I’ve never published an app over f-droid before but I want to now.
But I am kinda lazy and don’t have too much will/time, so I assume a “request for packaging” would be my best option?
Also I have a few questions:
Is every app (including mine) analyzed for malicious code when it’s uploaded or is there done any kind of analyzing? I assume due to the amount of apps this isn’t possible.
If I understand correctly, F-droid copies the source-code and then builds the app itself so that the user can be sure the binary is exactly what the source-code says?
How long does it take for an update of my app to arrive at the store?
How do I do an update? Do I have to push a commit with a certain tag or just increment the projects version number?
Since to publish apps in Google’s () Play Store you have to pay 50$, I donated 50$ to f-droid. I love the idea that f-droid is based on and use it personally on my Android device!
Analyzed, not really… but you’d have to do the bad stuff at some point, we’d get you
True story
Depends, there’s no fixed sched, asap, this is not a CI, there are humans involved
With autoupdate thing just work out, if not, manual MR to add the updated recipe, volunteers check and merge, then later build.
Tags are the preferred way, bump versionName & Code, Tag, and the autoupdate (bar other issues) just picks it up after a few hours (yes this is a CI job)
Join the F-Droid Team: Tasks of a Reviewer is a check-list of how we do the reviews (basically, some details might be missing – especially not all “special cases” are listed)
With auto-update usually around a week (sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit faster) if all goes well. Should the build fail, the process is delayed until that’s fixed, of course. And as already said, manual steps are always involved (at least signing is manual).
To better manage time expectations, you should be aware that updates to an existing app typically take just a few days to a week (assuming no build, &c, issues), but initial publishing has often taken months.
But, if you need assistance along the process, do ask: the community will help!
That sounds good. I’m doing potentially very dangerous things (using SSH with user’s credentials…), only in LAN. If an update introduces new permissions you don’t notify the user about that, because the Android OS already does so, correct?
Thank you very much. Is this a check-list my app must meet before it can be published; so I can just work off this list and save you guys some work in communication (e.g. ‘pls add this’, ‘pls add that’)?
Okay then I will do just that. What’s the best way to go from here for me? Create a request-for-packaging? What requirements does my app have to meet before it has a chance of getting accepted?
I always used my apps privately so I’m not even familiar with version numbers
Definitely! If it meets all the points, it will certainly speed up processing.
That’s a very good starting point. It will automatically trigger our issue-bot to scan your repo and point out possible problems – or simply confirm all is fine. We can pick up from there then.
See the check-list? Right when opening a RFP, you will be presented with the question whether your app meets our includion criteria. You can follow that link to see.
Easy rule:
versionCode must be increased with each new release (that’s what Android uses to see which one is newer)
versionName should show something the user can easily interpret. Semantic Versioning is a good standard for that.
) Play Store you have to pay 50$, I donated 50$ to f-droid. I love the idea that f-droid is based on and use it personally on my Android device! 
Right when opening a RFP, you will be presented with the question whether your app meets our includion criteria. You can follow that link to see.