the
354 regular way, step by step: android update project, ndk-build, ant debug.
356 Note that source code repositories often contain prebuilt libraries. If the
357 app is being considered for the main F-Droid repository, it is important that
358 all such prebuilts are built either via the metadata or by a reputable third
362 @section Direct Installation
364 You can also build and install directly to a connected device or emulator using
365 the @code{--install} switch. If you do this without using @code{--package} and
366 @code{--vercode} then all versions of all packages will be installed (with each
367 individual version overwriting the previous!). In most cases, this will not be
368 what you want to do, so execution will stop straight away. However, you can
369 override this if you're sure that's what you want, by using @code{--all}.
370 Note that currently, no sanity checks are performed with this mode, so that if
371 the version is incorrect or that if the package name is different, you won't
375 @node Importing Applications
376 @chapter Importing Applications
378 To help with starting work on including a new application, @code{fdroid import}
379 will take a URL and optionally some other parameters, and attempt to construct
380 as much information as possible by analysing the source code. Basic usage is:
383 ./fdroid import --url=http://address.of.project
386 For this to work, the URL must point to a project format that the script
387 understands. Currently this is limited to one of the following:
391 Gitorious - @code{https://gitorious.org/PROJECTNAME/REPONAME}
393 Github - @code{https://github.com/USER/PROJECT}
395 Google Code - @code{http://code.google.com/p/PROJECT/}
396 Supports git, svn and hg repos.
398 Some Google Code projects have multiple repositories, identified by a
399 dropdown list on the @code{source/checkout} page. To access one other than
400 the default, specify its name using the @code{--repo} switch.
402 Bitbucket - @code{https://bitbucket.org/USER/PROJECT/}
404 Git - @code{git://REPO}
407 Depending on the project type, more or less information may be gathered. For
408 example, the license will be retrieved from a Google Code project, but not a
409 GitHub one. A bare repo url, such as the git:// one, is the least preferable
410 optional of all, since you will have to enter much more information manually.
412 If the import is successful, a metadata file will be created. You will need to
413 edit this further to check the information, and fill in the blanks.
415 If it fails, you'll be told why. If it got as far as retrieving the source
416 code, you can inspect it further by looking in @code{tmp/importer} where a full
419 A frequent cause of initial failure is that the project directory is actually
420 a subdirectory in the repository. In this case, run the importer again using
421 the @code{--subdir} option to tell it where. It will not attempt to determine
422 this automatically, since there may be several options.
430 Information used by update.py to compile the public index comes from two
435 the APK files in the repo directory, and
437 the metadata files in the metadata directory.
440 The metadata files are simple, easy to edit text files, always named as the
441 application's package ID with '.txt' appended.
443 Note that although the metadata files are designed to be easily read and
444 writable by humans, they are also processed and written by various scripts.
445 They are capable of rewriting the entire file when necessary. Even so,
446 the structure and comments will be preserved correctly, although the order
447 of fields will be standardised. (In the event that the original file was
448 in a different order, comments are considered as being attached to the field
449 following them). In fact, you can standardise all the metadata in a single
450 command, without changing the functional content, by running:
453 fdroid rewritemetadata
456 The following sections describe the fields recognised within the file.
480 * Update Check Mode::
481 * Vercode Operation::
482 * Update Check Data::
485 * Current Version Code::
492 Any number of categories for the application to be placed in. There is no
493 fixed list of categories - both the client and the web site will automatically
494 show any categories that exist in any applications. However, if your metadata
495 is intended for the main F-Droid repository, you should use one of the
496 existing categories (look at the site/client), or discuss the proposal to add
499 Categories must be separated by a single comma character, ','. For backwards
500 compatibility, F-Droid will use the first category given as <category> element
501 for older clients to at least see one category.
503 This is converted to (@code{<categories>}) in the public index file.
510 The overall license for the application, or in certain cases, for the
523 GNU GPL version 2 or later
531 GNU GPL version 3 or later
535 An unspecified GPL version. Use this only as a last resort or if there is
536 some confusion over compatiblity of component licenses: particularly the use of
537 Apache libraries with GPLv2 source code.
541 Afferro GPL version 3.
553 BSD license - the original '4-clause' version.
557 BSD license - the new, or modified, version.
561 This is converted to (@code{<license>}) in the public index file.
568 The name of the application as can best be retrieved from the source code.
569 This is done so that the commitupdates script can put a familiar name in the
570 description of commits created when a new update of the application is
571 found. The Auto Name entry is generated automatically when @code{fdroid
572 checkupdates} is run.
