1 \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
3 @setfilename fdroid.info
4 @documentencoding UTF-8
5 @settitle F-Droid Server Manual
9 This manual is for the F-Droid repository server tools.
11 Copyright @copyright{} 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 Ciaran Gultnieks
13 Copyright @copyright{} 2011 Henrik Tunedal, Michael Haas, John Sullivan
15 Copyright @copyright{} 2013 David Black
17 Copyright @copyright{} 2013, 2014 Daniel MartÃ
20 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
21 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3
22 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
23 with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.
24 A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU
25 Free Documentation License".
30 @title F-Droid Server Manual
31 @author Ciaran Gultnieks and the F-Droid project
33 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
49 * System Requirements::
51 * Simple Binary Repository::
52 * Building Applications::
53 * Importing Applications::
58 * GNU Free Documentation License::
65 The F-Droid server tools provide various scripts and tools that are used
66 to maintain the main F-Droid application repository. You can use these same
67 tools to create your own additional or alternative repository for publishing,
68 or to assist in creating, testing and submitting metadata to the main
72 @node System Requirements
73 @chapter System Requirements
77 The system requirements for using the tools will vary depending on your
78 intended usage. At the very least, you'll need:
86 The Android SDK Tools and Build-tools.
87 Note that F-Droid does not assume that you have the Android SDK in your
88 @code{PATH}: these directories will be specified in your repository
89 configuration. Recent revisions of the SDK have @code{aapt} located in
90 android-sdk/build-tools/ and it may be necessary to make a symlink to it in
91 android-sdk/platform-tools/
94 If you intend to build applications from source you'll also need most, if not
95 all, of the following:
99 JDK (Debian package openjdk-6-jdk): openjdk-6 is recommended though openjdk-7
102 VCS clients: svn, git, git-svn, hg, bzr
104 A keystore for holding release keys. (Safe, secure and well backed up!)
107 If you intend to use the 'Build Server' system, for secure and clean builds
108 (highly recommended), you will also need:
112 VirtualBox (debian package virtualbox)
114 Ruby (debian packages ruby and rubygems)
116 Vagrant (unpackaged) 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 vagrant-cachier plugin (unpackaged): `vagrant plugin install vagrant-cachier`
121 Paramiko (debian package python-paramiko)
123 Imaging (debian package python-imaging)
125 Magic (debian package python-magic)
128 On the other hand, if you want to build the apps directly on your system
129 without the 'Build Server' system, you may need:
133 All SDK platforms requested by the apps you want to build
134 (The Android SDK is made available by Google under a proprietary license but
135 within that, the SDK platforms, support library and some other components are
136 under the Apache license and source code is provided.
137 Google APIs, used for building apps using Google Maps, are free to the extent
138 that the library comes pre-installed on the device.
139 Google Play Services, Google Admob and others are proprietary and shouldn't be
140 included in the main F-Droid repository.)
142 A version of the Android NDK
144 Ant with Contrib Tasks (Debian packages ant and ant-contrib)
146 Maven (Debian package maven)
148 JavaCC (Debian package javacc)
150 Miscellaneous packages listed in
151 buildserver/cookbooks/fdroidbuild-general/recipes/default.rb
152 of the F-Droid server repository
158 @cindex setup, installation
160 Because the tools and data will always change rapidly, you will almost
161 certainly want to work from a git clone of the tools at this stage. To
165 git clone https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroidserver.git
168 You now have lots of stuff in the fdroidserver directory, but the most
169 important is the 'fdroid' command script which you run to perform all tasks.
170 This script is always run from a repository data directory, so the
171 most sensible thing to do next is to put your new fdroidserver directory
176 To do anything, you'll need at least one repository data directory. It's
177 from this directory that you run the @code{fdroid} command to perform all
178 repository management tasks. You can either create a brand new one, or
179 grab a copy of the data used by the main F-Droid repository:
182 git clone https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroiddata.git
185 Regardless of the intended usage of the tools, you will always need to set
186 up some basic configuration details. This is done by creating a file called
187 @code{config.py} in the data directory. You should do this by copying the
188 example file (@code{./examples/config.py}) from the fdroidserver project to
189 your data directory and then editing according to the instructions within.
191 Once configured in this way, all the functionality of the tools is accessed
192 by running the @code{fdroid} command. Run it on its own to get a list of the
193 available sub-commands.
195 You can follow any command with @code{--help} to get a list of additional
196 options available for that command.
203 @node Simple Binary Repository
204 @chapter Simple Binary Repository
208 If you want to maintain a simple repository hosting only binary APKs obtained
209 and compiled elsewhere, the process is quite simple:
213 Set up the server tools, as described in Setup.
215 Make a directory for your repository. This is the directory from which you
216 will do all the work with your repository. Create a config file there, called
217 @code{config.py}, by copying @code{./examples/config.py} from the server
218 project and editing it.
