[android-developers] New warning when exporting Android application

2013-07-21 Thread Ted Hopp
We have an app that was first submitted to Android Market several years 
ago. We've published several updates and are preparing a new update. We 
recently started receiving the following warning when exporting a signed 
.apk file:

Certificate expires on Thu Sep 16 19:19:35 EDT 2038.

The Certificate expires in 25 years.

Make sure the certificate is valid for the planned lifetime of the product.

If the certificate expires, you will be forced to sign your application 
with a different one.

Applications cannot be upgraded if their certificate changes from one 
version to another, forcing a full uninstall/install, which will make the 
user lose his/her data.

Google Play(Android Market) currently requires certificates to be valid 
until 2033.


Since the certificate expires in 25 years plus 7 weeks, I wonder why I'm 
getting this warning. Of much more concern, however, is the last line. Is 
the expiration date requirement (currently 2033) a sliding window? (In 
other words, will Google Play next year require certificates to be valid 
until 2034?) If so, does that apply to certificates applied to product 
updates? Because if it does, then the effective life of our product will 
have been reduced by 20 years, since we won't be able to update it starting 
five years from now.

Just as bad, if, in order to maintain our product we need to change 
certificates in five years (instead of 25), then (as I understand it) 
Google Play will treat a release signed with a new certificate as an 
entirely new product. This is because (again, I may not understand this 
exactly correctly) if the certificate changes, we will be forced to also 
change the package name for the apk. This will do great damage to our 
position in the market.

Can someone provide some clarity here? All of these constraints regarding 
signing certificates seems extremely unforgiving to publishers.

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Re: [android-developers] New warning when exporting Android application

2013-07-21 Thread TreKing
On Sun, Jul 21, 2013 at 4:45 PM, Ted Hopp ted.h...@gmail.com wrote:

 This is because (again, I may not understand this exactly correctly) if
 the certificate changes, we will be forced to also change the package name
 for the apk. This will do great damage to our position in the market.


I can't find it now, but I recall a thread on here regarding the same
issue. I *think* Dianne Hackborn commented that the expiration requirement
is far enough down the line that Google will figure out a solution for
developers to change / update / transition their certificates by then, to
prevent the new package required issue this would cause for all
developers.

-
TreKing http://sites.google.com/site/rezmobileapps/treking - Chicago
transit tracking app for Android-powered devices

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Re: [android-developers] New warning when exporting Android application

2013-07-21 Thread Ted Hopp
Thanks for the lead, TreKing. It would be a big relief if Google disarmed 
this time bomb. If you happen to run across the thread, I'd appreciate a 
pointer to it; I definitely would like to follow any developments.

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