579 The name of the application. Normally, this field should not be present since
580 the application's correct name is retrieved from the APK file. However, in a
581 situation where an APK contains a bad or missing application name, it can be
582 overridden using this. Note that this only overrides the name in the list of
583 apps presented in the client; it doesn't changed the name or application label
591 The URL for the application's web site.
593 This is converted to (@code{<web>}) in the public index file.
600 The URL to view or obtain the application's source code. This should be
601 something human-friendly. Machine-readable source-code is covered in the
604 This is converted to (@code{<source>}) in the public index file.
607 @section Issue Tracker
609 @cindex Issue Tracker
611 The URL for the application's issue tracker. Optional, since not all
612 applications have one.
614 This is converted to (@code{<tracker>}) in the public index file.
621 The URL to donate to the project. This should be the project's donate page
624 It is possible to use a direct PayPal link here, if that is all that is
625 available. However, bear in mind that the developer may not be aware of
626 that direct link, and if they later changed to a different PayPal account,
627 or the PayPal link format changed, things could go wrong. It is always
628 best to use a link that the developer explicitly makes public, rather than
629 something that is auto-generated 'button code'.
631 This is converted to (@code{<donate>}) in the public index file.
638 The project's Flattr (http://flattr.com) ID, if it has one. This should be
639 a numeric ID, such that (for example) https://flattr.com/thing/xxxx leads
640 directly to the page to donate to the project.
642 This is converted to (@code{<flattr>}) in the public index file.
649 A bitcoin address for donating to the project.
651 This is converted to (@code{<bitcoin>}) in the public index file.
658 A litecoin address for donating to the project.
665 A brief summary of what the application is. Since the summary is only allowed
666 one line on the list of the F-Droid client, keeping it to within 32 characters
667 will ensure it fits even on the smallest screens.
674 A full description of the application, relevant to the latest version.
675 This can span multiple lines (which should be kept to a maximum of 80
676 characters), and is terminated by a line containing a single '.'.
678 Basic MediaWiki-style formatting can be used. Leaving a blank line starts a
679 new paragraph. Surrounding text with @code{''} make it italic, and with
680 @code{'''} makes it bold.
682 You can link to another app in the repo by using @code{[[app.id]]}. The link
683 will be made appropriately whether in the Android client, the web repo
684 browser or the wiki. The link text will be the apps name.
686 Links to web addresses can be done using @code{[http://example.com Text]}.
688 For both of the above link formats, the entire link (from opening to closing
689 square bracket) must be on the same line.
691 Bulletted lists are done by simply starting each item with a @code{*} on
692 a new line, and numbered lists are the same but using @code{#}. There is
693 currently no support for nesting lists - you can have one level only.
695 It can be helpful to note information pertaining to updating from an
696 earlier version; whether the app contains any prebuilts built by the
697 upstream developers or whether non-free elements were removed; whether the
698 app is in rapid development or whether the latest version lags behind the
699 current version; whether the app supports multiple architectures or whether
700 there is a maximum SDK specified (such info not being recorded in the index).
702 This is converted to (@code{<desc>}) in the public index file.
704 @node Maintainer Notes
705 @section Maintainer Notes
707 @cindex Maintainer Notes
709 This is a multi-line field using the same rules and syntax as the description.
710 It's used to record notes for F-Droid maintainers to assist in maintaining and
711 updating the application in the repository.
713 This information is also published to the wiki.
720 The type of repository - for automatic building from source. If this is not
721 specified, automatic building is disabled for this application. Possible
743 The repository location. Usually a git: or svn: URL, for example.
745 The git-svn option connects to an SVN repository, and you specify the URL in
746 exactly the same way, but git is used as a back-end. This is preferable for
747 performance reasons, and also because a local copy of the entire history is
748 available in case the upstream repository disappears. (It happens!). In
749 order to use Tags as update check mode for this VCS type, the URL must have
750 the tags= special argument set. Likewise, if you intend to use the
751 RepoManifest/branch scheme, you would want to specify branches= as well.
752 Finally, trunk= can also be added. All these special arguments will be passed
753 to "git svn" in order, and their values must be relative paths to the svn repo
755 Here's an example of a complex git-svn Repo URL:
756 http://svn.code.sf.net/p/project/code/svn;trunk=trunk;tags=tags;branches=branches
758 For a Subversion repo that requires authentication, you can precede the repo
759 URL with username:password@ and those parameters will be passed as @option{--username}
760 and @option{--password} to the SVN checkout command. (This now works for both
763 If the Repo Type is @code{srclib}, then you must specify the name of the
764 according srclib .txt file. For example if @code{scrlibs/FooBar.txt} exist
765 and you want to use this srclib, then you have to set Repo to
769 @section Build Version
771 @cindex Build Version
773 Any number of these fields can be present, each specifying a version to
774 automatically build from source. The value is a comma-separated list.
