F-Droid

F-Droid is an installable catalogue of FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) applications for the Android platform.

Information

Unlike the Google Play Store, F-Droid is committed to privacy and freedom. Every app in the F-Droid repository must be open source and must not contain tracking or proprietary “anti-features”.

Inclusion Criteria

To be included in the official F-Droid repository, an app must:

• Be entirely Open Source (GPL, Apache, MIT, etc.).
• Not use proprietary libraries (e.g., Google Play Services, Firebase, etc.).
• Be built from source by the F-Droid build servers.

Build Process

F-Droid uses a metadata file (YAML or text) to define how an app is built. In the official repository, F-Droid builds the app from source and signs it with their own key.

Signing for F-Droid

• Official Repo: You do not sign the APK. F-Droid builds and signs it.
• Self-Hosted Repo: You must sign your APKs using your own release key (e.g., using apksigner or Gradle’s signingConfigs) before adding them to the repo/ directory.

Metadata Example (info.setmy.app.yml)

Categories:
    - Development
License: MIT
WebSite: https://setmy.info
SourceCode: https://github.com/setmy-info/my-app

RepoType: git
Repo: https://github.com/setmy-info/my-app

Builds:
    -   versionName: 1.0.0
        versionCode: 1
        commit: v1.0.0
        subdir: app
        gradle:
            - yes

Local Verification

You can use the fdroidserver tools to verify your app locally:

1. Install fdroidserver:

   pip install fdroidserver
   

2. Run Lint:

   fdroid lint info.setmy.app
   

3. Build Locally:

   fdroid build info.setmy.app
   

Handling Proprietary Dependencies

If your app uses Google Play Services, you must:

1. Create Flavors: Define a foss flavor and a play flavor in build.gradle.kts.

   productFlavors {
       create("foss") {
           dimension = "environment"
       }
       create("play") {
           dimension = "environment"
       }
   }
   

2. Use Open Alternatives: Use MicroG or UnifiedNlp for location services in the foss build.

Publishing to your own Repository

You can also host your own F-Droid repository for SMI apps that don’t meet the official criteria or for faster updates.

1. Initialize Repo:

   mkdir my-repo && cd my-repo
   fdroid init
   

2. Add APKs: Place your signed APKs in the repo/ directory.
3. Update Index:

   fdroid update --create-metadata
   

4. Deploy: Sync the repo/ directory to a web server.

See also

• F-Droid Official Website
• F-Droid Build Metadata Documentation
• Android Development