When I do fdroid update it give an error of resources.arsc in the app

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1

I am creating and tesing an fdroid repository and i have added an official Whatsapp apk for testing in the repo and when I do fdroid update it gives the following error:

2025-11-10 16:05:47,335 INFO: Using /home/ejbd-sql-server/Documents/AndroidSDK/build-tools/36.1.0/apksigner
2025-11-10 16:05:47,345 WARNING: repo_icon “repo/icons/icon.png” does not exist! Check “config.yml”.
2025-11-10 16:05:47,863 INFO: Starting analysis on AndroidManifest.xml
2025-11-10 16:05:48,033 INFO: APK file was successfully validated!
2025-11-10 16:05:48,213 CRITICAL: Unknown exception found!
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/androguard/core/bytecodes/apk.py”, line 1556, in get_android_resources
return self.arsc[“resources.arsc”]
~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
KeyError: ‘resources.arsc’

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

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 230, in main
raise e
File “/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/fdroidserver/main.py”, line 211, in main
mod.main()
File “/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/fdroidserver/update.py”, line 2246, in main
apks, cachechanged = process_apks(apkcache, repodirs[0], knownapks,
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File “/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/fdroidserver/update.py”, line 1626, in process_apks
(skip, apk, cachethis) = process_apk(apkcache, apkfilename, repodir, knownapks,
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File “/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/fdroidserver/update.py”, line 1486, in process_apk
apk = scan_apk(apkfile)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File “/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/fdroidserver/update.py”, line 1235, in scan_apk
scan_apk_androguard(apk, apk_file)
File “/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/fdroidserver/update.py”, line 1322, in scan_apk_androguard
arsc = apkobject.get_android_resources()
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File “/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/androguard/core/bytecodes/apk.py”, line 1562, in get_android_resources
self.arsc[“resources.arsc”] = ARSCParser(self.zip.read(“resources.arsc”))
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File “/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/androguard/core/bytecodes/axml/init.py”, line 1326, in init
a_res_type = ARSCResType(self.buff, pc)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File “/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/androguard/core/bytecodes/axml/init.py”, line 2205, in init
raise ResParserError(“reserved must be zero!”)
androguard.core.bytecodes.axml.ResParserError: reserved must be zero!

All the older versions of the applications are working fine but the latest versions are not,
Kindly identify and help me out with this problem

2

maybe see res0 must be always zero (#1192) · Issues · F-Droid / fdroidserver · GitLab

or res1 must be zero! (#1232) · Issues · F-Droid / fdroidserver · GitLab ?

maybe update fdroidserver to the latest from Gitlab, 2.4.2 etc

3

@hans ping?

4

sounds like you need a newer version of androguard

5

I have the latest version of androguard (4.1.3) still doesn’t works

6

@hans @Licaon_Kter Is there any why I can disable the scanning of app through androguard?

7

androguard is essential. It is not used for scanning APKs, but extracting key
bits of info from.

8

Tried lots of ways but still stuck there androguard.core.bytecodes.axml.ResParserError: res1 must be zero!

9

so which Androguard version do you have? which OS?

10

and I am using Ubuntu linux

androguard (4.1.3)

11

@Licaon_Kter Does it have anything to do with fingerprint or certs?

12

if you’re using the latest androguard and you still see that issue, then you
should file an issue with Androguard.

1 Like
13

and where can I file an issue with Androguard? Can you please provide a link.

14
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