777 @samp{Build Version:0.12,3,651696a49be2cd7db5ce6a2fa8185e31f9a20035}
779 The above specifies to build version 0.12, which has a version code of 3.
780 The third parameter specifies the tag, commit or revision number from
781 which to build it in the source repository.
783 In addition to the three, always required, parameters described above,
784 further parameters can be added (in name=value format) to apply further
785 configuration to the build. These are (roughly in order of application):
789 @item disable=<message>
790 Disables this build, giving a reason why. (For backwards compatibility, this
791 can also be achieved by starting the commit ID with '!')
793 The purpose of this feature is to allow non-buildable releases (e.g. the source
794 is not published) to be flagged, so the scripts don't generate repeated
795 messages about them. (And also to record the information for review later).
796 If an apk has already been built, disabling causes it to be deleted once
797 @code{fdroid update} is run; this is the procedure if ever a version has to
801 Specifies to build from a subdirectory of the checked out source code.
802 Normally this directory is changed to before building,
805 Use if the project (git only) has submodules - causes git submodule
806 init and update to be executed after the source is cloned.
809 As for 'prebuild', but runs on the source code BEFORE any other processing
812 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
813 android SDK and NDK directories, and maven 3 executable respectively.
816 The sdk location in the repo is in an old format, or the build.xml is
817 expecting such. The 'new' format is sdk.dir while the VERY OLD format
818 is sdk-location. Typically, if you get a message along the lines of:
819 "com.android.ant.SetupTask cannot be found" when trying to build, then
820 try enabling this option.
822 @item target=<target>
823 Specifies a particular SDK target for compilation, overriding the
824 project.properties of the app and possibly sub-projects. Note that this does
825 not change the target SDK in the AndroidManifest.xml — the level of features
826 that can be included in the build. This is likely to cause the whole build.xml
827 to be rewritten, which is fine if it's a 'standard' android file or doesn't
828 already exist, but not a good idea if it's heavily customised. If you get an
829 error about invalid target, first try @code{init=rm -rf bin/}; otherwise this
830 parameter should do the trick.
832 Please note that gradle builds should be using compilesdk=.
834 @item compilesdk=<level>
835 Practically accomplishes the same that target= does when used in ant and maven
836 projects. compilesdk= is used rather than target= so as to not cause any more
837 confusion. It only takes effect on gradle builds in the build.gradle file,
838 thus using it in any other case is not wise.
841 By default, 'android update project' is used to generate or update the
842 project and all its referenced projects. Specifying update=no bypasses that.
844 Specifiying update=force forces rebuilding of the build.xml file at the
845 same time - this is frequently needed with r14 of the Android platform
846 tools. Be aware of any customisations in build.xml when using
849 Default value is '@code{auto}', which uses the paths used in the
850 project.properties file to find out what project paths to update.
852 Otherwise, value can be a semicolon-separated list of directories in
853 which to run 'android update project' relative to the main
854 application directory (which may include '@code{subdir}' parameter).
857 Adds a java.encoding property to local.properties with the given
858 value. Generally the value will be 'utf-8'. This is picked up by the
859 SDK's ant rules, and forces the Java compiler to interpret source
860 files with this encoding. If you receive warnings during the compile
861 about character encodings, you probably need this.
863 @item forceversion=yes
864 If specified, the package version in AndroidManifest.xml is replaced
865 with the version name for the build as specified in the metadata.
867 This is useful for cases when upstream repo failed to update it for
868 specific tag; to build an arbitrary revision; to make it apparent that
869 the version differs significantly from upstream; or to make it apparent
870 which architecture or platform the apk is designed to run on.
872 @item forcevercode=yes
873 If specified, the package version code in the AndroidManifest.xml is
874 replaced with the version code for the build. See also forceversion.
876 @item rm=<relpath1;relpath2;...>
877 Specifies the relative paths of files or directories to delete before
878 the build is done. The paths are relative to the base of the build
879 directory - i.e. the root of the directory structure checked out from
880 the source respository - not necessarily the directory that contains
883 Multiple files/directories can be specified by separating them with ';'.
884 Directories will be recursively deleted.
887 Modifies any instances of string resources that use multiple
888 formatting arguments, but don't use positional notation. For example,
889 "Hello %s, %d" becomes "Hello %1$s, %2$d". Newer versions of the
890 Android platform tools enforce this sensible standard. If you get
891 error messages relating to that, you need to enable this.
