Ways to build apps

1

how can i build my own app, using fdroid build. (if i have uploaded the source code on a public repo)

2

start at Building Applications | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository

3

i have built from fdroid official repo, but i was wondering if i can build without internet, for example if i already have the source code, then fdroid build doesnt need to download source code right?

4

if the code does not use more dependencies from Maven or whatever, yes, it could

5

what steps are needed in order to build an app (using fdroid build) that i just wrote, because im unable to get documentation on this.

6

you’ve read the article linked above? at which step did you encountered issues?

7

so i just need to write metadata file, according to my code? and then run fdroid build.

8

clone fdroiddata
clone fdroidserver

add your recipe to fdroiddata/metadata/yourappid.yml

etc

9

it throws no apps to process.

10

explain the steps you took

edited fdroiddata/metadata/yourappid.yml

then run: fdroid build --verbose yourappid

yes?

11

yes, thats exactly what i did

12

Paste the exact command and output

you’ve run the fdroid command in fdroiddata folder, yes?

13

deepak@deech:~/fdroiddata$ fdroid build -v com.example.reg
2024-03-11 18:03:37,369 DEBUG: Reading ‘config.yml’
2024-03-11 18:03:37,760 DEBUG: Popen([‘git’, ‘cat-file’, ‘–batch-check’], cwd=/home/deepak/fdroiddata, universal_newlines=False, shell=None, istream=)
2024-03-11 18:03:38,114 DEBUG: Popen([‘git’, ‘diff’, ‘–cached’, ‘–abbrev=40’, ‘–full-index’, ‘–raw’], cwd=/home/deepak/fdroiddata, universal_newlines=False, shell=None, istream=None)
2024-03-11 18:03:38,913 DEBUG: Popen([‘git’, ‘diff’, ‘–abbrev=40’, ‘–full-index’, ‘–raw’], cwd=/home/deepak/fdroiddata, universal_newlines=False, shell=None, istream=None)
2024-03-11 18:04:04,722 DEBUG: Popen([‘git’, ‘ls-files’, ‘–modified’], cwd=/home/deepak/fdroiddata, universal_newlines=False, shell=None, istream=None)
2024-03-11 18:04:06,232 DEBUG: Popen([‘git’, ‘status’, ‘–porcelain’, ‘–untracked-files’], cwd=/home/deepak/fdroiddata, universal_newlines=False, shell=None, istream=None)
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “/usr/bin/fdroid”, line 33, in
sys.exit(load_entry_point(‘fdroidserver==2.2.1’, ‘console_scripts’, ‘fdroid’)())
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File “/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/fdroidserver/main.py”, line 211, in main
mod.main()
File “/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/fdroidserver/build.py”, line 971, in main
raise FDroidException(“No apps to process.”)

14

please clone fdroidserver from Gitlab and use fdroid from that

can you paste the recipe for com.example.reg ?

15 
Categories:
  - Time
License: Unknown
SourceCode: https://github.com/deepak07dbz/reg.git
Description: A simple registration application.

Builds:
  - versionName: '1.0'
    versionCode: 1

AutoUpdateMode: None
UpdateCheckMode: None
CurrentVersion: '1.0'
CurrentVersionCode: 1

NoSourceSince: '1.1'

//is there some issue with fdroidserver from apt?

/L_K code block edit

16

no, just that is older

17

ok, so fdroid needs to build the app, how do you build it? with gradle? with NDK? with c++?

Do add a LICENSE file for your actual license (pick one with FSF and/or OSI column Y: SPDX License List | Software Package Data Exchange (SPDX)

maybe start with import: fdroid import --url https://github.com/deepak07dbz/reg --verbose

So the recipe it generates is:

License: Unknown
SourceCode: https://github.com/deepak07dbz/reg
IssueTracker: https://github.com/deepak07dbz/reg/issues

RepoType: git
Repo: https://github.com/deepak07dbz/reg

Builds:
  - versionName: '1.0'
    versionCode: 1
    disable: Generated by `fdroid import` - check version fields and commitid
    commit: 2bd6c7977a57e20b862e3d1cedea145882a1bc6b
    subdir: app
    gradle:
      - yes

AutoUpdateMode: None
UpdateCheckMode: Tags

remove the disable line else it would not be build, and we add Java17 since you use gradle 8

So we end up with a good draft:

License: Unknown
SourceCode: https://github.com/deepak07dbz/reg
IssueTracker: https://github.com/deepak07dbz/reg/issues

RepoType: git
Repo: https://github.com/deepak07dbz/reg.git

Builds:
  - versionName: '1.0'
    versionCode: 1
    commit: 2bd6c7977a57e20b862e3d1cedea145882a1bc6b
    subdir: app
    sudo:
      - apt-get update
      - apt-get install -y openjdk-17-jdk-headless
      - update-java-alternatives -a
    gradle:
      - yes

AutoUpdateMode: None
UpdateCheckMode: Tags

now try to build this one :wink:

18

THANK YOU, the build was successful, but is there a way i can build without internet , like in metadata can i add a local path in sourceCode field instead of repo url.

19

disconnect from the internet (or block whatever) and run with --no-refresh as mentioned in fdroidserver/build.py · master · F-Droid / fdroidserver · GitLab

20

So if i just copy the source code in build directory and recipe in metadata directory, i should be able to build with no refresh flag(provided no dependencies need to be downloaded)? Right?