corona-warn-companion-android
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mh-
F-Droid
As far as I can tell this repo is already in compliance with the F-Droid Inclusion Policy, so adding the app to the official repos would probably not be too hard. Guide
In fact, the library that automatically shows the FOSS license, is not compliant at the moment. Also, it is hard, IMHO, at least on a Mac. I tried for half a day to set up a build environment, incl. later on a Linux virtual machine, and then gave up.
It would be great to see this Android app on F-Droid! The main advantage is it also builds all apps from source (optionally even reproducible), so downloads from there can be trusted.
The app developer FAQ or the quick start guide may help you to get started.
Maybe @IzzySoft can help here.
@rugk basically, this app only makes sense if you have the official Corona app running on the same device, correct? Which won't be available outside Play Store as its developers refuse to provide the APK (for that app, it must be signed by their key or it won't work), claiming the RKI doesn't permit it. Which probably means this app here would require NonFreeDep (requiring a dependency not freely available) – but that wouldn't stop us from listing it.
Fastlane structures would help getting things started. And if you can convince me it is useful having it available outside Play despite of what I wrote in the first paragraph, I could place it into my repo meanwhile (thanks to the APKs being provided at their corresponding releases here).
Thus, steps required:
- convince me :smile: so I immediately put it into my repo (3 hours left for today's listing)
- get Fastlane established
- File an RFP to get it into "F-Droid proper" once Fastlane is available, I'll then see to prepare metadata. However, I cannot help or even understand the build: I'm neither packager nor Android developer.
@IzzySoft This apps can (and does) work independently of the official CWA, but it needs input from something that collects Bluetooth RPIs. That can be Google Mobile Services, and you need root access so that the app can read their database, or microG (which I never tested myself), and you also need root access, or RaMBLE, which is a universal Bluetooth beacon collector app and can export the database to the SD card, where root is not required.
Thanks for your explanation, Michael! Is RaMBLE available outside Google Play? Your ReadMe only links to its Play Store presence.
To avoid long arguing, I've just added your app to my repo for now. Note that to bring it to "F-Droid proper" you most likely will need a separate flavor: my library scanner complains about GMS dependencies in your app, so I had to mark it NonFreeDep just for that already.
Your app should show up here in less than 3 hours (sync usually finishes a quarter to eight Munich local time – hi neighbor :wink:). Please check if the description looks sound to you, or if you wish something changed. In the long run, having Fastlane structures in your app's repo will allow you to have the phrasing etc in your own hands.
@IzzySoft Thank you! I'm looking into Fastlane now.
FWIW, I think NonFreeDep: The application depends on a non-free application (e.g. Google Maps) - i.e. it requires it to be installed on the device, but does not include it. is not a correct statement.
Your library scanner correctly complains about Google dependencies, but it's an included library, not a separate app. This is about implementation 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-oss-licenses:17.0.0', ironically that's the library that shows the OSS dependencies. I reverted back to it with https://github.com/mh-/corona-warn-companion-android/commit/5d9392fdcb8194ef4435e20ff8c8204671df9047 when AboutLibraries caused problems. Maybe have to look into this again later.
Also, I use two different AppIDs: org.tosl.coronawarncompanion for the original version, and org.tosl.warnappcompanion for the Play Store edition, because of Google's ban on COVID-19 related wording for non-Government apps. Not sure if your tool can accommodate for this in the "Google Play: Check if it's there" section.
but it's an included library, not a separate app.
Take a closer look what that cat drags in. play-services-oss-licenses depends on at least one more Google library which itself is not free, and (to my knowledge) again depends on GMS being available on the device. To not only complain about problems, but offering possible solutions, here's the link to my usual snippet which might help you picking a really free license dialog. Remember: when Google says "free" it means "beer".
Besides, that AntiFeature gets triggered here automatically whenever com.google.android.gms.* is detected (well, not really * – but you get the idea).
The "Check if it's there" section simply takes the packageId and adds it to the Google baseUrl – so I'm afraid there's no accomodation (it would go wild if I start implementing special per-app rules for that, I'd rather remove it entirely instead).
Concerning Fastlane: Do you want a "starter kit"? I could offer you what's set up for my repo currently (short_description de/en, full_description en). Either as PR, or attaching a ZIP/TAR.
PS: As you probably live next door to me (at least in the same city): I just (potentially) finished localizing the site, the repo WebIf is now also available in German – based on what your browser propagates.
@mh- @IzzySoft
That can be Google Mobile Services, and you need root access so that the app can read their database, or microG (which I never tested myself),
This microG pull request may soon become relevant to that.
With the MicroG version of the Corona app available on F-Droid, I push this issue again (though, see other issue, MicroG is yet not working).
@rugk
Feel free to help them and create an rep. solution. It's open source
@skyerjoe a forked version where people have "helped to create a solution" is already in F-Droid. The point here is what's preventing an official version from being in F-Droid, and for that to happen there mainly has to be a will by the people behind the official application, not just some "help".
@LuccoJ I'm afraid you are confusing projects here. This is the repository for the Corona Warn Companion App, not the CWA/CCTG. :blush:
I have no objection against publishing on F-Droid, it's just not easy to do, see https://github.com/mh-/corona-warn-companion-android/issues/67#issuecomment-713219013
@mh- there are alternatives to that library which should not be too hard to replace (many other projects already did so). Behind the link you find 5 examples to choose from, all of them would fit with your app's license (they all have "laxer licenses" and thus can be used within GPLv3 projects: one is MIT and four are Apache-2.0). Take your pick :smiley:
@mh- as an workaround how about an hash value which could be easily verified with an hashing tool app like hash Droid
And what should the hash value achieve (or "work around")? You cannot white-list a closed source library by providing a hash value, if you meant that @skyerjoe.
@IzzySoft
It's an option for proofing that the file comes from here and isn't altered, not the best but some I mean that the downloaded builded apk is the same as from the github rep.
But may u would like to achieve sth. Else so then I was off the track
But may u would like to achieve sth. Else so then I was off the track
Yupp. See topic :wink: This is about bringing the app to F-Droid – and F-Droid needs to build from source while not accepting proprietary elements. Hashes don't help with that.