894 Like fixtrans, but deals with an even older issue relating to
895 'unescaped apostrophes' in translation strings.
898 Specifies a list of external libraries (jar files) from the
899 @code{build/extlib} library, which will be placed in the @code{libs} directory
900 of the project. Separate items with semicolons.
902 @item srclibs=a@@r;b@@r1;
903 Specifies a list of source libraries or Android projects. Separate items with
904 semicolons, and each item is of the form name@@rev where name is the predefined
905 source library name and rev is the revision or tag in source control to use.
907 Each srclib has a metadata file under srclibs/ in the repository directory,
908 and the source code is stored in build/srclib/.
909 Repo Type: and Repo: are specified in the same way as for apps; Subdir: can be
910 a comma separated list, for when directories are renamed by upstream; Update
911 Project: updates the projects in the working directory and one level down;
912 Prepare: can be used for any kind of preparation: in particular if you need to
913 update the project with a particular target. You can then also use $$name$$ in
914 the init/prebuild/build command to substitute the relative path to the library
915 directory, but it could need tweaking if you've changed into another directory.
918 Apply patch(es). 'x' names one (or more - comma-seperated)
919 files within a directory below the metadata, with the same
920 name as the metadata file but without the extension. Each of
921 these patches is applied to the code in turn.
924 Specifies a shell command (or commands - chain with &&) to run before
925 the build takes place. Backslash can be used as an escape character to
926 insert literal commas, or as the last character on a line to join that
927 line with the next. It has no special meaning in other contexts; in
928 particular, literal backslashes should not be escaped.
930 The command runs using bash.
932 Note that nothing should be build during this prebuild phase - scanning
933 of the code and building of the source tarball, for example, take place
934 after this. For custom actions that actually build things, use 'build'
937 You can use $$name$$ to substitute the path to a referenced srclib - see
938 the @code{srclib} directory for details of this.
940 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
941 android SDK and NDK directories, and maven 3 executable respectively e.g.
942 for when you need to run @code{android update project} explicitly.
944 @item scanignore=path1;path2;...
945 Enables one or more files/paths to be exlcuded from the scan process.
946 This should only be used where there is a very good reason, and
947 probably accompanied by a comment explaining why it is necessary.
949 When scanning the source tree for problems, matching files whose relative
950 paths start with any of the paths given here are ignored.
952 @item scandelete=path1;path2;...
953 Similar to scanignore=, but instead of ignoring files under the given paths,
954 it tells f-droid to delete the matching files directly.
957 As for 'prebuild', but runs during the actual build phase (but before the
958 main ant/maven build). Use this only for actions that do actual building.
959 Any prepartion of the source code should be done using 'init' or 'prebuild'.
961 Any building that takes place before build= will be ignored, as either ant,
962 mvn or gradle will be executed to clean the build environment right before
963 build= (or the final build) is run.
965 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
966 android SDK and NDK directories, and maven 3 executable respectively.
968 @item buildjni=[yes|no|<dir list>]
969 Enables building of native code via the ndk-build script before doing
970 the main ant build. The value may be a list of directories relative
971 to the main application directory in which to run ndk-build, or 'yes'
972 which corresponds to '.' . Using explicit list may be useful to build
973 multi-component projects.
975 The build and scan processes will complain (refuse to build) if this
976 parameter is not defined, but there is a @code{jni} directory present.
977 If the native code is being built by other means, you can specify
978 @code{no} here to avoid that. However, if the native code is actually
979 not required, remove the directory instead (using @code{prebuild} for
982 @item gradle=<flavour>[@@<dir>]
983 Build with gradle instead of ant, specifying what flavour to assemble.
984 If <flavour> is 'yes', 'main' or empty, no flavour will be used. Note
985 that this will not work on projects with flavours, since it will build
986 all flavours and there will be no 'main' build.
987 If @@<dir> is attached to <flavour>, then the gradle tasks will be run in that
988 directory. This might be necessary if gradle needs to be run in the parent
989 directory, in which case one would use 'gradle=<flavour>@..'.
991 @item maven=yes[@@<dir>]
992 Build with maven instead of ant. Like gradle, an extra @@<dir> tells f-droid
993 to run maven inside that relative subdirectory.
995 @item preassemble=<task1> <task2>
996 Space-separated list of gradle tasks to be run before the assemble task
997 in a gradle project build.
