Package in FDroid

[vHanda]

We should provide GitJournal via FDroid. The process seems quite complex though.

Custom FDroid Repo for now: http://gitjournal.io/fdroid/repo

(Pro version is still through Google Play, please contact me for a workaround)

[vHanda]

This is blocked as GitJournal currently has 2 proprietary components -

1. Crashlytics - Even the client side code is proprietary. We currently rely on the ndk crash reporting, for which I cannot find any open source solution. Once Dart to C layer comes out of beta, and into Flutter, we can access libgit2 directly without going through the Android NDK. This should let us move to an open source crash reporting solution.
   We could either use sentry or use catcher and run something entirely custom.

2. Firebase Analytics - Client side is also proprietary. One alternative is - https://count.ly/ but they are still working on their Flutter SDK. Additionally, their community edition doesn't provide revenue tracking (not that we still have any) or retention tracking.

[vHanda]

Update: Crashlytics's SDK is now open source.

[vHanda]

Update: Even though Crashlytics is supposed to be open source. In its code base I see references to Firebase Analytics, whose codebase I cannot find. Therefore, I've started moving to Sentry instead. So far all Flutter/Dart level errors are sent to Sentry and ios/Android crashes are still sent to Crashlytics. I'm hoping to move everything to Sentry within the next week.

For Analytics, I haven't found an open source solution which gives me what I want (#105). So I'm going to slowly start building my own, and deploy it in parallel to Firebase Analytics.

[vHanda]

Update: I'm getting closer to replacing Firebase analytics with a custom solution.

Though now we have another blocker - pro version. In Android we use Google Play for paying for the pro version. I would still like there to be a Pro version in F-Droid which means integrating Stripe or some other provider.

[ghost]

About payments: Maybe you can check with Marcel (creator of NetGuard & FairEmail / https://www.faircode.eu/) -- he has a system where he takes a code generated in-app and money via Paypal and then sends back registration codes. Alternatively, you could register at liberapay.com (similar to Patreon).

(Also be sure that whatever alternative payment method you implement can be fully disabled in the Google Play version of the app. Google doesn't like competing in-app payments.)

[vHanda]

Update: Crashlytics has been completely removed. Now only 'Analytics' and pricing are blockers. If I can figure out the pricing, I'll create a separate branch for fdroid without any analytics. Though I would ideally want it to be opt-in for fdroid.

@sknorr : Thanks. Regarding different payment methods - from what I understood - if your app is accessible via different platforms, you can use your own billing, and therefore skip the 30% overhead. Do you think I'm interpreting the text incorrectly? - https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9858738

Payment is for digital content that may be consumed outside of the app itself (e.g. songs that can be played on other music players).

It doesn't seem clear if "notes" would count as "digital content".

[ghost]

I am neither a lawyer nor a Google employee but I think your interpretation of that clause is incorrect. If I understand your payment model correctly, people pay for the premium version of the app itself, not for an additional service.

It might (again, not a Google employee or lawyer) be different if people were paying for repo-hosting instead.

[weakish]

It doesn't seem clear if "notes" would count as "digital content".

No. You are selling application features, not notes.

[MrHallows]

About payments: Maybe you can check with Marcel (creator of NetGuard & FairEmail / https://www.faircode.eu/) -- he has a system where he takes a code generated in-app and money via Paypal and then sends back registration codes. Alternatively, you could register at liberapay.com (similar to Patreon).

(Also be sure that whatever alternative payment method you implement can be fully disabled in the Google Play version of the app. Google doesn't like competing in-app payments.)

I'm glad to see Marcel mentioned here and I completely agree. I had gotten the Pro versions for both NetGuard and FairEmail, and his purchasing process works quite well. As an Android guy who avoids all things Google like the plague, I would love to see more independent FOSS developers using an alternative method like this.

[darhma]

Any news on progress for inclusion in the official f-droid repo?

[sgtpep]

Tasks.org (https://f-droid.org/packages/org.tasks/) which is hosted on F-Droid as well may use some payment solution. In that case it maybe worth looking what they use. At least it says:

In order to support development some features require a subscription

• 7-day free trial
• Choose your subscription price, starting at $1 per year

[weakish]

Custom FDroid Repo for now: http://gitjournal/fdroid/repo

There is a typo in the URL.
It should be https://gitjournal.io/fdroid/repo/

[vHanda]

I'm closing this as a wontfix. Let me be specific - I'm always going to support installing this app without FDroid and I plan to continue providing the custom F-Droid repo, and an alternative to Google Play for payment.

However, I'm not keen on me submitting this app into the official FDroid repos. I much prefer having control over when updates are shipped. However, this app is completely open source - and will always be - so if someone else wants to add it. Please feel free.

[idle-meerkat]

Hi! So as of now there is no non-FOSS dependencies, right? Crashlytics has been replaced with Sentry and Firebase also was removed.