220 Within that, make a directory called @code{repo} and put APK files in it.
222 Run @code{fdroid update}.
224 If it reports that any metadata files are missing, you can create them
225 in the @code{metadata} directory and run it again.
227 To ease creation of metadata files, run @code{fdroid update} with the @code{-c}
228 option. It will create 'skeleton' metadata files that are missing, and you can
229 then just edit them and fill in the details.
231 Then, if you've changed things, run @code{fdroid update} again.
233 Running @code{fdroid update} adds an Icons directory into the repo directory,
234 and also creates the repository index (index.xml, and also index.jar if you've
235 configured the system to use a signed index).
237 Publish the resulting contents of the @code{repo} directory to your web server.
240 Following the above process will result in a @code{repo} directory, which you
241 simply need to push to any HTTP (or preferably HTTPS) server to make it
244 While some information about the applications (and versions thereof) is
245 retrieved directly from the APK files, most comes from the corresponding file
246 in the @code{metadata} directory. The metadata file covering ALL versions of a
247 particular application is named @code{package.id.txt} where package.id is the
248 unique identifier for that package.
250 See the Metadata chapter for details of what goes in the metadata file. All
251 fields are relevant for binary APKs, EXCEPT for @code{Build:} entries, which
255 @node Building Applications
256 @chapter Building Applications
258 Instead of (or as well as) including binary APKs from external sources in a
259 repository, you can build them directly from the source code.
261 Using this method, it is is possible to verify that the application builds
262 correctly, corresponds to the source code, and contains only free software.
263 Unforunately, in the Android world, it seems to be very common for an
264 application supplied as a binary APK to present itself as Free Software
265 when in fact some or all of the following are true:
269 The source code (either for a particular version, or even all versions!) is
270 unavailable or incomplete.
272 The source code is not capable of producing the actual binary supplied.
274 The 'source code' contains binary files of unknown origin, or with proprietary
278 For this reason, source-built applications are the preferred method for the
279 main F-Droid repository, although occasionally for technical or historical
280 reasons, exceptions are made to this policy.
282 When building applications from source, it should be noted that you will be
283 signing them (all APK files must be signed to be installable on Android) with
284 your own key. When an application is already installed on a device, it is not
285 possible to upgrade it in place to a new version signed with a different key
286 without first uninstalling the original. This may present an inconvenience to
287 users, as the process of uninstalling loses any data associated with the
288 previous installation.
290 The process for managing a repository for built-from-source applications is
291 very similar to that described in the Simple Binary Repository chapter,
292 except now you need to:
296 Include Build entries in the metadata files.
298 Run @code{fdroid build} to build any applications that are not already built.
300 Run @code{fdroid publish} to finalise packaging and sign any APKs that have
305 @section More about "fdroid build"
307 When run without any parameters, @code{fdroid build} will build any and all
308 versions of applications that you don't already have in the @code{repo}
309 directory (or more accurately, the @code{unsigned} directory). There are various
310 other things you can do. As with all the tools, the @code{--help} option is
311 your friend, but a few annotated examples and discussion of the more common
314 To build a single version of a single application, you could run the
318 ./fdroid build org.fdroid.fdroid:16
321 This attempts to build version code 16 (which is version 0.25) of the F-Droid
322 client. Many of the tools recognise arguments as packages, allowing their
323 activity to be limited to just a limited set of packages.
325 If the build above was successful, two files will have been placed in the
326 @code{unsigned} directory:
329 org.fdroid.fdroid_16.apk
330 org.fdroid.fdroid_16_src.tar.gz
333 The first is the (unsigned) APK. You could sign this with a debug key and push
334 it direct to your device or an emulator for testing. The second is a source
335 tarball containing exactly the source that was used to generate the binary.
337 If you were intending to publish these files, you could then run:
343 The source tarball would move to the @code{repo} directory (which is the
344 directory you would push to your web server). A signed and zip-aligned version
345 of the APK would also appear there, and both files would be removed from the
346 @code{unsigned} directory.
348 If you're building purely for the purposes of testing, and not intending to
349 push the results to a repository, at least yet, the @code{--test} option can be
350 used to direct output to the @code{tmp} directory instead of @code{unsigned}.
351 A similar effect could by achieved by simply deleting the output files from
352 @code{unsigned} after the build, but with the risk of forgetting to do so!
354 Along similar lines (and only in conjunction with @code{--test}, you can use
355 @code{--force} to force a build of a Disabled application, where normally it
356 would be completely ignored. Similarly a version that was found to contain
357 ELFs or known non-free libraries can be forced to build. See also —
358 @code{scanignore=} and @code{scandelete=} in the @code{Build:} section.
360 If the build was unsuccessful, you can find out why by looking at the output
361 in the logs/ directory. If that isn't illuminating, try building the app the
362 regular way, step by step: android update project, ndk-build, ant debug.
