Joplin: F-Droid

[testman42]

Would this app be suitable to be put in F-Droid's repos?

[laurent22]

If it can be automated that might be an option. I've also been thinking of simply linking to the APK in GitHub.

[BenjaminHCCarr]

I second @testman42 's F-Droid inclusion, if you are using github release, there are webhooks for F-droid updates.

[BenjaminHCCarr]

https://f-droid.org/en/contribute/
https://f-droid.org/en/docs/Inclusion_Policy/
https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroiddata/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md
https://f-droid.org/docs/Submitting_to_F-Droid_Quick_Start_Guide/

It's mostly looking for metadata to include, like the project info and license, etc.

[daniel-daga]

If you can, please provide an apk. I would love to try the app, but without Google Play I am not able to install it

[laurent22]

@daniel-daga, for now you can download the latest APK from there:

ARM (probably what you need): https://github.com/laurent22/joplin/releases/download/v0.10.35/app-armeabi-v7a-release.apk

i386: https://github.com/laurent22/joplin/releases/download/v0.10.35/app-x86-release.apk

[daniel-daga]

That's great, thanks a lot!

[laurent22]

No problem. On a side note, I'm curious what are the incentive of using F-Droid? I'm all for using non-Google products, but in practice many apps aren't in F-Droid so it means one would also have to use Google Play anyway, so in that case why not use Google Play only?

[alexanderadam]

On a side note, I'm curious what are the incentive of using F-Droid? I'm all for using non-Google products, but in practice many apps aren't in F-Droid so it means one would also have to use Google Play anyway, so in that case why not use Google Play only?

Well…

1. Some apps aren't on Google Play as well because Google is still a company that may enforce censorship to ensure it's profits are secured. See NewPipe for example. It allows to to play YouTube videos in the background and download them in different formats as well. So it's basically a _free_ competitor of Spotify / Youtube Red on top of YouTube. Similar things happened on the Apple AppStore but but as iOS devices can't use F-Droid natively this might be another issue.
2. Some countries block Google services including Google Play. F-Droid is usually not blocked and even if it _would_ be blocked you could run _your own_ mirror to provide packages for your friends or even share these packages _within the F-Droid application_.
3. Your comment in practice many apps aren't in F-Droid itself is a reason why it is more or less lucrative for other application maintainers to publish on F-Droid. See, if every maintainer would think like this there wouldn't be _any applications_ on F-Droid at all. Luckily more and more people put their apps on F-Droid. So if Joplin appears on F-Droid it might be another small part to convince other maintainers and therefore help step by step increasing the amount of available apps on F-Droid.
4. Some applications use analytics provider that aren't trustworthy and even considered spyware. Often the maintainers don't even know about it, as the analytics logic in proprietary components can change their behaviour. A service could be trustworthy today but starts spying on your users tomorrow. It isn't possible to _generally_ avoid spyware or software flaws that may lead to spyware behaviour, but you can at least ensure that there aren't any proprietary components that would make it difficult to detect bad behaviour. F-Droid ensures that no proprietary components are included. For end users this means F-Droid applications are usually more trustworthy. It's no guarantee but at least a useful hint.
5. Finally, I know indeed people who absolutely simply avoid the Google Play Store by choice.

So it like comparing the apple app store and homebrew.

[laurent22]

Thanks for clarifying @alexanderadam, that makes sense.

For now I have opened a request here: https://gitlab.com/fdroid/rfp/issues/434 If any of you has an account there, please upvote it so that there's more chance it gets picked up.

[laurent22]

For information, an APK file will now be automatically released with each new version (in fact it will be available before the Google Play version). It can be downloaded from the home page and from the Releases section on GitHub.

[Hillside502]

Please use HTTPS links throughout when referring to Joplin website
https://joplin.cozic.net/

[brenthuisman]

+1. I get most of my apps from f-droid, since it's a lot simpler than managing apks (and updating them!) by hand. Thanks for the good work!

[ComputingFroggy]

+1 I have a new phone, and so far I have managed to not use Google Play and still to get the apps I need/want from F-Droid.
I will use the APK download for now, but using F-Droid with an automatic update would be nice.

[subi54]

Have you ever thought of uploading to apkmirror.com?

