F-Droid Preparation

Ark is being prepared for F-Droid, but the first F-Droid submission still needs a real fdroidserver build and scanner pass.

What Is In The Repo Now

• Android package ID: app.ark.offline
• Android versionCode: 1
• FOSS license: MIT
• Fastlane metadata under fastlane/metadata/android/en-US/
• Draft fdroiddata metadata under fdroid/metadata/app.ark.offline.yml
• No Firebase, Google Mobile Services, ads, or analytics packages in package.json

F-Droid Constraints That Matter For Ark

F-Droid requires public source code, a FOSS license, FOSS dependencies, command-line buildability, and store metadata. React Native apps also need extra scanner work because JavaScript dependencies can contain prebuilt .jar, .aar, or .so artifacts.

References:

• Submitting to F-Droid Quick Start Guide
• F-Droid Build Metadata Reference
• F-Droid Inclusion Policy
• Adding React Native Apps to F-Droid

Expected Scanner Hot Spots

• Expo and React Native generated native dependencies
• llama.rn native artifacts
• ExecuTorch native artifacts
• MapLibre native dependencies
• Skia native artifacts
• valhalla-mobile routing library
• ArkZim and CoreKiwix/libkiwix artifacts

These may be acceptable if they are FOSS and traceable, but F-Droid packaging will need precise scanignore, scandelete, or source-build adjustments after scanner output is available.

Likely Submission Flow

1. Cut a tagged Android release candidate.
2. Run bun install --frozen-lockfile.
3. Run expo prebuild --platform android --no-install --no-clean.
4. Test fdroidserver metadata against the generated Android project.
5. Resolve scanner findings.
6. Submit a merge request to fdroiddata.

Possible F-Droid Flavor Work

If scanner output rejects optional native AI/routing dependencies, create an F-Droid build path that disables or patches those packages while keeping maps, guides, notes, backups, tools, and imported documents working. Do this only from actual scanner evidence.