364 Note that source code repositories often contain prebuilt libraries. If the
365 app is being considered for the main F-Droid repository, it is important that
366 all such prebuilts are built either via the metadata or by a reputable third
370 @section Direct Installation
372 You can also build and install directly to a connected device or emulator
373 using the @code{fdroid install} command. If you do this without passing
374 packages as arguments then all the latest built and signed version available
375 of each package will be installed . In most cases, this will not be what you
376 want to do, so execution will stop straight away. However, you can override
377 this if you're sure that's what you want, by using @code{--all}. Note that
378 currently, no sanity checks are performed with this mode, so if the files in
379 the signed output directory were modified, you won't be notified.
382 @node Importing Applications
383 @chapter Importing Applications
385 To help with starting work on including a new application, @code{fdroid import}
386 will take a URL and optionally some other parameters, and attempt to construct
387 as much information as possible by analysing the source code. Basic usage is:
390 ./fdroid import --url=http://address.of.project
393 For this to work, the URL must point to a project format that the script
394 understands. Currently this is limited to one of the following:
398 Gitorious - @code{https://gitorious.org/PROJECTNAME/REPONAME}
400 Github - @code{https://github.com/USER/PROJECT}
402 Google Code - @code{http://code.google.com/p/PROJECT/}
403 Supports git, svn and hg repos.
405 Some Google Code projects have multiple repositories, identified by a
406 dropdown list on the @code{source/checkout} page. To access one other than
407 the default, specify its name using the @code{--repo} switch.
409 Bitbucket - @code{https://bitbucket.org/USER/PROJECT/}
411 Git - @code{git://REPO}
414 Depending on the project type, more or less information may be gathered. For
415 example, the license will be retrieved from a Google Code project, but not a
416 GitHub one. A bare repo url, such as the git:// one, is the least preferable
417 optional of all, since you will have to enter much more information manually.
419 If the import is successful, a metadata file will be created. You will need to
420 edit this further to check the information, and fill in the blanks.
422 If it fails, you'll be told why. If it got as far as retrieving the source
423 code, you can inspect it further by looking in @code{tmp/importer} where a full
426 A frequent cause of initial failure is that the project directory is actually
427 a subdirectory in the repository. In this case, run the importer again using
428 the @code{--subdir} option to tell it where. It will not attempt to determine
429 this automatically, since there may be several options.
437 Information used by update.py to compile the public index comes from two
442 the APK files in the repo directory, and
444 the metadata files in the metadata directory.
447 The metadata files are simple, easy to edit text files, always named as the
448 application's package ID with '.txt' appended.
450 Note that although the metadata files are designed to be easily read and
451 writable by humans, they are also processed and written by various scripts.
452 They are capable of rewriting the entire file when necessary. Even so,
453 the structure and comments will be preserved correctly, although the order
454 of fields will be standardised. (In the event that the original file was
455 in a different order, comments are considered as being attached to the field
456 following them). In fact, you can standardise all the metadata in a single
457 command, without changing the functional content, by running:
460 fdroid rewritemetadata
463 The following sections describe the fields recognised within the file.
488 * Update Check Mode::
489 * Update Check Ignore::
490 * Vercode Operation::
491 * Update Check Name::
492 * Update Check Data::
495 * Current Version Code::
502 Any number of categories for the application to be placed in. There is no
503 fixed list of categories - both the client and the web site will automatically
504 show any categories that exist in any applications. However, if your metadata
505 is intended for the main F-Droid repository, you should use one of the
506 existing categories (look at the site/client), or discuss the proposal to add
509 Categories must be separated by a single comma character, ','. For backwards
510 compatibility, F-Droid will use the first category given as <category> element
511 for older clients to at least see one category.
513 This is converted to (@code{<categories>}) in the public index file.
520 The overall license for the application, or in certain cases, for the
533 GNU GPL version 2 or later
541 GNU GPL version 3 or later
545 An unspecified GPL version. Use this only as a last resort or if there is
546 some confusion over compatiblity of component licenses: particularly the use of
547 Apache libraries with GPLv2 source code.
551 Afferro GPL version 3.
563 BSD license - the original '4-clause' version.
567 BSD license - the new, or modified, version.
571 This is converted to (@code{<license>}) in the public index file.
578 The name of the application as can best be retrieved from the source code.
579 This is done so that the commitupdates script can put a familiar name in the
580 description of commits created when a new update of the application is
581 found. The Auto Name entry is generated automatically when @code{fdroid
582 checkupdates} is run.
589 The name of the application. Normally, this field should not be present since
590 the application's correct name is retrieved from the APK file. However, in a
591 situation where an APK contains a bad or missing application name, it can be
592 overridden using this. Note that this only overrides the name in the list of
593 apps presented in the client; it doesn't changed the name or application label
601 Comma-separated list of application IDs that this app provides. In other
602 words, if the user has any of these apps installed, F-Droid will show this app
603 as installed instead. It will also appear if the user clicks on urls linking
604 to the other app IDs. Useful when an app switches package name, or when you
605 want an app to act as multiple apps.
