2026-08-17 11:45:55 +00:00
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# Android client build and versioning
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## The three workflows
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### `build-debug.yml` — the CI gate
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Runs automatically on every pull request and on every push to `main`. It has
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three jobs: `build-debug` produces the AAR and a debug APK/AAB, then
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`unit-tests` and `instrumented-tests` download that AAR and run against it, the
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latter on an emulator.
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Its product is a pass/fail signal, plus the `netbird-aar` artifact that the two
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test jobs consume. The debug APK it uploads is a convenience for humans; nothing
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in CI reads it.
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### `build-release.yml` — the published release
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Triggered by `release: published`, which fires for pre-releases too. It builds
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the signed APK and AAB and attaches them to the GitHub release. This is the
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source of anything that goes to the Play Store.
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Release candidates run through this workflow: they are ordinary GitHub
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pre-releases tagged `vX.Y.Z-rc.N` (for example `v0.6.0-rc.1`, `v0.3.3-rc.2`).
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### `build-snapshot.yml` — the hand-distributed build
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2026-09-08 10:19:16 +02:00
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Manually dispatched. Produces a release-signed build from an arbitrary untagged
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commit, uploaded as a 14-day artifact rather than published. The version name
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anchors that commit to the last release it descends from, so a build off the
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`v0.6.0-rc.1` line reads `v0.6.0-rc.1-snapshot-4d10386`.
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2026-08-17 11:45:55 +00:00
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Use it when someone needs a real, installable build of work in progress and you
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do not want a public pre-release for it. Every run consumes a version code from
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the shared counter, so it is not something to run per pull request.
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---
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## Differences
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| | `build-debug` | `build-release` | `build-snapshot` |
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|---|---|---|---|
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| Trigger | `pull_request`, `push` → `main` | `release: published` | `workflow_dispatch` |
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| Build type | debug | release | release |
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| **Version name** | `ci-<sha>` | the release tag verbatim (`v0.5.0`, `v0.6.0-rc.1`) | `<tag>-snapshot-<sha>` |
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| **Version code** | `9999` (fallback from `version.properties`) | `release_runs + snapshot_runs + 40` | `release_runs + snapshot_runs + 40` |
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| **Signing key** | default Android debug keystore | Play upload keystore (`gplay.keystore`) | Play upload keystore (`gplay.keystore`) |
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| **Firebase Crashlytics + Analytics** | **absent** | present | present |
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| Runs tests | yes (unit + instrumented) | no | no |
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| Artifact | `debug-artifacts-<name>`, 3 days; `netbird-aar`, 1 day | attached to the GitHub release | `<tag>-snapshot-<sha>`, 14 days |
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| Permissions | `contents: read` | `contents: write`, `actions: read` | `contents: read`, `actions: read` |
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| Concurrency group | none | `android-version-code-lock` | `android-version-code-lock` |
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`<sha>` is the short commit hash of the `android-client` repository, not of the
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submodule.
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`<tag>` is the nearest release tag in the built commit's ancestry, as reported by
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`git describe --tags --abbrev=0` — the closest tag walking back through the
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commit graph, not the most recent tag by date. A branch that forked before a tag
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was cut therefore reports the older tag, and merging `main` into it moves the
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name forward.
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