REQUEST: please add the app to f-droid

its easy and you can also make your own repository that can be added to f-droid client!

[MajoranaOedipus]

I wrote a build script for reproducible builds to work.

I tried to get this working in a Debian 13 virtual machine, as freshly-install as I can make it. Please review before anyone actually run it.

I failed to produce an APK because:

Execution failed for task ':app:packageRelease'.
> A failure occurred while executing com.android.build.gradle.tasks.PackageAndroidArtifact$IncrementalSplitterRunnable
   > SigningConfig "release" is missing required property "storeFile".

I might have made some mistakes but I cannot figure it out for now.

The two scripts shall be put in the same dir and run in that dir:

Details

preparing.sh:

#! /usr/bin/bash

set -e

echo "Updating and install essentials (root required)"
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y ninja-build libmpv-dev mpv ffmpeg libmimalloc-dev cmake openjdk-21-jdk wget

echo "Getting commet source"
# commit hash for v0.4.0
COMMET_COMMIT="c8ea1249d0ec05582fc007b247c5b83fe9ce72f6"
if [ ! -d "commet" ]; then
    git clone https://github.com/commetchat/commet.git
fi
git -C commet checkout -f $COMMET_COMMIT

echo "Getting Android SDK"
export ANDROID_SDK_ROOT=$(pwd)/android-sdk
mkdir -p "$ANDROID_SDK_ROOT"
if [ ! -d "$ANDROID_SDK_ROOT"/cmdline-tools ]; then
    wget https://dl.google.com/android/repository/commandlinetools-linux-10406996_latest.zip -O "$ANDROID_SDK_ROOT"/commandlinetools.zip
    unzip "$ANDROID_SDK_ROOT"/commandlinetools.zip -d "$ANDROID_SDK_ROOT"
    mv "$ANDROID_SDK_ROOT"/cmdline-tools "$ANDROID_SDK_ROOT"/latest
    mkdir -p "$ANDROID_SDK_ROOT"/cmdline-tools
    mv "$ANDROID_SDK_ROOT"/latest "$ANDROID_SDK_ROOT"/cmdline-tools/
fi
yes | $ANDROID_SDK_ROOT/cmdline-tools/latest/bin/sdkmanager --licenses
BUILD_GRADLE=$(pwd)/commet/commet/android/build.gradle
COMPILE_SDK=$(sed -n 's/.*compileSdkVersion\s\+\([0-9]\+\).*/\1/p' "$BUILD_GRADLE")
BUILD_TOOLS=$(sed -n 's/.*buildToolsVersion\s\+"\([^"]\+\)".*/\1/p' "$BUILD_GRADLE")
$ANDROID_SDK_ROOT/cmdline-tools/latest/bin/sdkmanager "platform-tools" "platforms;android-$COMPILE_SDK" "build-tools;$BUILD_TOOLS"

echo "Getting Flutter"
FLUTTER_VERSION=3.35.4
FLUTTER_DIR=$(pwd)/flutter
if [ ! -d "$FLUTTER_DIR" ]; then
    git clone https://github.com/flutter/flutter.git "$FLUTTER_DIR"
fi
git -C "$FLUTTER_DIR" checkout -f $FLUTTER_VERSION
"$FLUTTER_DIR"/bin/flutter config --no-analytics

echo "Getting Rustup"
RUSTUP_VERSION=1.27.1
RUSTUP_DIR=$(pwd)/rustup
RUST_VERSION=1.87.0
if [ ! -d "$RUSTUP_DIR" ]; then
    git clone https://github.com/rust-lang/rustup "$FLUTTER_DIR"
fi
git -C "$RUSTUP_DIR" checkout -f "$RUSTUP_VERSION"
"$RUSTUP_DIR"/rustup-init.sh -y --default-toolchain "$RUST_VERSION" --target aarch64-linux-android

echo "Entering src dir"
cd commet/commet
export PUB_CACHE=$(pwd)/.pub-cache
if [ -d "$PUB_CACHE" ]; then
    rm -rf "$PUB_CACHE"
fi
"$FLUTTER_DIR"/bin/flutter pub get
env PATH="$FLUTTER_DIR"/bin:$PATH dart run scripts/codegen.dart
echo "Removing core-google-shortcuts dep"
sed -i -e '/core-google-shortcuts/d' .pub-cache/hosted/pub.dev/flutter_shortcuts_new-*/android/build.gradle

building.sh:

