F-Droid: Missing data

[davidhedlund]

I added this to https://gitlab.com/fdroid/rfp/-/issues/1933#note_1731005305 :

• The F-Droid package of Retroarch is only 23.5 MB -- it comes without tons of resources. For example: 1) For example, the overlay directory is not included, which includes the default on-screen overlay controller, so it's impossible to play games with the touch screen unless you manually download the overlay directory. 2) Core info files (see Android: Run "Update Core Info File" automatically for "Core Downloader" if the "cores" directory is empty #16087)
• The Play Store is 123 MB -- it comes with the overlay directory, and the core info files.
• retroarch.apk downloaded from https://www.retroarch.com/ is over 200 MB.

"The package maintainer should add the assets, .info files, shaders, everything." - Rob Loach, RetroArch administrator - #16087 (comment)

[licaon-kter]

Where do the assets come from? https://buildbot.libretro.com/assets/frontend/assets.zip

Are those per version so I can have a hashsum or rolling ever changing?

What are the licenses of that content?

Which files from that archive we need, and put where during the build process?

[licaon-kter]

@davidhedlund I'm asking the void not you specifically 😛

[licaon-kter]

Not what I've asked, see last question.

[RobLoach]

Thanks for taking on some packaging! Good to have F-Droid because the Google Play Store install can get old quickly.

Where do the assets come from?

• https://github.com/libretro/libretro-core-info
• https://github.com/libretro/retroarch-assets
• https://github.com/libretro/slang-shaders
• https://github.com/libretro/glsl-shaders
• https://github.com/libretro/common-shaders
• https://github.com/libretro/retroarch-joypad-autoconfig

What are the licenses of that content?

Each repo should contain the license info. If not, then it's likely under what's in https://docs.github.com/en/repositories/managing-your-repositorys-settings-and-features/customizing-your-repository/licensing-a-repository .

Are those per version so I can have a hashsum or rolling ever changing?

The versions are usually up to when the RetroArch release was made, but the assets should work across all versions no problem.

Which files from that archive we need, and put where during the build process?

Sometimes there's a Makefile for the associated repo that implements make install that handles putting the required files into the associated destination directory, but other than that, "it depends" ™️

[davidhedlund]

Thanks for taking on some packaging! Good to have F-Droid because the Google Play Store install can get old quickly.

Thank you very much for helping him with the F-Droid release.

[hizzlekizzle]

licenses vary on the shaders, and they change pretty frequently. The overlays change less often.

We made that minimal, static asset package already, and we could always add more stuff to it, if needed.

[matheuswillder]

If I remember correctly, assets are not included in the F-Droid build because the constant updates were preventing from make the build reproducible, this was discussed here. The current minimal_assets.zip apparently only have the standard GLUI Menu Driver for Android, but obviously they are still missing assets necessary for a good experience on Android, such as gamepad overlays needed for the touch controls (related issue).

Even with more assets included by default, it would be nice to add a note at the top of the RetroArch page in F-Droid, like NOTE: Use Online Updater to update assets on first launch if needed or something like this.

[hizzlekizzle]

@licaon-kter
We're approaching another release, so would this be a good time to update the minimal assets package? I made a new bundle that includes the same ones we already included (i.e., just enough to use the GLUI menu), along with a snapshot of the Android autoconfig profiles, all of the current core info files (more will be added over time, but this covers a lot) and the default "neo-retropad" generic overlay and the "flat" overlays, which cover almost everything else.

Together, these roughly double the size of the minimal assets package (i.e., from 1.2 MB to 2.8 MB) but make a usable system without having to update anything out of the box.

If this works for you guys, I can have @LibretroAdmin replace the old with the new.

[RobLoach]

We have a Makefile for the retroarch-assets. It would likely be possible to write a make glui-minimal command or similar to package the required components.

Can the F-Droid package use make?

[hizzlekizzle]

IIRC, one of the issues they had was that the checksum of the bundle would change if anything were added/removed on each release, and that would mess up one of their integrity checks(?), so a static bundle was preferred.