I want to store local android applications on local android repository (e.g. using fdroid) using different format (for example compressed in bzip2 -- MyApp.bz).
Can I change fdroid server to send bzip2 files to fdroid android "play store" app and then decompress it, tar it
(Or to keep it in uncompressed format) and rename as apk before handling it to the android package manager to be able do this? Will it still being able to install app with android package manager?
From what I understand not all apk files are compressed with zip, so package manager should understand tared file with renamed extension?
That´s not possible the only permitted format is the Android Application Package (.APK) that is compressed as .ZIP
Related
We have a situation that is requiring me to create a stand-alone APK that will install media files only, that can be access by other system software. On this platform, there are no concerns for file access. I only need a method for bundling the media files into an APK, so that deployment would be simple
APK stands for Android Application Package. There should be at least one activity if you would like to publish it on Google.Play.
APK Files aren't recognizable files like executable files; they won’t run on a double click. That's why we need a player/emulator like Bluestacks/Andy/Droid to play them.
So what should I do to extract all the info about an APK without installing it and running it on a device?
You can get some limited information about an APK by extracting it. An APK is essentially a zip file containing manifest, resources, assets and classes which together make up the application. Change the .apk' extension to.zip` and extract it using built-in Windows tools. Note that most contents won't be human-readable.
APK-Info
APK-Info is a Windows tool to get detailed info about an apk file.
Allows you to view:
application icon
package name
name (in all languages)
version
build number
the minimum, maximum, and target version of the SDK (Android)
supported density (DPI) and screen size
architecture (ABI)
supported textures
permissions
features
signature
OpenGL ES version
whether app supports Android TV, Wear OS, and/or Android Auto
locales
a variety of hashes (MD2, MD4, MD5, SHA1, SHA256, SHA384, SHA512)
and a lot of other information
Using
You can open the APK file in APK-Info using one of the following methods:
Start APK-Info, and then select the APK file in the dialog.
Open the APK file by clicking on the open button in the dialog.
Drag the APK file to APK-Info.exe or its shortcut.
Drag the APK file into the running APK-Info window.
Open the APK file by double-clicking, after installing APK-Info, as a program for opening APK files (via explorer or attached .cmd file).
https://github.com/Enyby/APK-Info
How the .apk installation process works on device? Is the .apk file just copied to some place and kind of installer application extracts the application information, register somehow the application to environment, extract also the icon and put it on the application launch screen? Or the .apk content is extracted and files are copied to various folders and the .apk file itself is deleted?
I am asking to understand if there is any possibility on device to browse the .apk file structure and its content and access in read-only mode directly the assets, res folders, AndroidManifest.xml, the dex file and also used libraries (.jar or .so)?
The reason I am asking is that I am looking for possibility to read into memory .dex, .jar or .so files like arbitrary binary files (e.g. by using the File class) for the purpose of computing a message digest from its content (i.e. using md5 or other hash method)...
BR
STeN
The APK is copied onto the device, usually into the /system/app directory. The APK is not extracted or unzipped until it is used, so if you want to probe the files you'll need to do the decompression and extraction yourself.
Each and every android application is bundled as an apk file. When an apk file is installed different entites (files) of the application are stored in different parts of the system. For example i have found that real player stores its files in the following places of the android file system
/data/data/com.real.RealPlayer
/data/app/com.real.RealPlayer-1.apk
/data/dalvik-cache/data#app#com.real.RealPlayer-1.apk#classes.dex
/data/system/packages.list
/data/system/packages.xml
/data/data/com.sec.android.app.twlauncher/databases/launcher.db
How can i do this for every installed application on my phone/emulator?? Is it the right way to parse apk file and find the places where all the parts of the app are stored?? Any ideas?
On normal non-rooted phones an application can see only its own files, due to security restrictions.
When my server gaves apk file to user, I need to put some values In this file, for j2me platform I use JAD file, and put my values there:
MY_KEY: SomeKeyValue
MY_KEY2: SomeKeyValue2
When j2me application starts on device, I can access this values through System.getProperty.
How can I do the same on android platform?
How can I do the same on android
platform?
You cannot "do the same on android platform" for applications distributed through the Android Market. An APK file is digitally signed and cannot be modified once signed and uploaded to the Market.
You mention "When my server gaves apk file to user", suggesting you are not using the Market. In that case, when the user requests the APK:
Create a copy of your project directory (with compiled classes)
Modify an XML resource (res/xml/) with the data you want for the user
Use Ant to package and sign the APK file using the SDK tools
Serve the result
I do not know of anyone doing this, so I cannot point you to any code that implements the technique.