A GUI to generate an APK (custom app) from a ZIM file

[yamenbousrih]

Thanks to WP1 Server it's now very easy to generate zim files and this is awesome !
Nevertheless if the user would like to transfor this zim file into an APK file it's more complicated and requires technical skills (c.f. https://github.com/kiwix/kiwix-android-custom ).
The idea is to have a web page where the user:

1-input the name of the app
2-input the version of the app
3-select the zim file
4-select a logo to be used for the custom app
5- :
5-click on generate

By Clicking on generate an APK file will be generated and can be downloaded by the user who will be in charge of publishing it on the google play store.

[Jaifroid]

I'm all for empowering people, but slightly worried this could lead to lots of unmaintained, zombie pseudo-Kiwix apps in the Play Store. There may be a reputational issue, too. Maybe the solution should encourage only personal use of the resulting APK?

[yamenbousrih]

Hi @Jaifroid
Thank you for this feedback. I think you have a good point and I agree that maybe a validation process should be in place to validate the request to generate the mobile app (to take into account the content and the owner of the app).

Nevertheless assuming that there is a validation process in place it will be nice to have this GUI to simplify the generation process.

Thanks
Yamen

[kelson42]

@yamenbousrih We agree(d) on this, what fails is the financing of such a Web service.