Updated version of ComicRack for Android

[droidCRReaderCE]

I've spent the time (and effort) to rebuild ComicRack for Android.

I've kept it as close to the original as possible. I've removed the Twitter functionality, overhauled the WiFi connection, removed any phone-home functionality, and advertising. I've also overhauled all legacy components so that it will work for newer devices (use the older apk for older devices). The minimum version for the app is now sdk 24 and it has been tested with Android 16. Because of the way the storage is handled, Google Play will not accept the apk, but it can be side-loaded (it is current unsigned). I've tested what I could, so there might still be issues, but the wallpaper, widget, filtering, etc, all appear to be working. At least so far...

I am willing to upload the apk to one of your GitHub repositories for you to take a look (if you're interested).

Let me know...

[maforget]

That's great, but why not simply publish it on Github like this project? Having a clean source where classes are properly named, might help to check the behavior on some things like issue #224. But I am not going to simply accept a random APK, especially from a newly created account.

The storage might need to be updated to use the newest methods instead of simply giving a blanket access to the complete storage like it currently does. Might be very helpful for users to be able to simply use Google Play, especially with the new side loading rules coming into effect. Might be worth doing the change.

[duckpuppy]

I second putting the code up in a new GitHub repo. Let the community help modernize it and possibly get it to the point of adding it to the play store ahead of the sideloading changes in Android.

[droidCRReaderCE]

I originally kept this under a new account because I wanted to stay anonymous, which is why I didn’t publish it on my main GitHub. And you’re right, accepting a random APK isn’t a great idea. I’ll take some time to figure out the right way to share.

I’m loosely familiar with the upcoming Google Play sideloading changes, but I’ll revisit them. Updating storage to modern APIs is definitely needed, though it’s a substantial rewrite since the app is tightly coupled to the old approach.

I reviewed issue #224, the original WiFi sync had multiple silent failure points. I ended up rewriting a lot of it to get reliable syncing across devices, which took quite a bit of time.

The codebase is partially cleaned up, but not fully. I probably got ahead of myself in my enthusiasm to show progress.

Thanks again for the thoughtful feedback; it’s genuinely appreciated.

I’ll post an update once I figure out how I want to move forward.

[maforget]

When you do, here is my one request:

• Add an option so I can have the Compact view be the default view, so I don't need to toggle it for each lists. There is also a limit to the number of lists I can change that setting in, so I can't even change them all manually.

[droidCRReaderCE]

I will add that to the to-do list. 🙏

I know it's an unknown APK, but I uploaded it to the GitHub just in case you did want to check it out.