Edit: ah, f-droid let's you update and not updating manually is the key here. Apologies.

[laurent22]

Joplin is going to use Firebase to enable reliable notifications on Android, so since this is a Google package, F-Droid unfortunately will no longer accept the application.

To avoid using the Play Store, you can download the APK directly from https://github.com/laurent22/joplin-android/releases

[Hillside502]

@laurent22
Firebase is closed-source Google (spy)ware:-
https://firebase.google.com/

According to Yalp Store, Joplin uses Google Play Services.

F-Droid unfortunately will no longer accept the application

https://gitlab.com/fdroid/rfp/issues/434 is still open, so you're making an assumption.

So, my question --- is Joplin trustworthy, privacy-conscious open-source software?

[laurent22]

To clarify, Firebase provides a ton of functionalities, but Joplin only needs scheduled (local) notifications for alarms. So when I've added it I've only enabled this particular functionality and I disabled all the features to "help Google improve Firebase" (there were several checkboxes for it). This is complex technology and I can't claim I understand everything of it but as far as I know this doesn't introduce any tracking. If I'm wrong, I'm happy to work with anybody who knows about it and provide an option that disables that functionality.

The reason I've used Firebase is because there's currently no good local notification package for React Native on Android (on iOS this is covered by the built-in iOS lib). The only independent Android one is discontinued and there's no alternative. Basically it's not like search engines - either Google or Duckduckgo - it's Google or nothing at the moment. When a good open source module is released it's always possible to switch to it (like many things in Joplin, the Alarm driver for android is tiny so can be switched easily).

[alexanderadam]

Would it be a possibility to have a build without notification functionality on F-Droid for now?
Like another build recipe that just skips that functionality until there is a FOSS solution that suits the notification case.

[lachlan-00]

I understand your reasoning Laurent. I forgot which project it was but i know others that have had the same problem by using firebase.

[laurent22]

Would it be a possibility to have a build without notification functionality on F-Droid for now?

The app never actually got added to F-Droid because there were other issues (their build system couldn't build it). Maybe a special build could be created if they wanted to add it, but I doubt it as it's been nearly a year now.

[trymeouteh]

This would be great! Automatic updates for Joplin on phones that don't have Google Play Services!

If this cannot be done please add a notification in the app that can notify the user that there is a new version of Joplin.

[trymeouteh]

Try doing what Bromite did and create a unofficial repo for Joplin.

https://github.com/bromite/bromite#user-content-is-bromite-on-f-droid

[laurent22]

Dependency to Firebase has been removed as of v233. Please give it another try.

Actually I don't really understand the situation with F-Droid, is the app already available on it via some repo? If so maybe I could add the info to the download page.

[Hillside502]

v233?

Your current version is v1.0.120
https://github.com/laurent22/joplin/releases

[laurent22]

233 for Android - https://github.com/laurent22/joplin-android/releases/download/android-v1.0.233/joplin-v1.0.233.apk

[4ut0-M-4t]

Actually I don't really understand the situation with F-Droid, is the app already available on it via some repo? If so maybe I could add the info to the download page.

Joplin is currently available via IzzyOnDroid F-Droid Repo that serves

official binaries built by the original application developers, taken from their resp. repositories.

@laurent22 you probably ought to get in touch with @IzzySoft first, as his repo is still not part of the official F-Droid repo list.

[IzzySoft]

as his repo is still not part of the official F-Droid repo list.

And won't ever be (at least it's very unlikely). As for Joplin: GMS, Firebase and Firebase Analytics are show-stoppers for the official repo (and in this amount, being 3 proprietary libraries which at the same time count as "trackers", already very border-line for mine).

So I'd strongly recommend getting rid of those 3. That's a requirement for getting the app into the official repo – and for mine I'd very much appreciate if at least Firebase Analytics would be gone.

[laurent22]

@IzzySoft, Firebase was removed in last release, and GMS I think is still needed for notifications. I'll try to remove it though and see if they still work.

[IzzySoft]

Firebase was removed in last release

You sure? Then what APK did my updater pick from here? For Version 1.0.235 (2019-01-19), my library scanner (see results at my repo) still reports Firebase as well as Firebase Analytics.

