[url_launcher_android] Issue regarding REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES permission after uploading the application to PlayStore

[tel-kho]

Steps to Reproduce

Upload an application using the package url_launcher/url_launcher_android on the PlayStore

Expected results: Uploading my application without a Google alert

Actual results: I received an alert saying that my application is not compliant with one or more of Google Developer Program Policies.

The reason is that my application seems to use REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES permission. I checked my AndroidManifest, I never use this permission.
I searched online how to find where in my application permissions are used even by me or other packages, and I found this:

in the file "/My_Flutter_App/build/app/outputs/logs/manifest-merger-release-report.txt".

I already tried to fill their form trying to explain where in my application this permission is used, in vain. They sent me this instead:

and I cannot remove it from my manifest of course.

Does anyone know what to do in this situation?

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[danagbemava-nc]

Hi @tel-kho, please provide the versions of url_launcher and url_launcher_android that you are using. You can find the version of url_launcher_android in your pubspec.lock file.

Thank you

[tel-kho]

Hi @tel-kho, please provide the versions of url_launcher and url_launcher_android that you are using. You can find the version of url_launcher_android in your pubspec.lock file.

Thank you

Hello, yes sure:

url_launcher: ^6.0.10

url_launcher_android:
    dependency: transitive
    description:
      name: url_launcher_android
      url: "https://pub.dartlang.org"
    source: hosted
    version: "6.0.19"

[danagbemava-nc]

Hi @tel-kho, if you create a new project and add the url_launcher plugin, do you see the REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES permission in your merged manifest? You can see this in Android Studio when you open AndroidManifest.xml and click on the Merged Manifests tab.

I did this with a new project and I do not see that permission. I also do not see that permission used in the source for url_launcher or url_launcher_android.

[stuartmorgan]

I searched online how to find where in my application permissions are used even by me or other packages, and I found this:

in the file "/My_Flutter_App/build/app/outputs/logs/manifest-merger-release-report.txt".

That file has the opposite order of how you are reading it; the permission (or other entry) comes first, and then the description of where it comes from. The two lines you've shown are the end of a previous section that you've trimmed out, which would say what is being included from url_launcher_android, and then the start of a new section that would tell you where REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES came from (which you've also trimmed out). You need to look at the part below that excerpt to see what the source is.

Closing as this isn't coming from url_launcher, or anywhere else in the plugins repository, so isn't a Flutter bug.

[tel-kho]

I searched online how to find where in my application permissions are used even by me or other packages, and I found this:

in the file "/My_Flutter_App/build/app/outputs/logs/manifest-merger-release-report.txt".

That file has the opposite order of how you are reading it; the permission (or other entry) comes first, and then the description of where it comes from. The two lines you've shown are the end of a previous section that you've trimmed out, which would say what is being included from url_launcher_android, and then the start of a new section that would tell you where REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES came from (which you've also trimmed out). You need to look at the part below that excerpt to see what the source is.

Closing as this isn't coming from url_launcher, or anywhere else in the plugins repository, so isn't a Flutter bug.

Yes, you are totally right, my bad the problematic permission is from another package: open_file
I made some research and indeed there is already an issue made about it and another linked to the package itself.

Thank you all for your time

[github-actions]

This thread has been automatically locked since there has not been any recent activity after it was closed. If you are still experiencing a similar issue, please open a new bug, including the output of flutter doctor -v and a minimal reproduction of the issue.