https://github.com/amnesica/f-droid-guide
Simple instructions for adding an app to F-Droid
https://github.com/amnesica/f-droid-guide
f-droid fdroid guide helper
Last synced: about 2 months ago
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Simple instructions for adding an app to F-Droid
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/amnesica/f-droid-guide
- Owner: amnesica
- License: gpl-3.0
- Created: 2023-05-20T10:10:29.000Z (almost 2 years ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2023-05-26T09:25:27.000Z (almost 2 years ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-01-30T23:32:25.274Z (3 months ago)
- Topics: f-droid, fdroid, guide, helper
- Homepage:
- Size: 33.2 KB
- Stars: 2
- Watchers: 2
- Forks: 1
- Open Issues: 0
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- License: LICENSE
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README
# Guide for adding an app to F-Droid
Simple instructions for adding an app to F-Droid. For more instructions visit [the official Gitlab repo](https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroiddata/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md). Goal of the steps below is to create a merge request on their offical repo so they can add your app.
## Steps
### 1. Prepare your app (example app is hosted in Github)
* Add fastlane structure with descriptions, icon, title, screenshots etc for the F-Droid store:
* In the root directory of your app create the following folder structure in `fastlane/metadata/android/`([source](https://f-droid.org/en/docs/All_About_Descriptions_Graphics_and_Screenshots/)). For an example see [here](https://github.com/amnesica/KryptEY/tree/master/fastlane/metadata/android/en-US). Not all entries are mandatory (in my case having `short_description.txt`, `full_description.txt`, `title.txt`, changelog file, `icon.png`, `featureGraphic.png` and screenshots in the resp. directories was enough)
```
├── en-US (en-US is the F-Droid fallback language)
│ ├── short_description.txt (short description, max 80 chars, mandatory)
│ ├── full_description.txt (full app description, mandatory)
│ ├── title.txt (app name)
│ ├── video.txt (URL to a video introducing the app)
│ ├── images
│ │ ├── icon.png (app icon, mandatory if your app doesn't include any png icon)
│ │ ├── featureGraphic.png (promo banner, shown on top of the app desc in F-Droid client; landscape)
│ │ ├── tvBanner.png ("icon" for TV devices, currently not used)
│ │ ├── phoneScreenshots
│ │ │ ├── 1.png
│ │ │ ├── 2.png
│ │ │ ...
│ │ ├── sevenInchScreenshots/
│ │ ├── tenInchScreenshots/ (you may add different screenshots for different screen sizes)
│ │ ├── tvScreenshots/
│ │ └── wearScreenshots/
│ └── changelogs
│ ├── 100000.txt (must correspond to versionCode, literally, no padding)
│ ├── 100100.txt (if the version code was set to 100100)
│ └── 100101.txt (maximum size: 500 characters)
└── ru (other locale codes)
... (localized metadata is always preferred by the client)
└── changelogs
└── 100100.txt
```
* Build signed apk in Android studio (optional: if you want reproducible builds on F-Droid make sure to build the apk with Java 11 OpenJDK (Go to your Android studio settings and select `java-11-openjdk` for the Gradle JDK under `Build, Execution, Deployment -> Build Tools -> Gradle`))
* Create a tagged release on Github and add signed apk file
* Create the tag with `v1.0.0` for example. The prefix `v` is important in my case (as we will see later)
* (optional) Get checksum of signed apk file (needed later for reproducible builds on F-Droid!)
* Make sure your apk was build with `java-11-openjdk`! (see step above)
* Go to your local android installation folder (`/home/YOUR-USERNAME/Android/Sdk/build-tools`) and select the right build-tools version (in my case its 33.0.0). Go into the `/lib` directory. You should see the `apksigner.jar`
* If you want you can create an `alias` to the `apksigner.jar` which is needed for creating the checksum: I'm using `zsh` so I'm going into my `.zshrc` and pasting `alias apksigner="java -jar /home/YOUR-USERNAME/Android/Sdk/build-tools/33.0.0/lib/apksigner.jar"`. Save and `source` the `.zshrc` file.
