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New F-Droid repository format for faster and smaller updates

f-droid.org

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Re: New F-Droid repository format for faster and smaller updates

#41

Post by roytam87 »

hilbert42 wrote: post #39
geokon wrote: post #8

I didn't realize the app was still being worked on. It's been years since the UI update and it's always been amazingly buggy (across 3 different phone). I'm always impressed by how broken it is - especially if you have a slow connection. Downloads will randomly go into a weird frozen state where they can't be stopped. The download status will change when you change tabs/sections. Sometimes download will go past 100%…

"...It's been years since the UI update and it's always been amazingly buggy" Being buggy is only one aspect, the other was the annoying change of UI that presents apps in rows of large, gawky icons instead of the previous efficient rows of title text each headed by a small icon (as say in Windows 'List' mode). Unfortunately, this leaves me stuck on ancient version F-Droid 0.102.3. When looking for an app this new la…

if you prefer old f-droid interface, you can try foxy droid https://f-droid.org/en/packages/nya.kitsunyan.foxydroid/

Re: New F-Droid repository format for faster and smaller updates

#42

Post by m-p-3 »

Hasnep wrote: post #14
geokon wrote: post #8

I didn't realize the app was still being worked on. It's been years since the UI update and it's always been amazingly buggy (across 3 different phone). I'm always impressed by how broken it is - especially if you have a slow connection. Downloads will randomly go into a weird frozen state where they can't be stopped. The download status will change when you change tabs/sections. Sometimes download will go past 100%…

I recommend NeoStore [1], which is an alternative frontend for F-droid. I can't say it never crashes, but I prefer it to the F-droid app. [1] https://www.f-droid.org/en/packages/com.machiav3lli.fdroid/

I'm curious to see how fast NeoStore will switch to the new format.

Re: New F-Droid repository format for faster and smaller updates

#44

Post by hilbert42 »

roytam87 wrote: post #41
hilbert42 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"...It's been years since the UI update and it's always been amazingly buggy" Being buggy is only one aspect, the other was the annoying change of UI that presents apps in rows of large, gawky icons instead of the previous efficient rows of title text each headed by a small icon (as say in Windows 'List' mode). Unfortunately, this leaves me stuck on ancient version F-Droid 0.102.3. When looking for an app this new la…

if you prefer old f-droid interface, you can try foxy droid https://f-droid.org/en/packages/nya.kitsunyan.foxydroid/

OK, will do. Currently trying Neo Store which has also been suggested.

Re: New F-Droid repository format for faster and smaller updates

#45

Post by hilbert42 »

roytam87 wrote: post #41
hilbert42 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"...It's been years since the UI update and it's always been amazingly buggy" Being buggy is only one aspect, the other was the annoying change of UI that presents apps in rows of large, gawky icons instead of the previous efficient rows of title text each headed by a small icon (as say in Windows 'List' mode). Unfortunately, this leaves me stuck on ancient version F-Droid 0.102.3. When looking for an app this new la…

if you prefer old f-droid interface, you can try foxy droid https://f-droid.org/en/packages/nya.kitsunyan.foxydroid/

Update. I like it, it's very similar to the old F-D v0.102.3 mentioned. Reckon I'm not alone, seems Foxy Droid's author shares similar views. Thanks. :-)

Re: New F-Droid repository format for faster and smaller updates

#47

Post by jeroenhd »

RicoElectrico wrote: post #22

It shouldn't need to download the whole repo index for a mobile app store. It's a flawed assumption to begin with.

It's not strictly necessary, but if the entire repo can fit inside 8MiB of compressed data I can understand why they chose this rather than server-side search. That's "three clicks on Twitter" in terms of data, not exactly the end of the world, though less is always better. F-Droid's main servers are always overloaded anyway, so just sending a nice and cacheable compressed archive seems like a fine trade-off to me.

Re: New F-Droid repository format for faster and smaller updates

#48

Post by Andrex »

Hasnep wrote: post #32
orra wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I was reading recently, NeoStore is also the F-Droid client which supports automatic upgrades on Android 12, without root.

Yes, but it has the limitation that it can only automatically update apps that it installed. So if you've already installed an app through the F-droid app, you can either uninstall and reinstall an app using NeoStore or manually do the first update through NeoStore and then all subsequent updates will be automatic. This is the reason I use NeoStore to install apps like NewPipe on my family members' phones. Before, wh…

This is being fixed in Android 14[0], fwiw.

0. https://www.xda-developers.com/android-14-new-apis-app-store...

Re: New F-Droid repository format for faster and smaller updates

#49

Post by machinawhite »

WeylandYutani wrote: post #38
david_allison wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for everything that you've done! The Android ecosystem is uniquely hostile, and it's hard for an outsider to understand the public and private battles that you've inevitably faced over the years.

Less hostile than iOS? How does F-droid work over there?

More hostile than Windows for sure. F-Droid does not produce high quality hardware to go with it.
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