1494393 - Upload a beta version of Send Android to the play store for testing by an audience of mozillians

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 1534348

(Release Engineering :: Release Requests, enhancement)

Description

[Donovan Preston [:fzzzy]]

Attachment: app-debug.apk

Hello,

We would like to begin testing an early version of the Send Android app, which is scheduled for a full release in Q1 next year.

This version is still very rough, but I have little experience with Android so I would like to learn about the process sooner than later.

I have created an apk but I don't think it is signed. Let me know if there is something extra I need to do there.

I used bug 1474328 as a reference when creating this bug. Let me know if I filled out anything incorrectly.

Comment 1

[Chris AtLee [:catlee]]

Does this need to be published in the play store for initial testing? Could our test audience install the APK manually instead?

Comment 2

[Donovan Preston [:fzzzy]]

(In reply to Chris AtLee [:catlee] from comment #1)
> Does this need to be published in the play store for initial testing? Could
> our test audience install the APK manually instead?

Our q4 goal is to have 50 mozillians test the beta. So far, I have asked people to install the APK manually but as far as I know, zero mozillians have done so. I think using whatever process notes used for a beta would really help us to meet our quarterly goal. Since this is a short quarter, I'd like to get started as soon as possible.

Comment 3

[Chris AtLee [:catlee]]

Is your intent to have the full release use the same application id as this early test app, or are you planning on having early adopters re-install a new app after some initial testing?

Comment 4

[Donovan Preston [:fzzzy]]

Attachment: Send Android Beta Version

Comment 5

[Donovan Preston [:fzzzy]]

(In reply to Chris AtLee [:catlee] from comment #3)
> Is your intent to have the full release use the same application id as this
> early test app, or are you planning on having early adopters re-install a
> new app after some initial testing?

There is a new beta version, which is feature complete but has a few known bugs. It would be nice to make this available for testing by mozillians soon.

The beta uses a non-production fxa server. Going forward, there will likely continue to be a beta version for testing purposes. Therefore, early adopters should re-install the final version which uses the production fxa once it is available. The current plan is to have the production version ready in January.

Shall I give this beta version a different app id? What app id shall I give it?

Thanks.

Comment 6

[Chris AtLee [:catlee]]

If you intend to have beta users get updated to the final version later, then you can use the same app id.

If you want to keep separate beta / release tracks going in parallel, then you need separate app ids.

What is the app id right now?

Comment 7

[Donovan Preston [:fzzzy]]

(In reply to Chris AtLee [:catlee] from comment #6)
> If you intend to have beta users get updated to the final version later,
> then you can use the same app id.
> 
> If you want to keep separate beta / release tracks going in parallel, then
> you need separate app ids.
> 
> What is the app id right now?

I think it would be good to have beta / release tracks, so that one uses the non-production fxa and one uses the production one. So I'll make separate app ids.

The app id right now is 'com.mozilla.send.sendandroid'.

Do I really have to rename the main package to change the app id?

Comment 8

[Donovan Preston [:fzzzy]]

Sylvestre, Devin said to needinfo you on this bug in case you have opinions.

Comment 9

[Donovan Preston [:fzzzy]]

Attachment: This version switches to a fxa clientId created just for the Send Android Beta.

Comment 10

[Sylvestre Ledru [:Sylvestre]]

I would prefer org.mozilla to be consistent with the rest of our android app.

For the rest, I don't have a strong opinion (just confused to see 'send' duplicated)

Comment 11

[Sylvestre Ledru [:Sylvestre]]

By the way, when you are ready, here is the list of expectations that we have:
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Release_Management/Adding_a_new_app_on_Google_play

Comment 12

[Donovan Preston [:fzzzy]]

Attachment: Package renamed to org.mozilla.sendandroid; fxa server switched to production

Comment 13

[Donovan Preston [:fzzzy]]

:sylvestre thank you very much. I have renamed the package to org.mozilla.sendandroid.

Also, after further discussion with the Send team, we determined that there is no need to have a separate beta app. Thus, I have switched the latest apk to use the production fxa server. When the beta period is over, the release version will continue to have the same app id and package name.

Comment 14

[Donovan Preston [:fzzzy]]

Attachment: This is the same as the previous version of the APK, but it is signed.

Comment 15

[Donovan Preston [:fzzzy]]

Attachment: org.mozilla.sendandroid-2019-02-06-signed.apk

Many features and bugfixes. Close to ready for release.

Comment 16

[John Gruen [:jgruen]]

Attachment: beta-icon.png

App icon for the beta app

Comment 17

[John Gruen [:jgruen]]

We're ready to go with the closed beta release of Firefox Send. We can use the latest APK, and attached app icon. Attached is a list of GPS email addresses for the beta testing audience:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1X_PJ7knRxnqT72ivK-QCLuJUsK4nNLmQaIj9zee19A4/edit#gid=0

I've also attached a temporary app icon while we finalize assets for a real release...

Sylvestre, on the relman wiki you say "an APK, please note that the APK name org.mozilla.foo.bar will remain the same forever"...should we change the name of the attached APK to something more generic before we release the closed beta?

Additionally, I'm fine using lorem ipsum placeholder text for GPS descriptions while in Beta. Do you need placeholder images now, or can i wait until we have the real ones?

Comment 18

[Donovan Preston [:fzzzy]]

Attachment: Latest build from 2019-2-11

Comment 19

[Donovan Preston [:fzzzy]]

Attachment: Build 2019-02-19

Comment 20

[Sylvestre Ledru [:Sylvestre]]

Could you please upload an apk without debug info?
You uploaded a debuggable APK or Android App Bundle. For security reasons you need to disable debugging before it can be published in Google Play.

Comment 21

[Donovan Preston [:fzzzy]]

Attachment: Build 2019-02-20 Release

Here's the release build.