Document build process + reproducible builds

[regulad]

Hello. This is my work so far to make the build process of Sideband easier to unravel, as I spent a lot of time getting a build working and I'm sure new contributers would very much value an easier "turn-key" development solution. A proper reporducible build will also qualify the app for inclusion in repositories like IzzyOnDroid and F-Droid.

I will convert this draft to a full PR when the following documentation is completed:

• Get the build running
• Document how to build Android
• Document how to build native
• Document creation of dist_archive
• GitHub actions reproducable build
• Docker container for dev building

If you believe you can help, please reach out to me at @regulad:regulad.xyz on Matrix or make a PR to my branch. Cheers!

[regulad]

Supersedes #30 & #53

[regulad]

This is now finished! Here is a list of all changes made:

• Add a DEVELOPING.md file showing how to setup a development environment
• Add ./dmake script and Dockerfile for building Sideband on any system, and for easily running make commands in the docker container (complete with caching, so no time is wasted!)
• Get Android building for x86 and x86_64
• Add make target for creating dist_archive and deterministic injection of assets into the Android project (prebaking is mostly unneccesary now! it still is in this repository for future use)
• Add framework for native Java code and XML assets being added to the Android project in P4A's reccomended way
• Add GitHub Actions workflow that runs on all commits to check to see if it compiles with P4A (basically a super-fancy linter, since it generates a new signing key on each commit)

(The workflow also handles all caching properly, and could in the future be changed to use a persistant signing key for automatic CD via GitHub releases to your F-Droid repository!)

[markqvist]

Thanks @regulad! This is looking great. I'm currently preparing the 1.5.0 release of Sideband, and want to get that out of the way before trying this out. I'll have a look as soon as I can, but schedule is very tight right now, so please arm yourself with some patience. I really appreciate your work here!

[regulad]

Good to hear. If any conflicts with master show up, I'll be sure to reconcile them!

[regulad]

Had the chance to check this out yet? I'm currently working on implementing a BLE transport with BlueZ, and would like to move onto Android once I'm done there.

[Jonty]

I'm looking to hack on Sideband and would love to see this merged so it doesn't bitrot - is there anything I can do to help review it and make this happen?

[Erethon]

I'm interested in reviewing this as it will be helpful for NixOS/nixpkgs#421656, but it will have to wait for after the middle of September. Either way, we have to wait for Mark to be back for this to be merged.

[regulad]

With Columbia out, I see no need to continue rebasing this. These build changes primarily apply to Sideband for Android.