1000 Normally the build output (apk) is expected to be in the bin
1001 subdirectory below the ant build files. If the project is configured
1002 to put it elsewhere, that can be specified here, relative to the base
1003 of the checked out repo. Not yet implemented for gradle.
1005 @item antcommand=xxx
1006 Specify an alternate ant command (target) instead of the default
1007 'release'. It can't be given any flags, such as the path to a build.xml.
1010 Don't check that the version name and code in the resulting apk are
1011 correct by looking at the build output - assume the metadata is
1012 correct. This takes away a useful level of sanity checking, and should
1013 only be used if the values can't be extracted.
1017 Another example, using extra parameters:
1019 @samp{Build Version:1.09.03,10903,45,subdir=Timeriffic,oldsdkloc=yes}
1022 @section AntiFeatures
1024 @cindex AntiFeatures
1026 This is optional - if present, it contains a comma-separated list of any of
1027 the following values, describing an anti-feature the application has.
1028 Even though such apps won't be displayed unless a settings box is ticked,
1029 it is a good idea to mention the reasons for the anti-feature(s) in the
1035 @samp{Ads} - the application contains advertising.
1038 @samp{Tracking} - the application tracks and reports your activity to
1039 somewhere without your consent. It's commonly used for when developers
1040 obtain crash logs without the user's consent, or when an app is useless
1041 without some kind of authentication.
1044 @samp{NonFreeNet} - the application relies on computational services that
1045 are impossible to replace or that the replacement cannot be connected to
1046 without major changes to the app.
1049 @samp{NonFreeAdd} - the application promotes non-Free add-ons, such that the
1050 app is effectively an advert for other non-free software and such software is
1051 not clearly labelled as such.
1054 @samp{NonFreeDep} - the application depends on a non-Free application (e.g.
1055 Google Maps) - i.e. it requires it to be installed on the device, but does not
1065 If this field is present, the application does not get put into the public
1066 index. This allows metadata to be retained while an application is temporarily
1067 disabled from being published. The value should be a description of why the
1068 application is disabled. No apks or source code archives are deleted: to purge
1069 an apk see the Build Version section or delete manually for developer builds.
1070 The field is therefore used when an app has outlived it's usefulness, because
1071 the source tarball is retained.
1074 @section Requires Root
1076 @cindex Requires Root
1078 Set this optional field to "Yes" if the application requires root
1079 privileges to be usable. This lets the client filter it out if the
1080 user so desires. Whether root is required or not, it is good to give
1081 a paragraph in the description to the conditions on which root may be
1082 asked for and the reason for it.
1084 @node Update Check Mode
1085 @section Update Check Mode
1087 @cindex Update Check Mode
1089 This determines the method using for determining when new releases are
1090 available - in other words, the updating of the Current Version and Current
1091 Version Code fields in the metadata by the @code{fdroid checkupdates} process.
1097 @code{None} - No checking is done because there's no appropriate automated way
1098 of doing so. Updates should be checked for manually. Use this, for example,
1099 when deploying betas or patched versions; when builds are done in a directory
1100 different to where the AndroidManifest.xml is; if the developers use the
1101 gradle build system and store version info in a separate file; if the
1102 developers make a new branch for each release and don't make tags; or if you've
1103 changed the package name or version code logic.
1105 @code{Static} - No checking is done - either development has ceased or new versions
1106 are not desired. This method is also used when there is no other checking method
1107 available and the upstream developer keeps us posted on new versions.
1109 @code{RepoManifest} - At the most recent commit, the AndroidManifest.xml file
1110 is looked for in the directory where it was found in the the most recent build.
1111 The appropriateness of this method depends on the development process used by
1112 the application's developers. You should not specify this method unless you're
1113 sure it's appropriate. For example, some developers bump the version when
1114 commencing development instead of when publishing.
1115 It will return an error if the AndroidManifest.xml has moved to a different
1116 directory or if the package name has changed.
1117 The current version that it gives may not be accurate, since not all
1118 versions are fit to be published. Therefore, before building, it is often
1119 necessary to check if the current version has been published somewhere by the
1120 upstream developers, either by checking for apks that they distribute or for
1121 tags in the source code repository.
1123 It currently works for every repository type to different extents, except
1124 the srclib repo type. For git, git-svn and hg repo types, you may use
1125 "RepoManifest/yourbranch" as UCM so that "yourbranch" would be the branch used
1126 in place of the default one. The default values are "master" for git,
1127 "default" for hg and none for git-svn (it stays in the same branch).
1128 On the other hand, branch support hasn't been implemented yet in bzr and svn,
1129 but RepoManifest may still be used without it.
