SoftwareApp
ddcd68b4b7
The selection bar offered Copy and Move, which only filled an in-app clipboard; the destination picker then lived behind an overflow menu, and Paste in the top bar. That made a copy a two-step detour through another folder - the thing M16's picker exists to avoid. - The bar's two verbs are now Copy to… and Cut to…, both opening the destination picker. - The clipboard state, Paste here, and the overflow's duplicate Copy to… / Move to… are removed. The picker's cut title and confirm are Cut to… / Cut here. - A copy still keeps the selection for a second destination; a cut clears it. Conflicts still ask before overwriting, naming the picked folder. - Five clipboard tests are removed; the mark, restart and undo tests now use the picker. BrowserTopBar's search and overflow sections are extracted so its two new detekt findings are fixed rather than baselined. Driven on the Xiaomi phone: Copy to… copied 120 x 16 MB through Internal storage -> AADemo -> Target and reported Copied 121 items to Target; Cut to… moved file001.bin and offered Undo; a name in the way raised Items already exist here; the top-bar overflow has no Paste. The foreground-service video was re-recorded against the new bar at 16.1 s. Verified: ./tools/verify.sh green, the code map current, 426 unit tests pass, and the video decodes as H.264 1080x2400 with no audio.
242 lines
12 KiB
Markdown
242 lines
12 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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**M20 — launcher shortcuts: done.** Long-press the app icon for **Images**, **Recent** and **Trash**.
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Since the last release build: **M19** gave the trash its 24-hour window, **Empty trash** and a sweep on
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open; **M18** let compression store files instead of squeezing them; **M17** put a dot on the rows an
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operation produced; and **M16** added **Copy to… / Cut to…** with a destination picker that does not
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take you out of the folder you are in. Before them: **M15 — favourites** (a star puts a folder on the
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home screen), **M14 — batch rename** (one pattern, a start number, and a series that carries on from
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the folder's own), **M13 — video thumbnails** (a frame of the video itself rather than a film icon),
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**M12 — duplicate finder** (size, then the head of every candidate, then the survivors in full),
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**M11 — library views** (Images, Videos, Audio, Documents, Archives and Recent, counted from the
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search index), and **M10 — store assets**: the app is named **Plain Files**, the icon and feature
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graphic come from the app's own vectors, [docs/STORE_LISTING.md](docs/STORE_LISTING.md) holds
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length-checked listing copy, and [docs/RELEASE_NOTES.md](docs/RELEASE_NOTES.md) holds the copy for the
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Console's **What's new** field.
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Screenshots exist for 8 phone (1080×2160), 4 on a 7-inch tablet (1200×1920) and 4 on a 10-inch
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tablet (2560×1600). The phone set was re-shot on 2026-10-18 and covers M16-M20; the tablet sets
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**predate M11** and should be regenerated on a machine with KVM before the listing goes live
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([docs/STORE_LISTING.md](docs/STORE_LISTING.md)).
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## Tech stack
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| Area | Choice |
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|---|---|
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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 + XZ for Java (both 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, shares coming in
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│ from other apps, the trash index (SQLite), file operations, archives,
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│ 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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The per-file index — what each file holds, and every test name in the suite — is
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[`docs/CODE_MAP.md`](docs/CODE_MAP.md), generated from the source by
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`tools/make-code-map.py` (`--check` fails when it is stale). [`AGENTS.md`](AGENTS.md) is the
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one-page briefing for whoever picks the repository up: the commands, the layout and its
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dependency direction, the rules that have tests behind them, and the traps worth knowing
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before spending an hour on them.
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## Building
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Prerequisites:
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- JDK 17+ (JDK 25 verified)
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- A **JDK 21** as well: detekt 1.23 cannot run on 25, so the analyser is pinned to a 21 toolchain and
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Gradle will not download one.
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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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# Everything the gate requires, in one command — what CI and the pre-push hook run:
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./tools/verify.sh
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```
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The gate is the code-map check, [detekt](https://detekt.dev) against a frozen baseline, the unit tests
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and Android Lint, cheapest first; `--release` adds an R8 build. CI
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(`.github/workflows/verify.yml`) runs it on every push and pull request and nightly with `--release`,
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because R8 is the one check that has caught a defect nothing else could. To run it before pushing:
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`git config core.hooksPath .githooks`.
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The numbers that do exist — and the ones deliberately still missing — are in
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[docs/PERFORMANCE.md](docs/PERFORMANCE.md).
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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/` — the roadmap, the generated code map and the release documentation.
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- `PRIVACY.md`, `CHANGELOG.md`, `AGENTS.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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- **The trash is a time window, not a bin you manage.** A delete stages the item in a hidden
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`.plainfiles-trash` folder on the same volume and keeps it for 24 hours; the **Trash** entry
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in the overflow menu lists what is still there, puts a whole batch back, and offers **Empty
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trash** for when the window is not what you want. Opening the trash sweeps what has expired,
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so retention no longer waits for the next delete. A name taken again in the meantime is never
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overwritten, so a restored item can arrive beside the new one rather than replacing it.
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- **Where a trashed item came from is remembered in the app's own database**, not on the
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volume. The staged files are the truth and the database is only an index, so the two are
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reconciled in both directions: an entry whose file has gone is not offered back, and a
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batch folder no entry mentions is swept.
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- **Sharing a file *out* only works 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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Receiving a share and being picked from another app's chooser work either way: the first
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needs no filesystem path, and the second falls back to `RESULT_CANCELED` rather than
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returning a URI the caller could not read.
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- **RAR, CAB, ISO and WIM are refused**, not supported — they need native code, which this
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project deliberately does not ship. (The Commons Compress jar contains no RAR classes at
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all.) **7z is different**: Commons Compress reads it in pure Java, so it *is* supported —
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but the format needs a seekable channel rather than a stream, because its header lives at
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the end of the file. All-files access can supply one; the SAF fallback cannot, so 7z
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extraction reports that plainly in folder mode instead of half-working.
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- **7z files can be opened but not created** — writing stays ZIP-only.
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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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- **A batch rename is refused rather than half-done when one of its names is taken**, including when
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the file holding that name is part of the same batch: `a.txt` taking `a (1).txt` while `a (1).txt`
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is itself being renamed needs the files shuffled through temporary names, so the dialog names the
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file in the way instead. Renaming in the other order, or starting the numbering past the block,
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does what you want.
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- **A library is not restored across process death.** The persisted view state holds a path, and a
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library has none, so a restart returns to the root screen rather than to Images or Recent.
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- **Long-press multi-select is awkward to script from the host.** The gesture that opens the
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selection bar (`input swipe x y x y 900`) works on the MIUI test device but has also
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registered as a plain tap, so compress/extract from the UI wants 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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## Competitive context
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The category leader is **File Manager Plus** (AlphaInventor; 100 M+ installs, 4.7–4.8★, free
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with ads and in-app purchases, and a Data Safety form that shares device IDs with third
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parties). What it offers, what its users praise, what they complain about, and which of those
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complaints this app can answer without asking for a single new permission:
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[docs/COMPETITIVE_ANALYSIS.md](docs/COMPETITIVE_ANALYSIS.md).
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## Licence
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Proprietary — all rights reserved.
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