flutter_release 0.1.2

A tool for building and publishing Flutter apps, e.g. on GitHub and the Google Play Store.

flutter_release

A tool for building and publishing Flutter apps, e.g. on GitHub and Google Play Store. See also the according GitHub action.

Example

Build:

flutter_release build apk \
 --app-name example \
 --app-version v0.0.1-alpha.1 \
 --build-arg=--dart-define=API_URL=https://example.com \
 --build-arg=--dart-define=API_KEY=12345678

Publish:

flutter_release publish android-google-play \
 --dry-run \
 --stage internal \
 --app-name wrestling_scoreboard_client \
 --app-version v0.0.1-alpha.1 \
 --build-arg=--dart-define=API_URL=https://example.com \
 --build-arg=--dart-define=API_KEY=12345678 \
 --fastlane-secrets-json-base64=$(base64 --wrap=0 android/fastlane-secrets.json) \
 --keystore-file-base64=$(base64 --wrap=0 android/keystore.jks) \
 --keystore-password=<mykeystorepassword> \
 --key-alias=<mykeyalias>

If the command is not found (in the PATH), try: dart pub global run flutter_release ....

Note that you have to pass the base64 arguments without any newline characters:

MY_BASE_64=$(base64 --wrap=0 /myfile)

Or remove them afterward:

MY_BASE_64="${MY_BASE_64//$'\n'/}"

Options:

• app-name: The name of the app executable
• app-version: Semantic version of the release (like v1.2.3), see https://semver.org/
• build-number: Specify the build number (also used as version code for Android, but is handled automatically)
• build-type: Release one of the following options: apk, web, ipk, macos, windows, debian
• build-arg: Add options such as --dart-define to the flutter build command

Supported Features

Platform	Android		iOS	web	Windows	macOS	Linux
Build	apk	aab	ipa	web	windows	macos	linux	debian
Publish		Google Play ✓	iOS App Store ❌	Web Server ❌	Microsoft Store ❌	Mac App Store ❌	Snap ❌	Ubuntu ❌

Support for other app distributors is planned.

Setup

Android - Google Play Store (via Debian only)

1. Create an App in your Google Play Console.
2. Make sure you have these files ignored in your ./android/.gitignore:

   key.properties
   **/*.keystore
   **/*.jks
   
   # Google Play Store credentials
   fastlane-*.json
   play-store-credentials.json
   

3. Configure signing in gradle. This is needed to be able to execute the build via Flutter and not via Gradle. Convert the keystore to a base64 string e.g. base64 --wrap=0 android/keystore.jks
4. Follow the guide of fastlane for setting up supply.
5. Convert the Google Play Store credentials json to base64 e.g. base64 --wrap=0 android/fastlane-secrets.json
6. Manually build a signed app bundle and publish it on the Google Play Store at least once to be able to automate the process, e.g.:

   flutter build appbundle \
   --release \
   --build-name=0.0.1-beta.10 \
   --dart-define=API_URL=https://example.com \
   --dart-define=API_KEY=12345678`
   

Web - Server (via Debian only)

1. Generate a key pair on your client ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f $HOME/.ssh/id_ed25519_flutter_release -C flutter_release without a passphrase
2. Add the output of cat $HOME/.ssh/id_ed25519_flutter_release.pub to your servers $HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys
3. Convert the private key to a base64 string e.g. base64 --wrap=0 $HOME/.ssh/id_ed25519_flutter_release
4. Run flutter_release

   flutter_release publish web-server \
    --dry-run \
    --app-name wrestling_scoreboard_client \
    --app-version v0.0.1-alpha.1 \
    --build-arg=--dart-define=API_URL=https://example.com \
    --build-arg=--dart-define=API_KEY=12345678 \
    --host=host.example.com \
    --path=/var/www/html \
    --ssh-port=22 \
    --ssh-user=<user> \
    --ssh-private-key-base64=<private-key>