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

User · Answer

Step1    Go to cordova platforms android ant create a fille called ant properties file with the keystore file info  this keystore can be generated from your favorite Android SDK  studio       key store C   yourpath  Yourkeystore keystore key alias youralias   Step2   Go to cordova path and execute   cordova build android --release   Note  You will be prompted asking your keystore and key password  An YourApp-release apk will appear in  cordova platforms android ant-build

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On Mac  osx   I generated two  sh files  one for the first publication and another one for updating       bin sh echo  Ionic to Signed APK ---- b agencys eu    Benjamin Rathelot n  printf  Project dir     read DIR printf  Project key alias     read ALIAS cd  DIR  cordova build --release android cd platforms android build outputs apk  keytool -genkey -v -keystore my-release-key keystore -alias  ALIAS -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000 jarsigner -verbose -sigalg SHA1withRSA -digestalg SHA1 -keystore my-release-key keystore android-release-unsigned apk  ALIAS zipalign -v 4 android-release-unsigned apk signedApk apk   And to update your app      bin sh echo  Ionic to Signed APK ---- b agencys eu    Benjamin Rathelot n  printf  Project dir     read DIR printf  Project key alias     read ALIAS cd  DIR  cordova build --release android cd platforms android build outputs apk  rm signedApk apk jarsigner -verbose -sigalg SHA1withRSA -digestalg SHA1 -keystore my-release-key keystore android-release-unsigned apk  ALIAS zipalign -v 4 android-release-unsigned apk signedApk apk   Assuming you re in your home folder or a folder topping your apps folders  Make sure to set correctly chmod to use this script  Then      ionicToApk sh   or whatever depending of the name of your file  in CLI   Your signed apk will be in Your App folder platforms android build outputs apk  as SignedApk apk Make sure to use the correct key alias and password defined with the first script

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For Windows  I ve created a build cmd file    replace the keystore path and alias   For Cordova    echo off  set  P spassw  Store Password     amp  amp  set  P kpassw  Key Password     amp  amp  cordova build android --release -- --keystore       local my keystore --storePassword  spassw  --alias tmpalias --password  kpassw    And for Ionic    echo off  set  P spassw  Store Password     amp  amp  set  P kpassw  Key Password     amp  amp  ionic build --prod  amp  amp  cordova build android --release -- --keystore       local my keystore --storePassword  spassw  --alias tmpalias --password  kpassw    Save it in the ptoject s directory  you can double click or open it with cmd

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In the current documentation we can specify a build json with the keystore           android               debug                   keystore       android keystore                 storePassword    android                 alias    mykey1                 password     password                 keystoreType                            release                   keystore       android keystore                 storePassword                     alias    mykey2                 password     password                 keystoreType                             And then  execute the commando with --buildConfig argumente  this way   cordova run android --buildConfig

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First Check your version code and version name if you are updating your app  And make sure you have a previous keystore   If you are updating app then follow step 1 3 4     Step 1   Goto your cordova project for generate our release build   D  projects Phonegap Example gt  cordova build --release android   Then  we can find our unsigned APK file in platforms android ant-build  In our example  the file was  if u used ant-build  yourproject platforms android ant-build Example-release-unsigned apk   OR  if u used gradle-build  yourProject platforms android build outputs apk Example-release-unsigned apk   Step 2   Key Generation   Syntax   keytool -genkey -v -keystore  lt keystoreName gt  keystore -alias  lt Keystore AliasName gt  -keyalg  lt Key algorithm gt  -keysize  lt Key size gt  -validity  lt Key Validity in Days gt    if keytool command not recognize do this step   Check that the directory the keytool executable is in is on your path   For example  on my Windows 7 machine  it s in C  Program Files  x86  Java jre6 bin    Example   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 3   Place the generated keystore in     D  projects Phonegap Example platforms android ant-build  To sign the unsigned APK  run the jarsigner tool which is also included in the JDK   Syntax   jarsigner -verbose -sigalg SHA1withRSA -digestalg SHA1 -keystore  lt keystorename  lt Unsigned APK file gt   lt Keystore Alias name gt    If it doesn t reconize do these steps    1    Right click on  This PC    right-click Properties   Advanced system settings   Environment Variables   select PATH then EDIT    2     Add your jdk bin folder path to environment variables  it should look like this    C  Program Files Java jdk1 8 0 40 bin    Example   D  projects Phonegap Example platforms android ant-build gt  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 4   Finally  we need to run the zip align tool to optimize the APK   if zipalign not recognize then    1    goto your android sdk path and find zipalign it is usually in android-sdk build-tools 23 0 3      2   Copy zipalign file paste into your  generate release apk folder usually in below path  yourproject platforms android ant-build Example-release-unsigned apk  D  projects Phonegap Example platforms android ant-build gt  zipalign -v 4 Example-release-unsigned apk Example apk    OR  D  projects Phonegap Example platforms android ant-build gt  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