1131 @code{RepoTrunk} - For svn and git-svn repositories, especially those who
1132 don't have a bundled AndroidManifest.xml file, the Tags and RepoManifest
1133 checks will not work, since there is no version information to obtain. But,
1134 for those apps who automate their build process with the commit ref that HEAD
1135 points to, RepoTrunk will set the Current Version and Current Version Code to
1138 @code{Tags} - The AndroidManifest.xml file in all tagged revisions in the
1139 source repository is checked, looking for the highest version code. The
1140 appropriateness of this method depends on the development process used by the
1141 application's developers. You should not specify this method unless you're sure
1142 it's appropriate. It shouldn't be used if the developers like to tag betas or
1143 are known to forget to tag releases. Like RepoManifest, it will not return the
1144 correct value if the directory containing the AndroidManifest.xml has moved.
1145 Despite these caveats, it is the often the favourite update check mode.
1147 It currently only works for git, hg, bzr and git-svn repositories. In the case
1148 of the latter, the repo URL must encode the path to the trunk and tags or else
1149 no tags will be found.
1151 @code{HTTP} - HTTP requests are used to determine the current version code and
1152 version name. This is controlled by the @code{Update Check Data} field, which
1153 is of the form @code{urlcode|excode|urlver|exver}.
1155 Firstly, if @code{urlcode} is non-empty, the document from that URL is
1156 retrieved, and matched against the regular expression @code{excode}, with the
1157 first group becoming the version code.
1159 Secondly, if @code{urlver} is non-empty, the document from that URL is
1160 retrieved, and matched against the regular expression @code{exver}, with the
1161 first group becoming the version name. The @code{urlver} field can be set to
1162 simply '.' which says to use the same document returned for the version code
1163 again, rather than retrieving a different one.
1166 @node Update Check Data
1167 @section Update Check Data
1169 @cindex Update Check Data
1171 Used in conjunction with @code{Update Check Mode} for certain modes.
1173 @node Vercode Operation
1174 @section Vercode Operation
1176 @cindex Vercode Operation
1178 Operation to be applied to the vercode obtained by the defined @code{Update
1179 Check Mode}. @code{%c} will be replaced by the actual vercode, and the whole
1180 string will be passed to python's @code{eval} function.
1182 Especially useful with apps that we want to compile for different ABIs, but
1183 whose vercodes don't always have trailing zeros. With @code{Vercode Operation}
1184 set at something like @code{%c*10 + 4}, we will be able to track updates and
1185 build three different versions of every upstream version.
1187 @node Archive Policy
1188 @section Archive Policy
1190 @cindex Archive Policy
1192 This determines the policy for moving old versions of an app to the archive
1193 repo, if one is configured. The configuration sets a default maximum number
1194 of versions kept in the main repo, after which older ones are moved to the
1195 archive. This app-specific policy setting can override that.
1197 Currently the only supported format is "n versions", where n is the number
1198 of versions to keep.
1200 @node Auto Update Mode
1201 @section Auto Update Mode
1203 @cindex Auto Update Mode
1205 This determines the method using for auto-generating new builds when new
1206 releases are available - in other words, adding a new Build Version line to the
1208 This happens in conjunction with the 'Update Check Mode' functionality - i.e.
1209 when an update is detected by that, it is also processed by this.
1215 @code{None} - No auto-updating is done
1217 @code{Version} - Identifies the target commit (i.e. tag) for the new build based
1218 on the given version specification, which is simply text in which %v and %c are
1219 replaced with the required version name and version code respectively.
1221 For example, if an app always has a tag "2.7.2" corresponding to version 2.7.2,
1222 you would simply specify "Version %v". If an app always has a tag "ver_1234"
1223 for a version with version code 1234, you would specify "Version ver_%c".
1225 Additionally, a suffix can be added to the version name at this stage, to
1226 differentiate F-Droid's build from the original. Continuing the first example
1227 above, you would specify that as "Version +-fdroid %v" - "-fdroid" is the suffix.
1231 @node Current Version
1232 @section Current Version
1234 @cindex Current Version
1236 The name of the version that is current. There may be newer versions of the
1237 application than this (e.g. betas), and there will almost certainly be older
1238 ones. This should be the one that is recommended for general use.
1239 In the event that there is no source code for the current version, or that
1240 non-free libraries are being used, this would ideally be the latest
1241 version that is still free, though it may still be expedient to
1242 retain the automatic update check — see No Source Since.