612 The URL for the application's web site. If there is no relevant web site, this
613 can be omitted (or left blank).
615 This is converted to (@code{<web>}) in the public index file.
622 The URL to view or obtain the application's source code. This should be
623 something human-friendly. Machine-readable source-code is covered in the
626 This is converted to (@code{<source>}) in the public index file.
629 @section Issue Tracker
631 @cindex Issue Tracker
633 The URL for the application's issue tracker. Optional, since not all
634 applications have one.
636 This is converted to (@code{<tracker>}) in the public index file.
643 The URL to donate to the project. This should be the project's donate page
646 It is possible to use a direct PayPal link here, if that is all that is
647 available. However, bear in mind that the developer may not be aware of
648 that direct link, and if they later changed to a different PayPal account,
649 or the PayPal link format changed, things could go wrong. It is always
650 best to use a link that the developer explicitly makes public, rather than
651 something that is auto-generated 'button code'.
653 This is converted to (@code{<donate>}) in the public index file.
660 The project's Flattr (http://flattr.com) ID, if it has one. This should be
661 a numeric ID, such that (for example) https://flattr.com/thing/xxxx leads
662 directly to the page to donate to the project.
664 This is converted to (@code{<flattr>}) in the public index file.
671 A bitcoin address for donating to the project.
673 This is converted to (@code{<bitcoin>}) in the public index file.
680 A litecoin address for donating to the project.
687 A brief summary of what the application is. Since the summary is only allowed
688 one line on the list of the F-Droid client, keeping it to within 50 characters
689 will ensure it fits most screens.
696 A full description of the application, relevant to the latest version.
697 This can span multiple lines (which should be kept to a maximum of 80
698 characters), and is terminated by a line containing a single '.'.
700 Basic MediaWiki-style formatting can be used. Leaving a blank line starts a
701 new paragraph. Surrounding text with @code{''} make it italic, and with
702 @code{'''} makes it bold.
704 You can link to another app in the repo by using @code{[[app.id]]}. The link
705 will be made appropriately whether in the Android client, the web repo
706 browser or the wiki. The link text will be the apps name.
708 Links to web addresses can be done using @code{[http://example.com Text]}.
710 For both of the above link formats, the entire link (from opening to closing
711 square bracket) must be on the same line.
713 Bulletted lists are done by simply starting each item with a @code{*} on
714 a new line, and numbered lists are the same but using @code{#}. There is
715 currently no support for nesting lists - you can have one level only.
717 It can be helpful to note information pertaining to updating from an
718 earlier version; whether the app contains any prebuilts built by the
719 upstream developers or whether non-free elements were removed; whether the
720 app is in rapid development or whether the latest version lags behind the
721 current version; whether the app supports multiple architectures or whether
722 there is a maximum SDK specified (such info not being recorded in the index).
724 This is converted to (@code{<desc>}) in the public index file.
726 @node Maintainer Notes
727 @section Maintainer Notes
729 @cindex Maintainer Notes
731 This is a multi-line field using the same rules and syntax as the description.
732 It's used to record notes for F-Droid maintainers to assist in maintaining and
733 updating the application in the repository.
735 This information is also published to the wiki.
742 The type of repository - for automatic building from source. If this is not
743 specified, automatic building is disabled for this application. Possible
765 The repository location. Usually a git: or svn: URL, for example.
767 The git-svn option connects to an SVN repository, and you specify the URL in
768 exactly the same way, but git is used as a back-end. This is preferable for
769 performance reasons, and also because a local copy of the entire history is
770 available in case the upstream repository disappears. (It happens!). In
771 order to use Tags as update check mode for this VCS type, the URL must have
772 the tags= special argument set. Likewise, if you intend to use the
773 RepoManifest/branch scheme, you would want to specify branches= as well.
774 Finally, trunk= can also be added. All these special arguments will be passed
775 to "git svn" in order, and their values must be relative paths to the svn repo
777 Here's an example of a complex git-svn Repo URL:
778 http://svn.code.sf.net/p/project/code/svn;trunk=trunk;tags=tags;branches=branches
780 For a Subversion repo that requires authentication, you can precede the repo
781 URL with username:password@ and those parameters will be passed as @option{--username}
782 and @option{--password} to the SVN checkout command. (This now works for both
785 If the Repo Type is @code{srclib}, then you must specify the name of the
786 according srclib .txt file. For example if @code{scrlibs/FooBar.txt} exist
787 and you want to use this srclib, then you have to set Repo to
795 Any number of these fields can be present, each specifying a version to
796 automatically build from source. The value is a comma-separated list.
801 The above specifies to build version 1.2, which has a version code of 12.
802 The @code{commit=} parameter specifies the tag, commit or revision number from
803 which to build it in the source repository. It is the only mandatory flag,
804 which in this case could for example be @code{commit=v1.2}.