GMS I think is still needed for notifications

Yes, thought so. Alternatives to that take a bit more work maybe (though e.g. Tutanota found a way).

I'll try to remove it though and see if they still work.

Great, thanks! If really all can be removed, that would make your app eligible for the official repo even. Looking forward to that! 🤞

[laurent22]

You sure?

Hmm, well everything related to Firebase was removed in this commit and I can't find anything that might be referencing it directly. Maybe it's still pulled by another package. I'll check as I don't like having Analytics packages in the app.

[IzzySoft]

Might be relevant that the APK I've scanned comes from the joplin-android repository?

[laurent22]

The versions on joplin-android are the most recent ones, so they shouldn't have the Firebase package normally.

[IzzySoft]

Just let me know when I should check again. As soon as you add a new tag with an APK attached to it, my updater fetches that within 24h, so you can even check it at my repo then.

Thanks for caring! :+1:

[IzzySoft]

Just reporting back: Yes, the latest version (from today) got rid of Firebase! Thanks! :heart:

For the "official repository" now only GMS is the show-stopper. If you got that tackled (or have a build flavor without it), please let me know and I'll check how I can help you bringing it over (if you wish).

Thanks again!!!

[servingworlds]

Much thanks for Joplin! I use it on all my devices save one for work due to closed source gms

Not a dev but I am amazed by what you do, and apologies for asking for something I don't truly understand in depth however: Would you be able to spoof to use unifiednlp in a parallel all-libre release?

Again, asking only to learn more and in hopes I can put Joplin on my work device as well.

Thanks again for Joplin

[laurent22]

@servingworlds, I'm not familiar with UnifiedNlp, what does it do?

[IzzySoft]

@laurent22 It's part of microG, an open source replacement for most of Google Services, mapping their API calls to alternatives (e.g. a call to Google Maps would return an OSM tile) – and some other calls (Analytics etc) to /dev/null. You can install it on devices/ROMs that do not have GApps installed.

UnifiedNlp itself also has a variant you can install along with GApps. It's a modularized location service, several backends exist to provide location based on OpenCellID, Mozilla or other data.

No idea what this got to do with Joplin, though…

[servingworlds]

I only have a layman's understanding, but thought it might help Laurent remove reliance on gms in Joplin.

[IzzySoft]

@servingworlds unfortunately not I'm afraid. AFAIK it only maps calls from apps using GMS to work on devices without GApps (i.e. it exposes the same interface those apps would expect from GMS). I'm not aware of "client libraries" specifically tailored to use microG instead of GMS. I might have missed that – but I'd wonder.

[Andrewskiz]

Which features are dependent on GMS? Could the app be compiled without it?

[IzzySoft]

Going by the permissions (see here in my repo), it uses GCM (Google Cloud Messaging) – and it wants to check its license with Google (no idea why a non-paid version would need that – and no idea why a text editor needs cloud messages – but a good guess for the latter would be the sync stuff, to trigger it when new data is available "upstream").

[trymeouteh]

If F-Droid is not gonna work out I would like to suggest making the APK notify the user with a notification when a new version of the app is available by having the app check github for any new releases. The NewPipe app does this and it works well as a method to notify users of a new version.

[IzzySoft]

@trymeouteh cannot hurt. Though as pointed out, users can include my repo and then would get notified about updates – which hit my repo within 24h of your publishing them here. So the easiest "fix" would be mentioning this in the readme here :wink:

As long as Joplin includes proprietary components (like GCM/FCM), it won't be accepted for the main repo. So if it depends on those, it won't ever. If it's just for a feature the app can do without, a build variant coming without them would make it acceptable for F-Droid again.

[lord-aerion]

I'm constantly looking for replacements for services currently hosted with corporate providers, and Joplin is yet another successful milestone in this quest.

Having zero reliance on Google, and being able to download Joplin from F-Droid would be ideal. Sadly the reliance on Google's services for notifications hinders the adoption of alternative platforms such as Sailfish OS, even when many Android apps can run on it.

I'm not a developer, so please excuse my ignorance, but could Parser Server replace FCM/GMS? If yes, would that make it possible to include Joplin in the F-Droid repos?

