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Signal Android

This guide is written using Signal-Android version 4.53.6

Requirement

Android Studio 4.0
Java SE 14
SDK 28
NDK

Installation Steps

First clone the project source code:

git clone https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android.git && cd Signal-Android

Comment out distributionSha256Sum on gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties and change the grale version from 5.6.2 to 6.4.1

distributionBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
distributionPath=wrapper/dists
#distributionSha256Sum=027fdd265d277bae65a0d349b6b8da02135b0b8e14ba891e26281fa877fe37a2
distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-6.4.1-all.zip
zipStoreBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
zipStorePath=wrapper/dists

Install the 21.0.6113669 NDK version link
Use 'Keystore Explorer’, edit whisper.store files (the password is "whisper" without quote), insert your all your server certificates there.
Update URL with own server in app/build.gradle (be sure to use https and don't include trailing slash). If you are having a hard time finding your Cloudfront domain, you can find it in CloudFront console formated as random-id.cloudfront.net.

...

defaultConfig {
        versionCode canonicalVersionCode * postFixSize
        versionName canonicalVersionName

        minSdkVersion 19
        targetSdkVersion 28
        multiDexEnabled true

        vectorDrawables.useSupportLibrary = true
        project.ext.set("archivesBaseName", "Signal");

        buildConfigField "long", "BUILD_TIMESTAMP", getLastCommitTimestamp() + "L"
        buildConfigField "String", "SIGNAL_URL", "\"https://domain.com\""
        buildConfigField "String", "STORAGE_URL", "\"https://cloudfrontdomain.com\""
        buildConfigField "String", "SIGNAL_CDN_URL", "\"https://cloudfrontdomain.com\""
        buildConfigField "String", "SIGNAL_CONTACT_DISCOVERY_URL", "\"https://domain.com\""
        buildConfigField "String", "SIGNAL_SERVICE_STATUS_URL", "\"https://domain.com\""
        buildConfigField "String", "SIGNAL_KEY_BACKUP_URL", "\"https://domain.com\""
        buildConfigField "String", "CONTENT_PROXY_HOST", "\"https://domain.com\""
        buildConfigField "int", "CONTENT_PROXY_PORT", "443"
        buildConfigField "String", "USER_AGENT", "\"OWA\""
        buildConfigField "boolean", "DEV_BUILD", "false"
        buildConfigField "String", "MRENCLAVE", "\"cd6cfc342937b23b1bdd3bbf9721aa5615ac9ff50a75c5527d441cd3276826c9\""
        buildConfigField "String", "KEY_BACKUP_ENCLAVE_NAME", "\"f2e2a5004794a6c1bac5c4949eadbc243dd02e02d1a93f10fe24584fb70815d8\""
        buildConfigField "String", "KEY_BACKUP_MRENCLAVE", "\"f51f435802ada769e67aaf5744372bb7e7d519eecf996d335eb5b46b872b5789\""
        buildConfigField "String", "UNIDENTIFIED_SENDER_TRUST_ROOT", "\"public-key-generated-in-signal-server-step-3\""
        buildConfigField "String[]", "LANGUAGES", "new String[]{\"" + autoResConfig().collect { s -> s.replace('-r', '_') }.join('", "') + '"}'
        buildConfigField "int", "CANONICAL_VERSION_CODE", "$canonicalVersionCode"

...

update UNIDENTIFIED_SENDER_TRUST_ROOT (value is Public Key from when creating UnidentifiedDelivery of server’s config.yml)
Download google-service.json from Firebase, put it inside app/.
Update app/src/main/res/values/firebase_messaging.xml according to value from google-service.json*
Update ATTACHMENT_DOWNLOAD_PATH and ATTACHMENT_UPLOAD_PATH in libsignal/service/src/main/java/org/whispersystems/signalservice/internal/push/PushServiceSocket.java by deleting ‘attachments/‘ so attachment will be uploaded in root ( / ). If you don't want the attachments to be uploaded to root bucket, check the FAQ part of this guide.
Sync your project then build.

Custom Package Name

To create your own Signal-based Chat application, you need to rename the package. This is to prevent your app conflicting with signal on Play Store and on user's phone.

Open Signal-Android in Android Studio.

Signal-Android package name is org.thoughtcrime.securesms and in the project it's shown as a structure like this

app/src/main/java/org/thoughtcrime/securesms/

It is recommended that your desired package name also consist of three part, for example com.company.chatname.

Right click on securesms directory, choose Refactor, then choose Rename. When prompted, choose Rename Package. Change it to your desired chatname. It is optional to choose Search in comments and strings and Search for text occurance, you can leave it blank.
After the search process is done, a window will appear on the bottom. Choose Do Refactor.
It will take some time, after it is done, repeat step 2-3 to thoughtcrime and org.
There's a chance some import could be left unchanged, to make sure, find org.thoughtcrime.securesms. If you found some, change it manually.

