F-Droid package in a recent version

[jannis701]

The kiwix-package on F-Droid is Version 2.4 from 2018. It would be nice to have a recent version there (not necessarily a nightly build as suggested in #1777 )

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
The Problem is, that it is not possible to get convenient updates for the app via f-droid and therefore not at all without having a google-account.

Describe the solution you'd like
a recent kiwix-Version sould be available in the standard f-droid appstore (without adding any custom repo)

Additional context
Also the "Get it on F-Droid"-Button at https://kiwix.org/en/applications/ points to the F-Droid-APK instead of https://f-droid.org/de/packages/org.kiwix.kiwixmobile/

[Jaifroid]

There is this IzzyOnDroid F-Droid package which is 3.8.0: https://apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/index/apk/org.kiwix.kiwixmobile.

But definitely, the main F-Droid site should be updated too.

[Popolechien]

I've updated the website link to izzydroid (it still bears the F-droid logo, not sure this is kosher but so be it).

[Jaifroid]

Posters (I think on Reddit, from memory) have recommended that fork of F-Droid. Personally, I'd suggest this should be a stop-gap measure, and it would be much better to update the official F-Droid asap if it is no longer blocked by F-Droid policies!

[KaKi87]

Hello,
Any news on this ?
Thanks

[kelson42]

Like written, not yet, but is for current milestone

[JensKorte]

A workaroud would be if https://github.com/kiwix/kiwix-android/releases would still provide the apk since then https://apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/index.php?repo=iod could collect and link to them.

[IzzySoft]

it still bears the F-droid logo, not sure this is kosher but so be it

You can pick a proper badge here

A workaroud would be if kiwix/kiwix-android/releases would still provide the apk

That would be very good, as since 11/2023 (said release 3.8.0) they are missing. For starters, maybe manually add the armeabi to the latest release? The IzzyOnDroid updater would then fetch that automatically (I just noticed it had been missing since, which is why I chime in here).

[JensKorte]

As a workaround I use Obtainium and add https://download.kiwix.org/release/kiwix-android/ as a source. Installing worked I am waiting for the first update.

[mossroy]

Hi kiwix team (long time no see) :-)

This issue makes it very complicated and misleading to use Kiwix on /e/ OS.
The official store of /e/ OS (AppLounge) gives access to the content of both the Google Play and F-Droid stores. I suppose it gives priority to F-Droid when a package exists in both.
So Kiwix can be easily installed with AppLounge, but provides a version 3.6.0 (see attached screenshots). On my /e/ OS 2.1 (on Fairphone 5, based on Android 13), this version seems unusable: it quickly says it needs access to local storage (which is normal), which sends to the Android settings of the app, where it's not possible to grant this permission.

So I remembered there was a custom app for wikivoyage (which is what I wanted). "Wikivoyage European travels" is available on AppLounge (and comes from F-Droid, too, see the "Open Source" badge in the screenshot), but can't be installed through AppLounge: when you click on "Install", the button is renamed "Retry", and nothing happens when you click on it.

In the end, I found the solution in this ticket: install the apk from kiwix.org website, which provides a version 3.11.1 that works properly (when it asks for permissions, I'm sent to the right Android setting, that I can easily allow). However, you first need to uninstall Kiwix (the one from AppLounge/F-Droid) before installing the apk, else it fails with "L'application n'a pas été installée, car le package est en conflit avec un package déjà présent" (translated in English: "The application has not been installed, because the package conflicts with an existing package.")

[Jaifroid]

@mossroy Hello, long time no see indeed! I thought I'd jump in because I recently asked about this, so know a little about it (no, I'm still focused on Kiwix JS, not Android, but I got notified here because I commented further up).

You raise two issues really: 1. The F-Droid entry appears to be interfering with the Play Store version on AppLounge; and 2. The APK conflicts with a version installed from the Store(s).

The first issue should have been resolved (not in a satisfactory way) by #3672. Maybe that (temporary) suspension hasn't filtered through to AppLounge yet?

The second issue should have been resolved by #3933 (giving a different AppID to the APK compared to the Play Store). But that was only closed last week I think. So it won't have filtered through yet either.

[Jaifroid]

@IzzySoft Some time ago, I opened #3830, but it got closed because it's not clear who should do the update to the Kiwix entry on the IzzyOnDroid store. Who would normally update that entry on your Store? Do you have automatic rules that could update it from the APK version? That's a permalink to the latest version -- does that cause issues?

[IzzySoft]

Who would normally update that entry on your Store?

Depends on which part. Description and graphics? If you'd establish Fastlane structures here in your repo (see the IzzyOnDroid Fastlane Documentation for reference on that), the updater would fetch that along with each release as soon as it's enabled. Background for "enabling" is I'd check for the best options matching what you've set up, for the best possible presentation (e.g. your full_description.txt could be proper HTML, or render as Markdown – or as last resort we'd have to go with "plain text", just replacing line breaks with <br>).

Do you have automatic rules that could update it from the APK version? That's a permalink to the latest version -- does that cause issues?

Let me check… Using that variant would make reproducible builds impossible (see Reproducible Builds, special client support and more in our repo which was published today, and our hints on reproducible builds). Your app is pure Kotlin, so if the app is attached to the releases here it could be made RB. Apart from that, the server sends a Last_Modified header, so that could be used. But full stop there: the APK is 90+ MB, that's 3 times the per-app limit at IoD. Native libs are just stored (not compressed) I see, so a single ABI (armeabi or arm64) might be close enough to that limit though.