806 In addition to the three, always required, parameters described above,
807 further parameters can be added (in name=value format) to apply further
808 configuration to the build. These are (roughly in order of application):
812 @item disable=<message>
813 Disables this build, giving a reason why. (For backwards compatibility, this
814 can also be achieved by starting the commit ID with '!')
816 The purpose of this feature is to allow non-buildable releases (e.g. the source
817 is not published) to be flagged, so the scripts don't generate repeated
818 messages about them. (And also to record the information for review later).
819 If an apk has already been built, disabling causes it to be deleted once
820 @code{fdroid update} is run; this is the procedure if ever a version has to
824 Specifies to build from a subdirectory of the checked out source code.
825 Normally this directory is changed to before building,
828 Use if the project (git only) has submodules - causes @code{git submodule
829 update --init --recursive} to be executed after the source is cloned.
830 Submodules are reset and cleaned like the main app repository itself before
834 As for 'prebuild', but runs on the source code BEFORE any other processing
837 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
838 android SDK and NDK directories, and maven 3 executable respectively.
841 The sdk location in the repo is in an old format, or the build.xml is
842 expecting such. The 'new' format is sdk.dir while the VERY OLD format
843 is sdk-location. Typically, if you get a message along the lines of:
844 "com.android.ant.SetupTask cannot be found" when trying to build, then
845 try enabling this option.
847 @item target=<target>
848 Specifies a particular SDK target for compilation, overriding the value
849 defined in the code by upstream. This has different effects depending on what
850 build system used — this flag currently affects Ant, Maven and Gradle projects
851 only. Note that this does not change the target SDK in the
852 AndroidManifest.xml, which determines the level of features that can be
853 included in the build.
855 In the case of an Ant project, it modifies project.properties of the app and
856 possibly sub-projects. This is likely to cause the whole build.xml to be
857 rewritten, which is fine if it's a 'standard' android file or doesn't already
858 exist, but not a good idea if it's heavily customised.
860 @item update=<auto/dirs>
861 By default, 'android update' is used in Ant builds to generate or update the
862 project and all its referenced projects. Specifying update=no bypasses that.
863 Note that this is useless in builds that don't use Ant.
865 Default value is '@code{auto}', which recursively uses the paths in
866 project.properties to find all the subprojects to update.
868 Otherwise, the value can be a comma-separated list of directories in which to
869 run 'android update' relative to the application directory.
872 Adds a java.encoding property to local.properties with the given
873 value. Generally the value will be 'utf-8'. This is picked up by the
874 SDK's ant rules, and forces the Java compiler to interpret source
875 files with this encoding. If you receive warnings during the compile
876 about character encodings, you probably need this.
878 @item forceversion=yes
879 If specified, the package version in AndroidManifest.xml is replaced
880 with the version name for the build as specified in the metadata.
882 This is useful for cases when upstream repo failed to update it for
883 specific tag; to build an arbitrary revision; to make it apparent that
884 the version differs significantly from upstream; or to make it apparent
885 which architecture or platform the apk is designed to run on.
887 @item forcevercode=yes
888 If specified, the package version code in the AndroidManifest.xml is
889 replaced with the version code for the build. See also forceversion.
891 @item rm=relpath1,relpath2,...
892 Specifies the relative paths of files or directories to delete before
893 the build is done. The paths are relative to the base of the build
894 directory - i.e. the root of the directory structure checked out from
895 the source respository - not necessarily the directory that contains
898 Multiple files/directories can be specified by separating them with ','.
899 Directories will be recursively deleted.
901 @item extlibs=a,b,...
902 Comma-separated list of external libraries (jar files) from the
903 @code{build/extlib} library, which will be placed in the @code{libs} directory
906 @item srclibs=[n:]a@@r,[n:]b@@r1,...
907 Comma-separated list of source libraries or Android projects. Each item is of
908 the form name@@rev where name is the predefined source library name and rev is
909 the revision or tag to use in the respective source control.
911 For Ant projects, you can optionally append a number with a colon at the
912 beginning of a srclib item to automatically place it in project.properties as
913 a library under the specified number. For example, if you specify
914 @code{1:somelib@@1.0}, f-droid will automatically do the equivalent of the
915 legacy practice @code{prebuild=echo "android.library.reference.1=$$somelib$$"
916 >> project.properties}.
918 Each srclib has a metadata file under srclibs/ in the repository directory,
919 and the source code is stored in build/srclib/.
920 Repo Type: and Repo: are specified in the same way as for apps; Subdir: can be
921 a comma separated list, for when directories are renamed by upstream; Update
922 Project: updates the projects in the working directory and one level down;
923 Prepare: can be used for any kind of preparation: in particular if you need to
924 update the project with a particular target. You can then also use $$name$$ in
925 the init/prebuild/build command to substitute the relative path to the library
926 directory, but it could need tweaking if you've changed into another directory.
