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F-Droid and IzzyOnDroid Packaging Notes

Nova is prepared for release-APK distribution and is being prepared for F-Droid-compatible source builds.

Current Status

Channel Status Notes
IzzyOnDroid Declined for now App request #159 was declined under IzzyOnDroid's current policy/space limits for games and gaming-focused apps. Nova remains prepared for a future re-review if that policy changes or an exception path opens.
F-Droid main Not ready yet The Android build still consumes prebuilt native static libraries for OpenSSL and Opus. F-Droid main generally expects those dependencies to be built from source in the build recipe.
Self-hosted F-Droid repo Possible The existing GitHub release APKs can be indexed in a self-hosted repo, but users would need to add that repo manually.

App Metadata

Fastlane metadata lives in:

fastlane/metadata/android/en-US/

The metadata is intentionally written for public stores and app-index mirrors:

  • title and short description are store-sized
  • full description avoids marketing-only language and names the Polaris relationship clearly
  • screenshots are copied from docs/screenshots/
  • changelog 18.txt matches Nova versionCode = 18

APK Scan and Security Notes

The v1.0.2 release hardens the security surfaces that were raised during public scanner review:

  • externally supplied host and path handling in Moonlight/Polaris HTTP flows
  • poster/content URI handling used by launcher and TV surfaces
  • cache path validation for app artwork
  • stream notification PendingIntent creation

IzzyOnDroid's APK scan also flagged two manifest items that are expected for Nova:

  • android.permission.CAMERA is used for QR pairing with a Polaris host. The camera hardware feature is declared optional.
  • android.accessibilityservice.AccessibilityService is used by the optional physical keyboard helper for shortcut passthrough while streaming. The service is not exported, requires Android's BIND_ACCESSIBILITY_SERVICE permission, and must be enabled by the user in system settings.

F-Droid Build Switch

Nova supports a build-time switch for F-Droid-style builds:

./gradlew -PnovaFdroid=true -PnovaAbis=arm64-v8a assembleNonRoot_gameRelease

That switch sets BuildConfig.FDROID_BUILD=true and removes the GitHub Releases and Obtainium update shortcuts from the app settings UI. It does not change the package name, signing, streaming behavior, or Polaris integration.

Known F-Droid Main Blockers

The current native build imports prebuilt static libraries:

app/src/main/jni/moonlight-core/libopus/*/libopus.a
app/src/main/jni/moonlight-core/openssl/*/libcrypto.a
app/src/main/jni/moonlight-core/openssl/*/libssl.a

Those libraries are documented upstream in app/src/main/jni/moonlight-core/Build.txt, but for F-Droid main they should be replaced by a source build in the F-Droid recipe or in Nova's Gradle/NDK build.

The practical path is:

  1. Add source-fetch/build steps for Opus and OpenSSL.
  2. Wire the generated static libraries into the existing NDK build.
  3. Build at least arm64-v8a with -PnovaFdroid=true.
  4. Validate the resulting APK against the same runtime smoke path used by CI.
  5. Submit metadata/com.papi.nova.yml to fdroiddata once the native dependency path no longer uses checked-in prebuilt libraries.

Suggested fdroiddata Shape

This is a starting point, not a ready-to-submit recipe:

Categories:
  - Multimedia
License: GPL-3.0-only
AuthorName: papi-ux
SourceCode: https://github.com/papi-ux/nova
IssueTracker: https://github.com/papi-ux/nova/issues
Changelog: https://github.com/papi-ux/nova/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md

AutoName: Nova

RepoType: git
Repo: https://github.com/papi-ux/nova.git

Builds:
  - versionName: 1.0.3
    versionCode: 18
    commit: v1.0.3
    subdir: .
    gradle:
      - nonRoot_gameRelease
    gradleprops:
      - novaFdroid=true
      - novaAbis=arm64-v8a

AutoUpdateMode: Version v%v
UpdateCheckMode: Tags
CurrentVersion: 1.0.3
CurrentVersionCode: 18

v1.0.3 contains the F-Droid build switch, store metadata, public scanner hardening, and the latest Wake-on-LAN setup fixes. Official F-Droid main still needs the source-built native dependency path described above; do not submit this sample against v1.0.0 because that tag predates the packaging prep.

Future IzzyOnDroid Checklist

Nova's first IzzyOnDroid request was declined because Nova is game-streaming/gaming-focused. If IzzyOnDroid's category policy changes or a specific exception path becomes available, confirm the following before requesting re-review:

  • confirm the latest GitHub release has signed APK assets
  • confirm the release contains Nova-Android-arm64-v8a.apk and Nova-Android-x86_64.apk
  • confirm fastlane/metadata/android/en-US is present in the default branch
  • mention the v1.0.2 scanner hardening and link this document's APK scan notes
  • mention that Nova is Android-only and currently publishes arm64-v8a and x86_64 APKs
  • mention that Nova is a game streaming client, not a bundled game
  • mention that Polaris-related tuning indicators are local host state, not a cloud AI service
  • link the release page: https://github.com/papi-ux/nova/releases/latest

After IzzyOnDroid accepts Nova, add an IzzyOnDroid badge to the README beside the GitHub, GitHub Store, and Obtainium links.