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Generated signed apk from commandline  variables APP NAME THE APP NAME APK LOCATION    APP HOME  path to THE APP APP KEY  path to Android key APP KEY ALIAS the alias APP KEY PASSWORD 123456789 zipalign  ANDROID HOME build-tools 28 0 3 zipalign   the logic cd  APP HOME cordova build --release android cd platforms android app build outputs apk release jarsigner -verbose -sigalg SHA1withRSA -digestalg SHA1 -keystore  APP KEY   app-release-unsigned apk  APP KEY ALIAS  lt  lt  lt   APP KEY PASSWORD rm -rf   APK LOCATION  APP NAME apk   zipalign -v 4   app-release-unsigned apk   APK LOCATION  APP NAME apk  open  APK LOCATION  the end

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Step 1   D  projects Phonegap Example gt  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    lt application android debuggable  true  android hardwareAccelerated  true  android icon   drawable icon  android label   string app name  gt    and change android debuggable to false    lt application android debuggable  false  android hardwareAccelerated  true  android icon   drawable icon  android label   string app name  gt    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 gt  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  lt keystoreName gt  keystore -alias  lt Keystore AliasName gt  -keyalg  lt Key algorithm gt  -keysize  lt Key size gt  -validity  lt Key Validity in Days gt    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  lt keystorename gt   lt Unsigned APK file gt   lt Keystore Alias name gt    Egs   D  projects Phonegap Example platforms android ant-build gt  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 gt  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 gt  zipalign -v 4 Example-release-unsigned apk Example apk    OR  D  projects Phonegap Example platforms android ant-build gt  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 gt  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

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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     quot android quot          quot release quot             quot keystore quot    quot C  yourlocation app keystore quot            quot storePassword quot    quot password quot            quot alias quot    quot aliasname quot            quot password quot     quot aliaspass quot            quot keystoreType quot    quot  quot             Run it and it will generate one of those release-signing properties in the android folder

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In cordova 6 2 0  it has an easy way to create release build  refer to other steps here Steps 1  2 and 4  cd cordova   change to root cordova folder platforms android cordova clean  clean if you want cordova build android --release -- --keystore   path to keystore  --storePassword password --alias alias name  password will be prompted if you have any

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Build cordova release APK file in cmd   KEY STORE FILE PATH  keystore file path  F  cordova myApp xxxxx jks   KEY STORE PASSWORD  xxxxx  KEY STORE ALIAS  xxxxx  KEY STORE ALIAS PASSWORD  xxxxx  PATH OF zipalign exe  zipalign exe file path  C  Users xxxx AppData Local Android sdk build-tools 25 0 2 zipalign   ANDROID UNSIGNED APK NAME  android-release-unsigned apk  ANDROID RELEASE APK NAME  android-release apk  Run below steps in cmd  run as administrator    cordova build --release android go to android-release-unsigned apk file location  PROJECT platforms android build outputs apk  jarsigner -verbose -sigalg SHA1withRSA -digestalg SHA1 -keystore  lt KEY STORE FILE PATH   lt ANDROID UNSIGNED APK NAME   lt KEY STORE ALIAS   lt PATH OF zipalign exe  -v 4  lt ANDROID UNSIGNED APK NAME   lt ANDROID RELEASE APK NAME

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

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