traque/traque-app/apk_android.md

How to create an apk

An apk is an app file that can be installed on an android device without the need of google play store. This tutorial will explain the steps to create the apk of the current project and download it on an android device. Each step has precisions, however some of those precisions may not be suited for your device, don't hesitate to find help on the Internet or ask ChapGPT.

Set up your environnement

This section will cover the set up of your environnement in order to have the tools to either send the apk of your app on your device or create a virtual android device.

Tutorial

Follow this tutorial : https://reactnative.dev/docs/set-up-your-environment?os=linux&platform=android

Precisions

• Android Studio and its dependancies can take up to 15 Go of space.
• The .bashrc file is located in your home directory (cd ~).
• The Watchman installation isn't necessary.
• If you want to test your app on a physical android device, follow the next section.

Create the android folder

This section will cover the creation of the android folder if it isn't created yet.

Tutorial

• Go in your project folder (traque-app).
• Run npx expo install expo-dev-client. This install the expo-dev-client package if it isn't already.
• Run npx expo prebuild --platform android. This will add an android folder in your project taking about 1 Go of space.

Create and add the app key

This section will cover the creation of the app key which is required by google play store. You will need the .keystore file associated to the app. If no one in the team have created it yet follow Tutorial Part A then Tutorial Part B, else get the .keystore file, the storePassword, the keyAlias and the keyPassword, and follow Tutorial Part B.

Tutorial Part A

• Go in the folder traque-app/android/app/.
• Run keytool -genkey -v -keystore release.keystore -alias traque_key -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000, note that release and traque_key can be modified if you want.

Tutorial Part B

• Go in the folder traque-app/android/app/.
• Here paste the .keystore file associated with your app.
• Modify the android bracket of the traque-app/android/app/build.gradle file as follows :

android {
    ...
    signingConfigs {
        ...
        release {
            storeFile file('TO_BE_FILLED.keystore')
            storePassword 'TO_BE_FILLED'
            keyAlias 'TO_BE_FILLED'
            keyPassword 'TO_BE_FILLED'
        }
    }
    buildTypes {
        ...
        release {
            ...
            signingConfig signingConfigs.release
        }
    }
    ...
}

Create the apk

This section will cover the creation of the apk of the app that can be download and installed on any android device.

Tutorial

• Go in the folder traque-app/android/.
• Run ./gradlew assembleRelease.
• At the end, the created apk will be located in the traque-app/android/app/build/outputs/apk/release/ folder.

Precisions

While running ./gradlew assembleRelease, you can have this error :

Task :expo-modules-core:compileDebugKotlin FAILED
e: This version (1.5.15) of the Compose Compiler requires Kotlin version 1.9.25 but you appear to be using Kotlin version 1.9.24 which is not known to be compatible.

Follow these steps to fix it :

• In the android/build.gradle file, replace the line classpath('org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-gradle-plugin') by classpath('org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-gradle-plugin:1.9.25').
• In the traque-app/android/ folder, run ./gradlew assembleRelease again.

Other precisions

If the build fail for obscure reasons, it may be usefull to delete entirely the node_modules/ folder and recreate it by running npm i. If problems persist, you may also delete entirely the android/ folder and recreate it. If the problem persist, you may also delete the ~/.gradle/caches/ folder. If the problem persist, stop working on the project, you can't go against god's will.