Build the Android app on our own Gitea runner

Pushing a v* tag builds the normal and FOSS APKs, signed with the upload
key, and attaches them to a Gitea release; a manual run on a branch
uploads a test build to the repo's packages. Everything runs on the
Gitea server: a builder image with the Android SDK, an act_runner
registered only for this repo, and plain shell steps (no third-party
actions). The build itself is apps/mobile/scripts/build-android.sh, the
same script for hand builds. Setup steps are in docs/ANDROID-CI.md.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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2026-10-14 21:28:52 -04:00
co-authored by Claude Opus 5.5
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# Building the Android app on the Gitea server
Pushing a version tag builds both APKs on our own server and attaches them to a Gitea release:
- `musicshare-<version>.apk`: the normal app.
- `musicshare-<version>-foss.apk`: no closed-source code, the same build F-Droid makes. The
build fails if any Google ML Kit or Play Services code ends up inside.
Both are signed with the upload key, and `SHA256SUMS` lists their checksums. Nothing leaves the server except the
downloads the build itself needs (npm packages, Gradle and its plugins).
The pieces:
| File | What it is |
| --- | --- |
| `.gitea/workflows/android.yml` | The workflow. It uses only plain shell steps, no third-party actions. |
| `apps/mobile/scripts/build-android.sh` | The build. You can also run it by hand on any machine with the Android SDK. |
| `deploy/android-builder/Dockerfile` | The build environment: Node 22, Java 17 and the Android SDK/NDK. |
| `deploy/gitea-runner/` | The runner (`act_runner`) that runs builds on the server. |
## One-time setup (on the Gitea server)
The server needs about 8 GB of free memory during a build and about 15 GB of disk for the image and
caches. A first build takes 30-40 minutes; later ones reuse the Gradle cache.
1. **Turn on Actions** if it's off. In Gitea's `app.ini`, set:
```ini
[actions]
ENABLED = true
```
Restart Gitea. Then, in the repo, go to **Settings > Repository > Actions** and enable it.
2. **Build the builder image** from a checkout of this repo:
```bash
docker build -t musicshare-android-builder deploy/android-builder
```
Rebuild it when React Native's SDK or NDK versions change (the Dockerfile says where to look).
3. **Start the runner.** In the repo, open **Settings > Actions > Runners > Create new runner** and
copy the token. Use the repo's page, not the site admin's, so the runner only takes this repo's jobs.
Then:
```bash
cd deploy/gitea-runner
RUNNER_TOKEN=<token> docker compose up -d
```
It registers once (saved in `./data`), then shows as idle with the label `musicshare-android`.
The runner controls Docker on the host, so treat it like root access. The workflow only runs for
tags and manual runs, never for pull requests.
4. **Add the secrets** under **Settings > Actions > Secrets**:
- `UPLOAD_KEYSTORE_BASE64`: the output of `base64 -w0 ~/.config/musicshare/musicshare-upload.jks`.
- `UPLOAD_STORE_PASSWORD`, `UPLOAD_KEY_ALIAS` (`musicshare-upload`), `UPLOAD_KEY_PASSWORD`: the values in
`~/.gradle/gradle.properties` on the machine you've been building on.
- `RELEASE_TOKEN`: create it under **User settings > Applications > Access tokens**, with
*write:repository* and *write:package* permissions.
## Releasing
1. Bump `version` and `android.versionCode` in `apps/mobile/app.json`. Add
`fastlane/metadata/android/en-US/changelogs/<versionCode>.txt`, then commit.
2. Tag and push: `git tag v1.1.0 && git push origin main v1.1.0`.
3. Watch it under the repo's **Actions** tab. The APKs appear on the **Releases** page.
The build refuses to run if the tag doesn't match the version in `app.json`. Re-running a tag's build replaces
that release's files.
**Test builds:** go to **Actions > Android > Run workflow** and pick a branch. The APKs go to the
repo's **Packages** as `musicshare-android`, versioned `<branch>-<commit>`, instead of to a release.
## Building by hand
```bash
apps/mobile/scripts/build-android.sh # APKs in apps/mobile/dist
```
It uses the upload key from `~/.gradle/gradle.properties` if it's there; otherwise the APKs come out unsigned.