929 Apply patch(es). 'x' names one (or more - comma-seperated) files within a
930 directory below the metadata, with the same name as the metadata file but
931 without the extension. Each of these patches is applied to the code in turn.
934 Specifies a shell command (or commands - chain with &&) to run before the
935 build takes place. Backslash can be used as an escape character to insert
936 literal commas, or as the last character on a line to join that line with the
937 next. It has no special meaning in other contexts; in particular, literal
938 backslashes should not be escaped.
940 The command runs using bash.
942 Note that nothing should be built during this prebuild phase - scanning of the
943 code and building of the source tarball, for example, take place after this.
944 For custom actions that actually build things or produce binaries, use 'build'
947 You can use $$name$$ to substitute the path to a referenced srclib - see
948 the @code{srclib} directory for details of this.
950 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
951 android SDK and NDK directories, and Maven 3 executable respectively e.g.
952 for when you need to run @code{android update project} explicitly.
954 @item scanignore=path1,path2,...
955 Enables one or more files/paths to be excluded from the scan process.
956 This should only be used where there is a very good reason, and
957 probably accompanied by a comment explaining why it is necessary.
959 When scanning the source tree for problems, matching files whose relative
960 paths start with any of the paths given here are ignored.
962 @item scandelete=path1,path2,...
963 Similar to scanignore=, but instead of ignoring files under the given paths,
964 it tells f-droid to delete the matching files directly.
967 As for 'prebuild', but runs during the actual build phase (but before the
968 main Ant/Maven build). Use this only for actions that do actual building.
969 Any prepartion of the source code should be done using 'init' or 'prebuild'.
971 Any building that takes place before build= will be ignored, as either Ant,
972 mvn or gradle will be executed to clean the build environment right before
973 build= (or the final build) is run.
975 You can use $$SDK$$, $$NDK$$ and $$MVN3$$ to substitute the paths to the
976 android SDK and NDK directories, and Maven 3 executable respectively.
978 @item buildjni=[yes|no|<dir list>]
979 Enables building of native code via the ndk-build script before doing
980 the main Ant build. The value may be a list of directories relative
981 to the main application directory in which to run ndk-build, or 'yes'
982 which corresponds to '.' . Using explicit list may be useful to build
983 multi-component projects.
985 The build and scan processes will complain (refuse to build) if this
986 parameter is not defined, but there is a @code{jni} directory present.
987 If the native code is being built by other means like a Gradle task, you
988 can specify @code{no} here to avoid that. However, if the native code is
989 actually not required or used, remove the directory instead (using
990 @code{rm=jni} for example). Using @code{buildjni=no} when the jni code
991 isn't used nor built will result in an error saying that native
992 libraries were expected in the resulting package.
994 @item gradle=<flavour>
995 Build with Gradle instead of Ant, specifying what flavour to assemble.
996 If <flavour> is 'yes' or 'main', no flavour will be used. Note
997 that this will not work on projects with flavours, since it will build
998 all flavours and there will be no 'main' build.
1000 @item maven=yes[@@<dir>]
1001 Build with Maven instead of Ant. An extra @@<dir> tells f-droid to run Maven
1002 inside that relative subdirectory. Sometimes it is needed to use @@.. so that
1003 builds happen correctly.
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 Ignore
1209 @section Update Check Ignore
1211 @cindex Update Check Ignore
1213 When checking for updates (via @code{Update Check Mode}) this can be used to
1214 specify a regex which, if matched against the version name, causes that version
1215 to be ignored. For example, 'beta' could be specified to ignore version names
1216 that include that text.
1218 @node Update Check Name
1219 @section Update Check Name
1221 @cindex Update Check Name
1223 When checking for updates (via @code{Update Check Mode}) this can be used to
1224 specify the package name to search for. Useful when apps have a static package
1225 name but change it programmatically in some app flavors, by e.g. appending
1226 ".open" or ".free" at the end of the package name.
1228 @node Update Check Data
1229 @section Update Check Data
1231 @cindex Update Check Data
1233 Used in conjunction with @code{Update Check Mode} for certain modes.
1235 @node Auto Update Mode
1236 @section Auto Update Mode
1238 @cindex Auto Update Mode
1240 This determines the method using for auto-generating new builds when new
1241 releases are available - in other words, adding a new Build Version line to the
1243 This happens in conjunction with the 'Update Check Mode' functionality - i.e.
1244 when an update is detected by that, it is also processed by this.
1250 @code{None} - No auto-updating is done
1252 @code{Version} - Identifies the target commit (i.e. tag) for the new build based
1253 on the given version specification, which is simply text in which %v and %c are
1254 replaced with the required version name and version code respectively.
1256 For example, if an app always has a tag "2.7.2" corresponding to version 2.7.2,
1257 you would simply specify "Version %v". If an app always has a tag "ver_1234"
1258 for a version with version code 1234, you would specify "Version ver_%c".
