Add F-Droid publishing guide and self-hosted repo helper script

docs/FDROID.md covers both a self-hosted F-Droid repo and the official
f-droid.org route (incl. the prebuilt-OpenCV caveat). scripts/update-fdroid-repo.sh
pulls the release APKs from Gitea and rebuilds the signed index.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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2026-07-13 23:42:18 +02:00
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# Publishing PaperScan on F-Droid
Two routes, from easiest to most reach:
1. **Your own F-Droid repository** — you host your signed APKs; users add your repo URL.
2. **The official f-droid.org repository** — huge reach, but they build from source and vet
dependencies.
Both use the store metadata in [`fastlane/metadata/android/`](../fastlane/metadata/android).
---
## 1. Your own F-Droid repository (recommended first)
You serve a small static site containing your signed APKs plus a signed index. Users add the
URL once in the F-Droid app and then get updates automatically. No review, no rebuild, and the
prebuilt OpenCV libraries are a non-issue because *you* provide the APK.
### One-time setup
Install `fdroidserver` (needs a JDK + the Android SDK build-tools on `PATH`):
```bash
pipx install fdroidserver # or: sudo apt install fdroidserver
```
Create the repo workspace and its **repo signing key** (separate from the app signing key —
it signs the index, not the app):
```bash
export FDROID_HOME="$HOME/paperscan-fdroid"
mkdir -p "$FDROID_HOME" && cd "$FDROID_HOME"
fdroid init # generates config.yml + keystore.p12
```
Edit `config.yml`:
```yaml
repo_url: "https://fdroid.geyskens.eu/repo" # where you'll host it
repo_name: "PaperScan"
repo_description: "Self-hosted F-Droid repository for PaperScan."
archive_older: 3 # keep last 3 versions in the main repo
```
⚠️ Back up `keystore.p12` and its passwords (in `config.yml` / `~/.config/fdroidserver`).
Lose it and you must publish a **new** repo URL — clients can't verify updates otherwise.
Let F-Droid pick up the localized store text: point it at this repo's fastlane metadata:
```bash
mkdir -p "$FDROID_HOME/metadata"
ln -s /path/to/paperscan/fastlane/metadata/android "$FDROID_HOME/metadata/eu.geyskens.pdfscan"
```
### Publishing a version
Use the helper script (pulls every release APK from Gitea and rebuilds the index):
```bash
FDROID_HOME="$HOME/paperscan-fdroid" /path/to/paperscan/scripts/update-fdroid-repo.sh
```
Then publish the generated `repo/` directory to your web host, e.g.:
```bash
rsync -a --delete "$FDROID_HOME/repo/" web:/var/www/fdroid/repo/
```
Serve it as plain static files (any web server). Users then:
**F-Droid app → Settings → Repositories → + → `https://fdroid.geyskens.eu/repo`**, and enable it.
Tip: `https://fdroid.geyskens.eu/repo?fingerprint=<FINGERPRINT>` (from `fdroid update` output)
lets them add it with the fingerprint pre-filled.
### Automating it in CI (optional)
The existing Gitea Actions build already produces a signed APK per tag. To also refresh the
F-Droid repo, add a job that: installs `fdroidserver`, restores the **repo** keystore from a
secret, runs `scripts/update-fdroid-repo.sh`, and `rsync`es `repo/` to the web host (host key +
key as secrets). Keep the repo keystore in a secret just like the app signing key.
---
## 2. The official f-droid.org repository
Bigger audience (it's in the default F-Droid app), but stricter:
- **License** — must be a recognized free license. PaperScan is GPL-3.0 ✔ (`LICENSE`).
- **Build from source** — F-Droid builds the APK on their servers; no prebuilt binaries in the
APK's own code. ⚠️ Our `org.opencv:opencv` Maven dependency ships **prebuilt native `.so`
libraries**. F-Droid flags prebuilt binaries; you may need to build OpenCV from source or get
the artifact allow-listed. This is the main hurdle — resolve it before submitting.
- **Reproducible-ish, no trackers** — PaperScan already has no analytics/trackers and only the
Camera + Internet permissions, which helps.
Process:
1. Open a **Request For Packaging (RFP)** issue at
`https://gitlab.com/fdroid/rfp` (or go straight to a merge request).
2. Add a build recipe `metadata/eu.geyskens.pdfscan.yml` to the `fdroiddata` repo describing the
source (`git.geyskens.eu`), the tag, and the Gradle build. The fastlane metadata is picked up
automatically for the listing.
3. Iterate with the F-Droid maintainers (mostly around the OpenCV native libs).
Because F-Droid builds from source, they also **re-sign** the APK with F-Droid's key — so an app
installed from f-droid.org can't be updated from your own repo and vice-versa (different
signatures). That's expected; pick one channel per user.

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#!/usr/bin/env bash
#
# Rebuilds a self-hosted F-Droid repo for PaperScan: downloads every release APK
# from the Gitea repository and regenerates the (signed) index.
#
# Prerequisites:
# * fdroidserver installed (`pipx install fdroidserver`)
# * `fdroid init` run once in $FDROID_HOME (creates config.yml + keystore)
# * JDK + Android SDK build-tools on PATH
#
# Usage:
# FDROID_HOME=~/paperscan-fdroid ./scripts/update-fdroid-repo.sh
#
set -euo pipefail
FDROID_HOME="${FDROID_HOME:-$HOME/paperscan-fdroid}"
GITEA_API="${GITEA_API:-https://git.geyskens.eu/api/v1/repos/sam/paperscan}"
if [ ! -f "$FDROID_HOME/config.yml" ]; then
echo "No F-Droid repo at $FDROID_HOME. Run 'fdroid init' there first (see docs/FDROID.md)." >&2
exit 1
fi
mkdir -p "$FDROID_HOME/repo"
cd "$FDROID_HOME"
echo "Fetching release APK list from Gitea…"
curl -fsSL "$GITEA_API/releases?limit=50" \
| python3 -c "import sys,json;[print(a['browser_download_url']) for r in json.load(sys.stdin) for a in r.get('assets',[]) if a['name'].endswith('.apk')]" \
| while read -r url; do
dest="repo/$(basename "$url")"
if [ -f "$dest" ]; then
echo " have $(basename "$url")"
else
echo " get $(basename "$url")"
curl -fsSL "$url" -o "$dest"
fi
done
echo "Rebuilding index…"
fdroid update --create-metadata --pretty
echo
echo "Done. Publish the repo, e.g.:"
echo " rsync -a --delete \"$FDROID_HOME/repo/\" web:/var/www/fdroid/repo/"