173 lines
7.3 KiB
Markdown
173 lines
7.3 KiB
Markdown
# File Manager
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An **ad-free**, **one-time-paid** Android file manager. It browses and manages the
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files on your device — locally, with no ads, no account and no analytics.
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Nothing ever leaves the device: the app declares no network permission and contains
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no advertising or tracking SDKs.
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> **Working title.** The display name and the store listing are decided before the
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> first Play upload (see [docs/ROADMAP.md](docs/ROADMAP.md), M10). The `applicationId`
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> is already fixed and can never change after the first release.
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## Status
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**M10 — store assets: mostly done.** The app is named **Plain Files**, the icon and feature
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graphic are generated from the app's own vectors, the screenshot normaliser is written, and
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[docs/STORE_LISTING.md](docs/STORE_LISTING.md) holds length-checked listing copy. The
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screenshots are still outstanding — the generator is ready but no captures exist yet.
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## Tech stack
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| Area | Choice |
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| Language | Kotlin 2.4.10 (using AGP 9 *built-in Kotlin*) |
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| UI | Jetpack Compose, BOM 2026.06.01, Material 3 |
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| Build | Gradle 9.3.1, Android Gradle Plugin 9.1.0 |
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| Storage access | `MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE` ("All files access") with a Storage Access Framework fallback |
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| Archives | Apache Commons Compress (pure Java — no NDK) |
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| SDK levels | `compileSdk`/`targetSdk` 36, `minSdk` 26 |
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`targetSdk` is 36 because Google Play requires new apps and updates to target
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Android 16 (API 36) from 31 August 2026.
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## Project layout
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```
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app/src/main/java/de/softwareapp_hb/filemanager/
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├── core/ Pure-Kotlin engine (no Android imports!) — paths, sorting, formatting,
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│ search matching, copy/move planning, conflict policy
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├── data/ Storage backends (all-files access + SAF), volumes, bookmarks,
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│ file operations, archives, deletion
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├── domain/ Browser + operation controllers, models, permission state
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├── service/ Foreground service for long-running file operations
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├── ui/ Compose theme, browser screen, components, ViewModels
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└── text/ Domain enum → string-resource mapping
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app/src/test/java/… JVM unit tests for the core engine
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```
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`core/` deliberately has **no Android dependencies**, so the trickiest logic is
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covered by fast JVM tests.
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## Building
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Prerequisites:
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- JDK 17+ (JDK 25 verified)
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- Android SDK with `platforms;android-36` and `build-tools;36.0.0`
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```bash
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# Tell Gradle where the SDK lives (this file is git-ignored)
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echo "sdk.dir=$HOME/Android/Sdk" > local.properties
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./gradlew :app:assembleDebug # debug APK
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./gradlew :app:testDebugUnitTest # JVM unit tests for the engine
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./gradlew :app:lintDebug # Android Lint
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./gradlew :app:bundleRelease # Play upload bundle (.aab)
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```
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Release signing is optional and driven by a git-ignored `keystore.properties`
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(see `keystore.properties.example`); without it the release build still runs
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R8/minification but produces an unsigned artefact.
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## Tracked in git
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- Source, resources and Gradle build files.
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- `docs/` — roadmap and release documentation.
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- `PRIVACY.md`, `CHANGELOG.md`, and (from M10) `store-assets/`.
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Not tracked: `local.properties`, `keystore.properties`, `*.jks`, build outputs.
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## Releasing
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Release signing is driven by the git-ignored `keystore.properties` (see
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`keystore.properties.example`). Without that file the release build still runs R8 and
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resource shrinking, but produces an unsigned artefact that cannot be uploaded.
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```bash
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./gradlew :app:bundleRelease # Play upload bundle (.aab)
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./gradlew :app:assembleRelease # APK, for local checks
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# Audit what is actually shipped — in particular that there is no INTERNET permission:
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$ANDROID_HOME/build-tools/36.0.0/aapt2 dump permissions \
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app/build/outputs/apk/release/app-release.apk
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```
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Read [docs/PLAY_RELEASE_CHECKLIST.md](docs/PLAY_RELEASE_CHECKLIST.md) before uploading.
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Step 4 is the one that matters most for this app: a file manager must declare **"All files
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access"** through Play's Permissions Declaration Form, and have the core purpose documented
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in its store description. [PRIVACY.md](PRIVACY.md) is written to match the shipped
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permissions.
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## Localisation
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All user-visible text lives in `app/src/main/res/values/strings.xml`, with real `<plurals>`
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wherever a count can be one, and the screen and the progress notification resolve their
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labels through `text/TextRes.kt` so the two cannot drift apart. **English is currently the
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only locale.**
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Adding a language is then a file, not a refactor:
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```
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app/src/main/res/values-de/strings.xml # same keys, translated values
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```
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Deliberately **not** localised, and why:
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- **Byte units** ("KB", "MB") — symbols, not words, and every file manager and the system
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Settings app show them the same way.
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- **The timestamp pattern** (`yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm`) — a fixed, sortable format; the zone is
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passed in explicitly rather than assumed.
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### Checking that nothing was missed
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Two things are easy to get wrong: a literal typed into a composable, and showing an enum
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constant directly (`FileKind.name` puts untranslatable English on screen — the details
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sheet used to do exactly that). The mechanical check is the pseudo-locale:
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```bash
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./gradlew :app:assembleDebug
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# Settings > System > Languages > English (XA), then launch the debug build.
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```
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The debug build type sets `isPseudoLocalesEnabled = true`, so every string that came from
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`strings.xml` renders accented and bracketed (`[Îmàgé]`). **Anything that looks normal is a
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string that never went through resources.** The release build is unaffected.
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One caveat: **Google Play's automatic translation translates your store listing, not the app
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UI.** Translated UI text has to be supplied in `values-<locale>/`.
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## Known limitations
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- **"Open with" and Share only work in the all-files mode.** A SAF path is relative to the
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granted tree rather than a filesystem path, so it cannot be handed to `FileProvider`.
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- **RAR and 7z are refused**, not supported — they need native code, which this project
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deliberately does not ship.
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- **Archive extraction does not restore original timestamps or permissions**, and there is
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no archive encryption or password support.
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- **Cancellation happens between entries**, so a single very large file finishes before a
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stop is honoured.
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- **View state is not persisted across process death** (`SavedStateHandle` is not wired up).
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- **Long-press multi-select could not be driven from adb** on the MIUI test device, so the
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compress/extract buttons want a manual pass (see
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[docs/EDGE_CASE_TESTING.md](docs/EDGE_CASE_TESTING.md)).
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- The display name is still the working title — decided before the first upload (M10).
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## Monetisation
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**One-time paid: €4.49 base, with a €2.29 launch price for the first 14 days.** No ads, no
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subscription, no in-app purchases, no free tier.
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The price lives on the Play listing, not in the build, which is why there is no Billing
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client in the dependencies and no `com.android.vending.BILLING` permission in the APK —
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that is what keeps "no network permission, nothing leaves your device" true of the
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*shipped artefact* rather than just the source. Rationale, market anchors, the rejected
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alternatives and the Console steps: [docs/MONETISATION.md](docs/MONETISATION.md).
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⚠️ **The price must be set before the first upload** — Play allows paid → free but never
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free → paid.
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## Licence
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Proprietary — all rights reserved.
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