alt Hacker NewsI think there are quite some misconceptions about F-Droid in the comments :
- you can be your own F-Droid server
In fact it's a basic static HTTP(S) server that is generated with the list of .apk and meta-data so it rely doesn't require much.
I think what is concerning to people is that the most popular INSTANCE of F-Droid, the one that is by default when one downloads the F-Droid CLIENT, is "centralized" but again that's a misconception. It's only popular, it's not really central to F-Droid itself. Adding another repository in the F-Droid parlance is just a simple option of changing or adding a URL to more instances.
That being said if anybody here would like to volunteer to be provider a fallback to the build system to that popular instance, I imagine the F-Droid team would welcome that with open arms.
Replies
"It's only popular, it's not really central to F-Droid itself."
I've used F-Droid for years and I've never used the client ("the F-Droid app")
For me the value of F-Droid is as a list of open-source software with (a) pointers to source code and (b) sample binaries
The goal of F-Droid could be to enable Android users to read, edit and compile the software they choose to run on their "phones"
But F-Droid promotes their own app ("the client") so maybe the project's goal is something more like an "app store"
I don't think it's necessarily a misconception but rather people having different conceptions of what the term "F-Droid" refers to. It could refer to the client, the server tools, a specific server instance, the project, the collection of applications, or possibly other things.
Some people might use "F-Droid" in the same sense as the main page [1] does, to mean "an installable catalogue of FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) applications" but others in the sense the about page [2] uses it, referring to the "non-profit volunteer project", which is consistent with the project statues [3]:
> F-Droid is the name of a not-for-profit technical, scientific and creative community effort serving the public benefit.
The documentation start page [4] makes it a bit more clear:
> F-Droid is both a repository of verified free software Android apps as well as a whole “app store kit”, providing all the tools needed to setup and run an app store. It is a community-run free software project developed by a wide range of contributors. It also includes complete build and release tools for managing the process of turning app source code into published builds.
[1] https://f-droid.org/en/
[2] https://f-droid.org/en/about/
[3] https://commonsconservancy.org/dracc/0039/
[4] https://f-droid.org/en/docs/