@laurent22 referred to a discontinued alternative to Firebase in an earlier comment, which I assume is Parse, but Parse Server is a fully open source project under active development, with many supported SDKs.

[IzzySoft]

@lord-aerion I agree that FCM/GCM is a hinderance and needs to be replaced/removed. As for having Joplin available via F-Droid, see my previous comment and its first link: if you add my repo to the F-Droid clients configuration, you'll find Joplin there.

[lord-aerion]

@IzzySoft Yes, I did that yesterday, and it's working perfectly, so thanks for maintaining that repo.

What I meant to say was that it would be ideal to have Joplin in the official F-Droid repos, unencumbered by Google services.

The reliance on Firebase by many apps is a major obstacle in trying to go Google free, whether that's through custom Android ROMs with MicroG, or through Sailfish OS. So close, yet so far…

[IzzySoft]

it's working perfectly, so thanks for maintaining that repo.

Glad to read – and glad to do! Now also screenshots should show up in the client :smiley:

What I meant to say was that it would be ideal to have Joplin in the official F-Droid repos, unencumbered by Google services.

Amen to that! And to the paragraph following it…

[FreddieOliveira]

Why isn't Joplin in F-droid already?

[IzzySoft]

Let me guess, @FreddieOliveira: because it depends on GMS, and proprietary elements are not allowed in F-Droid? So it is in my repo.

[laurent22]

If someone really wants an F-Droid version, I think the only way would be for them to maintain a GMS-free version in a separate fork, which would basically have the notifications disabled. I've looked a bit into it and it's not impossible to remove this part, but it is significant extra maintenance.

[lord-aerion]

What about my earlier question about replacing GMS with Parse Server?

As mentioned in that comment, I'm not a developer, so I have no idea whether that's even possible, but to a layman like me it certainly looks like Firebase isn't the only solution in the world to achieve cloud messaging.

[realmain]

Why does Joplin need GMS?

[nr458h]

Here is a short summary, because it seems that people are not interested in reading all comments in an open issue :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

The request is to provide a build which is acceptable for the F-droid Repo:

---

1. The GSM is used for notification in the android app
2. Technical it is possible to automate a build without that components
3. Lauerent would accept this kind of fork
4. In addition nobody was able to point Lauren to an alternative
5. If there is an alternative Laurent probably changes the code
6. As long this isn't happened, Joplin is available in the F-droid app through Izzys repository including the GSM software components

@laurent22 may you have a look at this summary and I rewrite your opinion in the right way:wink:

[pihug12]

FYI, I built Joplin without GMS here by removing the react-native-camera and react-native-push-notification parts: https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroiddata/merge_requests/4904

Here is the YML file to build it: https://gitlab.com/pihug12/fdroiddata/blob/master/metadata/net.cozic.joplin.yml

The only thing missing is to set up fs-extra correctly in a fdroidserver environment. I need some help for that (see the Discussion in the merge request).

[laurent22]

@pihug12, why do you need special handling for fs-extra? Isn't it install already if you run npm i on the project?

[pihug12]

I'm a total newbie with npm. I think it should work that way, but it mysteriously doesn't.

I think the F-Droid guys should take a look at this to debug this thing.

[lord-aerion]

@nr458h

1. The GSM is used for notification in the android app

I've never seen any notifications from Joplin. I presume this only applies if you use the reminder feature? I don't use the reminders as I have Tasks (on F-Droid, works with the excellent EteSync) for that so the notifications, and thus presumably the reliance on GMS, are unnecessary for me.

4. In addition nobody was able to point Lauren to an alternative

Er… I've mentioned Parse Server twice and asked whether that would be a viable alternative, but no one responded :-)

As stated before, I'm not a developer, but from glancing over the specs of Parse Server, it looks to me like it could be a viable alternative. If it indeed is, perhaps a fork could be made until such time that the main version is ready to migrate?

[stale[bot]]

Hey there, it looks like there has been no activity on this issue recently. Has the issue been fixed, or does it still require the community's attention? This issue may be closed if no further activity occurs. You may also label this issue as "backlog" and I will leave it open. Thank you for your contributions.