1244 This field is normally automatically updated - see Update Check Mode.
1246 This is converted to (@code{<marketversion>}) in the public index file.
1248 @node Current Version Code
1249 @section Current Version Code
1251 @cindex Current Version Code
1253 The version code corresponding to the Current Version field. Both these fields
1254 must be correct and matching although it's the current version code that's
1255 used by Android to determine version order and by F-Droid client to determine
1256 which version should be recommended.
1258 This field is normally automatically updated - see Update Check Mode.
1260 This is converted to (@code{<marketvercode>}) in the public index file.
1262 @node No Source Since
1263 @section No Source Since
1265 @cindex No Source Since
1267 In case we are missing the source code for the Current Version reported by
1268 Upstream, or that non-free elements have been introduced, this defines the
1269 first version that began to miss source code.
1270 Apps that are missing source code for just one or a few versions, but provide
1271 source code for newer ones are not to be considered here - this field is
1272 intended to illustrate which apps do not currently distribute source code, and
1273 since when have they been doing so.
1275 @node Update Processing
1276 @chapter Update Processing
1280 There are various mechanisms in place for automatically detecting that updates
1281 are available for applications, with the @code{Update Check Mode} field in the
1282 metadata determining which method is used for a particular application.
1284 Running the @code{fdroid checkupdates} command will apply this method to each
1285 application in the repository and update the @code{Current Version} and
1286 @code{Current Version Code} fields in the metadata accordingly.
1288 As usual, the @code{-p} option can be used with this, to restrict processing
1289 to a particular application.
1291 Note that this only updates the metadata such that we know what the current
1292 published/recommended version is. It doesn't make that version available in
1293 the repository - for that, see the next section.
1297 Adding updates (i.e. new versions of applications already included in the
1298 repository) happens in two ways. The simple case is applications where the
1299 APK files are binaries, retrieved from a developer's published build. In this
1300 case, all that's required is to place the new binary in the @code{Repo}
1301 directory, and the next run of @code{fdroid update} will pick it up.
1303 For applications built from source, it is necessary to add a new
1304 @code{Build Version} line to the metadata file. At the very least, the version
1305 name, version code and commit will be different. It is also possible that the
1306 additional build flags will change between versions.
1308 For processing multiple updates in the metadata at once, it can be useful to
1309 run @code{fdroid update --interactive}. This will check all the applications
1310 in the repository, and where updates are required you will be prompted to
1311 [E]dit the metadata, [I]gnore the update, or [Q]uit altogether.
1314 @chapter Build Server
1316 The Build Server system isolates the builds for each package within a clean,
1317 isolated and secure throwaway virtual machine environment.
1321 Building applications in this manner on a large scale, especially with the
1322 involvement of automated and/or unattended processes, could be considered
1323 a dangerous pastime from a security perspective. This is even more the case
1324 when the products of the build are also distributed widely and in a
1325 semi-automated ("you have updates available") fashion.
1327 Assume that an upstream source repository is compromised. A small selection
1328 of things that an attacker could do in such a situation:
1332 Use custom ant build steps to execute virtually anything as the user doing
1335 Access the keystore.
1337 Modify the built apk files or source tarballs for other applications in the
1340 Modify the metadata (which includes build scripts, which again, also includes
1341 the ability to execute anything) for other applications in the repository.
1344 Through complete isolation, the repurcussions are at least limited to the
1345 application in question. Not only is the build environment fresh for each
1346 build, and thrown away afterwards, but it is also isolated from the signing
1349 Aside from security issues, there are some applications which have strange
1350 requirements such as custom versions of the NDK. It would be impractical (or
1351 at least extremely messy) to start modifying and restoring the SDK on a
1352 multi-purpose system, but within the confines of a throwaway single-use
1353 virtual machine, anything is possible.
1355 All this is in addition to the obvious advantage of having a standardised
1356 and completely reproducible environment in which builds are made. Additionally,
1357 it allows for specialised custom build environments for particular
1360 @section Setting up a build server
1362 In addition to the basic setup previously described, you will also need
1363 a Vagrant-compatible Ubuntu Raring base box called 'raring32' (or raring64
1364 for a 64-bit VM, if you want it to be much slower, and require more disk
1367 You can use a different version or distro for the base box, so long as you
1368 don't expect any help making it work. One thing to be aware of is that
1369 working copies of source trees are moved from the host to the guest, so
1370 for example, having subversion v1.6 on the host and v1.7 on the guest
1373 Unless you're very trusting. you should create one of these for yourself
1374 from verified standard Ubuntu installation media. However, you could skip
1375 over the next few paragraphs (and sacrifice some security) by downloading
1376 @url{https://f-droid.org/raring32.box} or @url{https://f-droid.org/raring64.box}.