1260 Additionally, a suffix can be added to the version name at this stage, to
1261 differentiate F-Droid's build from the original. Continuing the first example
1262 above, you would specify that as "Version +-fdroid %v" - "-fdroid" is the suffix.
1266 @node Current Version
1267 @section Current Version
1269 @cindex Current Version
1271 The name of the version that is current. There may be newer versions of the
1272 application than this (e.g. betas), and there will almost certainly be older
1273 ones. This should be the one that is recommended for general use.
1274 In the event that there is no source code for the current version, or that
1275 non-free libraries are being used, this would ideally be the latest
1276 version that is still free, though it may still be expedient to
1277 retain the automatic update check — see No Source Since.
1279 This field is normally automatically updated - see Update Check Mode.
1281 This is converted to (@code{<marketversion>}) in the public index file.
1283 @node Current Version Code
1284 @section Current Version Code
1286 @cindex Current Version Code
1288 The version code corresponding to the Current Version field. Both these fields
1289 must be correct and matching although it's the current version code that's
1290 used by Android to determine version order and by F-Droid client to determine
1291 which version should be recommended.
1293 This field is normally automatically updated - see Update Check Mode.
1295 This is converted to (@code{<marketvercode>}) in the public index file.
1297 @node No Source Since
1298 @section No Source Since
1300 @cindex No Source Since
1302 In case we are missing the source code for the Current Version reported by
1303 Upstream, or that non-free elements have been introduced, this defines the
1304 first version that began to miss source code.
1305 Apps that are missing source code for just one or a few versions, but provide
1306 source code for newer ones are not to be considered here - this field is
1307 intended to illustrate which apps do not currently distribute source code, and
1308 since when have they been doing so.
1310 @node Update Processing
1311 @chapter Update Processing
1315 There are various mechanisms in place for automatically detecting that updates
1316 are available for applications, with the @code{Update Check Mode} field in the
1317 metadata determining which method is used for a particular application.
1319 Running the @code{fdroid checkupdates} command will apply this method to each
1320 application in the repository and update the @code{Current Version} and
1321 @code{Current Version Code} fields in the metadata accordingly.
1323 As usual, the @code{-p} option can be used with this, to restrict processing
1324 to a particular application.
1326 Note that this only updates the metadata such that we know what the current
1327 published/recommended version is. It doesn't make that version available in
1328 the repository - for that, see the next section.
1332 Adding updates (i.e. new versions of applications already included in the
1333 repository) happens in two ways. The simple case is applications where the
1334 APK files are binaries, retrieved from a developer's published build. In this
1335 case, all that's required is to place the new binary in the @code{Repo}
1336 directory, and the next run of @code{fdroid update} will pick it up.
1338 For applications built from source, it is necessary to add a new
1339 @code{Build Version} line to the metadata file. At the very least, the version
1340 name, version code and commit will be different. It is also possible that the
1341 additional build flags will change between versions.
1343 For processing multiple updates in the metadata at once, it can be useful to
1344 run @code{fdroid update --interactive}. This will check all the applications
1345 in the repository, and where updates are required you will be prompted to
1346 [E]dit the metadata, [I]gnore the update, or [Q]uit altogether.
1349 @chapter Build Server
1351 The Build Server system isolates the builds for each package within a clean,
1352 isolated and secure throwaway virtual machine environment.
1356 Building applications in this manner on a large scale, especially with the
1357 involvement of automated and/or unattended processes, could be considered
1358 a dangerous pastime from a security perspective. This is even more the case
1359 when the products of the build are also distributed widely and in a
1360 semi-automated ("you have updates available") fashion.
1362 Assume that an upstream source repository is compromised. A small selection
1363 of things that an attacker could do in such a situation:
1367 Use custom Ant build steps to execute virtually anything as the user doing
1370 Access the keystore.
1372 Modify the built apk files or source tarballs for other applications in the
1375 Modify the metadata (which includes build scripts, which again, also includes
1376 the ability to execute anything) for other applications in the repository.
1379 Through complete isolation, the repurcussions are at least limited to the
1380 application in question. Not only is the build environment fresh for each
1381 build, and thrown away afterwards, but it is also isolated from the signing
1384 Aside from security issues, there are some applications which have strange
1385 requirements such as custom versions of the NDK. It would be impractical (or
1386 at least extremely messy) to start modifying and restoring the SDK on a
1387 multi-purpose system, but within the confines of a throwaway single-use
1388 virtual machine, anything is possible.