[PopeRigby]

Bump

[nr458h]

I found this App and in the last release it says:

Removes Google services from notification library and use fork of react-native-push-notification: https://github.com/github:jfr3000/react-native-push-notification

So probably this could help solving the technical dept keeping as back from an f_droid release.

@laurent22 what do you think?

[ivysrono]

+1

[EdaNano]

Is this of any help (how tutanota got rid of firebase push por their App) ?
https://f-droid.org/tr/2018/09/03/replacing-gcm-in-tutanota.html

They explain there that other projects did the same in different ways :
"We’ve made a research on how others (Signal, Wire, Conversations, Riot, Facebook, Mastodon) have been solving similar problems. We had several options in mind, including WebSockets, MQTT, Server Sent Events and HTTP/2 Server Push."
They finally chose SSE and succeeded. The explain how they did it.

Also, I have been looking at Exodus Privacy reports from your app, congrats you have zero trackers. So this means you are not using Firebase at all ? I saw in the history log there that once you used but not anymore. Is that correct? In that case you are in theory (as of Firebase) ready for F-Droid, aren't you?

Being on F-Droid is crucial, a lot of people are getting rid of Google completely, for security reasons, and for ethical reasons, they do not want to be tracked and used for publicity. Moreover Google's Firebase is not free as in free beer software, this means we know nothing about it, what's the purpose of doing open source software if it depends on non-free stuff? But I know that this is not easy, especially in Android, we are sooooo little independent there, that is why when we can, we should first be on F-Droid:) F-Droid is important and it is important that F-Droid stays very demanding about stuff we link our software with :) so thanks for the work again, and hope you find time digging into this very important issue.

[Hillside502]

Google's Firebase is not free as in free beer software

think you mean free as in freedom

[lord-aerion]

So what about Parse Server as an alternative?

[IzzySoft]

So what about Parse Server as an alternative?

Is it F/L OSS? With an OSI-approved license? And "privacy-first"?

[lord-aerion]

Yes, it's F/L OSS:

• https://parseplatform.org/
• https://github.com/parse-community/parse-server/wiki

It's released under a BSD licence, which is OSI approved.

• https://github.com/parse-community/parse-server/blob/master/LICENSE

I don't know anything about it being "privacy-first", but that's certainly not something that can be said about Firebase.

[IzzySoft]

I don't know anything about it being "privacy-first", but that's certainly not something that can be said about Firebase.

ROFL… no, certainly not. Remains the question of whether the license of the library is compatible with that of the project then (I'm no specialist in that, but some do clash – AFAIR e.g. Apache-2 and GPL-2; no idea on MIT vs BSD). And "privacy first" means e.g. "opt-in", not "opt-out".

[lord-aerion]

I hope that someone with more knowledge than me (I'm not a developer) could possibly have a look at Parse Server to see if this could potentially be an alternative to the use Firebase in Joplin.

Something like Parse Server could open up app development on other platforms such as Sailfish OS, where the lack of Firebase is a major hurdle.

I'm very keen to get away from Android, but sadly it's the apps that tie me to Android.

[duncanturk]

Maybe OpenPush is also worth a look https://bubu1.eu/openpush/

[lord-aerion]

Still a WIP, but certainly worth keeping an eye on. Nice find.
It's on F-Droid too, which would a help lot with the F-Droid Joplin build.

Parse Server is more established though.

[crti]

If on F-Droid I just would have installed Joplin to test this praised FOSS-App so far I don't know. I'm reluctant to install and adopt for daily use an App not available in an Android FOSS-App-Store.

[lord-aerion]

If on F-Droid I just would have installed Joplin to test this praised FOSS-App so far I don't know. I'm reluctant to install and adopt for daily use an App not available in an Android FOSS-App-Store.

But Joplin _is_ on F-Droid if you add IzzySoft's repo. See this comment.

[alexanderadam]

I'm reluctant to install and adopt for daily use an App not available in an Android FOSS-App-Store.

But Joplin _is_ on F-Droid if you add IzzySoft's repo. See this comment.

These are two different things:

IzzySoft is basically including _everything_ he can find. As far as I know, he does not follow an inclusion policy. Meaning that there is no policy that ensures the applications included in it, have only free components or don't track users etc.
EDIT: see IzzySoft's comment below. So I must stand corrected: He's not including _everything_ but he's following a _very_ simple policy (i.e. must have a description, file size should be small, some code + apk is available, end-user focused). And even he's preferring the F-Droid repository.

