thunderbird-android/docs/RELEASING.md

Create K-9 Mail releases

One-time setup

1. Download tb-android keystore from 1Password and place it somewhere outside the root of the Git repository.
2. Add the following to ~/.gradle/gradle.properties (create the file if necessary)

   k9mail.storeFile=<path to keystore>
   k9mail.storePassword=<password 'tb-android keystore' in 1Password>
   k9mail.keyAlias=k9mail
   k9mail.keyPassword=<password 'k9mail@tb-android' in 1Password>
   

One-time setup for F-Droid builds

1. Install fdroidserver by following the installation instructions.
   1. On MacOS, it's best to install the latest version from source, because the version in Homebrew has some issues.
      1. Install the android command line tools if not available already.

         brew install --cask android-commandlinetools
         

      2. Install latest fdroidserver from source:

         python -m venv fdroidserver-env
         source fdroidserver-env/bin/activate
         pip install git+https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroidserver.git
         

      3. To use fdroidserver from the command line, you need to activate the virtual environment before each use:

         source fdroidserver-env/bin/activate
         

      4. To deactivate the virtual environment:

         deactivate
         

2. Sign up for a Gitlab account and fork the fdroiddata repository.
3. Clone your fork of the fdroiddata repository.

Release a beta version

1. Update versionCode and versionName in app-k9mail/build.gradle.kts
2. Create change log entries in
   • app/ui/legacy/src/main/res/raw/changelog_master.xml
   • app-k9mail/fastlane/metadata/android/en-US/changelogs/${versionCode}.txt Use past tense. Try to keep them high level. Focus on the user (experience).
3. Commit the changes. Message: "Version $versionName"
4. Run ./gradlew clean :app-k9mail:assembleRelease --no-build-cache --no-configuration-cache
5. Update an existing installation to make sure the app is signed with the proper key and runs on a real device.

   adb install -r app-k9mail/build/outputs/apk/release/app-k9mail-release.apk
   

6. Tag as $versionName, e.g. 6.508
7. Copy app-k9mail/build/outputs/apk/release/app-k9mail-release.apk as k9-${versionName}.apk to Google Drive (MZLA Team > K9 > APKs)
8. Change versionName in app-k9mail/build.gradle.kts to next version name followed by -SNAPSHOT
9. Commit the changes. Message: "Prepare for version $newVersionName"
10. Update gh-pages branch with the new change log
11. Push main branch
12. Push tags
13. Push gh-pages branch

Create release on GitHub

1. Go to https://github.com/thunderbird/thunderbird-android/tags and select the appropriate tag
2. Click "Create release from tag"
3. Fill out the form
   • Click "Generate release notes"
   • Replace contents under "What's changed" with change log entries
   • Add GitHub handles in parentheses to change log entries
   • If necessary, add another entry "Internal changes" (or similar) so people who contributed changes outside of the entries mentioned in the change log can be mentioned via GitHub handle.
   • Attach the APK
   • Select "Set as a pre-release"
   • Click "Publish release"

Create release on F-Droid

1. Fetch the latest changes from the fdroiddata repository.
2. Switch to a new branch in your copy of the fdroiddata repository.
3. Edit metadata/com.fsck.k9.yml to create a new entry for the version you want to release. Usually it's copy & paste of the previous entry and adjusting versionName, versionCode, and commit (use the tag name). Leave CurrentVersion and CurrentVersionCode unchanged. Those specify which version is the stable/recommended build.
4. Commit the changes. Message: "Update K-9 Mail to $newVersionName"
5. Run fdroid build --latest com.fsck.k9 to build the project using F-Droid's toolchain.
6. Push the changes to your fork of the fdroiddata repository.
7. Open a merge request on Gitlab. (The message from the server after the push in the previous step should contain a URL)
8. Select the App update template and fill it out.
9. Create merge request and the F-Droid team will do the rest.

Create release on Google Play

TODO