1390 All this is in addition to the obvious advantage of having a standardised
1391 and completely reproducible environment in which builds are made. Additionally,
1392 it allows for specialised custom build environments for particular
1395 @section Setting up a build server
1397 In addition to the basic setup previously described, you will also need
1398 a Vagrant-compatible Debian Testing base box called 'testing32' (or testing64
1399 for a 64-bit VM, if you want it to be much slower, and require more disk
1402 You can use a different version or distro for the base box, so long as you
1403 don't expect any help making it work. One thing to be aware of is that
1404 working copies of source trees are moved from the host to the guest, so
1405 for example, having subversion v1.6 on the host and v1.7 on the guest
1408 Unless you're very trusting. you should create one of these for yourself
1409 from verified standard Debian installation media. However, you could skip
1410 over the next few paragraphs (and sacrifice some security) by downloading
1411 @url{https://f-droid.org/testing32.box}.
1413 Documentation for creating a base box can be found at
1414 @url{http://docs.vagrantup.com/v1/docs/base_boxes.html}.
1416 In addition to carefully following the steps described there, you should
1417 consider the following:
1421 It is advisable to disable udev network device persistence, otherwise any
1422 movement of the VM between machines, or reconfiguration, will result in
1425 For a Debian/Ubuntu default install, just
1426 @code{touch /etc/udev/rules.d/75-persistent-net-generator.rules} to turn
1427 off rule generation, and at the same time, get rid of any rules it's
1428 already created in @code{/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules}.
1430 Unless you want the VM to become totally inaccessible following a failed
1431 boot, you need to set @code{GRUB_RECORDFAIL_TIMEOUT} to a value other than
1432 -1 in @code{/etc/grub/default} and then run @code{update-grub}.
1436 With this base box available, you should then create @code{makebs.config.py},
1437 using @code{./examples/makebs.config.py} as a reference - look at the settings and
1438 documentation there to decide if any need changing to suit your environment.
1439 There is a path for retrieving the base box if it doesn't exist, and an apt
1440 proxy definition, both of which may need customising for your environment.
1441 You can then go to the @code{fdroidserver} directory and run this:
1447 This will take a long time, and use a lot of bandwidth - most of it spent
1448 installing the necessary parts of the Android SDK for all the various
1449 platforms. Luckily you only need to do it occasionally. Once you have a
1450 working build server image, if the recipes change (e.g. when packages need
1451 to be added) you can just run that script again and the existing one will
1452 be updated in place.
1454 The main sdk/ndk downloads will automatically be cached to speed things
1455 up the next time, but there's no easy way of doing this for the longer
1456 sections which use the SDK's @code{android} tool to install platforms,
1457 add-ons and tools. However, instead of allowing automatic caching, you
1458 can supply a pre-populated cache directory which includes not only these
1459 downloads, but also .tar.gz files for all the relevant additions. If the
1460 provisioning scripts detect these, they will be used in preference to
1461 running the android tools. For example, if you have
1462 @code{buildserver/addons/cache/platforms/android-19.tar.gz} that will be
1463 used when installing the android-19 platform, instead of re-downloading it
1464 using @code{android update sdk --no-ui -t android-19}.
1466 Once it's complete you'll have a new base box called 'buildserver' which is
1467 what's used for the actual builds. You can then build packages as normal,
1468 but with the addition of the @code{--server} flag to @code{fdroid build} to
1469 instruct it to do all the hard work within the virtual machine.
1471 The first time a build is done, a new virtual machine is created using the
1472 'buildserver' box as a base. A snapshot of this clean machine state is saved
1473 for use in future builds, to improve performance. You can force discarding
1474 of this snapshot and rebuilding from scratch using the @code{--resetserver}
1475 switch with @code{fdroid build}.
1480 There are two kinds of signing involved in running a repository - the signing
1481 of the APK files generated from source builds, and the signing of the repo
1482 index itself. The latter is optional, but very strongly recommended.
1484 @section Repo Index Signing
1486 When setting up the repository, one of the first steps should be to generate
1487 a signing key for the repository index. This will also create a keystore, which
1488 is a file that can be used to hold this and all other keys used. Consider the
1489 location, security and backup status of this file carefully, then create it as
1492 @code{keytool -genkey -v -keystore my.keystore -alias repokey -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000}
1494 In the above, replace 'my.keystore' with the name of the keystore file to be
1495 created, and 'repokey' with a name to identify the repo index key by.
1497 You'll be asked for a password for the keystore, AND a password for the key.
1498 They shouldn't be the same. In between, you'll be asked for some identifying
1499 details which will go in the certificate.
1501 The two passwords entered go into @code{config.py}, as @code{keystorepass} and
1502 @code{keypass} respectively. The path to the keystore file, and the alias you
1503 chose for the key also go into that file, as @code{keystore} and
1504 @code{repo_keyalias} respectively.
1506 @section Package Signing
1508 With the repo index signing configured, all that remains to be done for package
1509 signing to work is to set the @code{keydname} field in @code{config.py} to
1510 contain the same identifying details you entered before.
1512 A new key will be generated using these details, for each application that is
1513 built. (If a specific key is required for a particular application, this system
1514 can be overridden using the @code{keyaliases} config settings.
1517 @node GNU Free Documentation License
1518 @appendix GNU Free Documentation License