Add fork to F-Droid

[licaon-kter]

ref: https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroiddata/-/issues/3101

Code issues: version seems to be stuck and oddly defined in two places: https://github.com/helge17/tuxguitar/blob/master/TuxGuitar-android/AndroidManifest.xml#L5-L6 and https://github.com/helge17/tuxguitar/blob/master/TuxGuitar-android/build.gradle#L15-L16 ( I recommend the latter)

Inclusion policy: https://f-droid.org/en/docs/Inclusion_Policy/ forks need a different appID than original app, and while this could be considered as continued work.. I didn't see any agreement with original dev :(

[guiv42]

Thanks for your feedback

I didn't see any agreement with original dev :(

For sure we would have liked this agreement also. We tried to contact original dev and proposed help, unfortunately the contact is completely lost :( Last published version of app at SF is about 1.5 year old, and last post I found from original dev was in July'22. Our request was sent 8 months ago now: unfortunately in this case I think forking was the only option to go forward.

Code issues: version seems to be stuck and oddly defined in two places

I'm going to look at this version definition issue.

Just 2 questions:

1. I understand request from inclusion policy to change app ID, but is it required to change app name also, as we clearly target "continued work"?
2. Could you please help us identify the "anti-features" mentioned in current version of TuxGuitar in F-Droid, so we can try to fix that?

[licaon-kter]

I understand request from inclusion policy to change app ID, but is it required to change app name also, as we clearly target "continued work"?

appid, app name, icon, I mean TuxGuitar Reborn might be ok :)

Could you please help us identify the "anti-features" mentioned in current version of TuxGuitar in F-Droid, so we can try to fix that?

Think it's more about the cleaning: https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroiddata/-/issues/2481

[guiv42]

OK. Not fully understood the point about "cleaning", but anyway it will only make sense if we can manage the first point.

[ClockGen]

@guiv42 Hello, thanks for continuing to work on TuxGuitar. There's a few things that needs to be done to be "properly" included in F-Droid (old version in F-Droid was basically a one-time build):

• Fix versionName and versionCode in https://github.com/helge17/tuxguitar/blob/d49aa4de76c60a9345db4625c3f2120fcce8b048/android/build-scripts/tuxguitar-android/apk/build.gradle#L35 they need to be literal and match git tag name (so if git release tag 1.6.0 versionName is also "1.6.0", versionCode can be any integer but it should be incremented with releases), this is needed to enable automatic updates;
• Provide a separate flavor without gdrive plugin or remove it altogether: https://github.com/helge17/tuxguitar/blob/d49aa4de76c60a9345db4625c3f2120fcce8b048/android/build-scripts/tuxguitar-android/apk/build.gradle#L97 it depends on proprietary libraries and causes the "UpstreamNonFree" antifeature: https://github.com/helge17/tuxguitar/blob/d49aa4de76c60a9345db4625c3f2120fcce8b048/android/TuxGuitar-android-gdrive/build.gradle#L34 currently we patch out grive plugin with this patch: https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroiddata/-/blob/master/metadata/org.herac.tuxguitar.android.application/remove_gdrive.patch, and here's metadata with build procedure currently used in F-Droid: https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroiddata/-/blob/master/metadata/org.herac.tuxguitar.android.application.yml;
• Provide a fastlane structure in your repo root. This is needed so F-Droid can use app description, screenshots, etc provided by you, Right now, it's hardcoded in app metadata and to change it, you'd need to open a MR in fdroiddata. Providing screenshots is also not possible without fastlane. Fastlane reference: https://gitlab.com/-/snippets/1895688, https://f-droid.org/docs/All_About_Descriptions_Graphics_and_Screenshots/, here is an example of fastlane that you can adapt: https://github.com/Mahmud0808/ColorBlendr/tree/master/fastlane/metadata/android/en-US;
• App distinction changes that Licaon-Kter mentioned, different app id, name (just to indicate that its a fork, for example "TuxGuitar (fork)"), etc.

[guiv42]

Thanks @ClockGen for the hints. Let me try to sum up

1. version remove version from AndroidManifest.xml, only keep version in build.gradle I would keep version defined as "SNAPSHOT" in the source code, and replace it with sed command during build/delivery. This is the way we do it currently, it is very similar to what f-droid build does

2. gdrive plugin I would vote for its deletion. As of today Android version only represents 2% of downloads for 1.6.0. F-Droid should help reaching more users, so I think removing the "anti-feature" warning is worth this deletion.

3. fastlane OK, that should be quite easy

4. rename I would suggest simply "TuxGuitar+", as some apps forks have already done. The most complex task here seems to be the icon redesign

Yes it needs to be done, it's just a matter of priorities. Since this fork started here, we essentially focused on the desktop app, and there's a lot to do for the Android version. Any help welcome, don't hesitate to send PR!

[ClockGen]

I don't know about icon, there are some forks in F-Droid that use the same icon as their original apps (e.g. orgzly revived, syncthing fork) but better ask @licaon-kter about this.

[licaon-kter]

well... do add something to it, a + or a star or whatever :)