How to create a signed APK file using Cordova command line interface?

Question

I made a sample application named checkStatus. Now I want to create a signed APK file. So I can install it in different devices for my testing.

For this, I Googled and found this documentation.

As per the document, I switched to my project directory and ran the following command:

keytool -genkey -v -keystore key-name.keystore -alias alias-name -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000 

After I ran the above command, I got a file named key-name.keystore at projectRoot/key-name.keystore.

And then I copy-pasted that file into projectRoot/platforms/android/key-name.keystore.

After that, I created a file named ant.properties and saved it in projectRoot/platforms/android.

I wrote the following code inside the file:

key.store=projectRoot/key-name.keystore key.alias=myApp 

After that, I ran the following command to release

Cordova builds android --release 

It's throwing the following error:

 /home/projectRoot/platforms/android/cordova/node_modules/q/q.js:126                 throw e;                       ^ Error code 1 for command: ant with args: release,-f,/home/projectRoot/platforms/android/build.xml,-Dout.dir=ant-build,-Dgen.absolute.dir=ant-gen   Error: /home/projectRoot/platforms/android/cordova/build: Command failed with exit code 8 at ChildProcess.whenDone (/usr/lib/node_modules/cordova/node_modules/cordova-lib/src/cordova/superspawn.js:135:23) at ChildProcess.EventEmitter.emit (events.js:98:17) at maybeClose (child_process.js:753:16) at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (child_process.js:820:5) 

So this time, I modified key.store value in ant.properties file like in the following way.

 key.store=/home/projectRoot/platforms/android/key-name.keystore 

Again, I ran the cordova build android --release command. It throws the same error.

Can anyone tell me what I've done wrong?

Answer 1

Step 1:

D:\projects\Phonegap\Example> cordova plugin rm org.apache.cordova.console --save 

add the --save so that it removes the plugin from the config.xml file.

Step 2:

To generate a release build for Android, we first need to make a small change to the AndroidManifest.xml file found in platforms/android. Edit the file and change the line:

<application android:debuggable="true" android:hardwareAccelerated="true" android:icon="@drawable/icon" android:label="@string/app_name"> 

and change android:debuggable to false:

<application android:debuggable="false" android:hardwareAccelerated="true" android:icon="@drawable/icon" android:label="@string/app_name"> 

As of cordova 6.2.0 remove the android:debuggable tag completely. Here is the explanation from cordova:

Explanation for issues of type "HardcodedDebugMode": It's best to leave out the android:debuggable attribute from the manifest. If you do, then the tools will automatically insert android:debuggable=true when building an APK to debug on an emulator or device. And when you perform a release build, such as Exporting APK, it will automatically set it to false.

If on the other hand you specify a specific value in the manifest file, then the tools will always use it. This can lead to accidentally publishing your app with debug information.

Step 3:

Now we can tell cordova to generate our release build:

D:\projects\Phonegap\Example> cordova build --release android 

Then, we can find our unsigned APK file in platforms/android/ant-build. In our example, the file was platforms/android/ant-build/Example-release-unsigned.apk

Step 4:

Note : We have our keystore keystoreNAME-mobileapps.keystore in this Git Repo, if you want to create another, please proceed with the following steps.

Key Generation:

Syntax:

keytool -genkey -v -keystore <keystoreName>.keystore -alias <Keystore AliasName> -keyalg <Key algorithm> -keysize <Key size> -validity <Key Validity in Days> 

Egs:

keytool -genkey -v -keystore NAME-mobileapps.keystore -alias NAMEmobileapps -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000   keystore password? : xxxxxxx What is your first and last name? :  xxxxxx What is the name of your organizational unit? :  xxxxxxxx What is the name of your organization? :  xxxxxxxxx What is the name of your City or Locality? :  xxxxxxx What is the name of your State or Province? :  xxxxx What is the two-letter country code for this unit? :  xxx 

Then the Key store has been generated with name as NAME-mobileapps.keystore

Step 5:

Place the generated keystore in

old version cordova

D:\projects\Phonegap\Example\platforms\android\ant-build 

New version cordova

D:\projects\Phonegap\Example\platforms\android\build\outputs\apk 

To sign the unsigned APK, run the jarsigner tool which is also included in the JDK:

Syntax:

jarsigner -verbose -sigalg SHA1withRSA -digestalg SHA1 -keystore <keystorename> <Unsigned APK file> <Keystore Alias name> 

Egs:

D:\projects\Phonegap\Example\platforms\android\ant-build> jarsigner -verbose -sigalg SHA1withRSA -digestalg SHA1 -keystore NAME-mobileapps.keystore Example-release-unsigned.apk xxxxxmobileapps 

OR

D:\projects\Phonegap\Example\platforms\android\build\outputs\apk> jarsigner -verbose -sigalg SHA1withRSA -digestalg SHA1 -keystore NAME-mobileapps.keystore Example-release-unsigned.apk xxxxxmobileapps  Enter KeyPhrase as 'xxxxxxxx' 

This signs the apk in place.

Step 6:

Finally, we need to run the zip align tool to optimize the APK:

D:\projects\Phonegap\Example\platforms\android\ant-build> zipalign -v 4 Example-release-unsigned.apk Example.apk  

OR

D:\projects\Phonegap\Example\platforms\android\ant-build> C:\Phonegap\adt-bundle-windows-x86_64-20140624\sdk\build-tools\android-4.4W\zipalign -v 4 Example-release-unsigned.apk Example.apk 

OR

D:\projects\Phonegap\Example\platforms\android\build\outputs\apk> C:\Phonegap\adt-bundle-windows-x86_64-20140624\sdk\build-tools\android-4.4W\zipalign -v 4 Example-release-unsigned.apk Example.apk 

Now we have our final release binary called example.apk and we can release this on the Google Play Store.

Answer 2

An update to @malcubierre for Cordova 4 (and later)-

Create a file called release-signing.properties and put in APPFOLDER\platforms\android folder

Contents of the file: edit after = for all except 2nd line

storeFile=C:/yourlocation/app.keystore storeType=jks keyAlias=aliasname keyPassword=aliaspass storePassword=password 

Then this command should build a release version:

cordova build android --release 

UPDATE - This was not working for me Cordova 10 with android 9 - The build was replacing the release-signing.properties file. I had to make a build.json file and drop it in the appfolder, same as root. And this is the contents - replace as above:

{ "android": {     "release": {        "keystore": "C:/yourlocation/app.keystore",         "storePassword": "password",         "alias": "aliasname",         "password" : "aliaspass",         "keystoreType": ""     } } } 

Run it and it will generate one of those release-signing.properties in the android folder