#! /usr/bin/bash

export ANDROID_SDK_ROOT=$(pwd)/android-sdk
export ANDROID_HOME="$ANDROID_SDK_ROOT"
export PUB_CACHE=$(pwd)/.pub-cache
FLUTTER_DIR=$(pwd)/flutter
echo "Entering src dir"
cd commet/commet

export PUB_CACHE=$(pwd)/.pub-cache
GIT_HASH=$(git rev-parse HEAD)
TAG=$(git describe --tags --exact-match HEAD)
TIME_MILLISECONDS=$(git --no-pager log -1 --format=%at)000
$FLUTTER_DIR/bin/flutter build apk --release --dart-define BUILD_MODE=release\
    --dart-define PLATFORM=android\
    --dart-define BUILD_DETAIL=fdroid\
    --dart-define GIT_HASH=$GIT_HASH\
    --dart-define VERSION_TAG=$TAG\
    --dart-define BUILD_DATE=$TIME_MILLISECONDS

@Airyzz I need your review to see if it is good. If so I might need to update the script at the F-Droid side to match the exact Rust version, Flutter version, etc.

I do not know how signing works so I would leave that to you.

[Handrail9]

@MajoranaOedipus I want to say thank you and Airyzz for your work getting this app closer to being on F-Droid!! It's awesome to see and I can't wait to be able to get updates through F-Droid 🚀

[MajoranaOedipus]

Although I haven't got the RB working, I think it is better to report a status.

Since the new version is out, I editted the build script:

builder.sh
preparing.sh

Note that either providing a key.properties or change the signingConfig in commet/android/app/build.grade to null is needed.

Also, to get the same result, I put the scripts in /builds/fdroid/fdroiddata/build/chat.commet.commetchat so that the path is the same in F-droid's GitLab CI, since Flutter writes path in the build.

Yet the APK obtained from the script and from the GitLab CI differs.

diffoscope-html.tar.gz

https://gitlab.com/fdroid/wiki/-/wikis/Tips-for-fdroiddata-contributors/HOWTO:-diff-&-fix-APKs-for-Reproducible-Builds?redirected_from=HOWTO:-diff-&-fix-APKs-for-Reproducible-Builds and https://f-droid.org/zh_Hans/docs/Reproducible_Builds/ suggests many possible fixes.

[MajoranaOedipus]

Currently problems may include:

• The path should actually be /builds/vagrant/fdroiddata/build/chat.commet.commetchat
• Rust version is actually not the one set in the script??

We can refer to https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroiddata/-/blob/master/metadata/com.poppingmoon.aria.yml, which is also an app built with flutter and rust, and got RB working

[Airyzz]

I notice your flutter version is different, yours is using 3.35.4, but we have updated to 3.41.1

[MajoranaOedipus]

@Airyzz OK.
How do you specify the Flutter and Rust version in the source? It would be better to grep it out from the source than we manually write it.

[MajoranaOedipus]

preparing.sh
builder.sh

I finally got RB working! Now the script (if signingConfig is null) produces exactly the same apk as F-Droid GitLab CI.

Some notes:

• This should works in a freshly installed Debian virtual machine
• key.properties can be added after preparing.sh
• I move the build dir to /home/runner/work/ i.e. the same as GitHub Action, if you would like to make a GitHub Action, there should be no need to move around

[wrenix]

So you just have to set the Binary and signature correct?
https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroiddata/-/merge_requests/32868

Is this the sigature you need?: https://github.com/commetchat/commet/releases/download/v0.4.1/commet-android.apk.asc

There is also the question why not need mpv installed and not just libmpv-dev.

PS: Thank you for you fantastic work.

[MajoranaOedipus]

@wrenix
Hi!

All that is remaining is to get the build signed by @Airyzz and published in the repo somewhere, so that the url can be used by F-Droid's build server to verify the resulting APK is the same.

The one in the current release cannot be used, since it includes propriatory dependency component (core-google-shortcuts) which unfortunately F-Droid prohibit.

As of mpv, I followed the README: https://github.com/commetchat/commet?tab=readme-ov-file#2-install-libraries

[VictorFloret]

Heeeyyy any updates on this issue? :3