[FEAT] XAPK Support - Support Resource Decompilation in XAPK | @null in XML Resources When Decompiling XAPK Base APK

[sipsuru]

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Information

1. Apktool Version (apktool -version) - 2.11.0 | 2.11.0-7-f5c226b5-SNAPSHOT
2. Operating System (Mac, Linux, Windows) - Windows
3. APK From? (Playstore, ROM, Other) - Other [ApkCombo / ApkPure - XAPK]
4. Java Version (java --version) - 23.0.1 | 2024-10-15

ADB Stacktrace/Logcat

adb: failed to finalize session
Failure [INSTALL_PARSE_FAILED_MANIFEST_MALFORMED: Failed parse during installPackageLI: /data/app/vmdl1887994749.tmp/base.apk (at Binary XML file line #645): <meta-data> requires an android:value or android:resource attribute]

Steps to Reproduce

1. Download xapk and extract apks inside.
2. Decompile wp.wattpad.apk with apktool d wp.wattpad.apk
3. Delete original wp.wattpad.apk
4. Recompile without modifications with apktool b -o wp.wattpad.apk
5. Sign all apks (in current directory) with: sign.py
6. [Tried with & without this step]; Align all apks (in current directory) with: align.py
7. Install all apks with adb install-multiple app1.apk app2.apk ... OR Create a zip folder containing all the apks, icon.png, manifest.json

Frameworks

Not from a framework

APK

https://apkcombo.app/wattpad/wp.wattpad/download/phone-10.95.0-apk

Questions to ask before submission

1. Have you tried apktool d, apktool b without changing anything? - Yes
2. If you are trying to install a modified apk, did you resign it? - Yes
3. Are you using the latest apktool version? - Yes

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Update: I don't get any error (or warning) when decompiling or recompiling. So I've included adb's logcat here.

Additional Information

Not a issue with the original xapk itself. I could successfully install the original xapk (and with adb too).

When the wp.wattpad.apk (base apk) is decompiled, it contains a lot of @null values, like

<meta-data android:name="com.google.firebase.messaging.default_notification_icon" android:resource="@null"/>
<service android:foregroundServiceType="shortService" android:icon="@null" android:name="wp.wattpad.migration.MigrationService"/>

and in many more. (This's from AndroidManifest.xml)

There're apks for multiple resolutions: config.hdpi.apk, config.ldpi.apk, config.mdpi.apk, config.tvdpi.apk, config.xhdpi.apk, config.xxhdpi.apk, config.xxhdpi.apk, so could it be that apktool replaces original resources with @null as they're not available in the base apk?

Furthermore, the target Android version seemed to be 15, which's more interesting.