* Go to your signed apk and use `apksigner verify --print-certs YOUR-SIGNED-APK-NAME.apk | grep SHA-256`
* Save the output for later! (in my case its `Signer #1 certificate SHA-256 digest: 8e3b3bfb8308fa4cd14b9a32deb31e0b15106d25eb6258b6e25c963bebf8b3ee`)
### 2. Add app metadata to F-Droid repo (without fdroidserver)
1. Create a Gitlab account
2. Visit and fork the [fdroiddata repository](https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroiddata)
3. Visit your fork
4. Create a new branch
5. Naming it like the app name or, much better, the app id makes it easier to keep track of your contributions.
6. Visit the `metadata` directory of your fork.
7. Add a new file by clicking on the plus sign and choosing *"New file"*.
8. Set the file name in the following schema: `.yml`. So an example would be *"com.app.example.yml"*.
9. Write down the metadata. The [Build Metadata Reference](https://f-droid.org/en/docs/Build_Metadata_Reference) as well as the [templates](https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroiddata/-/blob/master/templates/README.md) will help you. For simplicity I will use my own example metadata file for [KryptEY](https://github.com/amnesica/KryptEY) and add some explanations (please remove them if you're using this as a template!!):
```
Categories:
- Security # Choose one or multiple existing categories (`Connectivity`, `Development`, `Games`, `Graphics`, `Internet`, `Money`, `Multimedia`, `Navigation`, `Phone & SMS`, `Reading`, `Science & Education`, `Security`, `Sports & Health`, `System`, `Theming`, `Time`, `Writing`). Create another `- ExampleCategory` when you wish to add another category
License: GPL-3.0-only # Add your license here!
AuthorName: amnesica # Your name
SourceCode: https://github.com/amnesica/KryptEY # Link to your repo
IssueTracker: https://github.com/amnesica/KryptEY/issues # Link to the issues page of your repo
Changelog: https://github.com/amnesica/KryptEY/releases # Link to the release page of your repo
AutoName: KryptEY # App name
RepoType: git # What kind of git it is
Repo: https://github.com/amnesica/KryptEY.git # Link to your repo with `.git` ending
Binaries: https://github.com/amnesica/KryptEY/releases/download/v%v/com.amnesica.kryptey_v%v-release.apk # (optional if you want reproducible builds!) Generalized link to your signed apk (when you use the tag `vX.X.X` you can just reuse this link here and change app name and so forth)
Builds:
- versionName: 0.1.5 # Version name without `v` (see your build.gradle)
versionCode: 24 # Version code without (see your build.gradle)
commit: v0.1.5 # Latest tag of version (specifies the tag, commit or revision number from which to build it in the source repository)
subdir: app # Latest tag of version
gradle:
- yes
AllowedAPKSigningKeys: 8e3b3bfb8308fa4cd14b9a32deb31e0b15106d25eb6258b6e25c963bebf8b3ee # (optional if you want reproducible builds!) Checksum of the apksigner output (see step above)
AutoUpdateMode: Version # Method used for auto-generating new builds when new releases are available
UpdateCheckMode: Tags v.* # Method using for determining when new releases are available
CurrentVersion: 0.1.5 # Name of the version that is the recommended release
CurrentVersionCode: 24 # Version code corresponding to the CurrentVersion field
```
11. Choose a smart commit message and commit your changes.
12. Go to the `CI/CD` menu in the GitLab project of your fork.
13. Check if the pipeline for your commit(s) succeed. If not, take a look into the logs and try to fix the error by editing the metadata file again.
* If there are errors look at the pipeline and try to fix them. When reproducible builds are wanted and the pipeline fails, make sure to add the following code in your `build.gradle`
```
compileOptions {
sourceCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_11
targetCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_11
}
```
14. If everything went fine, you can create a new [merge request](https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroiddata/-/merge_requests) at the `fdroiddata` repository.
15. Now wait for the packagers to pick up your Merge Request. Please keep track if they asked any questions and reply to them as soon as possible.