DroidPier 0.1.0-beta.2 — Experimental preview

DroidPier 0.1.0-beta.2

Experimental Linux x86-64 and Android preview. This is not a stable release or
a claim of universal device/distribution support. Windows and macOS remain in
development. Beta.1 downloads are unchanged.

Changes

• One connection screen with Nearby phones, QR code and Manual pairing.
• Local multicast discovery, locally generated two-minute QR sessions, separate
  pairing/connection ports, cancellable operations and actionable inline failures.
• Clipboard sharing off by default for every connection. Unsupported devices show
  a persistent explanation; failures pause sharing with a Retry control.
• Companion startup handles an already-stopped service and skips installing an
  identical APK. No silent uninstall or data wipe on signature conflicts.
• Android setup separates connection notifications from optional phone notification
  access, refreshes permission/listener status, and explains restricted settings.
• Linux uses the direct streaming pipeline exercised in local debugging. FFmpeg
  enables x86-64 assembly and hardware-decoder selection checks the actual binary.
• Displayed FPS is reported separately from decoded frames. The older recording
  pipeline remains available with OPEN_DEX_WINDOW_BACKEND=legacy on Linux.

Performance and known limitations

60 FPS is not restored. Controlled motion on a Redmi Note 7 Pro / Android 13
and an Intel UHD 620 Linux computer produced about 60 frames/s but displayed about
39–47 through the direct pipeline, versus about 9 through the recording pipeline.
These are development measurements, not guarantees for other apps or hardware.

Physical manual-code/QR pairing and the full Linux/device matrix remain unverified.
Network discovery cannot guarantee every phone is visible. Multicast filtering,
guest isolation and changed pairing ports can prevent discovery or pairing.
Audio is not forwarded to the computer; media controls do not provide audio playback.
Restricted/DRM apps and apps rejecting secondary displays may not work.

Installation and upgrades

Download the APK or the appropriate DEB, RPM, AppImage or portable archive from
this release. Packages contain the identical signed companion APK and agent; no
Flutter, Java, Android SDK or compiler is needed on the user's computer.

Verify the file against this release's SHA256SUMS before installing:

sha256sum --ignore-missing -c SHA256SUMS

Quit the previous desktop before starting beta.2. Install the new desktop package
using the user guide. Its bundled companion upgrades the official
beta.1 APK in place using the same signing certificate and versionCode 2. Do not
uninstall the signed companion for a normal upgrade. A debug-signed companion
cannot be replaced in place; migration is an explicit user decision that loses
that app's data. DroidPier never performs that uninstall automatically.

Keep Play Protect enabled and use its scan flow. Signing establishes update
identity, not a Google approval or a guarantee that sideloading has no warnings.
Notification forwarding and clipboard sharing remain optional.

Verification and provenance

See the version-specific acceptance record for
completed checks and explicitly pending coverage. Automated tests do not replace
physical Wi-Fi or full distribution acceptance. Required CI passed, including
shared-package and desktop analysis/tests, Android lint/tests and release desktop
building from a fresh Ubuntu 22.04 checkout.

The signed companion passed an Android 15 emulator upgrade from official beta.1
with installation and notification permission preserved; an incompatible debug
signature was rejected. Notification-listener grant/revocation, status refresh
and setup screens were checked. Clean Ubuntu 22.04/24.04 and Fedora 44 containers
passed package upgrades, non-root launch and uninstall. Ubuntu also passed the
AppImage extraction/run fallback. These container checks do not establish full
physical-desktop compatibility. All package APKs match the standalone APK.

The release includes SHA-256 checksums, file and component SBOMs, required dependency
sources, patches/build recipes and notices. Verify the Android certificate against
the permanent fingerprint. Original code remains
Apache-2.0; bundled components retain their own licenses.

DroidPier 0.1.0-beta.1 — Experimental preview

DroidPier 0.1.0-beta.1

Your Android. A bigger workspace.

This is an experimental Linux/Android preview for early testers, not a stable release.
Physical-device workflows and the full desktop/distribution matrix are still
unverified. Download availability does not mean those workflows are supported.

Included

Linux desktop packages and the identically signed DroidPier Companion APK.
No development SDK is required for published packages.

Installation

Choose DEB for Ubuntu/Debian, RPM for Fedora, or AppImage/archive for other
compatible Linux desktops. Package format availability does not establish
distribution support. Follow the repository's user guide. Verify
SHA256SUMS before installation. The desktop installs its bundled companion.

Known limitations

Windows/macOS are in development and have no downloads in this release. Computer
speaker audio forwarding is unavailable. Some Android applications do not support
secondary displays or capture. Compatibility and frame rate vary by device.
Existing debug-signed companions cannot be upgraded with the release key; the
user must explicitly remove the development companion and regrant permissions.
Wireless setup requires an explicit pairing/connection address and port; the
Linux ADB build does not provide automatic mDNS discovery.

Validation

• Passed: fresh-checkout CI, Dart/Flutter/Android analysis and tests, signed APK
  verification, source/privacy checks, dependency-source and license review.
• Passed on Android 15 emulator: setup screen, permission denial, authenticated
  connection, explicit disconnect without immediate reconnection, release-key
  upgrade, and rejection of an incompatible debug signature.
• Smoke-tested in containers: package install, non-root launch under Xvfb, and
  uninstall on Ubuntu 22.04/24.04 and Debian 12/13. Fedora 44 base repositories
  were also smoke-tested. These are not full desktop or real-device tests.
• Still pending: physical USB/Wi-Fi, app windows and input with a real phone,
  clipboard/notification integration, device-removal cleanup, full upgrade
  testing, Mint, current Fedora updates, Arch and openSUSE desktop coverage.

Android 8 is the APK installation minimum, not a promise of full desktop support.
There is no silent automatic updater. Keep a backup of important phone data and
report issues with synthetic examples and no device identifiers.

See the release validation record
and runtime provenance.
Each download has an entry in SHA256SUMS; dependency sources and both component
and file inventories accompany the installers.