Dude, Where's My Archive?
Posted on May 02, 2024 by Licaon_KterTWIF generated on Thursday, 02 May 2024, Week 18
F-Droid core
Four weeks ago in the 14-th TWIF we announced the start of 1.20
testing and the repository management improvements that it brings. Over the years, the concept of a “repository archive” kinda stayed the same. Basically, instead of serving the users the full list of all the versions of all the apps, we give them only the latest three versions for each app, as users will just update to the latest one anyway. This keeps an index update easy to download, and this was improved again a couple of years ago by offering diff-updates (not the full index, just the difference compared to your local index), so if you update once a week you’ll end up downloading 200Kb or less.
Since the Archive will collect old versions continuously, its size grows each cycle, and the index as expected, making working with it a heavy task for your device. For this reason we don’t encourage its use unless it’s really needed, eg. for running on old Android versions, and to disable it when done.
As the Client focus is to draw users to the actual main repo, and not to emphasis the Archive, with the latest repository management design it was decided to treat Archive as an option that users can toggle on, instead of having a separate repo entry. This toggle is in the repo details, “in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.’“, 🙂 oh, I mean under the mirror list. This list is under a work in progress redesign of its own, so it’s a bit finicky to scroll right now, leaving even astute Android users to wonder how an Archive can be added or used.
To be fair, the linked Fedi post above has this information in the first picture, but we understand that we’ve looked a lot at these strings and we are biased to consider them “good enough”. One reason to test these changes as early as possible is to gather feedback from users. If you have thoughts on a better wording, feel free to ping us.
Community News
Aurora Store was updated to 4.4.4
and will deemed stable in the next-next index update. You can update now manually if you wish.
Grazer Linuxtage Schedule has changed its application identifier due to some, ahem, alternative centralized store policy. Its users are advised to uninstall and install the new app aptly named: Grazer Linuxtage
NewPipe is reproducible again and was updated to 0.27.0
fixing a lot of bugs users were waiting for months already. We hope future versions get delivered faster.
Updated Apps
72 more apps were updated
- Accelerrace was updated from
0.5
to0.6
- Amarok was updated from
0.8.6b1
to0.8.7b1
- Apollo was updated from
1.4.5
to1.4.6
- Blazed Cloud - Encrypted Storage was updated from
1.3.8
to1.3.9
- Boxcars was updated from
1.3.3
to1.3.4
- Break.Down.Timer was updated from
1.2.0
to1.2.1
- Chrono was updated from
0.4.1
to0.4.2
- FOSS Browser was updated from
14
to15
- Fcitx5 for Android was updated from
0.0.8-0-g4c8399ad
to0.0.9-0-g8dc51356
- Fcitx5 for Android (Anthy Plugin) was updated from
0.0.8-0-g4c8399ad
to0.0.9-0-g8dc51356
- Fcitx5 for Android (Chewing Plugin) was updated from
0.0.8-0-g4c8399ad
to0.0.9-0-g8dc51356
- Fcitx5 for Android (Clipboard Filter Plugin) was updated from
0.0.8-0-g4c8399ad
to0.0.9-0-g8dc51356
- Fcitx5 for Android (Hangul Plugin) was updated from
0.0.8-0-g4c8399ad
to0.0.9-0-g8dc51356
- Fcitx5 for Android (Jyutping Plugin) was updated from
0.0.8-0-g4c8399ad
to0.0.9-0-g8dc51356
- Fcitx5 for Android (RIME Plugin) was updated from
0.0.8-0-g4c8399ad
to0.0.9-0-g8dc51356
- Fcitx5 for Android (Sayura Plugin) was updated from
0.0.8-0-g4c8399ad
to0.0.9-0-g8dc51356
- Fcitx5 for Android (Unikey Plugin) was updated from
0.0.8-0-g4c8399ad
to0.0.9-0-g8dc51356
- Finamp was updated from
0.6.20
to0.6.22
- Flexify was updated from
1.0.58
to1.0.61
- Freebloks was updated from
1.5.5
to1.5.6
- GreenStash was updated from
3.3.0
to3.4.0
- Image Toolbox was updated from
2.7.0
to2.8.0
- Inner Breeze was updated from
1.2.8
to1.3.0
- Jami was updated from
20240412-01
to20240419-01
- Jellyfin for Android TV was updated from
0.16.8
to0.16.9
- KISS Launcher was updated from
3.21.0
to3.21.1
- KitchenOwl was updated from
0.5.0
to0.5.1
- Linwood Butterfly was updated from
2.1.0-beta.5
to2.1.0-rc.0
- Local NLP Backend was updated from
1.2.11
to1.2.12
- Logseq was updated from
0.10.8
to0.10.9
- MedTimer was updated from
1.7.2
to1.7.3
- Mullvad VPN: privacy is a universal right was updated from
2024.1
to2024.2-beta1
- My Expenses was updated from
3.8.2
to3.8.2.1
- Neo Store was updated from
0.9.15
to1.0.0
- Nextcloud was updated from
3.29.0 RC1
to3.29.0
- Nextcloud Dev was updated from
20240421
to20240424
- Nextcloud News was updated from
0.9.9.84
to0.9.9.90
- Nextcloud Talk was updated from
18.1.0
to19.0.0
- Obtainium was updated from
1.1.5
to1.1.6
- PiliPalaX was updated from
1.0.19
to1.0.19
- PlainApp: File & Web Access was updated from
1.2.46
to1.2.47
- Podcini - Podcast instrument was updated from
4.9.0
to4.9.2
- Quacker was updated from
3.4.1
to3.4.2
- Quran 16 Line - Quran Revision Helper was updated from
1.2.0
to1.2.1
- Rethink: DNS + Firewall + VPN was updated from
v0.5.5e
tov0.5.5g
- Safe Space was updated from
1.4.6
to1.4.8
- Shiori was updated from
1.21
to1.21.1
- Standard Notes was updated from
3.193.9
to3.194.0
- Status Bar Speedometer was updated from
3.7.0
to3.8.0
- Sudaku - Make your rules to solve sudoku was updated from
0.0.5
to0.0.6
- Tarnhelm was updated from
1.6.0
to1.6.2
- Telegram FOSS was updated from
10.9.1
to10.10.1
- Terminal Emulator was updated from
5.0.0/X
to5.0.1/X
- TimeLimit.io was updated from
6.20.1
to7.0.0
- Tiny Weather Forecast Germany was updated from
0.62.0
to0.62.2
- Träwelldroid was updated from
2.7.3
to2.7.4
- Tuta Mail was updated from
220.240411.0
to225.240417.0
- Unciv was updated from
4.11.6
to4.11.7-patch1
- UnitsTool was updated from
1.0.9
to1.0.11
- Unstoppable Wallet was updated from
0.38.1
to0.38.2
- Valv was updated from
1.8.1
to1.8.2
- Vespucci was updated from
20.0.0.0
to20.0.1.0
- Vinyl Music Player was updated from
1.10.0
to1.10.1
- Voyager for Lemmy was updated from
2.5.0
to2.6.0
- WiFi Widget was updated from
1.4.13
to1.4.14
- Wulkanowy was updated from
2.5.6
to2.5.7
- e1547 - e621 browser was updated from
18.1.0
to19.0.0
- jtx Board journals¬es&tasks was updated from
2.07.04.ose
to2.07.05.ose
- mLauncher - Minimal and Clutter Free launcher was updated from
1.5.4
to1.5.5
- openHAB Beta was updated from
3.12.3-beta
to3.12.4-beta
- pretixSCAN was updated from
2.8.0
to2.8.2
- wX was updated from
55881
to55883
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