1378 Documentation for creating a base box can be found at
1379 @url{http://docs.vagrantup.com/v1/docs/base_boxes.html}.
1381 In addition to carefully following the steps described there, you should
1382 consider the following:
1386 It is advisable to disable udev network device persistence, otherwise any
1387 movement of the VM between machines, or reconfiguration, will result in
1390 For a Debian/Ubuntu default install, just
1391 @code{touch /etc/udev/rules.d/75-persistent-net-generator.rules} to turn
1392 off rule generation, and at the same time, get rid of any rules it's
1393 already created in @code{/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules}.
1395 Unless you want the VM to become totally inaccessible following a failed
1396 boot, you need to set @code{GRUB_RECORDFAIL_TIMEOUT} to a value other than
1397 -1 in @code{/etc/grub/default} and then run @code{update-grub}.
1400 You may also want to edit @code{buildserver/Vagrantfile} - in particular
1401 there is a path for retrieving the base box if it doesn't exist, and an
1402 apt proxy definition, both of which may need customising for your
1405 With this base box available, you should then create @code{makebs.config.py},
1406 using @code{makebs.config.sample.py} as a reference - look at the settings and
1407 documentation there to decide if any need changing to suit your environment.
1408 You can then go to the @code{fdroidserver} directory and run this:
1411 ./makebuildserver.py
1414 This will take a long time, and use a lot of bandwidth - most of it spent
1415 installing the necessary parts of the Android SDK for all the various
1416 platforms. Luckily you only need to do it occasionally. Once you have a
1417 working build server image, if the recipes change (e.g. when packages need
1418 to be added) you can just run that script again and the existing one will
1419 be updated in place.
1421 The main sdk/ndk downloads will automatically be cached to speed things
1422 up the next time, but there's no easy way of doing this for the longer
1423 sections which use the SDK's @code{android} tool to install platforms,
1424 add-ons and tools. However, instead of allowing automatic caching, you
1425 can supply a pre-populated cache directory which includes not only these
1426 downloads, but also .tar.gz files for all the relevant additions. If the
1427 provisioning scripts detect these, they will be used in preference to
1428 running the android tools. For example, if you have
1429 @code{buildserver/addons/cache/platforms/android-15.tar.gz} that will be
1430 used when installing the android-15 platform, instead of re-downloading it
1431 using @code{android update sdk --no-ui -t android-15}.
1433 Once it's complete you'll have a new base box called 'buildserver' which is
1434 what's used for the actual builds. You can then build packages as normal,
1435 but with the addition of the @code{--server} flag to @code{fdroid build} to
1436 instruct it to do all the hard work within the virtual machine.
1438 The first time a build is done, a new virtual machine is created using the
1439 'buildserver' box as a base. A snapshot of this clean machine state is saved
1440 for use in future builds, to improve performance. You can force discarding
1441 of this snapshot and rebuilding from scratch using the @code{--resetserver}
1442 switch with @code{fdroid build}.
1447 There are two kinds of signing involved in running a repository - the signing
1448 of the APK files generated from source builds, and the signing of the repo
1449 index itself. The latter is optional, but very strongly recommended.
1451 @section Repo Index Signing
1453 When setting up the repository, one of the first steps should be to generate
1454 a signing key for the repository index. This will also create a keystore, which
1455 is a file that can be used to hold this and all other keys used. Consider the
1456 location, security and backup status of this file carefully, then create it as
1459 @code{keytool -genkey -v -keystore my.keystore -alias repokey -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000}
1461 In the above, replace 'my.keystore' with the name of the keystore file to be
1462 created, and 'repokey' with a name to identify the repo index key by.
1464 You'll be asked for a password for the keystore, AND a password for the key.
1465 They shouldn't be the same. In between, you'll be asked for some identifying
1466 details which will go in the certificate.
1468 The two passwords entered go into @code{config.py}, as @code{keystorepass} and
1469 @code{keypass} respectively. The path to the keystore file, and the alias you
1470 chose for the key also go into that file, as @code{keystore} and
1471 @code{repo_keyalias} respectively.
1473 @section Package Signing
1475 With the repo index signing configured, all that remains to be done for package
1476 signing to work is to set the @code{keydname} field in @code{config.py} to
1477 contain the same identifying details you entered before.
1479 A new key will be generated using these details, for each application that is
1480 built. (If a specific key is required for a particular application, this system
1481 can be overridden using the @code{keyaliases} config settings.
1484 @node GNU Free Documentation License
1485 @appendix GNU Free Documentation License