The _official_, F-Droid repository exclusively includes FOSS applications.

So if someone is asking for availability within an "Android FOSS-App-Store", IzzySoft's repo can obviously not be the answer.
It just provides easier access/updates for applications that didn't make it to the official F-Droid repositories (yet).

[IzzySoft]

But Joplin is on F-Droid if you add IzzySoft's repo. See this comment

@lord-aerion Well, while that's true, inclusion criteria for my repo are less strict than those on f-droid.org. While I do my best to assure I don't "serve shit" (scanning via VirusTotal, checking contained libraries, etc), I do not compile myself from the code nor I'm a developer with "deep insight". So I understand when people trust my repo less (applies to my person as well: I prefer apps to go to f-droid.org – and hundreds of apps have already passed my repo on their way there). Consider mine as a stepping-stone ("staging") for those – and as "nonfree" for others which still contain _some_ libraries/binaries not accepted by F-Droid.

IzzySoft is basically including _everything_ he can find

@alexanderadam Here I must protest – and suggest you read my inclusion criteria etc. You can find them

• on my repo's info page
• on the corresponding "maintenance repo" at GitLab

My criteria are definitely less strict than those of f-droid.org – but I don't just pick "every APK I can find". And if you wonder: Yes, on occasion I even kicked out apps I initially included when I found they do not meet those criteria (or stopped updating if newer versions did; sometimes I was able to convince the devs to revert those changes and could pick up updates again later; yes, I have a "warning system" in place to notify me in such cases, it's not perfect but certainly good). So with my repo you are definitely safer than picking APKs from "random websites" :wink:

But as pointed out: I'm with you on the fact my repo isn't "strictly FOSS": even if the entire code of an app is open source, as soon as some "proprietary component" (like Analytics or some other GApps part) is included, I cannot (and do not) claim the app is still FOSS.

TL;DR: While I happily keep Joplin in my repo, I'd definitely welcome if it went "fully FOSS" (or at least offered a FOSS flavor) so it could be moved to f-droid.org – which for sure is the "more trustworthy" place.

[crti]

Thanks @alexanderadam & @IzzySoft - I appreciate the clarification here. @lord-aerion I would be open to include other repo's if I very much need (regularly updated) at least one App from there; on some device I have Guardian Project (secure apps) and microG F-Droid repos active.
Since I do not know Joplin yet, as long as F-Droid does not provide it, I'm reluctant to make me dependable on it. ;-)

[IzzySoft]

@crti Joplin is regularly updated in my repo (normally within 24h of the APK being attached to a new release here). Unless @laurent22 starts adding "other trackers", it will stay this way.

My repo currently provides 450+ apps, so you might well find other candidates for your usage. I encourage you checking their web page first (like this one for Joplin) for details not shown in the F-Droid client (e.g. libraries an app contains), if you want to avoid certain "taintings".

Just to be clear once more: not all apps in my repo are "tainted" somehow. In some cases apps are fully fine FOSS but the authors preferred staying with my repo (e.g. because of faster updates – a reason why some apps are in both on special request, like FairEmail).

[stale[bot]]

Hey there, it looks like there has been no activity on this issue recently. Has the issue been fixed, or does it still require the community's attention? This issue may be closed if no further activity occurs. You may comment on the issue and I will leave it open. Thank you for your contributions.

[nr458h]

pst go away Mr Stale.
@laurent22 probably we could tag this if this is still a desirable feature ;)

[billybobfrank]

Would very much like to see this app on Fdroid.

[lord-aerion]

I'd love to hear from @laurent22 about Parse Server or OpenPush as an alternative to Firebase.

A desire for privacy is what drives many people away from established commercial products towards smaller projects such as this one, but the heavy reliance on Google services such as Firebase remains a major obstacle in both the quest to regain control over our data, as well as the adoption of privacy friendly alternatives such as AOSP, GrapheneOS, LineageOS and Sailfish OS.

As I've stated before in this thread, I'm not qualified to claim that these two alternatives are valid candidates to replace Firebase as I'm not a programmer, but it's clear that Firebase does not have a monopoly on cloud push notifications, and that it is possible to rid ourselves of Google.