If you have done those step, you can already build your own app and install it to android. But the camera will not work because you haven't change the package name in native code.

Change the package name in native code, find org_thoughtcrime_securesms and replace with your package name, remember to use underscore (_) like how it is before. It is located on:

app/jni/Android.mk

JNI_DIR := $(call my-dir)

include $(CLEAR_VARS)

LOCAL_MODULE     := native-utils
LOCAL_C_INCLUDES := $(JNI_DIR)/utils/
LOCAL_CFLAGS     += -Wall

LOCAL_SRC_FILES := $(JNI_DIR)/utils/com_company_chatname_util_FileUtils.cpp

include $(BUILD_SHARED_LIBRARY)

app/jni/utils/org_thoughtcrime_securesms_util_FileUtils.cpp

#include "com_company_chatname_util_FileUtils.h"

...

jint JNICALL Java_com_company_chatname_util_FileUtils_getFileDescriptorOwner

...

JNIEXPORT jint JNICALL Java_com_company_chatname_util_FileUtils_createMemoryFileDescriptor

...

app/jni/utils/org_thoughtcrime_securesms_util_FileUtils.h

/* DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE - it is machine generated */
#include <jni.h>
/* Header for class com_company_chatname_util_FileUtils */

#ifndef _Included_com_company_chatname_util_FileUtils
#define _Included_com_company_chatname_util_FileUtils

...

/*
 * Class:    com_company_chatname_util_FileUtils
 * Method:    getFileDescriptorOwner
 * Signature: (Ljava/io/FileDescriptor;)I
 */
JNIEXPORT jint JNICALL Java_com_company_chatname_util_FileUtils_getFileDescriptorOwner
  (JNIEnv *, jclass, jobject);

/*
 * Class:     com_company_chatname_util_FileUtils
 * Method:    createMemoryFileDescriptor
 * Signature: (Ljava/lang/String;)I
 */
JNIEXPORT jint JNICALL Java_com_company_chatname_util_FileUtils_createMemoryFileDescriptor
  (JNIEnv *, jclass, jstring);

...

The last two files (.cpp and .h) also need to be renamed to follow your new package name, for example:

app/jni/utils/com_company_chatname_util_FileUtils.cpp
app/jni/utils/com_company_chatname_util_FileUtils.h

Install NDK, and run this command in your directory

ndk-build

If the command is not recognized, it means your NDK installation has not been added to Environment Variable, then run it with absolute path.

It will generate 4 libnative-utils.so inside app/jni. Use it to replace the originals that located in here:

app
└── src
    └── main
        └── jniLibs
            ├── arm64-v8a
            │   └── libnative-utils.so
            ├── armeabi-v7a
            │   └── libnative-utils.so
            ├── x86
            │   └── libnative-utils.so
            └── x86_64
                └── libnative-utils.so

Update the package name that formated as org/thoughtcrime/securesms and replace with your package name, remember to use slash (/) like how it is before. It is located on:

app/lint-baseline.xml

...

file="src/main/java/com/company/chatname/util/dualsim/SubscriptionManagerCompat.java"

...

file="src/main/java/com/company/chatname/contacts/ContactSelectionListAdapter.java"

...

app/lint.xml

...

<ignore path="*/com/company/chatname/mediasend/camerax/VideoCapture.java" />
<ignore path="*/com/company/chatname/mediasend/camerax/CameraXModule.java" />

...

Remember to update the application name in :

app/src/main/res/values/strings.xml

FAQ

Q: How did I make Maps works?

A: On Android, search for com.google.android.geo.API_KEY and change the value below that line with your own Google Maps API Key.

Q: How did I make Giphy/Sticker works?

A: For now, sticker file is not available publicly. Also, Giphy need content proxy to works, for now the content proxy source code is still not being shared publicly.

Q: What can I do so the attachments not uploaded to root bucket?

A: You still need to do Step 9, but only remove the attachments part from ATTACHMENT_UPLOAD_PATH. Then modify your Signal-Server.

First open AttachmentControllerV2.java located in service/src/main/java/org/whispersystems/textsecuregcm/controllers/ and find this line:

String  objectName  = String.valueOf(attachmentId);

Modify it to:

String  objectName  = "attachments/" + String.valueOf(attachmentId);

Then open AttachmentControllerTest.java located in service/src/test/java/org/whispersystems/textsecuregcm/tests/controllers/ and find this line:

assertThat(descriptor.getKey()).isEqualTo(descriptor.getAttachmentIdString());

Modify it to:

assertThat(descriptor.getKey()).isEqualTo("attachments/" + descriptor.getAttachmentIdString());

Then re-build the server and run it.

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Signal Android

Requirement

Installation Steps

Custom Package Name

FAQ