Files
musicshare/docs/FDROID.md
T
chrisandClaude Opus 5.5 3b39910f13 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>
2026-10-14 21:28:52 -04:00

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3.1 KiB
Markdown

# Releasing on F-Droid
The Android app can be built with no closed-source code: `MUSICSHARE_FOSS=1` leaves out Google's ML
Kit / Play Services barcode scanner that expo-camera normally bundles, and the QR scanner then decodes
camera snapshots with jsQR instead (`apps/mobile/src/lib/qrSnapshot.ts`). Everything else in the app
is already open source. Expo's native modules are built from source rather than from Expo's
precompiled AARs (`expo.autolinking.android.buildFromSource` in `apps/mobile/package.json`), which
F-Droid requires and which is also what lets the scanner be switched off. Release builds without our signing key come out unsigned, which is what
F-Droid wants: it signs with its own key.
## What's in the repo for this
- `LICENSE`: AGPL-3.0 (also set in every `package.json`).
- `fastlane/metadata/android/en-US/`: the store listing F-Droid shows (title, descriptions, icon,
changelogs, screenshots).
- `fdroid/tech.chrisedwards.musicshare.yml`: a draft of the build recipe for fdroiddata.
- `apps/mobile/app.config.ts`: the `MUSICSHARE_FOSS=1` switch (turns off expo-camera's ML Kit scanner).
## Before submitting
1. **Publish the source somewhere public**, such as Codeberg (popular with F-Droid apps) or GitHub,
and put its URL in place of `PUBLIC_REPO_URL` in the recipe.
2. **Add screenshots**: 2-8 portrait PNGs in `fastlane/metadata/android/en-US/images/phoneScreenshots/`
named `1.png`, `2.png`, and so on.
3. **Tag the release**: `git tag v1.0.0 && git push --tags`. F-Droid builds from tags.
4. **Check the FOSS build yourself**:
```bash
cd apps/mobile
MUSICSHARE_FOSS=1 CI=1 npx expo prebuild --platform android --clean --no-install
cd android && ./gradlew :app:assembleRelease
# nothing from Google's closed-source libraries should be inside:
unzip -l app/build/outputs/apk/release/app-release*.apk | grep -iE 'mlkit|gms' || echo clean
```
## Submitting
1. Fork https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroiddata, copy the recipe to `metadata/tech.chrisedwards.musicshare.yml`.
2. Test it with `fdroid readmeta`, `fdroid lint tech.chrisedwards.musicshare` and
`fdroid build -v -l tech.chrisedwards.musicshare` (fdroidserver, or their Docker image).
3. Open a merge request. Reviewers often ask for changes to how Node is installed or how npm
dependencies are fetched for React Native apps; that's normal.
The listing will carry the **NonFreeNet** anti-feature, because the app can connect to Spotify, Apple
Music, Last.fm and Plex. That's expected and doesn't block inclusion.
## Releasing an update
1. Bump `version` and `android.versionCode` in `apps/mobile/app.json`.
2. Add `fastlane/metadata/android/en-US/changelogs/<versionCode>.txt`.
3. Commit, tag `v<version>`, push the tag. F-Droid picks it up automatically (`AutoUpdateMode`).
Our own server builds the signed APKs for the same tag (see `docs/ANDROID-CI.md`).
## IzzyOnDroid (faster alternative)
IzzyOnDroid's repository lists apps from signed APKs attached to releases, usually within days, and
F-Droid's client can add it. Attach the APK built with our key (or the FOSS build) to each release on
the public repo and request inclusion at https://gitlab.com/IzzyOnDroid/repo.