[chjohn22]

@lord-aerion Maybe there could be an F-Droid-Version without push support until a version with an alternative push provider is available? In my opinion, push is not a must-have corefeature of note-taking apps.

[laurent22]

Unfortunately there’s almost no chance we’ll support an alternative push provider. It’s a lot of work and we don’t have that kind if resources to support this. A version without notification support, maybe, assuming someone is willing to figure out hiw to do this.

[IzzySoft]

@laurent22 You'll certainly need a separate FOSS flavor for this. A possible approach then might be to route all Push calls via a single local class¹, which exists in two variants: the one for the "Google flavor" forwards them to the corresponding FCM classes – and the one for the "FOSS flavor" is just a stub, doing nothing but to return the "expected result" (like success, true, whatever). Now making the latter the "base class" and have the "Google" variant extend it (i.e. overload it with its functionality), it should hopefully not be too hard to maintain.

I'm no Android dev, so my approach might be naïve (and I certainly cannot implement it and provide a PR); still sharing it in the hope it will be useful or at least inspire "something that works".

---

¹ _{so no scanner gets triggered by a "proprietary signature" via library-path match}

[billybobfrank]

Any update on this? Seems like a popular request.
Anything at all a non-programmer can do?

[lord-aerion]

@IzzySoft Your idea makes sense to a non-developer such as myself. Furthermore, it would leave the door open for an alternative push solution such as OpenPush or Parse Server, should someone be willing and able to dedicate resources to it.

I appreciate what @laurent22 is saying about lack of resources, however it really is unfortunate that Google has _such_ a grip on Android with Firebase. It stops many great FOSS projects from being truly open source, or it cripples them due to the loss of push notifications.

The loss of push notifications in Joplin wouldn't bother me in the slightest as I use a different solution for tasks. Joplin is purely a note taking app for me.

[tamis-laan]

Was recommended Joplin, looks like an amazing note taking app, but without F-Droid support .....

[IzzySoft]

@tamis-laan while I definitely agree it would be preferable having up-to-date Joplin in "F-Droid proper", for now you can simply add my repo to your F-Droid client; among the currently 570 apps in there, Joplin would then be available to you.

[tamis-laan]

@lzzySoft No offense, but I would like to stay with native F-Droid as they have stringent checks in place, build the code from source and make sure nothing unwanted creeps in.

[IzzySoft]

@tamis-laan no offense taken – I'm one of the maintainers there, so thanks for the warm words :wink:

[IzzySoft]

@laurent22 did you stop providing the APK files at releases/? I've just got a report about missing updates – and when I checked, all APKs seemed to be gone. I'd need them there to provide your app via my repo, so it's at least available using the F-Droid client for those without access to Play. Could you please make them available there again? Thanks!

[cyphase]

@IzzySoft Android releases are here.

[IzzySoft]

Ah, I forgot – this was one of the few "split repos"… Thanks, and apologies for my interruption then!

[dspacejs]

I would really like this on F-Droid to get automatic updates. Alternatively, just add an auto-update feature within the app itself (like Signal does).

[IzzySoft]

@dspacejs alternatively, just add my repo to your F-Droid client – and you can get auto-updates of Joplin :wink:

[dspacejs]

@IzzySoft oh, how do you do that?

Also, regarding Firebase. I didn't realise this app used that. I'd much prefer if it didn't, the only reason I use this app is because I want to be in control of my data. I don't trust Google at all.

[laurent22]

It doesn't use Firebase.

[IzzySoft]

@dspacejs

oh, how do you do that?

My updater daily checks for new APKs Laurent provides, pulls them and adds them to my repo.

Also, regarding Firebase.

Huh? Which app are you talking about? You probably meant "Google Mobile Services". Which are drawn in as dependency of the ML Kit and Vision here. Yes, without that dependency, Joplin could be up-to-date at F-Droid.org. IIRC @laurent22 was already looking into that, but it might take a little to find a suitable solution (either an altogether-replacement, or a build flavor without – though the latter than would lack some minor features (which most users wouldn't mind as I understand, but I might be wrong with that)).